State of the Catholic Church

Oh hey there blog, been a while huh?

I'm writing tonight because I'm slightly riled up at the end of my conversation with my mother, in which we discussed some of the things happening at my home parish and what we hear is happening nationally. 

I'm so frustrated with the church hierarchy.  They are called to be shepherds to their flock and yet increasingly, it feels like want to create a pen and not worry about any one of the flock leaving.  Still, this analogy is imperfect as its not a simple pen, but a maze, so that the flock wanders and is too confused to realize that there isn't an exit.  And the shepherds then get control their flock rather than guide them.  The powers that be have created such strict guidelines (and I'm not talking sacraments) for participation in the church that spiritual growth and exploration are stunted if there is indeed any place for further growth.  The message is that they are the all knowing and the great wise ones who will give us little people the plans on how to get into heaven...even if it has nothing to do with creating a personal relationship with God.  It's collecting all the right pie pieces while on the path, like trivial pursuit.  To the hierarchy, the people, the mass, the church, the body is not important.  The rules are.  Its so irritatingly irresponsible and un-Christ-like.

And then I am also so frustrated by the people.  How have we (as a whole) let ourselves get shepherded into this pen?  How did we not see this coming?  How have we not risen up and demanded change?  Why are we so complacent and obedient to self-appointed gate keepers to our generous God? We could demand the kind of church that we deserve, but we are more comfortable going through the motions that we are told to go through.  Why question? Why grow when it is being handed to you?

Yet another example of those in power taking the power while the people hand it over to them.  Be the faith.  Be the church. Demand your say.

Its odd...

I'm quite mentally tired and my mind is ready to rest...but my body, while not ready to run a marathon by any means, isn't ready to lie in a bed it.

I'm a CA now...students are back and I'm slowly trying to learn their names. Term is coming to a close in the next month which means everything is due (perfect timing).

I'm back to being super involved on campus (go me) and I'm super frustrated with this clueless campus, yet doing everything I can to work on diversity issues.

My friend Rachel and I spent six hours today working on the theoretical constructs of a graduate student group to help facilitate the presence of diverse issues in the classroom. It will mostly be comprised of our peers in our program and a few friends, but it should be good. I think all that discussion of privilege, the communication of prejudice, how to create an inclusive environment that respects everyone's inherent humanity and dignity. We termed it diversity brain sex...and let me tell you, its exhausting. We were fried, we walked away almost in silence, silently chuckling at the fact that after talking for six hours, we didn't have much to say to each other.

So I have much homework to do over the weekend and a Superbowl party to help throw...this should be interesting. Plus I really hope my first paycheck is coming soon, I'm seriously broke with a decent amount of food reserves.

MMMM that's all for now. Hopefully more to come soon...if I don't fail at updating.

a note about the academy awards

So I'm watching the Pursuit of Happyness right now and did a little research to figure out if Will Smith was nominated for an Academy Award for it...he was. But he didn't win. That was the same year Forrest Whitaker won for the Last King of Scotland, also nominated: Peter O'Toole for Venus, Leo Dicaprio for Blood Diamond, and Ryan Gosling for Half Nelson. That's a talented crowd with some great performances.

I thought about how much I wanted certain people or movies to win when I watch. How I build up my favorite to make it seem like the obvious choice. In hindsight, the competition seems pretty obvious. So I looked back again.

2001: Denzel Washington wins for Training Day. Who'd he beat out? Will Smith in Ali, Sean Penn in I Am Sam, and Russel Crowe in A Beautiful Mind....oh yeah. How bout that year?

1994: Tom Hanks wins for Forrest Gump. Non-winners: Paul Newman in Nobody's Fool, John Travolta in Pulp Fiction AND Morgan Freeman in Shawshank Redemption.

1993: Tom Hanks wins for Philadelphia beating out Liam Neeson in Schindlers List

That's just a few examples.

I guess what it comes to is that while that little gold man statue seems really important, it doesn't diminish the other performances over time. Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain, Robin Williams in The Fisher King or Dead Poets Society, Kevin Costner in Dances With Wolves, Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan, Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting, Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire, Richard Dreyfuss in Mr. Hollands Opus...all nominated, but didn't win. Their performances are still outstanding, none-the-less.

Oh yeah, I was looking up just Best Actor nomination....how bout some women?

2002: Nicole Kidman wins for The Hours, beating out Selma Hayek in Frida and Hours co-star Juliane Moore in Far From Heaven

2005: Reese Witherspoon wins for Walk The Line over Felicity Huffman in Transamerica and Charlize Theron in North Country

1997: Helen Hunt wins for As Good As it Gets over Kate Winslet in Titanic

1987: Cher in Moonstruck beats out Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction

1968: The Academy couldn't even decide and decided that a tie should be awarded for Kathrine Hepburn in A Lion in Winter and Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl

Seriously. For as much hype as these awards get. They don't legitimize a performance at all.

Nothing Profound Here

Just a fun little note about my current obsession with watching Criminal Minds reruns on A&E and Ion channels.

Note 1: Shemar Moore=jaw drop g-g-g-g-g-gorgeous

Note 2: I like Joe Mantegna as an actor. I'm always happy to see him on a show because he's solid, he plays logically flawed characters that are easy to identify with and appreciate for their imperfection. And I like the place his character plays on the show as David Rossi, one of the originators of profiling coming back to lend senior expertise to the group. That said, its hard for me to appreciate Rossi completely because of who he replaced on the show. Mandy Patinkin played Jason Gideon, the previous senior expert, and it was a wonderful performance. Where Rossi can bristle and be brilliant, Gideon was an intuitive and intelligent father figure. Where I appreciate and like Rossi, I LOVE Gideon. So its a mixed feeling when I see Rossi stride on screen, but I'm just happy, like theres something right with the world when Gideon is there.

Anyways, I'm halfway through the last rerun of the evening. I'm going to watch.

Snow

Snow has come again to Plymouth. Like the last time (which was about a month and a half ago), it hasn't quite managed to stick to the ground yet (it's also only been falling for the last hour and a half) which is okay by me. It is however starting to accumulate on the tops of some cars and on the wooden fire escape outside my window and our front door.

I watch this snow slightly terrified of what it means. My roommate, the meteorologist in training says that we could get one or two inches by the end of the weekend, and Wednesday could mean 10-15 more inches. Still lacking in experience behind the wheel, the prospect of driving around in this weather is quite frightening, not that walking is much of a comfort.

Still, amidst this terror I cannot help but enjoy the view. The leaves have long since abandoned their posts on spry tree limbs and have even been robbed of their supposed final resting place on the ground as maintenance crews have cleared most away for reasons I probably may not understand for a while. The New England world and we poor reactionary inhabitants have prepared for snow for weeks now, surrounded by what appears to nature languishing in death without the protective bandage of frozen white water particles.

So perhaps now it may actually start to look like a world at sleep outside my window, with the stubborn coniferous trees pulling their green coats closer about them, vowing that the cold and snow would not be enough to send them into hibernation. I actually have a photo project that I have in mind, which requires a decent level of snow on the ground, so that might be a slight positive as well.

And I think here is where I will end. I've vowed to make cookies this weekend and the dishes need to be washed. Oddly enough, my friend Ryan just informed me that making cookies was highly appropriate because his mother would bake him cookies whenever he shoveled his front walkway. It made the house warm, smell good, and it was a nice thank you present. Cookies it shall be.

Science and Culture

Hello my devoted (or perhaps not so devoted after my long absence) readers.

Life in New Hampshire has been busy and wonderfully challenging. I finally feel like my academic pursuits are actually challenging me in ways that are truly stimulating. I'm asked, not only to regurgitate and analyze, but I'm actually being encouraged to build on research and create new theory. Its really exciting.

While I have wanted to write recently, but I think I was under the influence of my own need to come back with something profound and important. I think I found something that will be sufficient brief commentary.

I've recently fallen into watching reruns of Criminal Minds. As a side note to the rest of what I'm getting to, as much as I love Joe Mantegna, I'm really sad that Mandy Patinkin's character, Gideon isn't a part of the show anymore. Anyways.

What I'm really enjoying is the convergence of scientific exploration enhanced by cultural narratives. When the team creates a profile, it is not uncommon for their rationalization for behaviors be based on mythology or cultural ideas. This converges with certain beliefs I have about the functioning of people which corresponds with how I'm developing my theoretical orientation as a counselor. I believe that the importance of cultural stories and how they create expectations for behavior cannot be discounted in analysis of an individual. So its been really interesting to watch how I see that come out in my casual analysis of the people around Plymouth, in case studies, and now in this television program. My next step is looking at how these stories, these narratives can be used therapeutically. I suppose I'm really appreciating how science and history/language come together to create a better understanding of people, especially since academia has traditionally pitted these two together.

Hm, I guess I kind of expected it to be short. Anyways, I should post and move on anyways, I've got to finish my rough draft, then I really want to set up my Christmas decor tonight, REALLY WANT TO. Its definitely time.

Verbontene Liebe

So in my spare time (which there's a fair amount of in between checking for jobs and going on walks) I've become obsessed with following gay plot lines on soap operas.

I kept up with Luke and Noah on As The World Turns for a bit over a year ago because it they were the first gay couple on daytime tv in the US. They're a cute couple but as American soap opera's do, their relationship has an abundance of drama, plus because of what "Americans want" there's a minimal amount of PDA between the two, actual on-screen kisses are months between. And now that One Life to Live has the start of Kyle and Oliver (Fish) I keep an eye on them too, but that plot is just starting to unfold and us poor viewers have to wait for the writers to pick up the storyline from time to time to get more out of it. And Oliver's internalized homophobia is really a drag, he's dating a woman now, threatening Kyle to stay out of his life...everyone knows they're going to end up together but its just a big headache.

But through the glory of youtube and some kind soul across the Atlantic, I am madly obsessed with Christian and Oliver of Verbontene Liebe (Forbidden Love, a German soap opera), perhaps the most adorable couple ever to strike the earth. Their storyline started way back in 2007 perhaps around the same time Luke and Noah did. It began the same as most gay fictional plot lines go. Oliver is a mostly gay man who has known about his sexual preference since age 13, and Christian is dating a woman and is fine with homosexuality as long as it doesn't get too close to him. Of course with heartwrenching honesty and interesting dramatic twists they eventually end up together and their plot line turns to what its like to be the most awesome couple ever. Here's why its easy to love them:

Of course they have spats, they have some big ones, but all of them come from logical and expected places. When they get angry at each other its easy to understand why. The fights are natural and expected fights, most couples need to go through some sort of struggle to figure out the balance of work life and home life, jealousy, pursing dreams, etc. Its HOW they make up that is so wonderful; usually the guy who originally felt wronged is the one who makes the first move and apologizes, making a huge gesture of support.

The message is always that when things start to look rough the answer is to love each other more. Christian and Oliver know that no matter what, their relationship is the most important thing to both of them and they'll do whatever is necessary to make that happen. Does that mean that they both give up on their own dreams? No, they support each other through the changes that need to happen in their lives to make that happen.

Its also flippin adorable how much PDA they get in. Its obvious that they characters really care for each other. As they live in an apartment with other characters in the story, they're often involved in plots other than their own, usually as the ones giving helpful advice on someones love life. This also gives the viewers a chance to see how their relationship is from day to day, what its like when there isn't a crisis. They'll kiss each other whenever they want, give a playful swat, tease each other...constant reminders that they really do love each other and its obvious to everyone who sees them.

Its also nice because as the lowly youtube viewers we get know a little more about a fun group of people they interact with regularly. Christian's brother, Gregor (often a douche, but somehow you still route for him), lives across the hallway and becomes Olli's (Oliver) partner. Christian and Gregor's cousin Stella has moved in with Gregor in recent months. We get to know Olli's aunt, Charlie, and cousin Olivia (a really not so kind individual for the most part, but has some surprisingly human moments). And the roommates Judith and Lydia. Judith has far too many boy troubles over her own, often where she's got two guys she's interested in and can't choose. Somehow it doesn't get old, and the guys are usually there to help her out, like two awesome older brothers. Lydia is in a relationship with Sebastian which has plenty of ups and downs, but the four of them are a great group, and have great comedic timing. Plus they offer great advice to each other.

Its really just a great show (at least what I see of it) and I'm a little sad to be almost caught up with real time now, as I've been pretty spoiled catching up on the last two years. At any rate, they're adorable and I adore watching them. Many thanks to the Germans for putting together a couple gays could be proud of.


Christian is on the left.
Oliver is on the right.