FIRESTARTER

| | | | | | | | | |

A Life Worth Living: Personal examination of religious & spiritual beliefs (I of V)

Posted on

Paper written Fall 2008 for the Women’s Spirituality Master’s Program class Women, Religion, & Social Change; with professors D. Grenn & M. Rigoglioso. Bibliography (with amazon.com links included) at paper’s end. Introduction My final paper for the “Women, Religion, and Social Change” class is based on the question: “What are the social, ecological, spiritual, political,…

| | | | | | |

Tolerance FAQ, take 2 (II of II)

Posted on

5. Homosexuals are destroying the institution of marriage The social ritual of marriage in the United States today is highly unstable, as the 50+ % divorce rate shows. I don’t think it’s fair to blame that instability on late-comers to the institution of marriage. That’s like seeing a tire is getting low on your car,…

| | | | | | |

Tolerance FAQ, take 2 (I of II)

Posted on

Originally posted August 2004 Credits: Thanks go to Lou, Bob, George, & Ian, for input and answers to difficult questions My May Firestarter, Why not Same-sex Marriage? prompted some wonderfully fascinating discussion. I’ve been told by a friend this is the hardest he’s ever thought about issues like this. He thanked me for encouraging that,…

| |

A comparison of geographically separated subcultures (III of III)

Posted on

Physical characteristics One other interesting observation: almost all the people there were White. I saw a small handful of Asians or Pacific Islanders, and maybe three black people all week — a Navy guy and his family. I didn’t notice any Hispanics at all, although Bob said he heard some Spanish. It was… a little…

| |

A comparison of geographically separated subcultures (II of III)

Posted on

Air conditioning! Remember I said the weather was unseasonably wonderful? I loved the warmth, but I felt really sorry for the island’s local folks when I found out most of the buildings on Whidbey (including all the Navy buildings — what were they thinking?!) have no air conditioning. There were interesting side effects of this…

| |

A comparison of geographically separated subcultures (I of III)

Posted on

Originally posted July 2004 Credits: For my extended family, who gave me cause to be there. It was a great reunion! I recently spent a week on Whidbey Island, in Puget Sound off the coast of Washington state. It was lovely, and I had a great time. It was also fascinating from an anthropological perspective,…

| | |

Love: have we learned anything? A ten year comparison (I of II)

Posted on

Credits: For love, compassion — and the music. Let’s all hold out for more, and better! ;) Originally posted (tongue firmly in cheek!) on February 2005 Last February (it being the traditional month of romantic entanglements) I got a great deal of enjoyment writing a Firestarter titled, “What is Love?” This February I decided to…

| | |

Why do women say “let’s just be friends”? (VI of VI)

Posted on

Conditioning by personal choice To the selfish all are selfish.— Aesop These are all unpleasant situations which I suspect many people have had to deal with at one point or another. Faced with potential scenarios like those mentioned above, I’m not surprised many women use the “dreaded phrase” frequently. What I consider a shame is…

| | |

Why do women say “let’s just be friends”? (V of VI)

Posted on

So why does this matter? A friend noted I sounded a bit annoyed here. I am. I don’t know why, but for some reason our culture teaches men to assume women are always seductively inclined towards them — often long before the woman is more than just marginally friendly. Quite frankly, it’s bloody annoying. Lest…