Game of Thrones is Theology

Two of my favorite characters from Game of Thrones - Arya and The Hound

I love the HBO series Game of Thrones. This fantasy medieval Continent of Westeros is peopled by folks like us.  Like our world and its history, Westeros is place where vice, betrayal, incest, sodomy, devil worship, megalomania and brute force appears to clear the way for a seat on the Iron Throne.

That is the basic appeal, for me anyway.  The worst of us always seem to avoid cancer, heartbreak, neglect, disappointment, favor and position.  The best around us seem to die too young, bear burdens unimaginable, pay the checks and receive scorn for their best efforts.  Just like life in Westeros.

The Captain of the State Championship Football team diddles his sister, murders the kid next door and is appointed by the Ward Committeeman to stand for the Cook County Board.

Just like here.  There are a few good people in public office, (name two) but there are more dummies, grifters, power junkies and cowards smiling over the crowd of hapless helots passing out their palm cards at the polling places every election.

If all of this seems rather depressing to you, it should not.

Life is not Sesame Street, it is more like Westeros, whether we live in Cook County, Pyongyang, or Kenebunkport.

Oprah, the Frugal Gourmet, Phil Donahue, NPR, Bill Moyers Barack Obama and The View numbed us for decades that we should all worship ourselves.

Game of Thrones, like Deadwood, Boardwalk Empire, the Wire and other cable dramas appear to have snapped us out of our stupor.

We are not all that important. The world is a Vale of Tears, get over yourself.

We are all redeemable - St. Augustine, Mary Magdalene, Ignatius Loyola, St. Olga of Kiev, Mary of Eygpt, St. Dismas and St. Callsitus, the Whitey Bulger of Rome all managed to turn things around before their obituaries were written.

We are all lovable to other people - even Donald Trump, even Cercei Lannister.

The great Chicago writer John Kass is a huge fan of Game of Thrones.  He recently challenged me to give some examples of " stone cold killers " and crooks who salvaged their souls, like the delightfully thuggish Hound - a knight without pity, but great sense of irony.

This beast serving cruel masters has made an ocean of blood from his victims, some of whom offered him a place on a cold night and the last of their food.  The Hound breakfasted by slaughtering the widower and his daughter. " They would not survive the winter," is his summation to the little girl the brute has saved from his cruel masters.

The little girl is a fierce Arya Stark,, who now appears to be more dangerous than Hound ever dreamed he could be.

John Kass is worried that this girl is now too far gone.

Nope.  Game of Thrones and the above mentioned dramas are at core theology lessons.  Theology draws us back to God, once we have re-hab-ed our way out of the delusion that we are god.  To quote Oprah, “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” ― Oprah Winfrey

Worked for the delusional Walt Whitman as well.  Celebrate yourself!  Then what?

God gave us everything.  What do we do with health, finance, family, home, friendships, or integrity?  Do we cave in to "what the heart wants?"  Yep.  More often than not, we do.  Our faith, if we were ever rooted in one, might get us to snap out the need to celebrate ourselves - to be the very bestest me there is - and actually lend a hand to the work around us.

Some of us might become Whitey Bulger, or Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Some few of us might even become a Cardinal George, or a Gertrude Weil.

Most of us live in Flea Bottom, join the Lannister Army, or as Wildings. Some of us advance like the Onion Knight, Ser Davos Seaworth, the perfect model of working man, or the Bastard Jon Snow and find ouselves confronting our worst nightmares as well as pure human villainy.

The bad guys might win, the crumbs might have more in their checking account balances, but soldiering on and taking stock of lives and wondering if there is a right side to history, or whether God's plan includes your future comfort and good fortune are the very things that unite us. We are not 'special, entitled, or vital to life's path.'  We are here and that is good enough.

It took our culture decades to erase God.  It takes time to realize that fact and that God is not going anywhere.

Game of Thrones is not for children.  Game of Thrones is a theology test.

The Hound, Jamie Lannister, Arya Stark and even Little Finger can be redeemed.

Tomorrow, I shall talk about St. Callistus, a slave, an embezzler, a gang-leader, a cut-throat and back-slider who became Pope and a Martyr.

Go to church on Sunday and watch Game of Thrones.

More Than Kankakee County Fair, Lamancha Goats, Odd-Ball Bunnies and a Crab Cake BLT at the Longbranch in L'Erable, Illinois

"The goal that I aimed at in breeding American La Manchas was a breed that was able to produce 3½ to six quarts of fine-flavored milk with 3.5% or more butterfat over a period of one to four years between freshenings. They should have the w-way wedge body, strong legs well-placed, udders well-attached, both front and back, good barrel, short sleek hair, any color or combination of colors, horned or hornless, and head the size of Toggenburgs." Mrs. Eula Fay Frey American Breeder 1958. 

Pretty fair day at the Kankakee County Fair. The lightest of rains and the happiest of Americans celebrating the talents and the industry of future farmers, homemakers and patriots.

I love County Fairs.  They are generally free of political nonsense and all of the manure is produced by Beef and Dairy Cattle, swine, rabbits, fowls, shoe horses and the patter of the Carnies.

Kankakee County Fair is one of the best there is and so after 8:30 Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Morgan Park, the elegant Miss Sullivan and I motored south on 57 to Illinois Route 17 west for a breakfast at the legendary Blue's Cafes, where the prettiest woman and the homeliest men dine on real food. 

Then a trip down Wall Street and east to Route 52 South and Fair Grounds.

I parked at the very heel of the east lot, knowing that by mid afternoon the grounds would be jammed with cars, SUVS, Hill Billy Cadillacs and Customized Classics.  A $ 20 fee admits one and all for a daily visit, but you can purchase a $ 25 full term admission and opening day was only a Buck ($1).

The Fair Grounds is operated by a Board of Volunteers and offers use of the 87 acre facility not only for the Annual Kankakee County Fair, but also for weddings, concerts and races.   The grounds and its mission to promote American agriculture are on target.

This jaded urbanite learned to love the life rustic, when I taught at Bishop McNamra High School from 1975-1988.  Kankakee is the center of Illinois French Heritage and all of the surrounding townships south through Iroquois County reflect that influence.  Towns like Beaverville, Papineau, Martinon, St. Anne, St. George and Bourbonnais are steeped in French Canadian culture, dating back to the 1840's, when Pastor Chiniquy, the Pastor Michael Pfleger of his times, lured thousands of French Canadians to Illinois. Charles Chiniquy is only American Catholic heretic and schismatic, so far.  Most of the people remained faithful to the Catholic Church and a few families formed the Chiniquy Presbyterians, until the Presbyterians kicked them out.

I married a girl of French ancestry - Mary Cleary. Her Mom's family were from St. George and spoke French in the home; they were Duvals and Fortins.

The French farmed the best soil in Illinois and the Kankakee County Fair reflects that.

Upon entry to he fair grounds, the sponsors ( Case, John Deere, Mahindra, Oliver and tractors, discs and rakes) greeted the crowd. We would watch these brands compete in the Tractor Pull.

Then on to the livestock sheds!

Now, I have been to over thirty County Fairs, five Kentucky Derbies and eight hog call contests, but I have never seen anything like this weird looking son of a bitch. This blue ribbon winner from 7th grader Ms. Buente of Bonfield 4-H takes the prize with me too.

Not to be out done for strange the Lamancha goat was the next eye-brow raising exhibit.  Miss Sullivan lingered among the feathered contestants cockadoodle-doing up a cacophony only matched by Lalapalooza.  "They're birds for Crissakes."  Nasty, smelly foul tempered birds.  I hung with the swine.

Then lured Miss Sullivan to the goat pens and Lamancha goats. I learned about the Lamnacha goats from the Grand Prize Winner ( who asked to be nameless here) from Chebanse, "These are dairy goats and have been bred so.  Spanish goats from LaMancha produced great, high fat milk and they had remarkably short ears - gopher ers. But this is an American breed going back to 1958.  The ideal is to breed the shortest to non-existent ears."

I had always assumed that the ears had been cropped - I learned something yesterday.

The Sheep, the beef cattle and visiting African Leopard all took a backseat to the looming Tractor Pull.  The leopard was part of a Wild Animal menagerie for the little guys, but I loved watching the big cat nail chicken thighs.

That gal could eat!

Now, the tractor pull - To the uninitiated this sport appears rather odd.  To the initiated it is, but really fun, noisy and captivating. Here are the basics: "All tractors in their respective classes pull a set weight in the sled. When a tractor gets to the end of the 100 metre track, this is known as a "full pull". When more than one tractor completes the course, more weight is added to the sled, and those competitors that moved past 300 feet will compete in a pull-off; the winner is the one who can pull the sled the farthest."

Here is last year's event!    



This is yesterday's pull

This John Deere entry failed badly - barely hitting 200 feet.   I sent to purchase "the smallest scoop of strawberry ice cream in a Belgian waffle cone and a very small cup of water."  Dutifully, I succeeded in the former and failed miserably at the later.  The girls from Georgetown, Illinois looked at me like I had never eaten a funnel cake, when I asked for the water.  As if!!!!

It was time to stretch our legs and enjoy the wonders of the midway. Being a veteran Dad, I delighted in not going to any of the many ATM machines strategically positioned all along the midway rides and gaming booths.

Having spent the equivalent of a year's tuition at St. Ignatius College Prep, over the years of fatherhooding three wonderful children on carnival rides, duck ponds and darts, I declined the offers to give it a try and watched scores of Happy Pappies dig out the debit cards.

Our day was done at the Fair!  Now, it was time to dine À la manière de nos ancêtres français.  We were off to L'Erable and the fabled Longbranch Saloon.

L'Erable, Illinois is south of Kankakee in Iroquois County east of Clifton at the County Road junctions of 2400 S and 1500 E. Ashkum Township and is identified by St. John The Baptist Catholic Church and the Longbranch.

  It is in unincorporated

The Longbranch has always been a great place for food and drink, but 3rd Generation owners: Nick & Lindsay Bohn have brought more pizazz to the menu with Cajun Shrimp & Andouille Pasta, Steak Parmesan and Prime Rib done to perfection.

The bar is welcoming and if you don't care for IPA you ordered on friend's recommendation, a chilled bottle of whatever else you like is uncapped and poured in a cold glass with so much as a raised eyebrow.

I had the CrabCake BLT -  Miss Sullivan Longbranch Burger We took restorative stroll to the Church and its War Memorial before heading north to Chicago.

Miss Sullivan dozed contentedly as I rode the speed limit through the soybeans and tall corn to 111th Street.  I dozed not all but delighted in a more than fair day.

The Mystery Lingers: Was Wyndham Lathem a Test Tube Baby? Where's He From, for Crissake?

Early life[edit]
Wyndham Lathem was born August 10, 1974.[1] He completed his AB in biology at Vassar College (1992-96). He was a research technician at Rockefeller University from 1996 to 1998 in the laboratory of James E. Darnell, Jr. He earned his PhD from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in microbiology (2003) in the laboratory of Rod Welch.[2]  Wikpedia 8/06/2017

Wyndham Lathem was born.  Was he?  Was he really? Where exactly?

Before his Vasser ( one of the elite Seven Sisters until 1969) years, did young Wyndham have any social, educational, or civic intercourse with other carbon footprints?

The only place offering any bit of information on this Northwestern University plague hunter, who took to the streets on the Day of Science Baby Finger Poke in Trump's Eye, is Heavy - another Top Story website.

At least on these pages, as opposed to Northwestern University, The Chicago Tribune, DNAinfo Chicago and the always daffy Sun Times, someone took to the time offer some background on the  alleged Ted Bundy of Evanston.

We know something about the other suspect, Oxford bean counter Andrew Warren:

 Warren Worked in Payroll for a College That Is Part of Oxford University
Both Warren and Lathem work for prominent universities; Professor Lathem was a researcher into the “Black Death” plague at Northwestern, and Warren was linked to Oxford.
It’s not yet clear how Warren knew Lathem or Cornell-Duranleau.
According to CBS Local, Warren is “a senior treasury assistant at Somerville College, a part of the University of Oxford in Great Britain.” (The victim’s name was given as Trenton Cornell-Duranheau by many news sites, but his obituary spells it Duranleau).
Somerville College listed Andrew Warren as an employee but has now deleted his page from its website. He worked in payroll, according to UK Daily Mail.
Warren’s LinkedIn page says he’s from Swindon, United Kingdom and lists only the Somerville College employment. . . . Daily Mail reports that Warren, who was also called “Andy,” left behind a “heartbroken boyfriend Martin Grant, 44, who has been a relationship with the murder suspect since at least 2011” and both the sister and boyfriend “have been desperately looking for him ever since.” Warren, a former bus driver, had never been to America before, the news site reported. His neighbors told British media that Warren would help them out, according to UK Mirror.
Those who knew Warren in England told Daily Mail he was a “gentle lad” they couldn’t imagine was capable of murder and who lived in his childhood home until his father died recently; the news site reported that authorities in England confirmed he’d been reported missing the day after he “secretly” flew to America.

The Professor?  Wyndham Lathem?  He was Born, graduated from Vasser, Wisconsin at Madison, hateed plagues and Trump and disappeared.


Was Wyndham a test tube baby?  An invitro pioneer?  Spawned in lab? Grew up like a mushroom and slaughtered a hair dresser?

Might as well wait.  Warts go away quicker than Chicago journalist develop an interest in aything, but smearing cops, worrying about the Trumpopoclypse and propping up City Hall.

Read the CAPS bulletin's there is more there, there.

Is NW Professor Wyndham Lathem from St. Tommy More Parish?

Professor Wyndham Lathem, Northwestern University - not a member of the Flags Club, Canaryville USA, Illinois Prince Hall Masonic Lodge, or Chicago Polish Highlanders


Quis, quid, cur, quomodo, ubi, quando, quibus auxiliis (  Who, what, when, where, why, in what way, by what means) Boethius.

Old Boethius knew his journalism and it got him locked up by Emperor Justinian.   He could not work at the Chicago Tribune, or Sun Times for that matter.

Case in point is the mystery surrounding Professor Wyndham Lathem in the awful murder of a young cosmetologist.

We got the quid, quando and the quomodo in this story -

• QUID -Murder most foul, to be sure.  A 26 year old cosmetologist from Lennon, Michigan was savagely mutilated 
• QUANDO- It seems that the professor at some point had opened his living quarters to young Trenton Cornell-Duranleau. the victim had lived in Heart of Chicago ( 2200 S. Wood Street) neighborhood. 

• Quibus Auxiliis- via  "multiple sharp force injuries," in the Gold Coast apartment of one Prof. Wyndham Lathem.

The QUIS is lacking - especially concerning Wyndham Lathem. 

Three days before the ghastly the slaughter of Trenton Cornell-Duranleau, a man from Oxford University arrived, by the rather plebian name of Andrew Warren joined the couple on Chicago's tony Gold Coast.

Wyndham Lathem and Andrew Warren drove to Lake Geneva Wisconisn where one of the two donated a check in the amount of $1,000 in memory of the mutilated Cornell-Duranleau. The couple subsequently drove to the San Francisco/Oakland areas to surrender to police authorities.

We know the back story of the victim and also the man who accompanied Wyndham Lathem to Lake Geneva and  rebel California, but absolutely nothing about Wyndham Lathem.

You see, Northwestern University immediately scrubbed its website of any particulars concerning Professor Wyndham Lathem.  Perhaps, that is Northwestern University's way of cooperating with police authorities.

However, it leaves a huge whole in the narrative concerning the crime that has managed to spark the interests of Chicago's media, unlike the stabbing of a man sitting on a bench at 6500 S. Racine. yesterday, or April's slashing of  50 year old man in Gresham at 8500 block of South Peoria Street - no arrests have been made.

We get the back-stories of victims and killers in Chicago, especially if the police were in anyway involved.  A professor made a statement in the Chicago Reader recently that speaks to the media priorities - "A felony murder charge for an arrestee where a police officer has killed somebody is an indicator that the police officer probably engaged in misconduct.”  Got that?  A legal scholar from University of Buffalo, no less, said that.

Every scintilla of information concerning the cops involved is splashed on the pages of the Chicago Tribune, Sun Times, Chicago Reader, Windy City Times, and DNAinfo Chicago for weeks on end, like the sanguine fluids of Trenton Cornell-Duranleau in the aprtment on north State Street.

However, we know little to nothing concerning Professor Wyndham Lathem - no Quis

• WHO are his people, the Lathems ?
• WHERE is Wyndham in the line of birth and did that birth take place?
• WHAT else has Wyndham Lathem done in his past?

I can safely say that Professor Wyndham Lathem did not play some football at Mount Carmel High School back in the day. That is a deduction based upon his name, which seems more at home on the cross-country team.  Flawed deduction no doubt, but then, again, I am no professor.

I am a Cur, as my Aunt Margarite always called me - a yapping mongrel puppy who always asked why.

He ain't from St. Tommy More Parish, even though both playgrounds spawned males prone to physical violence.

He ain't a member of the Flags Club

He ain't a member of the Illinois Prince Hall Masonic Lodge at 43rd Street. 

He ain't a member of the Polish Highlanders.

• Why did Northwestern scrub the biography?

• Why is there no background story on Wyndham Lathem?

This is a mystery in itself.

Were this man 'Officer Wyndham Lathem, CPD' we would know his last bikini wax job and how he did on the New York Times Cross-word Puzzle.