Saturday, November 21, 2009

coming out of the Twilght closet

Let me first go on record as being Twilight ambivalent. As a person who works in a children's library I am pleased to see so many girls reading. As a person who loves literary fiction I am appalled at Stephenie Meyers lack of writing talent. (Notice I am overlooking the fact that she has produced volumes of work and has enthralled millions, whereas I haven't even written a blog post for five people in nearly a year.) To Ms. Meyers credit, she did improve with each volume.

Oops, I'm out! Yes, I have read all four books, which takes a proficient reader all of a week at most. I could plead professional curiosity, but in truth I had to see what happened when Edward took a bite of Bella.

I have seen some facebook outrage lately, from both teams. No, not Team Edward and Team Jacob, but Team Righteous and Team Don't Judge Me. Humor me while I attempt to bridge the gap.

What non-Twilight readers don't realize is that this isn't a book about vampires. It is a book romance and restraint. It is a book about how it is possible for a man to care so much about the woman he loves that he will deny his most basic needs and his most powerful urges. That is why it appeals to at least three generations of women who have been socialized to believe that all men are dogs and that their own sexuality is cheap.

In defense of the believers out there who are offended that their sisters are getting so much joy out of these books and movies, popular culture is indeed a miry maze and to say that as Christ followers we don't need to be careful what we put in our heads would be naive at best. If your best tactic in the war to to stay completely away, then you are not missing much. There are other ways to teach our daughters that they are valuable and cherished.

This goes so much deeper than Twilight. It speaks to all the issues that divide us as the Body and there are so many of those. We all go around poking each other in the eye screaming, "Don't judge me!" and, "Don't judge me for judging you!" There is where an is enemy lurking. If we can be thrown off by all the trivial little pish posh in our lives we will miss what is really important.





Monday, March 30, 2009

if you want to laugh til you cry

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

because i think it is ok to post a picture of a cute guy kissing my daughter...












I love this picture and I haven't posted for awhile.

Here is a funny thing that happened yesterday: I was texting some friends to meet me for lunch and I accidentally invited the first person on my contact list to join us.

This is funny because he is a man and he used to be a pastor at our church.

His name rhymes with Will Sanderson.

I don't know why I thought this was so hilarious, but I cracked up all day long.
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Saturday, March 14, 2009

so here's what's new...

nothing and I'm pretty sure its gonna stay that way because I am finally on FaceBook. May I say it makes me feel like a real dork, but it seems like I can't stay away. I have already been in contact with a few people I haven't seen in years, so I'm pretty sure I'm gonnna like this. As long as no one I hated in high school finds me we're all ok. 

I hated most people in high school.





Monday, March 9, 2009

coming out of the closet

Most of you know that my youngest daughter is 16. I just cleaned out my hall closet and found a coat that was size 10. Little girl 10, not big girl 10. I got rid of gloves that would fit Max, scarves that were early 90s at best, and some strange incense. I put everything in a bag for Good Will, who I'm sure will be thrilled to get winter stuff just as the daffodils are blooming. They will also get some vacuum cleaner bags for a vacuum that I bought used more than 20 years ago. I know they love to see me coming.

Now I can put my vacuum, table leaf, four folding chairs, and six coats easily in the hall closet.

I also started a Lenten devotional today. A week ago Wednesday was the start of Lent, for those of you heathens that don't know that. The devotional is on prayer so I guess you could say I'm cleaning out my prayer closet, too. Ha ha, groan.

I also wrote a letter that I have been meaning to write for over a week. No closet references there.

My point, if I had one, is that I am a terrible procrastinator. I wouldn't be so bad but it seems like late is often really better than not at all. My closet is really clean and I did three days of a simple devotional and I might hear back from someone I thought I lost contact with. 

I inspire myself so much that I may go tackle something else... later.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

sometimes my job sucks

Anyone who knows me knows I love my job. I am grateful that after 20 plus years of being at home and with no college degree I was given a job with so much satisfaction. Everthing I get to do fits some little niche in my personality. I get to be around books and people who love books. I get to help people one on one and they think I am smart. I get to be creative and to make things, someting I never knew I was good at.

Very occasionally the job can be heartbreaking. People come in for all sorts of information. A young girl, giddy and giggly, takes home books on what to expect now that she is expecting. A grandmother, voice breaking, whispers to me that she needs information on what to do for a child who has been molested. 

The other day was the worst.

A woman who appeared to be in her thirties or fourties, spent a long time on-line, printing out information from Planned Parenthood. Everything prints out from the front desk, so she had to come up to collect her copies and pay for them. She did this a couple of times and each time I was the clerk to help her. Right before she left she came up to get one last document. 

It was an informed consent form to perform the procedure on a minor child.

I took her fifteen cents and prayed. 

I feel awful.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

i'm giving up my best friends

for Lent. I don't think I've ever sucessfully given up anything before. I remember once trying to give up sugar. You can imagine how that went.

This morning I was wandering around, opening the curtains, sipping coffee, just the usual morning thing, when it occurred to me that today was Ash Wednesday. I grew up protestant so I didn't know what Ash Wednesday was until after college. I was working in a clothing store and made the embarrrassing mistake of telling a woman that she had a smudge on her forehead. 

Anyway, about the time I realized that today was Ash Wednesday, I realized that I hadn't yet had my morning meeting with my best friends. That would be Matt, Meridith, and Al, or Robin, Diana, and Sam. I have watched morning "news" every morning for decades. I used to be a die hard GMA fan but after Charlie Gibson left I switched to the Today Show. Lately I have been watching which ever one is the least depressing. I will run across the room to change the channel whenever any talk of the economy comes on. If Dave Ramsey is on I am even faster. He is seeming a bit smug these days.

So I am giving it up for lent. I'm not sure how I will manage. How will I know what is up with the octuplet mother? What if they have an on air wedding and I miss it? There are probably going to be new color palates for spring and I'm not even going to know what they are! 

This morning I listened to Norah Jones and did a cross word puzzle. I'm planning on getting a little more spiritual with this, but that wasn't a bad start. Actually it was a much nicer way to start my day.

Let me know when Lent is over. I may be on a walk or have my nose in a book.