From: Karen
Date: Thu Dec  8 14:51:58 MST 2005
Subject: Political correctness

It's a cool story, Rod. Thanks for sharing it. Although I can see that some people might feel "left out" by it, I agree with your sentiment: they invited me to pray, so I'll do it my way. (I wouldn't expect the Dalai Lama to pray "in Jesus's name"!) And I don't think non-evangelicals understand that it's a semi-automatic way of closing out the prayer. Catholics tend to cross themselves; evangelicals tend to say "in Jesus's name, amen." I guess that one woman took it on par with the Crusaders hacking their way into Jerusalem or something. If I see Gabby (as I might) in the next few weeks (I've offered to help Cath a bit with the campaign--thus proving Jeff Mc right that I am "political," although I hardly ever think of myself in this way), I'll remember to tell her your story. "It's a small world, after all!" (All the little dolls come out and sing in their stereotypical garb...they just can't help it.)

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From: Karen
Date: Sat Dec 10 16:33:32 MST 2005
Subject: I suspected you knew her

Yep, Andrea, Cathy's mom is indeed ASU prof Ann Nichols. I thought about bringing that up, too, but I guess I didn't have to. Ann makes the trek back and forth to Tempe every week, as she's been doing since before I met her 20 years ago. I knew that Cheryl had Ann as a professor, but I never knew that both of you were at Cath's dad's (Andy's) funeral with me. Back before we knew each other ;-) I imagine God looking on that emotional scene, smiling knowingly about the things to happen down the road ;-) Anyway, I got to see it w/out benefit of closed-circuit TV, having arrived at the church a bit early, sitting with high school friends inside the sanctuary itself. Yes, that was one packed sanctuary. It was the church Cathy had grown up in, and where our close friends Eric and Wendi had married in 1991. Like many people, I learned of Andy's death from the 10:00 news. (Cathy was in Israel at the time.) I was sitting chatting with a friend from Casas while the TV was on in the background, volume down, and the news came on...the top story...there was a suspicious still frame...I turned up the volume to hear them eulogizing him in the past tense. In shock, I dropped the phone, stereotypically. A very surreal moment. Andy Nichols was a professor at the U of A, specializing in public health. In the AZ senate, he spearheaded the push to use the tobacco settlement $$ to get the KidsCare insurance program going, a program that at least some friends' kids are still benefiting from. Cathy comes from a family of activists, for sure. She is a descendant of a leader in the abolitionist movement and is, herself, an activist, having spent the last decade in Israel working for the peace process. In my late teen years, I attended a couple of anti-nuclear testing demonstrations in Nevada, group trips organized by Cathy. So I'm wondering, do any of the U of A folks know her "little" (now quite tall) brother, Miles? He's at the U of A, a junior now, I think.

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