Message from Tabbycat
Wed Jan 17, 2007 at 06:16:11 AM PDT
Dear Street Prophets, I am posting this for my very dear friend Tabbycat1138. I have not seen what she has posted recently because I have not been very active on the internet, I just know that she has been through a very rough stretch and her illness was expressing itself. And I'm not sure I agree with all she says here, and it seems to me that this message is perhaps still another way to punish herself. But I also know she (he? it is irrelevant, my friend) is searching for her true self, and that her true self is not anything she does, or any of her characteristics, or her health or illness. Her true self is a beloved child of God. I know she would be grateful for our prayers. I think there is nothing she needs more than the peace of God's love and of ours.
Peace & Joy
Mon Jan 01, 2007 at 09:01:42 AM PDT
This was my wyfp post at dKos on Saturday evening. A couple people liked it so I thought I would recycle it here... I have missed participating here at SP and one of my hopes for the new year is to have more to offer here. Love you all!!
I didn't get you anything for Christmas. I respect that you're not materialistic people (right??) and that what you would really most like is peace on earth or something like that, which I can't afford. Though I wish I could; if we can buy it on an installment plan by individual acts of caring about one another's effing problems, then I hope we will do that.
John Edwards announces his candidacy for President
Thu Dec 28, 2006 at 08:52:04 AM PDT
Longtime Street Prophets will remember I was invited to interview John Edwards as a blogger last fall (in private, with one other blogger), which I then
posted all about, complete with transcripts, here and on Daily Kos.
My Airmail from the Carthusian Monks
Tue Sep 26, 2006 at 06:32:45 PM PDT
I got a package today! From.... the 11th century.
The Carthusians are the most austere of all Catholic monastic orders. This "fraternity of hermits" was founded in France in 1074 by St. Bruno (the abbey of le Grande Chartreuse, famous for the liqueur) and continued almost unchanged to the present day in two dozen monasteries on four continents. The Carthusians' life of silence and solitude and contemplation precludes virtually all contact with the outside world. This eased up only an eensy bit after Vatican II, and within the past year a few peepholes have opened into the mysterious world of the Carthusians.
Yay I'm disabled!!!
Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 03:27:17 PM PDT
You probably know I've been unemployed for a few years because of a combination of mild/moderate disabilities (traumatic brain injury and asperger's syndrome). I've been trying to get Social Security Disability, was rejected once, moped for a while then re-applied, was briefly given a presumptive approval, was rejected again, then appealed and I finally got a call today saying my claim has been approved for SSDI and SSI. This is a BIG relief, especially since my boyfriend, whom I have been living with, may be moving to another state in several months (without me), leaving me without a place to live. I think I would have figured something out somehow, but now I know I can rent my own apartment and that I will be okay.
Book Mooch: a cool new book exchange by mail website
Wed Aug 16, 2006 at 06:08:21 PM PDT
Like many people, I have a medium-sized collection of books I don't really need, and a medium-sized list of books I want but don't have money for. Also I really don't like simply accumulating more and more books. How about trading books I have for the books I really want?
Book Mooch, which describes itself as "a community for exchanging used books," launched last week, and so far I've had a great experience with it. It's very simple to use:
Meditate on Reality
Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 12:16:11 PM PDT
Trappist monk and spirituality author Thomas Merton once wrote in a magazine article "if you've never meditated on Auschwitz, you don't know anything about meditation." I don't have the quote in front of me, so that's a close paraphrase, and I don't know the exact context of the remark, but I suspect I know what he meant. In Christian monastic tradition, "meditation" means prayerful mental reflection, for instance on a scene from religious scripture, like Jesus being nailed to the cross. I think Merton was bringing the practice down to earth, down to its essential intent, by insisting that this needs to be a practice of developing real, rather than theoretical or emotional, compassion.
Baptist colleges disaffiliate with SBC
Sat Jul 22, 2006 at 12:41:48 AM PDT
A NY Times
article says that within the past four years, a half-dozen colleges and universities have cut their ties with state Baptist Conventions associated with the Southern Baptist Convention (or vice-versa).
The SBC has become markedly more theologically conservative and authoritarian within the past couple decades, straining the relationships. Issues include "money, control of boards of trustees, whether the Bible must be interpreted literally, how evolution is taught, the propriety of some books for college courses and of some plays for campus performances and whether cultural and religious diversity should be encouraged."
Welcome, new Street Prophets!
Fri Jun 16, 2006 at 05:34:33 PM PDT
Update [2006-6-16 20:34:33 by paxpdx]:paxpdx updating the update
Yeah, it's getting a bit long, but we're still having new folks pop up out of the woodworks (or maybe Vegas), and let's give them a chance to introduce themselves properly.
Update [2006-6-15 16:45:59 by Mahanoy]: It's a slow day here today, so I'm putting this back on top to encourage more of our fledging Prophets to introduce themselves. Don't be shy!
Bumped by Mahanoy. I've also noticed a lot of new "faces" around here the last few days. If you're new to Street Prophets, please stop by and introduce yourself.
And I have one more question to add to Elizabeth D's excellent list: What brought you to Street Prophets?
Come on in and stay awhile!
I've seen a lot of new faces around here in just the past few days and I want to say hello and invite you to introduce yourselves!
Is the surge of new members YearlyKos related? Whether you were at the convention and saw the Street Prophets quilt and talked with some of us, or just read about it and saw the pictures, we're glad you found our cozy corner of the internet.
Now, don't be shy.
NEW "Bill Moyers on Faith & Reason" PBS series
Mon Jun 12, 2006 at 11:32:36 PM PDT
After TV journalist Bill Moyers retired from TV, I sent him an impassioned snail mail letter last spring telling him how much I appreciated his work and urging him to come back to TV because I honestly felt we needed him. To my surprise he sent me an inscribed copy of his book of essays and a very kind handwritten note.
So I wrote him another, longer letter thanking him and describing in some detail the issues that we have in the progressive blogosphere with relations between religious and nonreligious political activists, suggesting that he was especially talented at speaking to these issues (as well as respected by progressive bloggers), and urging him to do so. Well... that's just what he's now done. I'm not suggesting he created his newest series because of me (though I think he probably read my letter) but I do think that in some real sense he is doing this for us, for religious and nonreligious people with common goals and interests who so much need to work together sympathetically.
Bill Moyers on Faith and Reason is a seven part series that premiers June 23rd on PBS (check your local schedules).
YearlyKos Pictures!!
Mon Jun 12, 2006 at 07:24:42 AM PDT
Bumped by Mahanoy. For those of us who weren't able to make YKos, we can still enjoy the positive energy and the vivacious spirit of people-powered politics in action. This is a movement seriously to be reckoned with! Many thanks (and cookies) to Elizabeth D for sharing these pics! [And brillig, if you want to post some of those pics of yours in a diary (once they've been culled down a bit from 500+), I'd be happy to bump it up to the front page.]
I had wanted to post this to Daily Kos particularly to promote the quilt project and explain it to those who maybe didn't hear the whole story at the booth, and remind people there will be an online raffle, but I am just too beat to try to collect my thoughts and write something. I really encourage Rain or someone else to use my pictures and diary on Daily Kos about the Street Prophets experience at YK. Or, if you think I should, I guess you could urge me to do that tomorrow or the next day once I have gotten some rest.
Anyway, enjoy.
Why I'm A Liberal (critique wanted)
Wed May 31, 2006 at 01:22:39 AM PDT
I was asked to write a 500-1000 word essay on "Why I'm a Liberal" for an e-book connected with YearlyKos. This is just barely over 500 words, lol. I'd appreciate criticisms of any kind or proofreading edits if you see any problems. Because this is for the book, I'll probably delete this diary early afternoon Wednesday.
Thank you in advance! I appreciate your help. :-)