Metacentricities

Finally, I got a few minutes to move my first blog over from Typepad. It was pretty easy - although I think that moving Zen of Nonprofit Technology will be harder, because I care more about preserving the right structure. This blog, I’m just happy to get all the posts over.

So, things will be moving and changing, be patient. And notice the new feed on the bottom right!

The intersection of vertical lines through the center of buoyancy of a floating body when it is at equilibrium… A collection of centers… Where religion, politics, science, technology, the environment and Michelle’s brain and life meet.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what this blog should be. It hasn’t become clear yet. I expect it will soon.

I’m a bit slow on the uptake, because I hear this is all over the news today.

A team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists estimates that 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred.

In other words, we are worse for the Iraqi people than Saddam, at least in terms of death rates. In fact, we’re more than twice as bad. Death rates in Iraq were 5.5 per 1,000 pre-invasion, and 13.3 per 1,000 post invasion.

Participants: Thurman Hart, Xpatriate Texan, Bruce Wilson, Talk2Action, Mik Moore, Jspot

Thurman discussed the history of the term “separation of church and state,” which comes from a letter from Jefferson. And then continued to talk about issues of how this moves over American history. He talked about how Kennedy changed the landscape - as a Catholic, and as someone who brought a lot of scientific expertise into his administration. The left embraced this. As the left lost it’s moral base, in distancing itself from religion, the right found it. We used to have a strong liberal wing built on faith, and a weak right wing based on secularism. And now we have the reverse. Recent examples of issues of faith and politics: Kerry avoiding the question about how he could be Catholic and pro-choice. Barak Obama is the second example.

Mik Moore spoke next: He comes from a Jewish perspective - which has been quite liberal, and secular. So conversations about faith and life have strong secular perspectives. He first read the speech and thought it was great. In a second reading, he find seeds of problems between progressive people of faith and secular progressives. He sees a problem in this conversation - for example, progressive people of faith feel like a minority among progressives, and this is an opportunity for an elected official to stand up and say that it was time for the secular left to stop silencing people of faith. The secular folks feel like they are a minority in the progressive movement, and in this country. For example, polls say that an athiest can’t get elected. Two groups that at their core are allies, but we both have this complex where we both feel the other is dominant. We need to make sure that the frustrations we feel don’t end up in a “fight with our friends”, instead of where our energy should be focused. How do we translate our points of view into universal values, instead of just couching it in religious terms? He sees this as an important question.

Bruce Wilson: Looking at language of demonization. He had been looking at the Indian River Incident. This brings up how the religious left might enter politics. First - was what happened at Indian River wrong? We could do a collective statement about this issue. He then talked about a number of examples on the right, and the scope of their movements.

Discussion followed about a variety of issues. Here are a few highlights: Some conversation specifically about the strategies of the Democratic party, and the issue of Obama using a red herring in  talking about the issue of God in the Pledge of Allegiance - it is incumbent on us to be extremely clear about what it is we want to do. Tim suggested that his use of that in his speech was related to a 2004 incident that the moderates of the party had to deal with. One particpant brought up Elizabeth Castelli  who has written about the language of persecution in the religious right. Rabbi Arthur Waskow from the Shalom Center talked about the last time the religious left and secular left came together at the time of Martin Luther King Jr. And we can do that again. And he also talked about how the left has talked about the problem of modern culture, and the sense of victimization by the modern culture.  Bruce Prescott talked about the Baptists that focus on separation of church and state, and we can’t surrender that. More discussion ensued about relative power of the religious right, and what’s going on. The religious right isn’t really in charge, but they do have political power. Stephen Rockwell suggested that it would have been better for Obama to talk about a plan for poverty, instead of the speech he gave. He also talked about issues of the lack of diversity on the progressive religious left. Chris Walton of Philocrites talked about the issue of the religious left being sort of the auxilliary of the secular left. There is a need for groups in the religious left to strategize around getting their own issues out there. He talked about the incredible creativity of the liberal theology in the academy, but hasn’t made it out of the academy. There are a few people such as Marcus Borg, John Shelby Spong and others are the only people that have brought this creativity to the public. Liberal religious communities can provide the social base for progressive action, but they are in trouble.

technorati tags:progfaithblogcon

Last week, in San Diego, authorities found a furnished two bedroom apartment in a storm drain. Apparently, quite a lot of work and ingenuity went into the project of setting this place up. How many different ways will people have to be homeless (like the folks from New Orleans who have been kicked out of their hotel rooms) before we realize that homelessness is again a huge and growing problem, and one that needs to be addressed in systemic ways? The booming real estate market of the early 21st century that seems to have benefitted so many with economic resources, has another effect: making the process of finding a home for those who don’t have resources increasingly difficult.

Via BoingBoing.

technorati tags: homelessness

I got a letter in the mail today. It’s not really significant, on one level. On the other, it is very significant. What I got in the mail was the confirmation of the appointment I have with Section A of the Committee on Ministry of the Northern California Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ (UCC), for what’s called an "In-Care" interview. The meeting isn’t until next year (2007), and there are steps to take beforehand. But it is the second step I’ve taken on the path to being ordained in UCC ministry (the first being joining New Spirit Community Church). I’m at the very beginning, but I’m also very cognizant of the fact that I have stepped off the path to UU ministry.

Some of you have read my piece about returning to Christianity. That path, that process, did not in any way preclude me from continuing on in UU ministry. In fact, there are plenty of UU Christians who are in ministry. So why am I leaving UUism?

There is basically only one reason, although that reason is multidimensional. The reason is this: where am I most likely to find a comfortable context (organizationally) to practice my ministry? No organization is going to be perfect, and if you know me, you know that I find it difficult when organizations don’t walk their talk.

I’m a pretty unique person in a lot of ways. But I am, basically, an African American lesbian Christian mystic. UCC churches, like UU churches differ widely, and there are surely some in the UCC that would not want to call an African American, and there are surely many that would not want to call an out lesbian. I’ve been dealing with issues of race and sexuality for a long time now, and am pretty used to it. Unfortunately, the UUA has a fairly abysmal record of ordaining people of color into full time ministry, and I know that both race and class are still huge issues in the UUA, issues that are not going away any time soon. The UCC is more ethnically diverse than the UUA, and I think they get class much better than the UUA. But this doesn’t mean I won’t be involved in issues regarding race, class and sexuality - those are ever present. In the final analysis, it was being a Christian that was the pivot point. In all honesty, I didn’t want to have to add the Christian battle, or the language of reverence battle, or the Jesus battle, to those other battles too. It just seemed like way too much to handle. There are few Christian-oriented or Christian-leaning UU congregations, and so it would not be likely that I’d be called to one. I didn’t want to have to worry that if I used the "G" word, or the "J" word too much in "worship" (can’t really use that word either) I’d offend someone. It felt too constraining. I also didn’t want to be in yet another of what I have percieved to be a somewhat aggrieved (though persistant and loyal) minority within the UUA.

I hope this doesn’t come across as either dismissive or whiny. My UU congregation is a community that was very important to my own journey, and one I treasure to this day. I am very thankful that there are communities like it in the world - that embrace diversity of spiritual paths, and provide community for all of that diversity. I hope that in my own ministry, in whatever form it takes, I’ll be able to balance the respect of religious diversity, the desire to provide a safe space for people who’ve been hurt by religion and a space for people to worship in the ways that work for them. It’s going to be an interesting journey, for sure, but it’s a different path than I’d expected to begin with.

technorati tags: ucc, ministry, ordination, uu

I’m back from Baja, Mexico. It was a really great trip. The only complaint was that it was a lot colder than we expected - too cold and windy to swim, snorkle or kayak, and we had some really cold nights for sleeping. Otherwise, it was chock full of neat adventures, wonderful conversation, intersesting people, incredible desert landscape, and beautiful ocean views.

There were some funny spots. Here are two. The cabin we stayed in at this little, extremely funky, out of the way place called Camp Gecko. There will be more on Camp Gecko soon. But it turns out that the cabin we stayed in there is the cabin that William Shatner (yes, that William Shatner) stays in when he visits Bahia de los Angeles.

The second funny spot was this cactus thing we ran into, on the road to Camp Gecko, with tinsel, and a sign saying "Hector y Sunshine." We had a blast making up stories about Hector and Sunshine. Hard working bajacalifornian mechanic meets hippy dippy flower child escaping from the US in her beat up VW microbus, which breaks down …


Check my flickr page regularly for baja photos. It will take a while for me to upload and tag them, but they will be up.

technorati tags: baja, mexico, travel

I’ve been doing a little bit of playing with cool Web 2.0 tools. What is Web 2.0? That link goes to Wikipedia, which has a nice, informative entry on Web 2.0 (Wikipedia is itself an example of Web 2.0, really). Web 1.0 was static HTML pages, in the control of one person or organization, that didn’t change much. A lot of the web (and a lot of the nonprofit web) is still at 1.0. Websites that could be called a part of Web 2.0 are sites that include dynamic updating (like blogs), syndication feeds, networks and collaboration. These are the hallmarks of Web 2.0.

One of the great things about Web 2.0 is that it is finally capitalizing on web standards, particularly, RSS/Atom - the syndication standards. This allows any new content from any source to be grabbed and agregated by other sources.

So there are a bunch of tools I’ve been trying out and using, and I’m liking a lot. First, is most people are pretty familiar with, called del.icio.us. It’s a collaborative bookmarking site, and was just bought by Yahoo. If you look at my del.icio.us links, you can get an idea of why this is cool. (By the way, lately, there have been some glitches, so if it doesn’t work, check back in a bit.)

The second tool is bloglines. Bloglines is a "Feed" reader - it grabs RSS/Atom streams from blogs and other sites, and aggregates them for you. Again, if you have a look at my public bloglines, you can get the idea - it helps me keep up to date. Google has it’s own feed reader, called Google Reader. I spent a fair bit of time playing with it, and it has a nice Google look and feel (kinda like GMail) but it isn’t as good as bloglines. The interface needs some help to be as easy to use as bloglines.

The third tool is called Digg. Digg is really, really cool. Basically, someone (even you) posts a story (a link to a website, basically). Then, people read the story, and ‘digg’ it. When it reaches a certain number of diggs (mysterious #) it gets promoted to the main page. It’s a very cool way to get news and information. Primarily, this is in the realm of the technical. Another hallmark of Web 2.0 is the public sharing of what you have done, so you can see the stories I ‘dugg’.

Another tool, focused around blogs and blogging, is called Technorati. Technorati is basically a tool for finding blogs and blog entries based on particular tags.

The next tool is called Flickr. It’s a photo sharing site, where people upload photos, tag them, and share them with friends, family, or publicly. I haven’t used this tool a lot, because this blog (another Web 2.0 example) has a photo album. What I like about Flickr though, that many online albums don’t have is that you can tag photos, and also determine for each photo who can see what photos. Some of my few uploaded photos to flickr can be seen by just my family, and some by everyone. One of the hallmarks of Web 2.0 is that the more people that are involved, the better. The way flickr figures out whether or not someone is family or friend, is whether they are on my contact list. The only way to get on my contact list is to also sign up for a flickr account. This might be a hurdle not everyone is willing to jump.

Then, some newer tools are coming about to help you put all of this together. And example of this is the new SuprGlue, which I like quite a lot. There are probably other examples. Take a look at my SuprGlue page, and it will give you an idea of how it works.

It’s a nice thing that web standards are really coming of age, and allowing us to create amazing tools. I can literally feel how I’m migrating information off of my desktop, and onto the web (bookmarks, feeds, photos) so that I have access to everything, anywhere.

Things to think about: reliability (what happens if Yahoo decides, without warning, to pull the plug on del.icio.us, for example,)  security (making sure only the information I want is publicly accessible,) and necessity (does this really make my life easier, or are they just fun toys for a geek to play with?)

An old colleague who’s left the nonprofit space, but unlike me is still doing technology stuff, Andrew Gianni, has some interesting things to say about Web 2.0. I’d keep my eye on him.

technorati tags: web2.0, blogging, technology, tags, tagging, collaborative, networks

I’ve been remiss in giving out this (the People Who Are Out of Their Minds) award - I think it’s been a couple of weeks. Partially, there are just so many candidates, I can’t keep track. But this week, thanks, as usual, to Jesus Politics, I have a wonderful award winner - Guy Adams.

Read his full screed, if you wish, although I think it’s a waste of your good time. I’ll give you some salient pieces. He takes on the role of "chastising the church" because he thinks the "choir is asleep."

… hate speech laws will eventually outlaw the church, bit by bit — long before the state might otherwise deem that it need be so. It’ll come — maybe next year, maybe this year, or maybe in ten years, but it will arrive.

I imagine this must be after the religious right packs the supreme court and federal courts with right wing appointments…

Mark my words: though we are called to love and forgive them, in their minds we are their mortal enemy. What they cannot obtain by vote, they seek to procure by federal judicial activism. Time is so short. To me, it’s as clear as anything I’ve ever seen. (emphasis in original)

The only reason for us to be enemies is this attitude of all or nothing. They either get to have a theocracy, which obligates everyone to follow their own idea of morality, behavior and daily life, or they are an oppressed and persecuted people, who we are trying hard to eliminate. I have a hard time getting my mind wrapped around this attitude.

I may be wrong, but I can’t help but think that somehow, to some degree, God is more or less still behind America.

Sounds a lot like Guy worships a god that condones the killing of innocent people for no good reason, torture, the death penalty, incredibly economic inequities and lying politicians. I often think that they do, in fact, worship a different god than I do.

One reader said that occasionally I sound angry — Yes, over these issues I am, but some of YOU are not angry enough! God is angry over these perverted deportations from His plan for America once enjoined, but now departing.

Hmmmm. What chapter and verse is "God’s plan for America?" I must have missed that one. For a group of people who think that God’s revelation stopped with the book of Revelations, they take all sorts of liberties, don’t they?

Who is Ed Rogers? I don’t really know (he does seem to show up making excuses for Republicans), except he was on a talk show, and was out of his mind enough to suggest that Clinton’s perjury was worse than Libby’s perjury. Hmmm. Yup, prize of the week. Digby had a post about it yesterday.