Life at an Intersection

Chicago Phoenix, indemnity bonds, journaling, really really really want a zigazig ah, travel, books, travel books, relationships, values. It is hard to pinpoint precisely, but I'd say about 82% of what you read here is true. The rest is fictional nonfiction.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Consistency is the Hobgoblin, etc.

A link from a link, and I stumbled onto Anne Rice's official website today, and this fascinating bundle of contradictions.

Anne Rice, she the author of Interview with the Vampire and many other tales of witches, horrors, the grotesque and the occult, is now claiming herself as a Christian writer with a vocation from God. I do not disagree; her last book Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt was a fantastic, historical, grounded-in-research take on the childhood years of Jesus. You know, the years of which we know wisdom and stature and nothing else.

Anyways, the transition from second-most-popular-author-of-modern-horror-literature to Baptist-Book-Store-superstar is just the beginning of the confusion and shape-shifting that the uninformed might be suprised to find here on her official website. In the article that I link to above, Rice endorses Hillary Clinton for President. (That move gets a rowdy "Boo!" from me, but my personal preferences are off topic at the moment.)

She mentions for a minute or two her deep faith in the separation of church and state, how it has been beneficial for our country, and yet how the separation somehow seems to dissapear when a person of faith is actually engaged in the activity of choosing a candidate. We want our future president to reflect our values, if not actually legislating them. Point well made.

Then, Rice blankly states that she is a Democrat, and that she believes that the values of the Gospels, the values that she now holds most dear, are most closely aligned with the priorities of the Democratic Party. Social gospel things like combating poverty and homelessness, and working out peace and love. Hrm. Interesting, and I'm not saying that I disagree. Christianity has been hijacked by the Republican Party for far too long now. I started to say "Christianity and the Gospels," but come to think of it, I don't think that Republicans have pretended to care too much about the Gospels and what Jesus actually said. In my lifetime at least.

Then, she claims to be Pro-Life. Sproing. She uses the term "horror of abortion" no less than five times in the next few paragraphs. But here's the real shocker: Rice says that she believes that the Democratic Party is the group most able to find a solution to end the problem of abortion in America. Wha?!?! She doesn't want to attack the problem through any means of legal, judicial, or political recourse, and doesn't offer any concrete means to solution. But suggests that we should be looking to promote alternative outcomes for unwanted pregnancies instead of judicial activism as a means of healing the horror. That means no more conservative activist judges, y'all, forcing their impoverished take on morality on the country. Yeah.

When I first read this piece, I was struck by what a bundle of contradictions it seems to be. She says: I'm a Christian author. I'm for the separation of church and state. I'm a Democrat. I'm trying to live the values of Jesus. I'm against ending Roe vs. Wade. I'm Pro-Life.

After further reflection and a closer examination of my own mind, I find that not only do I think that her stance on most of these issues is consistent and reconcileable, I find that it is mine as well.

With one major caveat - the Clinton endorsement. She actually forgot to make a case for that particular choice, saying nothing in particular about her candidate. So I suggest this instead: Obama '08. Yes We Can.


Currently listening :
Seven Swans
By Sufjan Stevens
Release date: 16 March, 2004

Friday, January 11, 2008

I Was in Love With the Place In My Mind

I live in Chicago now, which is great. I think I've been excited to get back here ever since I left a couple of Augusts ago. The city doesn't dissapoint, though I haven't had the time yet to revisit more than a couple of my favorite nooks and crannies.

We've been here for a week now, which is just long enough to begin to be discouraged about looking for a job. My personal situation always makes it a bit complicated for me to find the kind of work that I really want. I have a degree in Biology, which is basically useless. I have two and a half years of experience teaching math in a private school, but no education degree or school certification that would be necessary to quickly and easily find work here. I have a year of experience teaching English to non-native speakers, children specifically, but again no relevant degree or certification, and no experience teaching adults, which is the most likely student group for ESL here.

All that means that though I may be a good teacher, I basically don't have a great resume or striking credentials. The Special Olympics would probably call me "differently abled," and if that title would help me find a job, I would probably use it.

Which leads to the borders-on-desperation thought that I might have to fall back on my previous Chicago work experience in retail banking. If I end up on that route, I could save money for a while and then send myself back to school for some actual education degree. So that wouldn't be the end of the world.

But, man, moving and finding a job. Ugh. Once I get something, I'm staying put here for a while.

In other, more upbeat news, here's what I got my mom for her birthday. When it comes to brownies, she's a corner-lover, so I think she's gonna like it.


Currently listening :
Home
By Dixie Chicks
Release date: 27 August, 2002

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Joy


"Hooray! My first ever baby doll!"

For me, her face is the definition of joy here.

Twitter / Davie_St

Words That I'm Living By - 5/2/2010

Time, as I've known it
Doesn't take much time to pass by me
Minutes into days, turn into months
Turn into years, they hurry by me
But still I love to see the sun go down
And the world go around

Dreams full of promises
Hopes for the future, I've had many
Dreams I can't remember now
Hopes that I've forgotten,
faded memories
But still I love to see the sun go down
And the world go around

And I love to see the morning
as it steals across the sky
I love to remember and
I love to wonder why
And I hope that I'm around
so I can be there when I die
When I'm gone

I hope that you will think of me
In moments when you're happy and you're smiling
That the thought will comfort you
On cold and cloudy days
if you are crying
And that you'll love to see
the sun go down
And the world go around
And around and around

"Around and Around" by Mark Kozelek

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