jouets dans le grenier
 l'ameublement idéologique pour l'esprit sans foyer

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daurril: library: daurril: My Life and Times (prologue)

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Joe Daurril: my life and times, from childhood in Chicago to retirement and perhaps fanciful demise in Tampa.

As a cradle Catholic, I cannot imagine I do not have several guardian angels, working perhaps different shifts. One of these is shown above. While not much found in similar studies, she provides me with something of the charming inspiration given Lewis Carroll - perhaps I may herein chaperone this “Alice” thru the frequently barren landscape of magisterial exegesis.

I		Overview and Contingencies
		Childhood (Chicago, 1937–1951)
		Wells HS + (Chicago, 1951–1956)
II		Military (USAF, 1957–1960)
III		Transitioning I (Chicago, 1960–1964)
		Computing ascendant (Chicago, 1965–1979)
		Computing in decline (Los Angeles, 1980–1986)
		Transitioning II (Tampa, 1987–2002)
		Retirement (Tampa, 2003–present)
		2019 recap: folk from my vanishing past
IV		Five church affiliations serially pursued:
	a	Incarnation Catholic Church (now “Community:” Tampa, 1987-1990)
	b	Episcopal House of Prayer (Tampa, 1992)
	c	Sacred Heart (Downtown Tampa, 1992-1993)
	d	At Saint Andrews (Downtown Tampa, 2005-2021)
		At the Portico Campus of Hyde Park Methodist (2022-present)

Overview and Contingencies

As an 86-year old retiree consigned to section 8 housing in downtown Tampa,

I have over the last few years confined my pursuit of the religious life to its Methodist representation – practically discarding any similar opportunity with the nearby Episcopal & Catholic establishments. Further conditioned by my current transportation difficulties.

That would not have been an easy choice if I had continued to condition my selection criteria principally on organizational or confessional considerations, as you might easily conclude from my subsequent reflections on the Episcopal situation. But I must confess that intellectual excitement for me as a Christian comes from what certain theologians tell me, and less from what I experience in Andrew’s (or any other) pews. Possessed thru these alternate sources of a spiritual outlook I believe exceeds but does not fail to appreciate that of my friends in this community, I’m especially glad I continued to enjoy some of their good company when my lack of actual membership might have fatally distracted them.

Although I have come to share in the Eucharist at Saint Andrew’s, following the custom of most other denominations I will not kneel to receive it. I do this nonetheless out of a love and affection for this particular Christian community as reciprocated, thought to be preliminary to any reception of the Spirit thru them. I may differ from most in my conviction that while Scripture embodies truth, it is not in all respects history. I believe, as perhaps the Russian Orthodox do, that knowledge of the early Church Fathers’ contribution and motivation is essential to a proper understanding of our Faith. These and similar considerations will continue to rule my appreciation of our Trinitarian God - found (in order of importance): at Tillich’s ST, Ratzinger’s Introduction to Christianity, Wright’s Evil & the Justice of God, and Macquarrie's 20^th Century Religious Thought. Attending these, and included among them, are the following.

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My larger text is now titled “Speak, Memory,” after Nabokov’s recollection of his youthful years. Paraphrasing remarks from the dust cover of his published work, I also hope my memories may present a “moving and nostalgic account of a vanished world.” My first edition is also written when no archives, family papers, or old friends are available to confirm an incident or correct or deny another, or to bring further scenes to mind. Therefore I too have been gently checking facts, collecting additional material and tracking down family photographs in order to present a fuller background from which I sprang.

The text itself is more than just a catalogue of my life’s adventures: it is an intimate record of what, in my mind, constitutes me as a person. It is all that I know about myself – it is where I must go to find out what I am to do with myself next. In order to facilitate page loading, I have tentatively broken this account into seven chronologically-determined sections. My first 20 years are described in Part I: successive double-decades are slowly being developed.

It might be of interest to those of you who might not, as (God willing) I am, starting their eighty-seventh in the middle of 2023 - to recognize such folk when they see them – perhaps on a movie screen, or streaming from TCM. For years I have appraised my type whenever I saw young Margaret O’Brien (frequently playing opposite Eleanor Geisman), and lately have liked myself in the guise of Anthony Hopkins – born on the last day of my birth year, 1937. Not necessarily still around (like Sandy Dennis, George Carlin, Peter Cook, Suzanne Pleshette), but some are - Jane Fonda, Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman, Ridley Scott, Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, Sally Kellerman, Susan Hampshire & George Takei. An interesting graphical depiction is available at IMDb Most Popular People Born In 1937. BTW, Benedict XVI (16 April 1927) was 10 years older than me, and Paul Tillich was born just two years (1886).before Michael Curtiz.

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Last update on 7-February-2023 at 1:36 PM

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