I've been having that "wake up at 2am for no reason" thing and actually had a particularly bad case of it last night where I woke up ever hour or two ater midnight. I finally gave up on sleep at about six. I puttered around the house, then eventually went to a bookstore and took the dog to the park, where we had a nice two-hour stroll.
(Didn't know I had a dog, did you? Yeah, she's a recent acquisition and I haven't had time to post about it yet. And by this I mean time that ISN'T at 2am.)
I came home and I lay down to read and somehow fell back asleep where I had this dream that I was on "the Apprentice" and that all the other contestants were my YRUU kids. And somehow some of their moms, the wealthier, lovlier moms at that, were involved with the judging and were telling me when I screwed things up.
I got fired second, and nominally for having a bad attitude and there were newspaper headlines across the country about cynics getting fired and how I'd screwed up. Which is weird because I thought I was the only one left in America who still watched the Apprentice, but whatever.
Anyway, this brings me to the conclusion that I still have some insecurities about law school.
CC
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
Lisa Alther has written a new book!
At long latst!
(And it doens't look nearly as good as her last one. Ah well.)
I'm going to buy it anyway.
If you've ever read Rita Mae Brown and said to yourself "Wow, the subject matter and themes of this book are really good. If only the writing weren't so freaking hokey..." then Lisa Alther is absolutely the author for you.
"Other Women" and "Bedrock" are her two best books.
Yay!
CC
(And it doens't look nearly as good as her last one. Ah well.)
I'm going to buy it anyway.
If you've ever read Rita Mae Brown and said to yourself "Wow, the subject matter and themes of this book are really good. If only the writing weren't so freaking hokey..." then Lisa Alther is absolutely the author for you.
"Other Women" and "Bedrock" are her two best books.
Yay!
CC
Thursday, March 29, 2007
No, seriously, let's have a Washington DC blogger hoedown
This topic has been discussed off and on at Boy in the Bands and here for literally years.
The Boston bloggers usually manage a picnic about this time every year. Let's do it, Washingtonians, Northern Virginians, Marylanders.
Do we want a picnic at somebody's church?
Do we want to go out to dinner?
Let's talk and decide and actually something.
I TOTALLY mean it this time.
CC
The Boston bloggers usually manage a picnic about this time every year. Let's do it, Washingtonians, Northern Virginians, Marylanders.
Do we want a picnic at somebody's church?
Do we want to go out to dinner?
Let's talk and decide and actually something.
I TOTALLY mean it this time.
CC
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
A gift for the guy in the Deli
So, last week we got a notice over email at work. The guy in the deli downstairs has passed all the tests and become a American citizen. I've only been on this job for two months, and I only barely know deli guy. I've heard his name, but did not retain it, though I wouldn't use it on the blog anyway out of concern for the man's privacy. I'm sure he doesn't know my name either.
According to the email, he's your classic American immigrant success story. He was really poor when he came here from Pakistan, where he wasn't allowed to get an education because he is bahai. He worked his way through school, got an education and now he runs a deli. Now, I wouldn't want to run a deli, but I'm pretty sure that running a deli sucks less than whatever job you end up with in Pakistan when you're the wrong religion and you don't have an education.
Anyway, the owners of my office building are throwing the deli guy a party this afternoon and we were invited to bring him a small gift that said something about America, symobolized how we saw America or some such.
I'm actually quite patriotic. I know our country has done a lot of bad things, but I don't know any country that has achieved much that hasn't. And we have achieved a lot. The idea of deli guy wanting to be an American enough to go through the difficult process of becoming one stirs me a bit. I almost get misty-eyed when I think about him sitting down to take that Citizenship test. This guy played by the rules in a way that would make Tom Tancredo blush. I don't doubt he will be a credit to my country.
In the end, I did an informal survey and nobody I work with got this guy a symbolic gift. So if the rest of my firm is showing up empty handed I guess it's no crime that I will, too.
I just couldn't think of anything that seemed right.
Well, I considered getting him five dollars in McDonald's coupons because in America, everybody's out for a free lunch, but sarcasm didn't seem appropriate to the occasion.
But deli guy isn't going anywhere. I could always bring him something a little late.
Anyone have an idea for a symbol of unironic appreciation for our country?
I'm still thinking about it.
CC
According to the email, he's your classic American immigrant success story. He was really poor when he came here from Pakistan, where he wasn't allowed to get an education because he is bahai. He worked his way through school, got an education and now he runs a deli. Now, I wouldn't want to run a deli, but I'm pretty sure that running a deli sucks less than whatever job you end up with in Pakistan when you're the wrong religion and you don't have an education.
Anyway, the owners of my office building are throwing the deli guy a party this afternoon and we were invited to bring him a small gift that said something about America, symobolized how we saw America or some such.
I'm actually quite patriotic. I know our country has done a lot of bad things, but I don't know any country that has achieved much that hasn't. And we have achieved a lot. The idea of deli guy wanting to be an American enough to go through the difficult process of becoming one stirs me a bit. I almost get misty-eyed when I think about him sitting down to take that Citizenship test. This guy played by the rules in a way that would make Tom Tancredo blush. I don't doubt he will be a credit to my country.
In the end, I did an informal survey and nobody I work with got this guy a symbolic gift. So if the rest of my firm is showing up empty handed I guess it's no crime that I will, too.
I just couldn't think of anything that seemed right.
Well, I considered getting him five dollars in McDonald's coupons because in America, everybody's out for a free lunch, but sarcasm didn't seem appropriate to the occasion.
But deli guy isn't going anywhere. I could always bring him something a little late.
Anyone have an idea for a symbol of unironic appreciation for our country?
I'm still thinking about it.
CC
Last WalMart post for a bit
Boy in the Bands knows what a totenskopf loooks like.
PG didn't.
Actually, I'm with PG. I would have not seen that and thought Nazi. I would likely have seen it and thought "talk like a pirate day."
That said, if I were a company famous for having a rather federalist approach to doing business, where supposedly every major decision is made in Bentonville, Arkansas, I would think I would be able to get those shirts off the sheleves within several months.
If nothing else, the fact that even after congress itself asked Walmart to get rid of the shirts, people were still finding them weeks later should have been a big ol'clue that there were major flaws in the recall system.
As for a register restriction, that's all well and good, but it's not enough. For those of you who look over twenty-one, have you ever tried to buy a bottle of wine when you didn't have your ID on you? (Or have you ever tried to write a check at Wegmans without their stupid check card?)
What happens?
You cashier goes "Hey Jimbo, I need to do an override" to the front end guy.
Jimbo tosses his keys to your cashier.
And you walk out thirty seconds later.
At best, Jimbo comes over, decides you have an honest face and does the override himself. Which doesn't help a bit if Jimbo has never heard of the recall they way some of the WalMart managers hadn't months after the Nazi t-shirt recall.
At the same time, the process has worked a lot faster this time, I will admit. So maybe they did learn from the Nazi T-shirts.
CC
PG didn't.
Actually, I'm with PG. I would have not seen that and thought Nazi. I would likely have seen it and thought "talk like a pirate day."
That said, if I were a company famous for having a rather federalist approach to doing business, where supposedly every major decision is made in Bentonville, Arkansas, I would think I would be able to get those shirts off the sheleves within several months.
If nothing else, the fact that even after congress itself asked Walmart to get rid of the shirts, people were still finding them weeks later should have been a big ol'clue that there were major flaws in the recall system.
As for a register restriction, that's all well and good, but it's not enough. For those of you who look over twenty-one, have you ever tried to buy a bottle of wine when you didn't have your ID on you? (Or have you ever tried to write a check at Wegmans without their stupid check card?)
What happens?
You cashier goes "Hey Jimbo, I need to do an override" to the front end guy.
Jimbo tosses his keys to your cashier.
And you walk out thirty seconds later.
At best, Jimbo comes over, decides you have an honest face and does the override himself. Which doesn't help a bit if Jimbo has never heard of the recall they way some of the WalMart managers hadn't months after the Nazi t-shirt recall.
At the same time, the process has worked a lot faster this time, I will admit. So maybe they did learn from the Nazi T-shirts.
CC
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
On giving the lawyerly answer.
FWIW, I still think I'm right about inner-city Walmarts, but I have to say I am really fascinated by the sheer PR guy slickness of part of the answer I got from Walmart's PR guy.
Just one final point of clarification: If Ms. Trask purchased recalled
products and wants to return them for a refund, she is free to do so. At
this point, no one at Wal-Mart is aware of her trying to. Therefore,
there's no way for the company to know for sure that the products she
purchased had been recalled. So again, if they are on the recall list,
and she wants to bring them back, she absolutely can, and Wal-Mart will
refund her money.
You know what?
He's right.
Sure, a news crew found the recalled food still on the shelves of another Walmart the same day. The AP story even says that some of the food she bought wasn't included in the recall though it also mentions employees pulling stock off the shelves the third day she came in to buy tainted food.
But the thing is, I remember another time when I thought Wal-Mart was basically right. My freshman year in college, they were hot to build a Walmart in Fredricksburg, on property that had been George Washington's boyhood home. I should explain here that George Washington grew up on a FARM. Wal-Mart wasn't going to touch the house, but was going to go up on parts of the farmland that were already zoned commercial.
Was Wal-Mart right that if you knew the facts it really wasn't such a big deal?
Sure they were right. They still had to bow out because of public outcry.
Then they were completely pwned when Target came along and gave $100,000 to restore the property, earning Target press coverage that looked like this.
Is Target waiting in the wings with the $100,000 for the Margaret Trask Veterinary Scholarship to the University of South Carolina?
You know it.
If I were a Walmart PR guy, rather than waiting for Margaret Trask's receipt to show up on the Smoking Gun, I might just beat Target to it. Pay her back and laud her heroic efforts to help you out. Make a donation to an animal shelter in her name.
Do aomething, anything but the slick PR routine, even if you're technically right when you do it.
Remember how you were outclassed at George Washington's boyhood home.
Virginians do.
CC
Just one final point of clarification: If Ms. Trask purchased recalled
products and wants to return them for a refund, she is free to do so. At
this point, no one at Wal-Mart is aware of her trying to. Therefore,
there's no way for the company to know for sure that the products she
purchased had been recalled. So again, if they are on the recall list,
and she wants to bring them back, she absolutely can, and Wal-Mart will
refund her money.
You know what?
He's right.
Sure, a news crew found the recalled food still on the shelves of another Walmart the same day. The AP story even says that some of the food she bought wasn't included in the recall though it also mentions employees pulling stock off the shelves the third day she came in to buy tainted food.
But the thing is, I remember another time when I thought Wal-Mart was basically right. My freshman year in college, they were hot to build a Walmart in Fredricksburg, on property that had been George Washington's boyhood home. I should explain here that George Washington grew up on a FARM. Wal-Mart wasn't going to touch the house, but was going to go up on parts of the farmland that were already zoned commercial.
Was Wal-Mart right that if you knew the facts it really wasn't such a big deal?
Sure they were right. They still had to bow out because of public outcry.
Then they were completely pwned when Target came along and gave $100,000 to restore the property, earning Target press coverage that looked like this.
Is Target waiting in the wings with the $100,000 for the Margaret Trask Veterinary Scholarship to the University of South Carolina?
You know it.
If I were a Walmart PR guy, rather than waiting for Margaret Trask's receipt to show up on the Smoking Gun, I might just beat Target to it. Pay her back and laud her heroic efforts to help you out. Make a donation to an animal shelter in her name.
Do aomething, anything but the slick PR routine, even if you're technically right when you do it.
Remember how you were outclassed at George Washington's boyhood home.
Virginians do.
CC
FWIW, this is how fast a recall works at Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. was not aware of the origins of the image when we stocked the t-shirt in question.
Respect for the individual is a core value of our company and we would never have placed this t-shirt on our shelves had we known the origin and significance of this emblem.
We immediately began pulling all t-shirts from the store shelves 11 weeks ago and have reached 99.5% compliance. Our records show that some 1100 shirts remain in the system, although we have issued a register restriction so the shirts cannot be purchased.
When we heard yesterday that some stores still had some of the shirts in inventory, we reissued the return-to-vendor directive. Our fashion merchandising team will reiterate the issue in their weekly video to stores.
Item: Here's something from the following week where a store hadn't even heard of the recall.
Respect for the individual is a core value of our company and we would never have placed this t-shirt on our shelves had we known the origin and significance of this emblem.
We immediately began pulling all t-shirts from the store shelves 11 weeks ago and have reached 99.5% compliance. Our records show that some 1100 shirts remain in the system, although we have issued a register restriction so the shirts cannot be purchased.
When we heard yesterday that some stores still had some of the shirts in inventory, we reissued the return-to-vendor directive. Our fashion merchandising team will reiterate the issue in their weekly video to stores.
Item: Here's something from the following week where a store hadn't even heard of the recall.
Response from Wal-Mart.
Good afternoon. Thanks for your question about the pet food recall.
Here's the company's official statement about the recall, which I
believe addresses each of your questions. If you have any additional
questions, I'll be happy to try and answer them. I also have a couple of
additional comments after the statement.
"Here at Wal-Mart, we simply do not take chances -- that's why we've
decided to remove all Ol' Roy and Special Kitty Menu Foods Products from
our store shelves. They'll only return when we're convinced that all
the issues have been resolved. Our customers expect nothing less.
"Pet food safety is a top priority at Wal-Mart as we understand the
important role that pets play in our customers' lives. Wal-Mart sent
direction to our stores to immediately remove all impacted dog and cat
food products from store shelves based on information provided by the
manufacturer Menu Foods. As an extra proactive measure until this issue
with Menu Foods can be resolved, we have sent direction to all of our
stores to have any other Ol' Roy and Special Kitty pet food offerings
from Menu Foods that are not impacted by this recall to also be
immediately removed from our shelves. As an additional precautionary
measure, we have put a sales restriction on the products in question so
that, should one inadvertently be scanned, a restriction notice will
come up for the cashier.
"The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the federal government agency
that oversees, along with state regulatory programs, that all pet foods
and ingredients used in pet food are safe.
"At Wal-Mart, only specific offerings in pouches and cans from Menu
Foods are impacted by this recall. These include: Ol' Roy in 5.5 ounce
cans (only Gourmet Sliced Beef and Gourmet Chicken with Gravy
selections) and all Ol' Roy 5.32 ounce pouches and Special Kitty in the
3.0 ounce pouch. In addition, Purina Mighty Dog 5.3 ounce pouch
products and assorted IAMS dog and cat food in cans are impacted.
"Those Menu Foods selections not subject to the recall but removed for
precautionary reasons only are Ol' Roy Lamb and Rice; Ol' Roy Gourmet
Chicken, Egg and Bacon; Ol' Roy Gourmet Beef and Chicken; and Ol' Roy
Gourmet Beef. These are 5.5 ounce canned selections.
"Other variations (sizes and flavors) of Ol' Roy and Special Kitty are
supplied to Wal-Mart by different manufacturers and are not impacted by
this recall.
"There is no dry dog food of any brand impacted by this recall.
"Wal-Mart customers with product in question may return it to their
nearest Wal-Mart location for a full refund."
Just one final point of clarification: If Ms. Trask purchased recalled
products and wants to return them for a refund, she is free to do so. At
this point, no one at Wal-Mart is aware of her trying to. Therefore,
there's no way for the company to know for sure that the products she
purchased had been recalled. So again, if they are on the recall list,
and she wants to bring them back, she absolutely can, and Wal-Mart will
refund her money.
Thanks again.
Sincerely,
(CC's redacts the chap's name)
P.S. -- Saw your post from today about this. My question about Northern
Virginia was a lame attempt at humor. Sorry if it offended you. I've
lived in NoVA for ten years, so I'm a fan. And perhaps in another ten
years, I'll actually have lived here long enough to be considered a
native.
Here's the company's official statement about the recall, which I
believe addresses each of your questions. If you have any additional
questions, I'll be happy to try and answer them. I also have a couple of
additional comments after the statement.
"Here at Wal-Mart, we simply do not take chances -- that's why we've
decided to remove all Ol' Roy and Special Kitty Menu Foods Products from
our store shelves. They'll only return when we're convinced that all
the issues have been resolved. Our customers expect nothing less.
"Pet food safety is a top priority at Wal-Mart as we understand the
important role that pets play in our customers' lives. Wal-Mart sent
direction to our stores to immediately remove all impacted dog and cat
food products from store shelves based on information provided by the
manufacturer Menu Foods. As an extra proactive measure until this issue
with Menu Foods can be resolved, we have sent direction to all of our
stores to have any other Ol' Roy and Special Kitty pet food offerings
from Menu Foods that are not impacted by this recall to also be
immediately removed from our shelves. As an additional precautionary
measure, we have put a sales restriction on the products in question so
that, should one inadvertently be scanned, a restriction notice will
come up for the cashier.
"The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the federal government agency
that oversees, along with state regulatory programs, that all pet foods
and ingredients used in pet food are safe.
"At Wal-Mart, only specific offerings in pouches and cans from Menu
Foods are impacted by this recall. These include: Ol' Roy in 5.5 ounce
cans (only Gourmet Sliced Beef and Gourmet Chicken with Gravy
selections) and all Ol' Roy 5.32 ounce pouches and Special Kitty in the
3.0 ounce pouch. In addition, Purina Mighty Dog 5.3 ounce pouch
products and assorted IAMS dog and cat food in cans are impacted.
"Those Menu Foods selections not subject to the recall but removed for
precautionary reasons only are Ol' Roy Lamb and Rice; Ol' Roy Gourmet
Chicken, Egg and Bacon; Ol' Roy Gourmet Beef and Chicken; and Ol' Roy
Gourmet Beef. These are 5.5 ounce canned selections.
"Other variations (sizes and flavors) of Ol' Roy and Special Kitty are
supplied to Wal-Mart by different manufacturers and are not impacted by
this recall.
"There is no dry dog food of any brand impacted by this recall.
"Wal-Mart customers with product in question may return it to their
nearest Wal-Mart location for a full refund."
Just one final point of clarification: If Ms. Trask purchased recalled
products and wants to return them for a refund, she is free to do so. At
this point, no one at Wal-Mart is aware of her trying to. Therefore,
there's no way for the company to know for sure that the products she
purchased had been recalled. So again, if they are on the recall list,
and she wants to bring them back, she absolutely can, and Wal-Mart will
refund her money.
Thanks again.
Sincerely,
(CC's redacts the chap's name)
P.S. -- Saw your post from today about this. My question about Northern
Virginia was a lame attempt at humor. Sorry if it offended you. I've
lived in NoVA for ten years, so I'm a fan. And perhaps in another ten
years, I'll actually have lived here long enough to be considered a
native.
CC questions Wal-Mart
Several months ago, I started getting the occaisional emails from a Wal-Mart PR guy. He seemed to be under the impression that I wrote what I have defending Wal-Mart out of a deep love for his company. No, I just think that if Wal-Mart wants to move into the inner city and sell cheap groceries to poor people, we should let them.
(If you've ever actually spent significant time in a neighborhood with section 8 housing, you know that they almost never have grocery stores. They have crappy convenience stores where buying anything fresh is incredibly expensive. Frequently, various health-food advocates will put out studies saying that if poor people would just shop in suburban grocery stores where they would be charged suburban prices, they could EASILY feed their familes fresh vegetables for less than the cost of fast food. Those advocates are idiots.)
Anyway, I exchanged a few friendly emails with Walmart PR guy, until he wrote and asked "Are you in NOVA? Or the good part of the state?"
As from my perspective, where I live is the good part of the state as Northern VA's willingness to pay taxes means we have decent roads, top public schools and emergency services that will reach you before you die.
CC is a Northern Virginian for several generations back, so pride demanded she stop responding to PR guy's emails. He would still send me the occaisional press release, which I would read and then ignore because my interest in Wal-Mart really stops at poor neighborhoods and those usually aren't what his stuff trumpets. Yes, it's nice that millions of dollars in bonuses went to hourly employees this year, but whatever. Bring Anacostia some mangoes and we will talk.
But something I've seen in the news a couple of times has really pissed me off.
A Wal-Mart in Beaufort, SC was still selling the recalled pet food a week after the recall. So a lady came in and bought a thousand dollars worth just to get it off the shelves.
I learned about this woman in News of the Weird, where she was being made fun of. Yes, at first blush, she sounds like a crank. But if Walmart wasn't obeying the recall, hell, she was just doing what she had to do to keep people from buying the food and sickening their pets.
Anyway, I wrote the following letter to my PR guy and sent it off:
__________________________________________
Curiosity question--
I read "TheConsumerist.com" and read about how last year your company
found out that it was selling a T-shirt with some sort of Nazi
Insignia. Walmart corporate said they were recalling the shirts, but
for something like four months consumerist readers were sending in
pictures of themselves holding the shirts as they continued to find
them for sale.
A representative example
Given that, how do you handle recalls of actually dangerous products?
Has the pet food recall worked better than the Nazi t-shirt recall?
What have you done differently?
A news story about stores still selling the food
Are you going to pay back Margaret Trask of Beaufort, SC, who bought a
thousand dollars worth of the food because your store was still
selling it a week after the recall?
Thanks,
S
___
I'll be interested to see the response.
CC
(If you've ever actually spent significant time in a neighborhood with section 8 housing, you know that they almost never have grocery stores. They have crappy convenience stores where buying anything fresh is incredibly expensive. Frequently, various health-food advocates will put out studies saying that if poor people would just shop in suburban grocery stores where they would be charged suburban prices, they could EASILY feed their familes fresh vegetables for less than the cost of fast food. Those advocates are idiots.)
Anyway, I exchanged a few friendly emails with Walmart PR guy, until he wrote and asked "Are you in NOVA? Or the good part of the state?"
As from my perspective, where I live is the good part of the state as Northern VA's willingness to pay taxes means we have decent roads, top public schools and emergency services that will reach you before you die.
CC is a Northern Virginian for several generations back, so pride demanded she stop responding to PR guy's emails. He would still send me the occaisional press release, which I would read and then ignore because my interest in Wal-Mart really stops at poor neighborhoods and those usually aren't what his stuff trumpets. Yes, it's nice that millions of dollars in bonuses went to hourly employees this year, but whatever. Bring Anacostia some mangoes and we will talk.
But something I've seen in the news a couple of times has really pissed me off.
A Wal-Mart in Beaufort, SC was still selling the recalled pet food a week after the recall. So a lady came in and bought a thousand dollars worth just to get it off the shelves.
I learned about this woman in News of the Weird, where she was being made fun of. Yes, at first blush, she sounds like a crank. But if Walmart wasn't obeying the recall, hell, she was just doing what she had to do to keep people from buying the food and sickening their pets.
Anyway, I wrote the following letter to my PR guy and sent it off:
__________________________________________
Curiosity question--
I read "TheConsumerist.com" and read about how last year your company
found out that it was selling a T-shirt with some sort of Nazi
Insignia. Walmart corporate said they were recalling the shirts, but
for something like four months consumerist readers were sending in
pictures of themselves holding the shirts as they continued to find
them for sale.
A representative example
Given that, how do you handle recalls of actually dangerous products?
Has the pet food recall worked better than the Nazi t-shirt recall?
What have you done differently?
A news story about stores still selling the food
Are you going to pay back Margaret Trask of Beaufort, SC, who bought a
thousand dollars worth of the food because your store was still
selling it a week after the recall?
Thanks,
S
___
I'll be interested to see the response.
CC
Monday, March 26, 2007
LINGUISTFRIEND ON “AD MAJOREM DEI GLORIAM”
Every Saturday evening when I am not sick or out of town, I drive thirty miles up to Toledo and bring back from a restaurant there at closing-time a load of left-over bread and pastry which is divided between the local home for battered women and their children, and the liberal Protestant campus ministry, where the bread is a staple of student dinners. At the Toledo end, I usually deal with a petite bright-eyed brown-haired young woman named Stephanie who looks forward to being a professor of English literature some day. That is an unwise ambition, but I have never said so to her; she might make it work, and I have no wish to discourage her. Occasionally we chat about aspects of academic life; my philological qualifications are strong enough to intrigue her (she is happily married, I hasten to say). Once, after taking the evening’s gleanings out to my station wagon, I thanked her for her help, as I always do. She answered “I do it for the same reason that you do, for the greater glory of God.” Actually, I do it so that women and children whom life has betrayed will not be hungry, but I managed to acknowledge her statement somehow and went on my way.
“For the greater glory of God”, or in the original Latin “ad majorem Dei gloriam” is one of the fixed motifs of Western European religion. From Bartlett’s “Familiar Quotations”, where the phrase is attributed to Pope Gregory XIII, I learn that the phrase appears in the Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent (1545-1563), and it is somewhat better known as the motto of the Jesuits, founded in 1540. The Council of Trent was the embodiment of the Counter-Reformation, of which the Jesuits were an instrument. When a phrase appears in two sources so close together in time and place, there is no way to be certain what was its ultimate origin, although it can be seen to have been in the air.
Is there any ultimate difference in meaning between my view of my Saturday evening activity and hers? I doubt it very much. Her expression is more general, and refers to a broader class of acts; perhaps it would also include the rainbow, which also surely may be seen as one of the glorious gifts of God. Stephanie’s background is certainly Christian, and reflects one stream of a broader point of view in Judeo-Christian tradition. In my copy of the Babylonian Talmud, the discussion of the requirements of communal charity is joined to the treatment of the laws of partnership. That is, what is economic fairness in respect to two or a few partners is generalized to the whole community. This provides a different but important perspective.
I cannot attribute much importance to the series of recent books declaring the failure of religious concepts of God. Within my lifetime, they have been preceded by another series declaring the death of God. The concept is hardly new: in the eighteenth century, the advent of the scientific world view removed the need to call upon the hypothesis of a divinity to explain mechanical phenomena. From the other side of the abyss between religious and scientific world-views, Albert Einstein would talk of the laws of the universe as the workings of God, a metaphor which the physicist Paul Davies has taken up in a rewarding way in our own days (“The Mind of God”, 1992). This sort of metaphor is congenial to me. For the rest, when I was about seven years old, I realized that noone in a long robe was in view playing a harp when our DC-3 aircraft emerged above the clouds; that view of God has never had much hold on me, and its failure does not trouble me.
I belong to a UU congregation in which some 70% of the members were originally Catholic, and many of them are so bitterly reactive that they wish to hear nothing of organized religion. This is an obstacle both to the development of the congregation as an organization and to possibilities of constructive interaction between our congregation and other congregations whose members respond to the world in terms which are different theologically, but with little practical difference in action. The solutions to hunger, pain, disease, and ignorance rarely differ depending on the religion of those who suffer from them. Although I have never been a member of a Christian church or a Jewish synagogue, and I do not expect that I ever will be, neither do I feel that their core religious conceptions, so far as they are important in practice, obstruct constructive ecumenical interaction which embodies the values of our respective religions. On this generalized level, I do not hesitate to join my theistic colleagues and say “Heis theos, God is one”. This was not always possible, and is not always possible; even today, these same colleagues will not always reciprocate in attributing value to my religious views. It was not true for those who burnt Servetus, but in terms of our daily life today it has broad truth, and the expectation of reciprocity is my working assumption when I advocate or participate in ecumenical work.
“For the greater glory of God”, or in the original Latin “ad majorem Dei gloriam” is one of the fixed motifs of Western European religion. From Bartlett’s “Familiar Quotations”, where the phrase is attributed to Pope Gregory XIII, I learn that the phrase appears in the Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent (1545-1563), and it is somewhat better known as the motto of the Jesuits, founded in 1540. The Council of Trent was the embodiment of the Counter-Reformation, of which the Jesuits were an instrument. When a phrase appears in two sources so close together in time and place, there is no way to be certain what was its ultimate origin, although it can be seen to have been in the air.
Is there any ultimate difference in meaning between my view of my Saturday evening activity and hers? I doubt it very much. Her expression is more general, and refers to a broader class of acts; perhaps it would also include the rainbow, which also surely may be seen as one of the glorious gifts of God. Stephanie’s background is certainly Christian, and reflects one stream of a broader point of view in Judeo-Christian tradition. In my copy of the Babylonian Talmud, the discussion of the requirements of communal charity is joined to the treatment of the laws of partnership. That is, what is economic fairness in respect to two or a few partners is generalized to the whole community. This provides a different but important perspective.
I cannot attribute much importance to the series of recent books declaring the failure of religious concepts of God. Within my lifetime, they have been preceded by another series declaring the death of God. The concept is hardly new: in the eighteenth century, the advent of the scientific world view removed the need to call upon the hypothesis of a divinity to explain mechanical phenomena. From the other side of the abyss between religious and scientific world-views, Albert Einstein would talk of the laws of the universe as the workings of God, a metaphor which the physicist Paul Davies has taken up in a rewarding way in our own days (“The Mind of God”, 1992). This sort of metaphor is congenial to me. For the rest, when I was about seven years old, I realized that noone in a long robe was in view playing a harp when our DC-3 aircraft emerged above the clouds; that view of God has never had much hold on me, and its failure does not trouble me.
I belong to a UU congregation in which some 70% of the members were originally Catholic, and many of them are so bitterly reactive that they wish to hear nothing of organized religion. This is an obstacle both to the development of the congregation as an organization and to possibilities of constructive interaction between our congregation and other congregations whose members respond to the world in terms which are different theologically, but with little practical difference in action. The solutions to hunger, pain, disease, and ignorance rarely differ depending on the religion of those who suffer from them. Although I have never been a member of a Christian church or a Jewish synagogue, and I do not expect that I ever will be, neither do I feel that their core religious conceptions, so far as they are important in practice, obstruct constructive ecumenical interaction which embodies the values of our respective religions. On this generalized level, I do not hesitate to join my theistic colleagues and say “Heis theos, God is one”. This was not always possible, and is not always possible; even today, these same colleagues will not always reciprocate in attributing value to my religious views. It was not true for those who burnt Servetus, but in terms of our daily life today it has broad truth, and the expectation of reciprocity is my working assumption when I advocate or participate in ecumenical work.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Blog Redesign and other changes
For whatever reason, I can't sleep tonight. So, among other things, I did a bit of a blog redesign. I hope you like it, I do.
Ms. Kitty points out that I haven't been writing as much. Sorry about that. I've had a lot on my mind. I changed jobs about a month ago. I'm much happier in my new one.
As if you haven't guessed by the photos, on Thursday I went to an open house at Georgetown. I absolutely fell in love with the place and now can't wait to go. So that's good. When I asked some night students (I'm going to be a night student) what they thought of the day students, the response was that lots of them were straight out of college and not all that interesting and that the night discussions were better.
I love this answer for two reasons:
1. I want in on the good discussions
2. That level of candor suggests they were straight with me about other things.
Several people I really respect went to Georgetown. I'm really honored to get to study where they studied. To be honest, I'm still flatly amazed that I got in. But I met some other people at the open house who felt the same way. There was even a guy who had dropped out of law school. (One of the things that made my application squirrelly was that I dropped out of grad school several years ago.)
Having Honorary-Sister-in-Law-Tina and Our-Hero-Charlie-the-Brave and their baby in our basement is starting to make my house feel like a family lives here. And it's a reasonably functional family. This is weird for me. TheCSO and I have been thinking over the family that is the two of us, and what we want our family to be. Linguist Friend has had an open invitation to move in with us for years, now our housemates are starting to feel like part of our family as well.
I'm finally starting to feel confident that I have a support system of functional people who love me even when I suck. I don't have to save everybody and I don't have to be the funny one, the slutty one, the smart one or play any other role. I feel this realization has made me lazier and bitchier. Or maybe it has made me more sensitive to whom I am when I'm not working so hard to be delightful.
Of course, most of those people have been in my life for years and have to varying degrees putting up with my crap for all that time much as I have been putting up with theirs. I guess I'm a slow learner.
A couple of weeks ago, I had a dream that was very clearly my consciousness getting used to letting go of an old dream and starting the road toward a new one.
So, in short, it has been a really reflective time for me. Lots of good things have happened. But they've all happened pretty fast and I find myself carefully hoarding my alone time and treasuring the time I spend stretched out in front of the TV watching silly things and recharging. Last night I went to a midnight movie alone, which felt like having an affair with myself while an unsuspecting CSO played cards with his buddies.*
So anyway, that's my deal these days.
But I think I'm startingto come out of it.
I will write soon.
CC
*Incidentally, "Zodiac" was wonderful. Not the thriller I expected at all, more like a two-hour Law and Order episode with twenty minutes of scary stuff spaced throughout.
Ms. Kitty points out that I haven't been writing as much. Sorry about that. I've had a lot on my mind. I changed jobs about a month ago. I'm much happier in my new one.
As if you haven't guessed by the photos, on Thursday I went to an open house at Georgetown. I absolutely fell in love with the place and now can't wait to go. So that's good. When I asked some night students (I'm going to be a night student) what they thought of the day students, the response was that lots of them were straight out of college and not all that interesting and that the night discussions were better.
I love this answer for two reasons:
1. I want in on the good discussions
2. That level of candor suggests they were straight with me about other things.
Several people I really respect went to Georgetown. I'm really honored to get to study where they studied. To be honest, I'm still flatly amazed that I got in. But I met some other people at the open house who felt the same way. There was even a guy who had dropped out of law school. (One of the things that made my application squirrelly was that I dropped out of grad school several years ago.)
Having Honorary-Sister-in-Law-Tina and Our-Hero-Charlie-the-Brave and their baby in our basement is starting to make my house feel like a family lives here. And it's a reasonably functional family. This is weird for me. TheCSO and I have been thinking over the family that is the two of us, and what we want our family to be. Linguist Friend has had an open invitation to move in with us for years, now our housemates are starting to feel like part of our family as well.
I'm finally starting to feel confident that I have a support system of functional people who love me even when I suck. I don't have to save everybody and I don't have to be the funny one, the slutty one, the smart one or play any other role. I feel this realization has made me lazier and bitchier. Or maybe it has made me more sensitive to whom I am when I'm not working so hard to be delightful.
Of course, most of those people have been in my life for years and have to varying degrees putting up with my crap for all that time much as I have been putting up with theirs. I guess I'm a slow learner.
A couple of weeks ago, I had a dream that was very clearly my consciousness getting used to letting go of an old dream and starting the road toward a new one.
So, in short, it has been a really reflective time for me. Lots of good things have happened. But they've all happened pretty fast and I find myself carefully hoarding my alone time and treasuring the time I spend stretched out in front of the TV watching silly things and recharging. Last night I went to a midnight movie alone, which felt like having an affair with myself while an unsuspecting CSO played cards with his buddies.*
So anyway, that's my deal these days.
But I think I'm startingto come out of it.
I will write soon.
CC
*Incidentally, "Zodiac" was wonderful. Not the thriller I expected at all, more like a two-hour Law and Order episode with twenty minutes of scary stuff spaced throughout.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Ooh... Crappy Starr King YouTube ad
I'm sure the Starr King student featured in the YouTube ad below is a lovely person, but I agree with much of what has already been said on the blogosphere about the ad itself. That the guy slips on his words at one point and nobody edited that out or made a second take I think about says it all. I agree with Joel that he has sort of a faux-ministerial blather thing to his speech. I suspect that if I listened to the man talk for any significant length of time and did a shot every time he said the word "oppression," I would be very drunk very quickly.
And I nominate him for the wise counsel of Peacebang as well, because honestly, something must be done with that hair.
And what's the deal with the part where the camera seems to be slowly zooming in on that girl's chin? And the "See? We have a black person!" photograph? WTF?
I said to myself "Self, surely this is the work of a couple of enterprising first years."
Ah, no.
As the video tells us it was "produced by Cheryl A. Bowlan." We all know that morbid curiosity is the only reason CC gets out of bed some mornings, so of course I googled our friend the producer.
She's Starr King's head PR lady.
CC smites her forehead. Hard.
So Starr King has a PR lady putting out crappy videos for the world to see and making sure to credit herself at the end.
Anyway, here's the video:
CC
Hat tip to Cuumbaya and the UU Enforcer
And I nominate him for the wise counsel of Peacebang as well, because honestly, something must be done with that hair.
And what's the deal with the part where the camera seems to be slowly zooming in on that girl's chin? And the "See? We have a black person!" photograph? WTF?
I said to myself "Self, surely this is the work of a couple of enterprising first years."
Ah, no.
As the video tells us it was "produced by Cheryl A. Bowlan." We all know that morbid curiosity is the only reason CC gets out of bed some mornings, so of course I googled our friend the producer.
She's Starr King's head PR lady.
CC smites her forehead. Hard.
So Starr King has a PR lady putting out crappy videos for the world to see and making sure to credit herself at the end.
Anyway, here's the video:
CC
Hat tip to Cuumbaya and the UU Enforcer
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Most of DC's cooler places remind one of being in church
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Um...Wow
I always thought the commercial that this is based on was the best thing to come out of George Orwell's book 1984.
What I don't like about the book 1984 is the endless amount of poorly thought out political metaphor that people make about it. Obviously this is along those lines.
But what the heck, I still sort of like it.
I'd vote for her, but I'm not a big Hillary fan. She mostly seems to be liberal where I'm moderate and moderate where I'm liberal.
CC
What I don't like about the book 1984 is the endless amount of poorly thought out political metaphor that people make about it. Obviously this is along those lines.
But what the heck, I still sort of like it.
I'd vote for her, but I'm not a big Hillary fan. She mostly seems to be liberal where I'm moderate and moderate where I'm liberal.
CC
Friday, March 16, 2007
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