Claudia Schmitt and David Conner

Wheat Ridge
Colorado USA

Photo by Rebecca C. Conner

This page is now out of date.
Please go to:

home.comcast.net/~connect_2/index.html

Mail us at connect_2@comcast.net

These links take you to sections farther down on this page.


We all know that since the early 1970's computers have become virtually universal—not only in their availability but with regard to the apparently endless variety of tasks to which they may be applied. Many observers however, and particularly those of a more humanistic bent, have not greeted these phenomenal electronic advances with unmitigated joy, for as growing numbers of persons have devoted growing numbers of hours to growing numbers of cathode ray tubes, the consequences have not normally included deeper and more meaningful forms of human interaction.

But with the rapid popularization of the internet, including newsgroups, e-mail (many of us are actually starting to write letters again), and the World Wide Web, there seems to be a glimmer of hope—for at last computers offer a chance to do something other than fade into the oblivious privacy of what is called, interestingly enough, virtual reality. The computer possibly, just possibly, has now become a means for the creation of community, rather than its disintegration.

Images such as this well-known but still striking photo of the earth taken by the Apollo 11 crew remind us that there is a sense in which this planet is a de facto community, notwithstanding prevalent worldviews and lifestyles to the contrary.



Some Websites to Peruse

 Pursuant to the enhancement of our sense of larger community, we like to check out the OneWorld Online Home Page.

Right here on your CRT you can view extraordinary photos from the Hubble Space Telescope.

In this space we once listed a link for feminist theology. That site has since vanished. If you are familiar with another good one, please let us know.

We check current news on CNN.

Our favorite weather page is brimful of data and really nifty maps or, for weather almost anywhere (including Antarctica) check out Roger Brugge's homepage.

The Library of Congress Home Page is a fascinating resource, and includes a quantity of historic photography which can be downloaded. An even better set of pages is the Smithsonian Institution website.

We'd be pleased if you'd take a look at our own Cinema Page.

Finally, in an effort to stay informed concerning the latest doings of the fundamentalists on the so-called religious right, see the People for the American Way newsletter.

Churches
Claudia and I were both Methodist pastors until 1994, when our relationship developed to the point where it was not possible for us to remain in ministry. (When we fell in love we were both married . . . but not to one another. We should have waited.) We were married in 1995. Claudia worked for four years in furniture sales for Corporate Express. Since February 19, 2002, Claudia has been a fulltime chaplain at The Children's Hospital here in Denver. On October 27, 2002, Claudia was approved for ministry by an Ecclesiastical Council of the Metropolitan Denver Association of the UCC. She was ordained at the Wheat Ridge UCC on Sunday, November 24, 2002.

Until July 1, 2001, I worked in Information Technologies for Qwest (formerly U S WEST). On November 4, 2001, I was hired by the Wheat Ridge Congregation of the United Church of Christ to be their pastor. My first Sunday in the pulpit was December 2, 2001.

As a denomination the United Church of Christ is noted for its progressive social stances. Its congregational polity should, we think, commend itself to all thoughtful persons. We first joined the UCC in 1994 through the Washington Park United Church of Christ in Denver, a congregation which identifies itself as seeking "a whole earth," "just peace," restorative justice, and the affirmation of gays and lesbians. Indeed, to find a refreshingly progressive approach to Protestantism, check out the UCC denominational homepage. There are also web sites for the Metropolitan Denver Association of the United Church of Christ and for the Rocky Mountain Conference of the United Church of Christ.

Our Own Web Stuff

STUFF ABOUT MOVIES
CONNER'S UNFAMILIAR QUOTATIONS. Stuff not in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations.
PAGE TWO. Page One has been so popular that now there's a second site.
WHEAT RIDGE CONGREGATION, UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST.
BLACK and WHITE PHOTOS by REBECCA C. CONNER
A JavaScript PROGRAM TO CONVERT UNITS OF MEASUREMENT

Schools

 Most colleges and universities have relatively interesting websites, so we list here the institutions with which we have a more or less direct association. Claudia majored in Communications and Psychology at Cal State, Chico in northern California. I (David) have a degree in Chemistry from Millsaps College in Jackson, Missippi. My parents and a brother and sister also are Millsaps graduates. Claudia, her father Carl Schmitt, and I all have master's degrees from The Iliff School of Theology in Denver, where I also hold a Th.D. degree.

Daughter Becky and son James are both graduates of Littleton High School in south suburban Denver. Eldest daughter Becky graduated three years ago in English at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln. In August, 2002, she accepted a position as a flight attendant for jetBlue Airways in New York City.

James graduated on June 9, 2001, from The University of Denver. He majored in Kappa Sigma and English and has been admitted to the D.U. law school , but has not been able to work out a viable financial aid package. He is taking time off to save some money. On November 5 James returned from a fifteen-month stint teaching English to young children in Seoul. After getting bored working in a law firm in Denver, he decided to return to Seoul and has been there since June, 2004. James enjoys getting e-mail at jamesconner234@hotmail.com.

Cathy is twenty-one and passed her GED two years ago. She is currently beginning her third year at Metropolitan State College in Denver. Claudia's two children (my stepchildren) are Fauve and Colin Johnson. Colin is now a junior at the Jefferson County Open School at 10th and Wadsworth in Lakewood. Fauve is embarking on her senior year at East High School, after having spent her junior year abroad in Brest, France. My two brothers, Syd and Tom, used to work at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. Tommy has since retied and Syd has moved to Texas A & M.

Go to

Yahoo
Webcrawler
Google