I'm in Minneapolis for Thanksgiving. I've been the guest of my good seminary friend Letha and her husband Scott. Joining us for the weekend are Samuel Sudhe and Nicholas Sichangi: Virginia Theological Seminary students who are Anglican priests in Kenya. It's been amazing to share food traditions, family stories, and the vast differences in how theological students are trained in Kenya compared to how we are trained here.
So, what does this have to do with eating flies? Well, there's a wonderfu ad campaign being waged in the Twin Cities. My guess is that it's encouraging freedom of thought and self-confidence. Each poster is a photo of a famous entity and something short and pithy about his/her life.
My favourite poster, seen on a bus stop shelter in St. Paul, Minnesota:
Eats flies. Dates a pig. Is a movie star. Live your Dreams - accompanied by a picture of Kermit the Frog.
24 November 2006
18 November 2006
Diocesan Apartment - Friday Night 11-17
Diocesan Council goal-setting happened tonight and continues tomorrow. I made me reservation early for one of the beds in the diocesan apartment - it's my home away from home here in Marquette. I'd heard that Joyce and Linda, two ECW women would be staying here, as well. I'd sort of hoped some other option might come up (say, Ginny would come to goal-setting and we could go to her house), but no.
I came upstairs a bit after goal setting, feeling tired from a day of meetings (some of them quite intense) and discovered four women, spread out over the conference table. They were surrounded by bags, fabric, projects, stash. And sewing machines.
"Do you sew?" one of them asked me.
"Uh. No. But I knit," I replied.
"And you've got it with you, I saw you knitting in the meeting, pull up a chair." This wasn't really what Lucia would call a polite request. Soon, I had a chair, my knitting, and a glass of red wine in my hand, while these women worked on beautiful fabric creations that made me want to sew.
We talked of life in the UP, my ordination, husbands, partners, church, fabric techniques, and church politics. Oh, and football. It was sacramental. When I think of how close I came to simply smiling and going into my room and shutting the door, I shudder. Miracles hide in all sorts of disguises.
I came upstairs a bit after goal setting, feeling tired from a day of meetings (some of them quite intense) and discovered four women, spread out over the conference table. They were surrounded by bags, fabric, projects, stash. And sewing machines.
"Do you sew?" one of them asked me.
"Uh. No. But I knit," I replied.
"And you've got it with you, I saw you knitting in the meeting, pull up a chair." This wasn't really what Lucia would call a polite request. Soon, I had a chair, my knitting, and a glass of red wine in my hand, while these women worked on beautiful fabric creations that made me want to sew.
We talked of life in the UP, my ordination, husbands, partners, church, fabric techniques, and church politics. Oh, and football. It was sacramental. When I think of how close I came to simply smiling and going into my room and shutting the door, I shudder. Miracles hide in all sorts of disguises.
13 November 2006
Doctor's Appointment
When I had my car accident, the insurance folks said I should go see my doctor. Well, I don't have a doctor in the UP. So, I decided maybe I should do something about that, and today, I went to see Dr. Maki.
Dr. Maki is about my age, wears his hair in a very long ponytail, and is a semi-lapsed Episcopalian. He is very interested in progressive Christianity. And thinks its cool that I'm gay. I've died and gone to heaven.
We talked about how we can work in partnership with people in need. We talked about the general good direction of recent elections. We talked about church and politics and local issues. He told me that there is a gay community in Ontonagon, it's just a little hard to find. And then, he went over my health history, did a basic physical exam, and put forth a low-key and non-invasive plan to address a couple of health issues that have been hanging around for a while - nothing serious or scary, but nice to have a plan. And, he immediatelly understood my desire to be as low-key, non-invasive, and unobtrusive as possible, and agreed. He won extra points by not telling me I was too fat (I must lose some weight, but it was nice not to have him say it) or making bad food choices (I know when I'm doing it, and hate naggy docs).
Total time=2 hours. AMAZING. The only bad news is that he's leaving the practice. But, he's hoping to stay in the Western Region of the UP. How cool is that? I like this guy. I like this place. This falls into the "only in the UP" category.
Dr. Maki is about my age, wears his hair in a very long ponytail, and is a semi-lapsed Episcopalian. He is very interested in progressive Christianity. And thinks its cool that I'm gay. I've died and gone to heaven.
We talked about how we can work in partnership with people in need. We talked about the general good direction of recent elections. We talked about church and politics and local issues. He told me that there is a gay community in Ontonagon, it's just a little hard to find. And then, he went over my health history, did a basic physical exam, and put forth a low-key and non-invasive plan to address a couple of health issues that have been hanging around for a while - nothing serious or scary, but nice to have a plan. And, he immediatelly understood my desire to be as low-key, non-invasive, and unobtrusive as possible, and agreed. He won extra points by not telling me I was too fat (I must lose some weight, but it was nice not to have him say it) or making bad food choices (I know when I'm doing it, and hate naggy docs).
Total time=2 hours. AMAZING. The only bad news is that he's leaving the practice. But, he's hoping to stay in the Western Region of the UP. How cool is that? I like this guy. I like this place. This falls into the "only in the UP" category.
10 November 2006
Things seen and heard on the road
I traveled a number of miles in the last 48 hours, and saw and heard some things that caught my attention in lovely and horrifying ways.
Wednesday night, driving home from Gladstone with my colleague Kevin, a big white owl flew into the path of his car. It was raining sporadically, and quite foggy. I'd joked about being on deer watch, as the deer have really started moving. Suddenly, from nowhere, it seemed, a huge white owl appeared in front of the windshield. It was flying across the road, and was moving so quickly that we didn't hit it, thank goodness. I was so busy thinking deer that owl was outside of my cognitive zone. "What the hell was that?" I asked, even as my brain was slowly coming to owl. Kevin said that in his six years of driving around the UP, he'd never seen an owl like that.
Thursday morning, driving towards Ironwood on M-28, I saw a bald eagle eating a dead deer by the side of the road. It was HUGE. This is my fourth eagle sighting since I've arrived, and by far the closest I've ever been to one. I pulled onto the shoulder, and got a good look before it flew up and over my car. As I drove away, it was circling back to continue its feast.
Finally, Thursday night, I ran to the IGA to get milk, and was scanning for something on the radio. I came to some interesting-sounding choral music. It turned out to be a scary-fundamentalist radio station. I'll confess that I don't usually have much patience for that sort of thing, but before I could hit scan, the voice said, "Tonight, we begin a new bible study on the book of Leviticus." The announcer told us that Dr. So-and-So, the famous biblical scholar will lead us through this "amazing book of the bible. He will tell us," the announcer exclaimed, "why he believes that Leviticus is the most important book in our whole bible."
What? Leviticus? The most important book in our whole bible? Oh please. Well, I was hooked, I have to say. Purity codes? Condemnation against gay and lesbian people? What would this man tell me was the reason for giving Leviticus such vaunted status?
I actually had an anti-NPR moment. Rather than sitting in my car because an NPR story had so captured me, I was sitting in the parking lot in the IGA in horror, listening to this scholar tell the folks out there in radioland that Leviticus was "written by Moses." And that it was important because it was highlighting all those things that Jesus said in the Gospels.
It's no wonder to me that people are so biblically clueless. There are folks out there listening to this crap that sounds so smart and academic (though I have to say that this man sounded like he was about 80, a cattle-rancher, and a chain smoker, he had the raspiest voice I've ever heard). The believe that if someone who has Doctor appended to his name, what is being said must be true.
I was horrified. Clearly. And still am.
Wednesday night, driving home from Gladstone with my colleague Kevin, a big white owl flew into the path of his car. It was raining sporadically, and quite foggy. I'd joked about being on deer watch, as the deer have really started moving. Suddenly, from nowhere, it seemed, a huge white owl appeared in front of the windshield. It was flying across the road, and was moving so quickly that we didn't hit it, thank goodness. I was so busy thinking deer that owl was outside of my cognitive zone. "What the hell was that?" I asked, even as my brain was slowly coming to owl. Kevin said that in his six years of driving around the UP, he'd never seen an owl like that.
Thursday morning, driving towards Ironwood on M-28, I saw a bald eagle eating a dead deer by the side of the road. It was HUGE. This is my fourth eagle sighting since I've arrived, and by far the closest I've ever been to one. I pulled onto the shoulder, and got a good look before it flew up and over my car. As I drove away, it was circling back to continue its feast.
Finally, Thursday night, I ran to the IGA to get milk, and was scanning for something on the radio. I came to some interesting-sounding choral music. It turned out to be a scary-fundamentalist radio station. I'll confess that I don't usually have much patience for that sort of thing, but before I could hit scan, the voice said, "Tonight, we begin a new bible study on the book of Leviticus." The announcer told us that Dr. So-and-So, the famous biblical scholar will lead us through this "amazing book of the bible. He will tell us," the announcer exclaimed, "why he believes that Leviticus is the most important book in our whole bible."
What? Leviticus? The most important book in our whole bible? Oh please. Well, I was hooked, I have to say. Purity codes? Condemnation against gay and lesbian people? What would this man tell me was the reason for giving Leviticus such vaunted status?
I actually had an anti-NPR moment. Rather than sitting in my car because an NPR story had so captured me, I was sitting in the parking lot in the IGA in horror, listening to this scholar tell the folks out there in radioland that Leviticus was "written by Moses." And that it was important because it was highlighting all those things that Jesus said in the Gospels.
It's no wonder to me that people are so biblically clueless. There are folks out there listening to this crap that sounds so smart and academic (though I have to say that this man sounded like he was about 80, a cattle-rancher, and a chain smoker, he had the raspiest voice I've ever heard). The believe that if someone who has Doctor appended to his name, what is being said must be true.
I was horrified. Clearly. And still am.
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