News for today's 2018

Cherry Blossoms

6:19 AM Tukiyooo 0

For those who don't know, I live in the DC area, and this time of year is very special around these parts.  Right around the end of March/beginning of April, the beautiful cherry trees start blooming, sticking around for <i>just </i>two weeks.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidsh4lrGYFoKlZ2d6qAyWAe5mltbcFfD7TMRsjLi3ODIJrBPU2sMavqISJs4x3fFyy5-QgVTXoA-X2Jz4NgUu-O4Jtl-y11rj-O59RnixDhXmWNrNkcr7jqjNJe9Y60rf8eM6_ri7Xwig/s1600/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+144.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidsh4lrGYFoKlZ2d6qAyWAe5mltbcFfD7TMRsjLi3ODIJrBPU2sMavqISJs4x3fFyy5-QgVTXoA-X2Jz4NgUu-O4Jtl-y11rj-O59RnixDhXmWNrNkcr7jqjNJe9Y60rf8eM6_ri7Xwig/s400/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+144.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />As if DC wasn't already crowded enough, those two weeks in early spring cause a HUGE migration of tourists/residents to the Tidal Basin area to bask in the glory of those pretty-in-pink petals.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxQsiNMy1COjzRlfSiVkvzDFy2NgTBpQAm7YQj8JopJPXePjSuRrlYjVSC_iZVNwOBqbF9khfc0RYiyy01s8AnRPWPCLm4lPvFc4KGdPsasig3Qvt3UNz3ycaJS6LYyuJ0Yb9eI3tner8/s1600/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+158.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxQsiNMy1COjzRlfSiVkvzDFy2NgTBpQAm7YQj8JopJPXePjSuRrlYjVSC_iZVNwOBqbF9khfc0RYiyy01s8AnRPWPCLm4lPvFc4KGdPsasig3Qvt3UNz3ycaJS6LYyuJ0Yb9eI3tner8/s400/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+158.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />One of my favorite things about the cherry blossoms is that when the wind blows, the petals come cascading off of the trees like pink snow, creating this blanket of pink all over the ground/sidewalks.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKGHTXJy0Wr1lqUlDUk2tJutVouo1cR5yNXZ1eVrYWkaeS8AsDy7BPXgfO_LxRea_FqATF7kUmBBVtSO1-YIOhFxlGAHTnmQpWaB8gGfoVQpFWirREKc9fYjqP9yauVdKCZDeviIA4ByA/s1600/cherry+blossoms+on+sidewalk.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKGHTXJy0Wr1lqUlDUk2tJutVouo1cR5yNXZ1eVrYWkaeS8AsDy7BPXgfO_LxRea_FqATF7kUmBBVtSO1-YIOhFxlGAHTnmQpWaB8gGfoVQpFWirREKc9fYjqP9yauVdKCZDeviIA4ByA/s400/cherry+blossoms+on+sidewalk.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFURMPM48PT0bNJONmsGo5nbd4zpj_6zcLIIyyQTsOQiJQyVYziHntHnpGH-1wCdv93w9CfKQvIOEsMPwSGvKWybC90omHUhuKyLzlun-VIVOCApot217Z6ryhKe-F3GyYUGcLSKKkQZo/s1600/cherry+blossoms+on+the+ground.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFURMPM48PT0bNJONmsGo5nbd4zpj_6zcLIIyyQTsOQiJQyVYziHntHnpGH-1wCdv93w9CfKQvIOEsMPwSGvKWybC90omHUhuKyLzlun-VIVOCApot217Z6ryhKe-F3GyYUGcLSKKkQZo/s400/cherry+blossoms+on+the+ground.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><br />By the way, I wouldn't be surprised if you had never heard of this DC-area phenomenon.  I never heard of it until I moved here.  Still, if you ever have an opportunity to visit, try your hardest to come during this two week span - they are definitely worth seeing!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpJL3YePfy42_FowuU-rKrsWT5MAFjq-nFV5f7L9pKw_U_46peVYAYnSmoBwFycJAhMBZ3Plu9x7PwaigpdEZybxll5xBXcI9QnzO0NZqglWmINY7Ij3mkuIcSu4bAyQvDYDXJe4GCiqY/s1600/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+159.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpJL3YePfy42_FowuU-rKrsWT5MAFjq-nFV5f7L9pKw_U_46peVYAYnSmoBwFycJAhMBZ3Plu9x7PwaigpdEZybxll5xBXcI9QnzO0NZqglWmINY7Ij3mkuIcSu4bAyQvDYDXJe4GCiqY/s400/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+159.jpg" width="271" /></a></div><br />Back when Joel and I first started dating, I told him that I wanted to go on a paddle boat date on the Tidal Basin {by the way - this is the body of water by the Jefferson Memorial - shown below}.  I just felt like it would be such a perfect date - you get a view of two of the monuments while scooting around the water - peaceful and calming.  Every year since that first year together, I've subtly reminded him that we have yet to do that paddle boat date.  <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhji7qXZiONzhe7BKRzDyBoVdSBer16JvntjgKp3V00FcK-wu9RB3yVtbEoxYb29E-nqdpV9iW_91M0ouKcIZb_E4OOJSJMQctSX4pQpvxt_-BkO1dfzNpaDdY9ujd3GciujdJgzpmeHr4/s1600/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhji7qXZiONzhe7BKRzDyBoVdSBer16JvntjgKp3V00FcK-wu9RB3yVtbEoxYb29E-nqdpV9iW_91M0ouKcIZb_E4OOJSJMQctSX4pQpvxt_-BkO1dfzNpaDdY9ujd3GciujdJgzpmeHr4/s400/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+012.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />You know where I'm going with this.<br /><br />Friday, the long awaited paddle boat date finally ensued!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN4i_ljQeoB3-zXQZcurECqNiYywf04SmVgpebSfA73ENAyCf64yqo4MSKiPwIJ7DcSEjxSRCpqxvWQ7Ll7ysXhKHmozwsCWZXA9uXjS21-aMJ34GQ9N4anHriciZlTvROj94MxZSFKZg/s1600/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+025+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN4i_ljQeoB3-zXQZcurECqNiYywf04SmVgpebSfA73ENAyCf64yqo4MSKiPwIJ7DcSEjxSRCpqxvWQ7Ll7ysXhKHmozwsCWZXA9uXjS21-aMJ34GQ9N4anHriciZlTvROj94MxZSFKZg/s400/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+025+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Guys, it could not have been a more perfect day.  The weather was mild - warm but with cool breezes along the water.  We also took full advantage of all of the photo ops.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4CyV0L41cRTBFxBNpbCEIoqqCk14TeLamt4M-NhA006WcZs1z4dJOcyNwaQqiVH3RCR01sO61yNvvWMvHpkRyThH8XjV7rjybsdUPdzYWYrhG3-K9AJvZqtrsjr5QryjgHTNMhDMwEYE/s1600/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+169.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4CyV0L41cRTBFxBNpbCEIoqqCk14TeLamt4M-NhA006WcZs1z4dJOcyNwaQqiVH3RCR01sO61yNvvWMvHpkRyThH8XjV7rjybsdUPdzYWYrhG3-K9AJvZqtrsjr5QryjgHTNMhDMwEYE/s400/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+169.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0P66EvrWFKuG-R_wDKtDNmSjjdBvYTbzkc5RywSSOxJ91nxsEUh3Itp-iOvYw4GQt02vzcib170wcN5cLiTf1FT7UHqzOx_ZWaXK_qEghsgLZcWA2Y0GmLA_VSm3PeabOxLbJarWJ71E/s1600/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0P66EvrWFKuG-R_wDKtDNmSjjdBvYTbzkc5RywSSOxJ91nxsEUh3Itp-iOvYw4GQt02vzcib170wcN5cLiTf1FT7UHqzOx_ZWaXK_qEghsgLZcWA2Y0GmLA_VSm3PeabOxLbJarWJ71E/s400/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+004.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE5Fpt22VlmjMJq1JGgNRWI3ocghWmHoYlsJ4U_N11VnPeZwiBTUNjpj_acOGMFAgNEiPB9hWF9XJI-bkZD0oWJn2Hlj2LMZF7xaXd9as3nw7N6VGW9BhIlWmLlUINgz9ZZ0_y8Icfaz0/s1600/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+197.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE5Fpt22VlmjMJq1JGgNRWI3ocghWmHoYlsJ4U_N11VnPeZwiBTUNjpj_acOGMFAgNEiPB9hWF9XJI-bkZD0oWJn2Hlj2LMZF7xaXd9as3nw7N6VGW9BhIlWmLlUINgz9ZZ0_y8Icfaz0/s400/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+197.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Another bonus - we got in a lot of exercise from walking and paddling.  I think this is why my hips/legs are still sore.  Well, from this and from <a href="http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/2012/03/refocusing-winning-outcomes.html" target="_blank">the Wave</a> - I'm sure of it!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqecbVPh2_yZjbKOx8vJW5wu1HJYNm_ixy63IYyrwYlZCRFBPK8aM-IQHDTQEbfO8OwKL4A1lK2G7bQdPtVw2zaQVPVK-wg6SuA5gFxem0p52BYjvo3vVriz7WNGe8mxmJkf2AC_kMoRU/s1600/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+078.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqecbVPh2_yZjbKOx8vJW5wu1HJYNm_ixy63IYyrwYlZCRFBPK8aM-IQHDTQEbfO8OwKL4A1lK2G7bQdPtVw2zaQVPVK-wg6SuA5gFxem0p52BYjvo3vVriz7WNGe8mxmJkf2AC_kMoRU/s400/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+078.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>  <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhepaEQ3bd6-2-8n3_jOU-dyWSTkcIQgAFPdUG-Z_xLumb9J_rIcd5DzOXB7FpBFT4rhXCxJxixY7hG4i7lXIjpjSBNrnzhOsxDb8iSt8Qnix_IYXcmxjSDLORZ5VSZdB-HG4HAIhg7WmQ/s1600/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+175.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhepaEQ3bd6-2-8n3_jOU-dyWSTkcIQgAFPdUG-Z_xLumb9J_rIcd5DzOXB7FpBFT4rhXCxJxixY7hG4i7lXIjpjSBNrnzhOsxDb8iSt8Qnix_IYXcmxjSDLORZ5VSZdB-HG4HAIhg7WmQ/s400/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+175.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br />It was definitely one of my favorite moments of living in DC thus far.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYD2CR0VJcXNPBzYLvu30jcPXouyLdykYT3QsSCxP3w9iOKuoWtB63rRF67j2emG2z5jzGA-CCHA6D4cikucp1iPED-NOAxQAh31-Zr-innLv0W3ezCaQw2BfT0P5CICIdic-GagtZQLc/s1600/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+090.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYD2CR0VJcXNPBzYLvu30jcPXouyLdykYT3QsSCxP3w9iOKuoWtB63rRF67j2emG2z5jzGA-CCHA6D4cikucp1iPED-NOAxQAh31-Zr-innLv0W3ezCaQw2BfT0P5CICIdic-GagtZQLc/s400/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+090.jpg" width="215" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguDU9hw_z28_4Nk4kSPJ48z8s7TNQBKOkkONjUKDHAm8JrXXZo1-sjEzNdXRpfsZAXtSEzymtpBoR9bR0t8y4D095Ss1eAQY8hDl41YKRAvDWYrGVgQAR8Dck5TzL-zEdOTKZAkjOfRl0/s1600/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+162.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguDU9hw_z28_4Nk4kSPJ48z8s7TNQBKOkkONjUKDHAm8JrXXZo1-sjEzNdXRpfsZAXtSEzymtpBoR9bR0t8y4D095Ss1eAQY8hDl41YKRAvDWYrGVgQAR8Dck5TzL-zEdOTKZAkjOfRl0/s400/Cherry+Blossoms+2012+162.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Now, this isn't he first time I've been to see these beauties.  I actually went three years ago on my birthday {April 4}.  It was incredibly windy and cold that day.  And while it started off great for me in DC, it <a href="http://www.odmp.org/officer/19889-police-officer-stephen-james-mayhle" target="_blank">ended in tragedy</a> for my dear friend back in Pittsburgh.  While I love this time of year because it means cherry blossoms and my birthday, I also cannot help but think of my friend and the loss she suffered, unbelievably, three years ago now.  When I see the trees, I automatically think of her and her family.  Please keep them in your prayers as they approach the three year anniversary in just one week.<br /><br /><b style="color: #351c75;">Have you ever been to see the Cherry Blossoms?  What is your favorite thing to see/do this time of year? </b> <br /><br />

For those who don't know, I live in the DC area, and this time of year is very special around these parts. Right around the end of Marc...

My Life In Kenya: A Musungu Memoir -- The End?

5:20 PM Tukiyooo 0

Where Do We Go From Here?<br /><br />The Kenya-Nevada connection has always struck me as positive and warm-hearted. There are clearly quite a few Nevada Episcopalians who care deeply about Kenya and act on their caring.  But the Nevada-Kenya connection is also a little puzzling. For one thing, a lot of folks in Nevada believe we have, or once had, a companion diocese relationship in Kenya. We do not and never have. Bishop Kanuku has visited here and has spoken to our Convention. But we never sealed the deal.<br /><br />For another thing: There are three or four NGO’s operating in Nevada to support good works in Kenya. These NGO’s are supported, and in some cases, even led by members of the Episcopal Church. They report on what they are doing at Diocesan Convention, and we all come away feeling a bit of virtue-by-association, and many believe the Diocese of Nevada is actually doing good work in Kenya. Not so much. I have given a little discretionary fund money to Kenya. Last year we gave part of the loose plate offering from the Convention Eucharist to combat malaria; but the Episcopal Church in Nevada is not supporting anything in Kenya except on occasion here and there. I am grateful for the NGO’s and the participation of Episcopalians in their efforts. We want to encourage them and support them. But we should not confuse their good works with the Diocese actually doing something ourselves.<br /><br />So where do we go from here?<br /><br />I got a glimmer of an idea when Bishop Kanuku took me to the office of Ukamba Christian Community Services. They are the community and economic development arm of three neighboring dioceses in the Ukamba region of Kenya, which includes the Diocese of Machakos. They are  actively engaged in Millenium Development Goal projects, building sand dams to help people survive drought, funding small businesses, supporting economic independence and equality for women, forming agricultural cooperatives, shifting agriculture from cattle which are high risk and low profit to goats and chickens which are low risk and higher profit. UCCS is quite an impressive operation. It receives support from multiple faith based sources – but none from two sources – nothing from the Diocese of Nevada and nothing from Episcopal Relief and Development. <br /><br />So I am wondering these things: Might we invite the Diocese of Machakos into a Companion Diocese relationship? Yes, we are already linked to the Diocese of Santiago, but diocesan partnerships are not monogamous. And this one would be different. Santiago needs to be economically independent of the West. Machakos is headed that direction, but Ukamba Christian Community Services needs seed money (literally and figuratively) to lift people out of poverty. <br /><br />The Anglican Communion is not a denomination. We are not held together by a centralized authority with a whip to keep us in line. The Anglican Covenant appears to be headed nowhere because we like it like that. We are a spider web of relationships. The Nevada-Machakos relationship is one of those threads. Might we want to mark the demise of the Anglican Covenant by strengthening our bond with Machakos, with a gentler voluntary partnership?<br /><br />Linda and I committed to sponsor a rescue girl in the Massai Mara; and we expect to contribute to building the Girls Hostel for ACK Kyandote Bulwa. But what might the Diocese of Nevada do? I will be processing that question with the Deacons and the Standing Committee, but ultimately it will be up to the people of our Diocese. It is a question worth praying on.<br /><br />Something I have been musing over. Since so many Nevadans act on behalf of Kenya, what does it mean that we do not form a partnership with them or do anything as a diocese for Kenya. I wonder if it says something, not about our relationship with Kenya, but our relationship with each other. If we were to make a commitment to Machakos together, what difference might that make in our ties to each other here?

My Life In Kenya: A Musungu Memoir -- The End?

Where Do We Go From Here? The Kenya-Nevada connection has always struck me as positive and warm-hearted. There are clearly quite a few Nevad...

got a light?

12:26 PM Anonymous 0

Happy Monday everyone! I hope your weekend was a good one. We all survived spring break but I will say I was happy for a return to 'normal' this morning.<br /><br />I was at Lowe's yesterday (surprise, surprise) and once again I couldn't pull the trigger and buy energy efficient bulbs.<br /><br />Recycling, eating organic, buying locally, low VOC - I'll help mother earth out as much as the next girl. But when it comes to lighting, I'm a bit hardheaded. (ok, I'm really hardheaded about a lot of things, but I won't go there. not without drinks.)<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG0TmKblS_4iArB7xOrCnAWizAWBIf9kGiMUbF3AShgdts3LyU2I6CsxZYYJCJIZIPp-8_6XRkNQ9ON3pN5L4O1bqyVhojsCUWM3R0lwxk4OLW1acJ7HYrsblD7rWjfdh2BFri1mzOI17N/s1600/prod640021.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG0TmKblS_4iArB7xOrCnAWizAWBIf9kGiMUbF3AShgdts3LyU2I6CsxZYYJCJIZIPp-8_6XRkNQ9ON3pN5L4O1bqyVhojsCUWM3R0lwxk4OLW1acJ7HYrsblD7rWjfdh2BFri1mzOI17N/s400/prod640021.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">via <a href="http://media.restorationhardware.com/is/image/rhis/prod640021?$PD$" target="_blank">Restoration Hardware</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br />I like mood lighting. I don't have a bulb in my house that's over 40 watts. We have recessed lighting (halogen) in a few rooms and we have dimmers everywhere we can. But with the government starting to shake me down, and phasing out regular bulbs over the next few years (yes, I am hoarding my 25 and 40 watt bulbs like I'm preparing for nuclear war), I'm realizing that I need to adapt to this wether I like it or not.<br /><br />So Halogen, CFL, LED. What do you know? What do you use? What do you like?

got a light?

Happy Monday everyone! I hope your weekend was a good one. We all survived spring break but I will say I was happy for a return to 'norm...

FMM: Current Favorites

10:42 AM Tukiyooo 0

It's been awhile since I participated in FMM, but alas, I am taking on today's topic of Current Favorites.  Stop on by <a href="http://www.alltheweigh.com/2012/03/friend-makin-mondays-current-favorites/" target="_blank">All the Weigh</a> and see what FMM is all about!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.alltheweigh.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/FMM1-1024x7501.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="234" src="http://www.alltheweigh.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/FMM1-1024x7501.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><ol><li><b>Song </b>- <i>Woman Like You by Lee Brice</i>.  {Fun Fact: Lee Brice just hosted the 4th hour of the Today show last week with Hoda Kotb!!} I first heard this song on the way to church the very first morning after the Terrible Awful.  It reminded me so much of Joel and I just felt like it was another one of God's little hints to me to stay in faith, and trust that He would bring Joel back to me in due time.<br /></li><li><b>Drink </b>– Skim Earl Grey Lattes {preferably from Starbucks...but I make them myself too}<br /></li><li><b>Physical feature of the opposite sex (or the sex that you find attractive) –</b> I like his big blue eyes and lips.<br /></li><li><b>TV Show(s) –</b> Army Wives, Mike & Molly, and Bethenny Ever After.<br /></li><li><b>Actor/Actress</b> – </li><li><b>Book –</b> Right now I'm reading a boat load of books but I really love Joel Osteen and his latest, Everyday a Friday.  Another wonderfully, inspiring book brought to you by J.O.!<br /></li><li><b>Form of communication</b> – I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook.  I love that because I live so far away from home, it allows me to keep in touch with friends/family I don't get to see regularly.  However, I'm not a fan of those "forwards" that seem to be all the rage right now.  This means people reposting pictures of quotes/optical illusions/whatever else.  It reminds me of email forwards, which I strongly disliked.  Still, I love when people post personal pics on Facebook!<br /></li><li><b>Exercise</b> – Currently I'm really liking <a href="http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/2012/03/refocusing-winning-outcomes.html" target="_blank">The Wave</a>!<br /></li><li><b>Food</b> – A <i>huge </i>part of my recent downfall.... Thai Basil Fried Rice! Ahhh!!!! It's going to be the death of me!  I simply cannot get enough!<br /></li><li><b>Quote</b> – "The harder the challenge, the sweeter the victory."</li></ol><br />Feel free to participate in this friend making affair... just be sure to go back to <a href="http://www.alltheweigh.com/2012/03/friend-makin-mondays-current-favorites/" target="_blank">Kenlie's page</a> and link up with the others in the comments section. <br /><br />Happy Monday!

Friend Making Mondays FMM: Current Favorites

It's been awhile since I participated in FMM, but alas, I am taking on today's topic of Current Favorites. Stop on by All the Weigh...

Refocusing - Winning Outcomes

6:41 AM Tukiyooo 0

Sometimes I just don't have anything to say, and last week was one of those times.  Part of this is because I've been in a weight loss slump.  When I'm not losing, then it's hard to find the inspiration to write something substantial.  I know what needs to change, I just need to <i>do it</i> and stop saying I'm going to do it.<br /><br />Back in January, I <a href="http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/2012/01/winning-outcomes.html" target="_blank">wrote about Weight Watchers' Winning Outcomes helpful habit</a>.  Here are some things I've stuck to:<br /><ul><li><b>Meal planning two weeks at a time:</b> for me this simply means carving out meal options for two full weeks - not actually tracking them and such.  That part I still need to work on.  However, I did plan out my day today and that feels like a huge relief!  I know I could have easily "blown it" today if I had not pre-tracked my day, overestimating how much I would have left for dinner. In fact I would have had next to nothing had I brought my usual snacks.  Must. Continue. Pre-tracking.</li><li><b>Two days of weekly activity</b>.  I've stuck to this with no problem - it was easily doable for me.  Now I've added in one extra day per week.  More about that later!</li><li><b>Eating out only one meal per week.  No Starbucks Mon-Fri.</b>  This was going well for me right off the bat.  I know applying this rule (along with the others mentioned above) had significant impacts on my weight loss... and the success I was having just a few weeks ago.  Then the Terrible Awful happened.  Then things quickly went downhill.  This rule is going back into effect...effective immediately!  While I have eaten 2 meals out this weekend - ok, fine, what's done is done - the rest of the week will be meals prepared by myself or Joel AT HOME.     </li></ul><br />Now that I've gotten that all off of my chest.... <br /><br />One way to combat my failed attempts at eating healthy lately has been to step up my exercise each week.  I'm trying to keep it varied, so as not to get bored.  While I'll still be utilizing the gym, I also found a new activity that I've been enjoying so far.  It's called <a href="http://www.firmdirect.com/firm/ecs/main/firm-wave.html" target="_blank">The Wave</a>.  You might have heard of this from an infomercial.  I actually read about it in <a href="http://www.allyou.com/" target="_blank">All You's</a> recent issue of their health magazine.  They touted The Wave and The Bender Ball as being some of the most effective at-home workouts available.  I've used The Wave three times so far, and all three times I've been very sore afterward, which means it must be working!<br /><br />I will be doing a full review of The Wave in an upcoming post.  In case you're curious though, I purchased mine from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Firm-05-54004-Wave-Kit/dp/B001VLFEDU/ref=sr_1_1?s=exercise-and-fitness&ie=UTF8&qid=1332767982&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a>.  The Wave is an arched platform that you use in conjunction with several workout DVD's. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjulSF4do_S7HVX1pHvz0h_Y5Dw9IWYMc67w2ytgVqb-cde_LrT5Gj7J3q2n7joecBEn9p0QeK8I1NL3RX-tkUdcF5hW7UFRlGXsmtI5IjZzae9G8qx1keLQrf0_v_oZ-Z0CjT6Oaxpo8Q/s1600/the+wave.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjulSF4do_S7HVX1pHvz0h_Y5Dw9IWYMc67w2ytgVqb-cde_LrT5Gj7J3q2n7joecBEn9p0QeK8I1NL3RX-tkUdcF5hW7UFRlGXsmtI5IjZzae9G8qx1keLQrf0_v_oZ-Z0CjT6Oaxpo8Q/s320/the+wave.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>If it gives me variety and isn't overly complicated, then I'll do it.  So far so good!<br /><br /><b style="color: #351c75;">Have you heard of The Wave?  Have you tried it?  What at-home workout do you like the best?</b>

Exercise Helpful Habits The Firm The Wave Weight Watchers Winning Outcomes Refocusing - Winning Outcomes

Sometimes I just don't have anything to say, and last week was one of those times. Part of this is because I've been in a weight lo...

Our weekly Diigo bookmarks 26 March 2012

3:21 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: inherit;"></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Art</b></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/neverendingsearch/2012/03/17/nga-images-database-launches-with-open-access-policy">NGA Images Database launches (with Open Access Policy) « NeverEndingSearch</a></span></li></ul></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Bookmarking</b></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.diigo.com/list/maggie_diigo/Diigo-Tutorials">Diigo Tutorials - List | Diigo</a></span></li></ul></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Google</b></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/03/3d-buildings-and-tours-of-amazon-in.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+freetech4teachers%2FcGEY+%28Free+Technology+for+Teachers%29">Free Technology for Teachers: 3D Buildings and Tours of the Amazon in Google Maps</a>: two great updates to Google maps</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2011/07/google-maps-for-educators-how-to-guide.html">Free Technology for Teachers: Google Maps for Educators - A How-to Guide</a>: How to explore Google maps</span></li></ul></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>How to</b></span></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://jellycam.co.uk/">JellyCam - Stop Motion</a>: How to make stop motion videos</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"> <a href="http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/03/make-stop-motion-movies-with-jellycam.html">Free Technology for Teachers: Make Stop-Motion Movies With JellyCam 4.0</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://typingclub.com/">Learn Touch Typing Free - TypingClub</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"> <a href="http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/03/typing-club-for-google-chrome-new.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+freetech4teachers%2FcGEY+%28Free+Technology+for+Teachers%29">Free Technology for Teachers: Typing Club for Google Chrome & A New Teacher Portal</a>free online touch typing lessons for students of all ages</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.veovideoconverter.com/?utm_source=Technology+Tidbits+Newsletter&utm_campaign=2edc8faebd-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email">Convert videos to MP4 and many more online | Wait-less VEO Video Converter</a></span></li></ul><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Internet safety</b></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.mywot.com/">Safe Browsing Tool | WOT (Web of Trust)</a>: Check the reputation of your favourite website</span></li></ul></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Microsoft</b></span></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="http://www.pilsr.com/">Partners in Learning School Research:.</a></span> Assessing 21st Century skills</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.emergingedtech.com/2011/08/a-conversation-with-the-future-and-microsofts-cameron-evans">A Conversation With The Future and Microsoft’s Cameron Evans | Emerging Education Technology</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.pil-network.com/Resources/tools">Free tools for teachers - Partners in Learning Network</a></span></li></ul><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>News reports</b></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://news.iafrica.com/sa/785745.html">iafrica.com | news | sa news | 'Maths literacy... what's that?'</a></span></li></ul></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Reading</b></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://freestoriesforkids.com/">Short stories for children to TEACH VALUES</a>: lovely stories for children</span></li></ul></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Social Sciences</b></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/02/7-useful-youtube-channels-for-history.html">Free Technology for Teachers: 7 Useful YouTube Channels for History Teachers</a></span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.nea.org/tools/lessons/studying-ancient-egypt.html">NEA - Studying Ancient Egypt</a>: Learn About Ancient Egyptians with These Lessons and Videos, Activities, and Games</span></li></ul></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Tablets</b></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.emergingedtech.com/2012/03/fully-functional-windows-2010-on-the-ipad-for-free-plus-2-gb-of-storage-onlive-desktop">Fully Functional Windows 2010 on the iPad, for Free (plus 2 GB of storage) – Onlive Desktop | Emerging Education Technology</a></span></li></ul></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Technology</b></span></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"> <a href="http://www.papertoys.com/">http://www.PaperToys.com</a>: Paper Toys - Paper Cut-Outs -</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://mashable.com/2011/10/12/tech-developing-countries">5 Tech Innovations That Could Change the Developing World</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.screenleap.com/">Instant Screen Sharing | Screenleap</a></span></li></ul><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Writing:</span> </b></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://pbskids.org/rogers/make_believe/story.htm">PBS Kids - Mister Rogers' Neighborhood: Neighborhood Story</a>: Making up their own stories</span></li></ul></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Posted from <a href="http://www.diigo.com/">Diigo</a>. The rest of <b>SchoolNetSA</b> <a href="http://groups.diigo.com/group/school_net_sa">group favourite links</a> are here.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div></div>

Diigo bookmarks Our weekly Diigo bookmarks 26 March 2012

Art NGA Images Database launches (with Open Access Policy) « NeverEndingSearch Bookmarking Diigo Tutorials - List | Diigo Google Free Techno...

My Life In Kenya: A Musungu Memoir -- Part 5

10:25 AM Tukiyooo 0

Power & Money<br /><br />One thing about the Church in Kenya makes me grateful for the way we do Church here; another thing I saw makes me think something in Nevada is off the mark.<br /><br />Power Analysis Here And There.<br /><br />If it sounds like I am being critical of how they do it in Kenya, I am – if we cannot honestly criticize each other, how are we to learn from each other? -- but with major, MAJOR qualifications on my criticism. I do not know that it could or should be different in Kenya now. <br />My criticism is that the power structure is centralized and hierarchical. <br /><br />Qualification 1: We need to keep in mind that compared to the Episcopal Church, most of the Anglican Communion is centralized and hierarchical. Our democratic structures balancing lay and clergy authority, checks and balances, etc. is born of the American Revolution which in turn was an off-spring of the English Civil War. In England the monarchy, monarchical episcopacy, and hierarchical power structure eventually won (in the Restoration) and has been gentled by democratizing forces ever so slowly. In these colonies, however, we have always been committed to a far more democratic polity, despite the vestments, titles, and other trappings. <br /><br />Qualification 2: Bishop Kanuku, by comparison to other African bishops I have known, is a true populist, a “man of the people” kind of guy. He spent his early childhood living in a 2-room grass hut. He is so approachable he cannot walk down a street without being constantly button-holed by people who want to talk. He has no running water in his house. He refuses to be wealthy in a land of poverty.<br /><br />Qualification 3: I know next to nothing about the culture of Kenya. The way power is held and exercised depends on context and I do not begin to understand the context.<br /><br />Qualification 4: I know full well that our system frustrates people in Nevada and that by keeping my oath to adhere to the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Episcopal Church and refusing to exercise authority I don’t canonically have, I frustrate people. I often hear Nevadans say they would rather have an autocratic bishop.<br /><br />So here’s the difference in how we do things. Nevada parishes pay 25% of their income to the diocese, and then make most of their own decisions with just enough oversight from the diocesan office to keep them identifiable as Episcopal churches. Parishes in Kenya pay 100% of their income to the Diocese and the Diocese has total control of their operations. After sending in all their money to the Diocese, a parish submits a proposed budget which the Diocese approves or not, funds or not. All clergy and lay staff of parishes, are hired, fired, assigned, reassigned, and paid by the Diocese. As you may imagine, the conversations between bishop and priest are different. They go mostly like this: The bishop calls the priest’s name, and the priest says “Yes, Bishop.” Thereupon follows a series of questions to which the answers are “Yes, Bishop,” “No, Bishop,” or “I’ll try, Bishop.”<br /><br />It is not my place to say how they ought to do Church in Kenya. But the example of hierarchical centralized power intensified my commitment to decentralized, democratic processes – spreading authority and responsibility as much as possible. It is the way our Constitution, Canons, and Prayer Book prescribe. It is the trajectory begun by Bishop Frensdorff and continued in successive Episcopacies – not that we are doing things the same way we did in years past, but that we are continuing the trajectory of democratization of the Church. It is the kind of bishop I promised to be in the election process. I believe in this – not as a leadership style, a management practice, or a strategy, but as an article of faith. <br /><br />The Church’s job is building people up, growing them into the full stature of Christ, empowering them become fully themselves. A church full of strong, free people may be a pain in the neck but it is also the glory of God. “The glory of God is a human being fully alive.” (St. Ireneaus of Lyons). And a strong free Christian, a human being fully alive, does not sit in a submissive position saying “Yes, Bishop” and “No, Bishop.” We want people to think and feel out of their own souls, not to do our bidding. <br /><br />In Healing the Heart of Democracy, Parker Palmer says that a free society depends on what Alexis de Tocqueville called certain “habits of the heart”—habits such hospitality, hope, tolerance, open-mindedness – habits which are becoming in short supply in our society today, especially in our government. Those habits of the heart are formed in intermediate social institutions – groups that stand between the solitary individual and the state. Palmer writes:<br /><br />“The impulses that make democracy possible – and those that threaten it – originate in the heart, with its complex mix of heedless self-interest and yearning for community. From there, these impulses move out into our relations with each other in families, neighborhoods, workplaces, voluntary associations, and the various settings of public life. . . . (F)or those places comprise the vital prepolitical layer of our common life, the social infrastructure on which democracy’s well-being depends.” The church is such a “setting of public life.”<br /><br />The Brazilian educator Paolo Friere argued in The Pedagogy of the Oppressed that march in line, rote recitation schools train children to become good (i.e., docile) citizens of dictatorships; while schools that encourage creativity and thinking for oneself liberate citizens for freedom, justice, and equality. What Friere said about schools is also true for churches. But for us the stakes are even higher. It is more than politics. It is a matter of empowering human freedom so that we may in our freedom know God, truly in our hearts, a God who calls us to life and liberty, a God who does not dominate us with terror.<br /><br />So I intend to persist in my bewildering questioning and deferring. Legalist that I am, I will keep in mind that I have a little authority over a few things, but only a little authority and only a few things. That is not and will not be popular. Eric Fromm in Escape From Freedom explained the anxiety-avoidance and responsibility-avoidance psychology of why we hand things over to dictators. “Every woman adores a Fascist, the boot in the face.” (Sylvia Plath) Guys do too. But I will persist in my legacy of the American Revolution democratizing – perhaps out of necessity. For better or worse, I simply lack the capacity to do otherwise. If Palmer, Friere, and de Tocqueville are right, it may be just as well.<br /><br />Wealth Analysis Here And There.<br /><br />But when it comes to sharing our resources for the common good and God’s mission, I fear we in Nevada are way short of Kenya, and this is not unrelated to the freedom, equality, and decentralization that I value so highly. <br /><br />80% of the people in Kenya live on less than $1/day – that’s actual buying power. Yet, their contributions enable the Diocese of Machakos to support 90 priests, 30 evangelists, and a significant support staff. They are building a large new Cathedral. They were building churches and schools left and right. Everywhere I turned, I saw construction. They are funding a mission that is spreading the gospel and growing the church at the rate of a range fire in a windstorm. They get very little outside aid these days. The Church in the West doesn’t have it to give anymore. The people of Machakos are the ones making this happen.<br /><br />How is that possible? I asked Fr. Lloyd Rupp how the church in Kenya raises the money to do such impressive things while we languish, and he gave the incredible answer that appears to be true. He said the people are poor and the poor are generous.  <br /><br />Thinking back to my parish priest days, I know that is true. The folks in the pews with the most money all too often hang onto it pretty tightly. They are not so much possessors of wealth as possessed by wealth. It is the poor who are apt to be most generous. That is what I saw in Kenya. People gave what they had; they brought sacks of maize to the altar as their tithe. Those who had no money worked for the church or made things to sell for the church. Secular critics would say the church is exploiting them. But because they support the church, the church grows and is strong enough to form Ukamba Christian Community Services which does the community and economic development work to lift them out of poverty. Once they are no longer poor, will they still be generous? There will come the spiritual test.<br /><br />In Nevada, the church is particularly poor. We have organized ourselves in a way that was designed to survive on very little. The church here is like a desert plant that does not grow large or flourish, but it survives, just barely survives, with minimal water and nourishment. I respect that about the church. We are tough and resilient. But I am concerned about two things.<br /><br />First, I am concerned that we have not formed the habit of the heart called generosity. Instead we have made a virtue of asking as little as possible of our people, and by asking little of each other we have weakened each other in our spirits. Bishop Kanuku said to his flock the same thing they say in several Native American tribes, “Wealth is not measured by what you keep, but by what you give away.” What if our members gave more to their parishes so that the parishes could give more to others? What if every parish did what some dioceses mandate by resolution – what if every parish tithed to the poor by giving away 10% of its income for community ministries? We do not serve each other well by asking as little of each other as possible.<br /><br />Second, I worry that we are short-changing God’s mission, both monetarily and spiritually – they go together because money expresses what we value in our society. We have been right to organize ourselves for freedom. “For freedom, Christ has set us free,” Paul wrote, but in the same letter he said, “You were called for freedom but do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh (self-interest) but in love serve one another.” (Galatians 5:13) “Each of you must give . . . not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God who is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9: 7-8) <br /><br />To “give abundantly in every good work” is not a burden laid on us by our religion but a spiritual practice in faith and generosity, an opening of our heart to give and to receive blessing. Generosity is a moral duty; but it is also a spiritual opportunity. In Kenya, I saw that spirituality flourishing like blossoms on the Flame Trees of Thika. At home, I often hear parishes asking “What’s in it for us?” If the parish asks that of the diocese, it bespeaks a spirituality in which the people are saying to the parish “What’s in it for us?” What’s in it is freedom rooted in faith, freedom to “love not with word or tongue but with actions in truth.” 1 John 3:18; “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need and has no compassion . . . ., how can the love of God be in him?” 1 John 4:20 “If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’ but does not supply their bodily needs, what good is that?” James 2: 15-16. This is as true if the brother is starving for food or starving for hope and truth.<br /><br />So I return from Kenya thankful for our freedom but called to uneasy reflection about how we are using it.

My Life In Kenya: A Musungu Memoir -- Part 5

Power & Money One thing about the Church in Kenya makes me grateful for the way we do Church here; another thing I saw makes me think so...

GOLDMAN SACHS AND THE VATICAN:

10:57 AM Tukiyooo 0

<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx2d-K4wW95mzeE4WX1lPAeIuD8AC0upHBLKhXZIjaqgitwUPqBxZ1EAv8yX-7rzCb6wA8845FG_S5As4VCYUyVu4GdhhX9gijIFEtBCEO7Nym_VSr1gtRrPNPvCqASGZXWCxLosg7NLXK/s1600/gs+vati.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx2d-K4wW95mzeE4WX1lPAeIuD8AC0upHBLKhXZIjaqgitwUPqBxZ1EAv8yX-7rzCb6wA8845FG_S5As4VCYUyVu4GdhhX9gijIFEtBCEO7Nym_VSr1gtRrPNPvCqASGZXWCxLosg7NLXK/s320/gs+vati.gif" width="215" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">TWO CULTURES OF INFALLIBILITY </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By Stephan Richter via The Gobalist</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Greg Smiths tell all resignation from Goldman Sachs last week was evidence that the culture of greed is alive and well in one of the world’s top investment banks, He wrote of a “toxic and destructive” culture and a “decline in the firm’s moral fiber.” But Goldman has a lot in common with another global institution, the Catholic Church and its doctrine of infallibility <span> </span></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">From the perspective of Goldman's management, the recent path of the Catholic Church is probably the most nightmarish thing to think about — assuming their imagination and sense of seriousness reaches this far. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Look at the long list of parallels: None, of course, is more powerful — and disastrous — than Goldman's and the Vatican's unceasing belief in the doctrine of infallibility. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The rot, one says, starts at the top — and in the age of democracy and participatory learning, no organization can successfully hold onto the belief that, as far as dealings with the outside world are concerned, its staff members are really incorrigible. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">I am not suggesting that there isn't plenty of rigorous debate about the organizations' direction and business (or spiritual) practices — but it occurs strictly in the inner sanctum. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDn883r4G-phVP0ZokFwy9TsXv_eOuMNj2LTSrfl98if0x3m7RaPTx-xoLXWzXIMZNHLi2ORZIVn7oBcO_swha5tEBWVD1hxT7WGYZanXMIS3QmrLOBIWQiG8gE14sqI8VOYc8VkoEOdWM/s1600/dome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDn883r4G-phVP0ZokFwy9TsXv_eOuMNj2LTSrfl98if0x3m7RaPTx-xoLXWzXIMZNHLi2ORZIVn7oBcO_swha5tEBWVD1hxT7WGYZanXMIS3QmrLOBIWQiG8gE14sqI8VOYc8VkoEOdWM/s320/dome.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The instrument of doubt plays a role in both organizational learning cultures. However, it is viewed solely as a method of rigorous inquisition to come to a decision internally, which — once made — is upheld externally with a united front. One for all, all for one. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">With regard to interactions with the outside, such a frame of mind can quickly result in presenting a fiercely clannish, if not secretive, front. That unquestioned commitment to the cause, 24x7x365, surely breeds a strong internal culture, but it also makes the organization as a whole ripe for systemic denial. In short, wrongdoing simply cannot occur because we are perfect, aren't we? </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">What Goldman must realize is that the Vatican had tried to hush things up. It simply could not happen here, it argued. But the harder and longer it tried, the more pushback there was among the victims. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">It is simply inconceivable that a firm with the breadth and depth of Goldman's client dealings in the markets — and its relentless hunger for profit maximization — did not leave behind a lot of broken china. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The second applicable lesson for Goldman which the Vatican's troubles foreshadow is this: While child molestation and sexual abuse are definitely qualitatively different charges than manipulating financial markets, the ultimate fallout of denial on one's reputation, financial well-being and inner morale may well be the same. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">It all starts with the inner logic of the real temptation — "overlooking" the respective crime in question. Regarding the internal culture of the two organizations, there are stunning parallels. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Both cultures are rooted in an intense sense of loyalty to the "company." Both firms' staff members have a strong sense of mission, even though one is very much focused on the immaterial, while the other is very material-minded. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Selection into the ranks of upper management is generally very much merit-based, although it happens in a manner that is totally non-transparent to outsiders. As a result, the selectees' devotion to the organization's cause is unparalleled compared to their peers in the respective "industries." </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQiZoNd2pvmBMqoKvNtLM4JWtM31xBFqQd0t_lBD6eMbOBN9dGdp7rPgknpWMcMqHIcrZ38ykNFXrSkbzNT7AwQrSksCN34S2LkkyBoQTRnKbW5aj0x0SUZi-w8-WL8l3FkjIxkKwjbfi6/s1600/WYWH-front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQiZoNd2pvmBMqoKvNtLM4JWtM31xBFqQd0t_lBD6eMbOBN9dGdp7rPgknpWMcMqHIcrZ38ykNFXrSkbzNT7AwQrSksCN34S2LkkyBoQTRnKbW5aj0x0SUZi-w8-WL8l3FkjIxkKwjbfi6/s320/WYWH-front.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">For all those qualities, high potential and performance, the evidence seems overwhelming that both Goldman and the Vatican, inside their high walls, suffer from a serious organizational birth defect, which is at the root of their respective troubles today. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The archaic, anti-modern and perhaps anti-human vow of celibacy for the Vatican finds its equivalent in the out-of-this-world God-like self-perception of many senior Goldman staffers. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">They clearly feel as anointed — and selected — inside the financial world of today as were the prominent clergy in the Middle Ages and into the early modern era. Appointment to "the firm" came — and comes (in Goldman's case) — with immense social status and access to immense economic wealth. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">True, in the case of the Catholic Church's senior leaders, that wealth was, in effect, "rented" and temporary — and definitely not transferable to one's heirs (hence the requirement for celibacy!). But one could live on the Church's "dime" in a splendor that would make even many a modern hedge fund manager go pale with envy. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Ultimately, it is all a function of an overbearing internal corporate culture. If you put yourself on the pedestal this much, if you promote a sense among the staff that they are the anointed ones, such zeal is bound to come crashing down sooner or later. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">In fact, once you are no longer considered untouchable, the whole litany of past transgressions will come to haunt you. Outsiders, previously oppressed and hunted, will come out of the woodwork and contribute to taking you down for all those past sins. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">In conclusion, in the age of democracy and reason, no culture rooted in a doctrine of infallibility will survive. They must adapt. In both Goldman's and the Vatican's case, the lawsuits are the last wake-up call.</span></span></div>

GOLDMAN SACHS AND THE VATICAN:

TWO CULTURES OF INFALLIBILITY By Stephan Richter via The Gobalist Greg Smiths tell all resignation from Goldman Sachs last week was evidenc...

Mad Men: Through a Glass Darkly

6:00 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><i>by guest contributor Motorcycle Boy</i> </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUjzYRxrBDwBX2t6vu6M8_uomwT1I5AJPD8j1TH-rh6s5DKe37ARF2Ut8-p3XG9C6PFsu_B14TJgipkIJ7LOXJHkpiCWjmSpTRmM8oL-KZSmNEOLVwB4uHe3zbVD0PToBeIJvFEmbbEZHi/s1600/roger+and+don+season+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUjzYRxrBDwBX2t6vu6M8_uomwT1I5AJPD8j1TH-rh6s5DKe37ARF2Ut8-p3XG9C6PFsu_B14TJgipkIJ7LOXJHkpiCWjmSpTRmM8oL-KZSmNEOLVwB4uHe3zbVD0PToBeIJvFEmbbEZHi/s1600/roger+and+don+season+5.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">“A personality marked by traits of compulsive and habitual use of a substance or practice in an attempt to cope with psychic pain engendered by conflict and anxiety.”</span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">~<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">      </span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">definition of addictive personality, <i>Mosby’s Medical Dictionary</i></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">  </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">“<i>Mad Men</i> glorifies alcoholics.”  This statement was made to me by an acquaintance, clearly meant as a criticism of my favorite television series.  He went on:  “It seems the writers take every opportunity conceivable to shove a glass in the hands of the actors.” </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"></span></span><br /><a name='more'></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: right;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVCtbmtuZ_CHfCI919dsMK23-BK1_Gx8ErFNBr9AaKIA-zEjKlYUiwntd7Uw23zc6YI31Zma7Ta5SIsa14yNDHEowcIgCXAgNdkazbAIare7VW4MwukdLzpDIojVXaCTW1dAyBpUcdERYe/s1600/joan+and+the+boys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVCtbmtuZ_CHfCI919dsMK23-BK1_Gx8ErFNBr9AaKIA-zEjKlYUiwntd7Uw23zc6YI31Zma7Ta5SIsa14yNDHEowcIgCXAgNdkazbAIare7VW4MwukdLzpDIojVXaCTW1dAyBpUcdERYe/s320/joan+and+the+boys.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Now, there is no denying the fact that at the office of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, alcohol is a constant given. “I drink, therefore I am” seems to be the ad man’s motto.  And everyone on this show smokes – they smoke like chimneys, as if there’s no tomorrow (or at least a tomorrow not leading to premature illness and death). Of course, these characters live in a different time – the early 60’s -  a not so distant past when people freely and thoughtlessly litter a park while they picnic and adults slap children, even ones that aren’t their own.  This was a time when women and minorities were openly treated as second class citizens.  And along with this, it was a time when many people were alcoholics, though they may not have identified themselves as such, who drank throughout the day. <i>Mad Men</i> depicts all this as it enters into the reality of the era, though these things are never portrayed as something to be emulated. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">But as  much attention that is given to <i>Mad Men</i> -  its smoking and drinking, its obsessive attention to period detail (the length of women’s skirts, the hairstyles and interior design of the rooms)  -  there is so much more that lies beneath the glossy, escapist surface of this show. <i>Mad Men</i> is an extremely complicated drama - a human drama.  There is much to discover in its characters and storylines – much about our society and about ourselves. I believe that it’s all these factors that contribute to this show’s great appeal.  Something draws us to watch it - something we’re seeking to discover (whether we’re conscious of it or not) and this, in itself, is addictive.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV_gECQIOs-BV7Lb4KR06dYHJTRCZTJD1FkSJpFkHxDizVBn3CJtumb5uEwh-Joc_ejVUruDkZwlt_xNaxS3AbR_3FaEQ1h0WZo0uV7Z8wCGCY3kwEIwN2kUDihtjzINH9-L-zN0jTPjP9/s1600/peggy+goes+underground+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV_gECQIOs-BV7Lb4KR06dYHJTRCZTJD1FkSJpFkHxDizVBn3CJtumb5uEwh-Joc_ejVUruDkZwlt_xNaxS3AbR_3FaEQ1h0WZo0uV7Z8wCGCY3kwEIwN2kUDihtjzINH9-L-zN0jTPjP9/s320/peggy+goes+underground+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Mad Men</span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> depicts a period in American culture when habitual drinking and smoking (and bigotry) were an accepted part of the norm. It deals with the social changes that were happening at the beginning of the 60’s and into the mid-60’s. Often different episodes will show the tension between the passing era of the 50’s – the rigidity, repression and denial – and the approaching of the turbulent changes associated with the 60’s – the civil rights and women’s movements, open sexual freedom, drug experimentation and the events that were about to blow the lid off of American society. It’s quite fitting that there’s an episode in the first season titled “Kennedy vs. Nixon”.  There is the “old order,” in which the different levels of society were much more hierarchical and defined (like the male dominated pecking order of the ad agency), and then there is the dawning of a new awareness that is full of promise and, at the same time, threatening. How society worked and how people coped during this changing time is fertile ground for exploration and producer/creator Matthew Weiner makes the most of it. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">          </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">...So what habits are Don Draper and his agency pushing?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">          </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfNpMctQaSVkwu9ejOqka_fWiXXxYfMAHq1rl9Cty4VOdRNn4Eoi6bbN393iQUMxnku2eimUYGb6-fFffci71QbTjOMV0K73ADbLDWHyzuaCrqifF7Br1quEMjEMcrGtu7ri3sxvZLgh2Z/s1600/betty+picks+up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfNpMctQaSVkwu9ejOqka_fWiXXxYfMAHq1rl9Cty4VOdRNn4Eoi6bbN393iQUMxnku2eimUYGb6-fFffci71QbTjOMV0K73ADbLDWHyzuaCrqifF7Br1quEMjEMcrGtu7ri3sxvZLgh2Z/s320/betty+picks+up.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The basic thrust of consumerism is marketing an image to people so that they can be sold a product. It’s not just about what people want, but what they <i>really</i> want – their unconscious desires and the obstacles to fulfillment represented by their unconscious fears.  In the time period of <i>Mad Men</i> - much more so than even today - there were many social boundaries around sex and race, of one’s basic identity, and a suffocating rigidity in roles that people felt pressured to act out in their lives.  This is an obvious formula for the kind of psychic pain that comes from conflict – the conflict that grows from a repressed identity.  How can you know what you really want or need when you don’t know who you really are?  If the “social mask” fits too tightly it makes it difficult to breathe.  The constant drinking in <i>Mad Men</i> is shown more as a socially sanctioned way that many people sought some relief from this internal pressure – or at least as a way to numb themselves.  A person who is imprisoned, whether conscious of it or not, feels the overwhelming need to be released. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHPgmpPMNhlQJI0siI6aHf2yyCn9cNYeJlpgF5pvs2rfNeyXOvf8VrqrpeE_RTeAvX_XeWpe5Drjsq8E3DQbOG4HJt3ziKaU_2ZKyBNqyC_uOw1aP1CNoEzHPvhvI1ggF81ntoD3_ZfedC/s1600/don+in+the+dark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHPgmpPMNhlQJI0siI6aHf2yyCn9cNYeJlpgF5pvs2rfNeyXOvf8VrqrpeE_RTeAvX_XeWpe5Drjsq8E3DQbOG4HJt3ziKaU_2ZKyBNqyC_uOw1aP1CNoEzHPvhvI1ggF81ntoD3_ZfedC/s320/don+in+the+dark.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Don Draper and his associates cater to this need.  By the 1950s America had undergone a form of mass hypnosis constructed around total consumerism.  Television and growing mass media connected people in a way that opened them further to manipulation by the “professionals” who understood the pressure points of living a false identity and could use it to sell product.  Many people, then and now, present a fabricated image to society - a façade for the real identity underneath. This condition  is embodied in the whole Madison Avenue advertising industry as presented in the show and, in particular, in the central character of Don Draper, who literally has taken on a false identity to hide the truth from the world, and, as best he can,  himself.  If anyone is in psychic pain its Draper and it touches everyone in his life.  Still, no one knows better how to sell people a bill of goods by manipulating their insecurities and, unavoidably, their addictions.  On some level Draper seems to understand that he reflects a kind of mass delusion where consumerism is a substitute for self-knowledge and love.  The whole thing, from the perspective of the men in advertising and the unknowing public, is like one great dysfunctional, addictive process, founded on repression and denial and affecting everyone.  What motivates people is spiritual “thirst” and Don Draper knows how to use that to sell product because he’s so familiar with the feeling himself.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNX3aNOd2Jc9yloTxjFCOO4EJ0N_GEG1COOb8XVG7RCeHXuJLAw-Lg7EHPXAv5zu3FoUW3s2_QtWZWfneJIMREhHvxY14IEnvjTvIZCIr8AD1QuwiG-yxzHPnCFnig33PzdVcLCBFZDiHv/s1600/betty+and+sally+thanx.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNX3aNOd2Jc9yloTxjFCOO4EJ0N_GEG1COOb8XVG7RCeHXuJLAw-Lg7EHPXAv5zu3FoUW3s2_QtWZWfneJIMREhHvxY14IEnvjTvIZCIr8AD1QuwiG-yxzHPnCFnig33PzdVcLCBFZDiHv/s400/betty+and+sally+thanx.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Mad Men</span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> is a series with many stylish surfaces and is so well done it could easily be appreciated strictly as escapism. But it’s so much more than that.  The characters are full of twists and turns and their fates interest us because they’re very much up for grabs.  What will happen next?  By the fourth season Don Draper is moving headlong into alcoholism and we wonder if he’ll end up a more fashionable version of his rival, Duck Phillips, or a less farcical Roger Sterling.  What’s captivating is that we, the audience, know what is to come for America but we don’t know how these characters will respond to or reflect the change.  The events are part of history, and though these people’s lives are shaped by them, they have to strive and discover for themselves their place in the new society.   We wonder if Betty Draper will completely go over the edge and continue to alienate her children.  She seems hopelessly stuck and unable to discover a path out of her false existence - she could take a number of courses, one of which could easily be addiction.  Sally Draper, the difficult young daughter who also is struggling to find her way, seems to represent a coming generation which will be defiant and loud, sexually active, and impossible to ignore.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEmgNdhoAdvrrloUWTogKe4nd3JbDkBxpiuv67VFZvqmeenGqZ_iJTweJf_Brrj2Nlrdst34yQ8ickMWyFkWVyCfZS3fkueJGE3d8sNAbnAYt5lgdBmDD2AYih0EiJSX4IfYQo-iP2-6lw/s1600/don+and+modern+art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEmgNdhoAdvrrloUWTogKe4nd3JbDkBxpiuv67VFZvqmeenGqZ_iJTweJf_Brrj2Nlrdst34yQ8ickMWyFkWVyCfZS3fkueJGE3d8sNAbnAYt5lgdBmDD2AYih0EiJSX4IfYQo-iP2-6lw/s320/don+and+modern+art.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">There are multiple angles from which to interpret <i>Mad Men</i>, but I feel that there’s a great overriding tension at the core of the series, and in many ways it’s linked to the addictive process.  When people live within tightly wound conventions and are prevented from expressing their true nature, they can cut themselves off from their life force – there’s no creativity, only conformity.  If, on the other hand, they go deeper and connect with their instincts, it’s possible to feed the soul but it’s inherently dangerous because there is no formula to follow – anything can happen – the “old order” drops away and chaos can emerge.  Fear is what keeps the characters in <i>Mad Men</i> from genuine lives and leads them to grasp at substitutes, whether it be alcohol or consumerism.  Don Draper attempts to stay fixated on externals and selling an image rather than facing his true identity. He functions on the inside of society, spinning out illusions (he’s a powerful force and influence on people’s lives), still, when it comes to his personal relationships and his own inner life, Draper is the ultimate outsider – a living enigma.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">As long as <i>Mad Men</i> is able to peel back the layers and creatively express this very human conflict, it will continue to mesmerize (perhaps the word should be intoxicate).  Over the course of multiple seasons Matthew Weiner and his writers have the luxury to explore these characters and their relationship to the times – to get at the truth of their lives.  <i>Mad Men</i> is addictive on so many levels because it’s a psychological adventure, an entry into a tumultuous past that has shaped our current world of mass media - of reality shows and twenty-four-hour news. In this context, it’s not just a joy to watch and a benign habit, but, through the range of its insight, a lush oasis of sanity.</span></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH9oIMWf1Mrzcp9v_6fMVh1rFdkD6jEWJbAty1EwZ5IuFWAgNjQ5nr5IaOCdhes4_nrm5HH9kjtAvHG7eps7Jyzh_3JBSQVRrYl50lvm06YM5BGd2VtvfChyphenhyphen1ueBZpMnGypv75sHbfIXpk/s1600/season+2+artwork.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH9oIMWf1Mrzcp9v_6fMVh1rFdkD6jEWJbAty1EwZ5IuFWAgNjQ5nr5IaOCdhes4_nrm5HH9kjtAvHG7eps7Jyzh_3JBSQVRrYl50lvm06YM5BGd2VtvfChyphenhyphen1ueBZpMnGypv75sHbfIXpk/s1600/season+2+artwork.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Motorcycle Boy, a new contributor to the Lady Eve's Reel Life, is a loyal follower of this blog as well as a family friend. <span style="font-family: Arial;">H</span></i></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">e has worked professionally in the fields of psychology and  music, is a longtime resident of the San Francisco Bay Area and  a lifelong lover of art and history.</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>

Mad Men Motorcycle Boy Mad Men: Through a Glass Darkly

by guest contributor Motorcycle Boy “A personality marked by traits of compulsive and habitual use of a substance or practice in an attempt...

My Life In Kenya: A Musungu Memoir -- Part 4

8:32 AM Tukiyooo 0

When we weren’t visiting schools in Kenya, we were visiting churches. They often expressed their gratitude to us for visiting them in “such a remote part of Kenya.” I did not have the context to know it was “remote.” But it reminded me of the appreciation our rural congregations in Nevada express just for my ordinary visits. There is a blessing in having one’s presence and mission acknowledged from the outside. We felt blessed to be so welcomed.<br /><br />The first thing to impress me about the Diocese of Machakos was the number of congregations. There are 120 parishes, but a parish can include several congregations. There are about 300 congregations. The second thing to impress me is that they are growing, growing, growing. Everywhere I looked, they were building new churches for new congregations or building larger churches for congregations that had outgrown their buildings. Why is that? I suspect the very different process they use for discernment, formation, and ordination may have something to do with it.<br /><br />Evangelists. While visiting churches, I learned something fascinating about the ordination process in Kenya. While visiting the Philippines, I learned that the discernment and formation process leading to the ordination of a priest can take 8 to 10 years. Well, it is similar in Kenya, though the process is different in a fascinating way.<br /><br />The first step toward priesthood is training as an evangelist. The training is very short and simple. But the newly trained evangelist is then put to work building up the church. Only after putting in one’s time in the field as an evangelist can one begin formal training for priesthood. How long? Some had gotten a fast track – 2 years of evangelism work. Others had spent 6 to 9 years doing evangelism. <br /><br />This evangelism-first process affects the Kenyan Church in two ways. First, it insures they have people in the field with the sole job of church growth. There are 90 stipendiary priests, 30 non-stipendiary priests, and 30 evangelists at work in the Diocese of Machakos today. Second, the priests are formed as evangelists. In the U. S., we still labor under a 1960’s therapeutic model of priesthood. The emphasis is on counseling and pastoral care. That made sense when the society was already churched; but not in a place where 87% of the people have no faith connection. In Machakos, the emphasis is on sharing the gospel truth and bringing unaffiliated people into the community of faith. <br /><br />Here in the U.S., we talk a lot about division and decline. The church is making plans to retrench, to adapt to the inevitable process of shrinkage. Those who still hope to spread the gospel message are looking for ways to replace the church family with a no-demands individualistic spirituality. I call it Dollar General Christianity – sell more by cutting the cost. But Kenya has a different idea. We go about being the church in different ways to achieve different results. I understand the goal in Kenya far better than I understand whatever it is we are up to in the West.<br /><br />Exorcism. We visited one congregation where the Bishop’s specially designated team of exorcists does a lot of mano a mano combat with witchcraft, demons, and supernatural evil. I feel fairly sure Bishop Kanuku took me there with a bit of mischief in his mind. I think he figured me for a Western rationalist who would be utterly wierded out by exorcism. I was grateful for three things that had me ready for them – my experience in the charismatic renewal movement, my training in inner healing training where we learned a thing or two about these practices; and some reading I have done in cross-cultural pastoral care. I learned that what happens or is perceived to happen has a lot to do with our assumptions about what is possible, those assumptions are different in different cultures, and what happens here ain’t necessarily the way it works on the other side of the world. So I was able to have a good give and take conversation with the exorcists – a conversation in which we respected without pretending to completely understand each other. I promised to send Bishop Kanuku the prayers for blessing Holy Water I recently shared with the Nevada priests. Water blessed with this prayer will cure what ails ya, including the random demon.<br /><br />So much can get lost in translation cross culturally. A nice young man in my church in Georgia kept urging his wife to come meet me. He thought she’d like what I had to say. But the one day she finally showed up, I was away and the supply priest was from Nigeria. His sermon was a long tirade against “witchcraft.” Well the poor young woman there for the first time was a practicing tree-hugging Wiccan. The sermon did not leave her heart strangely warmed. Let me just say that the witchcraft African clergy are up against is nothing like the rituals of New Age Americans. It’s about dominating others, often hurting others. The world in which the African Church serves is different. We may not understand it. But we need to respect it. <br /><br />LGBT Issues. Speaking of respecting what we do not understand, yes I was asked about “gay marriage” (the hot button term for a number of LGBT issues). This was a question on which we simply were not going to agree, but the conversation was honest, authentic, and respectful. Again I felt grateful for prior preparation. The Indaba Group process and Bible Studies from Lambeth Conference 2008 had given me a sense of what Anglicans in Africa fear from decisions we make in the U.S. I explained, albeit only in part, our experience and the theology that influences us, but did not try to persuade them that I was right – only that a person could genuinely believe what I believe and still be a Christian. No one walked off in a huff. We discussed it, moved on, and had continuing friendly conversation about other matters. I don’t think that would have been possible a decade ago. It is today. In God’s time, things sort themselves out.

My Life In Kenya: A Musungu Memoir -- Part 4

When we weren’t visiting schools in Kenya, we were visiting churches. They often expressed their gratitude to us for visiting them in “such ...