The Week(s)/Year in Meep: St. Michael, Movember, Inclusive Art Exhibit

A little early, but not going to drop it on people midweek

Howdy.

My late husband Stu died almost one year ago, but I’m not going to post about it on the day (nope).

And yes, I called him Stu and that’s what he went by…. but that wasn’t his (legal) first name.

St. Michael the Archangel

It was Michael.

I’m not going to get into the whole story as to why he didn’t go by his first name, but it’s the usual family thing: named after someone still alive, so he went by his middle name.

While Stu died on September 30, the last day of the month, the day before is the feast day of St. Michael the Archangel, also called Michaelmas.

St. Michael the Archangel, Ignacio de Ries, Spanish, 1640s

The Catholic Church has expanded Michaelmas to celebrate all the named archangels: Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael.

Archangel Michael defeats Satan, Lorenzo Zucchi, Italian, ca 1725-1729

St. Michael statue from my church

For the month of September, I’ve been reading this… interesting book:

Evidently, I bought it the day before my birthday in 2022, but I didn’t sit down and read it until now. There is a different reading per day… and it’s very old school Catholic (and I don’t mean it’s in Latin… I mean, it reminds me of Fulton Sheen.)

Wikipedia is not the best source for Catholic items, but the Prayer to St. Michael is something we say at my parish after Mass (let us be clear on this — there are things for during Mass, and after Mass — we also do a litany of St. Joseph):

Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan,
and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls.

Pope Leo XIII instituted this prayer (aka the Leo before this Pope Leo), and it was suppressed in 1964/1965… but many parishes and dioceses brought it back more recently, as Pope Francis had asked more Catholics to recite it, especially starting in 2018. I found that more dioceses started encouraging the prayer’s recitation during the pandemic.

Movember Soft Launch

A year ago:

As with a year ago, Movember emailed me to re-activate my MoSpace for 2025.

Movember emailed me to re-activate last year at the same time Stu had gotten a radiation treatment for his then-current situation… and a few days later, he was dead.

For those not aware, STUMP is named after Stu and me (STU + MP). Stu came up with the name.

Stuart was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in August 2017, and while we knew it wasn’t curable, it was treatable, and he survived until September 2024.

I’ve been doing the Movember fundraiser since November 2017. The Movember Foundation focuses on men’s health issues, but particularly prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men’s mental health and suicide prevention.

Even though Stu died, all these issues are still important to me, and I will continue with the fundraiser. I opened my MoSpace, but won’t be doing anything active with it until the official Movember fundraising time.

The links on Stu from last year:

Inclusive Art at Katonah

This isn’t just about Stu — but also about art! And my son Diarmuid!

A local group partnered with the Katonah Museum of Art to make an event a few weeks ago for people who were not… neurologically normal.

Given the two exhibits on show right now, one very geometrically-focused (multiple artists) and the other around an artist who was a surrealist based in Mexico (it’s complicated), the art was good in terms of shape, theme, color, etc. for Diarmuid and many of the other people who showed up.

Diarmuid (who is 19) wasn’t the oldest of the “atypical” folks to show up, which made me happy. I had a good chat with some of the other parents.

The event folks came up with all sorts of adaptive activities which were appropriate for all sorts of skill/cognitive levels, which I appreciated, and D lasted longer than I expected.

Yes, well, D has his own interests, not exactly “fine art”…. maybe Pop Art?

That one looks like “I lov D”, don’t you think?

what can I say… D really liked this tile art

Enjoy!

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