Blog Round-Up

There's been a lot going on this week:

Letter to Bush from a mom on mainstreet, thanks, Siren's Chronicles, for that. Friend speaks my mind.

Civil Disobedience for Climate Change?! I'm on it! P.S. That's Sir Bono and Al Gorgeous together!

What's the fastest way to become a US citizen? From TextMex

From a recent meeting at my girls' nursery school. This quote just reinforces my whole belief that nothing has changed over time. Yes the players and tools do, but not the feelings.

'The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for
authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in lace of
exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their
households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They
contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties
at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.'

Bob Blogs about my favorite superhero!

The "Forêt/Forest" Exhibit in Montreal looks awesome. I wish I could get up there to see it. Thanks bldgblog for the link.

Chicago has a climate plan. Yay! Maybe Philly will be next...?

Aerophant always blows my mind (in a good way) - it IS a beautiful world.

Apparently, my guy George Michael was busted again for drugs. Thanks to JoeMyGod for the news.... but maybe it's not really news anymore.


Cupcakes Take the Cake pointed out that people search for cupcakes in a financial crisis. So I tried seeing how often people search for religious art. It was pretty much the same until this week. Check the spike. [I wonder how many of those points over the years have been ME!?!] And, 5 Reasons why this Depression really IS Going to be Fun! From Gawker.

This week on the fashion front, we see BOTH plaids AND argyle on the Fug Report.

Idle Speculations posted a beautiful image of St Anthony the Abbott in the Wilderness. Wow. It feels appropriate for this week. Thanks, Terry.

And who knows whether the debate will actually happen tonight. I can't watch. Just like the Eagles in the Superbowl - I get too nervous to sit still. So, I'll be sending all my positive energy to Obama tonight. But in the spirit of the thing - I hope he lands some good "body checks". "Keep your stick on the ice" tonight, Barack!

RIP Albina

Ladybird's grandmother passed away this morning. May she rest in peace.

It's been a crazy and emotional couple of weeks for me as well, with my grandmother's health slowly declining. As is my wont, I'm feeling loss all around me. It started a couple of weeks ago, and I think AS USUAL, Rob Brezsny gets right at the truth of my situation:

September 10, 2008:
Your funny bone isn't a bone at all; it's actually your ulnar nerve. A firefly is a beetle, not a fly. A lead pencil has graphite in it, but no lead. A cucumber is technically a fruit, not a vegetable. Is there anything in your life that might be mislabeled like these things? Anything that's different from what it's alleged to be? Now is an excellent time to penetrate to the truth below the prevailing assumptions.

It's a crazy time. Let's all try to be gentle with each other, and make it through this as best we can.

Proud Godmom

What a cutie!

Meme

I'm supposed to answer the following questions with one word each and then tag 7 people with the honor. But, if you want to respond, just go ahead... I'm lazy like that!

1. Where is your cell phone? Purse
2. Where is your significant other? Work
3. Your hair color? Brown
4. Your mother? Mom
5. Your father? Dad
6. Your favorite thing? Cooking
7. Your dream last night? Multi-faceted
8. Your dream/goal? Grace
9. The room you're in? Cubicle
10. Your hobby? Gardening
11. Your fear? Pain
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Alive
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. What you're not? Dead
15. One of your wish-list items? Books
16. Where you grew up? CT
17. The last thing you did? ummmm..
18. What are you wearing? clothes
19. Your TV? Off
20. Your pet? Cat
21. Your computer? On
22. Your mood? Good
23. Missing someone? Yes
24. Your car? Runs
25. Something you're not wearing? Diamonds
26. Favorite store? Indigo
27. Your summer? Fun
28. Love someone? Yes
29. Your favorite color? Blue
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? Last week (that's 2 words, but hey)

Rosemary

There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray,
love, remember: and there is pansies. that's for thoughts
Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5

Blog Round-Up

Some News, and other stuff, that caught my eye this week. Enjoy!

• The call for an "Energy Manhattan Project"
• See all 52 (including DC & Pr) State Obama bumper stickers.
• National guard deployment to Iraq & Afghanistan
• omg! Tigh-Roslin campaign site as seen on Boing Boing
• Pretty moss-inspired jewelry
• I helped get the reporters in our of jail in Minneapolis/St Paul!
  
• Mabon is this weekend. Time to make my green man!
• WE has a new ad out against the dirty coal and oil lobbies. Check it out!
  
• TODAY is International "Talk Like a Pirate Day"!
  
• Federal Court Bans Mad Cow Testing
• Tea is more beneficial than water! I knew it.
• Bob at his best - St John the Baptist Triptych - I plan to comment on this piece more later, but in the meantime - WOW!
• How coastal building development since the 1970's has lead to crazier hurricane damage, on Pruned.
  
• This Quiz feeds the hungry. Again, thanks, Bob!

• Old School printing operation. I'm not sure my grandfather's press was as high-tech as this, but wow!

Printing a Book, Old School from Armin Vit on Vimeo.

What I Read on my Summer Vacation

I spent a lovely week by a lake up in the 1,000 Islands region of Ontario, Canada this summer. It was a rainy summer there, but lucky for me, not to wet while we were there.

I spent one sunny afternoon snoozing and reading on the dock. I had been wanting to read Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity, by Elaine Pagels, for some time, and this was my chance. I won't give a long review here, but I will say this: I wish I had seen that the primary text (the Gospel of Judas) was at the back of the book - before I got there! I kept wanting to check the text whenever the author quoted it, and though I usually spot these things, I just didn't see it until too late. And I didn't feel like going back and re-reading all the commentary again. So it all felt backwards.

But, I enjoyed the book. And it more firmly convinced me of two ideas I've had about my religious belief:
1) that the early Christian Church (or "Christian Movement" as many scholars call it) was not a monolith, but a fractured, fractious group of people trying to muddle through a very scary, emotional time, and doing the best they could.
2) that Judas was a pawn, God's agent of change. Yes he betrayed Jesus, but I think God had that as part of the plan all along (I mean, really, what happens in this life WITHOUT God's knowledge?!?) and Jesus knew it too. Why else would he be so upset in Gesthemane, right before Judas showed up. HE KNEW what was about to happen.

There's also a whole section of Judas' Gospel where he dances - which reminds me of the "whirling Dervishes." It's fascinating.

So, I recommend it. There's a v. good interview with Elaine Pagels on Salon.

Thanks to Menachem for the beautiful Caravaggio image - I hope the painting turns up!!!

Incommunicado

Sorry folks, needed to take a brief hiatus, but I hope to be back on the blogging track now. Some events in my life contributing to my lack of blog posts:

1) I just created a "Women For Obama" fundraising site! Please go check it out.
2) I became a Godmother to beautiful William, new son of Lakshmi and Sam. I am THRILLED!
3) A friend of mine just signed up for the National Guard and I am terrified that he will be shipped overseas, but I'm trying to be supportive. I gave him a milagro for protection - I certainly hope it works. Maybe when he's done with his service, he can leave it in a shrine somewhere.
4) My granny had a stroke and is now in a nursing home. I went to visit her in Minneapolis (during State Fair time, so I swung by for some roasted corn, a corn dog, and a milkshake from the dairy barn. Dag, they aren't kidding about how awesome the food is there!) She's doing OK, but it's a little shocking to see someone who has always acted like someone 2/3 her age, acting 98, finally.
5) I interviewed yesterday...
6) The girls won us over and we got a cat - they named her Grace, and she's beautiful. We got her from PAWS.
7) And then there's the Phillies....

So that's what's going on for me. I haven't even been checking my bloglines recently to be able to comment on all the excellent religious art that has been passing me by... If you see something you think I'd like, please let me know!

Ciao