<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_17195"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_17194">Clarke,</span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_17195"><span><br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_17195"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_17330">Very interesting! But, there was another Burkean wedding that I attended. It was my son's wedding, and the circular concept (ouroboros) of Burkean and Aristotelian entelechy was featured. (I know, because I wrote the ceremony with the Bride and Groom's approval.) Here is part of the text of that wedding:</span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_17193"><span><br></span></div><div style="margin-left: 2in;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_17299"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19.9733px; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_17300">To [Groom]: [Groom], do you have a ring as a symbol of love for your bride?<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_17301"></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 2in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16789" dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><br></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 2in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16789" dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:14.0pt" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16790">The
wedding ring is a perfect circle. The
universe is comprised of circles. As
each fireworks display typically explodes into a circular image, the theme song
of Epcot’s daily fireworks display states poetically: “Our dreams begin another thousand circles
round the sun.” We understand a “circle
round the sun” to refer to a year, 365 days.
On ____[one year after wedding date]____, you will complete your first circle round the
sun, together. But, then, since the
wedding ring is a circle, a new circle will immediately start again. Not only, however, does the <i id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16791">earth</i> circle the sun, but <i id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16792">other planets</i> do, as well. The “thousand circles” may refer to a
millennium, but each millennium is exponentially compounded by the thousand
circles of other planets. How many
millennia has the earth existed? And
isn’t every decade, century, and millennium also a circle of sorts? For that matter, while the earth is circling
the sun once, it is also rotating in a circle on its axis 365 times. These are 365 additional circles to factor
in. And once, every 28 days, the earth’s
relationship to its moon creates another circle—a month. Remember also that the sun is only one of
billions of stars, all of which have their own circling planets, and those
planets, their moons. The number of
circles in the universe is mind-boggling.
Don’t forget that these stars all seem to be circling within their own
galaxies. The Milky Way is only one
circular galaxy, with countless circles occurring within. Have you considered enough </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">circles?</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">We are not finished.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Now, consider the atom with its nucleus, and
circling protons and neutrons, and try to envision the number of circles in the
universe, since every planet, moon, star, asteroid, and meteor is comprised of
countless atoms.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_17260">This is what I mean
when I say the universe is comprised of circles.</span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 2in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16806"><span style="font-size:14.0pt" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16807"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16808"> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 2in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16809"><span style="font-size:14.0pt" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16810">[Groom],
as you place the ring on the finger of your bride, remember that every episode
in your life together—whether happy or sad—will have a beginning, a middle, and
an end (like a circle). We get through
married life not only by living year by year, but also month by month, day by day. Repeat after me: WITH THIS RING I THEE WED IN THE NAME OF THE
FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT.<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16811"></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 2in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16812"><span style="font-size:14.0pt" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16813"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16814"> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-left:2.0in" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16815"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16816"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16817"> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-left:2.0in" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16818"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16819"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16820"> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-left:2.0in" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16821"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16822"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16823"> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-left:2.0in" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16824"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16825">To [Bride]: [Bride], do you have a ring as a symbol of love
for your groom?<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16826"></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-left:2.0in" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16824"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><br></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 2in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16827"><span style="font-size:14.0pt" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16828">Besides
those astrophysical and atomic circles to which I have just referred, there are
other circles: The theme of your wedding
suggests one: the circle of a drop of
rain falling from the sky, running from a stream of water into a creek, then
into a river, then into the sea, after which it evaporates into the atmosphere
and helps form a cloud, until it becomes too heavy and eventually condenses and
becomes a drop of rain again. This is a
circle. A kernel of corn is planted in
the earth. It puts forth roots, then a
blade, which becomes a stalk. The stalk
develops leaves, tassels, and ears—composed of husks, silks, and cobs. </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16960">The cobs
develop rows and rows of kernels.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16959">Once
these kernels of corn have matured, these kernels are ready to begin new
circles.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16958">In the Animal Kingdom, where
you and [Groom] met, there is the biological “Circle of Life as Disney’s </span><i id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16841" style="font-size: 14pt;">Lion King</i><span style="font-size: 14pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16961"> names it.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16975"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16957">That circle includes not only the circle of birth
and maturation of every single animal, followed by another birth and
maturation, etc.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16976">It also includes the
circle of the food chain, the circular nature of the respiratory and
circulatory systems of each biological organism, and so on.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16977">You completed one circle that began when you
and ____[Groom]____ met each other at the African Safari at Animal
Kingdom____.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16979"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16978">You dated for a long time
to make sure you knew each other well enough to commit to marriage.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">That was a </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">circle.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">It ended when ____[Groom]____ proposed and
you said “yes.”</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Then you started another
circle—engagement.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">That circle ends
today, as you begin a new circle—your marriage to ____each other ____.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Just as you have a ring to symbolize that
engagement circle, you now have a ring to symbolize your marriage.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Consider what these rings symbolize, as you place
the ring on the finger of your groom and repeat after me:</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">WITH THIS RING I THEE WED IN THE NAME OF THE
FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT.</span></div><div></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16566"> </div><div class="signature" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16562">Dr. Stan A. Lindsay, Ph.D. <div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_17143">Teaching Professor </div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_17144">Professional Communication <div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_17145">College of Applied Studies </div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_17146">Florida State University </div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_17176">slindsay@pc.fsu.edu</div><div>http://www.stanlindsay.com</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_18523"><br></div></div></div><div class="qtdSeparateBR" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_16561"><br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_17018"><br></div><div class="yahoo_quoted" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_18517" style="display: block;"> <div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_18516"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_18515"> <div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_18514"> <font size="2" face="Arial" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_18522"> <hr size="1"> <b id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_18521"><span style="font-weight:bold;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_18520">From:</span></b> Clarke Rountree <rountrj@uah.edu><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> "kb@kbjournal.org" <kb@kbjournal.org> <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Monday, October 16, 2017 12:50 PM<br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> [KB] Burkean wedding<br> </font> </div> <div class="y_msg_container" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_18518"><br><div id="yiv3836264313"><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1508170941357_18519">Dear Burkelers:<div><br></div><div>I attended a wedding of my department colleague, Candice Lanius, this weekend. It was officiated by her dissertation director, Ekaterina Haskins, who pronounced it a wedding of "rhetoric nerds." (Candice's husband, Gaines Hubbell, also is a rhetorician in the English department.) </div><div><br></div><div>The happy couple asked that Professor Haskins begin the ceremony with a reading of Burke's "Dialectician's Hymn." The rhetoricians in the crowd were pleased (perhaps 4 of us). I'm sure others were confused!</div><div><br></div><div>It's the first "Burkean" wedding I have heard about. (My wife would have killed me if I asked for a Burke reading!)</div><div><br></div><div>With all the depressing news lately, I thought this might be a pleasant bit of distraction..</div><div><br></div><div>All happiness to Candice and Gaines!</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Clarke</div><div><br></div><div><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="yiv3836264313gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div>Dr. Clarke Rountree<br>Professor of Communication Arts</div><div>Associate Dean for Recruitment and Outreach for the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences<br>243 Morton Hall<br>University of Alabama in Huntsville<br>Huntsville, AL 35899<br>256-824-6646<br><a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:clarke.rountree@uah.edu" target="_blank" href="mailto:clarke.rountree@uah.edu">clarke.rountree@uah.edu</a></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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