Metacentricities

For some reason, the subject of women and technology seems to have come to the fore today. First, I got a comment on an entry in my other blog about women and technology, which gave me a heads up on some very good blogging going on about the topic. Ethan Zuckerman (I need to read that blog more) had a great post about gender and ICT. And there is a post by Justine Cassell at the Macarthur Foundation Spotlight site on “Disempowering girls as users of technology”.

Then, somehow, I ended up surfing to the site called “Take Back the Tech.” Take back the tech is campaign to use technology to fight violence against women. They are having a 16 day blogathon (it started on the 25th). I can’t commit to blogging about violence against women for 16 days, but I can at least commit to spreading the word.

Technorati Tags: technology, takebackthetech, women

Obviously, one of the primary things that has been on my mind over the last few months, and, indeed, the last couple of years of this seminary journey, has been the relationship between my spirituality and my vocation (or avocation - the ways I spend most of my time.)

In my piece on leaving seminary, I talked about how most of the reason for choosing to go to seminary was that I had a desire to center my life around spirituality, faith, and spiritual practice. And I learned, in the course of going to seminary, and choosing to leave it, that I really didn’t need to become a religious professional to do that. And I also learned that ministry comes in many different guises - many that were not in that traditional sense, organized ministry.

So, here I am, now, beginning my re-entry into the nonprofit technology field, as well as trying to be a writer, and explore other kinds of avenues for sharing what I have learned. So now, how am I centering my life on spirituality and spiritual practice? It’s going to be an evolving question, with changing answers. I’m looking for ways to deepen my own spiritual practices, and imbed them into my daily, monthly and yearly life. I’m being clearer about how I work, and how much I work, and exactly what I do. I’m better understanding the kinds of ways my “ministry” will best manifest itself in those work environments.

I’ve always been able to find work that has meaning to me. The work I’ve been doing in the nonprofit technology field for the last 10 years has been really fulfilling, and I do feel like I’ve had a chance to do be involved in doing some real good for organizations that do some really good work in the world. Sometimes it feels a little removed, other times much more direct. I think I’ve come to the place where I want to more deeply examine how I, and others, do that work, and the ways in which that can foster, or detract, from the work organizations do (hence, my “Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology” blog.)

But there is the different kind of work for me in writing. It is, in a different way, direct and indirect in its impact. I have much more exploration and experimentation to do in that realm.

And I know that going forward, this evolving life may or may not include deep involvement in a religious community. That’s another evolving question, with changing answers. In this time of transition, I have become unmoored from any religious community, and right now, that seems to be OK. But I imagine that might change as I settle down.

There will be more on this topic in this blog, for sure, as I get settled, and things start to emerge.

Technorati Tags: nptech, work, spirituality, vocation

Well, the next couple of months or so are going to be slow blogging months. First off, I have two final papers due - the only assignments for my two classes this semester. I’m looking forward to writing them. One of them, for “Psychology of Religion” is going to be a fictitious email exchange between C.G. Jung and Julian of Norwich. The second one is going to be a paper that examines the how the actions of God could be reconciled with science by using process theology, and a science informed by critiques of western science. I’ll likely post them both when done on my main website.

Secondly, I’ve also begun to do a lot of my old work. It’s been good, and also a bit of cold water. I feel like I’ve been actively scraping off 18 months of rust from my geek gears. It’s been mostly fun, and I’ve also had to be much more conscious about the ways in which work became stressful for me, and took me away from being conscious and aware (more on that in my next blog entry.) It’s nice getting re-acquainted with the nonprofit technology field.

Thirdly, and yes, there’s more … I’m moving. Twice. I’ll be leaving the dorms in mid-December to move to Oakland, then Ruth and I will be moving out east sometime in early January. A lot is still up in the air - you’ll hear about it here, I expect.

So I expect blogging will be in fits and starts, and slow.

OK, so it’s bad enough that people are lining up for days to get these consoles. But getting shot? Apparently, violence has erupted at many spots where new Playstations are being sold.

What’s up with that? I guess where money and desire are, violence may follow. But it just seems so, well, pointless.

Technorati Tags: gaming

I happened across this article by happenstance. Please read it. Or if you want, read this one. The basic gist is this: OJ Simpson, who was acquitted of murder in 1994, and claimed his innocence, will be paid a boat load of money for a new book, and an interview on Fox. What’s the subject? “If I did it, this is how it happened.” Basically, he is confessing to have done it.

I always knew he did it, although I also always thought there was reasonable doubt, so I felt the verdict was correct. But to turn around and make millions of dollars off of a murder that one got away with is, well, problematic at best.

I don’t entirely fault him, of course. Because if there wasn’t a book industry, or media that knew they could make money off of this, this would have never happened. And, of course, if there weren’t people who will spend the money to buy the book, or will watch the interview, it never would happen either.

I think this is one of the most telling indictments of our current mass media culture, that a murderer who got away with it now stands to make a lot of money off of it. Someone should have simply said, “no.”

Technorati Tags: murder, media

OK, so I’m not your average gadget geek, even though I read blogs about them, and the like. And I do like playing games sometimes. This year, the big news is that people are camping out so that they can have a chance at getting the new game consoles.

Right. They are camping out for days next to their Best Buy or Circuit City, or what have you, in order to pay premium prices for something that will be available for a lot less money in less than a year. Something they don’t need so badly (I’m sure most of them have a XBox 360 in their living room gathering dust while they sit in line.)

What is wrong with this picture?

Technorati Tags: gaming

For some reason I can’t quite figure out, I’m a little obsessed by Ted Haggard. I read lots of news items and then blog posts about the whole situation. I’ve seen the videos of him, and Mike Jones. At odd times of the day I’ll think about what his life is like right now. I feel sad and feel compassion for what he is going through now as America’s current most famous fallen Christian. His life is a complete mess.

There are so many threads of thought that come to me from this whole situation. From his own life, both inner and outer, at this moment, and the life of his family. And, the issue of how progressives should see it. In the blogosphere, there has been plenty of gloating, talk about his hypocrisy. Plenty of compassionate wishes from progressive Christians, calls to not be judgmental.

On one hand, I struggle with saying that in order to find a way out of his pain, he needs to find a more open kind of faith - one that embraces different sexualities. He has his faith, he has his beliefs that he wants to live his life within. Who am I to suggest that he should find a new framework? Perhaps, somehow, within that, he’ll find some peace. But then it is this framework that has created so much pain for so many people, and continues to create pain for people.

And then I think about the political aspects. The ways that people like him (and him in particular) see themselves vis-á-vis people like me. I live an immoral, depraved life according to him. I don’t deserve equal rights, my partner and I (not that we necessarily want them, but …) can never have the rights of a heterosexual married couple according to him. Ted Haggard worked hard against what could be considered my best interests.

I imagine at some point, I’ll stop having these moments of wondering how Ted Haggard is feeling. But until then, I hope that he finds a way to some peace with himself, and who he is.

Technorati Tags: faith, God, tedhaggard

… this I was waiting to blog about (George ‘macaca’ Allen conceeded). The elections are done, and the fallout has begun. Everyone expected the Democrats to take the House. Everyone thought that the Dems would at best get to 50/50, leaving the Republicans in control. But, in fact, the Dems now have both.

This is going to be a very interesting two years.

Technorati Tags: democrats, elections

I often read Radical Torah, and yesterday’s message by one of my favorite bloggers, Rachel Barenblat, about this weeks Torah portion was really nice. I think we could all use some of this. Here is a salient quote:

What Abraham knew, and what we struggle to remember and affirm, is that the people we encounter are indeed messengers of the Holy Blessed One. The message we all bear is that we are created b’tselem Elohim, in God’s image; no matter our differences, we are all reflections of the living God. When we choose to open our doors and our hearts to the people we meet, we embody the wise welcome that characterized our ancestor Abraham in his desert dwelling. As we orient ourselves in relationship to the wild and wide world, may we experience Abraham’s ability to make the stranger truly welcome. It’s a blessing we can offer to the people we encounter — and in so doing, to ourselves.

Technorati Tags: God, Torah

From Amy Sullivan:

When Democrats talk about reaching out to religious voters–particularly evangelicals–critics on the left often complain that such a strategy can work only with conservative, pro-life candidates like Bob Casey. There is no way, they argue, to win the support of moderate evangelicals and Catholics without changing the party’s positions on abortion and gay marriage.

…

Democrats who envision a future of hard-core, pro-life, anti-gay-rights candidates as their only hope can stop hyperventilating. It turns out that moderate evangelical and Catholic voters are willing to push the button for Democratic candidates. But sometimes it helps to talk to them first.

Technorati Tags: democrats, elections, evangelicals, faith, politics