This Is Serious

2004-12-24T13:46:00.000-05:00

Henry on 95

Coming out for a troubling reason

2004-09-14T10:16:00.000-04:00

Link

A New Year's Resolution List

2004-08-30T03:12:00.000-04:00

Link

Closet Christians

2004-08-27T10:17:00.000-04:00

I circulate in a strictly Blue State circle. I'm culturally pretty Blue State myself, except for the fact that I profess Christianity and attend church regularly. I have a number of progressive (new word for liberal) friends who alienate me with their anti-Christian ideology-- and are part of the reason I feel myself ideologically at sea. Islam, Tibetan Buddhism, and whatever other religion, seem to get a free pass from criticism, but Christians suffer smackdown after smackdown. These are people who pride themselves on sensitivity to cultural difference-- just try to blame Islam for the current terrorism crisis (of course I don't, either).

A priest once asked in a sermon, "If Christianity were a crime, would the government have enough evidence to convict you?" I know that it's my responsibility, but I tend to keep the fact that I am a practicing Christian to myself, while every allusion to my homosexuality wins me progressive props. Even when I mention something Christian-related, I find myself saying, "Don't worry, I'm Episcopalian. We have an openly gay bishop, and the Archbishop of Canterbury likes 'The Simpsons,' and wants to be on the show."

One problem is that many progressives are ignorant of the diversity (a word they like) of both theology and social beliefs among Christians. Even leaders like the Pope, with whom I have major problems regarding sexuality and Church over lay power, share chunks of the leftist agenda, including critique of developed nations' responsibility for developing nations' poverty, war (including Iraq), and the death penalty. In addition, this Pope has named a huge number of developing nation cardinals to jobs in the Vatican, not to mention naming the first indigenous saint in Latin America.

And don't even get me started on the latent class snobbery that makes fundamentalists fair game for mockery. I believe that for the most part, people should treat the beliefs of even fundamentalist and evangelical Christians with respect and as part of the beautiful mosaic that is this country (strike up "This Land Is your Land").

Criticism of Christians, I believe, is appropriate when Christians try to implement their beliefs and values in the public sphere-- the schools, abortion, homosexuality, prayer in publicly funded institutions, those silly granite Ten Commandments in Alabama. I think that Christian political candidates and public officials, however, can speak out about their faith and values, so long as they are careful to sincerely celebrate religious pluralism. Surely progressives would jump up and down with glee at a Christian religious leader who denounced the war, called for social policy to reduce the gap between rich and poor, and advocated gay marriage? What would the intelligensia-- left and right do? And the electorate? Maybe rethink what is a perception bound to make the Democrats the perpetual minority party-- that it is unfriendly to out Christians.

Plenty of us are quite liberal. There is a great amount of theological diversity and debate in the Church-- even at least one bishop who questions the Virgin birth and the Resurrection. Many Episcopalians and other Christian sects are opposed to the Iraq war, pro-government social services spending, pro-gay, pro-choice, etc., etc., although there is debate in almost every denomination. But progressives are supposed to be in favor of vigorous debate of ideas, right?

A great blog that is quite eloquent on this subject is GetReligion, which doesn't seem to come from a particular religious perspective. Read the post that got me fired up here and here.

Visit the Center for Progessive Christianity site for even more enlightenment.

Political debate: lalalalalalalalala!

2004-08-26T16:38:00.000-04:00

Wonkette hits the nail on the head with her entry on the "I can't hear you! I can't hear you! Lalalalalalala!" trend in political debate and Al Franken's Great American Shoutout. I thought liberals had contempt for George Bush because he was stupid. So much for brand differentiation.

All I can bear to do with articles about political tactics and polls and forecasts is maybe skim headlines and leads. I follow very few political blogs and no heavily ideological ones. Wonkette's even-handed gossip is an exception. And there aren't too many biographical or issue-oriented stories or blogs out there to keep me entertained.

Let's have the election tomorrow.

Gotta keep moving

2004-08-20T11:52:00.000-04:00

Encouragement from blogger Josie Ann (who posted the first comment on This Is Serious) just when I needed it.

More blogs on blogging/the birth of a hot blog idea

2004-08-20T10:57:00.000-04:00

This special report on blogging from the Guardian Unlimited may be old news to many, but I wanted to highlight it for myself to study.

Just sent an eager email to blogcritics.org to offer to be a contributor to their eclectic and very smart site. I would love an audience and more brain exercise. Our fledling readers' circle on every other Sunday at Last Drop Coffeehouse has stirred my inquiring mind.

I'm inclined to use This Is Serious as my private doodle pad, and if someone finds me (likely through following a link I created from their site), I'd be happy to chat.

I am very excited about a brainstorm I had about doing a blog about educational fund raising called Advancing the Vision (see the prototype). The idea came to me fully formed during one of my frequent and intermitable bouts with insomnia this week. I thought-- This Is Serious is a blog in search of a direction, while Advancing will have a focus and fill a niche-- a good business model for a blog, although no money will exchanges hands. I am now recruiting big names in the field to be editors that will give the blog gravitas, great content, and attract readers. And I would like to get to know and learn from these fundraising superstars for my own purposes. I'll be a real blogger, and only a month after putting my toe in the water for the first time.

Another bonus of creating the Advancing blog: energizing myself and finding purpose.

Please come to our offline salon at Last Drop Coffeehouse (13th and Pine in Philadelphia, every other Sunday, 6:00 p.m., next meeting Sunday, August 21. No required reading.) Email me at harlan11268 at yahoo dot com for info.

Thoughtful reflections on blogging by Keith Robinson

2004-08-16T18:20:00.000-04:00

Nasty political pundits and the nasty things they say

2004-08-16T13:23:00.000-04:00

Jeremy Chrysler of blogcritics.com, highlights a National Review article by Victor Hanson that raises a question that I have been concerned about for the last couple of years-- the level of political rhetoric and debate (forget about political discussion--that's long gone)has become so personal and vicious-- it's all "the (liberals/conservatives) are lying stupid liars" and Crossfire thrust and parry. David Brooks has written about this in the New York Times, and there is a hilarious piece by P.J. O’Rourke, a conservative, about conservative talk radio in the July/August issue of the Atlantic. Ironically, Hanson writes for the National Review, a magazine that has mixed smart, high-minded writing with this mean personal stuff for years. Why does the liberal elite (of which I suppose I am one, and certainly I am surrounded by them) express such hate for Bush himself, rather than critique his polical ideology, policies, and record, with the possible exception of the occupation of Iraq, although many attribute that to his stupidity, not a new and risky doctrine of preemptive war.

Victor Hanson has a point (!):

[T]he Left hates George W. Bush for who he is rather than what he does. Southern conservatism, evangelical Christianity, a black-and-white worldview, and a wealthy man's disdain for elite culture — none by itself earns hatred, of course, but each is a force multiplier of the other and so helps explain the evolution of disagreement into pathological venom.

As if to prove Hansen's point, dozens of people posted angry comments in response to Jeremy's essay. But I would add to Hansen's litany enormous anger and bitterness about the Right's peronal attacks on Bill and Hillary Clinton. Indeed, it may be true that "they started it," but we have good tactical reasons, as well as a civic duty, to elevate our discourse, whether on not conservatives continue to act like cruel teenagers.

I am no Bush fan, but besides the fact that some of this is based on anti-Chrisitan antipathy and anti-Blue state sentiment, I believe that the animus is counterproductive. Bush’s record and stands on issues important to many people-- health care, retirement, the economy, the war in Iraq--are out of step with the majority of Americans, especially the small but powerful independent/undecideds. Plus there are plenty or rural, evangelican Christians, Southerners and anti-intellectuals that are potential Kerry people. Why alienate them and push them into the Bush camp? Can Kerry win the election only carrying Red states? And don't forget that there are Blue staters mixed in with the Reds.

Julia Child, National Hero

2004-08-15T01:01:00.000-04:00

Julia Child (1912 -2004), spy, epicurean, author, teacher, television host, and patriot.

Julia Child didn't just banish jello molds and introduced cassoulet to American cuisine, she fought McCarthyism at Smith.

Good blogging in a nutshell-- note to self.

2004-08-14T14:22:00.000-04:00

Many thanks to Keith Robinson for his sharing thoughts on the Good Blog:

A successful blog (or blogger) is…
Well written. Good content will make or break your blog. Period. This it the #1 thing that makes a blog successful in my book.
Frequently updated. Unless you’re a guru of some sort you really need to stay on top of it. This can be a real challenge.
Consistent. This is kind of a combination of the first two. I like sites that are able to maintain quality and frequency overtime.
Open. I like to read people who are honest and willing to talk about tough issues in a free and open way.
Responsive. Those who respond to feedback and try to adapt to the wants and needs of their audience get high marks from me.
Well designed. Yes, I do judge a blog by its design. It’s not the most important thing, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t matter at all.
Aware of its audience. If you don’t know your audience it’ll show.
Varied in topic. I feel there are lots of people who would disagree with this, but I like sites that change the subject every once in awhile.
Personal. I tend to enjoy a blog with a bit of a personality. I want to “get to know”, to a certain degree, the person(s) behind the site. Tone and style have a lot to do with this.
Thick skinned. With any successful site comes nay-sayers, trolls, pedants and spammers.
Honest. Readers are smart and they can smell bullshit.
Accountable. Mistakes are inevitable and there are times when it’s best to fess up and admit where you’re wrong.
Funny. I like a blog that can make me laugh on occasion.

In the old days, I would have clipped this passage from the newspaper, posted it to my bulletin board and mailed it to a few people with the attribution scrawled across the top. Things change.

Julia Child and I graduated from Harvard together

2004-08-14T00:05:00.000-04:00

and I stood on my chair and cheered. She was one of a dozen scientists, poets, etc., getting honoraries, and the tallest one there. I got a law degree. Read this for a moving eulogy.

And the Times created a special section in her honor.

Out of respect, I placed a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One on my cookbook stand. Next weekend, I'll cook from it.

2004-08-07T18:05:00.000-04:00

Sleep all day. Hate it.

Just checking in . . . .

2004-08-07T05:02:00.000-04:00

Drinking blogs from a firehose. Trying to figure out some of the technical possibilities. Favorite links, books, amazon.com wishlist, 100 things about me. What is pinging?

A little bit blogger now

2004-07-31T10:44:00.000-04:00

I'm new to blogging but doing it partially because it is an interesting medium for expression, you're supposed to reflect on your life in a journal anyway, right?, it's damn cool (in Philadelphia, I get be the "early adopter" (usually I am in the next wave-- the gotta have it compulsives) and explain blogs and RSS feeds to a table of bright young things in the new wine bar in town (link to come).

But there can also be self-disclosure in the name of a cause. I found this on Anil Dash's blog. He described an idea that expanded my understanding of blogs:

Isolation is a critical element in many people's experience with mental illness, especially depression, which is why prescriptions for treatment often include pet ownership or volunteering in a community. But if the goal is to find a community in which one identifies, where peers and people of a similar bent can be discovered, then few tools are as effective as a format that ignores geography in favor of proximity of personality.

So, if you get a chance, and it's appropriate for the type of site that you run, you might want to talk about the experiences you've had, or that those who you care about have had. Having someone to identify with can change someone's life permanently and for the better. It did for me.

I've only read Anil's 2002 entry and the most recent ones, so I have some catching up to do, starting with his introduction. Do people read old blog entries to catch up or are they running as fast as they can to digest the latest entries on their plates?

I worry-- is a blog tedious when the writer censors himself or herself? When does a blogger become an flame-worthey exhibitionist, a narcissist?

Friday Night Fever

2004-07-31T08:17:00.000-04:00

Boyfriend and I usually stay home on Friday night, but not this week! Missed two SEPTA trains, took a $40 cab from the suburb where I work, trying to meet Boyfriend in West Philly for dinner and a movie. I was an hour late. The Bridge theater was a madhouse. Good film though, Manchurian Candidate. Meryl Streep dominated her every scene. I am rehersing her two big speeches and studying her mannerisms for just the right occasion. Click the links above to hear her play the ambitious and obsessive mother who would do anything for her son.

Lost my new three week old $180 no-discount mobile phone (at the Bridge? by my building's mailboxes?) after losing my last phone after six months...the replacement cycles are getting shorter... and had a big breakdown. My cat hasn't been so scared since we moved him to this apartment. Boyfriend listening to me scream on the land line. I smashed one headset when he yelled at me to calm down (why didn't I think of that?), the batteries ran out on the second headset while he was trying to calm me down, and of course I couldn't call him back on the mobile, since it started this whole train wreck by going missing.

The whole movie thing was to salvage Friday nights from sitting around alone while Boyfriend was stepping, and then sitting around with him after he was finished since it was hard to schedule anything after his Friday encounter group breaks up at 8-- the only convenient time for some of the participants. I find it a huge pain in the ass (Boyfriend gets a lot out of participating, but what about MY needs!)-- I would like to have some treat to look forward to on Friday night after five days of work-home-work-home. Law & Order: SVU has lost its magic. Olivia always asking "Did you check for semen?" Yes, I did.

Anyway our attempt to inject some magic into Friday night ended horribly. Staying home in front of the TV event for Law & Order would have been so much more soothing and cheap. Alas.

Recipes In/Recipes Out

2004-07-28T00:18:00.000-04:00

Every week, I collect a bunch of articles and recipies from the NYT food section Some I print out, some I clip from the web, some I cut and paste into Word files. The problem is the same as with the rest of my life-- organization. Keeping them in a Word or web clipping subdirectory on my computer (work of home, not that I surf during business hours, ahem) means out of sight, out of mind. Printouts just mean chaos. I already lost last week's great artice on okra. I'm from Virginia (but both parents are Northeners) but I love regional cooking, and good okra recipes are hard to come by. To get someone to eat okra, you have to beg them try, or prepare it carfully to avoid the slime for which it is infamous

Any organizing ideas?