burning like matchsticks in the face of the darkness

"Joy Sadhana is a daily practice in the observation of joy."
-mylittleredgirl [more info]
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. And they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. (Isaiah 9:2, Handel's Messiah)

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Before CHPC service started, Karl asked if anyone wanted to be the reader -- Jeff was supposed to but was away.  I gladly volunteered.

The Children's Time basically consisted of him reading 1 Cor 13:4-8 to the kids -- and then telling them that if they're looking for guidance about how to behave lovingly, this is a really good text to start with.

The Scripture Reading followed immediately after, and the first reading was 1 Cor 13:1-13.  So I said, "This is the longer version of the Scripture Karl just read.  I know that we've all heard it many times before, but I invite you to listen as if it is new, to really listen."

I actually lost my place early on, but apparently it wasn't a big deal, since I got various compliments on my reading afterward.

Then there was the Anthem, and the second Scripture reading was Luke 4:14-21.  I thought about saying, "This passage may also be familiar to many of us, and again I invite you to really listen, to hear it anew," but I didn't.  (I also opted not to to try to remove all the gendered pronouns, because I couldn't come up with a way to do it non-awkwardly.)

Karl's sermon was titled: "Justice With Love" -- about how justice needs to be rooted in love.  For much of the sermon I wasn't really into what I felt was a false dichotomy -- because he was pitting Paul against Jesus and duh, Jesus didn't see the justice work he was engaged in and advocating as being other than rooted in love -- though I do agree that justice work should be rooted in love (esp. given his point that people who have been oppressed often just perpetuate those patterns once they are in a position of power).

Early on in his sermon, Karl said that the Corinthians passage is about "willing self-limitation so the other will be enriched."

Benediction: May you be for the world light, hope, and even salvation.

After I got home, I emailed Karl:

During Coffee Hour today, both Liz and Mary (independently) told me they thought I should be the lay reader all the time.  I said I didn't know who to bring that up with but that I was on board with that :)

Of course I don't want to stand in the way of anyone who also really enjoys lay reading, but it's one of my favorite ways to be involved in church, so I'm really happy to do it more often if there are people who are on the rotation just because they feel like they "should."

He replied:

Thanks for your willingness.  It’s really important that we involve as many people as possible in the leading of worship so I don’t want to limit to one person.  There is some early conversation happening about expanding the role to do much more of the liturgy.  That will be high on the list for the new Session to think about.

Erm.  I don't think of lay reading as "leading worship," since it's just slotted in, and I am really not interested in crafting liturgy -- okay, that is a lie.  Getting to make everything connect thematically and have it all be theology/language I like is really appealing.  I am more interested in things like adjusting the talking/silence balance (Confession time, anyone? I believe I have talked about my feelings about this here before).  I think my resistance springs from not wanting to have to write liturgy (which I feel like the Liturgist -- a rotating lay position at FCS -- does, but at CHPC all the prayers are from books anyway, so it would be totally reasonable for me to pore over resources, and I half-expect that what Karl means is just having people standing up there speaking, not even necessarily being involved in the actual crafting of the liturgy ... which I obviously have mixed feelings about.  Really all my rhoughts and feelings about church boil down to my wanting it to be done "my way," with other people doing the work in the areas where I feel I do not have the appropriate gifts.)

We have Annual Meeting next Sunday, and the following Sunday we resume our Adult Ed study of John Shelby Spong's The Sins of Scripture (which I am almost done reading -- the benefit of some long train rides recently).  I think I need to come prepared with notes/agenda for each of the chapters so that there is at least a hope that we can focus on building things up rather than just commiserating about those horrible people who use the Bible as a weapon.

I am developing a sense of liturgy or something, because the order of worship at CHPC is grating on me in a "I don't worship optimally this way" -- beyond just my opinions on the actual words of the prayer.

I have so many ideas (and even energy) about how to make worship service here better, but I feel like I don't get a response when I raise stuff (admittedly I'm usually raising it by being like, "XYZ sucks; I wish we would do PQR," but I usually attempt to modulate it some -- and really want I want is a congregational conversation -- if the congregation isn't interested in the kinds of stuff I'm interested in, I can just leave or whatever, but I feel like no one cares about anything and I am so not inspired to stay ... except then sometimes we have good conversations and I get all excited).  I'm slated to lay read on March 28, so maybe I will set that as my deadline at which point I'll call it quits if I feel like nothing's happening.

***

"Do not be afraid for I am with you."
-Jeremiah 1:8

"The saving presence of God renders every perceived inadequacy irrelevant."
-Anathea Portier-Young

Before service, I asked Tiffany if I had a lay reader bulletin -- she had completely forgotten that I'd agreed to lay read that night.

She said, "I'm glad you're coming to dinner."  I had a moment of being confused, because of course I'd be at dinner -- especially since we had a meeting afterward.  I told her that I'd met someone on Friday who knew I was really involved with church and who asked me if I had a leadership role, and that it wasn't until I saw Tiff's email Sunday morning that I was like, "Oh yeah, I'm on Finance."

From Tiffany's facebook:

sermon in a nutshell: Being called is hard....it sucks...look at Jesus.
Sunday at 7:19am ·
10 people like this

Okay, so that is not really the core of my sermon...just a few notes I had written early in the week that made me laugh this morning as I re-read them.

What if sermons were only the notes?
Sunday at 7:21am

The lectionary texts were Jeremiah 1:4-10 and Luke 4:21-30.  The Jeremiah one was done dramatically by Tallessyn and the girls, and I read the Luke.

Tiffany began her sermon by talking about how she and David Kim were seminarians who had a great idea but both thought they were not equipped to lead this church they had dreamed up.
She talked about the idea that they'd had.
"There's never been a gay rush on  Reconciling church and Dave and I thought that had to change."
But even as this idea they had had turned into reality, they were certain that they couldn't fill the pulpit.
That's how Reconciling Saints Sunday was invented -- out of desperation, trying to find someone to preach.  They honored Jeanne Audrey Powers -- "And you still couldn't get her to preach," Marla said.

Tiffany said, "our perceived inadequacies are of no consequence to the Divine."
She talked about denouncing that which is not of God and announcing what is -- about woe and weal.

One of her themes was that being a prophet doesn't end well.  She told the Luke story -- about how you would think that everyone would be like, "Wow..." and at first they are, but then they say, "So are ya gonna heal me Jesus?  --  What's in it for me?"
She said, "It doesn't end well -- just keep going in that story."
I thought silently, "But Jesus doesn't actually get thrown off the cliff.  Oh, you mean the Crucifixion.  But there is the Resurrection."  There was a pause, and so I said out loud, "It depends on how you define The End."

She talked about how being called is hard work.

She said, "The Good News -- see, Elizabeth, I wasn't done with the sermon (me: "I know") -- is that God empowers us."
She talked about how God deconstructs and reconstructs our self-identity.

"God's presence makes our task possible, but not easy."

***

During Prayers of the People, Michele lifted up Basement Kitty.  I said, "My roommate was asking about Basement Kitty last night!"

***

The D.S. met with SPRC last Wednesday and announced our interim pastor -- Nizzi Santos Digan, who's full-time at Saugus and is a friend of the congregation.  Marla said, "Her language is not always where our language is, but her heart is where our hearts are."

Marla said that when Nizzi was asked, she, like Jeremiah, said, "Why me?" said, "There are more progressive people in this conference" -- to which Will said, "No there aren't," and Marla said, "That's what I said."

Later, Marla said that Nizzi had said she wanted there to be a lot of lay preaching -- which is great, because there's so much that we need our pastor to do, and she's only quarter-time with us, and we have so many gifted preachers within our congregation, so we had been hoping for that regardless of who we got appointed.

Friday night, my mom forwarded me an email [NB: This "George" is not my brother, duh.]:

I saw Joe at George's wake tonight. He asked how your sermon had gone and I said I'd send him a copy. He's giving the eulogy tomorrow for George.

I thought you'd like to hear you're admired :)

Below was JoeF's reply to an email my mom had sent him with my sermon text:

Thank you, Barbara.

Right now I am keeping my focus on tomorrow's service, but I look forward to reading this before the weekend's over. Like her mother, Elizabeth is someone I very much admire.

***

[CWM] Charge Conference/Church Council: Join us for a congregational meeting in which we elect our lay leadership, pass our budget, and discuss new ways for our congregation to be in ministry.

During the budget portion of the meeting, Marla said that she had talked to Martin about pension contributions -- that because Nizzi has a full-time pastorate that is putting in to her pension fund, it would be inappropriate for us to also put in to her pension fund.  Marla asked if we could take the money we had budgeted for a quarter-time pastor from mid-February through June and put it toward Tiffany's pension.  Martin said that if that money found its way to the pension fund before Tiffany's last day as our pastor, that they wouldn't turn it down.  Marla said that we didn't contribute to her pension until we were mandated to by the conference -- that Tiffany had resisted their even talking about contributing to her pension fund, because she knew the financial situation of the church -- and that the money we would be putting in now for these few months still wouldn't compare to the years and years we didn't, but that it would be a token of our appreciation.  ♥

***

Hello, First Church!

I'm writing to you, the congregation, to invite you to participate in a prayer rotation if you are planning to attend next weekend's FCS Re/Treat at Friendly Crossways (Feb 6/7). The Deacons will be setting up a quiet prayer space that will be available throughout the retreat for prayer and reflection.

We hope that the space will also have a person from the congregation present for as much time as possible to be a prayerful presence in the space.

Everyone is invited, If you feel called, to sign up for a 1/2 hour slot in the prayer rotation. I'm sharing this sign-up sheet with all of you. You can sign up for multiple slots if you wish; you can use the slot to be in prayer with others, or by yourself. We will have options for many different types of prayer. It doesn't matter if you don't know how to pray, or what to say. It only matters that you are present.

It may happen that not every slot is filled; that's ok. Also, if you're not coming on the retreat, but feel called to set aside one of these slots to pray, wherever you may be, you should feel free to do that as well.

Any questions, let me know.
Looking forward to Re/Treating with you!
Gianna



Click to open:

    * Prayer Rota at FCS Annual Retreat 2010

***

Voicemail my brother left while I was at CWM: "Hey, Elizabeth, it's George.  Figured I would tell you before our parents told you, that I went down to St. Louis this weekend and now I'm engaged.  Just thought you'd be excited for me.  So feel free to give me a call back or not, whatever.  Anyway, yeah, bye."

***

For years, JohnP. (from UCN) has said that he sometimes does work on my campus and he'll stop by.  This morning he actually did.  Hugs!

***

Ben and Peter are having a wine tasting connected to one of their class sessions this week, and so Peter was telling Scott about it (Scott's taking their class) and I automatically pulled up his Google calendar to see if he was available at that time (hi, I am an administrative assistant) -- but Scott did actually know what his plans were.
We joked about this after Peter had left, and when Scott was looking at the calendar he pointed at "A Farewell Open House for Pastor Tiffany and Her Family" on my calendar and made sadface.
I told him I actually can't make it, and I told him about coffee with Tiffany last Thursday and being invited to the leadership farewell dinner this coming Tuesday, and how I was like, "I'm part of the leadership of the church?  'Cause I'm on Finance?"  Scott was like, "Of course you're part of the core leadership of the church."

***

Edit: I am heading to bed early tonight, but literally for the rest of the week my plans every night are "church" (effectively) --
Tuesday: CWM leadership farewell dinner with Tiffany
Wednesday: Rest and Bread
Thursday: CAUMC young adult small group (I assume)
Friday/Saturday: FCS prayer retreat (5pm-5pm in Harvard, MA -- about 45 miles away)
Sunday: church

( gym: Oct. 19-23 )

***

( gym: Oct. 26-30 )

***

( Halloween weekend )

***

Monday

Ian: "It's 4:45 and it's dark out."
me: "Max just said the same thing to me five minutes ago -- "It's 4:40 and it's already dark out."  I said, "It's lighter out in the morning."  Max doesn't think it's a good tradeoff."
Ian: "Neither do I."
me: "I do.  Because I actually have to get up in the morning.  Unlike you all, who can come in late."
Jean: "I don't think you're converting them."
me: "Yeah, I know."
Jean: "I think you should keep trying, though.  Tell them their organizational lives depend on it."
me: "I don't officially work for Ian or Max, which gives me less leverage..."

Not gonna lie, I was surprised by how light it was when I got up this morning.  Not gonna lie, I was surprised by how dark it was when I left work this evening.

Thursday

( gym )

Kathleen came in and said: Now tell me the truth, would you really prefer it to be 30 degrees and snowing?  (9:45am, weather.com said 66F.)
I asked: For today or forever?  Later in the conversation she said what about 3/4 one, 1/4 the other.  It's a difficult question, honestly.  I do really like a lot of spring (and autumn) weather, including a lot of what gets considered "perfect" by the average person -- and if it were that kind of weather all the time, I'd have to listen to a lot less complaining about the weather -- but I'm attached to this four seasons thing (though if summer wanted to mellow out and never go above 80, I would not complain).

The FA's went to wagamama for lunch for Kyle's last day.  Prof.B asked me to take minutes at the Unit strategy meeting, so since I am not a huge fan of wagamama, I agreed (though I did feel a little bad at blowing off Kyle).  Taking minutes is hard.  It's inefficient to write down everything everyone said, but it's not always intuitive at the time what stuff is relevant.  And not having the background that everyone else present does, there were a few times I probably should have asked for clarification so that my jottings made more sense for when I had to type them up later.

Friday

I did ~25 min in the weight room.

Last Singspiration of the (tenth!) season.  ( Read more... )

After we got home, my mom and I were talking about my apartment situation, and she talked about the first apartment she lived in with my dad after they got married, and somehow she told the story of wanting to put me (who was under a year old when they lived there) in a Moses basket in the tree outside the window... and shut the window.  I loved the contrast of this with the story I often talk about of her holding me closer when I was a puking child (to comfort me), rather than holding me away from her since I was gross.  She said parenthood is complicated :)

Saturday

I walked over to the library around noon, and it was warmed than I'd expected.  I chatted with Joanne for about a half an hour and then Terry and I went and got lunch down by the airport.  (Taso's -- much busier than when I went with my parents six weeks ago.)  When we left, the sky was greyer, and I just knew a storm was coming.  And indeed, there was a (brief) downpour not long after.

When I got back to Somerville, though, there was no evidence that it had rained, and it felt so humd (weather.com 4:45pm: 65F, 87% humidity, dewpoint 61F).  There is so much I need to do, and humid warmth just sucks any desire to do anything (especially any physical exertion) right out of me; this does not bode well for the summer.  (paper_crystals, I thought of you, since we are such polar opposites in this.)

Around 8 (maybe earlier) it was cooling off and breezy.  8:18pm I thought I heard thunder, and soon after I could hear from the sound of the cars driving that the ground was wet, and I could smell the rain (which I love).

I did laundry shortly after getting home, and while it was going I replaced the exterior shower curtain.  Undoing all the rings on the curtain that was already up was quite an effort.  I also found that they were dusty, which surprised me, so I took a wet paper towel to them.  I ended up accidentally bringing down the curtain rod, so I just took all the rings off and washed them.  Thankfully the rod went back up easily.

One thing OriginalRoomie appears to have taken with her which I wasn't expecting was the dish drainer.  (I was surprised she didn't take her toaster.)  I was tired, though, so after I did laundry, rather than walk/bus to Tags/Target/Sears, I did some work on GoodReads and ripped CDs.  I need to procure one tomorrow, though.

The house echoes so much more without all this other stuff in it, though in some ways it's less empty than I'd expected.

Sarah Green's sports column in Thursday's metro opened: "This is more like it.  Recriminations, second-guessing, anguish --- this is what October baseball in Boston is supposed to feel like." ("Things are back to normal in Hub," p. 23)

+

Friday morning gym, elliptical: interval program ( times )

+

I did FreeRice.com more thoughtfully on Friday and progressed much better than I did on Thursday.  (I am also starting to learn some new words just because the site times out and they reuse words sometimes.)  At Level 47 I mostly had no clue (ditto 46).  I did get amaurosis [46] = blindness, because I thought of amanuensis1, which reminded me of the term "amanuensis" from my Milton class.

I correctly guessed that sprat = small herring, so the "Jack Sprat could eat no fat . . ." nursery rhyme now particularly amuses me.

I also correctly guessed littleneck [40] = quahog, because thanks to Family Guy I knew what a "quahog" was (have never heard the term "littleneck").

Heh, "cacography" = "bad handwriting" (like "cacophony" + "calligraphy").

+

I finally actually started looking at Simmons' library science program.  I know Jessie hated it, but I get the impression that nobody really likes their Library Science program, everyone just suffers through it to get the degree.  And Amy loves the kidlit portion of her dual-degree program, so that's a thought as well.

I don't feel excited looking at any of the classes, so then I ask myself, "Well what would I want to have a library science degree in order to do?" and I don't have much of an answer for that question.

+

My mom asked if I was coming to Singspiration, and when I said yes, she said: "We'll slaughter the fatted shells&cheese" ♥

It having been six weeks since the last one, I had to re-adjust.  Hymnals under the pews, sitting for the songs, none of the hymns have been PC-ified.  I actually enjoyed most of the songs, though -- which I don't always. 

( hymn list )

I was showing off my autographed copy of Da Book (complete with sticky note on the spot in the Acknowledgments where my name is), and I showed Joe F., knowing he would be pleased.  He said, "Nothing you could do would surprise me -- the sky's the limit."  I pointed out that that was poor phrasing -- "even if I became a godless communist?"  He just laughed.

Oh, and in showing Mike F. (who was the first person I showed that night), I realized there are whole paragraphs I haven't read -- the Advance Praise bits :)

I gave Mike F. a back/shoulder massage, and he did like the human equivalent of a dog wagging its tail.  I gave Joe F. a shoulder massage, and he was mostly non-responsive, but at one point he did say it felt good, to which I responded, "That's the point."

I was talking with George K., and he was saying how I used to be really shy but I've come into my own.

My mom and I were chatting with Joe F. later, and he mentioned -- which he had told me in a letter about a year ago -- how he was willing to become a JP to perform a civil union between two women.  He said that if two people want to commit their lives to each other, regardless of their gender . . . he just doesn't want the word "marriage" used.  I said that I would be happy to let churches keep the word "marriage" and have the legal term for all couples be "civil unions."  I forgot about the "separate but equal" analogy until I was writing this up just now, and I still don't entirely know how to parse his position on this issue (we've really only discussed the "let the people vote" aspect, and I make assumptions because I know he's longtime close friends with PB -- "I didn't jump. I took a tiny step and there conclusions were."), but I keep mentally replaying that phrase "regardless of gender."  And I really love that the couple in question is the couple who left UCN.

+

Last minute, Allie invited me to have lunch with her on Saturday 'cause she was gonna be in town looking at apartments, so I ended up at the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival basically only long enough to say hi to Heather.

We had lunch at Arrow Street Crepes with Kath.  I got a sweet crepe with bananas and stuff (Metro).  Tasty.

Her next apartment viewing was right near Central Square T, so we walked there (and I recalled various times with Nicole) and then Kath and I walked around while Allie and her mom looked at the apartment.  I've mostly only walked along Mass Ave., so it was neat to walk around some residential areas and parks and stuff.  And despite not really sharing fandoms we talked fandom easily.

Afterward, we went to Million Year Picnic and stuff and then had dinner at wagamama -- where Allie's mom was generous enough to treat all of us.  I was unimpressed with the vegetarian options (though pleased to see that they sell Riesling by the glass -- which I didn't order but which I always check for).

+

In Friday's metro I read a review of The Veiled Monologues, so Saturday night I went to see it.

The women interviewed were Dutch Muslims -- and all four actresses are Dutch, and at least two have Turkish ties.  They're all fair-skinned (three dark-haired and one blonde), but they all have meat on their bones.  Dance and song/music happened throughout.

It was really interesting hearing some stories of very positive sexual/nudity experiences as well as incredibly negative ones (one woman described her experience of her vagina as like that kind of torture where you're tied to the ground and a goat licks the salt off your skin until it cracks).  And the positive and negative contrasts between Muslim men/culture and Dutch men/culture.  I was also impressed at the amount of queerness.  Some women were raped by family members or family friends, and no one talked about it or protected them; others had their first sex with family members and were glad to have that first experience be one of safety and love.  Some women talked about wanting to be raped because then they would be freed of this burden of virginity but their honor would still be safe.  I really liked that there were so many stories of opposite experiences, because it meant you couldn't easily leave with a monolithic idea of what Muslim culture means for women's sexuality.  Female "circumcision" even got discussed.

A Moroccan woman used the word "cunt" [pronounced "koont"] -- said vagina sounded French, the language of where she was born.

+

This morning, OriginalRoomie said that when she moves out I can have her room if I want.  I'd actually been thinking about this, and wondering whether it felt worth moving all my stuff.  She said "walk-in closet," and if her closet really is better than mine I think I'm sold.

This means she'd be showing what's currently my room, which is added incentive for me to make it actually look presentable (though she's not moving out for like six months).  I'm already starting to feel the pressure, though, 'cause I find myself looking for things and forgetting where I've stored them.  I swear I still have my bartending book plus my massage class books/notebooks, and I can't find them anywhere.  I tore through 14 boxes and then realized I'd forgotten about the 9 boxes under my bed.  I still didn't find them, which means I'm gonna have to dig through the boxes more carefully, since they can't have vanished.  Though I will probably just beg Palmer for another copy of the Massage 1 booklet.  I have learned not to trust people's enthusiasm for being practiced on (I didn't get credit for Massage 1 'cause I didn't have the 30 credit hours -- I probably could have begged some sort of extension, but by that time I'd gotten an office job and didn't think I'd have the time/energy to continue the program, so I didn't bother) but I think I could probably actually make it happen a few times given the responses I've been getting recently, and I'd like to be able to do it for real rather than just the bits I remember.

Having numerous people actually be enthusiastic about being practiced on, I've been wondering whether I'd want to take classes at Palmer again.  I'm really not sure I'm committed enough.  Plus the scheduling is bothersome.  ( information for my own reference )

I didn't get home from church until about 1pm today.  My mom came by around 3:30.  We headed over to the "Revival Time Gospel Concert" at Somerville Community Baptist (Community Gospel Choir, with Guest Choir Fellowship Church of God Jamaica Plain).

My mom told me about talking to Joe F. recently and how he commented on my responses to his columns saying, "It's like an autopsy."  That is the best description of my detail-oriented critical approach to texts that I have ever heard.  And recalling it will fill me with delight for at least a week I expect.

We got there and both wondered if Joe&Carol would be there as attendees.  I noticed he was actually listed in the program as MC and then my mom saw him sitting in a front row.  He came over and asked, "How'd you hear about this?"  Hi, Joe, you've mentioned this at the last one if not two Singspirations.

( Read more... )

We didn't stay for fellowship 'cause my mom was taking me to dinner and wanted to get home to work/sleep at something resembling a reasonable hour.  I asked if there was anywhere she particularly wanted to go and she suggested if there was somewhere I'd been wanting to try, so I suggested Sabur since I always think of it as too pricey/classy to try out myself/with friends.

I got the "Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Gnocchi with Walnut Oil Dressing, Roasted Peppers and Grana Parmesan" and she got the "Roasted Garlic Polenta, Wood Grilled Artichokes, Tomato & Olives."  I also got dessert: "Macedonian Wild Fig Sundae with Vanilla Gelato, Almond Frangipane & Pomegranate Caramel."  The food was definitely good, though not so good that I would be likely to go back and pay those prices myself.  Oh, and the interior is nice, more cozy than I had been expecting.

My Medieval Church paper is basically a string of quoted passages.  The question is mad lame.  The undergrad question is way better.  ::pouts::  (So while I feel abashed handing in this piece of junk, I look forward to discussing the undergrad question in class.)

Not gonna lie, I usually only care about JoeF's columns when I'm disagreeing (I tend to skim over the feel-good human interest stories) but today's made me happy.

We got to the fair right around start time (9am).  I had distressed Carol by undoing her alphabetization, so I helped redo it.  Was uneventful.  I took first lunch (11:30) with my mom and grandma.  We sat with the son (John) of one of the church ladies (whose name I don't know), who was fun.  Before lunch, Bev had sat down behind our table and I was rubbing her back, and a friend of Carol's (Joanna) was shopping, and she said, "If I go behind the table, do I get a backrub?"  We chatted about massage therapy and I saw her when we were waiting to get lunch and gave her a brief backrub.  "Much better than lunch," she said.  When we got back from lunch, my mom said that I could probably leave since it was fairly quiet.  I started saying goodbye to people, but John P. showed up and chatted with me for a while.  He's been working at McArthur all week and will be back on Monday, so mayhap he'll actually stop by and see me.  (We've been talking about this for I don't know how long since he's often working at the b-school.)  I also talked with Elsa for a while.  It was about 2pm when I left.  I went to say goodbye to John P., Mike F., and whassisname, and John hugged me (for like the umpteenth time that afternoon) and said something like, "This is one of the great things about this church; lots of hugs."

***

So, from a couple recent posts, I guess there has been sockpuppet wank?  I talk way too much about everything to be a sockpuppet.  However, this did prompt me to check my mutual friends list to see how many could honestly vouch for my meatspace existence, for curiosity's sake.  I'd say it's a solid majority.  Lots of them I know from college, some from high school, some I met at WriterCon '06, some I met at a valley_slash meetup or at Oxford (though I'm not really in touch with either of those two sets), and others I've visited at school/home or vice versa.  Plus of course my immediate family.  [Of 93 mutual LJ friends, 31 -- exactly one third -- I haven't met in meatspace.]

via marginalia: This says I'm a D-list blogger.  Whatever.

via fox1013: NPH and Jason Segel sing "Confrontation" (Javert and Valjean) from Les Mis [during The Megan Mullally Show where the whole HIMYM cast was a guest].  Made of awesome.  Note from repeated viewing: look at their nametags

***

My Secret Slasha assignment isn't what I had hoped for, but it's a challenge I don't mind.  Bit of a shame Secret Slasha doesn't do the Dear Writer letters.

***

It took me far too long to finish my letter to Joe F. in response to the columns I so disagreed with, but I had a nice reply from him in my mailbox today.  [I really like writing for being able to craft what I'm saying, but I miss the conveyance of tone that is in a lot of ways so much easier in meatspace.]  "None of your criticisms were things I haven't heard before, however, so be assured that you have plenty of company in disliking the columns; indeed, many in that category are personal friends of mine."  He quoted one of his early editors, something I had heard from him before but had forgotten: "If everybody likes you, you're not doing your job."  He also managed to pleasantly surprise me, though he also posited that "gay marriage is very much a matter of basic civics," which I agree with but take in a very different direction than he does.  Definitely drafting a response tonight.  He closed with, "Anyway, it was nice to hear from you.  I'm happy you care enough to read the papers and respond.  I wish more people did, especially young bright ones like you."  I miss discussion, argumentative or no :)

I've gotten used to opponents of MA Question 1 issue invoking the oppression of the little guy (i.e. the locally owned packies), but today's Metro had Malden Police Chief Kenneth Coye opposing Question 1 and he is quoted as saying (in part): "We are a small city, and there are plenty of places now where people can buy alcohol. What appears would happen (is) that we'd have very small outlets, mom-and-pop places, gas stations with mini-marts selling alcohol. It would be very difficult to monitor." My first thought was of the cognitive disconnect between the discourse I've gotten used to and the statement that it would be bad to have "mom-and-pop places" selling alcohol. My second thought was annoyance at the implication of incompetence (especially because I've been primed after the arguments about whether grocery store cashiers -- i.e., teens -- can be trusted to check IDs).

I also find it interesting [read: "surprising, and somewhat distressing"] when people's animosity toward alcohol comes out in their arguments in opposition to Question 1 (Joe Fitzgerald, for example). "Alcohol, despite being ruinous to lives, marriages, careers and reputations, remains the beneficiary of a great double standard." Er, it's alcohol abuse that's so ruinous. If you come from a history of alcohol abuse and you own that that colors your relationship with the issue, fine, but what's up with the demonization of alcohol, period, being presented as fact? I mean, we do recall that Prohibition didn't work, right? I tend toward legalizing, and thus regulating, everything -- and yes I realize that Question 1 comes under that grey area of regulation. I do appreciate Joe's candidness with: "Highway carnage? Please. There’s carnage now, and anyone who sells or dispenses alcohol, package stores included, is, by definition, associated with it. The little guys are just as complicit." However, the idea that a grocery store selling alcohol encourages people to drink I find insulting (this is my problem with a lot of protective legislation, that we have to save people from theirselves -- which, yes, comes into tension with my understanding that advertising is powerful and manipulative).