Omitted regretably was mention that this event requires an RSVP.  We will be on a boat with 80 person capacity.  Obviously with restrictions to space and life jackets, this 80 person limit is strict.  RSVP to Junior Warden Don Harper ASAP and reserve your seat (and life jacket.)

Please limit your RSVP to yourself and your lady.  No guests please.

You may reach Don Harper at (734)262-4532.

Bon Voyage!

Hello Brothers!

Over the weekend I spend some time working on a project that’s been near and dear to me for several months. As Masons, we are all aware of the sheer volume of profound written work that has been recorded by our fellow Masons throughout the many long years of the Craft. I’ve always considered it unfortunate that the works of these great men have fallen into relative obscurity for one reason or another.

Most of these works are now also in the public domain, making them (ironically) more available than they were at the time the were written. For this reason, I’ve decided to begin taking these old works and re-releasing them in accessible electronic formats (PDF) for use in modern devices like Kindles and iPads.

There is light in the works of our fore Brothers and I’d like to see them kept alive. I’ve opted to release these eBook editions as the Detroit No. 2 Library. The first volume I’m releasing is the Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, a man I have been long impressed by.

This edition was generated with the same software used in the professional publishing field and the file is capable of full color on-demand publishing if anyone desires to have a printed volume of the book.

I hope you enjoy it and look forward to the next volume, which will be the Life of Brother Henry Ford.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE

Hello Brothers! I hope your summers have been a great time with friends and family. As fall draws closer, a Michigan tradition returns, the Renaissance Festival in Holly. This year, the officers have set up a great event for Brothers and their families. On Sunday, Sept. 19th, Detroit No.2 will be the guests of honor in the Queen’s Tent at the 2010 Renaissance Festival. There’s a great menu including:

Chicken Cordon Bleu • Roasted Baby Back Ribs • Red Skin Potatoes • Roasted Vegetables • Mixed Greens with Assorted Dressings • Fresh Fruit Platter • Sweet Cream Butter

The festivities begin at 11am, so bring you kids and grandkids down to have a great time with us at the deuce!

It was the middle of March and there was snow all over the ground. I had come into work and was standing at the coffee machine looking at the parking lot one story below. I was halfway through pouring a cup of coffee when I saw a small truck pull into the lot and maneuver into the spot next to my car. The truck hit my car.

I don’t have a particularly nice car, but it’s my car and I can’t afford to have it in the shop for any amount of time. I saw the person who hit me, Sam, was a co-worker.

I said something you can’t repeat in front of children and went back to my desk.

Normally this is the kind of thing that sends me into the old red rage but I can’t do that anymore. The tantrums I used to indulge in don’t really help. Sure, it feels good to start yelling and kicking garbage cans, but it almost never changes the situation. I sat down and waited for something to happen.

Honestly, my glass-half-full mentality told me that the guy was not going to say anything to me at all. I think that was a wish from the monster in his cave. If the guy came up and acted as if nothing had happened, I would have felt justified about yelling and kicking the aforementioned garbage can.

Sam came in, walked right up to me and said, “You own the green VW, right? I just hit your car, you better come look at it.”

I went outside to see that nothing had happened at all. There was a spot on the right front quarter panel where the salt had been moved around, but there was no real damage. I felt a lot better immediately. This was something I could let slide.

Sam was not having it, he gave me his insurance information and told me to get it checked out and his company would take care of everything.

I got the car washed, there was nothing out of place on the car, and I promptly forgot about the entire thing. That is, I forgot about it until last week.

Sam got himself a job working PR for one of the communities we cover and was in the process of wrapping up his affairs at the newspaper. It was after lunch on Wednesday when he walked up to my desk and put down a bottle of The Dalmore scotch whisky.

“Huh?” I said.
“I just wanted to say thanks about the thing when I hit your car,” he said.
“Dude, it was nothing. You didn’t even scratch the paint,” I said.
“I know,” he said. “But you could have written off everything on that side of the car. Thanks for not doing that.”

Well, I’ll be dipped. I spent the rest of the day with a high-toned bottle of liquor on my desk. Of course, there was no cracking it in the office but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t let everyone else know that I had a bottle of high-toned liquor handed to me out of nowhere.

Not that I’m the kind of guy to put a value on a gift, but I know you don’t come near a fifth of 12 year-old Highlands product for under $40. Sam’s got some class, I must say.

I couldn’t crack into that when I got home because I had to get downtown to see my neighbor’s daughter, Victoria, performing at the Max Fisher Music Center. Her father, Oliver, pulled me aside a few weeks ago to tell me she was performing with the Civic Jazz Orchestra and invited me to go.

Now Victoria is 14 years-old and I’ve known her since she was about 7. Over the years I’ve heard her practicing the saxophone two doors down during the summer months and seen her being ferried back and forth from music lessons during the winter. She’s cute as a button and sharp as a tack. Since the seventh grade, she has been attending a performing arts school on the east side.

I showed up after the lights had been turned down and found a seat in the back of the room. There she was with about 20 other kids aged 12 through 18. Long story short, they played an hour-long set of really tight, really good music. I don’t know jazz, but I know when something is being done well.

Halfway through the show, Victoria got up for her featured performance. She played the lead sax line for “Harlem Nocturne” (or, the theme from the Mike Hammer show, if you like). It’s this slow, smoky thing. Believe me, you’d like it. After the first four bars you were convinced you needed to own a fedora and do private investigations.

Victoria was fantastic. She didn’t miss a note standing in front of 200 parents, all of whom were deadly serious about jazz. It was really nice.

I made a point of catching up with her at the reception after the show. I caught up to her in front of the brownie table. Her eyes lit up, “You came! You came!”
She hadn’t expected me to see the show that night. Sure, I told her father that I would be there, but I’ve been the invisible neighbor for the last three years. Situations were strange and I had been keeping a low profile. When I think about it, I wouldn’t have put good money on someone who had been acting like me either.

But I kept my word and came to the show; it made a big deal to her.

What am I getting at? Two things that I didn’t think anything of at the time were very big to other people.

I think we’d all be well-served to remember that other people don’t measure the world the same way we do. Something that you don’t notice might mean a lot to other people.

That’s what makes the Master’s call for us to act as becomes a man and a Mason such a good piece of advice. Every day, each of us interacts with many people, even if for only a couple of seconds at a time. If we’re more careful about how we act, what we say and how we approach situations, how much better of an influence can we be on the world?

I could have burned Sam for everything on the right side of my car. I could have sat home and watched TV with a glass of something “…well structured with silky smooth malty tones – a hint of Oloroso sherry lingers in the background. It shows great finesse, extolling fragrances of orange, marmalade and spiced notes.” I pulled that from the website.

I did the right thing twice. Acting as befits…is its own reward.

I received an email today from one of the subscribers to detroitno2.com, Lux Gnosis with some links to some interesting articles that may shed some light on the final resting place of one of Masonry’s primaries, St. John the Baptist. There have been other claims to his remains by other countries around the Mediterranean, so this isn’t yet conclusive, though there seems to be many indicators that the find is indeed authentic. It was located on a Bulgarian island in the Black Sea.

Read More At:

• St. John the Baptist’s Bones Found In Bulgarian Monastery
• John The Baptist’s Bones Found
• Euphoria over St. John the Baptist Archaeology Find

The menu will be open.

The Tin Fish is located at:
10069 Dixie Hwy. Fair Haven, MI 48023 (map)

Freemasonry is deeply entrenched in Jamaican society, enjoying support and patronage at every level. A spry 85 year old Jamaican Grand Officer sees his role in life as one of awe; to “advise, warn, encourage.” The ‘ancient’ is Jamaica’s Governor General, His Excellency Sir Howard Cooke. Prominent too among Jamaican Freemasons are members of the government and the opposition, the executive, the judiciary, the civil service, the Jamaica Defence Force and the Jamaica Constabulary.

Freemasonry in Jamaica is populated with men from every walk of life. Members are drawn from commerce, law, publishing, medicine, tourism and academia. Airline pilots, customs and immigration officers, coastguards, architects, engineers and quantity surveyors, builders and tradesmen range under the banners of the three constituions – those of the English (EC), Irish (IC) and the Scottish (SC). Better still, its Freemasons are well known and regarded highly by Jamaicans as a whole. The contrast with Freemasonry in England could not be greater.

Geography
An island in the Caribbean Sea, Jamaica is about the size and shape of the English county of Sussex. Jamaica is 140 miles east to west and 60 miles north to south. A spinal range of mountains divides north from south, with the bulk of Jamaicans living on the coastal fringes. Of a population of more than 2m, almost two thirds live in Greater Kingston on the alluvial Liguanea Plain.
Most of the Craft lodges belonging to three constitutions are found in Kingston and Spanish Town. Freemasonry is active in the other centres of population at Montego Bay, Mandeville, St Anne’s Bay, Port Maria, Linstead and on the Cayman Islands.

Irish Panache
There is no denying the vibrancy of Irish Freemasonry in Jamaica. It is expanding at a phenomenal rate, attracting many younger men and those in their middle years. Up to 1985, South Carolina Lodge No 390, founded in 1928, was the only Irish lodge active. South Carolina Lodge owes its heritage to members of the 1st West India Regiment which served in Jamaica, taking out the first warrant in 1906. The warrant was surrendered when the regiment disbanded in 1927. Fortunately, survivors sought and obtained its present warrant. Today there are five lodges with two in the process of being established. Irish Freemasonry has changed Jamaica from a solitary outpost to a fully fledged Province.

Numbers and Leaders
Scottish Freemasonry, with 17 lodges, is as well established as the English Constitution, which, with 23 lodges, is the largest grouping. However, the English lodges appear rather staid and orthodox in contrast to the other constitutions. Whilst the total numbers of Freemasons in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands (EC balliwick) and the Bahamas (SC balliwick) may amount to 4,500, many are members of rival constitutions, proving clearly that men can live in peace and harmony.

The leaders of the constitutions are eloquent men blessed with an ability to find a light touch to serious business. The Scottish are led by a dentist who succeeded a gynaecologist. The English are led by an attorney at law who succeeded a dentist – while the recently formed Irish Province is led by the director of an international conglomerate in which his family has a significant share-holding.

Just how the leaders are chosen is a mystery. What is remarkable is how often the brethren have got it right. The Irish and Scottish seem to favour fixed terms. The Scottish Constitution seems to favour five years while the Irish have ten year rule for senior office. The English Constituion is elective, the present District Grand Master having served eight years of what could possibly be twelve years if his predecessors’ periods of office offer guidance.
RW Bro Afeef Asaad Lazarus, District Grand Master of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, a man approaching 50 years, is a large avuncular solicitor now eight years into office. Initiated into Friendly Lodge No 239 in 1973 he became its Master in 1979. Today he is striving to persuade some of the older Freemasons to accept more of the ways of the younger man. A reluctance by older Freemasons to yield to the younger brethren has led to problems of recruitment.
RW Bro Barrington Earl Antony Miller succeeded Hugh Hastings Wynter as head of the Scottish Constitution in Jamaica. Now just over 50 years of age he is the oldest of the three Craft Masters. Initiated into the Clarendon Kilwinning Lodge No 1427 in 1970 he became its Master in 1976. This amiable, slightly built dentist owns an infectious laugh and a broad smile. Residing in Spanish Town, the former capital of the island, the District Master Mason is well located to undertake his duties visiting the 17 lodges in his jurisdiction.

RW Bro James Moss-Solomon is a relatively young mason, having been initiated less than 15 years ago into the Irish Constitution Lodge Western Shamrock No 889. He was its first initiate in 1985. Now in his late forties, he embraced Freemasonry with great zeal, becoming the first Provincial Grand Master at 43. Among his many attributes are a ready wit, a great sense of humour and, on the occasions he is not the principal visitor, plays the organ with the lightest of touches. His ability to reflect the moods of a lodge at labour with selections from the keyboard adds much to the good humour of the meetings. He sees life in bold perspective: ‘Do something; do it well’ is his doctrine. Leading from the front, he is a great motivator, advocating not only the gift of money to charitable causes, but the gift of self. He is particularly keen to promote charity for the less fortunate young.

Cross pollination
With more than 45 lodges in the three constitutions, many brethren belong to more than one lodge, while many boast of cross-constitution loyalties. Sometimes this affiliation is evident in the ritual. Phrases heard in one constitution turn up in dialogue in another code. Invariably the audience notices an aberration with muffled amusement. Nonetheless, the constitutions attempt to ensure the best ‘purity’ of working obtainable. There is no prospect of the constitutions amalgamating. Their individual quirks and foibles are respected and enjoyed by all Jamaican Freemasons.

The rituals are fundamentally the same at the core but different theatre to watch. The most dramatic thing seen in the Irish lodges is the running fire greeting the apppointment of an officer or greeting a guest of note: “honour (dignitary) with eleven on the third coming down…” Fascinating. Even more surprising is how often a Brother miscounts, ending up embarrassing himself with the extra solitary clap – always the loudest noise. Some lodges are inflexibly rigid in squaring the lodge while others reflect pedestrian crossings in America where everyone goes where they please once the light turns to red.

With the ployglot population of Jamaica, skins of every hue are in evidence, reinforcing the national motto of ‘Out of many, One People’. With so many backgrounds on show, many variations of formal dress are present. At installations, normal dark suits are adorned by constitutional paraphernalia, with all kinds of masonic jewellery being seen. The constitutions follow orthodox practice of the most senior officials being in morning dress. Somehow the green and gold, enhanced by the sashes of office, make those of the Scottish fraternity spectacular. On occasions, leaders of the Scottish Constitution have sported white tuxedo jackets which, coupled with a dark complexion, have made the regalia truly magnificent to behold.

In most Jamaican lodges, the festive board or harmony is a light meal of chicken, beef, ham and mutton (goat flesh), rice and salad, followed at installation meetings by iced fruit cake. Coffee is not served but all manner of drink is available. The cost of the repast is borne by the lodge.

The light meal is an attractive incentive for most Freemasons, coming as it does at the end of a business day, allowing some in congested areas like Kingston relief from the need to return home first. Lodge Installations are very well supported, on occasions there being 200 and more, including non-masons, wives and ladies. Invariably the host lodge membership is dwarfed by those visiting. Regular meetings are supported too, but on a lesser scale.

As most meetings do not tyle until early evening, the brethren are at labour in the temple until well after 9 o’clock. Unsurprisingly, there is no tradition of a toast to absent brethren other than that included in the Tyler’s Toast.

Charity

By British standards funds are raised on a greater scale per capita. Recently a Brother in his mid-forties suffered a stroke and required physiotherapy abroad. A barbecue afternoon was staged at which in excess of £5,000 sterling was raised with pledges of more from absent brethren. Over 150 attended at relatively short notice. Not all were Freemasons but almost all of the Brothers of the host lodge attended with families and friends. Any fine, warm, sunny afternoon is a material blessing likely to encourage a good turnout. But it is noticeable that good weather or bad, most functions are well supported and attain the aims of the organisers. The evident camaraderie is encouraging.
Jamaican masons support many island-wide charities. An ex-soldiers’ home hit hard times. A number of lodges decided to adopt the cause. In addition to financial help, physical help has been given too. Numerous charities have been helped on a continuous basis, some homes for children enjoying days out with visits to the homes of brethren. Old folk are not neglected although much of the charity is directed towards the needs of young persons.

Ups and downs
While Jamaican Freemasonry is buoyant, it has not always been so. Less than 20 years ago, South Carolina (IC) answered a plea from Moore Keys Lodge (EC), a military lodge, to assist in maintaining numbers when it was in danger of contemplating a surrender of its warrant. Members of South Carolina affiliated with Moore Keys enabling a restoration of masonic health. Lodge St John (SC) faced a similar crisis in the early 70’s. Sister lodges rallied to its aid and it is now vibrant. Present inter-lodge memberships owe much to the actions of those saviours in the mid-70’s and 80’s.

The ease in which all Jamaican masons and visitors to Jamaican fraternal meetings move is proof positive that there is no disharmony, racism, prejudice or other demeaning characteristics of modern society which plague the world in general. The evident pleasure the brethren have in meeting each other spills over into the streets and by-ways of Jamaica. Jamaican Freemasons meet and talk freely in every place, invariably with a laugh and a smile.

The future of Jamaican Freemasonry looks secure. All three constitutions are succeeding in attracting younger men to their ranks. Acceptance by society in general adds to the lustre of Freemasonry. So long as Freemasonry continues to appeal to the influential core of Jamaican manhood, its future looks bright.

As I grew too old for DeMolay my life took me far from Detroit and the temple. I knew I would one day become a Mason but I waited until I could be raised in that place. I am glad that when I finally returned to Detroit I came to Detroit No. 2 to complete that vision. The brothers I have met and the lessons I have learned thus far have proven to me that indeed the path to answer many of my life’s questions and to find new ones does lie behind the doors of that structure.

Behind one of those doors lies a golden trowel. It was shown to me by a brother when I inquired about my grandfather and a German speaking lodge called Schiller which used to meet there. The trowel was a gift from another German speaking lodge in Ohio. It was a symbol of fellowship given to Schiller lodge for their 50th anniversary in 1919. Not long after that, many trowels were put to use in the hands of operative masons who constructed the Detroit Masonic Temple with them. Undoubtedly their trowels were made from some more practical material, though the mortar put down by that golden trowel has held the temple together to this day. The fellowship of many a brother has been shared in it’s walls and a great city was built around them and by them.

Tuck-point is a technique used by the operatives to repair mortar joints that have weathered or been otherwise damaged. It is a difficult and delicate process. If you want the structure to appear uniform it takes great care to match the color and seams of the original mason.

Our temple is in disrepair gentlemen. Operative masons can not use their tools to fix it. We must take that golden trowel and repair broken joints. The storms ahead can be held back by the temple we build with the other brothers who have the same respect and reverence for that structure and more importantly the organizations that occupy it as we do. Reach out to your brothers in other lodges. Visit with them and work with them. Refer to the other bodies that we take part in as “us” instead of “them”. Take personal responsibility for what goes on around us. Thank your brothers on committees and the trustees for the work they do and help when it is within the length of your cable tow.

Our working tools can do great things. The city of Detroit was at one time evidence of that. It now stands as evidence of what can happen when we put those working tools down. Can we pick them back up and make the necessary repairs?

8 Sided Tessellated Star

look long enough and perspective shifts

Tessellated Unicursal Hexagram

inspired by Crowley

RePent

simple and my first

Nexis

This is the Star of David or interlocking pyramids.