Yes, I could live there...

Friday Quiz Blogging Returns!

You Belong in Amsterdam

A little old fashioned, a little modern - you're the best of both worlds. And so is Amsterdam. Whether you want to be a squatter graffiti artist or a great novelist, Amsterdam has all that you want in Europe (in one small city).

What European City Do You Belong In?

h/t to Paul

Blog-a-blog, blog, blog...

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Philocrites put this meme up at his blog a bit over a week ago - and I haven't seen many takers (besides Joel at CUUMBAYA. What I noticed is that Joel didn't stick to the "rules" Philo set out - so I don't feel any particular need to, either.

I'm pretty eclectic in my blogging tastes. My main criterion is that the tone be civil - friendly is even better. I just don't frequent blogs that deteriorate into meanness (though I like sarcasm and employ it often - our kids say we are the Sarcastic Family). I want to read blogs by people I think I'd like to meet (or have met and like). A few of my favorites by those standards are not here, partly because a few have gone dormant and partly because I wanted to give some space to a new blogger. (Besides, you all read Yet Another Unitarian Universalist already, right? So, here are the ten blogs I'd take to a desert island with me (UUs first, then non-UUs):

Celestial Lands. Someday David will be a bestselling UU minister, and I'll be able to say I knew him back in seminary. Thoughtful, theological, and thorough are words I use to describe his blog. Read it - it will make you think and your brain will be happy!

Ms. Kitty's Saloon and Road Show. Sometimes serious, sometimes fun, Ms. Kitty's place is a bright spot in my day. She's one of my role models.

The Journey. Lizard Eater will take you with her on her journey - whether it's the ups and downs of being a part-time seminarian, the joys and tears of being a mom of four, or a wild and woolly ride through cancer world with Little Warrior.

Keep the Faith. I've come to expect thoughtful stuff from Rev. Matt Tittle - and he rarely lets the commenters get out of line. Another role model, as I figure out this ministry gig.

ministrare. Rev. Sean is tough and vulnerable and speaks truth from his heart.

The 3rddegree's Blog. A new blogger on the block, a friend, and all around good person with good thoughts to share. I'd take this to the desert island, if only to hang onto a little bit of back home...

Of Course I Could Be Wrong. The Mad Priest and the mostly merry motley crew dish about religion, culture, and which clergy gets to wear prettier dresses. It's community ministry, I think, and a lot of fun.

franiam. Cultural and theological commentary from a liberal Catholic feminist with a profane tongue (or keyboard, or something).

Byzigenous Buddhapalian. Another blogging acquaintance by way of the Mad Priest. Paul's blog reminds me to be outraged when I stop paying attention. His photos take me places I might never go - and the antics of his kids make me laugh.

Street Prophets. Liberal Christian liberals (and others, no creedal tests here!) have a daily coffee hour and talk politics, faith, and occasionally recipes. (I wonder if they inspired the "Covered Dishes from the Fellowship Hall" giftie-thingie on FB?) Pastor Dan, chief cat-herder for the site, is a bonafide small-town pastor. I've been in his church for the ordination of a classmate & friend. Friendly place with nice people, but watch out when AngryPastor appears...

Breaking (UU) News

Copied & Pasted from the UUA Commission on Appraisal's Facebook Discussion Board

*1-18-2009*

UUA Board Voted Unanimously to Place COA Proposed Changes to Article II on GA 2009 Agenda

During their January meeting, the UUA Board of Trustees voted *unanimously* to place the Commission on Appraisal's proposed changes to Article II on the GA 2009 agenda.

For the delegate vote in Salt Lake City, the Board approved all but one change as it was proposed by the Commission on Appraisal in December. The amended paragraph (as written and passed by the Board) is below.

To the thousands of UUs who participated in the Article II Review process -- from the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

UUA Commission on Appraisal
--------

In the final paragraph of C.2.2, the original sentence read:

"Grateful for the traditions that have strengthened our own, we strive
to avoid misuse of cultural and religious practices while seeking ways
of appreciation that are respectful and welcomed."

The amended sentence (as passed by the Board) reads:

"Grateful for the traditions that have strengthened our own, we seek to engage cultural and religious practices in ways that call us into
right relationship with all."

A sigh of relief,

...a commander in chief who certainly sounds like he has a steady course planned. I'm sure many bloggers will be commenting on the inauguration. I skipped the invocation, enjoyed the music and the poetry, thrilled to President Obama's clear call to action, and loved hearing the Rev. Joseph Lowery at the end. A FB friend posted this link, to another poem composed for the new president. Enjoy:

Poem for President Obama

Vampires and Orthodoxy

Things have been a bit rough here in EBS-land. Luckily, I have good friends nearby, and one of them asked me a good question the other day. One asked "So, what are you doing to take care of yourself?" After some thought, I decided that I need to get back to blogging more regularly. I've been pouring energy and creativity into my internship - and that's been the right thing to do, except it was all going into the internship. I didn't hold back any for me. That needs to change.



Here is a little fluff, with a serious edge. If you want well-developed theological thinking on the topic, I refer you to another wonderful blog.

I like vampire stories. It's my guilty pleasure. I know – they’re often not great literature. But, I love ‘em. Well, I did get bored with Anne Rice after a few books, and I can’t stand Laurell Hamilton’s Anita Blake, vampire hunter series.

But I got hooked by Stephenie Meyer’s series which starts with the book Twilight, featuring human teenager Bella Swan and vampire Edward Cullen and his family in a problematic (to say the least) romance. And I’ll see the movie at some point – even though the DH won’t go. I’ll probably go with one of my daughters, who will sit far away from me – too embarrassing to be seen with mom, you know?

Reading reviews of the movie got me thinking about orthodoxy. Bear with me – it’s not that much of a stretch.

One reviewer, James Berardinelli, admits he’s “old school,” but he doesn’t like that Meyer – and movie director Catherine Hardwicke – have changed the “vampire rule book” to suit the plot of Twilight.

Now, I like it when writers take “the rules” of a genre and bend them. That’s why they call it creative writing.

I’m willing to go with Meyer on the changes that make it possible for Edward and Bella to court during the daytime (though I do admit, the sparkling in the sunlight bit is kinda hokey). But I want to point out to Berardinelli and others that she’s not the first to update the vampire rule book. My personal collection includes a number of authors whose vampires don’t strictly follow the rules – authors like Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Tanya Huff, George R.R. Martin, C.E. Murphy, Charlaine Harris, and the late Octavia Butler.

I do like the twist with the wolves – not true werewolves, but a hereditary wolf-gene in the Quileute Indian tribe, which is activated when vampires are in the area. (A little online research reveals that there is a legend of the tribe being formed supernaturally from wolves, and that supernatural guardians and powers are part of their religion and rituals. I like that Meyer wove in actual legend rather than making up something completely alien to the actual culture.)

But, getting back to that rule book… I think saying that an author has to write her or his vampires in the same mold as Stoker is roughly equal to one saying there is only one way to read the Gospels.

Think about it. There are four (official) gospels – each written at a different time, with a different audience in mind; and each presents a different picture of Jesus.

For example, Mark’s Jesus is a rough-and-ready man of action while John’s Jesus spends a lot of time talking about love and community and telling everyone he is the son of God. Some Christians persist in seeing Jesus as a right-wing defender of “moral values” (ignoring that he had some unflattering things to say about families) while others see him as a radical liberator of the oppressed.

One of the books I read in seminary even argued that Jesus had a particular, perhaps homosexual, relationship with one of the disciples. Very unorthodox – and against the “rules,” if rules there be.

Some “rules” need to be bent now and then, I say. Because it’s in bending them that we see things differently, and looking at an old “truth” from a different angle can reveal something new and wonderful. Like Octavia Butler’s different take on vampires, which made it possible for her to write about serious questions of freedom, justice, and interdependence vs. free will. Or speculating on Jesus’ relationship with the beloved disciple. Or Michael Servetus arguing about the error of the trinity - and Hosea Ballou arguing that humanity is not bound for hell. I like a rule book that allows for new rules, when the old ones don't work.

The year in review

h/t to Paul. His method is to post the first sentence of the first post of each month. I'm posting the first sentence of the first AND last post of each month (and sometimes the title, if needed). If it was a quiz day, then I'm going with the nearest non-quiz day. Clear?

I'm pouring a lot of effort into my ministerial internship (which is wonderful), but that leaves less time and energy for blogging. I know others who managed to blog happily and prolifically through internships - but maybe they didn't have the hour+ commute that I have.

January:

"Welcome to Heaven ...so I'm having lunch with a friend a couple weeks ago and we're talking about our blogs, his job, our cats, Christmas songs, my theology paper, our families, my upcoming internship, how I've overbooked myself (again) and the holiday frenzy. As we get up to leave, he looks at the wall behind me, smiles, and says, "I like it."
###
I looked over the UU Blog Award nominations this morning.

February:

"I'm really tired of hearing about the Super Tuesday primaries. I know it's exciting for y'all who are in those states, but my state's primary is two weeks later."
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(A friend was taking photos of tattoos for an article he's writing. I said I wouldn't show him my skin, but I'd write about it...)

March:


h/t The Mad Priest

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"Jeremiah was RIGHT!" exclaimed the Rev. Dr. Herbert Lester, Jr. at Centenary United Methodist Church in Memphis on Easter Sunday, in response to the scripture reading of the day which was Jeremiah 31:1-10.

April:

We are not our own.
Earth forms us,
human leaves on nature's growing vine,
fruit of many generations,
seeds of life divine.

#317, "We Are Not Our Own,"
Words by Brian Wren,
Music by David Hurd
from Singing the Living Tradition
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Every now and then I think, "I should really have a blogroll off to the side, like other blogs do."

May:

It's a sign of the apocalypse, or something. My ultra-conservative congressman and I agree on something.
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For this post to make any sense, you must read the previous one, "Honor and Remembrance."

June:

We've had a busy weekend. Yesterday we attended a wedding, which made us think about being old enough to be parents of children who are old enough to be married (we are!).
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So... pre-GA I'm here at Ministry Days - a gathering of UU ministers and seminarians with a day for professional development/continuing education and a day for UU Ministers Association business.

July:

Chorus
“There are men who love women who love men
There are women who love women every now and then
There are men who love men because they can’t pretend
They are men who love women who love men”
--Steve Goodman, from the “High and Outside” album
###
Radovan Karadzic, last seen in public in 1996, has been arrested.

August:

I know - it's been awhile. I've been thinking, and reading, and caring for my mother who had eye surgery two days after my last post. She's doing as well as can be expected, but frustrated at the slow process of healing.
###
OK - before you think "Has Earthbound Spirit lost what was left of her mind???" - let me explain.

September:

Perfectionism strikes again ...or something like that. I figured I had to check, since everyone else is. (Yes, this was a quiz, of sorts. But this was the only post for September!)

October:

Why, yes, it has been awhile ...since my last post! But I've been busy:
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I've been posting some YouTube videos on the "Vote No on Prop 8" campaign, and today is "Write to Marry" blogswarm day.

November:

OK - this is a very quick post, because I've had things to do this morning and I'm off traveling in about 10 minutes! (video of "What a Wonderful World," post-election)
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h/t GraphJam

December:

Our eldest cat, our boon companion, was “summoned” this past Friday.
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Rest in Peace: Eartha Kitt

We laughed, we lost, we loved.

So it will probably be again in 2009.

I pray we all laugh and love more than we lose.

Blessings, friends.