Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness around the world.

January 23, 2008

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Today?s Announcement

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Don?t forget to order your copy of Angels Watching Over Me, the story of an ordinary woman facing less than ordinary challenges.? Angels Watching Over Me is a story of family love, sacrifices, poverty and an undying faith that makes heroes out of all of us. Here is the link in case you have forgotten it: http://www.lulu.com/content/964306

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Important notice: Storytime Tapestry is a free e-zine, however donations are always needed to help with the operating expenses of running the newsletter and to keep Storytime Tapestry the quality newsletter you are so accustomed to.? ?You can make your donations to paypal at: winterose@videotron.ca, or if you would prefer to use the mail system contact the publisher at the same email address: winterose@videotron.ca

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Today?s Stories

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??~**~**~

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Mr.President
Bill Walker
missourisage@yahoo.com

I have been watching the tube the last couple days and evenings too. C-Span has been running a couple hours for each Presidents Library. That is from Herbert Hoover to Bill Clinton. I have learned a lot by doing so. One of the things I learned was they forgot to call on the expert on the history of the best President of the lot. The President would be none other than the man of Independence Missouri. Of course the expert on the history would be none other then the great missourisage.
Some talk got around to the Atomic Bomb, and what did, and when didn't Harry S Truman know about the Bomb. To hear their expert on the history of the presidents, President Truman knew nothing. I beg to differ, he knew a little, maybe not much, but he knew something was going on.

Harry S Truman was in the senate during the war years, until he became Vice President. In the senate he was the Bull Dog on many things, one of which was where is the money going, and what for? There was one thing that bugged him. Just who and what is this Manhattan Project? He started to dig, and that hit a sore spot. He got a call from Secretary of War Stimson. In general he got told please lay off trying to find out where the money is going, just get us the money.

One day even General George C Marshall showed up at his door. Now he was told just enough to know there was something?important in a rush on making. And it was enough to tell him it was a super bomb of some kind. Now, in a letter he told another man there was something being made at a place where land was being bought up by a major player in this Manhattan Project. That was something that should have not gotten into others hands. So Harry S Truman did know something was going on.

All this did not tell him that it was almost finished being made until after he became President. The thing is he knew money was going into some project, but just what he was in the dark for the most part. Even after he became President, he was in the dark till he was told it was ready for a test run.

So if you need to know something about the life and times of the last great President of this nation, Harry S Truman, give me a call. If I don't know, I have books. I think the number is at least six. By the way, it is fitting he has the most beautiful Library of all the presidents.

How much money was it that he asked?and where it was going? Wasn't much by today's standards. I think it was a million or two. But Bull Dog Truman wanted to account for every dollar, and if it's going into someone?s deep pockets. That was Harry S Truman, we need another like him.

There was talk about his ties to Tom Pendergast.? Back in Truman's days of being in county government of Jackson County, he stomped on Tom's toes many times. The good old buddy system didn't cut the mustard.

Truman demanded a day?s work out of anyone for a days pay. Tom might find a job in the county for a person, but if Truman found no work being done, the job did not hold up. He was a Bull Dog even then when it came to the tax payer?s money.
Tinker and Poo; The Boys Write
http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?&isbn=0-595-35741-5

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?A?Favor

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Sharon Bryant

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She's 79 years old.? I met her several years ago.? Somehow this woman and many in her family have become friends of ours.? My husband was pall bearer at her two?brother's funerals.? I was there when her son died from cancer of the brain.? I walked her through the tough days for I understood the pain she was enduring.? I was there when her second son died.? Again, we walked the path of grief together.

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Today she called me at work and though she's never asked for anything but friendship, she asked if I could do a favor for her.? I said "sure."

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"Hospice has been called in for my nephew.? I want to put into words and send it to him by email how I feel about him.? Though I've told him all my life how much I love him, I want to let him know how he's touched my life all these years.? Could you write something for me?" she asked.

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"He's 61, has survived a horrible auto accident several years ago, and survived two tours in Viet Nam, wounded both times," she said.? "He's got a purple heart."

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I called her when I got home from work tonight.? I needed some personal information in order to write the poem she wanted.

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We chatted and I got the information I needed.? I sat down in front of this monitor and said a small prayer that I could write something that would help this veteran plus his aunt.

I wrote a poem, called her and read it to her.

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She began to cry.? She said the poem touched all aspects of his life, and told how much she loves him.

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Just a few minutes ago my phone rang and she told me how much the poem meant to her nephew.? He knows his life is limited.? Yet, the words he read touched his life tonight.

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Funny how you can set down and start typing and write something that will bring someone to tears.? Funny how you can write something that helps someone who is gravely ill.

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I thank God tonight that I was asked for a favor.

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Sharon Bryant

1946@bellsouth.net

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?ValueSpeak
A Weekly Column
By Joseph Walker

Valuespeak@msn.com
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NATURAL, ORGANIC, 100 PERCENT WHOLESOME HUGGING

According to a friend of mine named Andrew, there are six basic essentials of life: air, water, food, clothing, shelter and hugging.
Yes, that's right. Hugging.

This isn't just Andrew's opinion. He says he has scientific evidence indicating that every human being needs four hugs per day to survive, eight hugs per day to maintain life at a strong emotional level and 12 hugs per day in order to flourish and grow.

I?m not sure which scientists made this discovery or how they conducted their research. I don't know if one standard length hug can be replaced by two quick squeezes, or if one mondo super supreme hug can fulfill your minimum daily hug requirements all by itself. I only offer this information because this is being written on National Hugging Day ? January 21^st ? and I?m all caught up in the hugging spirit. And I think you should be, too ? as hugger or huggee.

Frankly, I'm glad to see that hugging is finally getting its due. I come from a long line of huggers. Mom used to hug away our fears. Dad used to hug away our hurts. My oldest sister Jean used to hug me when it was Mom and Dad who I was afraid wanted to hurt me.

When we were really, really angry with each other, my sister Kathy and I used to hug each other until we couldn't breathe. That's because we knew we'd get in trouble for hitting, but we never got in trouble for hugging. We told Mom we only did it because we loved each other so much, but the truth is, we liked to see who could be the first to make the other's face turn blue.
For most people, however, hugging is less combative. In fact, Andrew's scientists ? whoever they may be ? insist that hugging is downright healthy. This is probably because, as Andrew says, "hugging is natural, organic, naturally sweet and free of pesticides and preservatives. Hugging contains no artificial ingredients. It's 100 percent wholesome. No calories, no nicotine."
I don't know about that, but I do know that hugging helps. In fact, sometimes it's the only thing that will help. A few years ago I was serving as a lay minister in my church, and I spent a lot of time with a troubled young man in the congregation. He was a good kid with great potential, but he kept using that potential in negative ways. He usually started out with good intentions, then he would make a bad choice or a dumb move, and before you knew it he was hip deep in difficulty.

One night I visited him in jail, and he looked helpless and frightened. His parents were weary of his escapades, and were unwilling to bail him out. His friends had deserted him, and his girlfriend wouldn't talk to him. He was embarrassed, frustrated and completely alone. I wanted to say something to help him feel better, but I couldn't find the words. Silence hung between us like a rain-soaked hammock.

And so I did the only thing I could think of to do: I hugged him. At first he just stood there awkwardly and let me hug him. After a few seconds he tried to pull away, but I wouldn't let go. The longer we stood there hugging, the more he relaxed.
Then I heard him sniffing. Then his shoulders were shaking. And then he was sobbing uncontrollably in my arms.

I wish I could tell you that this moment changed his life. The fact is, his life is still a work in progress. But that experience was a turning point in my relationship with him, and in my ability to have influence.

I?m not saying that hugging is a panacea for all of the world's problems. It won't create peace in the Middle East. It won't put nourishing food in the mouths of starving children. It won't offer protection from a hurricane, a tornado, cancer or ?The View.? But it won't hurt, either. And it just might give you the courage you need to cope with that other stuff.
Whether you're the hugger, or the huggee.

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Poetry Corner

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?Life's Scents

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Cynthia Groopman

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Life's Scents are indeed special and full of majesty,

Adorning the everyday with joy, smiles and festivity.

Springtime air laden with floral sweet fragrances,

Are truly glorious and elegant.

Home baked cake and bread are splendid treats,

Enhancing my appetite and mirthful to savor and to eat.

A home cooked meal,

His full of delicious flavor, zest and zeal.

Sweet forgiveness and a soul and heart that is clean,

Is indeed a scent so tranquil and serene.

Heavenly scents of those who are dwelling there,

Manifest their love and caring in a rich aromatic prayer.

When nature is all alive with sparkling glee,

We praise the Lord's magnificent handiwork rejoicefully.

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?Cynthia? L.?Groopman

cynthia.Groopman@verizon.net

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Help We All Need

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?Cynthia Groopman

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No matter how rich or poor a person may be,

All of us cannot exist independently.

Some kind of help we all may need,

This is a statement that we must.

The famous or those who possess a high position on this earth,

May feel self-confident, smug or full of self-love or mirth.

They think they will never require assistance,

This need, they face with resistance.

The rich and the wise may look down upon a person who is a so called bum,

Feeling afraid, frightened and from him he will quickly run.

Nobody knows when the wheel of life will make a sharp negative turn,

So kindness respect and compassion to others, we must cultivate and learn.

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??Cynthia Groopman
cynthia.Groopman@verizon.net
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?Winter's Embrace

Cynthia Groopman

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Winter's?embrace is indeed an icy grip,

With ice and snow adorning the ground in a manner for us to slide or trip.

Winter's embrace? is indeed so very cold,

Gone is the warm sunshine caress of shining gold.

Winter's embrace is harsh and full of the howling wind's piercing sound,

As snowflakes tossed by the velocity of the high winds swirl round and round.

Winter' embrace is devoid of bright smiles,,?cheer and sprightly fragrance,

Dazzled are we not by the bird's melodic elegance.

Winter's embrace is sentimental, full of the yearning of the arrival of spring,

When rebirth and renewal will inspire winter weary hearts to dance and joyfully sing.

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Cynthia Groopman

cynthia.Groopman@verizon.net

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Story Feedback

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Here is our Storytime Tapestry Angels: Also, I would like to thank?those of you who?chose to be a silent angel and?gave an anonymous donation to keep?Storytime Tapestry up and running.

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Clara Westerfer, Mark Crider, Rosanne Catalano, Paula Booher, Kay Seefeldt, Mariane Holbrook, Mary Ellen Grisham, Louise Nomani, Sharon Bryant, Angela Walker, Hart and Helen Dowd, Keith Ready, Ginger Morgenstern, Ellie Braun-Haley, Surinder Jandu, Bob Shaw, Carol Meeks, Charlotte Hilliard, Maria Keller, Marilyn Sink, Victor Buhagiar, Clarice Hinson, Conrad Cardinal,?

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