I've begun a practice of fasting from food every Friday. It started almost by accident, after I'd inadvertantly eaten something with gluten several weeks ago; whenever I do that that, I lose my appetite for at least 2 days. Around this same time, I'd developed an upper respiratory infection, and no one wants to eat when dealing with one of those. So I made sure to keep myself hydrated, & I allowed my body to recover without forcing it to eat what it didn't want. Finally, I was able to down an "Ensure" -- my least favorite "meal," but it has the necessary nutrients.
I realized, though, that I didn't feel any adverse effects from having not eaten, except for a slight headache -- a typical adverse reaction for me to not eating, & one taken care of by a couple of extra-strength Tylenol. And for 3 of the past 4 Fridays, I've fasted from food. I've kept myself hydrated with seltzer and / or herbal tea, and, for part or all of the day, also "fasted" from noise -- which for me usually means turning the radio off (and I really like NPR!).
With thousands of people in Haiti still not receiving adequate food following the earthquake, and with Lent beginning in just over 2 weeks (on 17 February), beginning a practice of fasting seems to be an appropriate thing to do. The humanitarian crisis in Haiti has continually reminded me of just how much most of us in the US have; how seldom we go hungry; how much we own; how much we take for granted; how isolated and individualized we are; how much we assume that, if we lose any of our belongings, we will be able to replace them easily, quickly, & without difficulty. As I fast, I think of our sisters & brothers in Haiti & in El Agustino in Lima, Peru, & in El Salvador, & in so many other places just in this hemisphere who have so little and whose faith in Christ is so great. And I think of Jesus, who came from & lived among the poor, who came to preach & act the Reign of G-D, who stood with & healed the marginalized, the ill, the disabled. And who calls me to follow His example as I follow Him with my life.
Happy Friday, All!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Inadvertant gluten ingestion; Disability
Most of this past weekend I spent in bed, recovering from an inadvertent ingestion of gluten. At my mother's on Friday, friends brought broiled salmon (cooked with just a bit of lemon juice) & broiled root vegetables to share. One would think both dishes would be fine, yes? I checked; no gluten-containing ingredients in the salmon. Definitely should have looked at the veges. However, I suspect that the culprit was the grill itself.
So I spent the entire weekend sleeping on & off, listening to the radio, watching "When Harry Met Sally" (for the first time!), checking the computer (email & Facebook), & sleeping some more. I had no appetite at all, so I drank lots of seltzer & ate a little bit of soy "ice cream" Saturday night.
Having an adverse reaction to gluten feels like I have mononucleosis, a virus I did have in high school & college. My body feels like limp spaghetti. No appetite at all, with slight underlying nausea lingering, & that gets worse when I try to think about food. My brain / mind works at 33.33 rpm speed, when I prefer to work at 78 rpm (for those of you who remember phonograph records [vinyl]). Basically, the synapses fire at such a reduced speed that even when I'm not asleep, I may as well be. No concentration, so reading is impossible. The only reason I got through "When Harry Met Sally" was because it was funny, light, & didn't require much thinking. I loved the music & the repeated references to the film "Casablanca." Watching the scenes with food was hard, so I didn't pay attention to what they were eating.
For someone with Celiac Disease / gluten intolerance, eating gluten is tantamount to eating poison. My entire body reacts & I end up down for 2 days, in large part because my system now is so gluten-free. So I guess I should be glad that I react so strongly & negatively. Rather than have another episode, from now on, no food outside of my own home unless I've either (1) purchased it myself or (2) know that it has come from a gluten-free place, e.g., PF Chow's Gluten-Free Menu.
I've begun to wonder about something that I haven't heard mentioned on news reports about Haiti. This earthquake has left hundreds, and possibly thousands, of people with severe disabilities: crushed limbs, amputations, possibly fractured spines resulting in paraplegia or quadriplegia. What will happen to all of those people? Who will help them? What will the US & other countries do? What international organizations / agencies are thinking about this & beginning to consider planning for the long-term future for the hundreds of people who may not be able to work again?
So I spent the entire weekend sleeping on & off, listening to the radio, watching "When Harry Met Sally" (for the first time!), checking the computer (email & Facebook), & sleeping some more. I had no appetite at all, so I drank lots of seltzer & ate a little bit of soy "ice cream" Saturday night.
Having an adverse reaction to gluten feels like I have mononucleosis, a virus I did have in high school & college. My body feels like limp spaghetti. No appetite at all, with slight underlying nausea lingering, & that gets worse when I try to think about food. My brain / mind works at 33.33 rpm speed, when I prefer to work at 78 rpm (for those of you who remember phonograph records [vinyl]). Basically, the synapses fire at such a reduced speed that even when I'm not asleep, I may as well be. No concentration, so reading is impossible. The only reason I got through "When Harry Met Sally" was because it was funny, light, & didn't require much thinking. I loved the music & the repeated references to the film "Casablanca." Watching the scenes with food was hard, so I didn't pay attention to what they were eating.
For someone with Celiac Disease / gluten intolerance, eating gluten is tantamount to eating poison. My entire body reacts & I end up down for 2 days, in large part because my system now is so gluten-free. So I guess I should be glad that I react so strongly & negatively. Rather than have another episode, from now on, no food outside of my own home unless I've either (1) purchased it myself or (2) know that it has come from a gluten-free place, e.g., PF Chow's Gluten-Free Menu.
I've begun to wonder about something that I haven't heard mentioned on news reports about Haiti. This earthquake has left hundreds, and possibly thousands, of people with severe disabilities: crushed limbs, amputations, possibly fractured spines resulting in paraplegia or quadriplegia. What will happen to all of those people? Who will help them? What will the US & other countries do? What international organizations / agencies are thinking about this & beginning to consider planning for the long-term future for the hundreds of people who may not be able to work again?
Monday, January 18, 2010
Latest thoughts on latest news
The news from Haiti has gotten a bit better, although the overall picture is still very grim. So, so many dead; incredible, untold, unimaginable damage; so, so many injured; so, so many needing food, water, medical care, to say nothing of clothes, comfort, reassurance, tenderness, prayers, the Sacraments. I feel so helpless & know that I have few skills to offer, except I'm able to pray.
We did receive good news today from a Norwich Haitian Missionaries Facebook -- as far as reports go, everyone in Zorange survived; there is damage to the church & to some homes, but the people are okay. That was very good news, amidst so much sadness.
And I cannot keep my mind off tomorrow's vote in Massachusetts to fill the Senate seat of the late Ted Kennedy. At this point, it could go either way, and that's ridiculous; the Democrats should have no problem holding that seat. But the Republican, who is opposed to same-gender marriage, opposed to health care reform, opposed to greater regulation of the banks, etc., has closed in on what has apparently been a not-very-well-run campaign by the Democratic nominee, Martha Coakley. I just can't believe it, & I'm sick over it. My 1 regret in leaving Boston is that I cannot vote in this election.
I hadn't written here for a few days; instead, I've been working on the spiritual / religious autobiography, & that takes an enormous amount of emotional / psychic energy. I'm making progress on it, which makes me happy. But it's very slow-going...
That's all for tonight. Time to read more of Rembert Weakland's memoir.
We did receive good news today from a Norwich Haitian Missionaries Facebook -- as far as reports go, everyone in Zorange survived; there is damage to the church & to some homes, but the people are okay. That was very good news, amidst so much sadness.
And I cannot keep my mind off tomorrow's vote in Massachusetts to fill the Senate seat of the late Ted Kennedy. At this point, it could go either way, and that's ridiculous; the Democrats should have no problem holding that seat. But the Republican, who is opposed to same-gender marriage, opposed to health care reform, opposed to greater regulation of the banks, etc., has closed in on what has apparently been a not-very-well-run campaign by the Democratic nominee, Martha Coakley. I just can't believe it, & I'm sick over it. My 1 regret in leaving Boston is that I cannot vote in this election.
I hadn't written here for a few days; instead, I've been working on the spiritual / religious autobiography, & that takes an enormous amount of emotional / psychic energy. I'm making progress on it, which makes me happy. But it's very slow-going...
That's all for tonight. Time to read more of Rembert Weakland's memoir.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Prayer
I keep several little blank books with me in my travels around my space & neighborhood. In 1, I have lists -- shopping lists, reminder lists, wish lists. Another holds notes of things I promised my mother I'd do, e.g., fix her email account, figure out how to use her dvd player, etc. A third I've labeled "Scribblings" since I scribble things in it from time to time.
Today, as I sat praying before daily Mass, a prayer came to me with an insistence that I needed to write it down. So here it is.
Today, as I sat praying before daily Mass, a prayer came to me with an insistence that I needed to write it down. So here it is.
Lord, let me spend this time with You, silent,
alone. In need, because we are always in need.
Asking nothing except to spend this time with You,
in Your Presence, or, at least, seeking it. At last,
seeking You. Seeking You as I seek to breathe,
to hear, to see. Letting You come to me just
that easily. For You always wait, ready to approach,
ready to enter, ready to meet us just where we live,
in our messy, disordered, sinful lives. You
meet us here and transform us if we dare to say
the simplest "Yes," the quietest "Ave," the loneliest "Amen."
Or if we dare to say nothing at all and simply bow our heads
and listen.
13 January 2010
A couple of other scribblings --
From 2 January 2010: Silence is the room that lets G-D enter.
From sometime in the Fall of 2009: When we are not praying to G-D, G-D is still praying in us.
It has been a long, tiring, satisfying day.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Miep Gies and Haiti
Last night, a great woman died at age 100. Miep Gies, of course, was the woman who, with her husband Jan and several other Gentiles, helped to hide Anne Frank and her family, along with the van Pels family, and a Jewish dentist in the "Secret Annex" in a hidden part of Mr. Frank's business in Amsterdam, Holland. For over two years, Miep and her colleagues kept the 8 Jews safe from the Nazi reign of terror. Taking such action put themselves in grave danger; however, they persisted, and, to the end of her life, Miep insisted that she had done nothing heroic. Rather, she said, she did exactly what untold other Dutch had done to resist Nazi oppression and anti-Jewish genocide. After the residents of the "Secret Annex" were betrayed and arrested by the Gestapo, Miep Gies saved Anne's diary, hoping to return it to her after the war. Of course, as most readers of this blog know, Anne and her sister Margot died in Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp just weeks before the Allies liberated Europe from Nazi tyranny. The only survivor, Otto Frank, Anne's father, returned to Amsterdam after his liberation from Auschwitz, and Miep handed him the diary as "Anne's legacy." The diary has been published all over the world, giving a human voice to the horrors of Nazi oppression. Anne, even as a teenager, was a gifted writer, and she certainly would have made a mark on the world had she survived the war. Miep Gies dedicated much of the rest of her life to teaching tolerance and opposing Anti-Semitism. May her soul be at peace eternally with G-D, and may her name and memory be for a blessing. And may her memory strengthen all of us engaged in the works of justice, mercy, and peace.
This evening's news of the devastating earthquake in Haiti gets more dire by the hour. What must be terribly frightening for people all over Haiti is that so much of the power system has been damaged or destroyed, and it's night time -- no lights to see, no lights to help. My community, St. Patrick-St. Anthony Church in Downtown Hartford and St. Genevieve Parish in Orange, Haiti, have a sister parish relationship, and I'm waiting to hear if we've had any news of the damage in Orange. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and is the least able to cope with such a disaster. And yet, it has happened, which means it is up to us to help in whatever ways we're able -- giving aid to Catholic Relief Services or Medecins Sans Frontiere (Doctors Without Borders), giving aid through one's workplace, church/synagogue/mosque, holding a fundraiser. And, of course, prayer. We will need to wait til morning to get more news. In the meantime, please pray for the people and animals in Haiti.
This evening's news of the devastating earthquake in Haiti gets more dire by the hour. What must be terribly frightening for people all over Haiti is that so much of the power system has been damaged or destroyed, and it's night time -- no lights to see, no lights to help. My community, St. Patrick-St. Anthony Church in Downtown Hartford and St. Genevieve Parish in Orange, Haiti, have a sister parish relationship, and I'm waiting to hear if we've had any news of the damage in Orange. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and is the least able to cope with such a disaster. And yet, it has happened, which means it is up to us to help in whatever ways we're able -- giving aid to Catholic Relief Services or Medecins Sans Frontiere (Doctors Without Borders), giving aid through one's workplace, church/synagogue/mosque, holding a fundraiser. And, of course, prayer. We will need to wait til morning to get more news. In the meantime, please pray for the people and animals in Haiti.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Gluten-free resources
A friend asked for a list of my favorite gluten-free companies & products & suggested that I post it on my blog. So, here it is!
Food Companies
The Gluten-free Pantry / Glutino: http://www.glutenfree.com/home.aspx -- carries prepared foods, mixes, & gluten-free (g-f) baking ingredients such as g-f flours. I use a number of their products.
Ener-G Foods: http://www.ener-g.com/ -- I order my rice pastas from here.
Bob's Red Mill: http://www.bobsredmill.com/ -- This company is terrific. It carries g-f mixes & baking ingredients & also a wonderful hot cereal called "Mighty Tasty Gluten-Free Hot Cereal."
Bakery on Main: http://www.bakeryonmain.com/ -- This is a local company (Glastonbury, CT). It makes the best g-f granola I've ever tasted, although it's a bit pricey. But it's worth it. Whole Foods in West Hartford carries the granola, or you can order it directly from the company.
Grocery Stores
Whole Foods: Whole Foods carries an increasing number of gluten-free foods, plus it has its own dedicated g-f bakery; products from that bakery are carried in the frozen food sections of the stores. Whole Foods will also order products in bulk for you & give you a 10% discount, even if the store doesn't carry that product; as long as the store orders from the company, it will do a bulk order. E.g., the store where I shop the most didn't carry the Bob's Red Mill G-F hot cereal but carries lots of other Bob's Red Mill products, so I was able to get a carton of the cereal. Not only did I get a discount; I didn't have to pay shipping!
Trader Joe's: Trader Joe's has lots of g-f stuff & has a list of g-f products. ALWAYS READ THE LABEL, HOWEVER, BECAUSE THE INGREDIENTS ON ANY PRODUCT MAY HAVE BEEN CHANGED. Trader Joe's also has its own g-f granola that is less expensive than Bakery on Main.
Stop & Shop: Stop & Shop has started to carry more & more g-f foods, which is wonderful. They put them in the "Natural Food" aisle. Among the best g-f stuff is Tinkyada Pasta. Shaw's also carries quite a number of g-f items; I did find in Boston that Shaw's was, overall, more expensive than Stop & Shop.
There are dozens & dozens of companies that now make g-f products. The 4 I've listed are my favorites. The web has been an incredible help, & most companies have websites. Some companies have "sampler packages" you can buy that include a bunch of different products the company makes so you can try them. I think Kinnikinnick in Canada still has a sampler. I've tried lots of different companies' stuff & keep coming back to the products I like best. I've listed those just below.
For breads & bagels: Glutino
For baking mixes: Gluten-free Pantry; Whole Foods
For pizza: Glutino; Amy's (Spinach & Cheese)
For pasta: Ener-G; Tinkyada
For muffins: Whole Foods G-F Bakery's Lemon-Poppy Seed Muffins
For granola: Bakery on Main; Trader Joe's
After 11+ years on a gluten-free diet to "cure" my Celiac Disease, I find it both amusing and somewhat annoying that, all of a sudden, it's "in" or "chic" to go on a gluten-free diet. Some folks know that they have sensitivity to certain foods, that certain foods cause bad reactions, e.g., wheat causes a number of my friends to have (1) stomach pains, (2) breathing problems, (3) skin problems -- itching, hives, & they stay away from these foods. It seems though that lately a bunch of people (not my friends) see going on a gluten-free diet as a fad king of thing. I don't know if this helps the food industry produce more gluten-free products; I guess I hope it does. My concern is that, with somewhere around 95% of cases of Celiac Disease (CD) going undiagnosed, if people go on & off a gluten-free diet & then need to be screened / tested for CD, they could get false, misleading results & put themselves into even greater jeopardy. Okay, enough mother-henning.
One more note on having Celiac Disease: I have Celiac Disease. I am NOT "a Celiac." This is one of my biggest frustrations with the CD community. I / we are not a disease. Just as with Osteoporosis, I don't refer to myself as "an osteoporotic." Illnesses & diseases are something we have, not something we are. This is especially crucial, I think, when it comes to mental illnesses. A person has bipolar disorder or depression; they are not a bipolar or a depressive (although it used to be common to refer to someone as a "manic-depressive," until the term bipolar came into more consistent use). Being referred to as "a Celiac" is one reason I stopped going to support group meetings in Boston shortly after I was diagnosed with CD. I am a person; I am not a disease or any one of my numerous illnesses. Thank you.
Food Companies
The Gluten-free Pantry / Glutino: http://www.glutenfree.com/home.aspx -- carries prepared foods, mixes, & gluten-free (g-f) baking ingredients such as g-f flours. I use a number of their products.
Ener-G Foods: http://www.ener-g.com/ -- I order my rice pastas from here.
Bob's Red Mill: http://www.bobsredmill.com/ -- This company is terrific. It carries g-f mixes & baking ingredients & also a wonderful hot cereal called "Mighty Tasty Gluten-Free Hot Cereal."
Bakery on Main: http://www.bakeryonmain.com/ -- This is a local company (Glastonbury, CT). It makes the best g-f granola I've ever tasted, although it's a bit pricey. But it's worth it. Whole Foods in West Hartford carries the granola, or you can order it directly from the company.
Grocery Stores
Whole Foods: Whole Foods carries an increasing number of gluten-free foods, plus it has its own dedicated g-f bakery; products from that bakery are carried in the frozen food sections of the stores. Whole Foods will also order products in bulk for you & give you a 10% discount, even if the store doesn't carry that product; as long as the store orders from the company, it will do a bulk order. E.g., the store where I shop the most didn't carry the Bob's Red Mill G-F hot cereal but carries lots of other Bob's Red Mill products, so I was able to get a carton of the cereal. Not only did I get a discount; I didn't have to pay shipping!
Trader Joe's: Trader Joe's has lots of g-f stuff & has a list of g-f products. ALWAYS READ THE LABEL, HOWEVER, BECAUSE THE INGREDIENTS ON ANY PRODUCT MAY HAVE BEEN CHANGED. Trader Joe's also has its own g-f granola that is less expensive than Bakery on Main.
Stop & Shop: Stop & Shop has started to carry more & more g-f foods, which is wonderful. They put them in the "Natural Food" aisle. Among the best g-f stuff is Tinkyada Pasta. Shaw's also carries quite a number of g-f items; I did find in Boston that Shaw's was, overall, more expensive than Stop & Shop.
There are dozens & dozens of companies that now make g-f products. The 4 I've listed are my favorites. The web has been an incredible help, & most companies have websites. Some companies have "sampler packages" you can buy that include a bunch of different products the company makes so you can try them. I think Kinnikinnick in Canada still has a sampler. I've tried lots of different companies' stuff & keep coming back to the products I like best. I've listed those just below.
For breads & bagels: Glutino
For baking mixes: Gluten-free Pantry; Whole Foods
For pizza: Glutino; Amy's (Spinach & Cheese)
For pasta: Ener-G; Tinkyada
For muffins: Whole Foods G-F Bakery's Lemon-Poppy Seed Muffins
For granola: Bakery on Main; Trader Joe's
After 11+ years on a gluten-free diet to "cure" my Celiac Disease, I find it both amusing and somewhat annoying that, all of a sudden, it's "in" or "chic" to go on a gluten-free diet. Some folks know that they have sensitivity to certain foods, that certain foods cause bad reactions, e.g., wheat causes a number of my friends to have (1) stomach pains, (2) breathing problems, (3) skin problems -- itching, hives, & they stay away from these foods. It seems though that lately a bunch of people (not my friends) see going on a gluten-free diet as a fad king of thing. I don't know if this helps the food industry produce more gluten-free products; I guess I hope it does. My concern is that, with somewhere around 95% of cases of Celiac Disease (CD) going undiagnosed, if people go on & off a gluten-free diet & then need to be screened / tested for CD, they could get false, misleading results & put themselves into even greater jeopardy. Okay, enough mother-henning.
One more note on having Celiac Disease: I have Celiac Disease. I am NOT "a Celiac." This is one of my biggest frustrations with the CD community. I / we are not a disease. Just as with Osteoporosis, I don't refer to myself as "an osteoporotic." Illnesses & diseases are something we have, not something we are. This is especially crucial, I think, when it comes to mental illnesses. A person has bipolar disorder or depression; they are not a bipolar or a depressive (although it used to be common to refer to someone as a "manic-depressive," until the term bipolar came into more consistent use). Being referred to as "a Celiac" is one reason I stopped going to support group meetings in Boston shortly after I was diagnosed with CD. I am a person; I am not a disease or any one of my numerous illnesses. Thank you.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
First Thoughts
Sunday, 10 January 2010
The Baptism of the Lord
Eventually, this will look like something, with photos -- at first of my cats -- and even some art, if I'm able to figure out how to download stuff. That all may be a while. Right now, here are just a few random thoughts.
Much of what I'll post on this blog will be related to 1 of 3 topics: Theology & Religion ~~ including Liberation & Feminist Theologies, religion in general, role of religion in society, Catholic Church, etc.; My own spiritual journey -- conversion, where I've been, where I am now, faith, doubt, questions, prayers; & Celiac Disease & Living Gluten-Free -- resources, frustrations, successes. Other ideas will, no doubt, creep in.
I hope your ideas will more than creep in! Respond, reply, resonate, disagree -- please!!
Thoughts from earlier this week ~~ re: The death of Feminist Thinker & Thealogian Mary Daly: So much of the coverage of Mary Daly's passing frustrated me & I would suspect left Mary spinning at warp speed in her proverbial grave. She had long, long ago rejected the term "theologian" for herself. Words, to Mary, matter, as they do to me and, I imagine, to most readers of this blog. Mary Daly was a thealogian, totally dedicated to women, the lives of women, the minds of women. At the same time, I found it terribly sad that at the time of her death, someone was reading to her from one of her own works (the Wickedary). How isolated & narrow & closed-in that seems to me. It made me very sad. I hope that, as I lay dying, someone reads poetry by Adrienne Rich or Denise Levertov or Muriel Rukeyser, or a passage from Annie Lamott's Traveling Mercies to me.
Thought from today: I seem to be the keeper of memories for many of my friends & companeras / companeros. I'll write more about that in the future. Today, though, I want to note that I posted the following on Facebook earlier: "Patricia Shechter realizes that 30 years ago right now she was taking her first course in Systematic Theology and just getting to know Rev. Dr. Robert McAfee Brown. Bob became her teacher, mentor, and good friend, & she still misses him tremendously."
Early last week, I watched the Paulist film "Romero." I'd seen it when it was first released but not since then. I'd forgotten how much violence, injustice, sorrow, and grief it depicted; watching it flattened me totally for the next 24 hours. And I know that what was shown in the film constituted only a tiny fraction, a fingernail clipping's worth, of the violence and injustice perpetrated by the military and death squads against the poor of El Salvador during the years of civil war. I realized how protected I've become, even living in 2 major cities (Boston & now Hartford) over the past 23+ years. And such changes have occured, not only in El Salvador, but also in Chile & Uruguay. This past December was the 29th anniversary of the murders of our 4 US women religious workers in El Salvador; this March 24 will be the 30th anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero. Yes, things have changed, but only because so many gave their lives for justice and peace and hope. May the thousands of martyrs of El Salvador rest in the eternal peace of Christ.
I guess this blog will also have some politics in it -- kind of hard to avoid for this unreconstructed radical / leftist / progressive!
That's all for today. Blessings to all.
The Baptism of the Lord
Eventually, this will look like something, with photos -- at first of my cats -- and even some art, if I'm able to figure out how to download stuff. That all may be a while. Right now, here are just a few random thoughts.
Much of what I'll post on this blog will be related to 1 of 3 topics: Theology & Religion ~~ including Liberation & Feminist Theologies, religion in general, role of religion in society, Catholic Church, etc.; My own spiritual journey -- conversion, where I've been, where I am now, faith, doubt, questions, prayers; & Celiac Disease & Living Gluten-Free -- resources, frustrations, successes. Other ideas will, no doubt, creep in.
I hope your ideas will more than creep in! Respond, reply, resonate, disagree -- please!!
Thoughts from earlier this week ~~ re: The death of Feminist Thinker & Thealogian Mary Daly: So much of the coverage of Mary Daly's passing frustrated me & I would suspect left Mary spinning at warp speed in her proverbial grave. She had long, long ago rejected the term "theologian" for herself. Words, to Mary, matter, as they do to me and, I imagine, to most readers of this blog. Mary Daly was a thealogian, totally dedicated to women, the lives of women, the minds of women. At the same time, I found it terribly sad that at the time of her death, someone was reading to her from one of her own works (the Wickedary). How isolated & narrow & closed-in that seems to me. It made me very sad. I hope that, as I lay dying, someone reads poetry by Adrienne Rich or Denise Levertov or Muriel Rukeyser, or a passage from Annie Lamott's Traveling Mercies to me.
Thought from today: I seem to be the keeper of memories for many of my friends & companeras / companeros. I'll write more about that in the future. Today, though, I want to note that I posted the following on Facebook earlier: "Patricia Shechter realizes that 30 years ago right now she was taking her first course in Systematic Theology and just getting to know Rev. Dr. Robert McAfee Brown. Bob became her teacher, mentor, and good friend, & she still misses him tremendously."
Early last week, I watched the Paulist film "Romero." I'd seen it when it was first released but not since then. I'd forgotten how much violence, injustice, sorrow, and grief it depicted; watching it flattened me totally for the next 24 hours. And I know that what was shown in the film constituted only a tiny fraction, a fingernail clipping's worth, of the violence and injustice perpetrated by the military and death squads against the poor of El Salvador during the years of civil war. I realized how protected I've become, even living in 2 major cities (Boston & now Hartford) over the past 23+ years. And such changes have occured, not only in El Salvador, but also in Chile & Uruguay. This past December was the 29th anniversary of the murders of our 4 US women religious workers in El Salvador; this March 24 will be the 30th anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero. Yes, things have changed, but only because so many gave their lives for justice and peace and hope. May the thousands of martyrs of El Salvador rest in the eternal peace of Christ.
I guess this blog will also have some politics in it -- kind of hard to avoid for this unreconstructed radical / leftist / progressive!
That's all for today. Blessings to all.
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