Here we are, the end of another week. We’ve had our ups and downs here, but we’ve made it to the weekend! Tomorrow, I get to play my violin with some of the best people around—not to mention getting to play some great music! It’s our pops concert, and the theme is movie music. We’ll be playing selections from Superman, The Magnificent Seven, Sense and Sensibility, Catch Me if You Can, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and (of course) Star Wars. If you’re in my area and you want to come out, please do! I’d love to see you there at 7:30 Saturday night (you can buy tickets at the door for $9 or call the RWC box office).
Now for this weeks great blog posts:
1. No confirmation for you!
In this week’s edition of Does This Really Surprise Anyone, we learn that Minnesota teen Lennon Cihak won’t be confirmed by the Catholic Church for his support of marriage equality. It’s actually not entirely clear if this is the case, as the priest in question has denied the allegation. Honestly, I wish people would stop acting like it’s only the Catholic Church that does this sort of thing. I mean, I’m not naming any names, but I know plenty of Catholics who support marriage equality and at least a few gay Catholics. I’m aware of more than one local parish that embraces LGBT people. Conservative evangelical protestants, on the other hand…well. You all saw my post last week after the election, right? Maybe I’ll start that online form to pray for my soul after all.
2. More awesome from Dianna Anderson
Man, I cannot wait until her book is published. No pressure, Dianna! I just have to say that in the realm of Christian feminism, she is in top form. If you’re not subscribed to her blog, you should be. Here are two good posts from this week: Friends with Kids, Love Stories, and Rape Culture and The Magical Mystery of Marriage. For the first post, thanks, Dianna, for taking one for the team and watching that movie so I don’t have to. Now I’m spreading the word so that my friends don’t waste their time and money either. As for the second post, I’m glad someone is standing up and saying that marriage is not the answer to unhealthy sexuality, nor does it automatically make sex healthy. I think what I like best about this post is that Dianna doesn’t offer pat answers; she calls for a conversation in which we lay aside labels. Count me in!
3. Kill the Gays
Yeah, it passed. That wasn’t a surprise. Disappointing, but not shocking. What saddens me is that some people will read this and shrug; others will be outright in support of it. A few will probably misunderstand entirely. I don’t have any words for this; all I can do is keep praying.
4. Twilight and Perpetual Girlhood
This is a great post about one of the things that bothered me as I read Twilight. Now, I did enjoy the books as kind of light fare; however, I do recognize the problematic (I really hate that word, but it does apply here) elements. Bella’s desire to remain ageless is one of them. Sorry, folks, we normal people eventually get old. My hair is already run through with a bit of gray. But I don’t color it, because in my opinion, it’s natural. What isn’t natural is to want to appear twenty for the rest of my life. (I don’t lie about my age, either, even though some of my peers already do—and we’re hardly old!) This article falls apart a bit at the end, but it’s still worth the read.
5. Addicted to (Controlling) Love
Thank you, Emily Maynard, for saying what I’ve been trying to say, but using fewer (and better) words. Our bodies are not objects for male consumption, and we are not responsible for what men do. This post, too, is a good explanation of men continuously imposing themselves on the way we dress—we must be either vixens or virgins, but not of our own free will. I think we women need to apply these arguments to women’s health care, birth control, and abortion as well as clothing/modesty.
7. On being non-essential
I can’t express enough how much I love this post by Pam Hogeweide. She puts it so well when she explains why we women can’t just leave the church if we’re unhappy with our position. She also brings up something I’d never thought of: that women in leadership is usually reduced to the status of “non-essential” doctrine; that is, it has no direct bearing on our salvation. Until reading this post, I had always felt that way myself—it doesn’t matter if a particular church rejects women as pastors, because it’s not really essential. I can now understand the nagging feeling I always had about that, though. Unlike the inanimate elements of communion or the inanimate practice of spiritual gifts, women are actual people; we are not “non-essentials.” Well said, Pam!
8. Talk about “I have no idea what I feel about this”
So it turns out that Kevin Clash, voice of Elmo, is gay. So what? I’m sure some parents will be upset, but I’m not sure that makes much sense. Bert and Ernie have more gay overtones than Elmo (yes, I know they’re only roommates; don’t get your panties in a bunch). I don’t see Sesame Workshop developing any storylines where Elmo gets a gay crush or anything. The real issue turns out to be whether or not Clash had a relationship with a minor. Now, I’ve seen people arguing on both sides, and I’d like to tell you all to please let someone other than the media sort this one out. Clash is on a break from Sesame Street, so chill out. Also, could we stop seeing more “blame the victim” crap all over the place? Yeah, the alleged victim recanted. We don’t know why. And his criminal record has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on whether or not Clash took advantage of him. So no jumping to conclusions until the actual people involved get it sorted, okay? Good.
What a week! Lots of good stuff. Hope you have a great weekend! I’m off til Monday, picking back up with some more Fifty Shades goodness badness. See you then!
