Plate o’ shrimp

I love these plate o’ shrimp moments.

With one sentence under way, I’ll take a moment to explain “plate o’ shrimp” for the uninitiated. From the epic 80s film, “Repo Man.”

Miller: A lot o’ people don’t realize what’s really going on. They view life as a bunch o’ unconnected incidents ‘n things. They don’t realize that there’s this, like, lattice o’ coincidence that lays on top o’ everything. Give you an example; show you what I mean: suppose you’re thinkin’ about a plate o’ shrimp. Suddenly someone’ll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o’ shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in lookin’ for one, either. It’s all part of a cosmic unconciousness.

Otto: You eat a lot of acid, Miller, back in the hippie days?

So, yesterday, I took my first bike ride of any distance in quite some time. Along the way, I noticed I was crossing the Union Township line and I passed by the Stidham United Methodist Church on Tippecanoe County Road 175 West. Not 24 hours later, I browse the Lafayette Journal & Courier and am treated to a short biography of Jasper Hart Stidham (1833 – 1912), a resident of Union Township from whom the Stidham place names in the area are derived. He had been a “conservative business man, a man of high principle, broad views, good motives, and an honored and useful citizen.” His parents started farming the area in 1830 — the county was created in 1826. Jasper died unmarried, childless, and with 1,000 acres. So, his estate apparently went to things like churches.

Unfortunately, I did not note the stained glass windows as I rode past the church. Apparently it is of local vintage, the creation of Lafayette artist Edna Browning Ruby. The information, incidentally, comes from Bob Kriebel, a prolific historian of the Lafayette area whose work appears in the Lafayette Journal & Courier on a regular basis.