I Like Winning – ish November 22, 2008

I’m not going to lie – I’m a little competitive. I really like winning. I mean, I REALLY like winning. Winning rocks. Like when Dr. Phil asks, “Would you rather be right or would you rather be happy?” my answer is that being right IS what makes me happy. Sometimes, however, winning can be out of control.

This week at work, we had a Holiday Sing-Along event. We had the Glide Choir come and sing for the first half of the event and then the rest was teams of employees who re-wrote lyrics to popular Christmas songs to make them retail-themed. The event was held on Wednesday. On Monday, I got an e-mail from the assistant to the boss of our department basically telling me I was needed. Ok, fine. I’ll do it. I made her help me with re-writing the words of “The Christmas Song.” It wasn’t so much songwriting as it was a fifth grade language arts project.

The event was really fun. All the groups that performed did a great job. They were entertaining, creative and really quite funny. The bottom line is that I won. Best Overall Performance. The prize is $50 from our Foundation to donate to the charity of my choice which is great. I wish it would stop there. At some point, although I don’t know when, they’re going to podcast my performance on our internal web site. This is going to bring me back to when my mom used to wake me up on Sunday mornings with every TV in the house tuned in to my solo in the previous week’s church service. Have you ever been rudely awakened by yourself singing on TV? It is NOT ok. The other part of this is that I’m told that the video will be shown in the next Director’s and above meeting. However, I’m being told this by people who like to mess with me so I don’t totally believe it.

UPDATE: I donated to the Gemini Project in Kenya. They provide resources and education for grandmothers who are caring for young orphans in their villages.

Looks like the Directors & Above meeting thing was not a joke. That’s going to happen on 12/4. The worst thing though is that they are posting videos of ALL the performances on our internal website beginning on 12/1 and employees can vote for them and then one will be crowned Employee Favorite. Somewhat horrifying.

RevGals Mix-a-Lot Friday Five November 22, 2008

Songbird writes:

In a minor domestic crisis, my food processor, or more precisely the part you use for almost everything for which I use a food processor, picked the eve of the festive season of the year to give up the ghost. A crack in the lid expanded such that a batch of squash soup had to be liberated via that column shaped thing that sticks up on top.

Can you tell this is not my area of strength?

Next week, I’m hosting Thanksgiving. I need your help. Please answer the following kitchen-related questions:

1) Do you have a food processor? Can you recommend it? Which is to say, do you actually use it?

Unfortunately, I do not. It makes no sense, what with the amount of cooking I do, but I’ve just never gotten one. I am, however, taking donations.

2) And if so, do you use the fancy things on it? See above

3) Do you use a standing mixer? Or one of the hand-held varieties?

I have both. I use the standing mixer for baking and the hand-held mostly for mashed potatoes or things I’m mixing in a larger capacity bowl.

4) How about a blender? Do you have one? Use it much?

I do have a blender, but rarely use it.

5) Finally, what old-fashioned, non-electric kitchen tool do you enjoy using the most?

I use whisks all the time for everything.

Bonus: Is there a kitchen appliance or utensil you ONLY use at Thanksgiving or some other holiday? If so, what is it?

Funny you should ask. At my house we have “The Fork.” It was my grandmother’s and I believe it possess the whole of her culinary acumen, which was considerable. For a while, my mother thought I just needed a big fork, but she didn’t understand that it’s not just A fork, but THE fork. It’s huge and it’s got notches in the side. It’s my holiday cooking talisman, although I actually use it as well. It makes everything taste just that much better.

The Fashion Avenger November 8, 2008

When I don my cape (or capelet, as the case may be) I shall right all fashion wrongs. Pleated pants – no more! Flat-fronts for everyone! Low-rise jeans, be gone! No more shall we suffer under the tyranny of the skinny jean, for this is the denim that flatters them all! You may step on to MUNI a Fashion Catastrophe but you shall exit the train a vision in tasteful neutrals, pops of color, killer accessories and the world’s most fabulous shoes. For I am….THE FASHION AVENGER. (Capelet included)

Yes we did November 8, 2008

Why Single-Issue, Pro-Life Voters Tick Me Off November 3, 2008

I voted for Obama. That’s right. First of all, I live in California, so technically, my vote for President doesn’t count. It’s going Obama anyway. For some in the religious right, voting for Obama means that I wrap babies in American flags and set them ablaze in my spare time.

On Abortion

I am not of the opinion that abortion is our greatest problem but rather a symptom of many problems and that it cannot be dealt with solely through legislative means. I believe that it is the job of the church and the community to work to eliminate the surrounding causes, like poverty, absentee fathers, and lack of available heaithcare and other resources. I believe that what we need is a  very comprehensive plan to eliminate the need for abortions by supporting women and families, healthcare plans, tax credits for adoption, and laws against late-term abortions.

I am completely over hearing how there is only one way to deal with this issue. Does anyone else find it curious that the religious right is for small government in all other issues, but when it comes to abortion, that’s the only way to fix this – legislation? It makes absolutely no sense. Years of research have concluded that Roe v. Wade being overturned will not significantly affect the number of abortions being performed because very few states will make it completely illegal. Their response? We agree to disagree. AGREE TO DISAGREE? The willingness to completely disregard empirical information in the name of adhering “God’s truth” is frightening. Reason and faith are not mutually exclusive. Here’s what one Catholic study says:

Overturning Roe Vs. Wade Will Not End Abortion in America

• Overturning Roe Vs. Wade, a long time goal of the pro-life movement, would not end abortion in the United States, it would simply send the decision to the states.
• If states with more than 45% “pro-life” sentiment chose to outlaw abortion, this would only impact 16 states accounting for 10% of abortions nationwide, or less than 100,000 abortions a year.
• Women in these 16 states would still be able to travel to seek an abortion in another state, or seek an illegal abortion, making the impact likely less than a 10% reduction in abortions nation-wide.
• States with the highest abortion rates in the country, like California and New York, would be unlikely to outlaw abortion in their states.

Source: Catholics United Study “Reducing Abortion in America: Beyond Roe v. Wade”

On Whole-Life v. Pro-Life

Jim Wallis of Sojourners describes a more consistent ethic of life that resonates deeply with my view. It is “both broader and deeper, it is inclusive of abortion, but also of the many other assaults on human life and dignity. For the new generation, poverty, hunger, and disease are also life issues; creation care is a life issue; genocide, torture, the death penalty, and human rights are life issues; war is a life issue. What happens to poor children after they are born is also a life issue.”

This new generation of Christian voters is deeply searching scripture and when we go there, we find THOUSANDS of passages that tell us of God’s concern for the poor. Here’s just a handful:

Ezekial 16:49

This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.

Isaiah 58:10 – 11

if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.
The LORD will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.

Leviticus 19:10

You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God.

Luke 4:18 – 19 18

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

James 2:1-6
My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor.

(What was the sin of Sodom again? Oh, wait. That’s another post).

If scriptural evidence doesn’t suit you, here’s some research:

Studies Show that Economic Support for Women and Families Reduces Abortion

• In a recent study released by Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good finds that social and economic supports such as benefits for pregnant women and mothers and economic assistance to low-income families have contributed significantly to reducing the number of abortions in the United States over the past twenty years.
• Economic assistance to low income families is correlated with a 20% lower abortion rate. Across the entire United States, this translates into 200,000 fewer abortions.
• In the 1990s, states with more generous grants to women, infants and children under the age of five as provided by the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program had a 37% lower abortion rate.
• Higher male employment in the 1990s was associated with a 29% lower abortion rate.
• The abortion rate has declined most rapidly from 1990-1996 when there was an economic boom under President Clinton. While rates have continued to decrease, they have declined less rapidly in recent years when poverty rates have been climbing.

Source: Joseph Wright and Michael Bailey,  “Reducing Abortion in America : The Effect of Economic and Social Supports” (Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good) and The Guttmacher Institute “An Overview of Abortion in The United States”

My experience with the hard-core Pro-Lifers is that they are arrogant and refuse to learn. They will not admit that there is another way to look at the issue. They completely remove compassion from the equation and cloak their judgement of dissenters with God language to make themselves feel superior. I have a view, you have a view. Why don’t we see where we can find common ground and work together to get something done? Don’t think the government should be handing out all that money? Fine. You do it. The government wouldn’t have to do it if the church had done its job from the start, but it hasn’t. Regardless of your political affiliation, it’s time to work together and do something. Stop sitting on the sidelines and pointing fingers. Jesus called us to action for the sake of the kingdom and he taught us to value all life at all stages. Let go of your dogma and take a step toward life.

6 Uninteresting Things About Me November 3, 2008

Fellow MBCC staff member Leslie tagged me for this blog meme.

1. I am violently allergic to cats.

2. I prefer an aisle seat on an airplane.

3. Craft stores send me in to fits of stimulus-overload-induced seizures.

4. I place a lot of stock in movie reviews, especially those from Entertainment Weekly. I don’t have a lot of time or money to spend on movies and I’ve found that if they give a film a B or above, I generally like it.

5. One of my favorite snacks is Wheat Thins and green grapes.

6. Watching football gives me great joy.

I’m not so much a tagger, so just complete this as you will.

Meme Terms and Conditions
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules on your blog.
3. List six unspectacular things about you.
4. Tag six other bloggers by linking to them.

Welcome! November 2, 2008

This is the new blog. Sometimes a girl just needs a change. Please to enjoy.

Religulous November 2, 2008

Last night some folks from MBCC went and checked out Bill Maher’s film entitled “Religulous.” In it, Bill combines wit, sarcasm, film clips and interviews to support his two main theses:

1. Doubt is good.
2. All religion is detrimental to society. If society is to move forward then religion must be done away with.

I’m good with the first one, and less good (depending on how one defines “religion”) with the second one, but I found the film an overall interesting, bordering on positive experience.

Things I liked/found interesting:
1. Bill is open about calling himself agnostic and admitting he doesn’t know. Unfortunately, the so-called “Christians” he interviewed acted as though asking questions was the worst form of blasphemy. Some of them walked out on his interview and refused to speak to someone that would have the audacity to question their faith.

2. Bill seems to have a soft spot for Catholicism in general and Jesus in particular. He was often countering some of the responses and attitudes he saw with the words and actions of Jesus and he was dead on.

3. The scene with the trucker church. He spoke with a group of men who were passionate about their faith but who blinked a lot when asked the more difficult questions. However, and this probably has to do with editing, Bill was silenced when one man spoke of his personal experience of conversion to Christianity from being a Satanist priest. Try as you might, you cannot argue with personal experience. When Bill was leaving the truckers he thanked them for being “Christlike” and allowed them to pray for him. It was an island of vulnerability in a sea of derision.

Things that I didn’t love, but didn’t necessarily hate:
1. With a couple of exceptions, he only interviewed Christians who’d checked their brains at the door, which, in my experience is at least half of them (mostly the evangelical half). Particularly horrifying was “Jesus” from the Holy Land Experience Theme Park in Florida (that hot mess is a post unto itself). Bill came at “Jesus” with very valid questions and “Jesus” answered with standard Sunday School cliches that wouldn’t stand up to even the most gentle questioning from an eight-year-old. The few interviews he had with intelligent, reasonable Catholics were cut very short, I’m guessing because there wasn’t room in his argument for that. He stayed in the Bible belt and interviewed Southern, dyed-in-the-wool Christians who have probably never had to defend their faith because the culture is so churched, and he didn’t speak to any mainline or progressive Christians. It is his documentary, and as long as he’s not under the impression that it’s journalism, he’s allowed to only support one point of view. But I’m also allowed to not like it.

2. Bill is as intolerant of people who disagree with him as he believes the religious people to be of him. Got that? He was open with his distaste of Orthodox (particularly anti-Zionist) Jews and his negative views of Islam were thinly veiled if at all.

3. One thing he did, which I have a tendency to do, is that he used his intellect as a blunt instrument on those less intelligent. When he spoke with Catholic scholars he was gentler with his questioning than he was with the Bible-belt Christians.

4. Bill constantly interrupts people. He walked out on the one person who wouldn’t let him interrupt. Rude.

Like I said, it was a pretty good film. While I am on board with Bill’s doubt and questioning, I disagree with his method of finding people to support his thesis and then use that lop-sided “evidence” to make general proclamations about eliminating all religion from society. I think we need to eliminate stupidity, intolerance and recalcitrance, but those things don’t only exist in religious contexts. There’s a lot of hubris in anyone who says their way/interpretation is the only way and Bill is one of those people. Last I checked, the only person who had the corner on the way, truth and life is Jesus. There are a lot of us who are doing our best to follow Jesus and we would do well to admit that we do it imperfectly and could learn from those who have different views.

http://www.one.org