boston commoner.

welcome home

Mels just sent me a fun “tag” game…all the way from Germany. I credit her with most of the text that follows, as I did a quick cut and paste job so that I could finish writing her a long-overdue e-mail (its on its way soon, Mels ;o) (more…)

Well, I am back from a long weekend in the Chicago area. Ever heard of Chesterton, Indiana? Neither had I, till my friends moved there. Paul and Tomania Kelly generously hosted me in their fantastic new home for four days. It was great to catch up with Tomania, especially (since she really is the reason I went; sorry Paul). She is one of those friends with whom one can always pick up with where one left off. She pops up in a post every once in a while, so you might recognize the name; and, if you do happen to know a Tomania, chances are it is this one (Tomanias don’t grow on trees, at least not in this country).

While checking out Tomania’s computer files this weekend, I was able to snag this pic from our reunion in Maine last summer. Paul is the tall guy in red, and Tomania is quite obviously the only female in the pic. She’s standing next to her big little brother, Ben; Steven Banks, Paul’s good friend, is there on the end. I avoided being caught on film by insisting on taking the picture ;o) I could write more, but I’ve got laundry and all kinds of office work to straighten out before I head off to my first Red Sox game of the season this evening. Suffice it to say, Tomania is a blessing. So are really cheap airline tickets, or else I’d never see her! Thanks for the awesome weekend, Tomania!

Well, I just took a lunch break at the Border’s bookstore cafe. Got my little sandwich, chips, coffee, and a handful of Lindt truffles and sat down with a pile of books in a nearly empty cafe, ready to enjoy an hour away from the phone, the computer, and anything resembling a television set. But peace and quiet evaded me, as they usually do when I try to eat out alone. No dice. There were three old (and I do mean old) ladies sitting in the cafe area, and talking–loudly. Very loudly. I’m not sure they realized how loudly. Like I said, they were old. I don’t mean to be disresepctful at all. Just stating the facts.

But it wasn’t their manner of conversation that prevented my peace and quiet. I’d take old lady gossip any day over screaming toddlers (especially screaming toddlers with indulgent parents saying, “Ooooh! My aren’t you cute when you’re a grumpy gus!” every time the kid throws a tantrum; I’ve met these in the Border’s cafe, as well…) No, if they’d just been loud old ladies, I probably could have blocked them out, or found their manners quaint and eavesdropped with pleasure. My discomfort, on the other hand, arose from their subject of conversation: the Pope; religion; Methodists and Goerge W. Bush; religion; heaven; absolution; religion… (more…)

At first I was surprised to hear that Michael Schiavo was requesting an autopsy on his wife’s brain; now I think I’m beginning to understand.

George Felos, the attorney for Schiavo’s husband, Michael, has said that a Florida medical examiner has agreed to perform an autopsy after Terri Schiavo dies. Florida courts have ruled that she is in a persistent vegetative state.

That condition is a clinical diagnosis and cannot by confirmed by an autopsy, said Curtis Doberstein, associate professor of clinical neurosurgery at Brown Medical School in Providence. The most important test would be a neurological examination ***BEFORE*** she dies that observes her consciousness, perceptions and reflexes, among other things, he said (emphasis mine).

Above quoted from USA TODAY online article, “Diagnosis will not be verified by autopsy”
by Donna Leinwand. Posted 3/29/2005 10:06 PM. For entire article, click here.

Okay, so there is a discussion about fundamentalism going on. Once again I have spent a good part of my working morning checking out recent related discussions and comment threads on Bailie’s and Bixby’s blogs. What I really appreciate about so many of those willing to take part in these discussions is that they have, as Pastor Bixby puts it on Bails, “dared to speak out against the sins of this group while staying in it. Not running away from it as too many… who still criticize it from afar have done” (emphasis mine).

And now here I am making a humble request to those like Pastor Bixby who have done the “leg work” and have, as he has (I gather, long before this discussion ever swept the blogosphere), “studied, prayed, examined positions, analyzed, prayed, critiqued, called upon God, confessed [their] sins, committed [themselves] to His will, re-examined [their] doubts, pored over thousands of thousands of pages, determined not to be a man-pleaser, fought in the Spirit, fought in the flesh, asked forgiveness, demonstrated arrogance, prayed, cried, scorned, and prayed, [who] in the end, [have] become [fundamentalists] by conviction.” (more…)