This Thanksgiving, let’s be thankful for those often unseen individuals who make it possible

This Thanksgiving, let’s be thankful for those often unseen individuals who make it possible.

Thank you to all the farmers and farm workers who produce our food and make Thanksgiving possible.

Here’s to those who served and died

Raymond Harold Cargill, United States Army Air Corps and United States Army Air Forces, 1941-1945.

Tombstone of Raymond Harold Cargill (1924-1983), Jay Chapel, Madera, California. Photo by Len Cargill, May 25, 2015.

And while my grandfather didn’t die during his military service, I cannot help but remember him today. Has it really been 32 years?

To all those who gave their lives serving in this country’s armed forces, thank you. Today, we remember.

And thank you, Grandpa. I miss you. -Bobby

Thank you Veterans!

Thank You Veterans!

Thank you veterans for offering your lives in service and defense of our great nation. Thank you for contributing to the safety and well being of my family. My we as a nation always demonstrate our gratitude, and always take care of those who protect and defend us every day.

Quincy and Rory Kate Have Come Home

After a month in the University of Iowa Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and after a month of daily trips to and from the NICU, Quincy and Rory Kate have come home.

Both are healthy, gaining weight, and making sleep for periods of more than 3 hours quite impossible. The twins were born on May 11 at 34 weeks. This meant that the past month has been an exercise in patient vigilance and a trusting reliance on doctors, nurses, friends, and family. The trips to and from the NICU only made the birth of the twins all the more logistically inconvenient. BUT, the medical staff at the UI hospitals helped nurture premies born at 5 lb. 1 oz. and 4 lb. 14 oz. to a healthy 7 lb. 2 oz. and 6 lb. 4 oz. respectively.

I’d like to thank all of my friends and colleagues who passed on thoughts, prayers, and well wishes during this period. I’d especially like to thank my mother, Sharon Costales Cargill, who moved here to Iowa City in March to help us with our growing family. She has been invaluable and we could not have done this without her.

I’d also like to thank the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics doctors, nurses, PAs, and staff. Not only did they oversee a flawless delivery of twins, but their constant care and commitment to the twins has been a true blessing. They deserve all the credit for their tireless efforts.

This entire experience has been a lived example of the intersection of humanity (in the birth of the twins) and science and technology, which provides life-saving healing and care that was simply unimaginable or attributed to the realm of the “miraculous” even only decades ago. I am thankful for science and technology and those involved in them, to those doctors and nurses who dedicate their lives to the personal well-being of others, and I offer my deepest appreciation to those untold thousands of donors who contribute substantial funding to this kind of scientific and medical research that saves young lives.

I am proud to be associated with the University of Iowa and the wonderful research that is going on here. It is my hope that in caring for Quincy and Rory Kate, some young resident doctor or nurse in training was able to hone their craft and develop a deeper appreciation for the delicate existence that is newborn human life.

On behalf of Roslyn, Talitha, MacLaren, Quincy, and Rory Kate, I’d like to express my deepest appreciation to all those who made the past month a little bit easier for us. Your kinds words on Facebook, Twitter, my blog, email, phone calls, text messages, cards, and letters offered tremendous encouragement. Your gifts were both humbling and much needed. The coordinated meals provided by the Caring Connection at First Presbyterian Church (thank you Liz Hall) and the visits from Sam Massey (you are awesome) and his team, Uncle Jordan Smith and Cory Taylor (for bringing contraband burgers and fries on multiple occasions), a visit (and a fridge stock) from Rick Bennett, and an extended stay from Ruth Anne Bennett (who provided custom curtains for the nursery), all allowed us to spend even more time with the twins. Again, we appreciate your time and efforts in this difficult, yet joyous time for us.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Rory Kate Duvall Cargill

Quincy Enoch Domenico Cargill

Mac gives kisses to Rory Kate

Mac gives kisses to Quincy

Rory Kate Duvall Cargill

Rory Kate Duvall Cargill

Rory Kate Duvall Cargill

Quincy Enoch Domenico Cargill

Quincy and Rory Kate

Quincy and Rory Kate with Daddy

Rory Kate and Quincy

Rory Kate and Quincy

Rory Kate and Quincy

Rory Kate and Quincy

Mac helps feed Quincy

Mommy, Quincy, and Rory Kate

Mommy, Quincy, and Rory Kate

Rory Kate and Quincy

Rory Kate and Quincy

Rory Kate Duvall Cargill

Quincy and Rory Kate with Daddy

Quincy and Rory Kate with Daddy

The family sleeping in a real pile

Thank you

Memorial Day 2013

To all those who gave their lives in defense of our country, regardless of their sex, age, race, religion, color, ethnicity, birthplace, socioeconomic class, or sexual orientation – to all of you who gave your lives, thank you.

We remember.

Discovered on my U Iowa office door this morning, the day before my 40th birthday

I arrived at my University of Iowa Jefferson Building (JB) office this morning (the day before my 40th birthday), and discovered this taped to my door.

It is supposedly the text of “1JB40Car (the Tye-Dye Scroll)”, a newly-discovered Dead Sea Scroll.  It purports to be a list of things I’ve said during various classes at Iowa (with the most incriminating words conveniently lost to lacunae :).

Much of it appears to be corroborated by a textual congruency with a particular Twitter site, which I’m guessing was authored by the same students.

Anyways, I can neither confirm nor deny the accuracy of the statements below.

But I CAN say that I love teaching, I love my students, I love the University of Iowa!

Thanks guys!

(And NO, I shan’t be supplying the missing words…)

The text of 1JB40Car (the Tye-Dye Scroll), discovered posted on my University of Iowa Jefferson Building (JB) office door the day before my 40th birthday. It is a list of things I’ve apparently said during class (with the most incriminating words conveniently lost to lacunae :)

The text of 1JB40Car (the Tye-Dye Scroll), discovered posted on my University of Iowa Jefferson Building (JB) office door the day before my 40th birthday. It is a list of things I’ve apparently said during class (with the most incriminating words conveniently lost to lacunae :)

The top half of 1JB40Car (the Tye-Dye Scroll).

The bottom half of 1JB40Car (the Tye-Dye Scroll).

Thank you to all who sent letters in support of Chris Rollston

I’d like to offer a very big THANK YOU to all who sent letters in support of Dr. Chris Rollston.

According to Professor Rollston, the case involving his attempted termination has been “amicably resolved”. (I’m guessing there was a substantial cash settlement involved that kept Emmanuel from a further embarrassing and certainly losing effort in court. Please correct me if there was no cash payment involved in said “amicable resolution”.)

I want to thank my colleagues who sent letters to this blog and/or posted them elsewhere in support of Dr. Rollston. It was wonderful to see so many members of the academy, graduate and undergraduate students, alums, and friends, from such a wide spectrum of religious, doctrinal, and disciplinary perspectives, from around both the county and around the world, all rally behind academic freedom and the gross mistreatment of one of their own.

Dr. Rollston has voluntarily resigned the Toyozo W. Nakarai Professorship of Old Testament and Semitic Studies at Emmanuel Christian Seminary, and has accepted an offer at George Washington University in the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations beginning in the spring of 2013, where he can work with our colleague, Dr. Eric Cline, and the remarkable faculty there. This, too, is wonderful news!

Thank you again for standing up publicly, especially for matters as important as academic freedom, tenure integrity, and for someone as gracious, poised, and humble as Chris Rollston. Thank you.

Thank you to all those who make Thanksgiving possible

As one raised in California’s Central San Joaquin Valley, and as one now residing in America’s heartland of Iowa, I am thankful to all of those hard working farmers, farm laborers, and ag services providers who make the bounty we call Thanksgiving possible.

THANK YOU FARMERS AND FARM WORKERS – conservative or progressive, resident or immigrant, for all your hard work. ¡Gracias!

A Thank You to Veterans for Your Service

The University of Iowa Marching Band pays tribute to US Veterans during halftime of the game with Purdue.

THANK YOU to all who have served in defense of this country, our values, and our families.

I am especially thankful for my grandfather, Ray, and my father, Len, for their service.