Odds 'n' Ends

Notable News: Week of November 10-16, 2012

Blogs, Cool Stuff, Links, News, Odds 'n' Ends

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!

True (gross) confessions of a coffee drinker

Food, Odds 'n' Ends

Okay, so the title is a bit of an exaggeration. I drink tea more than coffee these days, and I was never a big coffee drinker to begin with. And really, the grossness is not something I did intentionally; it came in the form of non-dairy creamer.

Before I start, let me throw this out there: I’m sure you have a strong opinion on non-dairy creamer. If you don’t put it in your coffee, I’m happy for you. But I would rather not hear your “I told you so” on this one. I happen to enjoy some plastic in my hot beverages, okay? Great.

Last Friday, I was out doing the weekly shopping. We were planning on having family over for dinner on Sunday, and most of the people coming enjoy coffee. We had purchased our Giant Box of Coffee online, which will last us until sometime in the next decade. To go with that, I decided to try a new kind of coffee creamer.

That was a monumentally stupid idea.

Never try a coffee creamer just because it looks “interesting.” I browsed the shelves in the dairy case, not feeling sold on the usual pumpkin spice, vanilla, and hazelnut varieties. Instead, I picked one labeled, “Salted Caramel Mocha.” Yes, I realize I should have known better; but I hate grocery shopping, and I was feeling antsy at being unable to decide among the other flavors.

Back at home, I realized it might not be a good idea to serve the aforementioned creamer to our guests without trying it first. On reflection, I actually think it would have been dang funny; but I digress. I brewed myself a nice cup of coffee in the Keurig and settled on the couch to enjoy it.

After the first sip, I nearly gagged. The effect was stunningly bad. Imagine with me, if you will, taking your beautifully brewed medium roast coffee and dropping in a handful of Milk Duds, followed by the entire contents of your salt shaker. Stir and enjoy. Awful is not a strong enough word. Come to think of it, I’m not sure a strong enough word exists in the English language. I won’t say it’s the worst thing I’ve ever tasted, but it was absolutely in the top ten.

Of course, I decided that perhaps I had been a bit too harsh. After all, I had only tried a single sip of my coffee. I took another, then another. Nope, still just as bad. I would like to say that I expected better of the Salted Caramel Mocha creamer; in reality, I think this is probably exactly what I had predicted somewhere in the part of my brain not adversely affected by Grocery Store Freak-Out.

When my husband came home from work, I told him what had happened. As you may have guessed, he laughed at me. When I described the taste, he said, “Well, at least it’s truth in advertising. It says ‘salt’ right on the bottle.” He recommended that I return it, since our grocery store (Wegmans) has a pretty liberal return policy.

At the store, I brought the offending creamer to the customer service desk. In my embarrassment, I had it wrapped in a grocery store bag so the label wasn’t visible. I apologetically explained what had happened to the young woman.

She said, “Let me guess. Is it the Salted Caramel Mocha?”

She went on to tell me that people had been returning it left and right. On the one hand, I was relived; clearly I wasn’t the only one who had thought it was a good idea at the time of purchase. On the other, what does this say about the state of our society that so many of us are easily duped into buying something so dreadful, just because the picture on it makes it look good?

As she made the return for me, the employee called over her coworker to show her. The other woman asked the question that is probably weighing on your minds: “Why on earth would anyone want to put salt in their coffee?”

In the end, I purchased a much more normal flavor of creamer for Sunday dinner. I also learned some valuable lessons: First, salt is not a good combination with coffee. Second, never buy coffee creamer out of desperation. Third, I freakin’ love Wegmans. I’m grateful for good customer service with a smile, even if it’s at my expense.

Notable News: Week of November 3-9, 2012

Cool Stuff, Links, News, Odds 'n' Ends, Writing

What a week! This time last week, I was just starting my NaNoWriMo novel; I’m now over 13,000 words in. I also discovered possibly the only two people in my social circles who had no idea that I support LGBT rights. Who knew there was anyone still left? In much more interesting news, this week saw some good writing around the Web.

1. Women set the election on fire

Dianna Anderson nicely sums up the great news for women. We rocked the vote! Among other things, women are at a record high in the U.S. Senate at 19. I told my daughter that since we make up half the population, I would love to see half of the people representing us be women. I hope that happens in her lifetime.

2. On no longer identifying as pro-life

Libby Anne, over at Love, Joy, Feminism, has written a post on her move from being firmly in the pro-life camp to having a very different view today. She sums up nicely exactly what I think about the subject. (Note: Please do not debate Libby Anne’s words here on my blog; go to her page and interact with her. I can’t speak for another person. If you want to talk about abortion here, it had better be respectful. I’m not going to tolerate shouting about how “wrong” anyone else is, calling people baby-killers, or demanding that anyone—myself included—change our views.)

3. Another perspective on unintended pregnancy

I understand why many people (particularly progressives) may not agree, but Thea Ramirez writes a compelling post about making adoption a more viable choice. I have seen some of the challenges that face people seeking adoption, and I agree that change is needed. There is certainly more room for honest discussion on the matter.

4. Writing is hard!

Stephanie Brooks understands the internal dialogue of many writers. Here, she offers some practical solutions for the frustration many of us have when we perceive our writing to have fallen short. I know that point number one, about failure to give ourselves time to write, is true for me. It’s tough to balance my own goals and the needs of my family, which ultimately leads to unproductive days and writing that is definitely sub-par.

Join me next week for more juicy talk about Fifty Shades of Bad Writing and a brand-new series about the issues raised in A Year of Biblical Womanhood. I hope you all have bought your copies so that we can grab a hot drink, a blanket, and settle in for some woman-to-woman chats. Over the weekend, I hope to get in at least another 4,000 words on that NaNo Novel. What are your plans?

Notable News: Week of October 6-12, 2012

Links, News, Odds 'n' Ends

So, who knew? That post I wrote about the Good Men Project last week is still getting attention. Interesting. Got linked up by Slacktivist and Sarah Moon, two of my very favorite bloggers. Yay! If you’re not reading their posts already, you should go check them out.

Anyway, in other news, lots of things going on:

1. Good Men Project made this week’s list again for their raging stupidity and misogyny.

Come on, guys. That half-hearted attempt at an apology left much to be desired. Go read this post from Dianna Anderson for the story, the link, and her words (better than mine) on why this is just so much cow crap wrapped up in ribbons and bows. Does anyone really still think that GMP is innocent?

2. Death penalty for rebellious children?

I get mad at my kids. I scold them, I punish them, I take away privileges. But the thought has never even once crossed my mind that I should have the government put them to death. I don’t use this phrase all that often, but I think it’s required here: What the holy fuck?! I am a Christian (despite my use of the f-word); this lunatic does not represent me. Let’s hope he doesn’t represent you, either. Recovering Agnostic has a great take on Charlie Fuqua’s bizarre suggestion.

3. Yeah, it’s old, but…

I found this when researching for my blog posts on Fifty Shades. While I would love for you to continue reading mine, Jen’s are much funnier. The best part is, you don’t even need to read the books yourself, because she does a chapter-by-chapter analysis. I’m reading her posts as I read through the series, if only because it makes it that much more tolerable.

Wish me luck, it’s the first concert of the season with my orchestra tomorrow night. I’ll see you all on Monday with the next Fifty Shades installment. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Summertime

Family, Odds 'n' Ends

For the last month, we’ve all been busy. First there was family vacation, followed by a week of dance camp and two weeks of day camp. We’ve hardly stopped running the whole time. But now that it’s over, it feels strange, this stillness. It’s hard to believe that the train has stopped. In a way, it’s difficult to imagine life without the daily trips.

This time of year always makes my heart a little heavy. After the whirlwind of camp, it’s a bit of a letdown to step back into reality. It was worse, back in the years when I was heavily invested in the daily work. Even now, though, it still fills me with longing when it’s all over.

But all good things eventually come to an end. And now, the rest of the summer stretches out before us, a blank canvas. We will paint with visits to the park, the zoo, and the sprayground; time spent with friends, new and old; and an end-of-summer trip full of music, laughter, and love. Though we’ve left behind the good gifts of July, we still have August to make summer magic.

Today, I’m resting my spirit. I’m taking the time to read, to write, to reflect. This is a day to enjoy the peace before we begin a new journey. Though one stage is behind us, another lies ahead. I want to be ready to take it as it comes and enjoy every moment.

What will August mean for you?

Hero

Odds 'n' Ends

I’m pausing in my ongoing critique of the 21st century church to brag a little about my kid. He and my daughter have been at camp for almost the last two weeks. This camp, for anyone not familiar, is a Christian sports day camp. The kids learn about putting God first, others second, and themselves third (from Matthew 22:37-40) in the context of playing sports.

The whole camp is divided into teams, similar to traditional “color wars” at camp. They do compete against one another, but they also learn good sportsmanship and how to cheer for and support one another regardless of team loyalty. As this is a Christian camp, the teams are named for books of the Bible—the blue team is the Galatians, the red team is the Romans. (It should be obvious from the photo which team my kids are on.)

Every year, the kids participate in a swim meet and a track meet. This year, the camp staff added some new events, including a relay. My son was on the relay team in his division (boys approximately ages 6 to 9).

Today, he got to be the hero.

He was in the last position, the runner to bring it home. His teammates had provided him with a solid lead, and all he had to do was hang on to it. Well, Jack came through. He gave it everything he had, running the final straightaway to the finish line. The whole crowd—campers, staff, and parents—was on its feet, cheering for Jack and the other boy. I could hear people all around me screaming their names. Yes, kids were mostly cheering for their own team, but I could hear many of them yelling the names of both boys. The camp erupted as Jack crossed the finish line first, to be welcomed by his teammates with high fives and congratulations.

Was I proud of my son? You bet.

But I’m equally proud that the cheering didn’t stop with him. Everyone continued making noise for the other boy (who was really only a few paces behind Jack; it was a very close race). It’s one of the things I like best about this camp. It’s a safe place to play hard without fear that you’ve disappointed everyone if you don’t win.

This morning, my kids dressed in their royal blue. But each of them chose socks with colors representing their friends on the opposing team. They both wanted the people they care about to know they were cheering for them, too. I may be proud of my son for his moment on the track, but I’m even more proud of both my kids for beginning a lifetime of showing love and respect to others.

I’ve been involved, in one way or another, with camp for twenty years. I’ve kept in touch with many people who I met through camp. Over the years, I’ve seen kids who grew up going to camp reach adulthood. Many of them are now living out what they learned there. Some of them have gone into full-time ministry as pastors or missionaries. But the vast majority are doing everyday work, simply trying to live out the motto they learned at camp.

This time that they have at camp is short. It’s only two weeks out of every summer. Their camp counselors and team coaches are planting the seeds. It’s my job, as a parent, to see to it that the seeds are watered and nurtured. My prayer for the kids, my own and the others at camp, is that they will grow in their faith over the course of their lives, becoming the people they were meant to be.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

If I didn’t make it clear, I love this camp. If you live in my area (you know who you are) and would like more information about camp for next year, please email, call, message, or stand on my lawn at 2am shouting until I wake up. (Okay, maybe not that last one.) I would love to see all your beautiful kids enjoying this amazing experience.

Notable News: Week of November 10-16, 2012

True (gross) confessions of a coffee drinker

Notable News: Week of November 3-9, 2012

Notable News: Week of October 6-12, 2012

Summertime

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