A truck with humanitarian aid drives down the ramp from the MV Benavides onto the roll-on/roll-off discharge facility (RRDF) platform about two miles off the Gaza coast on May 17, 2024. US Navy Photo
A U.S. soldier assigned to the Gaza pier mission was seriously injured on Thursday and medically evacuated to Israel, two defense officials confirmed to USNI News.
The soldier was working on the staging platform two miles off the coast of Gaza, where trucks filled with aid packages are driven from cargo ships onto Army watercraft, the defense officials told USNI News. At the time of the injury, the roll-on roll-off cargo ship MV Benevides was attached to the platform.
Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, told reporters on Thursday that a total of three service members were injured in non-combat-related incidents at sea.
“Three injuries, two were very minor injuries and those individuals returned to duty. One individual is undergoing care at a local Israeli hospital,” Cooper told reporters during a Thursday Pentagon briefing.
Officials did not mention any attacks or incidents directly targeting the pier or the staging area two miles off the coast.
The pier has been in operation since last week, providing aid to Gaza. The trucks are loaded in Cyprus and sail to the staging area off the coast. From there, the trucks drive on to U.S. Army watercraft and sail to the pier, which is anchored to the beach in Gaza. After arrival, the humanitarian supplies are processed in a marshaling area before going to various warehouses and distribution points.
“In the last several days, we’ve delivered over a million pounds of aid into the hands of Palestinians. We can all feel good about that,” said Cooper.
U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary), U.S. Navy Sailors assigned to Amphibious Construction Battalion 1, and Israel Defense Forces emplace the Trident Pier on the Gaza coast, May 16, 2024. The temporary pier, part of the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore capability, will enable the maritime delivery of international humanitarian aid to the United Nations in Gaza for distribution to Palestinian people in need.
Palestinians wait for humanitarian aid airdrop in Gaza
Today is memorial day, and I honor the female veteran of the greatest war of them all!
Wheat field in Ukraine. Photo: Raimond Spekking/Wikimedia Commons.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 caused an immediate disruption in the global wheat market, with serious implications for food prices and global food security. Wheat is a staple commodity in many countries and one of the most extensively traded crops worldwide.
Mycenaean-styled Helen.
So, is this at all how you imagined Helen to look? Do you think this face would launch 1,000 ships?
Elements of her putative biography come from classical authors such as Aristophanes, Cicero, Euripides, and Homer (in both the Iliad and the Odyssey). Her story reappears in Book II of Virgil‘s Aeneid. In her youth, she was abducted by Theseus. A competition between her suitors for her hand in marriage saw Menelaus emerge victorious. All of her suitors were required to swear an oath (known as the Oath of Tyndareus) promising to provide military assistance to the winning suitor, if Helen were ever stolen from him. The obligations of the oath precipitated the Trojan War. When she married Menelaus she was still very young; whether her subsequent departure with Paris was an abduction or an elopement is ambiguous (probably deliberately so).
Her beauty inspired artists of all times to represent her, frequently as the personification of ideal human beauty. Images of Helen start appearing in the 7th century BC. In classical Greece, her abduction by Paris—or escape with him—was a popular motif. In medieval illustrations, this event was frequently portrayed as a seduction, whereas in Renaissance paintings it was usually depicted as a “rape” (i. e., abduction) by Paris.[c]Christopher Marlowe‘s lines from his tragedy Doctor Faustus (1604) are frequently cited: “Was this the face that launched a thousand ships / And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?”[d]
Gaza aid airdrop: Why delivering food from the air is controversial
6 March 2024
By Luis Barrucho and BBC Arabic,BBC World ServiceShare
0:55Watch: US cargo plane airdrops humanitarian aid into Gaza
The US says it airdropped 36,000 meals into northern Gaza on Tuesday in co-ordination with Jordan – the second such joint mission in recent days.
It came a day after the World Health Organization said children were dying of starvation in the north, where an estimated 300,000 Palestinians are living with little food or clean water.
But the strategy has sparked considerable discussion, with humanitarian organisations saying it cannot meet the soaring needs.
It is also a symbol of the failure of the aid effort on the ground.
China has not met their goal in trade agreements. Who saw this coming? Here is my poem about all that! I see it danced to in a China-like ballet by The Golden Wheat Women.
Here’s the truck that Rena Easton owns. It’s a 2009 GMC Sierra that she dives down the hill of the Vissar Ranch, a small spread that raises cattle with the help of a $100,000 Government subsidy. I chatted with a man my age on a bench who raised Emu for their meat. His Emu ranch was too far off the beaten path so he sold it and moved to Coos Bay where he catches salmon like crazy. I love Oregon!
The Resident God in the White House threw another tantrum today, and the market lost 600 points. What has caused Messiah Trump to really lose it for the last several months, is, Montana threw in the towel. They want out of the tariff wars. The dream is – dead! Playing cowboy, and lying to your bank, are two different things. You can’t put a sail on these becalmed prairie schooners. The Visser ranch – is doomed! Trump tells these yokums he is going to let them get over on the liberal city hippies, and they fell for it, the oldest trick in the book! They are toast!
There are some major classic Americana Scenes that were created by my Beloved Muse and I. One was the fight we had just outside Winnemucca when General Eisenhower broke down, followed by the look she gave me as she boarded the Greyhound bus, then came her posing as Diana the Huntress in the museum, followed by her lying on the steps of the museum with her head on my lap, and, her announcement there was nothing here for me in Nebraska, in response to my idea about moving there and renting an old farmhouse with my studio in the barn, where I would render large canvasses of the Most Beautiful Woman In the World, who I loved so deeply.
Hence, America has been invaded by Super Models, many of them Russian. The First Lady is a former model. The vision I had in 1970, has come true. I saw Rena as the Woman Christ – from the beginning. For a month we have been watching a parade of women file past fallen men, who once owned wealth and power. Rena chose to be with me, a poor, homeless man. What does this say about being responsible for the choices one makes. Millions of women voted for Trump – an admitted RAPE ARTIST – who is now claiming the voice that says “You can grab them by the pussy” is not his voice. He is correct. That is THE VOICE OF SATAN ‘ The Great Deceiver’. And, he arrived on time, on the High Noon Train…………in Bozeman Montana!
World Experts are wondering how, and why our President is not Culpable – and Roy Moore. Trump has had access to the most beautiful women in the world. He made a point to walk in on beauty contestants while they were naked. It is said women are not culpable, and beautiful women do not have to answer to anyone. This is what Donald wants. This is why he has that absurd hair. He wants to be a Super Model – and a Gunslinger! Melania is a Gunslinger, Look at her eyes! Melania and her Girl Gang, know Roy is a liar. Why doesn’t she have the guts to step foreword and – put an end to this evil charade?
There’s no getting around it, Melania knows she gets in bed each night with a sexual predator. Ten million evangelical Republican women, know Royal Moore is a sexual predator, and, keep their mouths shut as a hundred of their kind defend Roy in public. Knowing your Bad Guy is what America and Movie Making was all about.
Jon Presco
Copyright 2017
Tom Hanks isn’t surprised by Hollywood’s sexual harassment scandal.
The Oscar winner opened up about the current slew of harassment allegations against some of Hollywood top players during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, saying there are “predators absolutely everywhere.”
“There’s a lot of reasons people do this for a living. Making a movie is a life experience that can create an awful lot of joy,” he said. “You can meet the person you fall in love with, you can laugh your heads off. That’s the good stuff.”
But despite all the good, Hanks said there is also a dark side to the film industry that can’t be ignored.
“The bad stuff can happen on a movie as well. There are some people who go into this business because they get off on having power,” he said. “And the times they feel the most powerful, which is why they went into the business, are when they are hitting on somebody who’s underneath them, [and] I don’t necessarily mean completely sexually. There are predators absolutely everywhere.”
The wave of allegations was spurred by a slew of stories alleging decades of sexual misconduct against Harvey Weinstein.
Stars including Gwyneth Paltrow, Olivia Munn, Ashley Judd and more have since spoken out against unwanted advances from Hollywood power players.
Hanks said he is optimistic about changes being made in Hollywood. Following the first wave of allegation against Weinstein, the producer was ousted from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Weinstein has repeatedly denied “any allegations of non-consensual sex.”
“If you don’t follow these, you will not work here,” said Hanks. “And that’s not necessarily going to be a bad thing. Somebody said, ‘Is it too late to change things?’ No, it’s never too late. It’s never too late to learn new behaviors. And that’s a responsibility of anybody who wants to obey a code of professional ethics.”
In looking at C.D. Payne’s connection to Winnemucca I came upon a genre of writing called Absurdist fiction. My ‘Desert Waif of the Undrivers’ certainly fits into this new category that is sometimes surreal. At twelve, I was a great surrealist artist whose hero was Salvador Dali. I am enjoying being a surrealist writer whose posts are surrealist paintings. Add the topical news I cover in the same genre, then, I might be titled an Absurd Surrealist Journalist. I like the sound of that.
If I can only get Rena to come aboard and write a column.
My novelette ‘Golden Girls of the Corn Cob’ can be described as Absurdist fiction, where my Muse in set in a surreal environment and seen as the Female Messiah. C.D. Payne wrote a play ‘Queen of America’ that has sprung my soap box. Payne has walked into my trap on this one.
‘Youth in Revolt’ is one of my favorite movies. We Absurdist authors are notorious borrowers – it would appear – because there may be a common surreal landscape.
It’s great to be sixty-six and alive. I expect the next ten years of my life to be – out of this world!
Absurdist fiction is a genre of literature, most often employed in novels, plays or poems, that focuses on the experiences of characters in a situation where they cannot find any inherent purpose in life, most often represented by ultimately meaningless actions and events. Common elements in absurdist fiction include satire, dark humour, incongruity, the abasement of reason, and controversy regarding the philosophical condition of being “nothing.”[1] Works of absurdist fiction often explore agnostic or nihilistic topics.
While a great deal of absurdist fiction may be humorous or irrational in nature, the hallmark of the genre is neither comedy nor nonsense, but rather, the study of human behavior under circumstances (whether realistic or fantastical) that appear to be purposeless and philosophically absurd. Absurdist fiction posits little judgment about characters or their actions; that task is left to the reader. Also, the “moral” of the story is generally not explicit, and the themes or characters’ realizations—if any —are often ambiguous in nature. Additionally, unlike many other forms of fiction, absurdist works will not necessarily have a traditional plot structure (i.e., rising action, climax, falling action, etc.). The absurdist genre grew out of the modernist literature of the late 19th and early 20th century in direct opposition to the Victorian literature which was prominent just prior to this period. It was largely influenced by the existentialist and nihilist movements in philosophy and the Dada and surrealist movements in art.
Revoltingly Young: The Journals of Nick Twisp’s Younger Brother Book VI: Youth in Nevada
by C.D. Payne
SATURDAY, June 18 — My cousin Tyler Twisp is visiting Grandma Wescott and me in her dreary singlewide trailer deep in the lonely wastes of Nevada. Tyler loves everything about Winnemucca, just as I, conversely, despise every aspect of my hometown. Of course, he is an immense jock who eats his own weight in grub every three days. Whereas I am a picky-eater flyweight with intellectual and cultural aspirations. Hard to believe my sinewy cousin is only 15, while I–a mere shadow in his wake–will be 16 in December. Strictly speaking, I may in fact be his uncle, since he’s the son of my half-sister Joanie. But since it would be silly to have a nephew twice one’s size, we prefer to regard each other as cousins.
Nevada prides itself on being the emptiest state in the nation. For example, Winnemucca is situated 165 miles east of Reno and 353 miles west of Salt Lake City. In between stretches a forbidding expanse of barren rock and scrawny sagebrush. Nice country for jackrabbits, but a challenge for any life form higher than a buzzard. If it weren’t for the Internet, I’m sure my mind would have atrophied and died long ago.
Welcome to the Kingdom of America, where a crisis in succession imperils the 220-year reign of the Washington royal family. Into the breach steps a lovely descendant of King George Washington I. She may become America’s first Queen–if she can overcome the forces conspiring against her and prevent a war with her realm’s fiercest adversary: the Kingdom of Canada.
Discover contemporary royal America, where sports stars play polo on pogo sticks, tourists queue up to tour opulent palaces, shoppers spend millions on royal collectibles, and even Elvis earned a knighthood. In this fanciful and uproarious rewriting of history, the Czar of Russia is America’s closest ally and behind every tree lurks a Canadian spy. Read C.D. Payne’s first play–and get set for a royal good time.
My dear Muse has been telling Tall Tales. She did not write me her long letter from Bruce Vesser’s ranch, on Vesser Road. On December 25, 2013, she wrote me from her home on Grand. I discovered the truth when I read the death certificate of her daughter, Kate, who was living on Grand when she died.
Why did Rena lie? She did not want to tell me she was spending Christmas – alone. Her daughter has been dead fourteen years. Her son James is not there, or, she would have said so. She tells me her brother, James, disappeared long ago after showing signs of mental illness. I suspected Rena was mentally ill weeks after we met. When I told her I was tempted to come to the Bozeman ranch, and rescue her, after I perceived she was a prisoner of some kind, she freaked – even though I assured her if was just a thought – a hankering I had. She knew how crazy I was after seeing me freak-out in Winnemucca. Crazy hippies are prone to do shit without planning. So, one day I show up on Cowboy Mountain with a bouquets of roses, knock on the door, and Bruce shakes his head, and says;
“Not another one!! I divorced that crazy woman – fourteen years ago. She keeps telling her old flames we are still married -so they wont come round and pester her! Did she tell you she can’t embark on an affair of the heart – too? Or, I will – get angry?”
“Yep!”
Come on in. Let me pour you a shot of whiskey – with beer chaser – then you got to be on your way. Leave her be. That woman is a natural born liar!”
My dear Rena, and Muse, I totally forgive you for lying to me!……..But – don’t we all!
Bellow are two tapes, on on Sean and Kate
John Presco
P.S. I still love you……you lying bitch!
Copyright 2021
Irene Easton Age 69 (Apr 1952)
Current & Past Addresses
Home address, apartment, business, and rental property addresses for Irene Easton
“These are the people the president cares about. And he wants them to enjoy the American Dream just like all the people in the cities.”
I suspected this is what Rena was trying to tell me in her letter, that she and her rancher husband was deprived of “enjoying the American Dream”. Somehow, this is partially my fault, and, I got to pay. Did my muse think I was mocking her and her husband in my letter, and thus she tore it to shreds? It is not clear she is still married to Bruce, or, this is wishful thinking. Did he read my letter and fly into a rage, because, he is not a city-dweller, a eloquent man of words? Indeed, he is boring as all hell, as is most life outside the cities, out there on the vast plains. As to ownership, the white men killed all the buffalo and stole the land of ancient hunters who carved into hunks of meat twenty-thousand years ago. Being bored goes with the choices we make.
There is no place for grief in a house which serves the Muse.” ~ Sappho
I don’t think I heard Rena laugh. Nor did I see her smile that much. I think she thought these things ruined her good looks. She took herself very seriously. After reading about these Political Range Wars, I now understand that taking yourself seriously may be the only recreation and entertainment – for miles around! Then comes getting mean with outsiders who don’t take you seriously………and your American Dream.
Here is the ranch Rena lived on with her third husband. I think they may be divorced. They lived in a three bedroom trailer that has just over a thousand square feet that overlooks a cattle ranch that is owned by Bruce, and possibly his father or brother. This dream is up for sale.
“My second husband was an alcoholic and the marriage ended after two painful years.”
“I walked with you tonight, my dear Rena, in the field of your forever fears, you fearing the wolves rather then the rapists. Is this you preparing me for the truth you are not that stunning beautiful for of perfection, anymore, and just a redneck meal on the way t the outhouse?
I heard you debate for the last six months, you wondering whether I would judge you because the man you love is a cowboy, and you his cowgirl. I heard you arguments, and you read mine? Have you been peeking at my Rosemond blog. Do you recall my plan to move to Lincoln and rent an old barn that would be my studio. I mean, I was willing to come on over, and buy me a chicken or two?
“You won’t like it here.” You said. “There’s nothing here!”
“You’re here!” Was my reply. And you could hear the sound of the tumbling tumble weeds way off in the distance.
“Here I am!” You could not have began you letter a better way. I guess you changed your mind? LOL!
I come from real Redneck stock, and of late I have admitted I always wanted to be a cowboy. And you were my land-loven archetype who feared the sea. That you lived on the Isle of Wight with a Sailor man – blows my mind. Did Ian get you in his boat – and out to sea!
For you, my dear, I will kiss the first redneck I see. For you, I will overcome my fear of them. If he don’t break my neck, I’ll let you know how it go.
In an e-mail to Radiant Engineering, Rena Easton, and Bruce Vesser, thanks the folks that fixed a heater in West Yellowstone where Rena used to live. Does she live there now? Who owns the house? Bruce lives on Vesser Road. He works a ranch/farm that got subsidized by Big Government. So much for his Redneck ways.
Jon Presco
“Farmers are the president’s people,” Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said in an interview with Morning Edition on Monday. “These are the people that elected the president. The president knows that. These are the people the president cares about. And he wants them to enjoy the American Dream just like all the people in the cities.”
“Beef is a big deal in China and I’m convinced that when the Chinese people get a taste of U.S. beef, they’re going to want more of it. These products coming into China are safe, wholesome, and very delicious. This is also a good harbinger of the kind of relationship that can be developed. We hope there are other things we can cooperate on and we’re going to use U.S. beef as the forerunner.”
Some Democratic House members are planning to invite victims of sexual assault to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address later this month to highlight the issue, according to an aide to a lawmaker who has been a prominent voice on sexual misconduct.
“Some members will be bringing survivors of sexual assault and advocates as their guests,” the aide to Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Fla., a leader of the Democratic Women’s Working Group in the House, told NBC News.
Party leaders generally don’t dictate who rank-and-file members can invite with the one guest ticket each lawmaker is given. And there’s still some uncertainty within Democratic ranks over where to draw the line between addressing sexual misconduct and turning the topic into a partisan political war.
I found Rena Easton’s ex-husband. He lives in a three bedroom trailer that has just over a thousand square feet that overlooks a cattle ranch that is owned by Bruce, and possibly his father or brother.
“Bruce Henry Visser, 46, of Manhattan and Irene Victoria Easton, 47, of Bozeman.”
Rena Easton divorced Bruce Visser thirteen years ago. This is Rena’s second husband, who was/is an alcoholic:
“My second husband was an alcoholic and the marriage ended after two painful years.”
Before I continue, Rena lied to me and invaded my privacy, employing Deputy Sheriff Dan Wayland to do so. Does Dan know Bruce Visser? If I did what Rena did to me to almost any male in Montana – they would be mighty pissed! And angry!
I am going to write a report to the Sheriff’s department to see if there was a conspiracy to frighten me. To fraudulently respond to this blog – that speaks of the real abuse my family suffered – is sick! Rena wanted me to include her lies in my autobiography ‘Capturing Beauty’. Do cowboys like to be lied to? I guess it is O.K. to lie to artists and left-leaning people – because they aren’t human!
In an e-mail to Radiant Engineering, Rena Easton, and Bruce Vesser, thanks the folks that fixed a heater in West Yellowstone where Rena used to live. Does she live there now? Who owns the house? Bruce lives on Vesser Road. He works a ranch/farm that got subsidized by Big Government. So much for his Redneck ways.
Rena sends Radiant Engineering a handwritten thank you, where she says;
“Troy was such a nice guy!” “I truly appreciate your emergency service.”
Why didn’t Rena say “WE”?
I think Bruce owns the house that Rena lives in, that they used to live in. I suspect Rena is paying low rent. Is Bruce thinking of selling?
So much for her husband getting angry, and us having a affaire of the heart, and she not being my live-in muse, because, this sounds like a love letter to me, sent after the e-mail. Does Rena have the hots for studly Troy, the first young man she has been close to for quite awhile? Did she show him her photos of her when she was young vixen? Rena includes her address in this letter (blurred out) just incase Troy forgot where she lived? Why two thank yous? Did Rena bump me for Troy – a younger stud-muffin? Is Rena a sexist who was disgusted that an old man might still have the hots for her?
Damn! Showtime is going go with this ‘The Old Artist and His Old Muse’
“You stay away from my muse – boy!”
It looks to me Bruce Baby can’t shake his ex – who is a whole lot to handle. Who’s got the drinking problem, here? I see Bruce sitting in his big leather easy chair counting his cattle, when he sees a cloud of dust on Visser road, and Rena’s Silver Hornet, coming fast.
Bruce cringes, he wondering “What now?” Rena burst in the door waving my letter, and screaming her fool head off; “I got me a letter from the Anti-Christ! You got put me up for a year or two, cause, it’s just a matter of time before he discovers I lied to him.”
“Shit Rena! Now you’ve done it. What are we dealing with, that dude in ‘No Country For Old Men? And, what is this crap I’m hearing about Troy? What did you do to him? Did you recite your poems to him all night?”
I have a great idea for a movie, where Anton Chigurh meets the Woman With the Dragon Tattoo in a Dame Sans Merci showdown.
Now that I have proven Rena is a egregious liar, one has to wonder when she told the truth. This includes the reconstruction of our letters. Did she lie in those letters? If so, she filed a false police report. Did Dan Mayland know the truth about Rena not being married any longer to Bruce Vesser? I did post about Dan “better have proof I am stalking Rena.”
Is it any wonder why Rena took my letter and showed it to a friend in order see where I was lying – because Rena is a liar – and expects others to be also. That I call her an “honest woman” in my unsent second letter, is evidence to her cunning and guile – since we met! This is a two pretty-face – liar! Stalkers are liars! Preditors are liars! Con-artists – are liars! She could care less if my book went to prints – full of her lies!
This, witch, mailed me a poisoned apple! That she can begin her litany of lies with these words, is profound, in that she gauges her well being by how accurately she recites poems.
“How to begin? Facts are always helpful. ”
I have revealed more truths in Rena’s letter with my psychic search for the facts. I nail Rena to the barn door in this psychic hit;
In my second letter I was going to send Rena my invention for heating a small room with candles. I made a video instead and was going to post it so Rena and her husband could stay warm. I suspect that heater was problematic at X-Mas.
Thank you so very much for your swift response to the boiler break-down in West. I really appreciated all your help over the phone on that day, & for all the work you accomplished.
Irene Easton was born in 1952. Irene currently lives in Bozeman, Montana. Before that, she lived in Manhattan, MT from 1999 to 2009. Before that, she lived in West Yellowstone, MT from 2010 to 2012.
Visser Farms 10700 Visser Road Manhattan, MT 59741 – View Map Phone: (406) 282-7624 Own this Business? Ads Livestock Equipment Industry Standard in Low Stress Livestock Handling Equipment http://www.molymfg.com The ads are not affiliated with Bruce Visser Bruce Visser A privately held company in Manhattan, MT. Is this your company? Claim This Profile More Details for Bruce Visser Categorized under Cattle Companies, our records show it was established in 1963 and incorporated in Montana, current estimates show this company has an annual revenue of $100,000 and employs a staff of approximately 1. Products or Services Companies like Bruce Visser usually offer: Cattle Management, Cattle Information, Breeding Cattle, Glossary Of Cattle Health Terms and Moment Amongst Cattle Breeders.
She was born to Thomas and Dena (Noteboom) Emmelkamp in Manhattan on Aug. 21, 1923. Her siblings were Betty Vander Ark, Andrew Emmelkamp, Edna DeGroot, and Florence Veltkamp (all deceased).
She married Henry J. Visser on March 26, 1944. They raised four children; Don (Lola) Visser of Manhattan, Sharon (Jim) Danhof of Tucson, Ariz., Bruce (Rene) Visser of Manhattan, and Sylvia (Jay) Kintzing of Billings.
Berniece was a loving wife, mother and homemaker. She lived in her home on the ranch on Visser Road with her husband, Henry, since 1952. Henry died in 1993, but she managed to continue to live on her own on the ranch until December 2010, when she moved into the Churchill Retirement Home.
Berniece spent most of her time caring for her family, cleaning, and cooking. She was a great cook. In her later years she enjoyed mowing the lawn on her riding mower and taking care of her many flowers – which she of course got from her son’s nursery.
The highlight of her afternoons was drinking coffee at the Kountry Korner Café. She often met with friends there and also enjoyed the company of the “regulars” and appreciated the friendships of the girls who worked there.
Berniece was quiet and shy, but she exuded and imparted love without using many words. She was full of compassion, humility and encouragement, and spoke through the example of how she lived her life.
Here is the grave of Kathleen Easton, the daughter of Commodore Ian Easton, and Irene (Rena) Victoria Easton nee’ Christensen, who is my model for Victoria Rosemond Bond. Kate was in a car with James Michael Miles that went out of control on an icy road. There is a Tribute to Sean, but no mention of Kathleen. This tribute is part of The Congressional Record and thus it is in the public domain. I am going to author a letter asking that Kate be added to this record, and her family. There is love here. There is an untold story….waiting to be born.
[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 34 (Thursday, March 23, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S1659]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO SEAN-MICHAEL MILES
Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I want to pay tribute to a young man,
Sean-Michael Miles. Slightly over a year ago, his life was taken
tragically in an automobile accident in Bozeman, MT, while he was home
celebrating the Christmas holidays with his family. Everyone privileged
to know Sean was touched by his contagious zest for life. He was among
the very best to emerge from our State, from ``The Last Best Place.''
He was a shining star. He is my friend.
Sean's father and I grew up as neighbors. We went to school together
and remained close friends ever since. I might add, Sean's grandmother,
affectionately known as Granny Miles, was one of my baby sitters. I
know this family well. Their strength and love for one another is an
inspiration to all of us who know them. Sean-Michael's future was as
bright as one could imagine. He graduated at the top of his class in
Bozeman High School in 1997 and was selected by his classmates to
deliver the commencement address. That same address, filled with
familiar compassion for our Native American heritage, is still talked
about today. Such was its honesty, its power, its celebration of
promise.
At Princeton University, where Sean was in his second year, he was
admired as an exceptional writer, an accomplished artist and musician.
Perhaps a classmate put it best: Sean was totally brilliant and
completely humble, a cool combination.
Following his graduation from Princeton, Sean intended to return to
his beloved Montana and commit himself to a career dedicated to writing
and the preservation of our last remaining wildlands. Sean enjoyed
considerable gifts, and was truly living up to them.
Sean wanted to make the world a better place, and believed completely
that one person can truly make a difference. There was no cynicism in
his life. He befriended the friendless, and remembered the forgotten.
Above all, he was making a difference. It is a loss beyond Montana's
boundaries as well. Professor John McPhee of Princeton echoed such
sentiments:
By my lights, Sean-Michael Miles was the best that we can
do--bright, responsive, hardworking, clear in expression,
clear in thought, and with a personality immediately likable,
immediately demanding respect. We will all miss him terribly.
Sean enjoyed a way with words. I would like to share a small piece of
his brilliant work.
After climbing atop a remote buffalo jump, he discovered the ``drive
lines'' that the Native tribes of our region used centuries ago to
funnel herds of bison over the cliff's edge. Looking out beyond that
edge, toward the vast expanse of the Absoorka Beartooth Wilderness,
Sean wrote:
Whenever I think of the changes sweeping over Montana like
a spring storm, a lump forms in my throat. My first breath
was drawn from mountain air.
Yet I know that this land may pay a price for being
beautiful, as change advances, carrying with it the prospect
of loss. It is a land I desperately love. It is a part of me.
It hurts so much to care so much. Yet as a Westerner, I am
invited to breathe it all in deeply each day.
Despite change and loss, a drive line containing wisdom
offered through memories stretches before me. For now I am
satisfied to walk along its path, eyes fixed on what remains
a geography of hope.
Sean-Michael Miles was proud to live his entire life surrounded by
the majestic spine of mountains that he fondly referred to with the
Blackfeet phrase, ``the backbone of the world.''
Sean's death casts a dark shadow over the future of those of us who
knew and loved him. Yet it is the light he offers that we commemorate
today.
I have risen today to announce that I will create a fellowship in
Sean's name that will focus on the conservation issues that were so
dear to him. I am also pleased and honored to announce that the first
Congressional Fellow serving in this prestigious position will be
Sean's beloved sister Michelle. Her younger sister, Shaleen, once
served as Democratic page on the floor of the Senate. So today,
Michelle, who is sitting behind me, I welcome you to my staff, and I
know that you bring with you your brother's finest qualities. May the
legacy of Sean-Michael Miles, who walked with the silent feet of
reverence through the wilds, forever serve as a source of inspiration
for generations to come.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
Baucus announces fellowship in honor of Bozeman graduate
By GAIL SCHONTZLER – Chronicle Staff Writer
Mar 24, 2000
U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., announced Friday that he has established a fellowship in honor of Sean-Michael Miles, the 1997 Bozeman High School graduate killed in a tragic car crash one year ago.
The fellowship will offer a stipend to students interested in working in Baucus’ Washington, D.C., office on conservation issues.
Miles, a sophomore at Princeton University, intended to return to Montana and commit himself to a career dedicated to writing and preservation of Montana wild lands. He was the son of Joan and Michael Miles, formerly Baucus’ representative in Bozeman.
The fellowship will keep Sean’s vibrant spirit alive by exposing young people to public service, Baucus said in a press release.
“He was a shining star,” the senator said.
Michelle Miles, Sean’s sister, is the first to honor the brother’s legacy by serving as a congressional fellow in Baucus’ Washington office. She attended Montana State University as a presidential scholar and graduated in 1999 with degrees in English literature and French. Her honors thesis focused on the Lakota-Sioux land ethic, a subject dear to her brother.
A committee, which includes Sean’s parents, will meet each year to choose a recipient of the Sean-Michael Miles Memorial Conservation Fellowship. Applicants must be university students or recent graduates with an interest in environmental issues.
The three-month fellowship includes a stipend to help defray transportation and housing costs. It will include legislative research, writing and correspondence that focus on environmental, natural resources and Native American issues.
For more information on the fellowship, call 800 332-6106 or visit the Baucus website: http://www.baucus.senate.gov.
SEAN (RIGHT) WITH ANDERS CHEN AND CHRISTIAN DIEGEL Sean died on January 10, 1999, not yet halfway through his sophomore year. Born and raised in Bozeman, MT, Sean never truly left living near the “backbone of the world” even while attending Princeton. An excellent writer and a talented artist, Sean graduated at the top of his high school class and gave a commencement address steeped in Native American heritage, an address that still resonates today with those who heard it. A selfless individual for whom family came first and the environment of his beloved Rockies second, Sean had a magical way with words. Of Montana, he wrote, “It is a land I desperately love. It is a part of me. It hurts so much to care so much. Yet as a Westerner, I am invited to breathe it all in deeply each day.”
With the ability to light up the room with his smile and put anyone at ease with his banter, Sean’s openness and honesty affected everyone with whom he came into contact. Senator Max Baucus of Montana, a family fried of the Miles family, read a remembrance on the Senate floor and now sponsors the Miles Fellowship in Conservation. Professor Robert Fagles said of him a few days after his passing: “By my lights, Sean Miles was the best that we can do – bright, responsive, hard-working, clear in expression, clear in thought, and with a personality immediately likable, immediately commanding respect.”
He is survived by his father Mike, his mother Joan, and his sisters Michelle and Shaleen. He is remembered and deeply missed by all Princetonians who came into contact with him.
Yesterday I came across an old e-mail from a high school friend of Rena Christensen. He admonished me for making this Midwest Beauty out to be a goddess. I had compared her beauty to the face that launched a thousand ships.
This bid me to launch another search for my Muse. What had become of her. Who did she marry? What is her surname? Where are her two children? We know she married an Admiral and lived on the Isle of Wight with her two children. Last night I found and obituary for Rena’s beautiful twenty year old daughter. I wept, like I did when I learned Rena lost her husband. I found her husband.
Rena was afraid to even look at the ocean when we met in 1970. She told me she was afraid of it. Two hours later she does something so dramatic and beautiful in order to get over her fear. Admiral Sir Ian Easton captained Aircraft Carriers. He flew planes in WW2. Ian was Former Head of the British Defense Staff that just met in Washington to discuss cuts in military budgets. He put boats in battle for the Cup. He was seventy one when he died. Rena is sixty one today. I was twenty three when we met, and she was seventeen.
One day when we went to our little beach, Rena disappeared. I found her on the other side of a large rock in a precarious place. She was intently looking at the ocean waves. I knew she was trying to see her future, set a direction for the course of her life.
“Rena. Don’t panic, but, you are not safe there. Come towards me.”
She put these words on her husband’s monument;
“Sweet and low, winds of the western sea”
It is beautiful women like Irene Easton, that put young men in the middle of the seven seas, looking over the horizon for their Helen. The legend of Brutus of Troy, founder of Britain, is what propels this nation forward, and puts these Trojans in suspense, as they wait for the birth of Kate Windsor’s first child. This mother to be modeled a sexy dress on a runway, and caught the eye of a prince. Beauty rules the waves!
And everywhere Beauty go, the Poet is soon to follow.
I do not regret taking poetic liberty with my muse. English Poetry is the engine of love, a ring of fire that protects that Isle. Irene Victoria is a British subject that came out of Grand Island Nebraska to see what she shall see. Rena has seen the world. Good for her!
From: Bill & Jeanette Grummons Subject: [BlackSheep-L] Isle of Wight Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 07:47:07 -0700
Seems to me I remember seeing mention of someone researching The Isle of
Wight, England. If so, they may find the following obit of interest. Sorry about that, have another honeydew day ahead of me and was taking orders
Bill and Jeanette, IBSSG Rootsweb Sponser
KATHLEEN A. “KATIE” EASTON Former Bozeman High School state debate champion Kathleen Anne “Katie” Easton, passed away as a result of an automobile accident early Sunday, Jan. 10, 1999. She was born April 20, 1979, to Irene (Rena) and Admiral Sir Ian Easton, K.C.B. D.S.C. on the Isle of Wight, England. She attended grade school on the Isle of Wight and transferred to Chief Joseph Middle School when she and her family moved to Bozeman in 1991. She graduated from Bozeman High School in 1997. During high school, she completed a stellar career in forensics. As a policy debater in her sophomore and junior years, she compiled a 72.54 percent win/loss record. In her senior year, she switched to parliamentary debate and became a dominant force in the event, winning the 1997 Montana state championship and the District NFL qualifying tournaments. At the 1997 Nationals Katie reached the semifinal round of competition, a result that placed her in among the top 16 parliamentary debaters in the country. After graduation, Katie attended The University of Montana for three semesters as a student in the College of Arts and Sciences with an emphasis in environmental science. She achieved a 3.9 grade point average, and had taken up skydiving. She planned to spend this summer participating in Outward Bound in the North Woods of Maine and the Florida Everglades. She recently was accepted by AmeriCorps as a National Service volunteer, beginning in September 1999. Katie loved the outdoors. She was an avid sailor who attended the Medina Valley Sailing Centre on the Isle of Wight and achieved a Grade 5 with the Royal Yachting Association on the International Competitive Exam. She enjoyed reading literature and was a Celtic and rock music buff, a hobby that she shared with many friends and teammates who will miss her unpretentious, humble manner and dry wit. Katie was a true humanitarian, a loyal, caring person who enriched the lives of all she met. She was preceded in death by her father, Admiral Sir Ian Easton K.C.B. D.S.C.; Her maternal grandmother, Ann Last Christensen, her maternal grandfather, Thomas Ernest Christensen; and her paternal grandparents Walter and Janet Easton. She is survived by her mother Irene Easton of Bozeman, brother James Easton, who is serving on the U.S.S. John F. Kennedy; and brother Hamish Easton who resides in London, England. Funeral services will be held at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday Jan. 13 at The Salvation Army Church, corner of Church and Lamme Street. Interment will follow in Sunset Hills Cemetery. Memorials may be made to the Worthy Student Scholarship Fund for Speech and Debate Scholarship, c/o Jan Wenderoth, Bozeman High School, 205 N. 11th Ave. Bozeman, MT 59715
Irene Easton was born in 1952. Irene currently lives in Bozeman, Montana. Before that, she lived in Manhattan, MT from 1999 to 2009. Before that, she lived in West Yellowstone, MT from 2010 to 2012.
Sir Ian Easton Memorial Photos Flowers Edit Share Learn about removing the ads from this memorial… Birth: 1917 Death: Jun. 14, 1989
Admiral, K.C.B., D.S.C. Former Head of the British Defence Staff. He was Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies in 1976, a UK senior serving military officer between 1972 and 2001. For the 2nd Louis Vuitton Cup, which was held in Fremantle, Australia in 1987, he paid an entry fee deposit of $16.000 for Royal Thames Yacht Club’s White Crusader I and White Crusader II, representing United Kingdom.
Burial: All Saints Churchyard Freshwater Isle of Wight, England
In 1922 a cabinet committee under Winston Churchill, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, recommended the formation of the College.[1] The college was founded in 1927 as the Imperial Defence College and was located at 9 Buckingham Gate until 1939.[1] Its objective at that time was the defence of the Empire.[1] In 1946, following the end of World War II, the college reopened at Seaford House, Belgrave Square and members of the United States forces started attending courses.[1] It was renamed the Royal College of Defence Studies in 1970 and in 2007 the Queen and Prince Philip visited the college.[1]
The British Defence Staff – US, which was previously known as British Defence Staff (Washington),[1] is the home of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom) in the United States of America and its purpose is to serve the interests of Her Majesty’s Government in the USA. The British Defence Staff – US is led by the Defence Attaché and has responsibility for military and civilian MOD personnel located both within the Embassy and in 34 states across the USA. British Defence Staff – US alongside the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and other Government Departments collectively serve the interests of Her Majesty’s Government in the USA. The British Defence Staff in the United States is led by the Defence Attaché Major-General Francis Hedley Robertson “Buster” Howes, CB, OBE. The Defence Attaché is the British Ambassador’s senior adviser on defence issues, and as Head of the British Defence Staff in the United States has responsibility over 385 military and civilian MOD personnel located both within the Embassy and in 34 states across the USA. The Defence Attaché is drawn rotationally from each of the three Services. BDS-US Command Group
WASHINGTON — In what is believed to be the first time since the 1940s, the entire British defense staff will be here March 25 to discuss long-range strategy and the impact of budget cuts with their U.S. counterparts, according to U.S. and British sources. The meeting is reminiscent of the Combined Chiefs of Staff, when British and American military leaders joined forces during World War II. Both nations are undergoing significant budgetary reductions and will continue to rely on each other in future years for support. Understanding what capabilities will survive and won’t is essential to long-term strategic planning.
Easton joined the Royal Navy in 1931 and qualified as a pilot at the start of World War II in which he saw active service on aircraft carriers.[1] On 4 January 1941, flying a Fairey Fulmar of 803 Squadron from HMS Formidable during a raid on Dakar he force landed, with his aircrewman Naval Airman James Burkey and was taken prisoner and held by the Vichy French at a camp near Timbuktu until released in November 1942.[2] He was appointed Assistant Director of the Tactical and Weapons Policy Division at the Admiralty in 1960 and was seconded to the Royal Australian Navy as Captain of HMAS Watson in 1962.[1] He went on to be Naval Assistant to the Naval Member of the Templer Committee on Rationalisation of Air Power in 1965, Director of Naval Tactical and Weapons Policy Division at the Admiralty in 1966 and Captain of the aircraft carrier HMS Triumph in 1968.[1] After that he was made Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Policy) in 1969, Flag Officer for the Admiralty Interview Board in 1971 and Head of British Defence Staff and Senior Defence Attaché in Washington D. C. in 1973.[1] He last posting was as Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies in 1976: he commissioned armourial bearings for the College which were which were presented during a visit by the Queen in November 1977.[3] He retired in 1978.[1]
The Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies was a UK senior serving military officer between 1972 and 2001. The post rotated through the three branches of the armed forces in turn. In 1971 the old Imperial Defence College became the Royal College of Defence Studies. In 1991, the post was downgraded to three-star, and then in 2001, it was opened up to competition through public advertisement. Subsequent incumbents have as yet all been senior retired military officers.
British America’s Cup Challenge (United Kingdom)[edit] From the Royal Thames Yacht Club, White Crusader was designed by Ian Howlett and was a traditional 12 metre design evolved from the DeSavery Lionhart ’83 boat of the previous Americas Cup event. However, White Crusader II was a radical design and designed by David Hollam. This second boat was used as a trial horse against White Crusader, but the team eventually decided to use the more conventional designed boat. Tank testing was carried out at Southampton University and HMS Haslar. The deadline for acceptance of challenges was 1 April 1986 and Admiral Sir Ian Easton wrote his own personal cheque for $16,000 as an entry fee deposit. Harold Cudmore acted as skipper-tactician and starting helmsman who then handed over the helm to Chris Law for the remainder of each races. Both boats were originally named simply Crusader One and Two but the “White” part of their names were added when millionaire Graham Walker (Of White Horse whiskey fame) gave heavy sponsorship to the British challengers at the last minute before the event started so the “White” was added to their names.
Younger son of Walter Easton, and Janet Elizabeth White-Rickard, of West Mersea, Essex. Married 1st (08.05.1943, Chelsea district, London) Shirley Townend White, WRNS (26.09.1922 – 12.2002) (marriage dissolved) [she remarried (1962) Lt. Merrick Edsell Maslen, RN (1923-1994)], elder daughter of Mr & Mrs Keith Townend White, of Wimbledon Common; one son, one daughter. Married 2nd ((09?).1962, Kensington district, London) Margarethe Elizabeth Martinette Van Duyn de Sparwoude (marriage dissolved) [she was earlier (1945) married to Ian A. McKenzie Williamson]; one daughter. Married 3rd (09.1987, Isle of Wight) Irene Victoria Christensen; one son, one daughter.
By LUANN ROD, Chronicle Staff Writer | 0 comments
What does a dancer do when there’s no place to dance?
Some teach, some study, some retire and others decide to put on a show.
That’s what happened when Jackie Englehart and Rena Easton saw the lack of opportunity for trained and talented older dancers in the Bozeman area.
IndepenDANCE alighted on the stage of the Emerson Center for the Arts and Culture’s theater in 2009.
Now in its third year, the production is a bit different from other local dance performances in that all the dancers are over the age of 18 and anyone who wants to participate, regardless of experience, finds a place and a stage.
What is on display in abundance is talent and professionalism.
IndepenDANCE is an all-volunteer, nonprofit group of individuals working together to showcase their talent, according to a mission statement from the group.
The idea hatched a few years ago when Englehart missed the auditions for the annual Montana State University dance production. She had already started choreography for a piece and was disappointed to think that there were so few opportunities for choreographers and dancers, especially older dancers, to perform.
She and a few others, including Easton, another local dancer and choreographer, started talking about doing their own dance production.
“We realized there were quite a few dancers in Bozeman that didn’t have an outlet to perform or choreograph,” said Englehart.
For Englehart, after 40 years dancing, performance is still an integral part of the passion. She teaches dance part time at Main Street Dance and works retail the rest of the time. She’s taught, studied and performed whenever she had the opportunity.
Dance is an expression, said Englehart. “For me, it comes from the inside out. It’s not something you can find anywhere else. It combines the physical, mental and emotional spirit of expression.”
But practicing in a studio is not enough to fully enjoy dancing, said Cathy Werner of Mountain Air Dance.
“I think it’s important as adult dancer to continue the performance part of the art,” she said. “Taking class is great, but in the art of dance it is an amazing feeling to be up there on stage performing for your audience … finding that internal expression and sharing it with the audience.”
After a few years of batting the germ of the idea about, Easton put up the money, took a chance and rented theater space at the Emerson. “So we had to come up with a show. It started snowballing from there,” Englehart said.
They held auditions to find out what other dancers were looking for performance opportunities.
“As a movement artist, you need other people,” Englehart said. “So if you don’t own a studio or take classes, it’s difficult to figure out how to gather people to do a movement piece.”
The auditions were designed not to eliminate dancers but as an introduction between dancers and choreographers.
“IndenDANCE has been all-inclusive,” said Werner, who has performed and choreographed for the event since its beginning.
“At the auditions, the choreographer taught a short phrase in the style they were choosing to choreograph,” Werner said.
Englehart found two dancers during the auditions for her performance piece this year. Paige Franklin and Alli Price, along with Kay Van Norman and Englehart, dance a contemporary piece to “Underwater” by Vertical Horizon.
Werner has been both a dancer and a choreographer. This year she’s collaborating with other choreographers to include her style of aerial dance in the pieces.
One of the performances will include eight of her students on trapezes in a jazzy production of “Sway” by the Pussy Cat Dolls. She’s co-choreographing with Skye Anderson.
“It’s in a burlesque style, very upbeat and sexy,” Werner said.
There’s a variety of styles included in the approximately two-hour production, a trend that grows each year.
“We’re more aware of the variety we have,” said Englehart, “from the mambo to contemporary, some ballet, aerial fabric, Charleston, hip-hop. It’s just bringing in more and more diversity.”
“It’s a fun mix of people and style. It’s a good opportunity for a dancer who doesn’t really have any dance performances around Bozeman,” said Werner.
There will be 20 different dances choreographed by 12 choreographers for 64 dancers.
“Each year has been different,” said Englehart. “I think the production has become more efficient. Gathering all the people – probably 50 to 100 people in this one place and time – requires some doing posters and organizing and gathering stage crew and lighting.
“The first one was a big experiment, but came off and got very good reviews from the audience. The second raised the bar. Each group worked a little harder, made it a little more professional.
“This year we feel the pieces are little more serious in content and a little darker. We have a few new people that heard about us … that have come in. There’s more excitement about being involved.”
Nov. 3 – Jazz Dance Workout with Rena Easton, adult beginners jazz class in the Luigi technique, at The Ridge Athletic Club, Saturdays Nov. 3, 10, 17 and Dec. 1, 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. Public welcome.
Nov. 3 – Jazz Dance Workout with Rena Easton, adult beginners jazz class in the Luigi technique, at The Ridge Athletic Club, Saturdays Nov. 3, 10, 17 and Dec. 1, 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. Public welcome.
Rena Easton is teaching a jazz dance workout for adults at the Ridge Athletic Club on Saturdays from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. Non-members of the club are welcome. According to Easton, adults love to dance and attend dance classes, but there are few classes for adults in an adult atmosphere. Many dance studios cater almost exclusively to children and teens. This is a chance for wannabe dancers to jump in and learn.
For more information about sign-up and fees call Julie Kroemer at The Ridge Athletic Club at 586-1737.
Rosamond Press 
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