Some Outsider Art of Mine

Pax et bonum

Googling

Someone suggested Googling one's name to see what we are known for. I Googled my name. The initial entry cites me for being active in the community, especially politically, and cites a community blog I used to do for the Democrat and Chronicle 20 years ago, but nothing about my pro-life involvement, my poetry, or my religious activities. Interesting. Very outdated!

Here's that first entry:

Lee F. Strong is a prominent local figure and political candidate in Gates, New York. He is best known for his community involvement, which includes serving as a long-time commentator on local Gates-area issues and running for the Gates Town Council as an independent or community-focused candidate. Over the years, he has also maintained a popular local blog discussing town governance, infrastructure, and community happenings.

I then typed in just Lee Strong and my town I got:

Parish Council Member: Lee Strong serves on the Parish Council at The Parish of the Holy Family, which is located at 4100 Lyell Road in Gates, NY.

Local Musician: Lee Strong is also known in the regional arts and music scene, occasionally participating in local artist showcases and community events in the Greater Rochester area.

Hey - my religious involvement and my folk singing showed up. But it left out politics and my wider community involvement.

Lee F. Strong and Gates produced:

Lee Strong is ... best known in the Gates community for his active involvement at The Parish of the Holy Family (4100 Lyell Rd, Gates, NY). He serves on the Parish Council and is listed as an active member of the parish staff.

I'm not on the staff, by the way. I just volunteer with the food pantry and serve as a lector, in addition to being on the Parish Council.

I then typed in my full name and Rochester, my mailing address:

Lee F. Strong is a Rochester, N.Y. area political figure affiliated with the American Solidarity Party. He is known for running as a write-in candidate for the Gates Town Board. 

During his campaign, he positioned himself as a pro-life, environmental candidate who actively opposed the uses of the Dolomite donated land. The American Solidarity Party platform he aligns with is broadly characterized as socially conservative (favoring strong nuclear families and the right to life) and economically progressive or distributist.

Now my political party shows up, and my environmental and pro-life concerns get finally mentioned.

Finally, I just typed in my name without my middle initial, and Rochester, and I got:

In the Rochester, N.Y. area, "Lee Strong" is primarily known as a long-time educator, community leader, and local folk musician.

Lee Strong’s prominent roles and affiliations in the region include:

Educator: He is a teacher at St. John Bosco Schools / Chesterton Academy in East Rochester, teaching English. Prior to this, he taught English and Social Studies at Our Lady of Mercy High School and was an acting principal and teacher at Lakeside Learning Center. He has over two decades of experience as an educator and a background in print and radio media.


Parish Council Member: Lee Strong is a member of the Parish Council at The Parish of the Holy Family in Gates, NY (part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester). He also actively assists with parish communications, faith formation, and event registration.

Folk Musician: He is an active performer in the local folk music scene. He performs at regional showcases, such as those hosted by the Golden Link Folk Singing Society at the Greece Baptist Church.

Once again, the parish information inflates what I actually do. The entire last sentence of that part of the post is wrong.

At least that one alludes to my more than a decade as a print reporter/editor, and my more than 20 yeas on radio.

Curious, I then typed in my name and the city where I grew up, Geneva N.Y.: 

Public records and historical archives show multiple connections to the name Lee Strong in and around Geneva, New York:

Journalism: Lee Strong was a senior staff writer for the Catholic Courier (the newspaper of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester) who covered the Geneva, N.Y. region in the 1990s.

Community & Faith: A Lee Strong served as the Minister (OFS, Order of Franciscans Secular) for a local fraternity based in Geneva, N.Y.

Historical Records: Historical newspaper archives from 1963 list a "Lee Strong" residing at 71 Lyceum St. in Geneva, N.Y.

Finally, the reporter/editor portion of my life gets mentioned, as does my involvement with the Secular Franciscan Order. As for my street address, I did live there, but only for a couple of years. I lived in a house on the outskirts of the city for most of my time in Geneva.

Bottom line: You need all of the entries to get a fuller picture of who I am, and even then there are inaccuracies and things left out - like my years as an actor/ director/playwright, and my many pro-life activities.

Pax et bonum

St. Bonaventure and Friends

Today is the Feast Day of St. Bonaventure. 

St. Bonaventure was a brilliant scholar, a mystic, a biographer of St. Francis of Assisi, and is a Doctor of the Church.

And he was a Franciscan.

The Franciscan family includes three orders - a Frist Order with priests like St. Bonaventure, a Second Order for women religious, and a Third Order (now called Secular Franciscan) for lay people. (The Seculars can also include diocesan priests and deacons.)

Like St. Bonaventure, Franciscan family has across the three orders produced many saints.

St. Francis and St. Clare are well known. So is another early Franciscan, St. Anthony of Padua.

The roll of Franciscan Saints over the centuries includes:

St. Joseph of Cupertino (noted for levitation!)

St. Elizabeth of Portugal (a queen noted for her service to the poor and sick)

St. Lawrence of Brindisi (another Doctor of the Church)

St. Benedict the Moor (a son of slaves)

St. Bernadine of Siena (a great preacher and reformer)

St. Thomas More (who remained faithful to the Church against King Henry VIII)

St. Elizabeth of Hungary (a princess who was devoted to works of charity and who is a patroness of the Secular Franciscan Order)

St. Margaret of Cortona (a penitent who inspired us to name our home for pregnant women chose life, The Margaret Home)  

St. Junipero Serra (who founded missions in California and defended Native Americans against the Spanish colonists) 

St. Marianne Cope (who served the lepers of Molokai)

St. Maximilian Kolbe (who lost his life at Auschwitz)

Pope St. John XIII (who called for Vatican II)

 

St. Padre Pio (noted as a miracle worker and, like St. Francis, a Stigmatist) 

And so many more!

Pax et bonum

The Clearwater Banner Flap

I am a long-time fan of Pete Seeger. I applauded his environmental efforts to clean up the Hudson River, including the sloop Clearwater that he and his fellow activists used to promote cleaning up that river and fostering environmental awareness.

The Clearwater was in the news again July 4 when it was not allowed to take part in the tall ships procession in New York.

Procession organizers made the right decision.

The tall ships event was intended to be celebratory and non-political. Organizers had made it clear beforehand that the ships were not to include anything that might be political in nature. Despite that requirement, the Clearwater folks decided to include banners with messages.

Now while I agree with the messages on the banners, the rules were clear, and the Clearwater folks were violating them.

They were asked to remove the banners and were told if they did so they could participate in the procession. They refused. So, they were then informed they could not participate.

Note: They chose to violate the rules, and then they chose to refuse a reasonable request. They were "booted" - but more properly and accurately, they by their actions chose not to participate. 

When I heard about the flap, I thought of Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet. 

MERCUTIO
Thou art like one of those fellows that when he
enters the confines of a tavern claps me his sword
upon the table and says 'God send me no need of
thee!' and by the operation of the second cup draws
it on the drawer, when indeed there is no need.

By their actions they created a controversy that could have been avoided. 

I hope none of their supporters try to play the victim card or start screaming "free speech>" Courts have consistently ruled even protected speech can be limited in time, place, or manner in some circumstances.

As I said, I agree with the messages on the banners. But there is a time and a place for such a display. 

This was not that time or place.

Pax et bonum

General Strong Vincent, a Hero of Gettysburg

The pivotal Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1-3, 1863. On July 2, the Confederates tried to take Little Round Top, and one of my distant relatives was a hero who helped to repulse their attack, suffering a mortal wound in the process.

Strong Vincent was the son of B.B. Vincent and Sarah Ann (Strong) Vincent. It is through her that he is related to me.  

At the start of the Civil War he enlisted with the Pennsylvania militia, rising to the rank of Colonel. At Gettysburg on July 2, he and the brigade he commanded were ordered to the top of Little Round Top to repulse a Confederate attack.  While urging his troops on, he was shot in the thigh. He died five days later. Before he died, in recognition of his heroism, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. 

Pax et bonum

Recent Pro-life Haiku

Some observations outside Planned Parenthood.


Yes, one pro-lifer did pick up broken glass from the clinic's driveway out of concern that people driving in or out might get a flat.


leaving the clinic
girl in the front seat
avoids making eye contact


clinic escort
answers pro-lifer's greeting
with an expletive


clinic driveway
pro-lifer stoops to pick up
some broken glass


passing cars' gestures
pro-lifers relabel them
as saying "One way"



healing Mass 

a woman weeps for the child 

that she never held

Pax et bonum

Reading Tally At Mid Year

As I have done for several years now, I set reading goals for 2026. The goals include total number of works, total number of pages, and some specific goals related to particular writers, books, and genres. At midpoint in the year, and not likely to finish another work before the end of June, it's time to see how I'm doing.

I wanted to read 60-70 works, and 15,000 pages. I'm up to 35 works and 7,800 pages so far, so I'm on target to meet those two goals.

As for other goals, I've met the vast majority of them already. Here's the list from the beginning of the year, with the ones I have not done yet bolded:

A biography/autobiography of a saint

A book about a saint

A secular biography

At least two documents of Vatican II

Several spiritual works

A book by G. K. Chesterton I have not yet read

A book about G. K. Chesterton

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil by J. R. R. Tolkien

A book by C. S. Lewis, possibly a reread.

A book by Charles Dickens I have not yet read (Our Mutual Friend?)

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

A book by Michael O'Brien

A book by Dostoevsky (The Possessed?)

 At least one history book

 Several mysteries

 Several poetry collections

 Several plays

I'm currently reading Dostoevsky's The Possessed, so that goal will be completed in the coming weeks.

I'm still trying to decide which Chesterton book to read. though I'm leaning toward Tales of the Long Bow. I have read a couple of his short plays, but when I set this goal I was thinking one of his longer works.

In looking ahead, there are some books I want to read because they've been gathering dust, and some of which will end up being donated as I work on downsizing.

Here's what I have read so far:

Satan and the Saint (St. Jean Vianney) by Alex LaPerchi

Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Vatican II)

Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Vatican II)

A Man of Faith (Father Patrick Peyton) by Jeanne Gosselin Arnold

The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence

Mission of Grace: The Story of Saint Marianne Cope by Fran Gangloff, OFS  

American Pontiff: Pope Leo XIV and the Plan to Heal the Church by Paul Kengor

The Weight of Glory by C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis and the Catholic Church by Joseph Pearce

The Gift of Wonder: The Many Sides of G. K. Chesterton edited by Dale Ahlquist

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil by J.R.R. Tolkien

Letter to the Future by Michael D. O’Brien

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace by H. W. Brands

The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman

The Point of It All by Charles Krauthammer

Missing, Presumed Lost by Fiorella De Maria

May Day!  by Fiorella De Maria

The Loch Ness Papers by Paige Shelton

Death at a Scottish Christmas by Lucy Connelly

Death of a Cad by M. C. Beaton

Absolution by Murder by Peter Tremayne

The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde

Long Day’s Journey Into Night by Eugene O’Neill

The Turkey and the Turk by G. K. Chesterton

What You Won’t by G. K. Chesterton

Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein

A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen

An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen

The Frog Prince and Other Poems by Stevie Smith

Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake

My Heart’s in the Highlands: An Anthology of Verse by Robert Burns

Poems of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Selected by Babette Deutsch)

Highlights of the year so far?

The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace by H. W. Brands, The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman, Missing, Presumed Lost by Fiorella De Maria, May Day!  by Fiorella De Maria, and Letter to the Future by Michael D. O’Brien.

As I mentioned, I am currently reading The Possessed, so I will meet that goal in July. I'm also reading a collection of talks by Pope Benedict, The Apostles, and will finish that fairly soon.

I'm saving Our Mutual Friend for August and our summer vacation at the cottage.

I have in the queue as possibilities: The Little Flowers of St. Francis, Dear and Glorious Physician: A Novel about Saint Luke by Taylor Caldwell, In this House of Brede by Rumer Godden, Citadel of God by Louis de Wohl, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, and The Big Fisherman by Lloyd. C. Douglas. I don't know if I will read them all this year, though. There will also likely be a few mysteries just for fun, of course, and maybe something by Mark Twain, perhaps A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, or a collection of his short stories?

Who knows what else will draw my attention?

Pax et bonum