Alors!
30 April 2003
We've found ... oops, it's gone
A German archeologist may have found the tomb of Gilgamesh in the Iraqi desert.
29 April 2003
Hiphopophobia
Zoe WIlliams asks why we conflate "black culture" with the views and mores of only young, straight, black males in her article Hiphopophobia.
Electoral abuses in the UK
Here is an interesting article (a bit shocking, really) about the abuses of postal voting in UK local elections.
I mentioned here a while back that I am reconsidering my decision not to apply for British citizenship. I had a look at the forms, thoughtfully provided by my darling hubby (thank you, darling hubby!) and noticed that I will have to swear an oath of loyalty to the Queen. I am not thrilled by this idea. When I mentioned it to DH, he suggested that I protest on the basis that Sinn Fein MPs were exempted from having to do the same thing. (Admittedly, their reasons were more, shall we say personal? than mine; mine are almost pure technicality.) I wonder if Quakerism is a valid exemption reason? My aversion to swearing an oath to a human being is more in the line of the Quaker aversion to all oaths generally. When I was quite young, I worked for the state of Georgia briefly (for the University system, in between bouts of being a student) and had to swear a loyalty oath then (to the state of Georgia and the US and their constitutions, I believe it was). I thought it was very archaic, very offensive, very Georgia. Some 25 years later, my son also dropped out of college for a couple of years and worked for the University, and I believe they were still making employees swear the oath.
28 April 2003
27 April 2003
On the future of Europe
Jeremy Rifkin says thanks to President Bush for giving Europe a renewed sense of identity.
25 April 2003
24 April 2003
Back to Iraq
Just a quick one here - it looks a like a blog from a free-lance war correspondent in Iraq. Or something. Anyway, it has a lot of good stuff on it. I found this following a link to MoveableType, apparently the main competitor of my own weblog's host Blogger/Blogspot.
Why I love the internet
Here is a link in the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association website to something called the Rhythmical Time Fountain. It is only 1/2 mile from where I am sitting at work right now, and so I am going to see it today or if it is raining today, maybe tomorrow. Now, how did I happen to find this? Wonderful serendipity. There was a mention of the sculptor Rowland Emmet in a letter to Neil Gaiman that he posted on his weblog, Neil Gaiman's Journal. (I was reading that just because I am bored.) There is no link telling where in Nottingham this thing exists, and it undoubtedly never occurred to Neil or his correspondent that a middle-aged woman working in Nottingham with time on her hands would read this fragment and wonder whether she could pop out for half an hour and see the piece. But the ever-useful Google provided the answer in a few seconds. I did not even know there was this meticulous registry of all the monuments and sculptures in Britain, and that alone will give me hours of time-wasting enjoyment.
23 April 2003
Altered Statesmen
Altered Statesmen! Famous men on drugs. Read about the substances zipping around in the brains of John F. Kennedy, Winston Churchill and other heads of state or leaders of governments.
21 April 2003
Neil Gaiman excerpt
I was just reading Neil Gaiman's journal, which is one of my links down at the bottom of this page. He has a very funny little segue from telling of a story in the Guardian about the revision of European history to a kindler and gentler version, apparently in order to bolster the European Union. The re-casting of the Vikings from cruel barbaric pillagers to clever traders and peaceful farmer-settlers inspired him to re-write the Crusades, the Jewish diaspora and the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Check it out (you may have to look in the archives in a few days.)
The sugar connection
Today's topic is sugar.
Last Friday I happened to suggest to hubby that we might look into trying the Atkins diet, as we both desperately need to lose weight. He agreed, and Friday night I went to surf the web to look for resources in starting the diet. I discovered that Atkins had just died that same day. At first I thought this was a mighty coincidence, until I realised that the subject had only suggested itself to me because of an e-mail I had received a few days earlier from a dieter's support group. Since Atkins had suffered a fatal head injury nine days before he died, I figured that this group and the "online dieting industry" at large probably knew that and thus sent the e-mail.
Now today I came across the sugar connection in a more sinister guise. There is a story in the Guardian about the evil sugar industry and the WHO. The sugar industry violently objects to the notion that sugar should make up no more than 10% of a healthy diet, claiming that refined sugar in the form of soft drinks and confections can make up up to 25% of a diet without being unhealthy. US Government agencies being pressured to de-fund WHO say that the tactics being used are far more blatant and strong-armed than anything they experienced from the tobacco industry.
18 April 2003
Here is an article that my friend Joani sent me. From the Washington Monthly, it is long, but full of some very thought-provoking ideas. The chaos is all part of the plan.
17 April 2003
16 April 2003
And the neocons own that copyright anyway
It's nice to see that they can't get away with this kind of shite anymore. The up-side of living in the Information Age, perhaps. Sony forced into a major climb-down. (They have withdrawn their request to copyright "Shock and Awe" for a new video game.)
14 April 2003
Two stories
Two interesting stories, only one of which is about the war:
A story about the recently rescued Shoshana Johnson, from her hometown (El Paso TX) TV news station.
The original She Who Must Be Obeyed.
Some good quotes
From the Guardian Informer (a free e-mail newsletter) :
>>> QUOTATIONS OF THE DAY
"The kid sister of all battles" - the Chicago Sun Tribune on the
battle for Baghdad.
"I'm not sure, and that's why we need to talk to them about it." - The
foreign secretary, Jack Straw, is asked whether Syria has weapons of
mass destruction.
"I came here thinking I wouldn't need any Arabic at all - just 'Put
your hands up' and 'Put your weapons down.' They've been teaching me
how to talk to the thieves. Things like, 'You are lying, I'm not
stupid,' and 'If you steal, we will kill you.'" Marine Sgt Steven
Christopher in Baghdad on the local residents helping him to identify
and accost looters.
12 April 2003
Free to do bad things
The daily dose:
Free to do bad things, according to Rumsfeld from the Guardian's Brian Whitaker.
The hell that was once a hospital, by Suzanne Goldberg, also of the Guardian.
A bankable ringer to replace Saddam? "Reprinted" by Venik Aviation (iraqiwar.ru) from the Washington Times.
US tank crew, Iraqi civilians, killed in munitions accident, from Al Jazeera, via iraqiwar.ru
Syrian oil exports cut by half after US sabotage pipeline from Iraq. From Al Bawaba business section.
You would have to be an idiot to believe that, says Dick Cheney about journalists fears that US forces are deliberately attacking journalists. But that is just what many major mainstream journalists do believe, including the editor-in-chief of Reuters, several watchdog groups, and the UK Foreign Minister Jack Straw.
10 April 2003
Covering the war
There's a very funny vignette and also some good rumours and murmurings in Brian Whitaker's daily briefing on the war.
Steve Bell, excellent political cartoonist, has an article about being a "war cartoonist". Read why he would rather stay in the Palestine Hotel than wear a flak jacket with CARTOONIST stenciled across it.
Saving of Private Lori
Everyone has now heard about the Saving of Private Lynch. Gary Younge of the Guardian asks : What About Private Lori? And here is a tribute to Private Lori Piestewa from Indian Country Today.
09 April 2003
Blogkeeping
If you are one of those people who look at the stuff around the edges of a web page, you may notice that I added a Contact Me link above. Feel free to send e-mail and express yourself.
I also added a few more News links. One of them, Common Dreams, is a great site that I just discovered thanks to my best friend Joani (thanks, Joani!) sending me an article from it by Arthur Schleshinger, Jr., whom my fellow baby-boomers may remember as JFK's "special assistant" and more lately, his biographer. In this article Schleshinger mentions (and it is, I think, the third article I have read to mention it) the speech by President John Addams where he says that America "will not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy." Thinking of JFK and AS, Jr. being such comsummate cold warriors and all, made me make one of my strange lateral connections. In the Cold War days, the other side, whom we styled, quaintly, "the Soviets", did, or were accused, of exactly that. We used to pride ourselves, as Americans, that we didn't have to export our ideology the way they did, though we granted that they saw themselves as destroying the monsters of capitalist imperialism that stalked abroad. But we thought that the American way of life, the capitalist ideology, the doctrine of freedom, just had to be superior because it sort of exported itself: it leapt off the shelves, it turned up everywhere. Non-Americans could claim to despise us, but they all wanted to be us, even the "Soviets", apart from a few fanatics, would defect at the drop of a hat. And then the Cold War ended (we won) and still there were people who despised us, and they weren't even "Soviets". In the world of Islam, we found some opponents who seemed far more resistance to the old American Schmooze, they did not think our ideology was like flapjacks at all, and they seemed remarkably slow to adopt our way of life, even when they had the dosh to do so. So now at long last we have found a monster worth going abroad to destroy? Well, yes, Al Qaeda fits that bill. But Saddam only ever wore the trappings of Islam as a political technique - he is the opposite of a fanatic, and we really don't (do we?) mean to "destroy" Islam itself. Another hint that maybe the war against Iraq is a winnable proxy for another fight we know we cannot win, at least not satisfyingly and now.
08 April 2003
Blogkeeping - citizenship
Yesterday I neglected my weblog. It was either yesterday or late Sunday that a bit of free-style web browsing led me to a possibly life-changing decision. If you look at my second or third post (back in the archive) you will see where I was moaning because I cannot vote now, seeing as how I am not a British citizen. I had been saying, these past five years, that I had no intention of becoming one, because I was under the mistaken idea that I would lose my US citizenship if I did so. A web-expedition amongst the papers of the US Department of State has convinced me that this is not the case. It says there that although the US does not encourage dual citizenship, mainly because it is a pain in the neck to Departments of State everywhere, they do not automatically strip natural-born Americans of their citizenship if they take up residence elsewhere and decide to become citizens there. In fact, the only way I can be deprived of my US citizenship is if I ask to be, or if I commit treason or certain other heinous crimes that I have no inclination to commit. So, all in all, I have decided to apply for British citizenship in due time. I just hope they won't make me sing that "Long to reign over us" line from God Save the Queen.
Military Rank Trivia
Some of the sharper viewers and readers may have noticed that certain news providers - TV, online and print - have referred to the British military spokesman Group Captain Al Lockwood as simply "Captain". There is no such rank in the RAF. Group Captain in the RAF is a bit higher than Captain in the Army. (In the US Armed Forces, the ranks for Air Force and Army are almost identical, mainly because the Air Force was originally part of the Army - the Army Air Corps. This is not the case in the UK.) If you would like to find out what all the RAF ranks are, in the proper order, try the RAF Officers Rank Test.
An alternative news site
According to some sources, the best place to get less-biased news coverage on the war is from Russian spies. There is a website that relays an English translation of news sourced from Russian intelligence with a one-day delay. The site is run by Venik's Aviation. You can even get it straight from the source and (sort of) translated into English. In fact, despite the patchy translation, this site is far more entertaining than the very dry, purely text Venik's site. Best of all are the instant feedback from users all over the world. A lot more content-rich than the average hour of "Faux News".
06 April 2003
North Korea
Murmurings from North Korea (but it should be shoutings!) Listen, you guys, this thing is beginning to worry me. North Korea and the US 'on a slide towards conflict'
05 April 2003
On loving ones neighbour
Today I share two stories from the Guardian which have similar themes. The first is about the friendship between Daniel Barenboim (an ex-patriate Israeli) and Edward Said (a Palestinian in exile). The theme of this story is reconciliation.
The second is an essay by one of the regular columnists Jonathan Freedland, "You Don't Need to Believe in God to Learn From Religion". (Very highly recommended.)
04 April 2003
Prayer and belief
Why Is Bush Afraid of Franklin Graham? from BeliefNet.
BeliefNet also has Prayer Circles for servicemen and women in the Iraqi War, for the coalition, for innocent victims and POW/MIAs.
My friend Leta from Georgia sent an e-mail about collective prayers worldwide at 9 pm Eastern time for troops, "our" citizens (you can make that of the world, I think) and world peace. An excellent idea and one I will participate in.
How will we know?
I just can't stop myself! Here is a really good piece from the Washington Post. How will we know when we have won?
03 April 2003
Our families in Baghdad
Only one post today about the War. It is too much, even though I feel guilty saying that because I have a choice, which neither the Iraqis nor the soldiers there have. But still, I don't make anyone feel better by making myself crazy-sick-unhappy. So one thing about the war, and all I can say is, for God's sake, will everyone please listen to these people! From our families in Baghdad.
02 April 2003
Worse than I expected
I keep thinking that things cannot get any worse. But they can. Before the war started, I was full of dire predictions. The mildest of which was "I think they are underestimating how long and how many lives it can take." And "I don't think anyone has said how all this is going to be paid for." (I did see a report about the ordering of body bags in early March. I don't remember the figure but it was a lot higher than any number you want to think about in this context.) The worst of my predictions are based on the appalling similarities in the run-up to this war and the run-up to World War I. (I am not the only person to have noticed this. I mean to say pundits wrote about that, too.) And it is also a lot like how "we" got into Vietnam, but a lot faster and maybe even stupider, given the really advanced technology and the greater military experience the US has now compared to the mid-1960s.
And yet, the main thing that I fear is the distraction of it, the fact that, as bad as the war is, it is only one little part of the world picture, but it is dominating 95% of the news in all media. Meanwhile, in Korea, meanwhile on the West Bank, meanwhile in Kashmir, meanwhile in the Ivory Coast, etc. etc. Then there is the eerie correspondence between the outbreak of SARS now and the influenza that grew in strength in the background through the last few years of WWI, only to explode into a pandemic (Europe 1918-1919, East Cost of US 1919, midwest 1920).
But I never really anticipated the naked imperialism being displayed by elements of the American government. No, I never saw that coming. I always think that I am so paranoid about people like Rumsfeld and Perle and Cheney that they can't really be as bad as they seem to me. But guess what, I think maybe they are.
Iraq's cultural heritage - exterminate!
A piece in the Guardian about Iraq's cultural heritage and its possible (in many cases likely and in a few cases, done) destruction by the war.
01 April 2003
Generational discussion on the ills of the world
This is a slightly-edited copy of my daughter Aimee's e-mail response (which I invited) to the article titled "Ethical Quandary" (see 28 March, below).
I have a direct quote from one of the guys in the article that really adds
weight to my opinion (which I will get to in a second):
"This war is a catalyst that is shining light on a military that is always
strong and present and here for one reason -- to keep us safe," he said in
an e-mail.
"The world today is a safer place because of American military
capabilities."
Yeah, well. {excrement}. If you're not part of the solution you're part of the
problem. These guys started out being anti-establishment, but possibly
never really had their hearts in it (can we say 'stoned, liberal, easy
girls hang out at protests', anyone?). This guy 'sold out' as soon as it
became convenient, but lets just face it - when the keys of power, money,
and priviledge were handed to him as part of his coming-of-age, he stuffed
the man's {generative member} right in his mouth and said 'thank you very much sir'. And,
what really makes me angry is that he probably didn't sell out earlier in
life because he didn't HAVE TO, as nobody took his career as a hippie
seriously because he was no real threat because he really had nothing to
complain about and didn't care about what he WAS ever protesting.
So, they/we can be raging hypocrites and go to protests and nobody will
care, because we are ALL the fascist, capitalist, imperialist dictators we
think we're against, and all of us who drove to a protest and slabbed
Vaseline on our lips to keep them moist while we drank bottled water and
yelled 'Bush is a terrorist' in between sips of lattes and drags of a Camel
lite are all a bunch of liars.
And I'm a hypocrite for even writing this email (how DID this electricity
get here?). However, I wasn't asked to sit down at a conference table with
someone from the military and seriously considered writing missile guidance
programs for them for some cash or whatever the {common 4-letter expletive} this company did so I
probably only have maybe the little tip of a {male generative member} in my mouth. This guy's
mouth is so full he probably muffled his way through the meeting. The room
probably reeked like a peep show booth when they walked out of there and
went for some celebratory cocktails.
Oh, I'm sorry. Did I type that last bit out loud? How crude for a
mother-to-be. I should make the world all peaches and roses for my new baby
girl. Maybe if I'm lucky she'll come squirting out onto a bed of rose
petals and Barbie-doll clothes. I always heard new mothers have a really
hard time having children without doing something to make the world they're
coming into a better place. But I'm telling you this... I don't even know
where to begin.
Aimee
And this is my response. Which I am only giving because Aimee's message does end on a bit of down-hearted note and in case others are feeling as hopeless as she is (or was?) I just want to say what I can to keep hope alive. After all, I, being one of the most negative, dark and pessimistic people on the planet, have a grand-child on the way!
This was great feedback - I can tell that you think more deeply about these issues than most of the older people I know. I think your criticism of the so-called radicals of my generation is very valid. If it weren't for all the dirty words, I would post this on my blog, with your permission. But I won't because of the words, and I wouldn't want to bleep it, because that would just be more hypocrisy. (I am not opposed to strong language you understand, it is just that I wouldn't be able to access my own blog at work if I put dirty words on it because of their "security" software, and also I would hate to get one of my friends in trouble if they accessed it at work.) (As you see, I did post it after all, because she said she didn't mind being bleeped.)
Anyway, don't beat yourself up - they have Vaseline and lattes in Iraq, you know. They even have broadband internet and blogs and digital cameras. Of course, they also have a lot more starvation and poverty, and now they have collateral damage and conquering Christians, too, but then, your protesting is meant to oppose that. As for where to begin changing the world, it sort of doesn't matter. I think one place is as good as another, so long as it is your own {excrement} you are working on and not everybody else's.
I love you. Keep on being strong.
Mum
As you can see, I even had to bleep myself. Oh, well, as they say here in England, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
30 March 2003
Ethnologue
Found another cool site. This shows languages of the world by country and various other statistics. It is called Ethnologue.
England win!
Here's something I never thought I would care about. England Win Grand Slam in Rugby Union's Six Nations.
A protestant rediscovers Mary
I don't know how legal this is to publish like this, but I don't have a link for it and I am not even sure that it's on the web. Anyway, thanks to my good friend Lance for mailing it to me, and thanks also from numerous friends that I forwarded it to.
From: Goldsberry, Lance
Sent: 05 December 2002 15:36
Subject: A Protestant Rediscovers Mary
A Protestant Rediscovers Mary
My church dragged Mary out at Christmas and placed her at center stage.
After, we packed her in the creche box and ignored her.
By Kathleen Norris
Reprinted from "Blessed One: Protestant Perspectives on Mary" with
permission of Westminister John Knox Press.
A friend who had spent a sabbatical working with refugees in Southeast Asia
once sent me a homemade Christmas card that put the more colorful cards to
shame; it consisted of a black-and-white snapshot of a Cambodian mother
holding her infant in her arms. What struck me most was the youth of the
mother and the fact that this unposed photograph was instantly recognizable
as a madonna and child. The mother beholding the child, in love and wonder.
I don’t think it matters what breed of Christian my friend is—he is, in
fact, a Roman Catholic bishop—but what is significant is that he “got” Mary.
In silence, the photograph spoke powerfully about Mary as a presence in our
world, a constant reminder that in the incarnation the omnipotent God chose
to take on human vulnerability. And a vulnerability of the most extreme
sort, a child born not to wealth and power but to an impoverished peasant
woman and her uneasy husband in the rural backwater of a small, troubled,
colonized country.
I think that many Protestants, if they think about Mary at all, get hung up
on what they are supposed to believe about her. And she doesn’t make it
easy. It’s as if her calm visage belies our seeking after labels. Is Mary a
cultural artifact or a religious symbol? A literary device or a theological
tool? A valuable resource for biblical exegetes or the matrix of an
extrabiblical piety that we, as Protestants, must avoid at all costs? The
point about Mary is that she is all these things, and more, always more. She
is poor yet gloriously rich. She is blessed among women yet condemned to
witness her son’s execution. She is human yet God-bearer, and the Word that
she willingly bears is destined to pierce her soul. Had we a more elastic
imagination, we might be less troubled by Mary’s air of serene
contradiction. But ours is a skeptical and divisive age. We are more
comfortable with appraisal than with praise, more adept at cogent analysis
than meaningful synthesis.
Mary is useful to us as a corrective to our ordinary state of mind, the
epitome of “both/and” passion over “either/or” reasoning. She has a
disarming way of challenging the polarities that so often bring human
endeavors to impasse: the subjective and objective, the expansive and the
parochial, the affective and the intellectual. Mary’s designation as both
virgin and mother, for example, no longer seems to be an impossible “model”
for women that justifies their continued oppression within church and
society. Instead, Mary constitutes a challenge as to what is possible for
me, as a married, childless, Christian woman: to what extent can I remain
“virgin,” one-in-myself, able to come to things with newness of heart, and
in what sense must I become “mother,” losing myself in the nurture and
service of others and embracing life’s circumstances with the ripeness of
maturity? This Mary is a gender-bender; she asks the same question of any
Christian man.
If Mary points us beyond our traditional divisions, ideologues of all
persuasions—conservative and liberal, feminist and anti-feminist—have long
attempted to use Mary to argue their causes, with varying degrees of
success. But Mary ultimately resists all causes. Like our God, she is who
she is. And Mary is, in the nationally televised words of the Rev. Jimmy
Swaggart (who prefaced his remark by saying, memorably, “The Catholics got
one thing right”), “the mother of God.” From the Council of Ephesus to the
less-respectable reaches of contemporary American evangelism, Mary holds her
own.
As theotokos, Mary is also the mother of Wisdom. Unlike Zechariah, who
responds to his annunciation concerning the birth of John the Baptist by
inquiring of the angel, “How will I know that this is so?” Mary asks,
simply, “How can this be?” It’s an existential question, not an intellectual
one. God responds to Zechariah by striking him dumb—for the entire gestation
of his child, a nice touch—while Mary finds her voice, making the ancient
song of Hannah her own.
For me, the essential question is not what author placed Hannah’s words in
Mary’s mouth, and with what theological intent. What is far more important
is how I respond to this threading of salvation history from 1 Samuel to the
Gospel of Luke. How do I answer when the mystery of God’s love breaks
through my denseness and doubt? Do I reach for a reference book, or the
remote control? Am I so intent on my own plans that I ignore the call, or do
I dare to carry the biblical tradition into my own life’s journey? When I am
called to answer “Yes” to God, not knowing much about where this commitment
will lead me, Mary gives me hope that it is enough to trust in God’s grace
and the promise of salvation.
When I first began visiting Benedictine monasteries some twenty years ago, I
was so ignorant of Scripture, despite an upbringing in Methodist and
Congregational churches, that I did not know where the prayer the monks and
nuns prayed each night came from. Gradually, I learned that it was a passage
from the first chapter of Luke, and that for centuries before the
Reformation it had been employed as the church’s traditional vespers
canticle. It was called the “Magnificat” because it begins with that word,
in Latin translation; in English, it reads, “My soul magnifies the Lord.”
I did not know that I was one of many Protestants, both laity and clergy,
who had begun filling monastery guest rooms and choir stalls, and
discovering there much common ground. What could be more refreshing to a
Protestant than a daily immersion in Scripture, not only in communal prayer
based on the Psalms but with a rhythm of hearing and responding to entire
books of the Bible read aloud? I sensed that I was drawing from the tap
roots of Christianity, from traditions and practices of prayer that had
existed before the church split into the Roman Catholic and Orthodox
churches, and long before the Reformation. I could claim as my prayerbook
the entire Psalter (and not just psalms deemed suitable for Sunday morning);
I could open my eyes and ears to the literary and theological treasurehouse
of the early church; and I could reclaim Mary as a significant figure in my
Christian faith.
No doubt it was my repeated exposure to the Magnificat in monastery choirs
that led me to make it the focus of encountering Mary in the Scriptures.
Each time I pray, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God
my savior,” I am compelled to ask, with Mary, “How can it be” that salvation
has ways of working around all of the obstacles of sin, ignorance, and
defiance that I place in its path? “How can it be” that God troubles with so
wretched, self-centered, inconstant, and spiritually impoverished person as
myself? Who, after all, am I?
The correct answer, to paraphrase a line from the Episcopal hymnal, is that
I am called to be a person whose soul, like Mary, can be God’s earthly
sanctuary. Like Mary, I am invited each day to bring Christ into the world
in my prayers, thoughts, and actions. And each evening, as I pray the
Magnificat, I am asked to consider how I have done in this regard. Have I
been so rich, stuffed full of myself, my plans, and my possessions, that I
have in effect denied Christ a rightful place on earth? Or am I poor and
despairing, but in my failures, weakness, and emptiness more ready and
willing to be filled with God’s purpose?
The church in which I was raised had a curious attitude towards Mary, an odd
mixture of hubris and bashfulness. We dragged Mary out at Christmas, along
with the angels, and placed her at center stage. Then we packed her safely
in the crèche box for the rest of the year. We effectively denied Mary her
place in Christian tradition and were disdainful of the reverence displayed
for her, so public and emotional, by many millions of Catholics around the
world. The more pilgrimages Catholics made to Lourdes, or Knock, or
Czestochowa, the more silent we became. Even when the feminist movement
opened the way for increased study of women in Scripture, few Protestants
wrote about Mary, few preachers discussed her in their sermons. Mary was
mysterious, and therefore for Catholics; our religion was more proper, more
masculine. Anything we couldn’t explain—or explain away—was either ignored
or given short shrift. I recognize the church of my childhood in this
description by Nancy Mairs: a church with “all the mystery scrubbed out of
it by a vigorous and slightly vinegary reason.” But mystery endures, and I
end this foreword as I began, by contemplating a madonna and child. The
young woman’s face is calm, yet creased with worry, expressing both love and
pity. She knows hard times, all the pain and suffering this world can bring,
and she knows that this child will someday die. But salvation always has a
price. For now it is enough to hold the child, holding life and death all at
once in her arms. It is enough to hold on, and to gaze at the child with a
look of love and joy that is eternally comforting, both human and divine.
From Blessed One: Protestant Perspectives on Mary, edited by Beverly R.
Gaventa and Cynthia L. Rigby. © 2002 Westminster John Knox Press. Used by
permission of Westminster John Knox Press.
Weeping Virgin statue
An eerie parallel to the picture below. A statue of the virgin weeps tears of blood.
29 March 2003
Rebuild your CD collection after a tragic, tragic loss
Just a cool thing I found on Amazon.com, the most serendipitous website in the world.
So you'd like to . . . rebuild your CD collection after a tragic, tragic loss.
28 March 2003
Yet another linklist and a quote
And now for something completely different. I promised religion and sex. I have a headache just now so here's a little religion. But don't worry, it's not the ugly, bossy, dogmatic kind.
My favourite quote about religion (from memory so sorry if not totally accurate.) Henry David Thoreau was lying in his bed and dying. As parsons were wont to do, especially in those times, especially in religion-drenched early 19th century New England, a parson came to him and asked him if he had made his peace with God. "I wasn't aware that we had quarreled," replied Thoreau.
In that spirit, some of my best links for the spirit:
Ship of Fools
Belief Net (For searchers.)
Swami Beyondananda
My church - Walker United Methodist in Minneapolis
Miscellaneous things of a spiritual nature:
A Homily on the Descent of the Holy Sophia
Ahimsa
Aish Ha Torah - Explore Judaism
Gnostic Society Library
Life of John Wesley
The Julian Meetings
Another linklist
Another good way to get news : News aggregation on the web. Here are three that I use:
Google News (UK edition)
News Is Free
Yahoo News (UK edition)
Chemical weapons and war
Some views on chemical weapons and on war . . .
First read this :
Dulce et Decorum Est, by Wilfred Owen
Now read this:
Gas! Gas! Gas!
Subscribe to:
Comment Feed (RSS)
