Lindsey and I are actually going to be in MA in two weeks--we're visiting Harvard and Yale divinity schools, and L has an interview at Hartford Seminary where she's applying for the M.A. program in Islamic Studies. It looks like our schedule is going to be extremely tight, and I don't know how we would manage to squeeze in a side trip to Smith. :( We *will* meet sometime, though, I'm sure of it.
:) That's pretty much what I expected you to say... But that's a reaction I have about people sometimes, too, so I can sympathize. I've been giving it some thought today... Yes, Jan's very much a liberal (though religiously, I think of her as much more of a traditional than a "liberal" Christian), and politics is a subject that she and I avoid... The few occasions on which she has said things that troubled me were in settings where she probably felt that she could get away with a flippant remark (like in a class I took with her in which I was probably the only vaguely conservative person, and when talking to Confirmed Democrat Lindsey <3). And it's not that that excuses it, because I hate when people say things like that, ever, and I wish that I had challenged her. But, on the other hand, in the vast majority of my interactions with her, I've known her to be extremely fair, especially in working with religious conservatives (of course many in her family are conservative and even fundamentalist, and I don't think she necessarily loves that, but she's spoken of the absolute necessity of open and honest communication in situations like that). So, I do validate your concern, but I also find it difficult to imagine that, if you engaged with her on an issue, she wouldn't be totally impressed with and respectful of your position and willing to discuss things dispassionately. Plus, she just *beams* with so much love that it's hard not to warm up to her even when you first meet her.
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Date: 2005-03-11 12:47 am (UTC):) That's pretty much what I expected you to say... But that's a reaction I have about people sometimes, too, so I can sympathize. I've been giving it some thought today... Yes, Jan's very much a liberal (though religiously, I think of her as much more of a traditional than a "liberal" Christian), and politics is a subject that she and I avoid... The few occasions on which she has said things that troubled me were in settings where she probably felt that she could get away with a flippant remark (like in a class I took with her in which I was probably the only vaguely conservative person, and when talking to Confirmed Democrat Lindsey <3). And it's not that that excuses it, because I hate when people say things like that, ever, and I wish that I had challenged her. But, on the other hand, in the vast majority of my interactions with her, I've known her to be extremely fair, especially in working with religious conservatives (of course many in her family are conservative and even fundamentalist, and I don't think she necessarily loves that, but she's spoken of the absolute necessity of open and honest communication in situations like that). So, I do validate your concern, but I also find it difficult to imagine that, if you engaged with her on an issue, she wouldn't be totally impressed with and respectful of your position and willing to discuss things dispassionately. Plus, she just *beams* with so much love that it's hard not to warm up to her even when you first meet her.