Call/email Barb about wedding
Work on Latin homework
Start seedlings
Clean up
Update the next morning. Hopefully I will get to the things I didn't get done yesterday today. And the mold testing company is due here this morning at 10:00 a.m.
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Things To Do Today
I woke up with all the things I want to get done rolling around in my head. So here's my to list (I'm updating as I go):
Feed pets
This list!
Unload dishwasher, put away pots and pan
Clean up dishes that didn't quite get done last night
Put on load of napkins and dish towels
Smoothies for breakfast
Make R lunch to go
Start pot roast in slow cooker
Shower
Call mold company
Call/email Barb about wedding
Work on Latin homework
Walk dog
Start seedlings
Lunch
Pick up B from co-op
Have B walk dog at some point in afternoon
Prep for Latin
Meet with Marion
Watch Dylan
Make dinner salad
Dinner
Clean up
Put Dylan to bed
Read
Update the next morning. Hopefully I will get to the things I didn't get done yesterday today. And the mold testing company is due here this morning at 10:00 a.m.
Call/email Barb about wedding
Work on Latin homework
Start seedlings
Clean up
Update the next morning. Hopefully I will get to the things I didn't get done yesterday today. And the mold testing company is due here this morning at 10:00 a.m.
Monday, February 25, 2019
And Now . . . The Anti-Candida Diet!
So, as I have complained many times here, I feel, B has been on an anti-inflammatory diet which is no gluten, no cow dairy, no soy. She also developed an allergy to nuts so she's no tree nuts. It's been difficult to adjust, but we've done it. Except, she really has been eating lots of sweets and eating lots of gf breads/bagels, etc.
Well, her black mold tests came back and her numbers were slightly lower in 3 areas and higher in a 4th. She finished her charcoal and glutathimine. So now we are testing her room for mold (looking into getting a company in this week) and they put her on a low sugar diet. Apparently all those refined carbs and sugar create a nice petri dish for black mold to thrive in.
So she's only allowed a tsp of honey or maple syrup a day plus 3 low sugar fruits. However, the nutritionist made two excepts she can have a small or 1/2 banana in a smoothie and she can have a little bit of peanut butter. She actually isn't supposed to have pb because apparently peanuts, along with mushrooms and potatoes are high mold foods!
But we have to wean into this. B is completely off any gf free grain except rice, quinoa and oats. She's off any refined sugar. Both of those things are huge! She was regularly eating gluten free cookies or brownies, gf bagels. Since she's avoiding nuts she couldn't have anything that had almond flour in it (which is a lot of gf baked goods) so she ate only the ones with potato starch, tapioca, etc. I could tell they were pretty empty and junky. Just cuz something's gf doesn't make it healthy! She also had a lot of sugary drinks, sodas, iced teas, refreshers from Starbucks.
She's been doing about 3 tsps of honey a day. Plus she's been having peanut butter that has cane sugar in it. Plus she gets to have that high sugar banana! So she's still getting way more sugar than they want her to have, but it is greatly reduced in terms of what she was eating before.
They also have to put her on a prescription medicine since the other protocol didn't seem to work. This medicine is really constipating, so she has to way up her fiber. She has to have 8 servings of low starch vegetables a day. this includes fresh herbs.
Breakfast: eggs cooked with herbs/spinach, etc., sausage, low sugar fruit (green apple, berries)
or
Smoothie made with plain goat yogurt, veggies like spinach, cucumber, avocado, herbs like mint/parsley, berries, small or 1/2 banana.
Lunch: big salad with lots of veggies and some kind of meat or fish.
Dinner: half of plate of veggies/salad, with meat/fish
Snack: low sugar fruit or pumpkin/sunflower seeds
Beverages: water, herbal tea, bone broth, veggie juice
The nutritionist told her she could make 'energy balls' if she's really having a sweet tooth craving. B found a recipe. I think these still have too much sugar in them. I think she needs to reduce the amount of honey perhaps, since the peanut butter already had some cane sugar. These were so delicious and tasted like fudge:
Rolled oats
Pumpkin and sunflower seeds (I bought a bag of raw, unsalted)
Coconut flakes
Peanut butter
Honey
100% cocoa powder
I don't know the proportions, but wow, are they delicious. We are trying to only eat 2 a day.
We really bad at this no sugar thing.
The other thing we are bad at is living without potatoes. This includes sweet potatoes. We are making an exception for Tuesdays when B is at the co-op and walks with friends to the Chick fil A to eat lunch. She'll get a small order of fries. And when she gets a paleo burger at Elevation Burger, she'll also get a small fry or even share a small fry.
Anyway, we are going through a period of adjustment. B is trying to eat more red meat for her anemia and also she truly is trying to eat more vegetables. I made steamed broccoli the other night. I steamed it lightly because if you overcook broccoli, in my opinion, it goes from being delicious to disgusting very easily. Then I dressed it in olive oil, lemon juice and a little sea salt. She ate a lot!
Last night I made up my own recipe for pork fried rice. I made rice in the rice cooked with homemade chicken broth.
I had 4 pork chops to share among 7 people, so I sliced up the meat in thin strips and stir fried it. I am saving what I could not slice up nicely to flavor some spinach later in the week.
Then I cooked up some zucchini, yellow squash, celery and red onion. Then I threw in the cooked rice and sprinkled it all generously with coco aminos. Then I added an egg to make it egg fried rice and finally some chopped parsley.
Everyone liked it! I think the rice and coco aminos disguised the squash and celery enough that they didn't think they were eating veggies.
For our salad we had red cabbage slaw.
I think tonight we'll have some kind of bratwurst or kielbasa with roasted butternut squash and the rest of the slaw. Tomorrow night we'll have pot roast slow cooked with lots of onions, garlic and tomatoes and a big, hearty tossed salad on the side. Wednesday will be some kind of chicken dish. Becky has been asked for a variation on my old white enchilada casserole. We can have salad and then the spinach on the side. I need to swap out ingredients: goat yogurt instead of regular, goat cheese, corn tortillas instead of wheat, and left over chicken. And green salsa. So maybe that will be Thursday night's dinner. I think we'll have a salmon salad on Friday.
I forget what the nutritionist said about corn. Sigh.
Anyway, soldiering on here!
Well, her black mold tests came back and her numbers were slightly lower in 3 areas and higher in a 4th. She finished her charcoal and glutathimine. So now we are testing her room for mold (looking into getting a company in this week) and they put her on a low sugar diet. Apparently all those refined carbs and sugar create a nice petri dish for black mold to thrive in.
So she's only allowed a tsp of honey or maple syrup a day plus 3 low sugar fruits. However, the nutritionist made two excepts she can have a small or 1/2 banana in a smoothie and she can have a little bit of peanut butter. She actually isn't supposed to have pb because apparently peanuts, along with mushrooms and potatoes are high mold foods!
But we have to wean into this. B is completely off any gf free grain except rice, quinoa and oats. She's off any refined sugar. Both of those things are huge! She was regularly eating gluten free cookies or brownies, gf bagels. Since she's avoiding nuts she couldn't have anything that had almond flour in it (which is a lot of gf baked goods) so she ate only the ones with potato starch, tapioca, etc. I could tell they were pretty empty and junky. Just cuz something's gf doesn't make it healthy! She also had a lot of sugary drinks, sodas, iced teas, refreshers from Starbucks.
She's been doing about 3 tsps of honey a day. Plus she's been having peanut butter that has cane sugar in it. Plus she gets to have that high sugar banana! So she's still getting way more sugar than they want her to have, but it is greatly reduced in terms of what she was eating before.
They also have to put her on a prescription medicine since the other protocol didn't seem to work. This medicine is really constipating, so she has to way up her fiber. She has to have 8 servings of low starch vegetables a day. this includes fresh herbs.
Breakfast: eggs cooked with herbs/spinach, etc., sausage, low sugar fruit (green apple, berries)
or
Smoothie made with plain goat yogurt, veggies like spinach, cucumber, avocado, herbs like mint/parsley, berries, small or 1/2 banana.
Lunch: big salad with lots of veggies and some kind of meat or fish.
Dinner: half of plate of veggies/salad, with meat/fish
Snack: low sugar fruit or pumpkin/sunflower seeds
Beverages: water, herbal tea, bone broth, veggie juice
The nutritionist told her she could make 'energy balls' if she's really having a sweet tooth craving. B found a recipe. I think these still have too much sugar in them. I think she needs to reduce the amount of honey perhaps, since the peanut butter already had some cane sugar. These were so delicious and tasted like fudge:
Rolled oats
Pumpkin and sunflower seeds (I bought a bag of raw, unsalted)
Coconut flakes
Peanut butter
Honey
100% cocoa powder
I don't know the proportions, but wow, are they delicious. We are trying to only eat 2 a day.
We really bad at this no sugar thing.
The other thing we are bad at is living without potatoes. This includes sweet potatoes. We are making an exception for Tuesdays when B is at the co-op and walks with friends to the Chick fil A to eat lunch. She'll get a small order of fries. And when she gets a paleo burger at Elevation Burger, she'll also get a small fry or even share a small fry.
Anyway, we are going through a period of adjustment. B is trying to eat more red meat for her anemia and also she truly is trying to eat more vegetables. I made steamed broccoli the other night. I steamed it lightly because if you overcook broccoli, in my opinion, it goes from being delicious to disgusting very easily. Then I dressed it in olive oil, lemon juice and a little sea salt. She ate a lot!
Last night I made up my own recipe for pork fried rice. I made rice in the rice cooked with homemade chicken broth.
I had 4 pork chops to share among 7 people, so I sliced up the meat in thin strips and stir fried it. I am saving what I could not slice up nicely to flavor some spinach later in the week.
Then I cooked up some zucchini, yellow squash, celery and red onion. Then I threw in the cooked rice and sprinkled it all generously with coco aminos. Then I added an egg to make it egg fried rice and finally some chopped parsley.
Everyone liked it! I think the rice and coco aminos disguised the squash and celery enough that they didn't think they were eating veggies.
For our salad we had red cabbage slaw.
I think tonight we'll have some kind of bratwurst or kielbasa with roasted butternut squash and the rest of the slaw. Tomorrow night we'll have pot roast slow cooked with lots of onions, garlic and tomatoes and a big, hearty tossed salad on the side. Wednesday will be some kind of chicken dish. Becky has been asked for a variation on my old white enchilada casserole. We can have salad and then the spinach on the side. I need to swap out ingredients: goat yogurt instead of regular, goat cheese, corn tortillas instead of wheat, and left over chicken. And green salsa. So maybe that will be Thursday night's dinner. I think we'll have a salmon salad on Friday.
I forget what the nutritionist said about corn. Sigh.
Anyway, soldiering on here!
Sunday, February 24, 2019
A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains - Book 7
I stumbled on this book, once again, when I had insomnia and went looking for a free Kindle book. Even though I planned to stick to Ancient History for these three months of the year, I am doing abysmally at keeping to my own self-imposed plan. I found this book and began to read it. I had never heard of Isabella Bird but she was quite a fantastic character. In 1873 she rode horseback for 800 miles over the course of several months, exploring the brand new state of Colorado.
I have been to Denver and I did take a tourist trip out to Georgetown but my memories are very dim. She mentions both in her journal. Bird travels all over the place, Boulder, Denver, Colorado Springs, Longmont. I was not familiar with any of the peaks she writes of, except Pike's Peak. She talks a lot about different 'parks' especially Estes Park. And I have no idea where that is.
Most of the time, Bird is riding on a horse that happened to be named Birdie. The author is an incredible adventurer. She absolutely loved the landscape, flora and fauna and crisp dry mountain air. She is incredibly hardy, traveling through two feet or more of snow in below freezing weather, in storms and wind, in her increasingly threadbare riding habit. She writes poetically of the grandeur of the nature around her. Her language is very descriptive and erudite. She often throws in quotes from English poetry to describe her feelings at glorying in the beauty around her.
She meets many colorful characters. She travels safely throughout the rugged countryside meeting all kinds of cowboys, ranchers, adventurers and even an outlaw, and yet she is never molested. There was a strong sense of chivalry. The outlaw, Mountain Jim Nugent seemed quite taken with her. She spends a lot of time with him. He seemed to be a highly gifted man with deep psychological issues. During her travels, she had to live in close quarters with strange men for days or even weeks at a time. I was really curious about how she went to the bathroom and that sort of thing but of course she never mentions that. Did she wash her hair the whole time? She doesn't say. She does talk about cooking, eating venison steaks and fresh trout, baking biscuits and cakes. At times the food is nasty, at other times a real feast. She talks about how she was constantly mending her clothes to get them to last.
One thing that was really jarring was when about 2/3s through the book she suddenly has a couple paragraphs on the American Indians. Her language is incredibly insensitive and harsh. She obviously thinks of them as subhuman. But a few pages later she is in town and enjoying a beautiful church service's music. She often references God in her praise of Colorado's beauty. It really is incongruous from our current day perspective just how good people could have such very blind bigotry.
I know the idea of women breaking free from their chains and attaining equality with men is a seemingly big deal still. But Isabella Bird out toughs most other women of today, and was proven equal or even better then the men she encountered. And yet at one point she writes about how the men she stayed with appreciated women and their civilizing influence on them. They really enjoyed having a woman around. Not to exploit or dominate, but simply as a good companion.
I enjoyed A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains. For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
 |
| Our intrepid adventurer! |
I have been to Denver and I did take a tourist trip out to Georgetown but my memories are very dim. She mentions both in her journal. Bird travels all over the place, Boulder, Denver, Colorado Springs, Longmont. I was not familiar with any of the peaks she writes of, except Pike's Peak. She talks a lot about different 'parks' especially Estes Park. And I have no idea where that is.
Most of the time, Bird is riding on a horse that happened to be named Birdie. The author is an incredible adventurer. She absolutely loved the landscape, flora and fauna and crisp dry mountain air. She is incredibly hardy, traveling through two feet or more of snow in below freezing weather, in storms and wind, in her increasingly threadbare riding habit. She writes poetically of the grandeur of the nature around her. Her language is very descriptive and erudite. She often throws in quotes from English poetry to describe her feelings at glorying in the beauty around her.
She meets many colorful characters. She travels safely throughout the rugged countryside meeting all kinds of cowboys, ranchers, adventurers and even an outlaw, and yet she is never molested. There was a strong sense of chivalry. The outlaw, Mountain Jim Nugent seemed quite taken with her. She spends a lot of time with him. He seemed to be a highly gifted man with deep psychological issues. During her travels, she had to live in close quarters with strange men for days or even weeks at a time. I was really curious about how she went to the bathroom and that sort of thing but of course she never mentions that. Did she wash her hair the whole time? She doesn't say. She does talk about cooking, eating venison steaks and fresh trout, baking biscuits and cakes. At times the food is nasty, at other times a real feast. She talks about how she was constantly mending her clothes to get them to last.
 |
| From an Estes Park tourist advert. |
One thing that was really jarring was when about 2/3s through the book she suddenly has a couple paragraphs on the American Indians. Her language is incredibly insensitive and harsh. She obviously thinks of them as subhuman. But a few pages later she is in town and enjoying a beautiful church service's music. She often references God in her praise of Colorado's beauty. It really is incongruous from our current day perspective just how good people could have such very blind bigotry.
I know the idea of women breaking free from their chains and attaining equality with men is a seemingly big deal still. But Isabella Bird out toughs most other women of today, and was proven equal or even better then the men she encountered. And yet at one point she writes about how the men she stayed with appreciated women and their civilizing influence on them. They really enjoyed having a woman around. Not to exploit or dominate, but simply as a good companion.
I enjoyed A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains. For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Saturday, February 23, 2019
Housekeeping and Nature Notes - 2/22/19
Housekeeping has been nil lately. I do clean the kitchen, mostly, and get laundry done and give a spot clean here and there to our bathrooms. And occasionally go through the piles of mail and throw stuff into recycling. But that's about it! Viviane cleaned up a bit for her guests and just today she tidied and swept the main floor. God bless her.
I have been going through the books in our study and cleaning that up somewhat. R dumped stuff from this father's condo in there and I've sort of pushed things to the corners so we can walk in and out. I did set up my seedling shelves but I still haven't gotten my soil blocker so I haven't started on that.
The weather has been wild, veering between dark, gloomy, rainy days, to bitter cold and snow, to crisp blue skies studded with clouds, to 56 degrees and lovely to this morning when I took my walk with Skipper, which is 43 degrees, cloudy and raw. The ground is so saturated, it's like walking on a sopping wet sponge except worse because it's all mud!
Taking the dog for walks, I've spied bluebirds and other song birds, hawks, turkey vultures. One day there were a few dozen Canada Geese on the pond out back. We used to have geese all the time, then they did something to the pond because the geese left. I think these were just stopping on their way some place else. They weren't there today. I also saw a Mallard duck couple for a few days as well. They were there first and then the Canada geese joined them. I didn't see them this morning so I don't know if they left with the geese or if they were just hiding among the rushes.
I had my 4th sighting of the fox this morning. I got a really good look this time. Definitely a fox and not a coyote. I really think it is a grey fox not a red one. It has a substantial amount of grey on it's back and haunches. Skipper doesn't even bark or get that excited. He just looks at it very alert. He's interested but he's never out of control excited like he is when he sees other dogs.
.jpg/1200px-Grey_Fox_(Urocyon_cinereoargenteus).jpg)
I have been going through the books in our study and cleaning that up somewhat. R dumped stuff from this father's condo in there and I've sort of pushed things to the corners so we can walk in and out. I did set up my seedling shelves but I still haven't gotten my soil blocker so I haven't started on that.
 |
| Yes, this is pathetically an after photo. I've already spent time trying to organize. |
The weather has been wild, veering between dark, gloomy, rainy days, to bitter cold and snow, to crisp blue skies studded with clouds, to 56 degrees and lovely to this morning when I took my walk with Skipper, which is 43 degrees, cloudy and raw. The ground is so saturated, it's like walking on a sopping wet sponge except worse because it's all mud!
Taking the dog for walks, I've spied bluebirds and other song birds, hawks, turkey vultures. One day there were a few dozen Canada Geese on the pond out back. We used to have geese all the time, then they did something to the pond because the geese left. I think these were just stopping on their way some place else. They weren't there today. I also saw a Mallard duck couple for a few days as well. They were there first and then the Canada geese joined them. I didn't see them this morning so I don't know if they left with the geese or if they were just hiding among the rushes.
 |
| This photo makes my seedling old baker's rack look like it tilted. |
I had my 4th sighting of the fox this morning. I got a really good look this time. Definitely a fox and not a coyote. I really think it is a grey fox not a red one. It has a substantial amount of grey on it's back and haunches. Skipper doesn't even bark or get that excited. He just looks at it very alert. He's interested but he's never out of control excited like he is when he sees other dogs.
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
#WalkAway
I've gone down a rabbit hole lately watching these #walkaway videos. I had never heard of this campaign before a few days ago, started by a gay hairdresser from New York City. He was a liberal and voted for Hillary but while suffering from the post election outrage, he had an old family friend point out that the video showing Trump making fun of a disabled reporter had been taken out of context to smear Trump. He couldn't believe it at first but after researching, he realized it was true. That made him wonder why CNN and MSNBC were pushing these videos. This was his 'red pill' moment. He gradually grew very angry at the liberal media and wound up publicly leaving the Democratic party and starting this #Walkaway campaign, first on twitter and then on Youtube. He just announced he wants to challenge AOC next election! He's from her district.
Now I do not agree with a lot of what the #walkaway videos say. I agree with some, some are over the top (see above video!) Some are kinda weird. But I myself walked away years ago because of abortion. I came from a labor union family and that's why we were Democrats. My parents really loved FDR and JFK. However, they were really troubled about abortion when that became something embraced by Democrats in the 1970s. They had to wrestle with that, but finally in the last election my mom ever voted in before her death, she voted against the Democrats, simply because she felt like she was colluding with abortionists if she continued to vote Democrat. She was a mother of 10 and a devout Catholic and she was sick to death of hearing the Democratic party push abortion. She was tired of getting all this junk mail from Planned Parenthood simply because she was a registered Democrat.
I moved away also because it was just too much to stomach after a while. Initially, I relied on the old argument I shouldn't be a single issue voter. But then I realized that this single issue effects a lot of things both culturally and politically. And it is such a grave evil, you can't just sweep it under the rug like that. However, I never have joined the Republican party. I'm an Independent. I am much more liberal on immigration and the environment, for instance, to feel comfortable being a Republican. And I am very much in sympathy with Never Trumpers. In truth, I see deep flaws in both parties. My sympathies are torn, but I tend to see the Democratic party as beyond redemption, whereas, even in the age of Trump, the Republican party seems slightly more likely to be capable of reform (emphasis on slightly!).
Here is a good example though of a great #walkaway story. This guy really impressed me.
This pastor has started a really neat thing he mentions in his video, call the 2019 Movement.
Anyway, this is an interesting social media phenomenon. It's nice to get away from the MSM groupthink and hear personal stories. That's real diversity!
Now I do not agree with a lot of what the #walkaway videos say. I agree with some, some are over the top (see above video!) Some are kinda weird. But I myself walked away years ago because of abortion. I came from a labor union family and that's why we were Democrats. My parents really loved FDR and JFK. However, they were really troubled about abortion when that became something embraced by Democrats in the 1970s. They had to wrestle with that, but finally in the last election my mom ever voted in before her death, she voted against the Democrats, simply because she felt like she was colluding with abortionists if she continued to vote Democrat. She was a mother of 10 and a devout Catholic and she was sick to death of hearing the Democratic party push abortion. She was tired of getting all this junk mail from Planned Parenthood simply because she was a registered Democrat.
I moved away also because it was just too much to stomach after a while. Initially, I relied on the old argument I shouldn't be a single issue voter. But then I realized that this single issue effects a lot of things both culturally and politically. And it is such a grave evil, you can't just sweep it under the rug like that. However, I never have joined the Republican party. I'm an Independent. I am much more liberal on immigration and the environment, for instance, to feel comfortable being a Republican. And I am very much in sympathy with Never Trumpers. In truth, I see deep flaws in both parties. My sympathies are torn, but I tend to see the Democratic party as beyond redemption, whereas, even in the age of Trump, the Republican party seems slightly more likely to be capable of reform (emphasis on slightly!).
This pastor has started a really neat thing he mentions in his video, call the 2019 Movement.
Anyway, this is an interesting social media phenomenon. It's nice to get away from the MSM groupthink and hear personal stories. That's real diversity!
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Morning Meditation
Human beings are marked simultaneously both by immortal longings and by the certainty of death. They form a crossroads between God and the whole material creation, standing at the heart of the created order. This is one reason the devil, in his revolt against the wisdom of God, seeks to wrestle humanity away from God so as to make a caricature of the creation of God and to mark the world of men with clear signs of moral capitulation and spiritual failure.
Christianity claims that God's central response to human sin, however, has been to become human. Why? If the human situation is marked by opaque meaning, residual moral frailty, and physical mortality, then why should God embrace our situation? If God is real, ought he not simply to have chosen to remake the human condition from scratch, by divine fiat? Why should he unite himself to us in our very imperfect situation? The answer is divine love. God manifests his mysterious wisdom and power not by destroying or instantly resolving our situation, but by offering us his divine mercy, grace, and friendship, and by offering all this to us in the midst of our suffering and moral fragility. Divine love has its own customs which are infinitely wise, but which are not those of men. God sees fit to "rehabilitate" the human race after sin not by destroying it, but by entering into it via incarnation, in the vulnerability of being a human child and of death by crucifixion, so as to invite the human race to discipleship and to resurrection from the dead.
From pp. 135-136, In The Light of Christ.
Monday, February 18, 2019
Lessons from Out of Town Guests
We just had some out of town guests over the weekend. It was rather impromptu. Our long term house guest has a friend from Cote D'ivoire who has settled in Ohio. He has to come back periodically to the embassy in DC. When he does he always visits V. His mother just flew here into Newark, so he drove to pick her up and then drove down here to visit. They had to crash here because they just don't have enough money for hotels, etc. Airplane flights are very expensive and budgets are extremely tight. He also brought his wife, his not-quite-two son and who I thought was his sister but she's really a cousin, who is studying here in the U.S. It was a lot of people to host for 4 days. They are extremely nice people and very grateful. However, English isn't their native language so conversation can be kind of awkward. But also I think I am discerning something in African culture. They love to have long conversations with anybody! I felt this as a weakness in my own culture and my own introverted tendencies. I can't maintain 4 hour long conversations (and not small talk!) with people I don't know all that well. The intensity of their sociability is daunting to me.
But one thing we learned about was the state of things in Cote D'ivoire. It has fractured into political rivals and the whole society is crumbling because of it. Corruption is rampant and if you oppose one side and wind up in a bad situation, you might very well end up dead. When they were freed from colonial rule, their first president was one of those presidents for life. Never a good idea! He was great at ramping up the economy though so for his long reign the country did fairly well compared to other African countries. However, opposition was brewing against him and when he died it broke loose. They had a tragic civil war that they are still recovering from. The chaos and desperation brought on more corruption. So that now you can only get anywhere if you have connections and can grease the palm of everyone along the way. There's no rule of law that is honored.
At the same time, they've never thrown off their colonial exploiters. Cote D'ivoire is the biggest exporter of cocoa and yet there are no manufacturing plants. It's mercantilism all over again, this time not forced by a colonizing country but by big multi-national corporations. The money these corporations give to differing factions are what fuel a lot of the intransigent corruption.
I fear our own country is becoming so divided to a frightening degree. We really can lose all that we have in this nation, respect for rule of law, peaceful change of leadership, freedom of religion and speech, opportunities for entrepreneurship.
Trump does it by inflammatory language, his stupid tweets, his revolving door of cabinet appointments, his alliance with questionable people like Steve Bannon, his shut down and his national emergency. The left does it through it's stupid 'resist' movement (resist what? It sounds like they want violent revolution. Come up with better policies and win the voters.), through their obsessive and hysterical, media coverage, through their mob mentality, through their hostility to religious freedom and freedom of speech.
Both sides are so roiled up and so emotional they talk past each other. One side will see a legitimate instance of racism that happened somewhere in the hinterland and blow it way out of proportion, while the other side will find an instance of a racial hoax and use that to refute the other side's claim.
Political stability is a balancing act. We benefit from the institutions and respect for law our forefathers established. But we can disrupt all this. We've had civil war before and we can again. The default for mankind is turmoil, brutality and power struggles. We need to guard our first principles and stop demonizing the other side.
But one thing we learned about was the state of things in Cote D'ivoire. It has fractured into political rivals and the whole society is crumbling because of it. Corruption is rampant and if you oppose one side and wind up in a bad situation, you might very well end up dead. When they were freed from colonial rule, their first president was one of those presidents for life. Never a good idea! He was great at ramping up the economy though so for his long reign the country did fairly well compared to other African countries. However, opposition was brewing against him and when he died it broke loose. They had a tragic civil war that they are still recovering from. The chaos and desperation brought on more corruption. So that now you can only get anywhere if you have connections and can grease the palm of everyone along the way. There's no rule of law that is honored.
At the same time, they've never thrown off their colonial exploiters. Cote D'ivoire is the biggest exporter of cocoa and yet there are no manufacturing plants. It's mercantilism all over again, this time not forced by a colonizing country but by big multi-national corporations. The money these corporations give to differing factions are what fuel a lot of the intransigent corruption.
I fear our own country is becoming so divided to a frightening degree. We really can lose all that we have in this nation, respect for rule of law, peaceful change of leadership, freedom of religion and speech, opportunities for entrepreneurship.
Trump does it by inflammatory language, his stupid tweets, his revolving door of cabinet appointments, his alliance with questionable people like Steve Bannon, his shut down and his national emergency. The left does it through it's stupid 'resist' movement (resist what? It sounds like they want violent revolution. Come up with better policies and win the voters.), through their obsessive and hysterical, media coverage, through their mob mentality, through their hostility to religious freedom and freedom of speech.
Both sides are so roiled up and so emotional they talk past each other. One side will see a legitimate instance of racism that happened somewhere in the hinterland and blow it way out of proportion, while the other side will find an instance of a racial hoax and use that to refute the other side's claim.
Political stability is a balancing act. We benefit from the institutions and respect for law our forefathers established. But we can disrupt all this. We've had civil war before and we can again. The default for mankind is turmoil, brutality and power struggles. We need to guard our first principles and stop demonizing the other side.
Sunday, February 17, 2019
Barchester Towers - Book 6
Barchester Towers might be Anthony Trollope's best beloved or best known novel. At least that's my impression. In this novel he continues to tell the story of now ex-warden Mr. Harding, his daughter Eleanor, his older daughter Susan and his fearsome son in law the Archdeacon. The gentle old man, the Bishop, has passed away, opening up a vacancy which everyone thinks the Archdeacon will inherit from his father. However, the government has changed from Whig to more progressive and Archdeacon Grantly is not looked upon as an ally there, since he is more conservative. So a new man is brought in, Mr. Proudie, a henpecked husband if there ever was one and his indomitable wife, Mrs. Proudie. And along with them comes Mrs. Proudie's protegee, the bishop's chaplain, Obidiah Slope, one of the best characters ever, sort of like a Uriah Heep but toned down a bit and in the garb of clergy. He is the most manipulative, calculating, unctuous man, but still Trollope keeps him human.
It's all about the struggle for power. And love. We meet again Mr. Quiverful and his desperate distracted wife, mother of 14. We also are introduced to other new characters. Mr. Thorne and his spinster sister, Miss Thorne, who is a hoot. And Mr. Arabin, an Oxford man who is brought out of academia and into Barchester to be the clergyman for St. Euwold's by his old classman, Dr. Grantly.
Adding even more to the charming and comical cast of characters is the Stanhope family, who finally come home from their sojourn at Lake Como for the past 12 years to wreak havoc on their old neighbors.
There's tons of references to various roles in the Anglican hierarchy. I found myself having to look up what different titles meant. Still not clear on all of them. Also, because the Church of England is the state church, it's all tied up with politics, so it is very different from here in the USA.
Trollope kills off Eleanor's new husband from the previous novel, The Warden, quite cold-heartedly, I thought. She really didn't seem to grieve his passing that much, even though we are to assume it was a happy marriage. He simply dies and not much is said about it. But the young, newly married widow is comforted by the fact that she is carrying his child whom she names after him. She and Mary Bold dote on the little boy excessively. Mr. Bold was well off and left his estate to Eleanor So now she is a rich, young, pretty widow who starts picking up suitors, to her great discomfort. A lot of the book is about Eleanor learning that she isn't quite as perceptive as she thought she was.
It is an absolutely delightful story, full of wonderful characters that even if you aren't meant to like them, you can laugh at them heartily. Trollope has a great sense of humor that runs the gamut from witty insights to puns, to fully crafted comical characters. He's just brilliant!
A thumping good read! For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Saturday, February 16, 2019
Salvation is from the Jews
I am still slowly, slowly reading The Light of Christ by Thomas Joseph White, OP. Many mornings I don't get to it. Between the dog, little D who I often watch in the morning while V is driving, trying to make breakfast and lunch for R, my own often broken sleep at night that means I am often waking up later than I usually do, and the fact that I am always struggling with discipline to keep myself on track, I can go days without remembering to read. But this week I did read the sub-chapter, at the end of Chapter 3, entitled Salvation is from the Jews; Prophecy and Judaism.
This chapter really hit home because I've just finished reading The Ancient History of the World which really had a huge impact on my thinking. It opened my eyes to how chaos and brutality are the default in human society and any step out of that gutter is a great accomplishment that needs to be guarded most diligently against falling back into the mire. I think the western world doesn't appreciate enough how far we've come and how delicate our situation is. We are pretty much spoiled brats demanding life be perfect, often. Which is so unjust to those who are truly suffering.
Anyway, another thing that the History of the Ancient World opened my eyes to is the fact that the Jews really were different from the rest of the world. At core, they really had a different moral sense and a different idea of what truth is. They were always battling the influence of the other cultures who practiced really brutal customs. Often those influences won out for a while and caused a lot of treachery and tragedy. But underlying all this is a beautiful story of real love, of wisdom, of an overarching understanding of our reason for existence. It is really remarkable. As a Christian, I came to believe even more that the Old Testament is revelation from a personal God.
So when I got to this section of The Light of Christ, White's analysis really stood out to me. He is an excellent, clear, profound, thorough writer. He says getting past all the complexities of the OT, there are 5 themes that come through:
1) Monotheism - a belief in one God who made the world. And this God made human beings in his own image and likeness. This idea is what allowed the sciences to develop eventually! Because as humans we see creation as being governed by discernible laws and humans are at the top of hierarchical primacy in the world.
2) The Elevated Morality of the Ten Commandments - according to Christian tradition this embodies the natural law that is written on the human heart.
3) Expectant Universalism - while Judaism seems largely to be about a tribe trying to find it's promised land, the language used is universal and meant for all men. The prophets talk about 'all nations of the earth."
4) Messianism and the Notion of Historical Progress - most ancient religions assumed a cyclical dynamic to the universe, but the OT talks in terms of history where God interacts in time. Also through out the OT is the idea of a Messiah.
5) Eschatological Hope in the Face of Injustice, Human Suffering and Death. This is the idea that life is not meaningless suffering but there is hope that justice will be done, that God will have mercy on those who deserve it and will vindicate those who have been wronged.
I wish I go into more depth about this book, but my thoughts are too scattered. I wish I could take a class on it or was in a theological book club or something to discuss it. I feel like I could read it in a loop fashion. Just start over again once I've read the last page. In this time of trial for the Church because of all the corruption, it is so good to have such a beautiful mind as Father White give a profound and clear summary of the Church's teachings. This is what the Church is, and all the institutional evil will pass away.
This chapter really hit home because I've just finished reading The Ancient History of the World which really had a huge impact on my thinking. It opened my eyes to how chaos and brutality are the default in human society and any step out of that gutter is a great accomplishment that needs to be guarded most diligently against falling back into the mire. I think the western world doesn't appreciate enough how far we've come and how delicate our situation is. We are pretty much spoiled brats demanding life be perfect, often. Which is so unjust to those who are truly suffering.
Anyway, another thing that the History of the Ancient World opened my eyes to is the fact that the Jews really were different from the rest of the world. At core, they really had a different moral sense and a different idea of what truth is. They were always battling the influence of the other cultures who practiced really brutal customs. Often those influences won out for a while and caused a lot of treachery and tragedy. But underlying all this is a beautiful story of real love, of wisdom, of an overarching understanding of our reason for existence. It is really remarkable. As a Christian, I came to believe even more that the Old Testament is revelation from a personal God.
So when I got to this section of The Light of Christ, White's analysis really stood out to me. He is an excellent, clear, profound, thorough writer. He says getting past all the complexities of the OT, there are 5 themes that come through:
1) Monotheism - a belief in one God who made the world. And this God made human beings in his own image and likeness. This idea is what allowed the sciences to develop eventually! Because as humans we see creation as being governed by discernible laws and humans are at the top of hierarchical primacy in the world.
2) The Elevated Morality of the Ten Commandments - according to Christian tradition this embodies the natural law that is written on the human heart.
3) Expectant Universalism - while Judaism seems largely to be about a tribe trying to find it's promised land, the language used is universal and meant for all men. The prophets talk about 'all nations of the earth."
4) Messianism and the Notion of Historical Progress - most ancient religions assumed a cyclical dynamic to the universe, but the OT talks in terms of history where God interacts in time. Also through out the OT is the idea of a Messiah.
5) Eschatological Hope in the Face of Injustice, Human Suffering and Death. This is the idea that life is not meaningless suffering but there is hope that justice will be done, that God will have mercy on those who deserve it and will vindicate those who have been wronged.
I wish I go into more depth about this book, but my thoughts are too scattered. I wish I could take a class on it or was in a theological book club or something to discuss it. I feel like I could read it in a loop fashion. Just start over again once I've read the last page. In this time of trial for the Church because of all the corruption, it is so good to have such a beautiful mind as Father White give a profound and clear summary of the Church's teachings. This is what the Church is, and all the institutional evil will pass away.
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Abortion as an option
My daughter's pregnancy is going along well. Her baby (a boy!) seems to be developing healthily. They do a bunch of genetic testing now, far more than 18 years ago when I was last pregnant. One of the tests came back showing my daughter as a carrier for Gaucher's disease. This, apparently, is a common genetic disorder with Ashkenazi Jews. My husband is also a carrier. So the OB/GYN wanted my son in law to come in for testing. There is a 1 in 112 chance that he might be a carrier too. We really doubt this as he has no Ashkenazi background at all. And outside those circles your chances of carrying it are very remote. I read up a tiny bit on Gaucher's. I honestly don't understand exactly what it is, but there are different types and Type 1, the one most Ashkenazis carry is very mild. Not debilitating or fatal or anything. So in the slight chance that the baby does have it, the type he is mostly likely to have is a very mild condition.
The OB/GYN, however, took this opportunity to tell my daughter, that she has the option to abort the baby if my son in law's testing does come back as a carrier.
Abortion for what is most likely a mild condition.
This mindset is eugenics through the back door. This is what happens when you make your pro-choice mantra that every baby should be 'wanted.' As if they were merchandise one was ordering. Of course we don't want unhealthy babies, that's too hard. We want perfect babies! And babies aren't people until they exit the womb, so it is ok to abort a baby if it might not be perfect.
This is the abortion mindset most of the medical community here in the U.S has. This scares the hell out of me and is my main reason for being frightened of universal healthcare. If the folks pushing it weren't also pushing late term abortions and forcing nuns to pay for contraceptives and pushing children to take gender bending drugs and teens to get mastectomies so they 'transition', and surrogacy, and assisted suicide, etc I might think differently. But the truth is I think the medical community and the scientific community are really short on ethics. I don't want them to have control. I do not trust their motives or their reasoning. I do want the poor to get healthcare, but I don't want to give control to the government.
This is why Northam could say what he said when asked about a baby delivered alive from a late term abortion. Because the doctors themselves don't see the babies as human. They are taught and they embrace an ideology that leaves them cold-blooded and blind. You can see this mentality in ex-abortion workers. Abbey Johnson' s ministry is to people who work in the industry and for some reason or another they see the light one day and realize the deeply evil thing they are complicit in. It's a whole paradigm shift for them. A painful, life altering one. It takes that much. It's a Road to Damascus kind of thing to break out of the diabolic mindset a la Hillary Clinton and see that babies in utero are human too.
Lately, I've really become convicted, even more than I already was, just how evil abortion is. It truly eats away at our society's morality. It's repercussions spread throughout our culture. The sexual revolution, spurred on by legalizing abortion has done untold damage. It may bring us down in the end. It may be a fatal blow to us.
Luckily my daughter works with special ed kids every day and isn't frightened by the idea of an imperfect son. Or maybe she is frightened but not enough to kill him for it. She thinks everyone has intrinsic worth not dependent on being wanted or being perfect. Just being is enough to warrant one's right to life.
The OB/GYN, however, took this opportunity to tell my daughter, that she has the option to abort the baby if my son in law's testing does come back as a carrier.
Abortion for what is most likely a mild condition.
This mindset is eugenics through the back door. This is what happens when you make your pro-choice mantra that every baby should be 'wanted.' As if they were merchandise one was ordering. Of course we don't want unhealthy babies, that's too hard. We want perfect babies! And babies aren't people until they exit the womb, so it is ok to abort a baby if it might not be perfect.
This is the abortion mindset most of the medical community here in the U.S has. This scares the hell out of me and is my main reason for being frightened of universal healthcare. If the folks pushing it weren't also pushing late term abortions and forcing nuns to pay for contraceptives and pushing children to take gender bending drugs and teens to get mastectomies so they 'transition', and surrogacy, and assisted suicide, etc I might think differently. But the truth is I think the medical community and the scientific community are really short on ethics. I don't want them to have control. I do not trust their motives or their reasoning. I do want the poor to get healthcare, but I don't want to give control to the government.
This is why Northam could say what he said when asked about a baby delivered alive from a late term abortion. Because the doctors themselves don't see the babies as human. They are taught and they embrace an ideology that leaves them cold-blooded and blind. You can see this mentality in ex-abortion workers. Abbey Johnson' s ministry is to people who work in the industry and for some reason or another they see the light one day and realize the deeply evil thing they are complicit in. It's a whole paradigm shift for them. A painful, life altering one. It takes that much. It's a Road to Damascus kind of thing to break out of the diabolic mindset a la Hillary Clinton and see that babies in utero are human too.
Lately, I've really become convicted, even more than I already was, just how evil abortion is. It truly eats away at our society's morality. It's repercussions spread throughout our culture. The sexual revolution, spurred on by legalizing abortion has done untold damage. It may bring us down in the end. It may be a fatal blow to us.
Luckily my daughter works with special ed kids every day and isn't frightened by the idea of an imperfect son. Or maybe she is frightened but not enough to kill him for it. She thinks everyone has intrinsic worth not dependent on being wanted or being perfect. Just being is enough to warrant one's right to life.
Sunday, February 10, 2019
Cousin Kate - Book 5
Cousin Kate by Georgette Heyer is one of the few Heyer novels I hadn't read yet. People seemed to have mixed feelings about it and I can see why.
Kate is a penniless young lady, vivacious and pretty. She grew up following her father's regiment on the Peninsula (during Napoleon's war in Spain). Her parents' marriage was not approved of by their families, but they loved each other, though neither seemed to have a lot of common sense. When Kate is left a penniless orphan after her father's death, she winds up hiring herself out as a governess. But she's too pretty for that job and eventually has to leave due to unpleasant offers of marriage. She must depend on her old nurse, who is brimming with character and good sense. The nurse has married and is now Mrs. Nidd and she helps run a carrier service with her husband and father in law. With Kate really not knowing which way to turn, her nurse writes a letter to a long alienated half sister of Kate's father. In response the aunt turns up suddenly and is all generosity and kindness and sweeps Kate back to her estate at Staplewood.
At first Kate is overwhelmed with her aunt's generosity but soon things start to feel rather creepy and claustrophobic. Her aunt's son, Torquil, is very odd. Aunt Minerva's control over every one at Staplewood, her sickly, elderly husband, their resident doctor, the staff, all seems to be ways of hiding something dreadful.
The first half of the novel really builds the characters and the tension, so that the reader is starting to set on edge in true Gothic horror fashion. But then the pacing of the story changed and Heyer spends page after page in expository conversations that just repeat the same things over and over again. After a while, I was saying to myself, okay I've got it already! So by the time the awful climax happens, it felt rather ho hum because I could see it from a million miles away.
It isn't a terrible book at all, but it isn't of the same caliber as many of Heyer's other books.
For more book reviews, go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Thursday, February 7, 2019
Is Everyone Racist?
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. My own oldest daughter told me I was a racist. Not that I said or did anything to demonstrate this, but she thinks everyone is on some level a racist, if you've grown up in a society with racial tension.
I don't deny that there is racism and it is a recurring evil that never seems to get entirely stamped out. I know there are racists, both deliberate and active, and those maybe more passive, but who like to mock or make snide 'insider' jokes that are racist. (Ralph Northam seems to have been of that variety). It's a terrible, terrible problem. I don't want to seem to discount its profound depravity. But I don't think I am a racist at all. I don't think I am because I have never thought of myself or the white race I happen by birth to be part of, as better. I have never seen anyone who looked different from me as somehow lesser. I search myself and nope, that's one sin I have not committed. Praise the Lord! I have plenty of other sins to worry about but that particular one? It's just not there. And I can say that I have lived my life, all my life from childhood up, not being racist. My parents were not racists. My schools were not racist. My neighborhood was not racist. Both my neighborhood and all the schools I attended were integrated. And maybe I was blind and naive (and those two things I can definitely be guilty of) but I never noticed anything being a big deal! I don't remember anybody ever mentioning anything. I did have one friend whose father was strange. We were all afraid of him. And then one time my friend discovered a lot of racist material her father had. It really alienated her from him. She was deeply troubled by it. She knew, even in 7th grade, he was wrong. She wound up marrying a Muslim guy. Somebody her father would call a 'sand n****r.' We were disgusted with him. So that's the earliest racist I ever had oblique contact with. I avoided him too. Honestly, I was friends with her for years, visiting her house often and I think I said maybe three words the whole time to her father. He was a weird guy.
Another encounter with racism was my prom date. My prom was a horrible experience. I was talked into going with a guy who was a friend of another friend. This person though I didn't really care for. She was very coarse and slept around. She was actually sleeping with an older married man! Anyway, I was a socially inept, shy, longing to fit in teen and forced to go to the prom with this guy. And one of the first things he said on our date was a remark about someone else: 'that was very white of him.' I had never heard that expression before and I was horrified. I was so repulsed by this guy and had to fake being excited about the prom. He gave me my first kiss (which I did not want! But by that point in the evening I was so cowed and miserable I think I was disassociating psychologically) and I actually ran up to my bathroom and vomited. This guy and his sister, who was the friend of my friend, were from Boston. They had heavy Boston accents and were the most racist people I'd encountered in a social way. Ugh.
The scenario my daughter used to show I was bigoted was: what I would think or feel if I was walking down a dark street and saw a black man coming towards me. If I was fearful then that means I'm racist. Honestly this is really unfair. For one thing, walking down any street in the dark, I'm already going to be a bit fearful. When you are in a flight or fight situation you do operate off of too little knowledge and thus resort to instinct or stereotypes in those few moments. But I can say that clothing would probably have the most influence on me. If a black man was walking toward me on a dark street and he was wearing a suit and tie or even a polo shirt and khakis, I probably wouldn't be as fearful. So maybe I am more of a classist. Because it would be the same with a white guy. If it was a white guy who looked especially tough or punky, or like he was a heroin addict or something, I'd be afraid of him too. Also age would factor in. If it was an elderly guy I might not feel so menaced.
I just don't think that scenario equates to actually being racist. It's like saying to a mom who is tired and worn out and shouts at her kids occasionally because of that, you are a terrible mother! Or catching anyone in a moment of weakness and using that to define the rest of their life.
And I think it is really unhelpful to use the same term for that kind of response, (you're a racist) when dealing with truly blatant evil, like Jim Crow or slavery. That was systemic racism. That was institutional racism that was written into our laws. That's a whole other ball of wax and to conflate the two is to make it hard for people to actually relate to each other in a positive way. People get anxious that they will accidentally misstep and commit a faux pas that will have them labeled a racist. There really is a difference between being clumsy but good willed and being deliberately racist. Ralph Northam looks like he was deliberately racist. He wants to say he was just clumsily insensitive. I was almost the same age as him in 1984 and believe me, society at large knew that doing what he did was wrong, wrong, wrong! But maybe in his little bubble of Southern Christian, wealthy white folks, that wasn't the case. (Seems to me he is a person with really bad judgment.) I would never, ever have dreamed of dressing in blackface or donning a KKK outfit under any situation. Never in a million years! Unthinkable!
So here's how to avoid being racist in my mind: don't tell racist jokes. Don't flirt with racist ideas. Don't romanticize the racist history of your particular culture (as Southerns are wont to do). Don't be racist out of a longing for 'identity' as white supremacists do. But, as for people who are more liberal, don't always see everybody first in terms of their race. This is the huge flaw in the trendy intersectionality world view. Because always making that difference (race, sexuality, etc) the number one factor is also bigoted. Anything that gets you painted as a part of a collective culture, seemingly monolithic, is judging others on externalities. It's the opposite of being color blind. I'm with Dr. MLK, Jr. Content of character is better than color of skin in terms of how we relate one another. The details of our external characteristics are ultimately not important. We have vastly more in common than what distinguishes us. Racism is shallow, vain and borne out of insecurity; the sinful impulse that has haunted us throughout ages to demean others for our own aggrandizement. Men did and do it to women, women currently seem to be doing back at men, now that they've gained some power. Pro-abortionists do it to the unborn, gentiles did it to Jews, the Tutsis did it to the Hutus in Rwanda and there are many, many other dismaying examples in almost every culture. We live in a sinful world, always battling sin.
I like to watch certain intellectuals on bloggingTV. My favorites are Glenn Loury and John McWhorter. They have the best conversations about current events. They are perceived as 'conservative' which is ridiculous because they are probably moderates, but because things keep shifting to the left more and more, they've been pushed to one side of the spectrum. Anyway, one idea they've brought up is that racism isn't like small pox that you can vow to wipe out. It is an evil more like murder. No one vows to wipe out murder. We certainly don't want it and try to make it so murder is hard to commit. Socially, culturally, morally there is pressure to not do such an evil. We have laws against it that we prosecute vigorously, but people talk about decreasing murder rates, rather than vowing to make it so murder never happens. Because we know we'd have to go to such extremes to actually prevent murder it would undo other important elements of civil society. We'd have to give up all freedom. And it's the same with racism. There is always going to be some jerk who does some jerky thing or even violent thing somewhere in our population of 325+ million. And it gets broadcast widely, but the vast majority of people are not doing jerky or violent things.
If we work on poverty issues in general, we'll help all impoverished people, including those who are African American. If we work on trying to diminish tribal thinking and focus on promoting civility, that will decrease clashes. But instead we seem to be promoting identity politics that feeds into zero sum games of competition over who is more victimized. This leads to a heightened sense of all our differences. I think intersectionality is perhaps well meaning but extremely short-sighted and misguided.
When I was in law school, I worked for the Public Defenders and the student law center. I helped represent both black and white defendants. When I was in Baltimore I lived in a majority black neighborhood. When I worked as a program director for pre-law internships in Washington DC we would take students from places like Iowa and put them in situations, for the first time in their lives, where they had African American bosses and co-workers. Where their neighborhood was majority black. I remember one time the students hosted a Valentine's Day party for homeless kids in DC. (We always tried to work in a service project). I remember a little black girl sitting on the lap of a white college student, son of a farmer from Iowa, asking him what farms were really like? She was so enchanted with hearing about cows and chickens and corn! And as we left, the student said to me, that little girl gave to me more than I gave to her! I raised my kids by reading to them about Ruby Bridges and listening to Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream Speech. I am currently housing an asylum seeker from Africa and her son. They have been living with us for 2.5 years! Yet my daughter told me I was racist.
The trouble I see, with being so 'woke' is that a daughter can tell her own mother that she is a racist because it is a given that everyone guilty of this evil. That is so problematic. How do you even start a conversation when everyone is automatically labelled with that offensive moniker? It shuts down any discourse! I wanted to say, methinks thou doth protest too much! Speak for yourself, dearie! But of course that would be so hurtful! That my own daughter who knows me can say such a thing shows such a disconnect from reality! And this is a sharp, smart, perceptive woman. But she's been so influenced by the internet tribal wars, she's swallowed the assumptions hook, line and sinker. Wow.
I do blame the political milieu right now, especially in Catholic circles. Most Catholics aren't very good at being Catholic. We are way too influenced by the political tribalism going on, due to the liberals' rejection of protecting the unborn and their tendency to push post modern sexual mores on everyone. That meant that if you actually wanted to follow Church teaching on those matters you either got pushed into the conservatives' arms or you had to discount or ignore the importance of those matters. And then Trump came along and riled up or re-awakened a lot of racial tension. Depressingly, most pro-lifers see him as the most loyal president ever in terms of their fight to protect the unborn. And they are quite blind to his other faults. They twist themselves into apologists for him. Honestly, they are searching for a hero and pathetically they have chosen him. Absurd! I have never in my life expected any politician to not have major flaws. I have never agreed with anyone 100% Just because you are critical of one thing doesn't mean you are critical of everything. I can agree and even be grateful for Trump's support of the pro-life movement and yet think his immigration policies are horrid. I think in the end he'll do more damage than good, frankly. I think his ascent right now is a Pyrrhic victory.
Anyway, it has taken me several days to write this. And the politics in Virginia is so messed up right now. I'm disgusted.
I don't deny that there is racism and it is a recurring evil that never seems to get entirely stamped out. I know there are racists, both deliberate and active, and those maybe more passive, but who like to mock or make snide 'insider' jokes that are racist. (Ralph Northam seems to have been of that variety). It's a terrible, terrible problem. I don't want to seem to discount its profound depravity. But I don't think I am a racist at all. I don't think I am because I have never thought of myself or the white race I happen by birth to be part of, as better. I have never seen anyone who looked different from me as somehow lesser. I search myself and nope, that's one sin I have not committed. Praise the Lord! I have plenty of other sins to worry about but that particular one? It's just not there. And I can say that I have lived my life, all my life from childhood up, not being racist. My parents were not racists. My schools were not racist. My neighborhood was not racist. Both my neighborhood and all the schools I attended were integrated. And maybe I was blind and naive (and those two things I can definitely be guilty of) but I never noticed anything being a big deal! I don't remember anybody ever mentioning anything. I did have one friend whose father was strange. We were all afraid of him. And then one time my friend discovered a lot of racist material her father had. It really alienated her from him. She was deeply troubled by it. She knew, even in 7th grade, he was wrong. She wound up marrying a Muslim guy. Somebody her father would call a 'sand n****r.' We were disgusted with him. So that's the earliest racist I ever had oblique contact with. I avoided him too. Honestly, I was friends with her for years, visiting her house often and I think I said maybe three words the whole time to her father. He was a weird guy.
Another encounter with racism was my prom date. My prom was a horrible experience. I was talked into going with a guy who was a friend of another friend. This person though I didn't really care for. She was very coarse and slept around. She was actually sleeping with an older married man! Anyway, I was a socially inept, shy, longing to fit in teen and forced to go to the prom with this guy. And one of the first things he said on our date was a remark about someone else: 'that was very white of him.' I had never heard that expression before and I was horrified. I was so repulsed by this guy and had to fake being excited about the prom. He gave me my first kiss (which I did not want! But by that point in the evening I was so cowed and miserable I think I was disassociating psychologically) and I actually ran up to my bathroom and vomited. This guy and his sister, who was the friend of my friend, were from Boston. They had heavy Boston accents and were the most racist people I'd encountered in a social way. Ugh.
The scenario my daughter used to show I was bigoted was: what I would think or feel if I was walking down a dark street and saw a black man coming towards me. If I was fearful then that means I'm racist. Honestly this is really unfair. For one thing, walking down any street in the dark, I'm already going to be a bit fearful. When you are in a flight or fight situation you do operate off of too little knowledge and thus resort to instinct or stereotypes in those few moments. But I can say that clothing would probably have the most influence on me. If a black man was walking toward me on a dark street and he was wearing a suit and tie or even a polo shirt and khakis, I probably wouldn't be as fearful. So maybe I am more of a classist. Because it would be the same with a white guy. If it was a white guy who looked especially tough or punky, or like he was a heroin addict or something, I'd be afraid of him too. Also age would factor in. If it was an elderly guy I might not feel so menaced.
I just don't think that scenario equates to actually being racist. It's like saying to a mom who is tired and worn out and shouts at her kids occasionally because of that, you are a terrible mother! Or catching anyone in a moment of weakness and using that to define the rest of their life.
And I think it is really unhelpful to use the same term for that kind of response, (you're a racist) when dealing with truly blatant evil, like Jim Crow or slavery. That was systemic racism. That was institutional racism that was written into our laws. That's a whole other ball of wax and to conflate the two is to make it hard for people to actually relate to each other in a positive way. People get anxious that they will accidentally misstep and commit a faux pas that will have them labeled a racist. There really is a difference between being clumsy but good willed and being deliberately racist. Ralph Northam looks like he was deliberately racist. He wants to say he was just clumsily insensitive. I was almost the same age as him in 1984 and believe me, society at large knew that doing what he did was wrong, wrong, wrong! But maybe in his little bubble of Southern Christian, wealthy white folks, that wasn't the case. (Seems to me he is a person with really bad judgment.) I would never, ever have dreamed of dressing in blackface or donning a KKK outfit under any situation. Never in a million years! Unthinkable!
So here's how to avoid being racist in my mind: don't tell racist jokes. Don't flirt with racist ideas. Don't romanticize the racist history of your particular culture (as Southerns are wont to do). Don't be racist out of a longing for 'identity' as white supremacists do. But, as for people who are more liberal, don't always see everybody first in terms of their race. This is the huge flaw in the trendy intersectionality world view. Because always making that difference (race, sexuality, etc) the number one factor is also bigoted. Anything that gets you painted as a part of a collective culture, seemingly monolithic, is judging others on externalities. It's the opposite of being color blind. I'm with Dr. MLK, Jr. Content of character is better than color of skin in terms of how we relate one another. The details of our external characteristics are ultimately not important. We have vastly more in common than what distinguishes us. Racism is shallow, vain and borne out of insecurity; the sinful impulse that has haunted us throughout ages to demean others for our own aggrandizement. Men did and do it to women, women currently seem to be doing back at men, now that they've gained some power. Pro-abortionists do it to the unborn, gentiles did it to Jews, the Tutsis did it to the Hutus in Rwanda and there are many, many other dismaying examples in almost every culture. We live in a sinful world, always battling sin.
I like to watch certain intellectuals on bloggingTV. My favorites are Glenn Loury and John McWhorter. They have the best conversations about current events. They are perceived as 'conservative' which is ridiculous because they are probably moderates, but because things keep shifting to the left more and more, they've been pushed to one side of the spectrum. Anyway, one idea they've brought up is that racism isn't like small pox that you can vow to wipe out. It is an evil more like murder. No one vows to wipe out murder. We certainly don't want it and try to make it so murder is hard to commit. Socially, culturally, morally there is pressure to not do such an evil. We have laws against it that we prosecute vigorously, but people talk about decreasing murder rates, rather than vowing to make it so murder never happens. Because we know we'd have to go to such extremes to actually prevent murder it would undo other important elements of civil society. We'd have to give up all freedom. And it's the same with racism. There is always going to be some jerk who does some jerky thing or even violent thing somewhere in our population of 325+ million. And it gets broadcast widely, but the vast majority of people are not doing jerky or violent things.
If we work on poverty issues in general, we'll help all impoverished people, including those who are African American. If we work on trying to diminish tribal thinking and focus on promoting civility, that will decrease clashes. But instead we seem to be promoting identity politics that feeds into zero sum games of competition over who is more victimized. This leads to a heightened sense of all our differences. I think intersectionality is perhaps well meaning but extremely short-sighted and misguided.
When I was in law school, I worked for the Public Defenders and the student law center. I helped represent both black and white defendants. When I was in Baltimore I lived in a majority black neighborhood. When I worked as a program director for pre-law internships in Washington DC we would take students from places like Iowa and put them in situations, for the first time in their lives, where they had African American bosses and co-workers. Where their neighborhood was majority black. I remember one time the students hosted a Valentine's Day party for homeless kids in DC. (We always tried to work in a service project). I remember a little black girl sitting on the lap of a white college student, son of a farmer from Iowa, asking him what farms were really like? She was so enchanted with hearing about cows and chickens and corn! And as we left, the student said to me, that little girl gave to me more than I gave to her! I raised my kids by reading to them about Ruby Bridges and listening to Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream Speech. I am currently housing an asylum seeker from Africa and her son. They have been living with us for 2.5 years! Yet my daughter told me I was racist.
The trouble I see, with being so 'woke' is that a daughter can tell her own mother that she is a racist because it is a given that everyone guilty of this evil. That is so problematic. How do you even start a conversation when everyone is automatically labelled with that offensive moniker? It shuts down any discourse! I wanted to say, methinks thou doth protest too much! Speak for yourself, dearie! But of course that would be so hurtful! That my own daughter who knows me can say such a thing shows such a disconnect from reality! And this is a sharp, smart, perceptive woman. But she's been so influenced by the internet tribal wars, she's swallowed the assumptions hook, line and sinker. Wow.
I do blame the political milieu right now, especially in Catholic circles. Most Catholics aren't very good at being Catholic. We are way too influenced by the political tribalism going on, due to the liberals' rejection of protecting the unborn and their tendency to push post modern sexual mores on everyone. That meant that if you actually wanted to follow Church teaching on those matters you either got pushed into the conservatives' arms or you had to discount or ignore the importance of those matters. And then Trump came along and riled up or re-awakened a lot of racial tension. Depressingly, most pro-lifers see him as the most loyal president ever in terms of their fight to protect the unborn. And they are quite blind to his other faults. They twist themselves into apologists for him. Honestly, they are searching for a hero and pathetically they have chosen him. Absurd! I have never in my life expected any politician to not have major flaws. I have never agreed with anyone 100% Just because you are critical of one thing doesn't mean you are critical of everything. I can agree and even be grateful for Trump's support of the pro-life movement and yet think his immigration policies are horrid. I think in the end he'll do more damage than good, frankly. I think his ascent right now is a Pyrrhic victory.
Anyway, it has taken me several days to write this. And the politics in Virginia is so messed up right now. I'm disgusted.
Monday, February 4, 2019
Starting Seeds
Last year I tried to start seeds for a garden I didn't yet have. The garden guys didn't actually get working until late, late fall. But even so, not one of my seeds sprouted! I was terribly discouraged by that and vowed that now that I really do have raised beds this year, I would just buy seedling already started at some nursery. I think that my failure last year really damped any little bit of confidence I had.
But, now I've been reading and watching youtube videos on it all, and I think I will try to do my own seed sprouting, at least for some of the garden. I might buy some seedlings and do some direct sowing as well. Why not try all three options?
But for the seedlings this is my plan:
Take the seeds I got last year and use them up! Hopefully the seeds are fine and not the cause of the problem I had last year. I doubt it. I bought from a reputable seed company.
I am going to get a soil blocker and buy some organic seedling mix. Last year I tried to use cardboard egg cartons and compost from our local compost service.
I am also going to buy some seedling trays as well as the plastic dome tops that go with them. This is plastic that will be reused over and over again I hope! I don't know how people grew seedlings before plastic, but nowadays clear plastic dominates. But it is re-usable. These domes keep the soil mix moist. I think that might have been my flaw last time. I did water but I don't think enough. Also, I am not going to use tap water to water them with. I know at Mom's organic I can bring in refillable jugs and get filtered water.
Then I am going to ensure that the seeds are warm. So I am going to take the old shelf of my aunt's (that is currently rusting on our porch) clean it up and bring into our study in front of the window. That room is the warmest room on the main floor.
I found this neat seedling starting chart on line from the local master gardeners' group.
But, now I've been reading and watching youtube videos on it all, and I think I will try to do my own seed sprouting, at least for some of the garden. I might buy some seedlings and do some direct sowing as well. Why not try all three options?
But for the seedlings this is my plan:
Take the seeds I got last year and use them up! Hopefully the seeds are fine and not the cause of the problem I had last year. I doubt it. I bought from a reputable seed company.
 |
| It looks like this soil blocker is the most used size so I am starting with this one. |
I am going to get a soil blocker and buy some organic seedling mix. Last year I tried to use cardboard egg cartons and compost from our local compost service.
I am also going to buy some seedling trays as well as the plastic dome tops that go with them. This is plastic that will be reused over and over again I hope! I don't know how people grew seedlings before plastic, but nowadays clear plastic dominates. But it is re-usable. These domes keep the soil mix moist. I think that might have been my flaw last time. I did water but I don't think enough. Also, I am not going to use tap water to water them with. I know at Mom's organic I can bring in refillable jugs and get filtered water.
Then I am going to ensure that the seeds are warm. So I am going to take the old shelf of my aunt's (that is currently rusting on our porch) clean it up and bring into our study in front of the window. That room is the warmest room on the main floor.
I found this neat seedling starting chart on line from the local master gardeners' group.
Sunday, February 3, 2019
Hittite Warrior - Book 4
Hittite Warrior by Joanne Williamson is a young adult novel published back in 1960 (my birth year). It is set in the ancient world of tribes battling things out in the Western Semitic lands that stretch between Egypt and what is now Turkey. That whole western half of the Mediterranean, and east towards Persia, was teaming with tribal warfare. Many of these tribes are mentioned in the Old Testament. We not only meet Hittites and Egyptians but Philistines, Canaanites and Hebrews as well as others who are mentioned, those from the kingdom of Cush, etc.
The plot takes place when the formerly great Hittite kingdom is toppling. Hundreds of years before the Hittites had won a great battle against an expansionist Egypt and had been mortal enemies ever since. But now the Hittite kingdom has fallen to the sea people, and tribes are battling each other for a new balance of power. Uriah-Tarhund is a Hittite who, after the death of his family, is seeking refuge with his father's friend, Sisera, a Canaanite general. But he first gets taken in by a kind family from the city of Tyre. Here he learns about the awful god Moloch who demands child sacrifice to mollify him. He also meets Jotham, a Hebrew in exile, whose uncle has treacherously betrayed him. Jotham winds up saving the next child to be sacrificed to Moloch and Uriah is unwillingly involved in the deed. The three wind up seeking refuge in the hill country where they are taken in by a Hebrew tribe who happen to have the great Judge Deborah visiting them as they plot to overthrow their pagan oppressors.
Lots of twists and turns and challenges for Uriah. Lots of battles, of course. He is a Hittite warrior. The story is very well crafted, told and is steeped in history. Even though the plot is complicated, it zips along. Since I had just finished reading The History of the Ancient World, I recognized many of the historical events the author draws from.
This was a reread for me. I read it many years ago, I guess when we were covering Ancient history with my older kids, though I don't remember reading it out loud to them.
Anyway, I highly recommend this book. A very well written, historical novel probably for grades 6 and up. I do think it would help in comprehension to have a little bit of background on what was going on during the time period before reading.
Two thumbs up! For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
The Warden - Book 3
I listened to a wonderful free recording of The Warden by Anthony Trollope via Librivox. Unlike other books, like The Brothers Karamosov, where there are a number of different readers, this was read by one British man, Nick Whitley, and he did a marvelous job. It was almost at a professional level.The actual recording sometimes varied a little in loudness but the reader himself did such a good job. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I find Anthony Trollope so charming, intelligent, wry and insightful. He writes beautifully. All the personalities leap from the book, fully blown, living characters that you recognize and chuckle at. Trollope has fun in this book satiring at Charles Dickens as Mr. Populist Sentiment. He's got a stuffy, self-important attorney general named Abraham Haphazard. He even has a very minor character, the father of 12, whose name is Mr. Quiverful. He doesn't overdo that kind of satire but it is there for just a sprinkling of humor.
The plot gently pokes at overzealous reformers which may do more harm than the actual thing the zealot wants to reform. And the main character is the lovely, kindly, meek and mild Mr. Harding. He is the warden of the hospital, like an old age home for poor men who worked in the wool industry. Mr. Harding lives in the comfortable cottage on the grounds and is in charge of the men living there. Mr. Bold, a young, well off doctor in the town, who has known Mr. Harding since his childhood and who has fallen in love with Mr. Harding's younger daughter, Eleanor, can't control his reform-minded zeal when he discovers that Hiram's Will, which set up the home for the old men, is not really being followed as intended. The Anglican Church has allowed, for many decades, the warden to be paid rather comfortably, while very little money goes to the actual old men themselves. Mr. Harding though, loves being the warden. He has befriended all the old men. He treats them generously and with kindness. By his loving care and sweet temper, he has made it a good home. But Bold can't see this. Or rather it is beside the point to him. The will should be followed to the letter and it is just another example of the corruption in the Church. He is talked into beginning a lawsuit. This endangers his relationship with Eleanor and causes all sort of havoc and pain in Mr. Harding's life. How poor, mild-mannered Mr. Harding handles the predicament he's in is the main plot.
I was listening to Trollope's tongue-in-cheek take down of the Victorian British press, exemplified in the newspaper called The Jupiter in the book, at the same time the whole Covington High School boys brouhaha was going on. It was amazing how spot on Trollope's assessment of the misuse of power by the press was. The more things change, the more they stay the same!
I really enjoyed this book. On to Barchester Towers next! The same reader, Nick Whitley reads this one too!
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
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