I got tired of having _God Bless America_ "shoved down my throat" (Eeyew... Pagan cliche!) in song and on bumper-stickers and other chotchky that I made my own poster:
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(well, televangelists, anyway) who asserts that *their* God founded the USA on Judeo-Christian values (or just Christian values in most cases) seem to forget about that one goddess standing large and proud in NY Harbor. Would they have her removed in their Christian America like the Taliban blowing Buddhist statues? ::grumble::
Sorry. Hot button off-topic issue. I'll shut up now (especially if you go look at my picture. :o) )
Aaaaarrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!! Just when it was safe to forget! (Actually, I still have one of my ever-so-stylish plaid skirts. Knee length or lower, of course. yeah right.)
Ain't it the truth?!?! Like rabbits! At least my mom's side of the family, anyway.
10 Hail Marys and an Our Father after you've gone to confession. And don't forget church service at school, then on the weekends!
That gave me a good giggle. Thanks for the reminders, Kathy!
Rachel T. Damn right I'm good in bed. I can sleep for days. ;)
Christmas and Easter are *national holidays*, and even most institutions/businesses that are open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day ... usually close for those events.
Being Judeo/Christian is usually assumed, unless you specifically say you aren't. Rather like being heterosexual is assumed unless you state that you aren't.
I think this is what Celine is referring to...
I agree with Kathy N-V's take on the ineffable nature of the divine Source, and also its comprehensive, non-exclusive nature, which is beyond all limits and definitions.
But large chunks of our population -do- define and limit it to fit their own image, and in the process, other people's non-conforming images are excluded. This isn't to say that Kathy, or other individual people whose minds are open to spiritual diversity are -personally- endorsing that exclusion. Just saying that it exists, and has an impact on those whose versions of the sacred are not included.
Be my guest -- although I was going to do another, larger render with a white deckled edge specificaly for a t-shirt transfer. Once that shipment of round tuits comes in, of course. :o)
Some 30 or 40 years ago, black people started raising a fuss because almost all children's books -- those in the public schools, and those in most libraries -- contained *only* illustrations of white people (except for the occasional janitor). They said that the effect of this was to marginalize and exclude black people from mainstream society; in effect, to make them "non-persons".
They were told that they were being ridiculously over-sensitive; that this was just the way things were, and it wasn't hurting anybody; that the lack of inclusion didn't mean they were being excluded; that they should go find some
*real* offenses to fuss about. But they didn't stop fussing.
Nowadays, if we were to pick up a children's book set in contemporary America and find only illustrations of white people, it would seem very strange. We would recognize that the book did not accurately reflect the society in which we live. Black people, and Middle Easterners, and Indian/Pakistanis, and Asians, are no longer "non-persons".
I have a dream -- and some hope of actually seeing it in my lifetime -- that one day it will seem just as strange to think about going to a public patriotic event and hearing only one religion mentioned, for the same reasons. I would like to live to see an America in which Muslims and Hindus and pagans and Buddhists and atheists are not, effectively speaking, "non-persons". But I also know that it will *never* happen if people like me don't fuss... because right now "Oh, that's just the way things are, and it's not hurting anyone."
vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from snipped-for-privacy@mindspring.com (Lee S. Billings) :
]I have a dream -- and some hope of actually seeing it in my lifetime -- that ]one day it will seem just as strange to think about going to a public patriotic ]event and hearing only one religion mentioned, for the same reasons. I would ]like to live to see an America in which Muslims and Hindus and pagans and ]Buddhists and atheists are not, effectively speaking, "non-persons". But I also ]know that it will *never* happen if people like me don't fuss... because right ]now "Oh, that's just the way things are, and it's not hurting anyone."
very good points, Celine. i'm on your side.
----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)
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Bill of Rights - Void where prohibited by Law.Regime Change in 2004 - The life you save may be your own.
Actually when I am in conversation, I do refer to God. As in, if the life lesson doesn't work until you have a crisis, I don't mind calling it "God's way of getting your attention". It's easier to say, and easier to be understood, than if I say the imbalance in your mind will cause the universe to thump you harder if you don't learn your lessons. One the other hand, "God getting your attention" sounds like an individual pulling your strings. Which is not what I believe. Same as "God bless you". Which could also be stated "Blessed be".
It's funny, I don't mind the inaccurate wording. Proably because as a woman I have been marginalized. As a person with an unusual learning and thinking processes I have been marginalized. As a person with Depression I am marginalized. So being misunderstood is quite normal to me. If I can communicate accurately by using inaccurate words, I can tolerate it.
Technology is not being my friend this evening. :-(
I've created the shop on Cafe Press, but I'm unable to upload the graphic. Called California, and was told "We're doing an update -- that's probably what's causing you to get booted off..."
At 4:45pm? And I'm watching my DSL transfer rates drop to nil.
Now that it's after-hours out there I'll have another go at it. Otherwise, it won't be ready until tomorrow morning.
Arondelle wrote: > Shall it be mini-posters (11"x17") or t-shirts? Or both?
Got 1 image up loaded. However, it's only big enough for the t-shirt, so instead of the poster, I put up a calendar print. Poster tomorrow.
My Cafe Press shop is:
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fancy about the shop just yet (it was enough of a pain just getting it set up).
If there's a graphic on my website that you might like on a t-shirt or whatever, let me know. This may turn out to be a way to fund my beading addiction, and my 3d art addiction, too. :-)
Heh. Any woman who thinks sexism is nonexistent these days has never tried to buy a car. It got so bad the last time *I* was looking that I eventually resorted to calling dealerships and asking if they had any female salespeople before I'd go over there!
Exactly. Forty years ago it was color; today it's religion. But the issue is precisely the same.
The urge to play "Us vs. Them" seems to be deeply ingrained into the human psyche. Our country is better than anyone else's; our state is better than anyone else's; our city is better than anyone else's; our neighborhood, our church, our school, our family is better than anyone else's. Californians are loonies, Texans all carry guns, Alabamans are dumb, they don't wear shoes in Arkansas, everyone in Chicago speaks with an Italian accent -- it's all part and parcel of the same process.
On Mon, 7 Jul 2003 23:15:38 -0400, Christina Peterson wrote (in message ):
Ya think? As a Bostonian, I don't find it quick. It took me quite a bit of time to learn to appreciate the slower pace of Southern speech. And I think I was the only person to ever visit Hawaii and never learn to "hang loose."
One stereotype I'll readily admit: We New Englanders are maniacal drivers. It's not just Bostonians, who are nuts because there are so many of them crammed in such a small space. I've seen some Rhode Islanders that play amazingly fast and loose with the rules of the road, and some Down Easters that are positively scary.
Alaskans do tend to be more
I know a few people who moved from Massachusetts to Alaska and they were all rather free spirited. Maybe they felt confined in our crowded little state.
Not even all that different. When it comes down to it, all people are essentially the same. We love our families; whether biological or the people we choose to consider family. We want to be safe, healthy, cared for and fed. We hope for a better future. We are born and we die. All the rest is just "window dressing."
I read somewhere that we share over 99% of our DNA with things like lizards and mice. If we have that much in common with lizards, who seem so different than people, we really have no cause to see the trivial differences in each other.
vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Christina Peterson" :
]But there ARE also regional differences that are real. Californians do tend ]to be more relaxed and tolerant, and often zany.
tolerant and zany, i'll buy. everywhere i go, people tell me to talk more slowly. and when my relatives were visiting from the Midwest, i thought they'd NEVER get to the end of a sentence!
]New Yorkers do tend to ]talk faster and be more abrupt (faster paced). Alaskans do tend to be more ]independent thinking (lots more people here vote for people who will never ]win the election). ] ]Different, not better or worse.
yep!
----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)
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Bill of Rights - Void where prohibited by Law.Regime Change in 2004 - The life you save may be your own.
But it's still useful for a Westerner to know, when doing business with someone in NY in the garment industry eg, that you are not being barked at or disliked. It's just a regional communication style that's paced differently.
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