It’s only been in the last month or so that every time Lydia sees a capital L, she says, “That’s my name!” And it’s not only her initial she’s glommed onto. Every A represents her friend Alex, e.g.
EVERYTHING with a right angle is an L now. She took a bite out of a Wheat Thin from the corner, and the resulting figure: “That’s my name!” She sees a check mark and proclaims the same. We have these refrigerator magnets which we’ve been using to trace her name. OK, just the L, so far.
It only occurred to me after she was named that her initials are the same as my father’s. Those of you with degrees in psychology: please discuss, and get back to me about the existential significance of that.
The interesting thing about child development is that it ‘s so non-linear. On the same night (Friday) we’re off at Grandma and Grandpa’s and she asks to use the toilet, rather than the potty for the first time is the same night she decides to sleep with Mommy and/or Daddy again.
Anyway, she’s more interesting to me all the time. Happy 2 2/3, my child.
Category: Uncategorized
Finding My Religion QUESTIONS
From this:
Gandhi said that if India was to live in peace we must recognize the value of every religion. India is a nation that has been home to all the religions in the world. Four religions were born there — Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. And we have many Christians and Muslims, as well as members of other faiths.
More than 100 years ago, Swami Vivekananda said that we have to accept the idea that all religions are different paths leading to the same God. Gandhi accepted this proposition, and in his ashram people recite prayers from all religions. They start with a Buddhist hymn, follow it with a Hindu hymn and then comes Islam, Sikhism, Jainism, Christianity — all religions, one after another. The whole congregation prays all of these prayers.
There are two layers of religion: One is the basic fundamental [ideas], and the other one consists of superficial ritual exercises. If you go to the basis — speaking truth, being honest, being compassionate, loving thy neighbor — these are common to all religions. The differences are superficial; one may have a different hairstyle, and one may have some mark on the head. Unfortunately, it is for these superficial differences that people are fighting.
We are all small people, and we have made our gods small. The Christian thinks Christ belongs to him. The Hindus think Rama and Krishna belong only to them, and the Muslim thinks Allah belongs to Islam. And so on. But this isn’t correct. Once, when Gandhi was asked, “What is your religion?” he said, “Well, I am a Hindu, I am a Muslim, I am a Christian, I am a Sikh — I follow the basic principles of all religions.
There’s a scene in the movie Gandhi that one of my preachers mentioned a couple weeks ago in her sermon. A reporter asked Gandhi him why he had never become a Christian. He answered, “If I had ever met one, I would have become one.”
So, the questions, at the beginning of the Christian period of Advent, are:
1. Why do you identify with your particular religion (or lack thereof), and particular form of that religion? (Christian Baptist, Orthodox Jew, Sunni Muslim, etc.) Was it a function of upbringing, or was it a choice made later?
2. What do you think of other major religions? Are they interesting, but not the real deal, or are they each a different path to enlightenment?
I became a Presbyterian six years ago, but grew up as a member of the A.M.E. Zion church, before my theological walk through the wilderness, where I was exposed to everything from Baha’ism to Unitarianism to various forms of Christianity, before settling in as a Methodist again. I feel as though there’s a lot to be said for the (non-fundamentalist) visions of many religions.
Or am I dealing with blind ecumenism?
EPA Library Commits Hari-Kiri
EPA Is Hastily Disposing of Its Library Collection
This is a story I read about on the Business Librarians’ listserv. It was confirmed by a friend at the EPA, who notes:
“We will lose a great number of reports that are only available as paper copies, and I have no idea what they plan to do with the books. Supposedly we have electronic access to journals (which is great when it works), but many of the ones I have needed aren’t the ones to which we subscribe. Sigh.”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is frantically dispersing its library collections to preempt Congressional intervention, according to internal emails released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Contrary to promises by EPA Deputy Administrator Marcus Peacock that all of the former library materials will be made available electronically, vast troves of unique technical reports and analyses will remain indefinitely inaccessible.
Meanwhile, many materials formerly held by the Office of Prevention, Pollution and Toxic Substances (OPPTS) Library, in EPA’s Washington D.C. Headquarters, were directed to be thrown into trash bins, according to reports received by PEER. This month, EPA closed the OPPTS Library, its only specialized library for research on health effects and properties of toxic chemicals and pesticides, without notice to either the public or affected scientists.
See the order to destroy (“recycle”) OPPTS library materials (PDF)
Read the letter posted by an anonymous employee rebutting EPA claims (PDF)
View the email about inaccessibility of EPA contractor documents (PDF)
Look at the email from the manager of the OPTTS Library (PDF)
Peruse email outlining concerns about how library restoration may be “futile” (PDF)
Examine the appropriations sign-on letter from Senators Boxer and Lautenberg (PDF)
Trace the unfolding developments in EPA’s drive to shutter its libraries
Source: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)
Oh, in case you were wondering, Marcus Peacock comes to EPA from OMB.
“PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch [noted] EPA studies show the cuts will actually lose money due to additional professional staff time that will have to be spent tracking down research materials now assembled by the libraries… In a mass letter of protest signed this June by representatives for 10,000 EPA scientists and researchers, more than half the total agency workforce, employees contend that the library plan is designed to “suppress information on environmental and public health-related topics.”
“What is going on inside EPA is positively Orwellian,” concluded Ruch.
***
Some so-called “Christian right” group is calling for a boycott of Wal-Mart today and tomorrow, because the retailer offers gay couples health benefits. Since I boycott Wal-Mart ALL of the time, I’m conflicted, because while I opppose the rationale for the boycott, I would applaud its result.
I’m Thankful For…
My mother, sisters, and nieces.
My in-laws.
My friends, including those I’ve never met in person.
A reasonable amount of intellect and curiosity that lets me be a good librarian.
An appreciation of an eclectic selection of music.
Being born in the United States, where I can freely kvetch about my government – at least so far.
Massages.
Good food.
Technologies that make my life more enjoyable, from the CD-burner to the blog.
Watching baseball in October, football in January and college basketball in March.
The beauty of arithmetic.
My church.
Most of all, my wife and my daughter.
Happy Thanksgiving!
***
Are these really the Five Best Thanksgiving movies?
***
The lyrics of Alice’s Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie. And, Alice’s website.
***
I hope it isn’t true that GALACTUS IS COMING! He eats EVERYTHING.
Wonderful predictability
Thanksgiving used to be hard for me. I don’t mean in the “I hope my stuffing turns out all right” kind of way, but more in the gypsy, I-don’t-know-where-I’ll-be sort of way. I haven’t spent it with anyone in my nuclear family (parents, sisters) since 1972. My parents moved to North Carolina in 1974. When I was working retail (1980-1987), I always worked so-called “Black Friday”, so going far was never an option.
1980- With my girlfriend at the time and her son, but clearly at a point prior to breaking up, which happened four days later. That girlfriend used to, and probably still does, remember JFK in her blessing; the assassination was 43 years ago today.
1983- With with what turned out to be a short-term girlfriend, awkward first meeting of her family in the Bronx. We broke up about five weeks later.
1988- Don’t specifically remember, but I do recall getting a phone call telling me that my friend Nancy was dying of cancer; she passed on New Year’s Day, 1989.
1994- Awkward first meeting of the girlfriend’s family. At least we didn’t break up until a year and a half later. (And we got back together – that was with Carol.)
1996- Invited to Thanksgiving dinner a few days earlier, then at the last minute, the offer was withdrawn, for reasons I never understood. I sat home, sulked, and ate Chinese takeout. The only year since 1973 I’ve watched both NFL games in their entirety, which is NOT necessarily a good thing.
It’s not that every Thanksgiving was a bad experience. 1982 at the home of my previously-mentioned friend Nancy with other “orphans”, 1987 with an Alice’s Restaurant number of folks in Oneonta, a couple years in a row with friends Steber and Jean from church in the early 1990s.
But since 1998, it’s either been at our house, or more likely, at my in-laws. A certain predictability. For this regularity, I am most thankful.
***
I’m thankful for Robert Altman, who died this week. I’ve seen only a handful of his films, all in movie theaters, but I’ve enjoyed each, in their own way:
MASH (1970), California Split (1974), Vincent & Theo (1990), The Player (1992- probably my favorite Altman film), Gosford Park (2001), A Prairie Home Companion (2006) . I tried to watch the acclaimed Nashville (1975) this summer on TV, but wasn’t able to do so. I wondered if he was a director who needs to be seen in the cinema. Then I discovered that he used to be a TV director. Surely, I saw some of episodes of The Millionaire, Maverick and Bonanza that he piloted. I’ll try Nashville again sometime.