My uncle Emory and my aunt Dorothy live in Dallas, and uncle Emory is coming here to chat, look at old photo albums, and meet Christina.
Emory was a Methodist minister and is a college professor; now mostly retired, he still teaches a class in sociology once in a while. And he is now co-writing an economics textbook. His specialty is the economics of poverty, which I find especially appropriate considering how the Bible advocates helping the poor.
And didn't Jesus say something about the difficulty that rich people have getting into Heaven?
Emory's father (my grandfather Gus Emory Burton) was a Baptist preacher. From preacher to teacher is not a large jump.
I regret not keeping in touch better with my family. I have kept in touch pretty well with Emory's son Michael; Mike lived in Austin during the 90s before moving to the Virgin Islands. There, he met his wife, Aggie, and they had a son (Jared). The family has recently moved to North Carolina, where Mike is communications director for a hospital.
Mike has stored some things at Emory and Dorothy's place in Dallas, and he plans to pick up that stuff Memorial Day weekend. Christina and I hope to come up to help supervise and spend time with Mike, Emory, and Dorothy.
Emory is not only an active professor but an active tennis player. It's neat to be with him because he is very much like my father and because he is a good person in his own right, of course. My father and Emory had a long correspondence that covered many subjects, and religion was perhaps the central subject of the correspondence. The correspondence was the basis, I think, of my father's book A Great Wakening Light.
That book, which is about humanism, mysticism, religion, etc. is at http://hometown.aol.com/kimzart3/0index.html. Thanks to Kim and Linda Medina, two of my father's students, for making this book available.
I'm feeling somewhat isolated in Austin, and it's all my fault, so I'm really glad to have time to sit down with uncle Emory. I was in Dallas during the summer for medical tests, but I am always glad to see family.
I've kept in better touch with my father's side of the family (the Burtons; his mother's maiden name was Hearn, which he said was originally Heron, and that a knight named Heron crossed the English Channel with William the Conqueror in 1066) than with the Campbell/Epperson/Reed/Saxon side of the family.
I wish I knew people who were more interested in geneology than I am so I can keep in touch better with more of my relatives.
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2 comments:
Mr. Burton,
Are you familiar with the concept of "fair use"? Mr. Waits has released hundreds of hours of music, all of which I have purchased legally. I made my girlfriend a CD containing 80 minutes of music, with no more than two tracks coming from the same CD. I am comfortable that my work falls safely within the realm of fair use, and I am also perfectly willing to make restitution, if the Waits camp does not agree. I respect Mr. Waits tremendously, and would never do anything to take food off his table. I am in fact a strong proponent of artists' right to earn a living from their craft, and have gone out of my way to purchase product from people who make their work freely available online.
"Judge not, lest ye be judged."
TJ, thank you for your thoughtful response.
I don't doubt that your copying is within the legal limits of fair use, but not everything that is legal is right.
I'm glad you've helped support Mr. Waits in his attempt to make a living as a musician. I confess I have not purchased (nor copied) any of his music.
Because the Internet makes copying so easy, copyright is widely violated, and I know my opinion is not widely shared.
Anyway, thanks again for your thoughtful response. It is much appreciated.
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