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REV. JOEY N. WELSH. April 30, 2006. A Different Kind of Ceremony ANOTHER ANGLE: the occasional musings of a Kentucky pastor A Different Kind of Ceremony By The Rev. Joey N. Welsh joey_n_welsh@hotmail.com Back when I was a college student I went to the infield at the Kentucky Derby several times in a row. I never had the need to repeat those experiences in later years, though they were mostly fun. I discovered on those occasions that I really need my personal space. I don't like being herded around, jostled in crowds or surrounded by folks who have drunk too much. I don't enjoy waiting in line to get into a yucky restroom. And I don't like being trapped in the crowded infield when rains come and the tunnel under the backstretch is the only exit. One year all of us who left after the big race looked like drowned rats. If I ever go back to the Derby, I want to go as the guest of someone up on Millionaires Row. I'm not holding my breath while I wait for that to happen. I also discovered something else. I don't think mint juleps are anything that a rational person should want to drink. I had one at one Derby and thought it was vile and medicinal. I tried one the next year, and I thought even less of the experience. Both times I was with friends who told me that I should not judge the mint julep on the basis of what is sold at the Churchill Downs infield on Derby Day. That may be true, but sometime later I was offered one at a fancy party, one made by the host with great care and served in a silver julep cup. I still thought it was gross. Another friend confided to me that he thought the drink, even in the best of circumstances, was pretty bad. He then went on to say, "The mint julep is a cross we have to bear because were from Kentucky and we need to drink the stuff once a year to be hospitable." For some reason, I dont think the mint julep was the cross Jesus was talking to his disciples about when he said, "If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross, and follow me." (from Mark 8:34, CEV version) I thought about the mint julep anew as Derby Week 2006 approached. The balloons are beautiful, the Pegasus Parade and the Great Steamboat Race are fun. But I never need to return to the infield, and I never need to come close to a mint julep again, ever. There is one good thing about the julep. It can be lovely to read about. In one of my columns last year I wrote about the Buckners. Simon Bolivar Buckner was a Hart County native, General for the Confederacy during the Civil War , Governor of Kentucky and Democratic Party nominee for Vice-President in 1896. His son, Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. was a U. S. Army General and the highest ranking U. S. officer to die in World War II. Buckner, Jr. developed a wide reputation for his mint juleps, famously serving them once to President Franklin Roosevelt and Douglas MacArthur when the two came to West Point for graduation. While still serving as an officer on staff at the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, Buckner was asked for his julep recipe. He replied with instructions that are more properly thought of as a ceremony. The description is poetic and evocative, but it still leaves me unconvinced that anyone should drink the stuff. Here, in honor of Derby Week 2006, is the text of Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr.'s letter about the mint julep, sent in response to an inquiry from the General William D. Connor, Superintendent at West Point in 1937: March 30, 1937 This story was posted on 2006-04-30 00:30:00
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