The Month of June
May 24, 2009History, holidays/events, personalities, birthstones and flowers: The month of June is the start of classes in the Philippines.
On the contrary, it’s the start of summer vacation in the western hemisphere.
June is the sixth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar. It has 30 days. In the Northern Hemisphere the longest day of the year, which marks the beginning of summer, falls usually on June 21. In the Southern Hemisphere this day is the shortest and is the first day of winter.
In the old Roman calendar that began with March, June was the fourth month. It must have been named in honor of the goddess Juno, who was the protectress of marriage; it is traditionally the month of weddings. Or it may have been named for the Junius family, one of whose members supposedly founded the Roman Republic.
Events:
- June 4, 1942 - Battle of Midway began
- June 6, 1844 - YMCA organized in London
- June 6, 1944 - D-Day Allied Forces landed in Normandy
- June 12, 1898 - Declaration of Philippine Independence
- June 14, 1777 - Flag Day: US Continental Congress adapted the flag
- June 15, 1215 - King John of England signed Magna Charta
- June 15, 1775 - George Washington, appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army
- June 17, 1775 - Battle of Bunker Hill
- June 18, 1812 - US Congress declared war on Great Britain
- June 18, 1815 - Allies defeated Napoleon at Waterloo
- June 20, 1837 - Victoria became queen of Great Britain
- June 25, 1950 - North Korea invaded South Korea - beginning of Korean War
- June 26, 1945 - United Nations Charter signed by 50 nations
- June 28, 1914 - Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria and his wife assassinated leading to World War I
Birthstones or Gemstones:
Moonstone, Pearl or Alexandrite
Flowers:
Roses & Honeysuckle
Personalities born this month:
- June 3, 1808 - Jefferson Davis. He was the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America and held office from February 18, 1861 to May 5, 1865.
- June 6, 1755 - Nathan Hale. An American hero and considered the first American spy. He is the State Hero of Connecticut. Famous for the lines - “I only regret that I have but one life to give to my country” in his speech before he was hung.
- June 8, 1869 - Frank Lloyd Wright. He was an American Architect, interior designer, writer, and educator who designed more than 1,000 projects, of which more than 500 resulted in completed works.
- June 12, 1924 - George Bush, 41st US President
June is coming
What’s new about June?
Month of June is coming…..
The Month of June
Juno was the Queen of the Gods. She gave her name to the month of June. She was the goddess of marriage, which partly explains why June weddings are so auspicious. The Greeks knew her as Hera.
June began with thirty days. Numa Pompilius reduced it to 29 in about 700 B.C. However, the Julian reform in 46 B.C. returned the lost day. It has held 30 days ever since. There is a rhyme commonly used to remember the number of days in each month. The first two lines of this poem are, “Thirty Days hath September, April, June, and November.”
June 14 is Flag day. It was originally proposed in 1877, the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the stars and stripes as the official flag of the United States. The flag is to be flown at all government buildings on this day. Even so, it was not until 1916 that Woodrow Wilson made it a national celebration, and it was left to Harry Truman in 1949 to sign a bill from Congress to make it official.
Father’s day is situated on the third Sunday in June. The idea for a day set aside for fathers originated in Spokane Washington, when a young lady, Sonora Smart Dodd, hearing a sermon on Mother’s Day in 1909, thought it was time that fathers also be recognized. The day was finally signed in as a national holiday in 1924 by Calvin Coolidge. It is traditional to unwittingly buy fathers gifts which they cannot possibly use. Roses are the official flower of the day. At one time red roses were worn to indicate a living father; white roses were worn to remember a father who had passed away.
The summer solstice is normally June 21st (sometimes the 20th). In the northern hemisphere this is the day with the most daylight. After this date the days begin to get “shorter”. Normally this day is not specifically celebrated in North America. However, other cultures do have celebrations. This is also the first day of summer.
June has the dubious distinction of loaning its name to a beetle, the June Bug. The scientific name for this insect is Phyllophaga crinita. It gets its name because it goes from a larval to adult state in June and emerges from the ground to mate. The June Bug is very much attracted to light and will swarm about a light on warm summer nights.
The birthstone for June is the pearl.
The structure of Codex Gigas
May 9, 2009Manuscript A 148 has always attracted attention because of its sheer size and the picture, on one of its pages, of the Devil enthroned in solitary state. Over the years it has gone by two pungent sobriquets: the Devil’s Bible and, in Latin, Codex Gigas – the Giant Book. In medieval times the manuscript ranked among the wonders of the world and was ascribed great material value. A note from the end of the 13th century on the inside of the front cover [f. 1v] records that the Benedictines of Podlažice, finding themselves in financial straits, pawned the manuscript with a Cistercian monastery in Sedlec (cf. de Hamel 2007, pp. 87-88). It was re-purchased for the Benedictines at the end of the 13th century by the wealthy monastery of Břevnov, the Archbishop of Prague deeming it right and proper for the treasure to be held by their order.
Codex Gigas contains numerous “I was here” inscriptions from the 16th and 17th centuries, testifying to its unfailing allure. As recently as the 19th century, two Czech authors, Josef Pečirka and Beda Dudik, pioneers of the scholarly study of the manuscript, inscribed their names in it.
The manuscript has also fallen victim to the greed of two famous art collectors. In 1594 Rudolph II had it transferred to his castle in Prague. The picture of the devil titillated his hankerings for the occult. Half a century later, Queen Christina added the manuscript to her splendid library at Stockholm Castle.
Codex Gigas has retained its powers of attraction right down to the present day. There is a picture of the opened volume in an American collection of stereoscopic pictures dating from 1906 and showing the sights of Stockholm. And in a series of Stockholm picture postcards published in 1929, the manuscript is made to represent the curiosities of the Royal Library.
Half the manuscript consists of the Old and New Testaments , but these, instead of coming both together, are separated by Latin translations of Josephus’ (Josephus Flavius) two works on the history of the Jews (Antiquitates Iudaicae and De bello Iudaico , Isidore of Sevilla’s encyclopaedic Etymologiae, in twenty books , and eight medical writings.
The first five of these latter are a collection of medical texts , mainly of Greek or Byzantine origin, which, under the title of Ars medicinae (The Art of medicine), were required reading for medical students in Salerno, southern Italy, from the early 12th century onwards. Ars medicinae, later known as Articella, eventually became, with certain additions made to it, a standard medical textbook all over medieval Europe. Ars medicinae addresses medical topics in both theoretical and practical terms. The last three medical treatises are devoted to practical medicine and were written by Constantine the African. He was a Benedictine monk at Monte Cassino in the second half of the 11th century and played an important role as Latin translator and European introducer of a number of Arabic medical writings.
The medical works are followed by the New Testament. This in turn is followed by the opening which constitute the core and quintessence of the whole manuscript, even though they come near the end of it, namely two full-page pictures, one of the Heavenly Jerusalem and, opposite, one of the Devil. The illustrated pages are surrounded by several leaves with coloured panels, partly blank, both before and after. The pages preceding the pictures contain a confession of sins in lettering twice as large as that of the other manuscript pages. Two of the following pages contain various conjurations written in the same large hand.
Next comes the Chronicle of Bohemia, the last lengthy text in the Codex Gigas , written by Cosmas of Prague. Codex Gigas is one of the most important of the fifteen known manuscripts containing the text of this chronicle, and indeed, the second printed edition of the chronicle, published in 1602, was based on it. The note recording the mortgaging of the manuscript also states that the Rule of St Benedict was once inscribed in it, after Cosmas’s chronicle. This is quite possible, because the remains of three excised pages are still visible. But the Benedictine Rule is a relatively short text, suggesting that the missing pages can have included another text as well.
The last fourteen pages are a Calendar, preceded by a list of names. These are probably the names of members or benefactors of a local monastic community. The Calendar has distinctly Bohemian features. Several saints are mentioned who were particularly commemorated in Bohemia, and there are also the names of deceased persons who are probably connected with the history of the Podlážice monastery or with Bohemian history in general. This Calendar is a very important document for the history of the Czech language. The last two pages contain material relating to the Calendar.
Translations of OT and NT
The Old and New Testaments are given in the translation known as the Vulgate, the history of which goes back to the translation work of Jerome, one of the Fathers of the Church. But the Acts of the Apostles and the Book of Revelation here are both from an earlier translation, called Vetus Latina. These translations, made during the second half of the 4th century, represent a European textual tradition (as opposed to a North African one) and are very important evidence of the earliest versions of the Latin Bible.
The text of the Acts is very similar to the one which was used by Lucifer and is preserved in the form of long quotations in his own writings. The Book of Psalms is iuxta Hebraeos, the last of the three versions of the book prepared by Jerome in the closing years of the 4th century, this time straight from the Hebrew. The various alphabets of the three biblical languages – Hebrew, Greek and Latin – are reproduced on the first leaf of Codex Gigas, reminding us of the linguistic frames within which Jerome was working.
VULGATE
The Vulgate is an early 5th century version of the Bible in Latin which is largely the result of the labors of Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of the old Latin translations. Its Old Testament is the first Latin version translated directly from the Hebrew Tanakh rather than from the Greek Septuagint. It became the definitive and officially promulgated Latin version of the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church and ultimately took the name versio vulgata, which means simply “the published translation”. There are 76 books in the Clementine edition of the Vulgate Bible: 46 in the Old Testament, 27 in the New Testament, and 3 in the Apocrypha.
Detail from Cotton Faustina manuscript B. VII, folio 42v, showing a “Scutum Fidei” or Shield of the Trinity triangular diagram, with a representation of Christ on the cross. This is part of a ca. 1210 illustration to the Compendium Historiae in Genealogia Christi by Peter of Poitiers (or Petrus Pictaviensis) About 550, Cassiodorus made an attempt at restoring the Vulgate to its original purity. Alcuin of York oversaw efforts to make a corrected Vulgate, which he presented to Charlemagne in 801. Similar attempts were made by Theodulphus, Bishop of Orléans (787?-821); Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury (1070-1089); Stephen Harding, Abbot of Cîteaux (1109-1134); and Deacon Nicolaus Maniacoria (about the beginning of the 13th century). The University of Paris assembled lists of “correctoria” - approved readings where variants had been noted. Unfortunately, many of the readings recommended are now known to be interpolations.
Though the advent of printing greatly reduced the potential of human error and increased the consistency and uniformity of the text, the earliest editions of the Vulgate merely reproduced the manuscripts that were readily available to the publishers. Of the hundreds of early editions, the most notable today is Mazarin edition published by Johann Gutenberg and Johann Fust in 1455, famous for its beauty and antiquity. In 1504 the first Vulgate with variant readings was published in Paris. One of the texts of the Complutensian Polyglot was an edition of the Vulgate made from ancient manuscripts and corrected to agree with the Greek. Erasmus published an edition corrected to agree better with the Greek and Hebrew in 1516. Other corrected editions were published by Pagninus in 1518, Cardinal Cajetan, Steuchius in 1529, Clarius in 1542, and others. In 1528, Robertus Stephanus published the first critical edition, which formed the basis of the later Sistine and Clementine editions. The critical edition of John Hentenius of Louvain followed in 1547. In 1550, Stephanus fled to Geneva where in 1555 he issued his final critical edition of the Vulgate, which was the first complete Bible with full chapter and verse divisions, and which became the standard Biblical reference text for late 16th century Reformed theology (see also John Calvin, July 10, 1509 – May 27, 1564).
Composition
The Vulgate is a composite work, only some parts of which are due to Jerome.
- Old Latin, wholly unrevised: Prayer of Manasses, 3 and 4 Esdras, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, and 1 and 2 Machabees.
- Old Latin, more or less revised by a person or persons unknown, perhaps by Jerome: Acts, Epistles, and the Apocalypse.
- Free translation by Jerome from a secondary Aramaic version: Tobias and Judith.
- Translation from the Septuagint by Jerome: the Psalter, the Rest of Esther.
- Translation from the Greek of Theodotion by Jerome: Song of the Three Children, Story of Susanna, and The Idol Bel and the Dragon
- Revision by Jerome of the Old Latin, corrected with reference to the oldest Greek manuscripts available: the Gospels.
- Jerome’s independent translation from the Hebrew: the protocanonical books of the Old Testament, with the exception of the Psalter. This was completed in 405.
(See the large image of vulgate
http://timothyministries.org/theologicaldictionary/li.aspx?i=Prologus_Ioanni_Vulgata_Clementina_large.jpg&d=Prologue%20of%20the%20gospel%20of%20St.%20John%20from%20the%20Clementine%20Vulgate%20edited%20by%20P.%20Michael%20Hetzenauer,%20O.M.Cap.%20Biblia%20Sacra,%20vol.%20V,%20Regensburg:%20Verlag%20Friedrich%20Pustet,%201922,%20p.%20197.
The ideas underlying Codex Gigas
What was the function of Codex Gigas? Why this particular combination of texts? How are the different texts interrelated? What was the role of the pictures of the Heavenly Jerusalem and the Devil?
The historical works occupy a strikingly large portion of the manuscript. The entire volume runs to 310 leaves. Leaving aside the Old and New Testaments, which are historical narratives par excellence, there are three long historical works in the true sense, and they take up 100 of the remaining 150 leaves. They comprise two works by Josephus and one by Cosmas of Prague, plus two works of a certain historical character, namely the list of names mentioned above and the Calendar with its necrology.
Another 40 leaves are taken up by the Etymologies of Isidore of Sevilla, the main purpose of which was, by investigating the derivation of words, to answer the question of the origin and genesis of the entire universe in all its forms, all human activity included. The work’s original title was Origines (Origins). From this point of departure, Etymologies gives a broad description of human history in general and the history of the Church in particular. The work was compiled in a time of change, the beginning of the seventh century, when the Catholic Church in Spain had defeated Arianism, the version of Christianity embraced by the Visigoths. This was a decisive period during which the need was felt for retrospect and summarisation. The past in all its variation was to be made visible.
The disposition as a narrative in itself
The character of Codex Gigas as a work of historiography is accentuated by the disposition of the texts. The Old Testament narrative of the history of the Jews is supplemented by the histories of Josephus, extending right down to the author’s own times, i.e. the first century of the Christian era. A brief passage in Antiquitates Iudaicae (in fact a later interpolation) concerning the Passion of Our Lord signals the beginning of the narrative of the people of the New Covenant, i.e. the Christians.
The ensuing Etymologies deals at length with the history of the Christians. But Isidore was aiming for something far bigger: a summary of all knowledge at that time, from a Christian perspective. His work stands as an introduction to the New Testament story of the new age, of the age of the Church and the fulfilment of promise which had been ushered in by the appearance of Christ on earth. This was a focal point in world history, imparting new meaning to everything that had gone before. The Old and New Testaments are concerned with two orders, two covenants, two peoples. The first was only meant to prepare the way for the second. At the same time, the appearance of Christ on earth, God’s intervention in human destinies through His son, is but an adumbration of the approaching end, the Last Judgement, when the contest between good and evil will be decided, when the longed-for salvation, the ultimate goal of all the faithful, can be accomplished. And this is very expressively illustrated in the two famous pictures which, in juxtaposition to each other, adjoin the New Testament. On the left, Jerusalem, and on the right, the Devil – Heaven and Hell, Civitas Dei (the City of God) and Civitas Diaboli (the City of the Devil).
The historical arrangement of the manuscript acquires a moral-theological dimension through the perspective of the last things. Augustine, one of the Fathers of the Church, portrayed this historical drama of the human race in his City of God. The City of God, abode of peace, is man’s ultimate objective and the supreme good. The confession of sins preceding the picture of Civitas Dei is the necessary precondition of admission to the Kingdom of God. The exorcisms following the picture of the Prince of Darkness offer necessary protection from the harm which the very sight of Lucifer is capable of inflicting.
The New Testament concludes the Codex Gigas exposition of a history of the universe and all humanity, from the Creation to the foundation of the Christian Church. This history is played out against the background of the promised ultimate salvation. It is followed by the history of a single people, the Bohemians. Cosmas’s relation of Bohemian history is a story of the passage of time and of the changes to which man in his physical frailty is subject. Nothing is permanent. It is only when world history is viewed in relation to sacred history that the worldly acquires meaning. The short introduction to the chronicle, describing the earliest, mythical period of Bohemian history, is followed by the true beginning of the work – the story of the country’s Christianization. The people of Bohemia become part of the wider unity represented by the Church and in this way their history is encompassed by universal history. All the events which the author described are predestined and are seen as mere tools for God’s consummation of His purpose. The earliest history of Bohemia is also the history of the Benedictine Order.
The first book of the chronicle describes how Princess Mlada, daughter of Duke Boleslav I (929/35-967/72), travelled to Rome to study the monastic rules and eventually was given the Rule of St Benedict and the abbot’s staff by the pope, enabling her to found the first monastic community in Bohemia. Probably the Rule of St Benedict is the text which has been removed from its place in Codex Gigas, after the Chronicle of Cosmas. Perhaps it was intended as a counterpoise to the chronicle’s secular history. At the same time it led onto a narrative of hic et nunc, here and now, i.e. the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice.
In the manuscript the Rule is followed by a list of the names of various deceased ecclesiastics and laymen. This is partly destroyed and illegible, but it probably began with a short prayer for the souls of the dead. According to Beda Dudik, who has closely described the manuscript, it could be a list of persons granted indulgences by the monastery. (Dudik, 1852, p. 403)
The Calendar which follows reflects, with its saints’ names, the history of the Catholic Church in general and the Bohemian church in particular. It also includes a number of obits including the names of deceased members of a large monastic community, as well as the names of the monastery’s benefactors and various persons of historic importance. All of them were to be remembered by the monastery on their death days. Certain of the historically known persons had already died before the Podlažice monastery was founded in about 1160. Moreover, nearly all of them have been entered by the same scribe (who is also the scribe of the manuscript). The whole thing gives the impression of being a transcript made on one and the same occasion. These necrology entries in Codex Gigas differ appreciably from others of the same type, which are usually written by different scribes over a long succession of years.
Was Codex Gigas ever used?
The practical usefulness of the manuscript has been a topic of discussion, and the observation has been made that it seems difficult to use, owing to its size and the relatively smallness of the script. This is certainly true, but all the texts in the manuscript were of great importance to monastic life. The Bible and the Rule of St Benedict had to be read daily, and the names of the deceased members and benefactors of the monastery all had to be mentioned on their death dates at the daily chapter meetings. The works of Josephus and Isidore were very widely distributed and read during the Middle Ages and were very commonly included in Benedictine libraries. The Chronicle of Cosmas, written probably in 1110-25, was the most important work of its time on the history of Bohemia and was clearly connected with the Benedictine monastery of Břevnov, the country’s largest, because it was written partly on the initiative of the abbot of the monastery, Clement, to whom the second book of the chronicle is dedicated.
In addition, there are a number of minor traces of the manuscript actually having been used. There is the Latin word Nota (N.B.) which occurs in the margins at a number of points, written in different hands next to passages of particular interest (certain Nota marks, however, may have been transcribed from the exemplar). A number of thirteenth century prayers have been added in the margins, and at the bottom of each Calendar page we find the opening words of the various introits to the mass, with musical notation. Their use has not been made clear. Possibly they furnished guidance during the Sunday services. At the end of the medieval period the manuscript was given parchment leaf-marks, clearly showing that it was meant to be used.
The eight medical treatises which come after Isidore may also have had a practical use. They were probably intended as an enlargement of the fourth book of the Etymologies, which is about medicine, a field in which the Benedictines took a particular interest. The Benedctine Rule made care of the sick a prime monastic concern – ante omnia et super omnia. The abbot was to serve as father and teacher, shepherd and physician. In addition to an infirmary and a herb garden, every monastery had its library and scriptorium. The monastery of Monte Cassino in Southern Italy was famed in the 9th century for its school of medicine. And other Benedictine monasteries, such as St Gallen, Tours and a number of communities in the south of Germany, were known for their medical activity and their book collections on the subject. We know that the Benedictine Thiadagus from Corvey practised as medicus at the court of Duke Boleslav in Prague during the 11th century.
It may also be that there is a connection between the medical texts of Codex Gigas and the picture of the Devil, which according to Carl Nordenfalk may have been modelled on an anatomical plate. The medical texts are a reminder of man’s frailty, a memento mori in this symbolically charged book.
Codex Gigas amazes by its size, its decoration, the profusion of its contents and its sophisticated combination of different texts and pictures to impart power and eschatological depth to the presentation. It puts one in mind of the Book of Life mentioned in Revelation (Rev. 5:1, 21:27). With its various antiquated features both inside and out, the manuscript is unique for its age. Its Bohemian and Benedictine elements are clearly and articulately manifested. These characteristics are further underscored by a subsequent addendum, comprising a Glagolithic and a Church Slavic alphabet which has been glued to the pastedown of the front cover, beside the original three alphabets, namely the Hebrew, Greek and Latin. This addition was written during the second half of the 14th century by Abbot Divisius of the monastery of Břevnov and is one of the very earliest records of these two Slavic alphabets.
But was Codex Gigas really written in a small monastery in Podlažice, a monastery not known for any other manuscripts and hardly mentioned in the surviving documents? It really does seem as though the assistance of the Devil, as related by the legend, would have been needed. The legend also reflects the medieval belief that the slow, painstaking business of writing made the scribe deserving of remission of sins. But it was very tempting to invoke the aid of the Evil One when the assignment proved beyond one’s powers or downright dangerous.
Codex Gigas is in many ways sui generis – in a class of its own – with no real counterpart among other surviving medieval manuscripts, which does nothing to lessen its fascination and significance.
What are Key Urban Environmental Problems?
May 3, 2009Defining urban environmental problems 
While there is now widespread agreement that urban environmental issues are important, there is little coherence in how international agencies and others define the urban environment and identify its critical problems. This is not just a semantic question, as it is intimately related to how and where funds are allocated and to who can expect to benefit from the resulting environmental improvements. Most of the confusion arises from the qualifier ‘environmental’ and what it should mean in an urban context.
If urban environmental problems are defined and pursued too broadly, then almost all urban development initiatives can be labeled environmental. For example, Einstein’s oft-cited definition of the environment as ‘everything that is not me’, could be used to designate anything from better shopping facilities to better televisions as urban environmental improvement.
But if urban environmental problems are defined too narrowly, many of the generalizations noted in the introductory paragraph cease to be true. For example, defining urban environmental problems as ‘the degradation of urban water, air and land’ excludes many of the environmental health problems suffered predominantly by the poor, as well as the extra-urban impacts that threaten regional and global sustainability.
While both very broad and very narrow usage are common in the literature, when people complain of ‘environmental problems’ they are typically referring to damage to the physical environment, mostly caused by other people, and usually with harmful consequences for human welfare, either now or in the future. So common sense suggests that urban environmental problems are threats to present or future human well-being, resulting from human-induced damage to the physical environment, originating in or borne in urban areas.
This definition includes:
- Localized environmental health problems such as inadequate household water and sanitation and indoor air pollution.
- City-regional environmental problems such as ambient air pollution, inadequate waste management and pollution of rivers, lakes and coastal areas.
- Extra-urban impacts of urban activities such as ecological disruption and resource depletion in a city’s hinterland, and emissions of acid precursors and greenhouse gases.
- Regional or global environmental burdens that arise from activities outside a city’s boundaries, but which will affect people living in the city
It does not encompass:
- Problems in what are sometimes termed the ‘social’, ‘economic’ or ‘cultural’ environment.
- Natural hazards that are not caused or made worse by urban activity.
- The environmental impacts of urban activities that are of no concern to humans, either now or in the future.
The table presents a wide range of city-related environmental hazards. Despite their diversity, all fall within the definition, provided the phrase ‘resulting from urban activities’ is itself interpreted broadly. Most are the unintended side-effects of human activity in cities. Some might more accurately be ascribed to a lack of preventive measures. In all examples, however, better urban practices and governance could help reduce the burdens, and it is this distinction that is most critical operationally.
The urban environment in international development assistance
By and large, the definition given above is consistent with the perspective on urban environmental problems taken by most international development agencies (a notable exception being the Dutch government’s DGIS, which explicitly includes the urban social environment as a focal area, alongside the urban physical environment). However, a review of a range of bilateral and multilateral donors suggests that several factors skew the operational definition of environment away from many of the central environmental concerns of the urban poor:
- Responsibility for taking the lead on environmental matters is often assigned to divisions that are not directly involved in urban development assistance on the grounds that the environment generally, and natural resources in particular, are primarily rural concerns. Such divisions are unlikely to have the knowledge or influence to promote urban environmental issues. Moreover, they have a tendency to define environment in natural resource management terms, which can easily lead to ignoring the environmental health issues that are of particular concern to the urban poor. National and local environmental agencies in recipient countries, the natural counterparts of environmental staff in development agencies, also tend to define their role as one of ‘protecting’ the environment and to view most of the environmental threats in low-income neighborhoods as beyond their mandate.
- Broad definitions are employed to illustrate the importance of environmental issues but narrower definitions are used to construct environmental indicators, while still narrower definitions are typically employed to identify environmental programs and projects. Thus, for example:
• It is routinely noted that millions of deaths every year from diarrhea and respiratory infections could be prevented by environmental improvements.
• Statistics on household access to water and sanitation are only sometimes included in lists of environmental indicators.
• The projects that target such improvements are generally infrastructure projects and are labeled as such (i.e. they are rarely part of a donor agency’s ‘environment’ portfolio).This can easily give the impression that environmental initiatives are responding to a far broader set of environmental concerns than they actually are, while at the same time ignoring environmental benefits that can come from ‘non-environmental’ initiatives.
- Operationally, a distinction is often made between two different approaches to environmental improvement: investing in ‘stand-alone’ environmental initiatives and attempting to ‘mainstream’ environmental concerns into all development activities. It is generally held that ‘mainstreaming’ is ultimately more important. However, at least in its early stages, mainstreaming tends to define the environmental agenda in terms of reducing the environmental impacts of development in both urban and rural areas. Thus, in the urban context, the cross-cutting environmental goal is often expressed in terms of ‘protecting’ the environment or ‘preventing’ the degradation of urban water, land and air. Again, this can easily detract from the local environmental threats that are of particular concern to the urban poor.
- Pressure from Northern environmentalists has been an important factor in convincing international development agencies to address environmental issues. Northern environmentalists are usually more concerned with regional and global issues involving the natural environment than with local environmental health burdens faced by the urban poor. Again, this reinforces a tendency to ignore the environmental threats facing the urban poor although it does put pressure on development agencies to address global environmental issues.
As international and local interest and capacity to address urban environmental problems increases, new, more locally-driven environmental strategies are also emerging. Many cities in Europe and America, and increasingly in Latin America, Asia and Africa are experimenting with city-wide initiatives to address environmental problems. Bilateral and even more often multilateral donors have been supporting a number of these initiatives, often called Local Agenda 21s. There is still much to learn from these local initiatives, including perhaps how best to define urban environmental problems in their local context. Ultimately, while it may be useful to define urban environmental problems in the abstract, operationally it may be more important to respond to local initiatives in a coherent fashion, whether or not they fit some abstract definition.
| SCALE | TYPE OF HAZARD | SOME SPECIFIC EXAMPLES (This list of examples is not intended to be comprehensive) |
| Within house and its plot | Biological pathogens | Water-borne, water-washed (or water-scarce), airborne, food-borne, vector-borne, including some water-related vectors (e.g. Aedes mosquitoes breeding in water containers where households lack reliable piped supplied). |
| Chemical pollutants | Indoor air pollution from fires, stoves or heaters. Accidental poisoning from household chemicals. Occupational exposure for home workers. | |
| Physical hazards | Household accidents – burns and scalds, cuts, falls. Physical hazards from home-based economic activities. Inadequate protection from rain, extreme temperatures. | |
| Neighborhood | Biological pathogens | Pathogens in waste water, solid waste (if not removed from the site), local water bodies. Disease vectors, e.g. malaria-spreading Anopheles mosquitoes breeding in standing water or filariasis-spreading Culex mosquitoes breeding in blocked drains, latrines or septic tanks. |
| Chemical pollutants | Ambient air pollution from fires, stoves….; also perhaps from burning garbage if there is no regular garbage collection service. Air and water pollution and wastes from ‘cottage’ industries and from motor vehicles. | |
| Physical hazards | Site-related hazards, e.g. housing on slopes with risks of landslides; sites regularly flooded, sites at risk from earthquakes. | |
| Workplace | Biological pathogens | Overcrowding/poor ventilation aids transmission of infectious diseases. |
| Chemical pollutants | Toxic chemicals, dust…… | |
| Physical hazards | Dangerous machinery, noise….. | |
| City (or municipality within larger city) | Biological pathogens | Pathogens in the open water bodies (often from sewerage); also at municipal dumps; contaminated water in piped system. |
| Chemical pollutants | Ambient air pollution (mostly from industry and motor vehicles; motor vehicles’ role generally growing); water pollution; hazardous wastes. | |
| Physical hazards | Traffic hazards. Violence. ‘Natural’ disasters and their ‘unnaturally large’ impact because of inadequate attention to prevention and mitigation. | |
| Citizens’ access to land for housing | Important influence on housing quality directly and indirectly (e.g. through insecure tenure discouraging households investing in improved housing, and discouraging water, electricity and other utilities from serving them). | |
| Heat island effect and thermal inversions | Raised temperatures a health risk, especially for vulnerable groups (e.g. elderly, very young). Air pollutants may become trapped, increasing their concentration and the length of people’s exposure to them. | |
| City-region (or city periphery) | Resource degradation | Soil erosion from poor watershed management or land development or clearance; deforestation; water pollution; ecological damage from acid precipitation and ozone plumes; loss of biodiversity. |
| Land or water pollution from waste dumping | Pollution of land from dumping of conventional household, industrial and commercial solid wastes and toxic/hazardous wastes. Leaching of toxic chemicals from waste dumps into water. Contaminated industrial sites. Pollution of surface water and groundwater from sewage and surface runoff. | |
| Pre-emption or loss of resources | Fresh water for city pre-empting its use for agriculture; expansion of paved area over good quality agricultural land. | |
| Links between city and global issues | Non-renewable resource use | Fossil fuel use; use of other mineral resources; loss of biodiversity; loss of non-renewable resources in urban waste streams. |
| Non-renewable sink use | Persistent chemicals in urban waste streams; greenhouse gas emissions, stratospheric ozone depleting chemicals. | |
| Overuse of ‘finite’ renewable Resources | Scale of consumption that is incompatible with global limits for soil, forests, freshwater…. |
SOURCE: Satterthwaite, David (1999), The Links between Poverty and the Environment in Urban Areas of Africa, Asia and Latin America, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Commission (EC), New York.
Environmental Problems
Environmental problems can be found in all areas of the world. Some affect the water, others affect the air, and still others affect the land and the animals. Many environmental problems can be reduced or eliminated through corrective actions or proactive measures. Several of the more severe and widespread environmental problems will be discussed below. Water pollution is a prominent environmental problem witnessed across the globe. In some cases, water pollution occurs when pollutants drain into rivers, streams, lakes, and other bodies of water. Pollutants can be in the form of chemicals from fertilizers, pesticides, oil, gasoline, antifreeze, and even mulch or dirt. Sometimes rainwater washes the particles into the water bodies, as well. There are several preventative steps that can be taken to reduce water pollution: Air pollution is another environmental problem that is seen throughout the world. Air pollution can be created by factories or companies that release pollutants into the air. Oftentimes, the air pollutants may originate in one country and can easily blow across the border and pollute another country’s air. Other times, air pollution is less caustic but equally harmful for those with respiratory conditions. For example, even building household fires for warmth or burning land to clear an area for farming can release particulate matter into the air. In some areas, there are wood burning restrictions during times of high air pollution. Environmental problems can also include the well-being of threatened or endangered animals. For example, in the United States, logging of forest land was destroying the habitat of the Northern Spotted Owl, a threatened species. Consequently, after a lengthy lawsuit, logging was curtailed in those areas. In Central and South America, the rainforests are also destroyed to make room for farming. However, some unique and endangered species of plants and animals are also destroyed in the process. Global warming is another environmental problem. Greenhouse gases, such as carbon, are emitted into the atmosphere and are destroying the ozone layer, causing the earth to reach higher temperatures. Taking steps, such as reducing carbon emissions, can lessen this problem – according to some scientists. Using electric or hydrogen powered vehicles, solar power and wind power can also work to greatly reduce carbon emissions, as well as reduce dependence on non-renewable resources and foreign oil.
Truth about swine flue
What is swine flu?
Like people, pigs can get influenza (flu), but swine flu viruses aren’t the same as human flu viruses. Swine flu doesn’t often infect people, and the rare human cases that have occurred in the past have mainly affected people who had direct contact with pigs. But the current swine flu outbreak is different. It’s caused by a new swine flu virus that has spread from person to person — and it’s happening among people who haven’t had any contact with pigs.
What are swine flu symptoms?
Symptoms of swine flu are like regular flu symptoms and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills, and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with swine flu. Those symptoms can also be caused by many other conditions, and that means that you and your doctor can’t know, just based on your symptoms, if you’ve got swine flu. It takes a lab test to tell whether it’s swine flu or some other condition.
If I think I have swine flu, what should I do? When should I see my doctor?
If you have flu symptoms, stay home, and when you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth and nose with a tissue. Afterward, throw the tissue in the trash and wash your hands. That will help prevent your flu from spreading.
If you’ve got flu symptoms, and you’ve recently been to a high-risk area like Mexico, CDC officials recommend that you see your doctor. If you have flu symptoms but you haven’t been in a high-risk area, you can still see a doctor — that’s your call.
Keep in mind that your doctor will not be able to determine whether you have swine flu, but he or she would take a sample from you and send it to a state health department lab for testing to see if it’s swine flu. If your doctor suspects swine flu, he or she would be able to write you a prescription for Tamiflu or Relenza. Those drugs may not be required; U.S. swine flu patients have made a full recovery without it.
WebMD Provides Answers to Your Questions About Swine Flu
(continued)
How does swine flu spread? Is it airborne?
The swine flu virus can become airborne if you cough or sneeze without covering your nose and mouth, sending germs into the air. The U.S. residents infected with swine flu virus had no direct contact with pigs. The CDC says it’s likely that the infections represent widely separated cycles of human-to-human infections.
How is swine flu treated?
The new swine flu virus is sensitive to the antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza. The CDC recommends those drugs to prevent or treat swine flu; the drugs are most effective when taken within 48 hours of the start of flu symptoms. But not everyone needs those drugs; many of the first people in the U.S. with lab-confirmed swine flu recovered without treatment. The Department of Homeland Security has released 25% of its stockpile of Tamiflu and Relenza to states. Health officials have asked people not to hoard Tamiflu or Relenza.
Is there a vaccine against the new swine flu virus?
No. But the CDC and the World Health Organization are already taking the first steps toward making such a vaccine. That’s a lengthy process — it takes months. This year’s flu vaccine wasn’t made with this swine flu virus in mind; no one saw this virus coming ahead of time. If you got vaccinated against flu last fall or winter, that vaccination will go a long way toward protecting you against certain human flu virus strains. But the new swine flu virus is a whole other problem.
I had a flu vaccine this season. Am I protected against swine flu?
No. This season’s flu vaccine wasn’t made with the new swine flu virus in mind; no one saw this virus coming ahead of time.
If you were vaccinated against flu last fall or winter, that vaccination will go a long way toward protecting you against certain human flu virus strains. But the new swine flu virus is a whole other problem.
How can I prevent swine flu infection?
The CDC recommends taking these steps:
- Wash your hands regularly with soap and water, especially after coughing or sneezing. Or use an alcohol-based hand cleaner.
- Avoid close contact with sick people.
- Avoid touching your mouth, nose, or eyes.
Can I still eat pork?
Yes. You can’t get swine flu by eating pork, bacon, or other foods that come from pigs.
What else should I be doing?
Keep informed of what’s going on in your community. Your state and local health departments may have important information if swine flu develops in your area. For instance, parents might want to consider what they would do if their child’s school temporarily closed because of flu. That happened in New York City, where St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens closed for a couple of days after eight students were found to have swine flu. Don’t panic, but a little planning wouldn’t hurt.
How severe is swine flu?
The severity of cases in the current swine flu outbreak has varied widely, from mild cases to fatalities. Early cases in the U.S. were mild, but there has been at least one U.S. death from swine flu. And it’s impossible to know whether the virus will change, either becoming more or less dangerous. Scientists are watching closely to see which way the new swine flu virus is heading — but health experts warn that flu viruses are notoriously hard to predict, as far as how and when they’ll change.
Why has the swine flu infection been more severe in Mexico than in other countries?
That’s not clear yet. Researchers around the world are investigating the differences between the cases in Mexico and those elsewhere.
Have there been previous swine flu oubtreaks?
Yes. There was a swine flu outbreak at Fort Dix, N.J., in 1976 among military recruits. It lasted about a month and then went away as mysteriously as it appeared. As many as 240 people were infected; one died.
The swine flu that spread at Fort Dix was the H1N1 strain. That’s the same flu strain that caused the disastrous flu pandemic of 1918-1919, resulting in tens of millions of deaths.
Concern that a new H1N1 pandemic might return in winter 1976 led to a crash program to create a vaccine and vaccinate all Americans against swine flu. That vaccine program ran into all kinds of problems — not the least of which was public perception that the vaccine caused excessive rates of dangerous reactions. After more than 40 million people were vaccinated, the effort was abandoned.
As it turned out, there was no swine flu epidemic.
I was vaccinated against the 1976 swine flu virus. Am I still protected?
Probably not. The new swine flu virus is different from the 1976 virus. And it’s not clear whether a vaccine given more than 30 years ago would still be effective.
How many people have swine flu?
That’s a hard question to answer, because the figure is changing so quickly. If you want to keep track of U.S. cases that have been confirmed by lab tests and reported to the CDC, check the CDC’s web site. If you’re looking for cases in other countries, visit the World Health Organization’s web site. And when you hear about large numbers of people who are ill, remember that lab tests may not yet have been done to confirm that they have swine flu. And there may be a little lag time before confirmed cases make it into the official tally.
How serious is the public health threat of a swine flu epidemic?
The U.S. government has declared swine flu to be a public health emergency.
It remains to be seen how severe swine flu will be in the U.S. and elsewhere, but countries worldwide are monitoring the situation closely and preparing for the possibility of a pandemic.
The World Health Organization has not declared swine flu to be a pandemic. The WHO wants to learn more about the virus first and see how severe it is and how deeply it takes root.
But it takes more than a new virus spreading among humans to make a pandemic. The virus has to be able to spread efficiently from one person to another, and transmission has to be sustained over time. In addition, the virus has to spread geographically.
http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/flu-guide/20061101/swine-flu-faq?page=1
PADDY’S NEW GIRL FRIEND
May 1, 2009PADDY’S NEW GIRL FRIEND
by Joe Vadalma
Blarneys Bar and Grill was a favorite hangout frequented by people of mostly Irish decent. Next to its long bar was a juke box. A pool table was located to one side of it. Toward the back were five tables and a postage stamp sized dance area. Most mornings, the regulars came in for their pick-me-up. On Friday and Saturday nights, a local band played. On those nights the place was mobbed. The smoke was so thick you could cut it with a knife, and the volume of noise made conversation a shouting match. It was on such a Friday evening that Patrick O’Brien, a divorced man in his thirties and a regular, swaggered in and sat at the bar.
“What’ll it be, Paddy?” asked O’Shaunnessy, the six-foot-five hulk of a bartender.
“The usual, fire and brimstone.” Fire and brimstone was Paddy’s name for a shot of whiskey and a pint of Guinness.
O’Shaunnessy poured out a shot of rye, drew a pint of Guinness and set them in front of Paddy. Paddy picked up the whiskey, held it up, cried, “Satan get behind me,” and downed it in one swallow.
“Speak o’ the devil,” said O’Shaunnessy. “If it ain’t Miss Anysbryd. Ain’t seen you in a month of Sundays.”
Paddy glanced over his shoulder, and his mouth dropped open. Standing behind him, preparing to take the empty stool next to his was the most knockout gorgeous woman he had ever seen. Her low cut cocktail dress revealed cleavage so deep it was like staring into the bottomless pit. Her waist was narrow; her hip flaring. Her ivory sculptured face was capped by flaming hair. Her full lips were a devilish carmine, and the mascara on her green catlike eyes seemed to make them glow mysteriously.
“Oh O’Shaunnessy, don’t be so formal. I thought we were old friends. Call me Scarlet.”
The bartender grinned and said, “So, what’ll be tonight, Scarlet?”
“A brandy, I think.”
Paddy, after recovering from shock at having such a lovely woman take a seat next to him, although his heart still thumped wildly, asked, “May I pay for that, Scarlet?”
Scarlet turned and stared into his eyes. A Mona Lisa smile played on her lips. He gazed back, mesmerized. Her smile widened. “I never refuse a drink from a gentleman.” She turned back to the bartender. “Please introduce me to this fine man.”
O’Shaunnessy winked and introduced Paddy. Scarlet held out her hand. As Paddy brought it to his lips, he noticed that her fiery red fingernails were extremely long and pointed, like small daggers. “It’s always a pleasure to meet a lovely woman such as I find you to be, Scarlet.”
“Charmed.”
They clinked glasses and made small talk. “How is it that I haven’t seen you in here before?” asked Paddy. “O’Shaunnessy seems to know you well enough.”
“I’ve been away. Far away.”
The Irish band began a waltz, and several couples moved on to the dance floor.
“How about a bit of terpsichore?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Paddy led Scarlet to the dance floor, grasped her firmly and whirled her around in three-quarter time. When the music slowed as the band played a plaintiff love song, Scarlet laid her head against his chest, and they moved as one. After that they danced almost every set, stopping only to refresh themselves with O’Shaunnessy’s fine whisky and beer. Paddy was quite adept at all the different figures. He even did an Irish jig for Scarlet’s admiring eyes. Although the band play many Irish tunes, it also had a repertoire that included rock-and-roll, tangos, salsa, rumba, polkas and fox trots.
Paddy was delighted that this beauty seemed to enjoy his company. Since he divorced Mary, he had not been having much luck with the ladies. And her name, Scarlet, was unique in this neighborhood of Marys, Bridgets, Colleens and Kathleens. In Paddy’s eyes this enhanced her image as an exotic, mysterious sort of woman.
At the end of the evening, sweating, exhausted and a bit tipsy, Paddy offered to take Scarlet home.
“It’s aways,” she replied as they exited Blarney’s arm in arm.
“I’ll call a cab.”
“It’s easier to reach by subway.”
“Sure. Why not?” Paddy was agreeable, figuring he’d saved himself the cost of taxi.
They rode the subway downtown.
***
“We can enter my hotel right down here,” Scarlet said, taking Paddy’s hand to show him the way.
Strangely enough, instead riding an escalator up to the station entrance, they rode down. This confused Paddy, but he’d had enough Guinness in his system for him not to worry. At the bottom of the escalator was a doorway with a sign above it that said, “Welcome to Hotel Hades. Lowest rates in the city. Always a vacancy.”
The lobby was dark except for the light of roaring fireplace and a few well-placed stanchions with scented oil burning in cups on their tops. The place reminded Paddy of pictures that he’d seen in National Geographic of the inside of Egyptian pyramids. There was also a slight odor of rotten eggs. Paddy shuddered. There was something evil about the place that gave him a strong desire to leave. But Scarlet’s soft body next to his, as her arm encircled his waist, drove such thoughts from his mind. Nonetheless, Paddy was glad to enter the elevator to escape the ominous suffocating lobby atmosphere.
“What floor, Darlin’?”
“Thirteen.”
But when Paddy gazed at the controls, all the buttons were marked “Thirteen.” He pressed one a random and was surprised when the elevator descended, very fast and a long way. He scratched his head. Paddy, you may be drunk, he thought, but something ain’t right here. First the escalator goes down from the station and now this elevator is going down. I’ve never heard of no hotel what’s mostly underground.
Nonetheless, when it stopped, he and Scarlet exited, and she led him to her room. They stopped in front of her door, and Paddy stole a kiss. It was returned quite ardently, so he moved his hand over parts of her body. Her breathing became heavy, and her tongue, which was sort of strange, since it was forked, entered his mouth. Another thing Paddy noticed as his hands tangled in her hair, she had a pointed knob on each side, like tiny horns. When they came up for air after heavy petting, she asked, “Would you like to come in for a nightcap, Paddy?”
“Love to.”
After they entered, Paddy was a bit taken back by the decor. Everything was in shades of red and black and very plush. Since the hotel was billed as cheap, he figured that the rooms would be tiny and stark. He gazed around at the paintings on the wall, which were of nudes being chased by satyrs.
Scarlet went to the bar and mixed a purple concoction that steamed and boiled. Paddy sipped his slowly. It was bitter and strongly intoxicating. The room began to spin. It also had the same effect on a part of his anatomy as Viagra. Scarlet pushed him onto the sofa and said, “Be right back, Sweetie. I want to change into something more comfortable.”
After a few moments, she returned, stark naked. Although Paddy was well pleased by her gorgeous figure, he was a bit surprised to notice that she had a short tail with a barb at the end that wagged as she sashayed toward him. Moments later, she swept him up in her arms and carried him to her bedroom. On red velvet sheets, they had hellishly wild sex. So wild sometimes that they seemed to be floating around the room at times. Something happened that Paddy had never experienced before, multiple orgasms. He had always thought that such a thing was impossible for men. The entire experience made him fall head over heels in love with Scarlet.
When they were both exhausted, Paddy fell asleep. Sometime during the night, he awoke to the sound of chanting outside his door. He tiptoed to the door and glanced out. A dozen or so monks in ankle-length robes and cowls that hid their faces slowly paraded down the hall, holding candles and chanting in Latin. The word Diablo was prevalent in their chant. A faint stench of musty decay came from them that reminded Paddy of ancient corpses. Paddy shuddered and wondered, What kind of damned hotel is this, anyway?
He slipped back under the sheets and put his arm around Scarlet for comfort. Still exhausted from his earlier exercise with her, he fell back to sleep quickly. A few minutes later, however, he was awakened by a great thumping and growling in the room next door. He shook Scarlet awake. “What’s that?”
Scarlet patted him on the cheek and said sleepily, “It’s nothing. Just The Beast. It’s keepers will calm it down soon. They’ll feed it the sacrifice”
The Beast? Paddy thought and felt like running out that room and keep on running, but he was too frightened to move. Scarlet kissed him and soothed him until he finally returned to slumber land.
***
About noon Paddy awoke with a horrible hangover. He opened one eye to realize that he was back in his own bedroom. He ran to the bathroom and vomited. After he emptied his stomach, he took Alka-Seltzer and four aspirin. He sat on the edge of his bed and went over his mind the events of the night. Some things that happened were too weird to have been real. He wondered whether that lovely woman, Scarlet, had slipped him a mickey, perhaps a hallucinogenic drug. But why did she bring him back to his own room, he wondered. In fact, how did she know where he lived. His head still hurt. Nothing made sense about the entire evening.
He checked his wallet. Most of the money he’d started the evening out was still there, and none of his credit cards were missing. He concluded that Scarlet was not a thieving prostitute.
He showered, shaved and slipped into his old jeans and a tee shirt. By that time, his hangover abated, and he went down to the diner, where he had a breakfast of pancakes and eggs. After a second cup of coffee, he actually felt good. His thoughts turned to Scarlet, and the night that they’d had together. But what was real and what was dream? he wondered.
He wandered over to Blarneys. The bar was empty except for usual morning sots. O’Shaunnessy was leaning against the bar, waiting for the day man to count the register so that he could leave. “Say O’Shaunnessy, me memory’s a bit hazy about last night. Can you fill me in on what I was up to?”
The bartender chuckled. “You did have a few, especially after you picked up that woman, Scarlet Anysbryd. You two sure danced up a storm. I didn’t know you had it in you. You left with about two in the mornin’” He winked. “Can’t say what you did after that. Maybe you want to tell me all about it.”
Paddy winked back. “A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell. But O’Shaunnessy, old pal, you and the lady seemed to be old friends. What can you tell me about her?”
“We ain’t really friends, or anything else if that’s what you’re thinkin’. A couple of years ago, she was a regular. She flirted with a lots of guys. I think she went home with some that struck her fancy. I take her for a man eater.”
“Man eater? What do you mean?”
“Y’know. The kind of woman what takes up with a gent for a while and drops him like a hot potato when she tires of him. If I were you, I’d forget her. She’ll tear your heart out.” He dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “To tell the truth, I’m not sure she’s human. There’s something fae about her that make me think she’s a witch or somethin’ the way she bewitches men.”
Paddy nodded. But he knew it was too late; she’d already cast her spell on him. He couldn’t get her out his mind.
***
As Paddy strolled home, he wondered whether to come back to the bar that evening to see whether Scarlet would show up. When he went to the night stand to fetch his cigarettes, he noticed a business card. In blood colored script was Scarlet’s name and phone number. Scribbled below it were the words, “I’d like to see you again, Paddy Dear.”
Paddy’s heart leaped for joy. He almost picked up the phone immediately, but thought the better of it. After the night they’d had, she might still be sleeping. Jumpy as a cat, he wandered about the apartment, watched TV for a few minutes, went to kitchen and made a sandwich, paced back and forth and so forth, unable to settle on any one thing to keep busy. When the kitchen clock said one, he felt that was late enough. He dialed her number, six-six-six thirteen-thirteen.
“Hello,” she answered in a husky contralto that sent shivers up Paddy’s spine.
“Hi. It’s me. Paddy.”
She sounded genuinely pleased, which gave Paddy a warm glow. “Oh, I’m so glad you called, you little imp. I had a wonderful time last night.”
“Me too. I was wondering whether I could take you out to dinner.”
“I’d love to go out with you. What time can you pick me up?”
Paddy hesitated. The thought of returning to that weird hotel was daunting. “Perhaps we could meet somewhere.”
“Better yet. Let me pick you up. I’ve got a car.”
“Okay. Let me give you the address of my building.”
“No need. I know where it is.”
Of course. She’s brought me home somehow and left that card. Again, he wondered whether there wasn’t something supernatural about the whole business. Maybe she was a witch like O’Shaunnessy had said. Or worse.
When he didn’t reply immediately, she said, “Sevenish?”
“Yeah. Great. Ring the bell under my mailbox.”
***
The next several hours were agony for Paddy. His desire to be with Scarlet again was like an unscratchable itch. By six, he was dressed in his best suit, tie tight against his Adam’s apple, pants pressed to a perfect crease. He even cleaned the apartment and bought an expensive bottle of wine.
The ringing of the bell made him leap out of his seat like a man whose pants were on fire. He buzzed her in and waited by the open hall door. When she appeared, she was more luscious than he’d remembered. They kissed, sending him into a tailspin.
“Would you like a glass of wine before we head out to the restaurant?” he asked.
“Sure.” While he poured two glasses, she plopped down on his worn sofa and crossed her legs. They toasted each other and made small talk.
After a few minutes he said, “I made reservations at the Amor for eight. We’d better leave now.” A friend had told Paddy that The Amor was very fancy French restaurant.
When they went down to where she had parked her car, Paddy was taken aback. Her fire engine red Porsche convertible was sleek with white leather seats. By golly, the lady’s rich as well as beautiful, he thought.
As soon as he clicked the seat belt, Scarlet put the pedal to the medal. They screeched away from her parking spot, leaving a cloud of smoke and debris flying out behind them. The speed limit on the city streets was twenty-five. She had the machine up to seventy in minutes. They careened like crazy, in and out of traffic, going through stop signs and red lights like they didn’t exist. At one point, Paddy swore that they were flying. Before he could catch his breath to tell her to slow down a little, the sirens and flashing of a police car was behind them.
Scarlet turned to Paddy and winked. “Should we have some fun. This machine can easily outrun that cop. I’ve had it up to one seventy five.”
“No!! Please. Just pull over.”
She curled her lip into a pout, but pulled over to the curb. The cop stuck his head in the window. “Hey lady. Not only were you doing fifty miles over the speed limit, but you completely ignored every traffic signal. Are you nuts or what?”
She turned to him and smiled sweetly. “Oh dear, did I do something wrong?” She stared into the cop’s eyes for a few moments. Slowly, as though he were in a trance, he put away his book, tipped his hat, said, “Try to be a little more careful next time,” and walked back to his patrol car.
Paddy watched in wonder. He said, “Uh, no need to rush. We’re almost at the restaurant.”
She drove the rest of the way at a reasonable rate of speed, obeying all traffic rules.
***
They had a pleasant evening at the Amor, stretching out the meal for a couple of hours. The place was expensive, taking most of a week’s pay for Paddy. The food wasn’t terribly good nor were the portions large, but the waiter had the proper amount of haughtiness, and the atmosphere was dark and romantic. Paddy didn’t care. It was enough that he was with Scarlet. He enjoyed simply staring at her lovely face and bare shoulders as she talked.
After dinner and coffee, Scarlet asked, “Should we go back to my place?” She arched her eyebrows enticingly.
Recalling the previous night, Paddy said, “How about if we go to my apartment tonight? We could finish that bottle of wine we started.”
“If you like.”
Scarlet drove like a maniac through the almost empty streets and had them home in ten minutes. They began to neck and pet in the hallway. Shortly afterwards, they had torn each others clothes off. They didn’t bother with the bed, but did it right on the living room carpet.
Afterwards, Paddy stared into her eyes and said, “Y’know Scarlet, sometimes you scare me. Some very odd things happen when you’re around. O’Shaunnessy said that he thought you were a witch. And the way that cop left you off without giving you a ticket was strange. Tell me the truth. Are you human?”
She looked down. “I may as well tell you the truth. I’m not.”
“What are you?”
“An angel. Do you want to see my wings?”
This wasn’t what Paddy expected her to say. An angel? Really? “Yes. Show them to me.”
She stood up, and two enormous bat-like wings unfolded from her back.
“I thought angel’s wings were white and feathery.”
“They used to be like that. But I’m a dark angel; one of the rebels. When we were thrown out of heaven into the void, they turned black and leathery. I guess it was part of our punishment.”
“You’re a demon then, one of Satan’s minions.”
She looked downcast. “Yes. But some of us are not as bad as you’ve been told. Oh Paddy, I really like you an awful lot. But, I suppose as a good Catholic, you couldn’t have a girl friend who’s damned.”
Paddy’s heart thumped in his chest. She wants to be my girl friend. He felt like he’d found a four-leaf-clover, kissed the Blarney Stone and met a leprechaun all in the same day. “Well, I ain’t exactly a saint, meself. I even missed Easter mass this year. And a demoness ain’t so bad. It ain’t like you were a Protestant.”
They kissed and did the other thing. Paddy asked her to move in with him. She agreed. “I never did like that hellhole of a hotel anyway.”
***
So Scarlet moved into Paddy’s bachelor pad. He found that having a demon for a girl friend had several advantages. For one thing, their sex life was unimaginable. In addition, she was a great cook, although most of what she made was on the spicy side. Best of all, she could do magic. She’d snap her fingers, and the apartment was clean. She entertained their friends by performing what the friend thought were sleight-of-hand, but was real magic. She was always giving Paddy expensive presents that she produced out of thin air.
The couple were deeply in love. Their life was idyllic … until the day his mother called.
“Patrick, you’re breaking your poor mother’s heart. You haven’t called or visited in months. And now I hear that you’re living in sin with some floozy.”
Paddy flushed with the awful guilt that only a Catholic boy who’d neglected his mother could feel. “I’m sorry, Mom. But I’m very busy lately. And Scarlet is no floozy. I’d like you to meet her.”
“Scarlet? What kind of name is that? She’s not one of those Hungarians, is she? Why can’t you meet another Irish girl? You know you’ve sinned by divorcing that nice Mary O’Dary.”
Mary nice? She was as a big mouthed shrewish woman as I’d ever met. Nonetheless, he kept this thought to himself. “Scarlet is Irish,” he said weakly.
“Oh. Very well, bring her to dinner tomorrow night. We’re having your favorite, corned beef and cabbage.” Paddy hated corned beef and cabbage.
After he hung up, he said to Scarlet, “Uh, I’m bringing you to meet my parents tomorrow evening. We’re invited for dinner.”
“How lovely. We’re like a real human couple now.”
Paddy dreaded the encounter, but didn’t see anyway out it. His family would need to meet Scarlet sooner or later. “Uh Scarlet. I … uh … told them that you were of Irish decent.”
“That’s okay. I’ve always felt Gaelic. Back in the old days, the druids used to worship me.”
Paddy smiled weakly. He didn’t want to think of all the centuries that she’d been in existence. It made him feel like a teenager with a crush on an older woman.
***
Paddy had awful premonitions of absolute disaster as he rang the doorbell that faithful evening. His fifteen-year-old brother, Michael, answered the door. Mike took one look at Scarlet, cried, “Wow. What a hotty!” and licked his chops like a dog who’d just been given a sirloin. Paddy ruffled his hair and said, “And she’s all my mine, Mikey.”
Scarlet followed his lead and ruffled Mikey’s hair too, which made the teenager grin from ear to ear. “Hi Mikey. You’re almost as handsome as your big brother.”
Paddy’s father had been sitting in an easy chair, reading the newspaper. He peered over the edge, got a silly grin on his face and stood up.
“Pop, I’d like you to meet my friend, Scarlet Anysbyrd.”
His father took Scarlet’s hand. “It’s a great pleasure to meet such a fair lass. I never in my born days would’ve thought Paddy would’ve hooked such a beauty.”
“Thank you, Mister O’Brien. Now I know where Paddy gets his blarney.”
His mother came from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel. “Mom, this Scarlet, Scarlet Anysbyrd.”
His mother’s eyes went wide. She cried, “Anysbyrd is it.” She crossed herself. “Jesus, Joseph and Mary, Heaven save us.”
“What’s the matter, Mom?”
“Don’t you know that Anysbyrd means evil spirit in Gaelic? How did you come by such an awful name?”
Paddy and Scarlet looked at each other guiltily for several seconds. Finally, Scarlet spoke up. “I was orphaned at earlier age. The nuns at the orphanage called me that. I suppose because I was a mischievous child.”
“Oh you poor dear.” Paddy’s mother came over and hugged Scarlet.
During dinner, things went well. Among Scarlet’s many assets was that she was a good conversationalist. She knew several jokes about priests, the devil, the saints, the Catholic faith in general and the Irish, which the family enjoyed enormously. Afterwards, Paddy’s mother took him to the side and said, “She’s seem like a very nice Irish girl. You must make an honest woman of her.”
“I’ll ask her soon.”
“Why not tonight?”
“I need to buy a ring.”
***
True to his word, Paddy bought a diamond ring the very next day. A week later he got up the courage to ask Scarlet for her hand. After a candle lit dinner, he got down on one knee and proposed.
“You want to marry me, a demon, a succubus? Oh darling, ….” She began to weep.
“What you are doesn’t matter to me. I love you.” His eyes filled too. He was afraid that she was going to turn him down.
“I love you too. I know such beings as I am aren’t supposed to be able to feel love. But you’ve been so good to me, I couldn’t help myself.” She paused for several moments. “Yes Paddy, My Darling. I’ll marry you.”
They both started bawling and crying and hugging. Paddy was delirious with happiness.
Of course, Paddy’s mom insisted that the couple have a grandiose wedding within The Church. She met with Scarlet many times to plan the wedding. She picked out her wedding gown, her bridesmaids and their gowns, rented the hall for the reception, hired a band, ordered flowers, made out invitations and did everything else that needed to be done to make the wedding perfect. Scarlet merely had to nod her agreement with Paddy’s mother’s choices. Paddy rented a tux and hired a limousine. His best man planned a bachelor party at a strip club.
Two nights before the wedding, Scarlet came to Paddy with a worried expression. “Y’know Paddy, I’ve never been in a church in all of my long existence, unless you want to call Stonehenge a church. I don’t know whether I’ll know how to act.”
Paddy placed an arm around her. “Don’t worry. Simply walk slowly up the aisle. When you come up to the priest, just follow my lead. Do what I do or what the priest tells you. There’s nothing to worry about.”
***
Finally the great day came. First Paddy and the best man arrived and took their places by the altar. Next the church filled with Paddy’s relatives, friends and neighbors. The bride and her entourage arrived. As the great organ played The Wedding March, the flower girl sprinkled petals as she made her up the aisle,. Next came the ring bearer, followed by the bridesmaids. In pure white gown, her coiffured hair partially covered by her veil, Scarlet solemnly paraded up the aisle.
But something happened as she passed the last pew at the back of the church. A rumbling sound came from below, like the start of an earthquake. Next Scarlet’s pure white dress turned black. Smoke curled out of Scarlet’s ears. Before she reached the center of the church, she burst into flames and disappeared in a horrendous cloud of sulfurous smoke. A thunderous evil voice said, “She’s one of mine. Thou shalt not have her.”
Everyone in the church started screaming and running about. The scene turned to chaos.
Nobody was more stunned than poor Paddy. His lady love had gone all to Hell. And they hadn’t even gotten married.
The End
