Dancing with Myself

NOT Your Everyday Fender Bender

The Castro in San Francisco was the scene of a freak accident Thursday afternoon.  SFGate has the details and some incredible photographs.  Unfortunately, one man was killed.  It is in the face of such dramatic tragedy that ordinary people often display incredible courage.  Go read the tale of one such pilgrim who when challenged with horendous circumstances behaved heroically. 

The War in Iraq

I got in late last night, but just in time to see The Insurgency in Iraq on PBS's Frontline.   It was very interesting.  If you didn't see it, you should. 

We have created a very serious mess in Iraq.  If American forces pull out, there will be a blood bath the likes of which we haven't seen since Kosovo.  We are in a no-win situation.  As Col. H.R. McMaster said, "... the standard for success for the terrorists and insurgents is pretty low. . . . [While our]standard for our success is very high."  Another American officer said "They can't beat us [the American military], but we can't win, either."  Only the Iraqi people can win their freedom from this anarchy and terror of which the United States is the author.

I continue to be opposed to the war in Iraq.  While I don't propose we withdraw immediately, I do believe we need a regime change in the United States.  Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld should all be impeached, indicted and sent to prison for their crimes against humanity.  I am not speaking in hyperbole.  The three of them should go to prison for a long time.  It won't happen unfortunately.

Meanwhile, we are so fucked.

The program is very powerful.  Watch it if you can.

Letters? Yes. Fan mail? Not exactly

Kristin wrote:

You’re taking a few words of scripture and spinning it to mean David and Jonathan were homosexual.  Not everyone you love do you have a sexual relationship with.  Just because they loved each other, does NOT in ANY way mean they were involved sexually!!!  COME ON!  How incredibly much can you TRY to spin things to endorse your sinful chosen lifestyle???

A polite letter, compared to some I've received.  I did answer Kristin.

Dear Kristin:

And how far will you go in your denial that men have been loving men since the beginning of time? 

Look, sugah, my lifestyle is chosen only in the sense that I believe I have the right to a whole and complete life.  If you want to restrict yourself to a bunch of nonsense written by a bunch of fanatics a couple of thousand years ago, go right ahead. 

Do me a favor though.  Keep your religious teachings out of my life. 

Good luck to you.

Kristen falls into that category of apostates that worship THE Bible rather than follow the teachings of Christ.  I consider that idolatry, but it's not my job to go around judging the sin and heresy of others.

Meeting the Bishop Candidates

My first opportunity to meet the candidates was Monday night at Grace Cathedral.  Even though I don't feel very religious these days, the selection of bishop is very important.  It's even important, even for us "UNchurched" Episcopalians.  Add the fact that there are some in the American Episcopal Church who want to schism because of the selection of Bishop Gene Robinson back in '03, and have threatened to do so if we elect another Gay to the episcopate.  These are heady times to be an Episcopalian.  Of the seven candidates, two are Gay men and one is a Lesbian.  It might surprise you, but I'm not necessarily in favor of electing another Gay, at least not just because he's Gay, nor would I vote for a woman because she's a woman or a Lesbian.   Our present bishop, the Rt. Rev. William Swing, recently wrote a column about the challenge facing us:  "We are where we are because we allow the Holy Spirit to move us into the chaos as a precursor of a fresh order of a new creation.""

Briefly summarized, here are my impressions of the seven cadidates.

The Rt. Rev. Mark Handley Andrus, Bishop Suffragan in the Diocese of Alabama.  Very strong candidate.  He's calm, intelligent, quietly spiritual.  He briefly touched on an issue that I would like to hear him preach on:  what's the difference between worshiping Jesus and following his teachings. 

The Rev. Jane Gould, Rector of St. Stephen's Church, Lynn, Massachusetts.  Smart and empathetic.  She may become a bishop in the church, but I don't think she'll get chosen by us this time.

The Rev. Bonnie Perry, D.Min., Rector of All Saints' Church, Chicago, Illinois.  An interesting woman.  She's very small and has the gift of story telling.  Personally, I think she needs a few more years in the trenches before becoming a bishop.

The Rev. Canon Eugene Taylor Sutton, Canon Pastor of Washington National Cathedral.  Great candidate.  He was the only candidate who spoke of the need to offer same-sex couples the covenant of marriage within the church.  To be fair, each of the candidates addressed the importance of the inclusion of Gays and Lesbians in the body of Christ, but only Rev. Sutton spoke to the need of same-sex couples to have their marriages recognized and blessed by the church.

The Very Rev. Robert V. Taylor, Dean, St. Mark's Cathedral, Seattle, Washington.  Wise for his years, but maybe a little young still to be bishop.  He's already the dean of a cathedral, so I suspect he'll go far in the church.  If not here and now, he willl be a bishop.

The Rev. Canon Michael Barlowe, Officer for Congregational Development, The Diocese of California.  Michael was the most impressive of all the candidates to me.  He spoke wisely about the mission of the church and the problems we are facing from the schismatics.  If the election were held tomorrow, I'd vote for him.

The Rev. Donald Schell, Co-rector of St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church, San Francisco.  He's the one candidate whose church I have attended and heard preach.  I like him.  He would make a good bishop.  His greatest handicap was to be in such a strong field of candidates. 

Does God Have a Penis?

Then why do people keep insisting on saying "He"? 

Losing My Religion

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern. You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this.

Emergent/Postmodern		86%
Classical Liberal		75%
Modern Liberal		75%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan		39%
Charismatic/Pentecostal		36%
Neo orthodox		32%
Roman Catholic		29%
Reformed Evangelical		14%
Fundamentalist		0%

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

An Emergent-Postmodern, eh?  I just thought I was an Episcopalian.

Thanks, Terrance, over at Republic of T.

Fearless Leadership

Okay, tell the truth.  Who do you wish were representing your interests in yesterday's negotiations between Premier Hu and President Bush?  Yeah, me too.

So without further ado, :

Will Ferrell - Bush on Global Warming on Transbuddha

Quote of the Day

Translated from the Arabic by the good folks at Al Jazeera.

"Brother, you may believe in stones as long as you don't throw them at me." -- Wafa Sultan

The link is to a debate between Wafa Sultan, Islam's most articulate critic, and some Muslim preacher who threw his hands up in exasperation and called her a heretic.  Oh, did I mention that Wafa Sultan is a woman.  I came across this on Eric Alterman's blog, Altercation.  Dr. Alterman has a tremendously insightful reaction to Ms. Sultan's brilliant argument:  educate women.  Humanity wins when we develop all of our people.  Eric directs us to the video of Ms. Sultan via Taylor Marsh's blog,  Ms. Marsh has most of the debate's translated transcript up.

All fundamentalism is evil, whether it be Muslim, Christian, Hindu, or Jewish.  We secular humanists are in this together.

Addiction to Empty Calories

Sarah Hepola explains why she quit blogging.

....The blog was the perfect bluff for a self-conscious writer like me who yearned for the spotlight and then squinted in its glare. When I needed to pretend that people were reading, I could. When I needed to pretend that nobody was reading, I could. (For this reason, I never checked the reader stats on my blog, unlike most of my friends, who check it as regularly as their e-mail.)

Eventually, I began enjoying my writing again. I stopped worrying about deadlines, audience, editors, letters to the editor, all the stuff that had smothered me before. I was writing so fast that I didn't have time to double-think my sentence structure or my opinions. What came out was sloppier but also funnier and more honest. I started getting e-mails from people I'd never met, and they were actually encouraging. (At the paper, it seemed like most e-mails from strangers begin with a variant of "Hey, dumbass.") I continued blogging for years, through cities and jobs and relationships, and though the blog entries never amounted to much, they always gave me a fleeting joy, like conquering some small feat—opening a very difficult, tightly sealed jar—even when no one is around to see it.

And yet every once in a while those agents would check in, to ask how that book was coming. And the book wasn't coming, and wasn't coming, and I became one of those people who talk about a book but never write it. At times, I started to feel that jokes and scenarios and turns of phrase were my capital, and that my capital was limited, and each blog entry was scattering more of it to the wind, pissing away precious dollars and cents in the form of punch lines I could never use again, not without feeling like a hack. You know: "How sad. She stole that line from her own blog."

Blogging had been the ideal run-up to a novel, but it had also become a major distraction. I would sit down to start on my novel only to come up with five different blog entries. I thought of them as a little something-something to whet the palate—because it was easier, more immediately satisfying, because I could write it, and post it, and people would say nice things about it, and I could go to bed feeling satisfied. But then I would wake feeling less than accomplished because a blog wasn't a whole story told from beginning to end. I had shelves lined with other people's prose while my best efforts were buried on a Web site somewhere, underneath a lot of blah-blah about American Idol and my kitty cat.

I've been blogging now for about three years.  On the plus side, I've written hundreds of thousands of words about every subject under the sun.  On the negative side, my book about my mother's people is languishing, as are several other worthy writing projects.  I've discussed this with other writers I know.  Several have retired their blogs.  One or two have tried to quit blogging, but keep coming back to it like addicts.   

Blogging is to writing as sugar is to food.  It's useful if you're mixing it with other ingredients, but not as much so when eaten alone.  You got to watch out for those empty calories.

Crystal Sightings

Although Midnight Therapy with Crystal is on hiatus, Crystal is still about.  She has a new video up. 

Soulforce is a group of GLBT Chrstians who are taking it to the streets, so to speak.  They are visiting the campuses of colleges and universities across the country that have anti-Gay policies.  Yesterday, North Central University denied Soulforce access to its campus and students.  Today Soulforce visits Wheaton College in Chicago.  Crystal is going to be there.