that was fast

So apparently the equal marriage bill is ALREADY before the Maine senate, and those with fast internet can play along at home http://www.maine.gov/legis/audio/SenateV.html with the Senate live feed. I had this idea that we’d all be organizing and going down to Augusta again, but clearly, apparently not. Here’s hoping.

**

Update: it passed in the Senate, without amendment, 21-14. Wonderful!

 

GIGO and other flow things

Way back in the day, I took a lot of programming classes. I like programming–it’s concrete and creative with more than one right answer but clear right answers–when you get it right, you know it, because the thing does what you want it to do. GIGO is an old programming idea: garbage in, garbage out. If your input is no good, no amount of programming can fix that.

It’s not just for computers, though. It is absolutely true of my brain. Put garbage in, garbage comes out. If I want my writing to work, I have to expose myself to writing that works. Lots of poetry makes me poetic; lots of newspapers makes me journalistic. I strive for a good mix–some weeks are more successful than others. And of course, in the end, I still have to sit down and write. No amount of good input can make the words come out. This has been a week of blogs and more than my usual number of conversations. But it’s time to write now. Just. Sit Down. And Write.

 

incredible

Eve Ensler wrote The Vagina Monologues and in 1997 spearheaded the movement to use her one-woman show to end violence against women. Her TED talk about finding the connection between body and mind, and making change, is incredible.

 

yes.you.can.

If you believe something is possible, then it probably is; if you believe it isn’t then it probably won’t happen. The Galatea Effect could as easily be called the Brigadoon Effect (”If you love someone deeply enough, anything is possible–even miracles”), but what it boils down to is this: we are all capable of far more than we know. If it matters, if we want it, if we work for it, if we commit to it, we can encourage, cajole, drive, lift each other to incredible heights.

And in a small church, everyone who shows up is influential. And if you walk around defeated, so will they. As I said on Sunday, we have to work toward our own happiness–because when we put our backs and shoulders behind what matters to us, it changes our own world and everyone else’s, too.

I don’t know what film this is from, but it’s a fantastic scene–well worth the seven minutes to watch it:

give it your best. We CAN do it.

 

structure

Structure can be good. It can be comforting. It can be expanding. It can force us to refine our techniques, like a word limit or a poem form. But it can also become limiting, especially when we get so used to it we don’t even see it anymore.

Worship can be like that, either way. My question of the day: what new shapes might enliven worship? What new structures are possible? What media should be incorporated? What kinds of expression could inspire? Dance? Drama? What musical forms are missing? What else?

 

food. microlending. other miscellany.

First the food.

Way back in another lifetime in another universe, I was engaged. We had very little money and lots of student debt and were forever looking for ways to keep our costs down. This is one of those ways, passed from my then-fiance (we never did get married) to me and onward to you. It is, I will warn you, not particularly healthy. It is ramen-based. But it is a vast improvement over the undoctored ramen. Really. And even if you substitute a non-MSG-laced broth (ie, toss the “flavor packet” and boil the noodles in stock of your own devising) it’s still cheaper than almost anything that your stomach will believe is a full meal.

Presenting

Recession-proof Ramen

needed per person:
one packet of ramen noodles
one egg
substitute broth (optional)

Prepare the ramen as directed by the package. When it is very nearly cooked, take it off the heat, break the egg(s) into it, and whisk vigorously. Slurp out of the pot with the aid of a fork, or attempt to act civilised by pouring it off into a large bowl first.

Warning: it splatters.
High in fat (ramen noodles are fried before packaging) and protein (yay, eggs!). If you add vegetables it begins to resemble actual soup, but in Maine in the winter that can be an expensive proposition.
**

Now on to microlending. Usually a tactic for banks in the US to magnanimously apply in countries where the dollar is so strong as to make exchange almost laughable, I wonder what would happen if we did something like that here, with each other, because the banks won’t lend us money? With the circles for support for repayment and allathat. To get businesses started and things. Just thinking.

***

And while I’m thinking about the economy. I’m thinking we’re moving from an economy of stuff to an economy of brains. Which hurts my head, because shouldn’t stuff be worth something? But if there’s plenty of stuff (I contend that the problem is not lack of stuff but bad distribution of either stuff or people) then there’s nothing to drive an economy as such. But knowledge can be forever generated and consumed.

 

wise words

There’s nothing like being in bed all day to inspire completing the reading backlog. Only in this day and age, it’s also the social media, Facebook, LiveJournal, and YouTube backlog. Following up on the race discussion I linked into, here’s an excellent, straight-up three minute video:
from illdoctrine.

 

sick food

We all have foods we prefer when we are sick; most of us learned to want whatever our parents gave us as easily-digestible.

And with sore throats my family always serves hot lemonade. Most people think it sounds disgusting, and then they try it and are hooked. Super simple:

ingredients: honey, lemon juice (plenty of each), water

boil a kettle of water
take a tall glass and put in the bottom two fingers of honey and on top of that two fingers of lemon juice (the honey is denser so you can see what you’re doing; if you start with the lemon juice the honey mixes with it).
pour the boiling water on top.
stir.

note: if it tastes bland, add more honey. This is counterintuitive, but it works. It should be so strong that it almost hurts to drink it.

 

race: we have to start somewhere

I’m really sick right now and can’t do much of anything, but this is too much to set aside and then forget.

I think about race and racism a lot. It’s in my bones. It’s in my skin. It’s in my daily experience. Even, or maybe especially, here in Maine. But in the church context it can’t be about me, because if it’s about me then not only is any conversation happening for the wrong reasons (like quitting smoking because your best friend said so) but anything bad that happens becomes about me (continuing the smoking example, it’s like blaming your best friend for the fight you got into with your spouse because you were irritable from nicotine withdrawal), even if it’s not really about me. It makes starting the conversation hard. It’s why white allies are so vital to the process, especially in churches, especially when the blatant racism is muted and what’s mostly left is subtle, systemic, invisible-to-most-people racism.

And common wisdom is that even this kind of speaking up is a risk, that I shouldn’t say anything precisely because it should be about the community, started by the community, supported by the community.

Okay, but I have a resource. So I’m not organizing any conversations at church. You can do that if you want, and it is my personal belief that the church is an excellent place to make these conversations happen for us and for the whole community. I am suggesting you read this elegant, gentle, true, informative, and accessible piece by Mary Anne Mohanraj–a writer I know a little and respect a lot–because, people? We all have to start somewhere.

 

when worlds collide…

I have a great many friends who are math and science geeks. They include a chemistry/physics teacher, a biology teacher, and a couple of advanced geometers (people who work with geometry). My brother just finished his PhD in artificial intelligence, my father is a chemical engineer, my mother’s degree is in applied math, and I have a friend working on a doctorate in bioengineering and nanotechnology, with some connection to microfluidics. Her husband is an actuary. Then there are the friends who work in software security.

I’m so glad I spent time in computer tech before I headed into ministry.

Anyway, recently knitters and crocheters have been working on ways to use their crafts to make 3D representations of advanced mathematical stuff. There’s a klein bottle hat, for example, and a number of other things that I understand much less.

All that was important to explain this fabulous and fun cartoon. Props to Stitch Witch for the link.