Saturday, September 21, 2019
Friday, September 13, 2019
Saturday, August 10, 2019
Book #23 - Of Mess And Moxie
Of Mess And Moxie by Jen Hatmaker
"Jesus's Church: Uncomfortable and Socially Awkward Since AD 33"
"The thing is, we all want to belong, we all crave sanctuary, we are all invited guests. Women, I commission us to fix this. Rather than waiting for the church to get secure with everyone (Jesus's Church: Uncomfortable and Socially Awkward Since AD 33), we can set a bigger table for our sisters. We can pull up chairs, set out more plates, open extra wine. It is sacred work to open our eyes wide and look around: Who is unseen? Who is left out? Who is marginalized? Whose voice is silenced? Whose story is outside the lines? Who would feel isolated by the primary language here?"
"It means considering the stories around the table before launching into an assumed shared narrative. It includes the old biblical wisdom on being slow to speak and quick to listen..."
"The thing is, we all want to belong, we all crave sanctuary, we are all invited guests. Women, I commission us to fix this. Rather than waiting for the church to get secure with everyone (Jesus's Church: Uncomfortable and Socially Awkward Since AD 33), we can set a bigger table for our sisters. We can pull up chairs, set out more plates, open extra wine. It is sacred work to open our eyes wide and look around: Who is unseen? Who is left out? Who is marginalized? Whose voice is silenced? Whose story is outside the lines? Who would feel isolated by the primary language here?"
"It means considering the stories around the table before launching into an assumed shared narrative. It includes the old biblical wisdom on being slow to speak and quick to listen..."
Monday, August 5, 2019
Thursday, July 25, 2019
Saturday, July 20, 2019
Friday, June 7, 2019
Friday, May 10, 2019
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Saturday, April 20, 2019
Friday, April 19, 2019
Monday, April 15, 2019
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Book #10 - Distant Mirrors America as a Foreign Culture
Distant Mirrors America as a Foreign Culture by Philip R. DeVita and James D. Armstrong
p. 25 (Saleem Peerandina, Giving, Withholding, and Meeting Midway: A Poet's Ethnography) "I picture the classroom as a crossroads, the place where worlds collide; where, along with the dismantling and rupture of theories and practices, a fusion is also taking place in a series of continuous, dynamic moments in the act of reading, writing, and conversation. The ruling principle here is connectedness - a network of links between teacher, learner, materials; worlds occupied, abandoned, yet to be born; ideas, stories, dreams.. ... Although the educational system is differentiated enough in terms of programs, value orientation, and choice of schools to allow for a more humane scale of interaction (a focus on intellectual and humanitarian pursuits), the attempt is effectively undermined by the habits and structures of American mass culture. The grain of American life, its temper and tempo, its headlong rush into short-term, goal-centered styles of living, the dependence on products of technology and the agendas set by it, the media's subversion of sacred and rational discourse, and any number of related phenomenon ensure that intellectual and humane concerns always get the short end in a culture driven by innovation, consumption, profit, and self-serving motives."
p.91 (Yohko Tsuji, Encounters With The Elderly In America) "Existing literature on old age abounds with the plight of elderly Americans. The stereotypical elderly person in America is described as "impoverished, socially isolated, and physically disabled". Also prevalent is the image of the elderly as someone who does nothing but wait to die. Most studies attribute old age problems to the wide gap existing between cultural ideals (the "ought", such as independence and productivity) and the realities of old age (the "is", such as infirmity, needing assistance, and being retired). Others regard the absence of cultural models for aging as problematic. In other words, studies show that American culture not only provides inadequate means for guiding the elderly, but also fails to provide any helpful models for the elderly to follow."
p. 96 (Yohko Tsuji, Encounters With The Elderly In America) "The elderly's quest for independence is also manifested in their efforts to maintain an equal partnership in support networks. Growing old puts Americans in a double bind. They need to rely on others, but dependency is a cultural taboo. Egalitarian relationships with support partners enable them to circumvent this problem. The more common strategy is to complement each other's missing resources."
p. 135 (Geoffrey Hunt, Learning to Hug: An English Anthropologist's Experiences in North America) "Unlike previous social problem programs, for example the war on poverty, the Community Partnership program reaffirms community not necessarily by doing any real community building, but instead by creating community as a psychological phenomenon. As Sennett has argued, community can be built not by any physical activity but by developing a sense of shared "imagery and feeling". "What matters is not what you've done but how you feel about it"... A therapeutic belief in a "change of heart" had been transplanted to the community level. No longer were the participants expected to change society, they only had to change themselves. In other words, social change was no longer structural change; it was instead "establishing relationships with people." Within this framework, it is therefore not surprising that "hugging" had become such a crucial element."
p. 148 (E.L. Cerroni-Long, Life and Cultures: The Test of Real Participant Observation) "...when the time came to choose a graduate program of study, I was very excited to enter the newly created 'Oriental Institute' of the University of Venice. Here I spent several blissful years exploring all sorts of arcane areas of knowledge, with the freedom of choice and the instructional guidance that are the mark of truly outstanding academic programs."
p. 25 (Saleem Peerandina, Giving, Withholding, and Meeting Midway: A Poet's Ethnography) "I picture the classroom as a crossroads, the place where worlds collide; where, along with the dismantling and rupture of theories and practices, a fusion is also taking place in a series of continuous, dynamic moments in the act of reading, writing, and conversation. The ruling principle here is connectedness - a network of links between teacher, learner, materials; worlds occupied, abandoned, yet to be born; ideas, stories, dreams.. ... Although the educational system is differentiated enough in terms of programs, value orientation, and choice of schools to allow for a more humane scale of interaction (a focus on intellectual and humanitarian pursuits), the attempt is effectively undermined by the habits and structures of American mass culture. The grain of American life, its temper and tempo, its headlong rush into short-term, goal-centered styles of living, the dependence on products of technology and the agendas set by it, the media's subversion of sacred and rational discourse, and any number of related phenomenon ensure that intellectual and humane concerns always get the short end in a culture driven by innovation, consumption, profit, and self-serving motives."
p.91 (Yohko Tsuji, Encounters With The Elderly In America) "Existing literature on old age abounds with the plight of elderly Americans. The stereotypical elderly person in America is described as "impoverished, socially isolated, and physically disabled". Also prevalent is the image of the elderly as someone who does nothing but wait to die. Most studies attribute old age problems to the wide gap existing between cultural ideals (the "ought", such as independence and productivity) and the realities of old age (the "is", such as infirmity, needing assistance, and being retired). Others regard the absence of cultural models for aging as problematic. In other words, studies show that American culture not only provides inadequate means for guiding the elderly, but also fails to provide any helpful models for the elderly to follow."
p. 96 (Yohko Tsuji, Encounters With The Elderly In America) "The elderly's quest for independence is also manifested in their efforts to maintain an equal partnership in support networks. Growing old puts Americans in a double bind. They need to rely on others, but dependency is a cultural taboo. Egalitarian relationships with support partners enable them to circumvent this problem. The more common strategy is to complement each other's missing resources."
p. 135 (Geoffrey Hunt, Learning to Hug: An English Anthropologist's Experiences in North America) "Unlike previous social problem programs, for example the war on poverty, the Community Partnership program reaffirms community not necessarily by doing any real community building, but instead by creating community as a psychological phenomenon. As Sennett has argued, community can be built not by any physical activity but by developing a sense of shared "imagery and feeling". "What matters is not what you've done but how you feel about it"... A therapeutic belief in a "change of heart" had been transplanted to the community level. No longer were the participants expected to change society, they only had to change themselves. In other words, social change was no longer structural change; it was instead "establishing relationships with people." Within this framework, it is therefore not surprising that "hugging" had become such a crucial element."
p. 148 (E.L. Cerroni-Long, Life and Cultures: The Test of Real Participant Observation) "...when the time came to choose a graduate program of study, I was very excited to enter the newly created 'Oriental Institute' of the University of Venice. Here I spent several blissful years exploring all sorts of arcane areas of knowledge, with the freedom of choice and the instructional guidance that are the mark of truly outstanding academic programs."
Sunday, March 17, 2019
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Book #8 - Every Square Inch
Every Square Inch by Bruce Riley Ashford
p. 28 "When we witness and obey in this manner, we benefit the world by serving as a preview of God's coming kingdom. We proclaim Christ and the gospel with our lips (word), and we promote Christ and the gospel with our lives (deed). In so doing, we offer to the world a preview of that future era when Christ rules the new heavens and earth - the era in which all social and cultural realities will be directed toward Christ."
p. 28 "When we witness and obey in this manner, we benefit the world by serving as a preview of God's coming kingdom. We proclaim Christ and the gospel with our lips (word), and we promote Christ and the gospel with our lives (deed). In so doing, we offer to the world a preview of that future era when Christ rules the new heavens and earth - the era in which all social and cultural realities will be directed toward Christ."
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Link to An Article
" instead of conjuring a Richard Scarry-esque image of happily occupying my time doing things I love"
I'm linking this article here because I absolutely adore this sentence. The image it conveys is spot-on.
I'm linking this article here because I absolutely adore this sentence. The image it conveys is spot-on.
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Book #5 - Dating Jesus
Dating Jesus by Susan Campbell
p. 98-99 "A system that rewards humility and placing others first - with its promise of eternal reward for enduring untenable conditions on earth - invited the oppressed to participate in her own oppression. Add to that the generations of females learning to exhibit qualities that are held up as Christian virtues - such as compassion and empathy - and women are immediately in danger of being taken advantage of. If the literal crux of traditional Christianity holds up as its ideal God the Father's willingness to sacrifice his only Son, how can a woman, already sacrificing her human rights, complain? The traditional notion that suffering is supposed to bring one closer to God predisposed the nineteenth-century woman to participate in her own abuse. ... So you raise up a few generations of young girls, telling them that they should step to the back of the bus, ingrain that in their psyche, preach it to them from the pulpit, hold up as ideal examples women doing precisely that, and in a few years, you can step back; you need say no more. Your work is done, because you have carefully created a herd of women who know and even begrudgingly accept that their place is secondary, just outside the limelight, clapping for and cheering on the important people who were never taught to put others first."
p. 70 "As Bennett writes: "It is best not to be too literal in interpreting myths; but it cannot be maintained that woman is inferior even if she was created after man without admitting that man is inferior to the creeping things because he was created after them.""
p. 98-99 "A system that rewards humility and placing others first - with its promise of eternal reward for enduring untenable conditions on earth - invited the oppressed to participate in her own oppression. Add to that the generations of females learning to exhibit qualities that are held up as Christian virtues - such as compassion and empathy - and women are immediately in danger of being taken advantage of. If the literal crux of traditional Christianity holds up as its ideal God the Father's willingness to sacrifice his only Son, how can a woman, already sacrificing her human rights, complain? The traditional notion that suffering is supposed to bring one closer to God predisposed the nineteenth-century woman to participate in her own abuse. ... So you raise up a few generations of young girls, telling them that they should step to the back of the bus, ingrain that in their psyche, preach it to them from the pulpit, hold up as ideal examples women doing precisely that, and in a few years, you can step back; you need say no more. Your work is done, because you have carefully created a herd of women who know and even begrudgingly accept that their place is secondary, just outside the limelight, clapping for and cheering on the important people who were never taught to put others first."
p. 70 "As Bennett writes: "It is best not to be too literal in interpreting myths; but it cannot be maintained that woman is inferior even if she was created after man without admitting that man is inferior to the creeping things because he was created after them.""
Saturday, January 12, 2019
Tuesday, January 8, 2019
Saturday, January 5, 2019
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