I dunno if it’s a cycle of the moon. Maybe I shouldn’t try to explain it. But there just seems to be some stuff I need to share with you right now. So here is some of it … in no particular order.
Rachel Barenblatt of Velveteen Rabbi is studying in Israel this summer. Her descriptions of life in the Holy Land are not to be missed, but of particular note is this meditation with photos of a day trip to the West Bank and Bethlehem. She has a remarkable ability to see the humanity in both sides of Israeli-Palestinian dispute that is touching and beautiful. Here’s a little taste:
Walking around the camp [refugee camp in Bethlehem] was surreal. It didn’t feel like what I imagine when I hear “refugee camp;” it felt like a neighborhood in any one of the developing nations I’ve visited. (It’s easy to forget that once a refugee camp has existed for a few decades, the army-issue canvas tents are replaced with buildings, but it’s still a refugee camp.) We quickly acquired a cadre of small children who followed us shyly saying “hello, what’s your name? Hello, how are you?” I’ve had that exact experience in so many places, so that felt very familiar. The streets of the camp are tiny, and in every window people watched us with curiosity.
But Shadi’s remarks gave us a sense for what some people may be feeling behind the walls. “This is a ghetto,” my friend Tad said to me, sounding stricken. “Is this what our grandparents survived the ghettos of Europe for: to do the same thing to someone else?” I couldn’t answer him.
Doug Jones at Perigrinatio posted this video challenging us in the arena of forgiveness. What do you think? Could you forgive?
Kent Leslie is working at a summer camp this summer and has an interesting take on the usual tradition of the altar call. I think he’s probably onto something. If you don’t have Kent in your feed reader, I’d recommend him to you as an interesting and provocative read. He takes his faith, both orthopraxy and orthodoxy very seriously … his writing? Not as much.
“When you screw up, we’re going to forgive you. When you make mistakes, or break rules, or are mean or do anything wrong, we’re going to forgive you. We’re not gonna hold it against you—although if you plan to take advantage of that forgiveness and just be evil all week, we might have to send you home for our own safety and the safety of the other campers. But for those of you who are trying to do right, this camp is going to be a giant clean slate for you. No worries. No guilt. Just forgiveness.”
Then we invite them to follow Jesus, and get ’em saved from the very beginning, and spend the entire week walking in newness of life, instead of waiting till Sunday and having an altar call to “wrap up” the week.
Who knew you could find such great music at the Smithsonian? They have blues, African, jazz, Native American … all available for electronic download (to purchase, of course). And much, much more. It’s an amazing collection to prowl through. You can hear samples of everything before you purchase, but it’s all pretty fabulous if you like folk music and music from our roots. I highly recommend prowling around there for a while.
Pam Hogeweide is messing around again. She challenged herself to a 10 day duel. She’s winning, by the way. She writing everyday for ten days and finding the supernaturally beautiful in the ordinary … things like a bologna sandwich. Everyone said it couldn’t be done. Read Pam and see the God-beauty in the everyday.
Updated, courtesy of BlisteringSh33p, to include (drumroll please) the 7 Hamburgers of the Apocalypse. Do not, I repeat, do NOT read this post if you are at all queasy, or have the tiniest little bit of an upset tummy. However, if you want to see the fattiest, gluttoniest ways to eat red meat on the planet … it’s an absolute howl.
You may have noticed I haven’t been around much lately. There’s been a bunch going on off-line and so I haven’t been on my computer as much recently. Some of you may remember a quilting class I took almost two years ago? Well … yesterday I finally finished the quilt top. Almost. I still have to put borders on it. I have to find that fabric which is somewhere in the house. But I finished the hard part. The tedious part. The part that was making me slightly nutty.
I’d learned what I needed to learn and could have moved on. I really did not need to finish the quilt. But I had a picture in my head that needed completion. Of course, it was not small. It’s never small. These pictures are always big. Bigger than life. This quilt will be big enough for a queen size bed … almost. I could have learned what I needed to learn in a wall hanging. But that picture was not enough. So I did an enormous quilt … it will be almost 9 feet square when I’m done. It’s an old habit of mine …
My grandfather (on my father’s side) used to look at my plate at the end of a meal and say, “Hmmm … it looks to me as though your eyes were bigger than your stomach again.” And left me to puzzle it out. He was forever saying mysterious things like that. He couldn’t just say, “Shut the door, please.” He’d say, “Put the wood in the hole.” Then us kids would sit there in a puzzlement while he grinned like the Cheshire Cat. He’d hand out hints like lollipops, slowly and one at a time, until we figured it out.
All of that is to say, I’ve been taking on things that are perhaps too big and too much all my life. My eyes are bigger than my stomach. I don’t know when to quit. I’m learning though the lessons have been hard, hard won and slow. So I’ve been sewing a lot lately. And a lot of the sewing has been of the tedious nature. Repetitive. There are parts of quilt-making that I love and other parts I endure. The sewing tiny bits part, I endure because of the end result … which can be spectacular. There is a zen to it, to be sure, but sometimes it’s just boring. So I have the television on for distraction.
Now, if I’m going to have the television on … it has to be certain shows. Basically, it has to be a show that I’m really not terribly interested in, so that I can just listen along but not get too distracted. Otherwise, I’ll stop sewing and pay attention to what’s on the television. TNT is a good network for me to have on … they have on shows that I can listen to, but not actively watch (mostly). Especially on weekday afternoons. Two hours of Law & Order, then two hours of Charmed, then dinner mixed in with more Law & Order in the evening and I get a lot of sewing in.
Charmed (if you’ve never seen it) was a show on WB (which is now defunct), … about three witches who were good witches and fought demons. They were sisters. There was a whole mythology surrounding them. Alyssa Milano played one of them (Phoebe, the other two were named Piper and Paige[sometimes] and Prue [in the beginning]). Now if you find anything concerning magic offensive, you won’t like this show. I find it a great way to have spiritual conversations with my kids.
A couple of days ago one of the episodes was quite interesting. The sisters had grown very weary of fighting demons (it’s the last year of the series) and want to have a “normal” life. I find this desire interesting since they were born to fight demons, so for them they have a normal life. But that’s another blog post. In any case, events have transpired so that they have tipped the balance of power in the world almost entirely to good with the help of some beings called “avatars.” However, there are still a very few people who still have some latent anger that they can’t cope with and those people are simply “disappeared” by the avatars. Here’s the interesting thing. When that happens, those who love the people who “disappear” don’t grieve, they just go about their business a little bit blue and say things like, “Well, it’s for the best, you know s/he is in a better place after all.”
Two of the three sisters lost someone they loved; one of them lost her husband who has been a fixture on the show for the entire series. He planned it as part of the way to tip the scales back. Because by now he and the third sister have realized that having everything good has unleashed a set consequences that they knew nothing about (the “avatars” are not good and all, you see). Now the third sister, Phoebe, has to get Piper and Paige to realize that they are not feeling anything. She has to make them understand that feelings are important. She eventually does this and casts a spell to give them their feelings back. The scene that followed as they embraced grief was astonishing and well done.
The whole episode made me think about our church and our culture. How much do we value feelings? How much do we value showing an even temper in the worst of times? How many times have you heard someone say “after all s/he is in a better place” in the face of the death of a loved one? with a brave, wavery chin? We try so hard to find a silver lining in all of our clouds that we don’t feel the rain on our faces. How can we feel and embrace those feelings? How can we love each other in the midst of life’s rollercoaster which can often put us at odds with one another? This makes it all terribly difficult … but then … we were never told that the way would be easy. Just narrow.
Take a minute, and feel the rain on your face. Be unafraid and unashamed, for the God of all comfort will be with you even unto the end of the age.
first recorded 1971, the above was filmed in 1978, lyrics below:
We’ll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgment of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song
I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
The change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that’s all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain’t changed
‘Cause the banners, they were all flown in the last war
I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
No, no!
I’ll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half alive
I’ll get all my papers and smile at the sky
Though I know that the hypnotized never lie
Do ya?
Yeah!
There’s nothing in the streets
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Is now parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight
I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
Don’t get fooled again
No, no!
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss
Well, by now you’re thinking that the old girl’s finally done it … she’s gone completely off her rocker. Left her last marble far behind. What on earth does this classic rock song have to do with politics and God and the election of 2008? For me … everything. It’s the refrain echoing in the air, just out of hearing, every time I hear a person of faith speak about politics these days.
Here’s a short course in US politics. This country is not democracy. We have a republic. That is, we elect representatives to enact our (the people’s) will in terms of laws and spending. In a true democracy, we would all come together to do this ourselves. We would all vote directly on every single piece of legislation that Congress currently votes on. So we have what is known as representative government. See how easy that is? We speak through our representatives. At the federal level, this means our Congressional representatives (based on state population) and our Senators (2 from each state). The congressional representatives (legislative branch) are up for election every 2 years, the senators every six. In the mean time, we also elect a president (the executive branch of the government) every four years. Now, to complete the system of checks and balances, our Founders threw in the judicial branch of the government; the Supreme Court. The justices are appointed by a sitting president and serve for life and/or until retirement … whichever comes first. The Supreme Court oversees the laws enacted by the legislative and executive branches to ensure that those laws are within the scope of the Constitution. Likewise each of the other branches have veto power over the other two. No one branch of the government has enough power to run things on their own. All three must get along with each other in order for our government to continue functioning. They all three simultaneously hold a carrot and a stick for each other.
If you look around you, you will see a similar pattern echoed in your state and local governments as well. Three branches (executive, legislative and judicial) each simultaneously holding a carrot and a stick for the other two. They will have different names at different levels, but you look; they’re there. This is because our founding parents (don’t fool yourselves, the wives had a lot of influence on the men), were profoundly persuaded of the notion that humans need governance of themselves and of their worst inclinations in order to provide space and the ability to bring out their best inclinations. In other words, if one could curb the greed for power with a system of checks and balances it might be possible to allow the best side human nature to blossom.
So that’s the short course on political systems in our country. I hold a bachelor’s degree in political science and international studies and have been fascinated by study of politics from a young age. I’ve been intrigued by politics and movements the way some people watch soap operas. What will happen next and the speculation is a source of endless enchantment for me.
I’ve begun seeing posts here and there lately which encourage Christians especially those attempting to find a new way in the world to think about not voting in the coming election. This is cloaked in language which helps those people feel subversive, powerful in meekness, and even Biblical. Here’s the thing though … it’s none of those things. Not voting is losing your voice and it’s playing right into the hands of the empire. Here are my thoughts on why Christians should vote and vote carefully in each election.
My first thoughts are that all Christians need to take a course in critical thinking. This is critical. As an adult convert (at the age of 30) who went to a regular liberal arts college and learned the art of critical thinking and discourse, I have been regularly appalled at the lack of critical thinking that I see amongst the brethren and sistren. It is why so many are now so bitterly disillusioned with President Bush. Those of us who are critical thinkers saw him for who he was back in 1999; a charlatan. But most Christians only heard what they wanted to hear in 2000 and again in 2004. Having done that, and been so badly burned they seem unwilling to trust any politician again.
They need to listen for themselves and read for themselves what the candidates are saying. Do not rely on the media reports … do not rely on Fox News or CNN or anyone else. The internet is rife with the ability to get the speeches whole cloth. Do this for yourself. All you have to do is get one or two of the whole speeches and you will have enough to have the tenor of the candidate. For instance,hen the story broke about Barak Obama’s pastor (Dr. Wright), I searched YouTube until I found his entire sermon and found the little bitty clips in context. They meant something then and were not nearly as offensive. If you know anything about the African-American church in this country, then you can understand where they came from. If you don’t, then shame on you. You have some homework to do.
Christians also need to understand the political process in such a way as to get beyond a single issue or even two issues. Politicians, especially at the national level, must be more nuanced than that. However, those same politicians are not above using and abusing naive voter blocks who may be lead around by the nose with a few well-chosen words. We also need to understand the milieu in which we live. We need to understand the vast difference between Israel of 4000 years ago and the United States of now. There are some similarities, but we are NOT God’s chosen people. Nor is this God’s chosen country. It is different.
Here is the point I’d like to make the strongest. We are not electing a king. Ever since the time of Samuel (1Samuel 8:4-8) the people have been asking for a king. When Jesus came as Messiah no one recognized him because they were looking for royalty and He was a peasant. Now today in our country even those not in the church are still trying to elect a king every four years. We try … every time … we keep looking for that savior who will make the country right again. This time, this vote, is going to set us on the right path. And it never happens. It never will. We are eternally disenchanted. Every four years we keep waiting for a coronation, but we have an inauguration and we’re let down once again. Because we do not have a king.
That’s a good thing. We have checks and balances on aristocratic power and authority. We, the people, have a voice. As Thomas Jefferson wrote:
“Governments, wherein the will of every one has a just influence… has its evils,… the principal of which is the turbulence to which it is subject. But weigh this against the oppressions of monarchy, and it becomes nothing. Malo periculosam libertatem quam quietam servitutem. [I prefer the tumult of liberty to the quiet of servitude.] Even this evil is productive of good. It prevents the degeneracy of government, and nourishes a general attention to the public affairs.” –Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787. ME 6:64″
“… nourishes a general attention to the public affairs.” You see that’s the most important part of the quote. In order for our republic to function, it requires a general attention to public affairs. That means more than voting. We cannot simply vote and walk away from the process, thinking our job is done. Even so look at the statistics from the last presidential election:
In the presidential election of November 2004, the 64 percent of voting-age citizens who voted was higher than the 60 percent who turned out in 2000 (Table A).2 This was the highest turnout in a presidential election year since 1992, when 68 percent of voting-age citizens voted.3 The overall number of people who voted in the November 2004 election was 126 million, a record high for a presidential election year. Voter turnout increased by 15 million voters from the election in 2000. During this same 4-year period, the voting-age citizen population increased by 11 million
people.
The registration rate of the voting-age citizen population, 72 percent, was higher than the 70 percent registered in the 2000 election. The last presidential election year to have a higher registration rate was 1992, when 75 percent of voting-age citizens were registered to vote. Total registration in the November 2004 election was 142 million citizens, an increase of 12.5 million registered citizens since the 2000 election.
That’s pitiful. Not even 2/3’s of the voting population in 2004. And if you read the full report the breakdown of the statistics is even worse. When you begin looking at age, education, and race the numbers are incredulous. Those who use their voice in our country are white, rich, well-educated … and old.
It’s a self-selecting voice though. We all have this voice. Every single one of us. Every race. Every gender. Education level doesn’t matter. Hell, you don’t even have to be able to read. The empire is hoping that these trends will continue. Evil despises change. And if Christians bow out now we will allow evil to have it’s way.
Pay special attention to portions devoted to who did NOT vote.
Get involved in voter registration drives for the other (that would be uneducated folks, hispanics, african-americans, anyone who doesn’t look like you)
Help someone get to the polls on election day … maybe help more than one
These are the ways that we work against getting fooled again. Just bowing out of the system or not thinking about it ensures that evil wins … again. And the new boss will be the same as the old boss. Like or not, we do owe a few pennies to Ceasar as well as some to Jesus.
UPDATE: The discussion here got far too personal and filled with ugly slurs that are not becoming for those who claim to follow or be disciples of Jesus Christ. Because those who were participating in the conversation cannot seem to restrain themselves, I’ve closed comments. 7:30 EST July 23, 2008
I’ve wanted to post a photo of this sign for months now. It appeared late last summer in my town. Some consider it an eyesore. Others call it “The Liberty Wall.” I’m in the latter group. Suddenly now it’s getting national attention. That’s a good thing. I’ll tell you why in a minute. First read the sign.
There’s a battle taking place in my town. I did not even know about this battle until the first skirmish had been won last summer by local xenophobes. They managed to pass the most restrictive, invasive, fearful anti-immigrant laws in the country. It was such a horrible law that we managed to come under the scrutiny of the United Nations. Not the US … not my state … my COUNTY!!!
The bare bones of the law are that the police may ask for anyone’s papers that they consider to be suspicious. So … if anyone gets stopped for any traffic violation, the police may question them about their immigration status. It amounts to a Fourth Amendment violation of our Constitution. But who among the immigrant population has the wherewithall to take this fight to the Supreme Court? Or who among them knows that this is possible?
For the first several months, the nativists strutted around waving their flags considering themselves the victors. What protectors of the castle they! Houses began to go vacant. Families began to disappear. Stores locked their doors. Teachers in our schools lost their jobs. Mortgages were defaulted upon.
The law of unintended consequences began to make itself felt.
As more and more of our population fled the county, our economic substructure has begun to crumble. Our housing market is in the toilet and while real estate prices have fallen around the region, they have fallen so dramatically in my county to have made national news … on PBS! Or so my mother reports. While the number of children attending ESOL classes has fallen in our county, it has gone up in neighboring counties. So these families are not going “home” (where ever that might have once been), which is the law’s express intent. But they are merely shuffling their place within this country. This has become a high stakes game of NIMBY (Not In My BackYard) where we are using human beings for game pieces and the federal government as our hostage.
So, my question is … how’s that working out?
From what I can see no one is gaining from this foolish law … our local jail is overcrowded with people awaiting deportation because the federal facility has not yet been built. Our economic structures are beginning a sad crumble because whether we like or not we depend upon these people for support and assistance, just as they depend upon us. We all live in a system together and when you remove part of it, the ripples cause problems …
Select up to 20 friends who deserve blessing. Bless 15 more friends, and advanced blessing options will be available.
I found the above directive in Facebook one day.
I can’t decide … part of me thinks this is absolutely hilarious and giggles uncontrollably when I read it. Another part of me finds this very, very sad because there are people out there who will believe this tripe. A third part of me gets angry when I read it because there is something pornographic about that. It’s using something that is supposed to be pure and holy; turning it into an economic transaction of sorts.
I got this from Kievas at Sharing a Journey … it’s too good to not pass on. My only quibble is that there’s only one African-American book on this list. These books are come from an overwhelmingly Northern European Caucasian perspective. Still … worth review at some level.
This is from something called “The Big Read” from the NEA. They came up with a list of their top 100 books, and they estimate that the average adult has only read 6 of these books. I will highlight the ones I’ve read. Cut and paste into your blog and let us know which you’ve read. Just for kicks … also mark the three you’d most like to read next. Mine are in italics. And then maybe hop over to Amazon or take a trip to Barnes and Noble for some summer reading material.
1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen 2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien (note – 3 big fat books!)
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte 4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling (note 7 big fat books!) 5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte 8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens 11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy 13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller 14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier 16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks1 8 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger 19 The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger 20 Middlemarch – George Eliot 21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell (and it’s sequel) 22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy 25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams (all 5 books in the series)
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky 28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck 29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll 30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy 32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens 33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34 Emma – Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen 36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis 37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden 40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne 41 Animal Farm – George Orwell 42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez 44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy 48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan 51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel 52 Dune – Frank Herbert (read all of the Dune books …)
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon 57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens 58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon 60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez 61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas 66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie 70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – AS Byatt 81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell 83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry 87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom 89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad 92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks 94 Watership Down – Richard Adams 95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare 99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo
So, there big NEA people, I beat your system. Hah! Here’s my recommendation. Don’t go to B&N or Amazon … go to your local library. Get a library card. Borrow the book(s) from your library. Read them and return them. It’s reduce, reuse and recycle at it’s finest!!
Just about every parent has heard of the terrible twos. It’s that period of life when a child is two. Supposedly they become terrible. Acting out, rebellious … suddenly aware of their own power and self-dom, they wield it with aplomb, spouting, “No.” or “I don’t wanna.” at any turn. It is an important era in the development of their character and personhood, that they begin to understand the limits of themselves and others. And it seems to begin at two, with a rather sudden onslaught of apparent disobedience and rebellion. I never experienced this with my children. Maybe it was because I understood what two was all about, but the twos seemed to go well for me. Three on the other hand … the threes were terrible. And yet, also not really. Neither of my children were horrible toddlers. Inquistive? Yes. Self-motivated? Yes. But the threes were more difficult than the twos.
So I’m not sure what to think now that my blog is three. We turned three the other day. July 7. I realized it a day late and now I’m blogging about it even later. I’m ambivalent about my blogiversary these days. I began this blog as an exercise in community to which I no longer belong and from which I was rudely dismissed when I began to point to inconsistencies in leadership. Then I became the problem. I continue to grieve that gaping hole in my life and struggle with the accompanying anger, stress and mistrust on a daily basis.
On the other hand, I have found a new community of friends to whom I owe a great debt for the love, grace and patience they have granted me as I’ve walked this road. Alone, yet accompanied virtually by a host of companions. They go with me on this road, some before, some behind. All calling out to one another that yes, we can walk this way, we can. It’s a careful community. Our skin is in various stages of healing from the burn so we are tender and raw. Perhaps not yet ready for IRL community. Or only ready for it in small doses with carefully selected friends.
So this blog has been an incredible exercise in community. 2462 comments. 827 posts (more or less). I blog at least once a week, most weeks several times a week. Most posts are commented on. Sometimes I get a good idea. We’ll see if the threes are better than or more difficult than the twos …
Earlier this year I went on a little road trip with two friends. We were investigating the possibility of purchasing a quilt shop in a little town not too far from here. That possibility did not pan out, but on the road trip we discovered a wonderful Mennonite grocery store where they sold sandwiches to order. The sandwiches were delicious. Hanging on the wall over the cash register I saw this hand-lettered sign:
“The cost of something is that amount of life which must be exchanged for it.”
That is a profound truth. The cost of something is not necessarily the price tag that is put there by the merchant from whom the customer purchases an item, but it is that amount of life which must be exchanged for it.
So … exactly how much should that bottle of TwoBuckChuck cost? … in light of the following? (ht Christy at DryBonesDance)
We told you about the tragic death of 17-year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez who died while laboring in a Stockton area vineyard in 100 plus degree heat. According to a Wednesday AP story, the San Joaquin County Coroner has officially confirmed that Maria died of heat stroke. Maria had been working 8 hours in the blistering heat without shade or sufficient water. The closest water supply was a 10 minute walk away.
…
Because Maria worked for a labor contractor, she most likely never knew she was part of the production team for Bronco Winery who is better known for Charles Shaw wines–commonly called “Two-Buck Chuck.” This best selling wine is available exclusively at Trader Joe’s stores. According to Trader Joe’s web site, “these super-value wines began as the result of an oversupply of wine and a great relationship with a valued supplier.”
On May 14, the official temperature was 95 degrees; it was even hotter inside the wine grape vineyard owned by West Coast Grape Farming, east of Stockton, where Maria and her fiancé, Florentino Bautista, worked. Maria had been working for nine hours.
At 3:40 p.m. Maria became dizzy. She didn’t know where she was and didn’t recognize Florentino. Maria passed out. Florentino helplessly held her in his arms.
There was no water for the workers from 6 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. When water arrived, it was a 10-minute walk from where Maria was working, too far to access. There was no shade or training for foremen and workers about what to do if someone became ill from the heat—as required by law.
…
After a number of delays Maria was taken to a clinic. On the in Lodi, the foreman called on the driver’s cell phone and spoke to Florentino. “If you take her to a clinic,” the foreman said, “don’t say she was working [for the contractor]. Say she became sick because she was jogging to get exercise. Since she’s underage, it will create big problems for us.”
Maria’s temperature upon arriving at the hospital was 108.6. After two days and six heart stoppages, she died.
“The cost of something is that amount of life which must be exchanged for it.”
Here’s a fun little game going around in blog-land. For no reason … it was just fun.
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.
The questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.
Some of the photos ended up a bit obtuse. I added notes below to make deciphering my choices a little easier. I left 10 and 11 blank for you to fill in with your own imagination. I’m sure you’ll have fun with them.
1. Do I need to answer this?
2. I have favorite foods for different restaurants or times of year … so I just picked whatever came into my head.
3. U32 … don’t ask.
4. I don’t have a favorite color … I just typed the color that came into my head.
5. Heh … Mr. Big … gotta love him and have since he started wearing plaid ties on L&O in the 90’s.
6. Coffee … the magic bean.
7. Ireland and a Celtic monastery.
8. Good apple pie.
9. What else?
10.
11.
12. Threadbare …
This is a fun way to see a lot of different photos. If you decide to play along, leave a link to your version of the mosaic in my comments.
Sally Coleman writes – “I have to admit that I am chuckling to myself a little; how strange it seems for me a Brit to be posting the Friday Five on 4th July! I realise that most of our revgals will be celebrating in some way today, but I hope that you can make a little room for Friday Five! From my short stay in Texas my memories of the celebrations are of fireworks and picnics, one year we went in to central Houston to watch the fireworks and hear the Symphony Orchestra play, we were welcomed and included, and that meant a lot!”
So lets have a bit of fun:
1. Barbeque’s or picnics ( or are they essentially the same thing?) – My definition? Picnics are never at someone’s home. You take your (cold) food somewhere else. It’s usually sandwiches and/or finger foods. Fruit and cookies. Wine or beer for grown ups. Simple fun stuff to eat. Barbeque’s mean grills and sloppy food and potato salad and coleslaw. The latter two are must haves for barbeques. Must. Haves. Oh. and brownies.
2. The park/ the lake/ the beach or staying at home simply being? It depends … I’ve done all. This year we are staying at home simply being. It helps that we can watch a great fireworks display from our front yard. Friends are coming for dessert. But that’s it. My favorite years were back when we were allowed to camp out on the lawn in front of General’s Row at Fort Myer in Arlington to watch the DC fireworks. This is no longer allowed because of all the security measures. It’s sad to me.
3. Fireworks- love ‘em or hate ‘em? I absolutely adore fireworks. I could watch them for hours and hours. We need to go back next year and see the DC fireworks now that our kids are older and can appreciate them. DC has spectacular fireworks. Absolutely spectacular.
4. Parades- have you ever taken part- share a memory… I have been in so many parades. I spent almost every fourth of July from the time I was 15 until I was 33 marching in a parade. Except two or three when I was in college. They’ve kinda blurred together. It was always, always, always HOT and sweaty. I hated marching in parades on the fourth. We have an ugly national anthem … it’s a beer drinking song. I hate Yankee Doodle; because I’ve played it 9,438,527 too many times. I’m not the most patriotic person, so all the flag-waving and histrionics made/make me sort of nauseous. Besides … it wasn’t July 4 that was important at all. It was more like July 2 or something. I still love the fireworks.
5. Time for a musical interlude- if you could sum up holidays in a piece of music what would it be? Well … of course the 1812 Overture with real live cannons.
So I’m not sure what to think now that my blog is three. We turned three the other day. July 7. I realized it a day late and now I’m blogging about it even later. I’m ambivalent about my blogiversary these days. I began this blog as an 
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Maria’s Story
