Love


Hello dear friends. I just got done eating an entire box of Kraft Mac and Cheese so before the carb-atonic
coma kicks in, I thought I’d write about the recent resignation slip handed in by Establishment Faith groups and the new day for Progressive Faith models.

As a Californian, I of course have been watching the Prop 8 develop like a “too much peppers” poop:
Something was afoot-a rumbling in some folks’ tummies. Out they pooped upon the landscape and now we’re dealing with the fallout. However-like any home clearing bowel movement, its acted as a clarion call to open a window.

Out of the shadows steps people of faith that are relevant, American ideal adhering, and on the side of history.

Firstly: When we’ve got people killing themselves in their foreclosed homes and nearly 10% unemployment and faith groups spending millions of dollars and millions of hours of effort to create an environment of inequality for a minority population, those faith groups have jumped the shark into abysmal irrelevance. This is essentially an act of handing over any right to speak “prophetically to the nation(s).” Arguably, the ‘prophetic’ is about misplaced values (idolatry) and injustice. I think that while people go hungry and there’s two wars going on, an argument over sematics and “definitions” is one way for any faith movement to sign up for the “misplaced concern” hall of fame.
Winner: Emerging progressive faith communities. Loser: Old Time Religion

Secondly: I’m confused about people who haven’t got the whole “Under God With Liberty And Justice For All” thing. Look-we’re in a racist and unfair country. We’ve got to get our shit together and start looking into systematic racism and the war on poor people we’re waging. We’ve got to find a way to educate our urban children, protect our workers migrant or not with the dignity due to human beings. This is the work of justice. And when a buncha “faithful” people rally around taking away the fully inclusive rights of some and neglect the basic tenets of the Constitution, its hard to gain momentum on the other justice issues too. America’s greatest ideals are about creating a safehaven in the world where everyone gets a fair shake. It has not always lived up to that promise. We have moved towards that goal-and we have been opposed in this goal by some faith groups every step of the way. (I say some. Progressive faiths have always been a part of the solution too. I know this.) The American constitution always historically wins out. I hate to say it, but for those folks who voted for Proposition 8 in California: Your faith’s cultural and spiritual vigor has been depleted and you just haven’t got what America is about yet. Look-people’s inherent constitutionally (and “god given” meaning essential and irrevocable) granted rights are not up for a vote. That’s why there’s a constitution to protect us all from a tyranny of the majority. Regardless of whatever your faith tells you about society being built upon the foundation of hetero-only families, what our society is founded upon is equal rights under law (and that whole life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness stuff too).

Lastly, our nation’s and our world’s young people are on to you. You see, there’s this thing called the Internet SupernetInfo Byway Overpass Web and it’s made the world a San Francisco. No, not in that all the world has really beautiful weather, environmentally friendly and forward thinking business, great coffee, and super mass transit: all the world is a major global port. Only Duluth Minnesota is now a global port of information. And the fear tactics of Old Time Religion is based on a lack of information. Kids are told about Leviticus and they go click on “Hermeneutics” and “Biblical Scholarship” and can figure out pretty quick the same thing that Progressive faiths have been saying for the last 300 years. Information is fluid and relationships are expanding. Guess what happens when one is related to others and isn’t misinformed about them? They begin to foster compassion, understanding, love, intimacy, vulnerability, mutual goals, community, etc. etc.

Prop 8 had its winners and its losers and Old Time Religion is on the ropes.
We can see how the voting has changed in this country over the years.
I’ve spoken with elementary school kids in the Valley who proudly share that their
beloved teacher is a lesbian.
We’ve got kids who know that global warming is real and that we can decide to make the environment for poor people in LA, Asia, Africa, Richmond, Detroit better or worse depending on our ethics and actions.
We know that we can achieve peace through non-violent means and that through solidarity and unity we can do anything as a nation or as a people.

Thank God for the Progressive Faith witness to lead the charge in justive, love, relevance, and real results for a better world. To all you Pagans, Muslims, Sikhs, Sufis, Hindis, Witches, Christians, Atheists, Jews, and other people of faith who are going the good work of justice for all-keep it up. You’ve got one Catholic in L.A. who’s just ate 2,800 calories of Mac and Cheese behind you.

And now its time for a nap.

Breakfast Nirvana by Kasse

Breakfast Nirvana by Kasse

Dear Co-worker,

Like links, are your fingers,
of little sausages and berliners
are your eyes. Your skin is milky white.
Your lips are delicate strips of bacon,
your tits are eggs bright, facing the sun. I’m craving
some of your muffin top, sex appeal, sits atop
pancake booty with cheeks like apple peels and a dollop
of your luscious forest of beef gravy hair.
Skip the hash browns. Take me down.
Orange juice with pulp is your appeal.
Your body is a breakfast, my favorite meal.

Sincerely,

Your Co-worker

I woke up today from a horrible nightmare.
Its a recurring genre of nightmare I have where Christians are making me feel horrible.
This happens quite a bit, actually. The one this morning was of an old Protestant pastor I
knew who in this particular dream was telling me to stay away from the youth of his church for fear that I would corrupt them and called me “an assassin of Christ”.
It made me feel horrible.
Its not just dreams like this that can ruin my mornings. All I have to do is recall Christian friends who have begun to feel that I was “too Christian”, “too legalistic”, “too liberal”,”not Christian”, “not the right kind of Christian”, or “under the influence of demons” (this is a personal favorite).

That dream made me realize I needed to clarify a bit a statement I made back in a comment dialogue attached to my movie review of “Religulous” where I stated that “I didn’t mind people telling me that I was going to hell but was more interested in how the belief that others are going to hell affects the potential for community.”

I take it back. To a certain degree. I know that I will always be in the wrong to someone and as the saying goes, “You can’t please everyone’s God 100% of the time.” So, I’m ready for whatever horrible dungeon any number of devotees might threaten me with.
BUT
not everyone is.
And I think that I’ve got to start holding these ‘eternal torture’ asswipes accountable.

You see, kids don’t know that hell is bullshit. Kids believe whatever you tell them. I tell my friend Jared’s niece Tiffanie that she’s cool and she is TOTALLY NOT cool. She still plays with Barbies. I mean c’mon. Bratz  are soooo much cooler. Tiffanie pretty much sucks.

And let’s face it: Telling Irish Catholics that they’re going to hell is old fucking hat.
I tell my entire family that they’re nothing but a bunch of Babylonian Sluts or Whores of Babylon or whatever. Slutty Persians.
They’re a big ol’ idolatrous heathonistic pile of pagans as far as I’m concerned. We’re an easy target and for as much ribbing as we get from the “Real Jesus Lovers” nothing too bad ever happens to us.
For instance, we recently haven’t had to fend for our Constitutional rights by a majority vote.

I’m a white guy who’s pretty hetero-normative (I’m not so much bi-curious as I am thigh-curious. Have you seen the legs on Shia LaBouff?) so I’m under the radar of the Hounds of Hell.
But it seems to me that its no coincidence that those who are more easily ‘essentialized’ get more of the
shitty end of the hell stick.
That’s the way it usually has been right? Women, people whose skin doesn’t quite match the en vogue pigment, people who love people with unapproved genital sets….

Hell, if God’s gonna torture ‘em for eternity, why not get ‘em warmed up?
Give ‘em a razzin’ or two? Drag some folks behind trucks? Keep them folks on THAT side of the fence.

Just as I have white privilege, I have “hell privilege”.
I can praise Jesus loudly and fool the Hell Hounds.
Some people can’t hide there “hell-boundedness” as well as I can.
The real life results of Hellish thinking make it easier to beat, diminish, oppress, and throw away as ‘Other’ “unsaved and hellbound” folks and its for those reasons that I’m repenting on hell….
I do care who you’re saying is going to burn in hell forever.
Because they’re my friends and family.
And you spoutin’ off that they’re maggot fodder to their very core-their very essence
gets played out in all kinds of real, tangible violence.
I’m sick of Napolean Complex Gods in the tiny minds of Hell Hounds going unchecked.

Unfortunately, I don’t believe that peoples minds will ever be changed theologically aside from loving, listening, caring dialogue. So all you Hell Hounds better be ready for a considerate and patient response from me next time I hear you say “hell”.
That’s right. I’m gonna listen carefully and show you how much I value you.
And then I’ll gently offer you another way.
Because life is hell enough as it is without turning religion into an argument.

Ryan “Flames Are Presently Licking My Taint” McGivern

            So here in California, where I am the palest of residents, we will soon be voting on the rights and status of a minority population. We love this stuff!

            You may think that California is all fun and games-coke, surfing, broccoli and meth farms, fields of weed and military bases. Well, you’d be in part right. We are all about fun here. But we also know how to get things done when it comes to calling into question the basic tenets of our country’s Constitution.

            More than a 110,000 Japanese ‘interned’ at our scenic getaways during the Second World War can tell you: California is a great place to live and an even better place to be scape-goated!

            Hey! You think that we’d be tuckered out with all this ‘economic crisis’? Pah!
            Bring it on.

            War, poverty, hunger, drought, environmental collapse, sickness, over stretched education system, jam packed prisons—We don’t even notice that shit anymore.

            Because we’ve got bigger fish to fry: Who’s loving who.

           

            So we’re ready to vote on Prop. 8!
            Thank Jesus for the California Family Council and their ilk.

           

            Now people will tell you that this whole thing is recalling the ‘tradition’ and ‘religion’ soaked arguments against interracial marriage.

            (Was that even illegal in America? That seems silly. Having so many caring Christians around, they wouldn’t have let that happen right?)

            Turns out that California dealt with the issue of interracial marriage back in 1948-

back when we still had God in our schools, God wasn’t mocked by Harry Potter, and our children felt horrible for masturbating.

 

            Here’s some highlights from Perez v. Lippold- a case over a Mexican American, Andrea Perez, wanting to marry African American Sylvester Davis…

           

            “The right to marry is as fundamental as the right to send one’s child to a particular school or the right to have offspring.”

           

            “Legislation infringing such rights must be based upon more than prejudice and must be free from oppressive discrimination to comply with the constitutional requirements of due process and equal protection of the laws.”
           

            “Since the right to marry is the right to join in marriage with the person of one’s choice, a statute that prohibits an individual from marrying a member of a race other than his own restricts the scope of his choice and thereby restricts his right to marry. It must therefore be determined whether the state can restrict that right on the basis of race alone without violating the equal protection of the laws clause of the United States Constitution.”

 

            “A state law prohibiting members of one race from marrying members of another race is not designed to meet a clear and present peril arising out of an emergency. In the absence of an emergency the state clearly cannot base a law impairing fundamental rights of individuals on general assumptions as to traits of racial groups.”

 

            Hmmmm….That Justice Traynor must have been a real activist judge enforcing his will upon the people. Radical elitist.

 

            So what were people saying back in the Good Old Days against interracial marriage? Here’s some great quotes gathered from www.vtfreetomarry.org

           

            “Allowing interracial marriages “necessarily involves the degradation” of

conventional marriage, an institution that “deserves admiration rather than

execration.’”

 

            “[A]t the very time the Constitution of the United States was being formulated,

miscegenation was considered inimical to the public good and was

frowned upon by the colonies, and continued to be so regarded and

prohibited in states having any substantial admixture of population at the time

the 14th amendment was adopted.”

 

            “Civilized society has the power of self-preservation, and, marriage being the

foundation of such society, most of the states in which the Negro forms an

element of any note have enacted laws inhibiting intermarriage between the

white and black races.”

 

            …….Tradition! Convention! Accepted throughout our Nation’s history! If only we had judges who were faithful to the Constitution of our founding fathers instead of radically ‘interpreting’ it….  

 

           

            Well, maybe things have changed. Maybe there’s more sense, equality, Constitutionality, care, patriotism and Christian charity happening now than before. Let’s take a look at the language being used on the voting information for Prop. 8 in the Official California Voter Information Guide as written by such gentle spirits as Ron Prentice of California Family Council, Bishop George McKinney, Jeralee Smith of the California Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays.

 

            1) They refer to the ‘gay lifestyle’ a number of times in their arguments. This is language that is more appropriate to the early 1980’s. It assumes, contrary to what science, experience, philosophy, and theology have been telling us for decades, that identity is an easily compartmentalized and categorized phenomena. I’m not even going to fall into the trap of the question of ‘is it a choice?’ or ‘are you born that way?’. Feminists, cognitive scientists, Queer Theorists, Theologians, and Christian Leaders have passed over that question a long time ago. Identity is fluid, porous….free. Hey, you mean that people are free to be who they want? That’s either American or common sense, but anyway you hack it, ‘gay lifestyle’ is a language trap that’s only appealing to the most out-of-touch or inconsiderate among us.

            2) They write that they are very fearful of ‘our children’ being taught that ‘gay marriage is okay.’ OKAY. What that exactly means, I’m not sure. Now, the freedom to marry who you want will in no way affect the education of children in public schools other than if they are to ask their teacher “do all people have equal treatment under law in their pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?” the teacher can now honestly answer “Well, were at least working in that direction.”

            This is the best word that they could come up with? OKAY? You don’t want your kids to get the idea that ‘gay marriage is okay’? Do you mean ‘legal’? Do you mean ‘not sinful’? Acceptable? I wonder if they are meaning ‘moral’? Are some people seeking to enshrine their idea of morality in state law and validate their interpretation of their religion’s norms? It seems that America has a nasty way of coming to find (albeit sometimes slowly) that these appeals to Tradition and Old Time Religion are less than compelling.

 

            3) They recall the ‘definition of marriage’. Are we fighting over the use of a word, a religious sacrament, or a civil right? Words can and will be used in different ways, and unless we want a Linguistic Council established to further bloat our Big Brother government, we’ll have to probably settle on the fact that words and the ideas behind them change. Or is it the religious sacrament? As a Catholic, believe me: I’d love for a buncha people out there to stop baptizing all willy-nilly. Baptism had been long established by Tradition and Old Time Religion and now look around us! We got Mormons baptizing dead people, we got the Triple Dunk Style, Sprinkle, Single Dunk in a MegaChurch Style….Its ridiculous! We need to go back to the traditional definition of Baptism: “Babies in white gowns crying.” If it’s the American Right to live your life the way you want and arrange your family life the way you want, then that’s a definition of marriage that doesn’t really help the Yes on Prop. 8 crowd.

 

            No where in the arguments for Yes on Prop. 8 do they mention equal protection under the law. No where is there an appeal to the Constitution (national or state) as a document that grants the same rights to everyone.

            They claim that Prop. 8 restores “the meaning of marriage to what human history has understood it to be”. This is the most sick, fascist, and bigoted nonsense of their argument. It reveals exactly what they are talking about: Their petty little world that ignores the cultures, religions, historical periods that reveal that marriage, family, love, commitment, sacraments are very cultural and religious ideas that are varied and changing. Who are they including in ‘human history’? There you have it: the clearest revelation of their agenda-deciding who is less than worthy of human dignity.

 

            Who is California going to side with on Prop. 8?

            Who do you see as human? Inhuman? Who is ‘okay’ enough to be included in your definition of human?

 

            Vote NO on Prop. 8.

           

 

            Your Pale Californian, Ryan McGivern

 

www.vtfreetomarry.org

 

           

 

Like most things, diamonds fascinate me. They symbolize wealth, purity, struggle, forever, blood, extremes, beauty, and many other words. I just read this article about them in Smithsonian Online and learned this:

The largest diamond so far found in the universe is the size of a small planet and located 50 light-years away in the constellation Centaurus. Astronomers with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics discovered the gigantic stone a few years ago, and they believe the 2,500-mile-wide diamond once served as the heart of a star. It’s ten billion trillion trillion carats. The astronomers named it Lucy in honor of the Beatles’ song “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.”

That’s totally the engagement ring I’m going to get my lover once I get a lover.  And then I learned this:

Credit for the modern cult of the diamond goes primarily to South Africa-based De Beers, the world’s largest diamond producer. Before the 1940s, diamond rings were rarely given as engagement gifts. But De Beers’ marketing campaigns established the idea that the gems are the supreme token of love and affection. Their “A Diamond Is Forever” slogan, first deployed in 1948, is considered one of the most successful advertising campaigns of all time. Through a near total control of supply, De Beers held almost complete power over the diamond market for decades, carefully hoarding the gemstones to keep prices—and profits—high. While the company has lost some of its power to competitors in Canada and Australia over the past few years, it still controls almost two-thirds of the world’s rough diamonds.

closed calculus stirs me where once unrippled
visceral lights unblighten my eyes rolled back
unworded unbounded a life in lightning
rising
(ground to cloud in Southern Minnesota heat)
a shark diving up from the water

Ryan McGivern

Get ready for Jesus’ return!
Make your plans to spend the Son of Man’s glorious return along with
me, Ryan McGivern and the rest of the mindflowers.net team
in Frankenmuth, Michigan Saturday May 21st, 2011.

Call 1-800-Fun-Town today to plan out your weekend now!

May 21st 2011 in Frankenmuth Michigan will feature the World Expo of Beer: a great
two day festival of the world’s finely crafted premier beers. Expect the beautiful setting
of Heritage Park along the serine Cass River to welcome you with the sounds of Polka, hearty laughter, and good friends to reconnect with.

Also expect the return of Jesus, the warm hearted Nazarene, as he comes to shine mercy and grace upon Earth in a rule of justice, equity, and shalom peace.

“Remember to Make Summer 2011 a Summer to Remember!”

General Beer Expo admission cost will be around 1,200$ (adjusted for inflation) but the
sight of Jesus lovingly floating through the sky over Green Acres Golf Course, Fortress Golf Club, and Timbers Golf Club will be priceless!

(The golf near Frankenmuth is exceptional. Once global order and justice is made by the King of Kings, only expect it to get better!)

Join me, Ryan McGivern, JJ, and Lo Liz in Frankenmuth Michigan May 21st, 2011!

World Beer Expo Info 
http://www.frankenmuthfestivals.com/
1 800 FUN FEST (386 3378)

litterbox.jpg

For those mindflowers readers with birthdays the day before tomorrow we bring you this mouthwatering cake in a litterbox. Click me for the recipe. [thank you boingboing!]

Gertrud Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer 1964

Dreyer’s heroine Gertrud is an answer to Kierkegaard’s heterosexual imagination and also to his ‘Johannes the Seducer’. We see here a strong female who in the film’s context of 1883 is a rebellious iconoclastic forerunner of the ‘liberated woman’. Throughout the film, we are given time to view Gertrud’s search for a love whose definition is evolving. This evolution finds its way through the course of three primary relationships whereby she achieves one of love’s great aims; knowing oneself.

Gertrud is in a loveless marriage with Gustav, a well to do aristocrat who is eyeing ever higher positions in the government. He is an echo of Torvold from Ibsen’s Dollhouse, a reasonable man who embodies Kierkegaard’s ethical realm. In Gertrud’s revealing argument with Gustav, she says that the way that he treats her is “worse than indifference. It is a lack of feeling.” Gustav is absolutely stunned by her finding the marriage unsatisfactory since she has been given a life of ease and creature comforts. But she has felt alone and isolated. “Work shouldn’t exile a wife.” She says. “But it is a man’s nature to work.” Gustav replies and argues from the cultural expectation of the day. To complete the picture of Gustav being representative of the ethical sphere of existence and without any aesthetic or immediate connection to his wife, he admits, “The woman that can drive you crazy doesn’t exist.”

In contrast to Gustav is Erland, Gertrud’s passionate lover who is a famous pianist and composer who accompanies Gertrud’s professional operatic singing. Together they comprise a passionate duo reveling in the aesthetic. As is appropriate to the aesthetic sphere, Gertrude says to Erland, “Life is a dream. A long, long clamor of dreams drifting into each other.” Erland asks, “Even my kiss? My mouth?” “Yes, also a dream.” She answers. As the story unfolds, we find that true to his seductive air, Erland is merely playing with Gertrud’s affections and has many lovers of which she is but one. In this way, she has become a Cordelia from Kierkegaard’s Seducer’s Diary.

It is then revealed that Gertrud, before either Gustav or Erland, had been married to a poet laureate of Denmark named Gabe Lidmann. He is known as the county’s “poet of love” and his famous work of poetry is titled Love and Thought. At once the initial thought is to consider Gabe the ‘love’ and Gustav the ‘thought’ but it is more complicated than that dichotomy. Gabe says to Gertrud, “I believe in the pleasures of the flesh and the loneliness of the soul.” which would seem to paint him in the aesthetic sphere with Erland, but Gabe also says, “A woman’s love and a man’s work are mortal enemies.” And because of his interest in the ‘pleasures of the flesh’ to inspire his poetry, his work begins to “dry up” because of their dwindling passion. His actions are also similar to Erland the seducer in that Gertrud discovers that Gabe had steered the relationship to create the illusion that it was Gertrud who left-when in reality she finds it was he pushing her away.

Gertrud’s attitude towards love changes in the film and we are led to believe that her final embodiment of it is the best for her and a high and estimable standard. She says early in the film, “Love is suffering. Love is sadness.” and it seems that along with the sadness, there is no joy, but that changes in the epilogue. In a very Kierkegaardian fashion, when there are flashbacks in the film, there is an abstracted quality, an unreal feeling. Through the use of lighting and camera technique, the cinematography takes on a dreamy quality. For the epilogue too, this technique is used. It seems to hearken to Kierkegaard’s idea of ‘recollection’ as being projected in the past and future. In the epilogue we learn that Gertrud has lived completely independent of men and has learned, “Amor Omnia”, that “love is all”. She is not unhappy, and quite content living the solitary life. Not only has she found happiness in releasing herself from the past and from dependence on others, but we find Gustav and Gertrud’s secret admirer have also. All three at different times come to destroy the fetishes of their love-letters and pictures. As they do so, they free themselves from the ‘hoarding of an objectified love’ in the style of Kierkegaard’s seducer. As the movie closes, our attention is drawn to the beauty and religious nature of Gertrud’s new found faith/love of which she says, “there is nothing but love” with the herald of ringing church bells. Lars von Trier uses this same herald for the heroine Bess’ faith/love.

Worth1000.com sponsors fantastic photoshopping contests. This week, puppets are on the docket. And just in case you are filing away details about me (ahem, I.N.S. Agents, back the frick off!!), I adore puppets more than I enjoy most people, because, you know, I’m a control freak. And because puppets are plenty more likely to permit me to stick my hand inside ‘em.

Ms. Piggy has human feet, FYI:
kermit.jpg
.
Pinocchio takes a lie detector test:
pino.jpg

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