2.08.2007

4 Things

1. This has been a pretty great week. My favorite singer (Patty Griffin) came out with a new CD on Tuesday (Children Running Through), and after listening to it for a few days, I'm really starting to enjoy it. At first I was sorely disappointed, but as I've kept listening the songs are growing on me, and I'm starting to feel them more.

2. In fact, based on #1, I finally got myself to go to my church's Gospel Choir practice this week. There's a song on Patty's new CD called "Up to the Mountains (MLK Song)" which is a very inspired by African-American spirituals--and it just called to mind what I love about Black Gospel music. So I put aside all the insecurities that come from jumping into a new group, and the inconvenience of having to drive 30 minutes each way at 8pm on a weeknight, and slapped myself around a little, and kicked my ass over to the choir practice. It was really great. Such a welcoming group of people--just a ragtag group of people from different ages, education levels, economic situations, and races. I've been looking for a kind of "church within a church" since my congregation is on the larger side--and I think I may have found it. I think the people that most resonate with Gospel music (especially people in a church like mine, where it's not the norm of what most of us grew up with) are some really lovely and quirky and interesting folks. These random collections of people really help me see what church and Jesus are about.

3. I find myself kind of sad that Anna Nicole Smith died. I don't really know why, it's not like I'm a huge fan, but I guess I just kind of feel for her since she had a hard life and it ended so soon. And her daughter is now without a mother. I saw her once at my friend's birthday party a few years back, she stopped by with her entourage for a quick drink. She had a strong presence about her. Anyway, may she now have the peace she didn't always have in life.

4. I think it's time for our culture to reclaim the power and beauty in menstruation. We always talk about it as if it's gross or inconvenient or crude--but it's something that virtually all women experience and that symbolizes some of what it means to be a woman. So, women (and sympathizing men), let's be more aware of how we think and talk about menstruation. I'm totally serious.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Dancing with God said...

I had a friend in college who always talked about menstration as if it was a field of roses. She loved the book My Red Tent and wished we still honored those customs.

6:21 AM  
Blogger TheNeedyMother said...

I strangely agree w. your sentiments re: ANS. I'm not so much sad, but she lived a hard and sad life, and ultimately, though I never met her, I bet she just wanted a safe place to curl up like the rest of us.

As for menstruation, its kind of cool that women purify ourselves every month in this way.

3:03 PM  

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