Sunday, January 28, 2007
Samut-Sari/Mix-mix/Halo-Halo to start off 2007
for no one in particular
1. So a school district in Washington state banned the showing of Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth as one parent filed a complaint on the grounds that the film "blames the US for global warming." Then he continued to say that global warming is just a sign that Jesus is coming soon. For this, 28,000 science students will be denied the opportunity to view the film.
2. An email with the subject "be careful, be very careful," is about Barak Obama's background as a Muslim who attended two years of Muslim school; his father, a Muslim, left his atheist white mother; his conversion to Christianity a politically expedient move; and not to mention his middle name is Hussein. And people are passing this around -- a veiled racist warning -- and then reconneitering to say that politics is a dirty game...and anyhow, the same things were brought up when Obama ran for the Senate and he still won. This is what Eduardo Bonilla says in Racism Without Racists: white people become rhetorically incoherent when they try to hide their racism.
3. In the meantime, I just finished reading Barbara Tedlock's The Woman in the Shaman's Body, and now in the midst of reading Greg Sarris' The Dream Weaver - a biography of Mabel McKay, the famous Pomo medicine woman and basketweaver. The dialogue in our house centers on the question of how shamanism translates into modern contexts...and whether or not we are part of a quiet, growing movement of peoples who are making their way back to a most ancient spirituality...way before there were religions. We discuss whether the movement to get Shamanism recognized as a world religion is a move in the right direction.
4. I glance at the Stanford Magazine's cover -- the first female Episcopal bishop who is a Stanford-trained oceanographer -- and I think about a slip-of-the-tongue I made the other day while we were attending the fiesta of the Santo Nino: Maybe I should become a Methodist minister after I retire from teaching. I laughed afterwards because, come to think of it, I wouldn't know how to reconcile my distrust of theology with my affinity for the vocational calling to serve. At least not yet. But I liked the Filipino priest's sermon that day -- he did a little bit of Thomas Berry's cosmology-based spirituality, a few meditative minutes, he valorized Filipino indigenous values...I liked it very much until he said: and we (human beings) are the Center of the Universe...and then he lost me.
5. I have been remiss in keeping up with my blogger friends, but when I visit them I know they are still there...they are still a presence in my life. I am awed by their loyalty to this medium, the connections (old and new) that are maintained or made, the creative projects they are involved in. I miss the days when I had time to blog and could be a more active part of ongoing conversations. Sometimes I wonder if I have simply ran out of things to say.
6. I told J the other day that I have not been writing and sharing my thoughts with anyone lately. Maybe it's a gestation period...last night I dreamt that the curriculum conference (that I'm currently planning) was a huge success but there was a baby who wouldn't leave me alone. The baby clung to me and insisted that she won't have anyone else hold her. I was a bit embarrassed by the situation but I saddled her on my hips and carried her through the crowd.
7. I need to learn how to be a more complete Dreamer.
8. and now trying this new google thingie. this is the first time i've held a snake and kissed it...
for no one in particular
1. So a school district in Washington state banned the showing of Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth as one parent filed a complaint on the grounds that the film "blames the US for global warming." Then he continued to say that global warming is just a sign that Jesus is coming soon. For this, 28,000 science students will be denied the opportunity to view the film.
2. An email with the subject "be careful, be very careful," is about Barak Obama's background as a Muslim who attended two years of Muslim school; his father, a Muslim, left his atheist white mother; his conversion to Christianity a politically expedient move; and not to mention his middle name is Hussein. And people are passing this around -- a veiled racist warning -- and then reconneitering to say that politics is a dirty game...and anyhow, the same things were brought up when Obama ran for the Senate and he still won. This is what Eduardo Bonilla says in Racism Without Racists: white people become rhetorically incoherent when they try to hide their racism.
3. In the meantime, I just finished reading Barbara Tedlock's The Woman in the Shaman's Body, and now in the midst of reading Greg Sarris' The Dream Weaver - a biography of Mabel McKay, the famous Pomo medicine woman and basketweaver. The dialogue in our house centers on the question of how shamanism translates into modern contexts...and whether or not we are part of a quiet, growing movement of peoples who are making their way back to a most ancient spirituality...way before there were religions. We discuss whether the movement to get Shamanism recognized as a world religion is a move in the right direction.
4. I glance at the Stanford Magazine's cover -- the first female Episcopal bishop who is a Stanford-trained oceanographer -- and I think about a slip-of-the-tongue I made the other day while we were attending the fiesta of the Santo Nino: Maybe I should become a Methodist minister after I retire from teaching. I laughed afterwards because, come to think of it, I wouldn't know how to reconcile my distrust of theology with my affinity for the vocational calling to serve. At least not yet. But I liked the Filipino priest's sermon that day -- he did a little bit of Thomas Berry's cosmology-based spirituality, a few meditative minutes, he valorized Filipino indigenous values...I liked it very much until he said: and we (human beings) are the Center of the Universe...and then he lost me.
5. I have been remiss in keeping up with my blogger friends, but when I visit them I know they are still there...they are still a presence in my life. I am awed by their loyalty to this medium, the connections (old and new) that are maintained or made, the creative projects they are involved in. I miss the days when I had time to blog and could be a more active part of ongoing conversations. Sometimes I wonder if I have simply ran out of things to say.
6. I told J the other day that I have not been writing and sharing my thoughts with anyone lately. Maybe it's a gestation period...last night I dreamt that the curriculum conference (that I'm currently planning) was a huge success but there was a baby who wouldn't leave me alone. The baby clung to me and insisted that she won't have anyone else hold her. I was a bit embarrassed by the situation but I saddled her on my hips and carried her through the crowd.
7. I need to learn how to be a more complete Dreamer.
8. and now trying this new google thingie. this is the first time i've held a snake and kissed it...
Monday, January 22, 2007
My friend, Byron LaGoy, has decided to come out of the poetcloset. Please check it out.
