Mind Blown Wide Open

Surfacing from an intense 3 weeks of classes (3 weeks, already!). I have to say that my mind is feeling a little sore from the stretching & straining to stuff new concepts into it.

O.K. - so this is probably not news to anyone else. But, in one of my classes there is a lot of discussion about social constructionism. It's blowing my mind open because, on some level I knew this stuff already. I knew that modern love/romance/marriage(any or all of the above) are social constructs. That is, we haven't always done love & marriage they way we (in the west) do it now. People in other parts of the world still don't - arranged marriages are still common in some places, and not every culture has the value that just because one is legally married one is limited to one sexual partner. What I'm being challenged by is the notion of sexuality/sexual preference also being a social construct, rather than an essential aspect of a person (see "essentialism"). If we've basically constructed the concepts of heterosexual and homosexual - how does that affect the UUA's much-vaunted Standing on the Side of Love campaign - or does it? And, one little problem I'm having with this is the cultural relativism issue. Is this an issue with social constructionism? CTS's mission to "question, teach, transform" is definitely working - I have a lot of questions!

Otherwise - My fourth class starts next Wednesday. My birthday is this weekend - but so is R's high school Homecoming Weekend & my home church's Building Dedication Service (which, in a moment of insanity some months ago, I agreed to coordinate). So far, I've learned more than I ever thought it was possible to know about the Gospel of Mark, and will be diving into the Gospel of Matthew.... now. If I can just keep swimming through this sea of books.

FYI...

You know how in my profile it says "seminarian?" Classes started again & the work load is huge. I should be reading the gospel of Mark (at least 5 times, the professor says), writing my paragraph about Marti Nissinen's Homoeroticism in the Biblical World, reading 2 chapters of Willimon's Pastor, reading 2 chapters of Dittes' Re-Calling Ministry, finishing a short paper on theology and ministry, writing a summary analysis of the gospel of Mark (after reading it at least 5 tmes), reading Ackerman's When Heroes Love, and - oh, yeah, rehearsing for the service I'm presenting on Sunday. I also just agreed to do a service in October - sermon completely unwritten, just a vague idea at this moment.

This is a mere one week in. The best part - my fourth class starts in two weeks.

Shoot me now...

Carnival

Somehow, my post about getting through hard nights made it to the carnival... You can link to the others here.

Enjoy!

"Bad Attitude" is Just Right

(Image from the Uppity Blues Women website)

Some friends and I went to see Saffire, The Uppity Blues Women last night. Oh, oh, oh, they rocked the place! Three women, playing down-and-dirty blues - "kickin' ass & takin' names." They did everything from a dead-on rendition of "Crazy" - better than Patsy Cline - to introducing a 'new' animal in the blues menagerie, the "Silver Beaver." Men are both foils for humor "Have My Husband (But Leave My Man Alone)" - and praised for being terrific partners "He Makes It Real Hard For Me To Play the Blues." The women play traditional tunes, but don't consider them too sacred to respond to, as in "Ain't Gonna Hush" - a response to "Honey, Hush."

I was a little worried about one of our party's reaction, but he did just fine...

My bff bought 2 of their CDs - I've put them on my perpetual wish list (there's a birthday coming up). Go check out the website, listen to a sample of their music, and support fresh, raucous, and original contemporary blues.