A scrap book of Bro. Joshua’s Art and photos.
Video clips concering the novels are also featured near the bottom of this page

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Marquee

These photos of me are preceeded by the aproximate year they were taken. Select itemes of the scrolling marquee will be presented later on this page. These just happen to be of the same uniform hight, suitable for an intorduction to my scrapbook. I was born in 1951, in case you want to figure out my age for each photo.
Turkey, 1973            Sevants of the Gospel, Ft. Covington NY 1993             Canfield Ohio, SSP, 1997             SSP -Ohio, 1998/2000            Rome, 2005            Wells State Park, U. P. Michigan, 1980/84             Royal Oak, MI 1980/85 -            Roseville, Michigan, 1979/82 . . . . . . . .

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Republic of Turkey: I lived in Turkey for fifteen months while in the Air Force 1973/74. The Map above, from Google Earth, marks out some of the places I visited that are important highlights in the life of St. Paul. Starting from the left, you will see yellow pins and lables. Antioch is The place St. Paul officialy accepted the term Christian as a name for The Way that is now known as Christianity. Two Antiochs are mentioned in the New Testament.
     Head north a bit and then west. The next yellow pin marks Incerlik and Incerlic Air Force Base. The "c" in Turkish is pronounced as the "ch" of English. an incer is a fig. Incerlik denotes a place where figs grow abundantly. That is were I lived. It is not far from the next pin marking Tarsus, the birth place and childhood home of St. Paul.
     Continue west and follow the red trail marker to the north loop. Derbe no longer exists. The area is noted and travelers who can appreciate a rough walk might head that way. Return to the main red line, head west to the southern loop and you find Myra, the home of Santa Clause, or more formally kown as St. Nicholas.
     Return to the main red path marker, which I drew and does not depict actual roads, and take it to the western end to Ephesus. That the population Paul wrote to in his Letteer to the Ephesians. It is said that St. John, the youngest disciple, took Mary the Mother of Jesus and that there she lived out her final years. Recall that Jesus spoke from the Cross to Mary, "Behold your son." To John he said, "Behold your mother." The thought that Mary and John lived in Ephesus for some time is based on this commission from Christ that Mary and John look after each other.

Changing Habbits

     I graduated at age 19 in 1970 from Dondero High School in Royal Oak, Michigan and entered Franciscan formation at Dun Scotus seminary in Southfield, Michigan in late August of the same year. A series of events and career changes put me in the United States Air Force and then into a few interesting jobs including a long career on public transportation management before I re-entered Religious life in or about the year 1992.

     My accounting for the exact year or dates is lacking, but I am certain the dates I use on this page are correct within a couple of years. I know the 1970 graduation date is correct.

     I went with a new foundation of Franciscans around 1992 and inside of a year I was with the Servants of the Gospel, a now defunct 3rd Order Regular of St. Dominic (similar to the O.P. Dominicans). That is me in the white habit of the Dominicans.


     I left about a couple years before that group disbanded. I worked about a year and then joined the Society of St. Paul, the congregation of Catholic Priests and Brothers I currently belong to, (photo left). We are engaged in all forms of modern communication technologies spreading the Word, TV, DVD, CD, Internet, Book Publishing, Radio and more. The photo here shows me before a huge satellite dish at our monastery in Canfield, Ohio where we broadcast television programs. As of this posting, I am stationed on Staten Island, NY. (2009).      The picture of me at the altar is from my (final) prepeptual profession in August 2004 (or 2003) at my parish of Our Lady of Redemption Melkite Catholic Church in Warren, Michigan. Profession was conducted in the evening of the 14th, the Feast of the Dormition of Mary. It was also the first of several days of total electric outage affecting eight States and portions of Canada.

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Villagers and Friends of Birch Clump

     My drawings of some of my novels’ characters: I used photos from my photo albums and pictures I could snatch off the internet to draw new characters and have them fit my story, at least for the pages of this web site. Official illustrations for the novels are left to the skillful interpretation and work of a professional artist, Kathy Johnson.
Randy Vanwesterdyke is a major protagonist showing up about a third of the way in the first novel, Hawk Dancer and continuing on through the second novel, Cloudburst.

     Randy, at age 12, moved from the Village of Birch clump to Gaylord in the northern portion of Lower Michigan. The next three pictures illustrate a dramatic event at age 15 where he was knocked unconscious, robbed of his paper rout money and left hogged tied in a wooded park in or just outside of Gaylord. Hawk Dancer dates that in mid-August, 1966.

  Having a bad day?

Other Kids: Dean Thompson/(Phelan) and Erik Fern have a close freindship, though quite challenging to each other at times. The slide drawing is of the trio: Dean, Erik and Randy, probably during a summer vacation time in their freshmen or sophmore year of High school.




















Pictures framed in blue or purple can be clicked to for enlargements or for more information










BC Gang: A Monk, Dean, Mott,
Randy - Randy, Dean again, A visitor


Click the picture just right (Randy in the film negative) of this paragraph to see more pictures of Birch Clump's Baby Boomer teens of the 60's. The 60's and 70's were times of social upheaval, challenges to the established order, Changes in the Churches and of hippy-like influences.


Jerome Mott plays a short but vibrant role in Hawk Dancer. Here is a picture of him from June 1969.

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This and That

     Trinity Beads: A depiction of the Holy Trinity in beads. (left. Art by me - Joshua)




     The log cabin is the Michigan tourist center in Marquette. The petunia tree is for real; but with a bit of explanation, of course. These are metal sculpted trees, very realistic looking and complete with plumbing to water the baskets of petunias “growing” from the tree.






     I tended to the cactus in bloom pictured here when I was in Ohio. I had some growing back home in Michigan. They originated from North and South Dakota. I received them from a person who tended to a green house that once stood at the Jesuit Manresa Retreat house in West Bloomfield, Michigan.



     Then there is the picture of me seated on the dockside of the Menominee, Michigan break water Marina. The photo would date to the early or mid 1980’s.




     The small insert of the crucifix is from Indian River, about a fifteen minute drive south of the Mackinac Bridge joining Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas. It is the world’s tallest Crucifix put up in the 50’s. My family often made a stop at that shrine on our trips from Detroit to Menominee almost every year as I grew up and I continue the tradition as often as I get the chance to do so.




     Some of the boys of Birch Clump had there differences, and like school boys the world over, had their less gallant manner of conflict resolution.






     The picture of the guitar player is about Joseph Mandaamin.

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Trash?

There was a time I was border line underweight and not very handsome. Yet I wouldn’t say I was ugly either, after all I had plenty of “friends” say that; but then what are friends for but to greet another friend with words like, “Well look what the cat dragged in!”









     I guess I have enough bits, pieces and scraps of things on this page to satisfy the curious. I supplied a few links built into some pictures on this page for those that want to explore more of my art and photos. If you return to my main Art and Photo page, you’ll find some other art links. More may be added as time goes on.

     The three framed pictures in this section are of me in my early 30’s (early 1980’s) before I got fat and handsome as some of us have a tendency to do over time. The one of me at the tree and lake side is from central Indiana. The suited image of me all dressed up and no place to go is from Roseville, Michigan. My companions trashed me in the final framed picture down in Indiana at Liberty State Park.

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Video

Here are some of the amature videos I made for You Tube and for St. Paul's Tube. Put my name in the engin search of You Tube for more videos. Screen pictures on these videos are: Dean Thompson (Phelan) for "B.C. Guys;" Me in Turkey for "Stillness;" My Great Grandfather for "Art work by Kathy Johnson;" Me for "On Site Photos for Hawk Dancer;" (repeat of me in Turkey for "Bro. Joshua's Drawing for Hawk Dancer;" A generic youth of the 60's or 70's for "Tea;" St. Mary's Church, Bad River Rez, Wisconsin for "Adaptation of my Californian Speach."

B. C. GUYS                           "Stillness," short story
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VIDEO CLIPS
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Art work by Kathy Johnson for Hawk Dancer.         On site Photos for Hawk Dancer by Bro. Joshua
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Bro. Joshua's Drawings for Hawk Dancer         "TEA" a short story by Bro. Joshua
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Adaptation of my 2004 California speech

VISIT AGAIN - MORE PICTURES ADDED FROM TIME TO TIME

BIRCH CLUMP PHOTO GALLERY

Click here or the picture above for the author's special selections. This takes you to another site, so please back space to this page when you are done.