#lance crow

[evil-octopi]

I picked up this Mashle tumbler in a misc bin at a random shop somewhere Akihabara. I am not sure if it was a prize item originally, but since Mashle merch is not too common I picked it up. It's not a big glass, but it does have the four main male characters on it. Sadly it did not have Lemon-chan on it.

[wutbju]

After more than decade of service, Upstate police chief announces retirement

Chief Lance Crowe says he will work for CPA firm in Greenville

Bob Jones University Class of 1990 alumnus, Lance Crow is retiring from his police chief position in the Travelers’ Rest police department. 

After serving a Greenville County city for more than 12 years, the chief of police there has announced he is retiring.

Travelers Rest Police Chief Lance Crowe sent an email to the media Monday informing the public of his decision.

"I have accepted an offer for what I expect to be a very rewarding and challenging position of firm administrator for a successful CPA (certified public accounting) firm in Greenville," Crowe wrote.

Crowe said he would remain at the post for another three weeks before stepping down.

The interim chief will be Capt. Tim Kelley, Crowe said.

Below is the full text of his letter to the media: "Dear media colleague,

"After discussing it with the Travelers Rest Police Department team this morning, I announced to the Travelers Rest City Administrator and Council my intention to retire on September 13, 2018. While I was eligible for retirement in December of 2016, this decision was not made lightly, as I have grown to love and respect the Travelers Rest community and the public servants who give their all to its safety and well-being. My time in Travelers Rest now makes up more than half of my law enforcement career.

"I have accepted an offer for what I expect to be a very rewarding and challenging position of Firm Administrator for a successful CPA (certified public accounting) firm in Greenville.

"I can honestly say that during my 12+ years as the chief of police (and by extension, our PIO), I have enjoyed my relationship with our local media. While I have colleagues who could never claim this for their own situations, I can count on one hand the number of times I have felt that a Greenville area media member was intentionally difficult, or did anything under-handed toward the agency or me. You have all been a joy to work with and I appreciate your cooperative spirit as we have worked together to convey truth to the public.

"I wish you all the very best, and I will always appreciate my partnership with the Greenville area media. I will be here for approximately three more weeks, but after that I expect you will need to contact Captain Tim Kelley for media-related issues, at least in the interim.

"Thank you,

"Lance Crowe"

[mslocavoracious]

on darkness and light... embracing darkness

Embracing Darkness & Rain to Transform Grief, Sorrow, & Anger  

Like most people, I used to consider rainy days dark, dreary and depressing, especially when they lasted longer than a few days -- which in Vancouver is often.  It has rained here for the proverbial 40 days and 40 nights, by which time the whole city has succumbed to Seasonal Affective Disorder, and become depressed.  (We joke about building arks to keep ourselves from jumping off buildings en masse.)

I made my peace with rain and grey days with the help of my own spirituality, neo-pagan, which embraces the dark, seeing it as a beautiful balance to the light.  But the clincher that turned dark days into delight was a Navajo song: Our Four Sacred Thunderbirds, by Lance Crow et al. 

I now go into the pouring rain, warmly clad in the 100% wool cape I sewed nearly 40 years ago, and wool fedora, sans umbrella, my arms outstretched and open to the skies, singing "Our Four Sacred Thunderbirds, make it rain, make it rain."  Embracing the rain, and the pain, not hating or fighting it.  Using ithe rain to transform my emotions:  "Wash away the pain, wash away the sorrow."

I give my pain, hurt, anger, or sorrow to the universe, and the rain washes it away. 

I don't use it to wash away feelings unfelt, using the rain as a panacea like a pain pill.  Only after the feelings are fully expressed or grieved, and ready to be released.  Having begun the process by turning them into humour or writing. Then, and only then, do I walk into the rain to rinse away the remnants.  

I was doing this one rainy Vancouver day, singing loudly as the streets were almost deserted in the deluge, when a man ran up to me, raised his arms to the sky in imitation of me, and said, curiously, "What are we doing?"  

I explained the song, and my philosophy of rain.  Embrace it, use nature to wash away feelings felt fully, but now needing to be released, not held onto. That I'd had a particularly difficult argument with a loved one, and was using the rain for release, and cleansing.  

Wildly enthusiastic about offering your emotional or physical pain to the rain, the man introduced himself, and said he would try it the next time he had an argument.  "What a beautiful idea!" he commented.

I cannot take any credit for it -- the Navajo have a beautiful philosophy & spirituality that begins when they arise. Many mornings at dawn I play the stunningly beautiful video, Navajo Early Morning Blessing. Then I dance the world into being on my balcony, an idea filched from a Central American tribe that believes that  without their early morning dance, the sun would not rise.  

I agree.  So every morning I step out on my balcony, rain or shine, winter or summer, to welcome the four directions, the centre, the great above, the great below, then dance the world into being.  Being an insomniac, sometimes the sun has risen because I needed to sleep a little later to get enough rest.   But I still feel my dance helps the world remain on its axis, serenely turning.  It certainly grounds and centres my world, high in the sky in my eagle's aerie.  

Pagans, and sensible people of any religion, don't follow any faith blindly, but take only the best from it, adding the essence of their personal culture, and that of peoples from around the world, taking care not to appropriate.  Creating your own personal religion or spirituality, with ethics based on contemporary life, not the outworn edicts of long ago.   Enjoying the mythology, while rejecting it as historic truth.  Creating a living myth, yours alone. One ever-growing, and ever-changing, never carved in stone.  

Yes, rainy days can still seem dark, but never dreary, if I flow with nature, using her bounty, instead of fighting her, and demanding sun and light all the time. By enjoying the rain, I bring my own light into the world, and the rain transforms my feelings, and my surroundings.  

Rain has so many benefits, from giving much-needed moisture to plants and trees to bringing peace and gentle quiet to a noisy and beleaguered city.   Rain washes everything clean and fragrant, albeit briefly.  Even a glimpse of light becomes spectacular, and the sun remembered fondly, but not pined for.

The world becomes a more radiant place, the sun shines brilliantly on rain-silvered streets when the sun emerges after a rainstorm.

So walk in beauty, in every weather.  If you listened to the song linked herein, you'll know, after the part of the song extolling rain, come the lyrics: "Bring light, bring light into this world, our four sacred thunderbirds.."  After washing away the pain and sorrow, I am capable of doing just that.  If I can be radiant after trouble, I too help bring light into the world.  

Now, when it rains I see it as an opportunity, and ask myself, is there anything that needs to be released?  And out I go:  The rain cleanses the world and my spirit, my heart is light, and my soul flies free with the thunderbirds.