it's actually hysterical for her to try and bring up 9-11 as a comparison, is if any leftist in the us is like "yay for the iraq war! it was wonderful and just and we support our government for starting it!"

i am proud of you for standing up to her and also proud of you for giving up and just cutting all ties :))))

yeah omg. and you know what, i actually unblocked her for a second to go through our dm's again and one bit that i didn't entirely screenshot is just so........hm

anyway so i copied the text and here ya go

"Regarding 9/11, I mentioned it as an example of an act that is, in itself, clear cut. I said things around it can be debated, but the event itself is clear, and it is EVIL. I don't care what excuse people come up with (and I have seen people on Tiktok trying to use anti-Israel sentiments Bin Laden expressed to justify his actions, while also conveniently skipping the part where he claims Jews control everything, so yay for siding with an antisemitic terrorist just because he once wrote a letter, after the fact, blaming the Jewish state for everything), what al-Qaeda did to almost 3,000 people was HORRENDOUS and MORALLY DESPICABLE, and to me there is no discussion to be had there, and I am in a state of shock that there are people who would justify it. That said, 9/11 is not like Oct 7. And I do not mean to belittle the pain and horror of 9/11 one bit. I watched the footage, I cried over the people killed that day. But there are several ways in which Oct 7 impacted Israel in a far worse way than 9/11 did the US. First, in terms of the percent of the population affected directly. Based on recent demographic info that in Israel we have 9.8 m people, and based on Google telling me there are 331 million Americans, then 1,200 murdered in Israel is akin to over 40,500 Americans. That's roughly 13.5 times 9/11. Now also take into consideration that Israel is much smaller than the US. We're talking about a state the size of Rhode Island. There is basically NO Israeli that hasn't been impacted by this in some way. And that's before we talk about the wounded (over 5,000 on Oct 7 alone) and those who are still held hostage, and the soldiers who keep getting injured and killed in Gaza. Now add to that, that unlike al-Qaeda operating from the other side of the world, Hamas is on the other side of a border, that they proved is indefensible. Now add to that that the attacks on Israel haven't stopped since Oct 7. It took several days to eliminate all the terrorists who invaded Israel. It took the ground operation in Gaza (weeks into the start of the war) for Hamas to stop trying to use the over 30 points where it destroyed the border fence on Oct 7 (and which could not be repaired right away) to invade again, or to land boats on our southern Mediterranean Sea beach, Zikim. And they also keep firing rockets at us. Each rocket is a murder attempt of civilians. Each one is a war crime. And there have been so many rockets fired into Israel, I lost count after 10,000 which was about a month into the war. We're now at almost 3 months. For Americans, 9/11 was one day. For us, Oct 7 never hasn't stopped yet. The worst was the first 36 hours, but it's still an on going attack. Now you wanna debate whether the Americans reacted right to the attack? I don't know the subject well enough to debate it, which is also why you won't see me reblogging posts either way. Because when I'm uninformed about something, and I also know I do not have the resources (even just emotionally) to properly dig in and understand all of the nuance and history and consequences behind each aspect, I do not speak up as if I did understand everything, and have any moral right to make judgments about the people who were there, and lived through it. Maybe they were in the right, maybe they were in the wrong, IDK. I honestly don't know, and I readily admit I do not have the resources to delve in to find out. But two things I can day is that, assuming they did dismantle al-Qaeda, even if it took a while, Americans didn't have to live with the fear of what those terrorists were capable of pulling off next. Israeliis have lived with Hamas' terrorism since the late 1980's, with its rockets since 2001, with it ruling Gaza since 2007, and we didn't dismantle it. Which means we all have to live with the guilt over how many lives could have been saved, if only we dismantled Hamas at an earlier point. Less Israelis would have died. Maybe less Gazan civilians as well, since Hamas wouldn't have had as long to embed itself into every civilians structure in Gaza, and to arm itself so much.

anyway the vibe i was constantly getting from her was 'this is the pain olympics on whose death was more horrendous or which country had the most casualties' regardless of my entire point being that people should not be killed. full stop. like you'd think that was hard to grasp or something.

Are you still in quarantine/under stay at home order? (if you're taking this during Covid-19, that is) The state isn’t, but I am. 

Has stuff been opening back up where you are? Yeah. Although, now dining in isn’t an option again in my area. 

What have you missed most that you haven't been able to do due to Covid-19? I didn’t do much even before all this, but I did like going grocery shopping with my mom and going to the movies, which we did quite often. And now with it being summer I’m really sad I can’t go to the beach. Beach days were the only thing I liked about summer. I could still go shopping with my mom and go to the beach, but I just don’t feel safe or comfortable going out in public and being around people right now when the number of cases are still so high and continue to rise. It makes me extremely anxious and scared. It doesn’t help that my state is a hotspot.

What state do you live in?  California.

Do you personally know anyone who has had Covid-19? Yes. She actually ended up recovering from that, testing negative later on, but she died recently from complications caused by it. She was on dialysis and after she got sick, even though she got better, it affected her kidneys and she had to stop dialysis. Once that happens, it’s not long after that you pass away. She was my grandma’s best friend, thus a very close family friend. :( She was the sweetest, caring, kindhearted person. 

Have you had it? (or think you might have?) No, not so far. Although, whenever I feel crappy or cough for any reason my mind automatically goes there. It’s not unusual for me not to feel well and have days where I’m feeling extra crappy, but nowadays I have to play the game: is it my normally crappiness or something else? :/ I also have dry mouth and my throat tends to get dry in the summer anyway and ugh again it’s something normal for me but I have to wonder about that, too.

Do you know anyone who is a healthcare worker? No. Well, apart from my doctors obviously.

Have you still been working these past few months or not? I don’t have a job. I wasn’t working prior to this either.

If you weren't working, are you still in school? No, thankfully. I graduated UC 5 years ago, so I’ve been done way before this started. What is/was your major in college?  I majored in psych.

Or if you're not in college yet, what do you want to study?

If your school closed due to Covid-19, do you miss it?

What are you most excited about when life goes (somewhat) back to normal? It’s hard for me to even see that point right now. I know people think I sound like a Negative Nancy, but I think I’m just being real. It’s goings to be a long time before we get to a point where we don’t have to have this virus looming over our heads everyday. It’s been kicking our ass. It’s never going to go away, it will likely be like the flu in that we have a covid season, but I pray we get to the point where we can get under control and managed. A point where there’s a vaccine and effective medication. But like I said, that’s going to take time. Masks may be the new way of life for many of us.

Did Covid-19 impact any major plans you had for this spring/summer?  No beach trips or birthday vacay. :( That’s not important, I know, but I am still sad about it.

Do you collect anything? Key chains and giraffe stuffed animals and knicknacks.

What's the name of your favorite restaurant? (chain or local) Wingstop. 

What is your favorite thing to order when you eat there? I get takeout, but anyway I love their boneless garlic parm and lemon pepper wings with their ranch. 

Have you still been able to get food from there during Covid-19? Yes. I always got takeout anyway, so that hasn’t been any different for me.

Are you planning on eating there anytime soon when they reopen? I’ll say it a 3rd time haha I just get it to go and eat at home.

Have you discovered any good new music during quarantine?  Yeah, but not because I’m in quarantine. That implies I’ve done so because I’ve been home and had more time to do so or only did so because I didn’t have anything to do. I’ve spent most of my time at home the past few years, not just this year.

What's a new song you've been loving lately? (not necessarily newly released, just something you've recently discovered) Lately I’ve been getting new music from TikToks. A couple recent ones are Dream Girl by Ir Sais and Summer Days by Martin Garrix ft. Macklemore and Patrick Stump.

Have you been able to keep in touch with friends during this time? I don’t have any friends, so that hasn’t been an issue. 

What is your favorite Starbucks drink? White chocolate mocha, caramel macchiato, and their fall and winter seasonal drinks. 

Do you prefer Starbucks or a local coffee shop? Just give me coffeeee.

What was your favorite TV show when you were a kid? do you still ever watch it? I had a lot of favorites. Some I still watch like Boy Meets World, Full House, Family Matters, Disney Channel shows like That’s So Raven, Lizzie McGuire, The Proud Family, Hannah Montana, etc (thanks to Disney+) and old Nick shows like Rugrats, Doug, and Hey Arnold. I recently found out Hulu has Step by Step, so I’ll be watching that again at some point.

Have you been watching a lot of movies during quarantine? >> No more than I would be usually, since my daily life didn’t change as dramatically as most people’s did. But yeah. <<< Yeah, I’ve gotten into a few new shows and binge watched a few old ones during this time, but again I wouldn’t contribute that to quarantine cause I would have been home majority of the time still anyway.

What is your favorite Disney movie? Alice in Wonderland, Winnie the Pooh, and Toy Story are among the top

Do you have Disney plus? Yep. That’s how I watch those old Disney shows I mentioned before.

Are you a fan of Hamilton? I’ve never seen it.

Are you planning to watch Hamilton on Disney plus? I have thought about checking it out, so we’ll see.

Have you seen Hamilton live? (Broadway or elsewhere) Like I said, I’ve never seen it.

What is your favorite musical? Sweeney Todd.

Have you watched any musicals online recently? No. Or ever.

What was the last live performance you went to before quarantine? I saw Phantom of the Opera 3 years ago.

What was the best concert you've ever been to? All the concerts I went to were awesome. Man, it’s been over 10 years now since my last concert I really miss ‘em.

Do you volunteer anywhere? No. I’ve volunteered at a few places in the past, though.

What is your favorite movie on Netflix? >> ??? There are... so many movies on Netflix. <<<

Did you relocate due to Covid-19? No.

What is one positive thing about the past few months for you? Uhhh.

Do you prefer streaming music or buying it? I stream it.

Do you use Spotify? Yep.

What was the last book you read? I recently started The Girl and the Deadly End by AJ Rivers. It’s the final book in a 7 book series. 

Have you been baking during quarantine? Nope.

What is your favorite thing to bake? It’s been a few years since I’ve done any baking. I used to love it during the holidays.

Do you enjoy doing crafts? I think they can be fun, but they’re not something I do very often at all. I lack the artistic ability, creativity, inspiration, motivation, and energy. 

Have you ever done crafts for money? No. 

Do you shop on Etsy? Yes. I love Etsy.

Have you ever sold anything on Etsy? Nope.

What song are you listening to right now?  I’m not listening to music, I’m listening to an ASMR video.

What genre of music is your favorite? I like a variety of music.

Can you speak any foreign languages? Not fluently, but I know some Spanish.

What is/was your favorite class in school? I always enjoyed English and then later on in college I enjoyed most of my psych classes as well. 

Who was your favorite teacher most recently? I’ve been done with school for 5 years now.

What is the lock screen and home screen on your phone? The lock screen is a photo of the ocean with a Bible verse on it and my home screen is a rose gold background.

Do you play Animal Crossing? Yeppp. 

Do you have any pets? What kind? What is/are your pet(s) name(s)? I have a 3 year old German Shepherd/Lab mix named Princess Leia. <3

what is a song lyric you love? >> Right, I’m definitely not going to think of that off the top of my head right now. <<< Haha, right. Not to mention, I have a ton of favorite lyrics.

Have you done anything recently to support Black Lives Matter? I’ve signed petitions.

Are there any songs you feel transport you to a world that doesn't exist? Jason Mraz songs were kinda like that. Haha. It seemed like he lived in some whimsical fantasyland.

What songs do that for you? “but my breath fogged up glass, and so I drew a new face and I laughed” lol okay Jason Mraz. Haha that’s the only thing coming to mind right now. It’s almost 7AM okay I can’t think.

What is your favorite ethnicity/cuisine of food? Italian.

What are some popular things that you don't like/aren't interested in? Hmm. What’s even popular right now? I’m out of the loop.

When was the last time you got a haircut? Back in February.

What was the last movie (or musical) you watched? Ferris Bueller’s Day Off the other day.

What was the last movie you saw in the theatre? The Invisible Man.

How soon are you planning on going back to work? (If you've been off) I don’t have a job, remember?

What is an item you own that means a lot to you? I’ll always cherish my giraffe stuffed animals and knickknacks.

Do you have a favorite t-shirt? All of my graphic tees.

What other proshot musicals would you love to see streaming online? You sure love musicals. I like a few musicals, sure, but I’m not super into them like you seem to be. There aren’t any right now that I want to see that I can think of. Well, apart from maybe checking out Hamilton. What is something you're looking forward to? Summer being over.

How do you plan on celebrating Covid-19 being over, whenever that is? >> The problem with this idea is that... it’s not that simple? From what I understand, it’s not like one day we’re all gonna say “that’s it! we’ve officially eradicated this virus from the earth and we will never have to worry about it again!” I’m guessing it’s going to be a slow process of reopening with a lot of false starts and rollbacks (as new waves crest and protective measures have to be re-implemented). Even that first day that I go out to a restaurant is probably going to feel really weird and even a little “wrong”. I’m not sure how much celebrating is really going to be happening. <<< All of this. Like I said earlier, it’s not ever going completely go away or be over. We’ll hopefully get it under control at some point and find an effective vaccine and medications and not have the fear of it constantly looming over us, but we got a long way to go.  And when that does happen, I’ll still be cautious. It’s sure going to feel weird when I do feel comfortable to go out again, though. It felt so weird just going outside for a bit recently one night cause it was the first time I had been out of the house at all since my doctor appointment back in May. That was really weird and scary for me. Prior to that I hadn’t gone anywhere since early March. Sooo yeah. I clearly won’t be rushing out anywhere anytime soon.

GUEST POST: Alice Lesperance on “Jaded in Chicago”

Obviously Green Day’s sound has changed a lot over the years. In many ways, they’ve gone much the same way that Blink 182 has -  more serious, more mature, more conceptual. This isn’t to say that early Green Day wasn’t sincere. But one thing I love about going back and watching those early live performances is how delightfully weird they were. I still haven’t managed to see them live, but it’s very much at the top of my bucket list. (I did, however, see American Idiot, The Musical the very week before Billie Joe joined the cast). I own their 2006 live concert DVD, Bullet In A Bible, which is fantastic and definitely has its weird and silly moments, but there isn’t anything quite like the 1994 taped MTV performance, Jaded in Chicago.

The concert is up in full on YouTube in several versions with varying degrees of quality, the best of which is included here for your enjoyment. Before we dive into the band’s performance, let’s all take a moment to revel in mid-1990’s MTV, a relic from a much beloved bygone era. Okay? Okay.*

In 1994, Billie Joe Armstrong was 22 years old, opening a televised live concert by sticking his tongue out, groaning and then saying cheerfully, “What’s up you stupid motherfuckers?!” His eyes are wide and manic, and he’s wearing a red tie. It’s not the skinny red tie from the American Idiot era and onward, but a striped maroon tie that we’ve all seen someone’s dad wear. He smiles when he greets the crowd as stupid motherfuckers. Mike Dirnt starts in with bass, his body bent over at an odd angle as he rocks back and forth; he’s wearing a single, large hoop earring. Tre Cool’s hair is doing….something.

This is how Jaded In Chicago begins. The first song, “Going to Pasalacqua”, ends and Billie Joe says, “Hey if someone falls down you better fucking bend down and help them up just because there’s a fucking camera in your face doesn’t mean we stop looking out for each other!” Jacqui mentioned briefly in one of her posts yesterday that within the punk scene not everyone is as respectful of boundaries as the scene necessarily commands they be, and that’s certainly true, especially if you’re a girl in a mosh pit. One of the central tenets of punk shows is that we take care of each other, and respect each other and in this moment, Green Day is up on a Chicago stage, live on MTV, reminding us of that. 

A few songs later comes another of my favorite Dookie songs; Billie Joe points into the crowd of flannel-clad teenagers and says, aggressively, “this song is about YOU” and then “Burnout” begins. The crowd revels. The song starts up and Billie Joe convulses, crosses his eyes and grits his teeth in a wild grin as he sings ‘I’m not growing up / I’m just burning out’ and the stage lights glint off his silver nose ring. And then, delightfully, the song ends and he says “Whaat? We have no understanding, we have no understanding - your parents have no understanding! They sure as shit won’t understand this song!”

“This song” is “Coming Clean”. I’ve already written about this song, so I won’t do that again here. I will instead just point out the way his head convulses in sharp, erratic movements as he sings “And mom and dad will never understand.”

The full concert is 45 minutes long, so I’m not going to take us through the whole thing, but I can’t recommend enough that you watch it. For me, it succeeds in capturing not just early, Dookie-era Green Day, but a very specific moment in music history, when pop-punk was beginning to enter mainstream music culture. And in the band’s strange, smirking expressions we can see a resistance to that. Halfway through the show, at about 23:00, Billie Joe grabs the camera out of the stage cameraman’s hands and points it at the crowd; in front of the camera, his middle finger is blurred out. He holds it that way for a few seconds before we see the cameraman clearly ask for it back and Billie hands it over, rolling his eyes slightly as he walks back to the mic. It’s moments like these that you can really tell that he’s very much feeling like “what the fuck am I doing here?” but also just absolutely embracing the ridiculousness that is a Bay Area punk band performing live for MTV. The concert exists as a wonderfully strange artifact, one that I find myself returning to again and again (more often, I admit, than Bullet In A Bible) just to revel in its weirdness and who-gives-a-fuck attitude.

Bonus moment: Just after the flipping-off-the-camera part, Tre Cool comes up to the front mic and sings “All By Myself”, a hidden Dookie track. He’s wearing a Pansy Division shirt with an upside-down pink triangle**. Billie Joe is off on the side wearing what looks like a gorilla mask. It’s all very endearing.

*[Jacqui: As a Canadian I absolutely cannot do this because we didn’t get syndicated MTV until the mid-00′s. I am not bitter about this, at all, of course, but I would like to take this moment to remind you all that we may not have had Carson Daly but we did have Nardwuar the Human Serviette, so who really comes out on top, here? This has nothing to do with Green Day, sorry.]

**[Jacqui’: we’re gonna talk more about this later in the week, but: Green Day are and always have been vocally supportive of the LGBTQ community, regardless of individual member’s sexual orientations. It’s part of the reason, especially when combined with the Gilman tenets of punk/show behaviour, that they’ve become such a safe space for so many people.]

Alice Lesperance lives in Brooklyn with her girlfriend and their cat. She writes about music, films, dead media and dead women. She’s written for The Youngist, Autostraddle, and Scalawag, and is the founder/editor-in-chief of Shakespeare and Punk. Find her on tumblr at @shakespeareandpunk.

Church shopping, Part 3

In The Color Purple, the character Shug tells Celie, …”have you ever found God in church? I never did. I just found a bunch of folks hoping for him to show. Any God I ever felt in church in brought in with me. And I think all the other folks did too. They come to church to share God, not find God.”

I remind myself of this as I climb the five steps to the little clapboard church in Paisley most Sundays. The other motto I think of most often is from Alcoholics Anonymous: Take what you like and leave the rest.

This morning, feeling under the weather but nevertheless committed to going the 3 blocks to Paisley Community Church, it was snowing big fluffy flakes. I walked carefully in my big boots and still I went DOWN with a thud about halfway there. Under the puffy snow was a clear layer of ice on the asphalt. Ow. I breathed deep and got myself up, and in 10 feet I went down again. OW. My left knee was unhappy and I already was feeling rough. I debated whether to just lie there and call Valerie to pick me up. But then I thought, by the time she got here, someone would have noticed me and offered to help me up. Which, suddenly, was a comforting thought. If not the first then the second would for sure respond to a bright blue-coated figure lying in the snow. I decided to get my ass up, walk over to the crusty part of the street and walk ever so slowly the rest of the way. I could hear the bell ring, and I knew I had a few minutes. In I went, and sat heavily in the back row where I always sit. (I sit and crochet during the sermon to keep me focused and to work off the dissonance in my head as I listen to evangelical style preaching. It really helps. )

I was glad I made it. My friend, the rancher’s wife, was in the back row and she greeted me warmly. I was glad to be there so I could offer up a prayer request for Valerie’s son, Jer, who was helping someone who’d slid off the road when another car slid off the road and hit the car and him. Thank goodness its only his knee. But he’s a ranch hand. He’ll be off his leg at least a month. I also learned that the rancher himself has a rather serious condition, so I can pray for him, too, along with the assembled. And lastly I was grateful for one metaphor in the sermon. The guy pastor, who flings around bible verses like Valerie flings hay to the cows, mentioned the very strong very old very tall trees on the coast of California, the redwoods, who do not have taproots. Apparently, their roots travel over hundreds of feet, and grasp onto the roots of other redwoods. And when a big wind off the pacific coast comes whooshing, they hold onto each other.

Kinda like the millions of women who gathered all over the world to protest Trump and to energize for peace.

Nice. Very nice.

Of the hymns, one was lovely. The others… not to my taste. I’m trying to expand my taste, I really am. But I’m also emailing hymns to our pastors, hymns like this one, which the guy pastor can play on his guitar, with the words displayed on the wall, next to the portrait of Jesus as a tall foreheaded Northern European dude: (I’m pretty sure he was a shorter darker Jewish dude)

 Be thou my vision, o Lord of my heart

Naught be all else to me, save that though art

Thou my best thought, by day or by night,

Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light…  

(Irish traditional hymn, the words dating from 6th century or 8th century depending on the scholar)

 I’ve decided that this is my church community. Valerie and I have chosen to live in Paisley, so imbed myself in Paisley life is the way I want to live. I don’t want to drive an hour to hang out with the Methodists or Presbyterians in Lakeview, while the tiny Episcopal Church looks for a new vicar. What I will do is hit up an Episcopal Church whenever I’m in a big enough city to find one. It was a great comfort to worship in Reno NV after dropping off the kids at the airport in November. I hope to attend the one in Klamath Falls next Sunday because we’ll be there. Otherwise, it’s PCC (Paisley Community Church.)

I have never attended a church where I know for a fact that people there “disagree with homosexuality” but still proclaim they can “love” me. One of the members, younger than me, actually said that to me. A small group of us were sitting sideways in the pews chatting after a service. My friend the rancher’s wife decided to have a brief discussion with the copastors who are married. Something about the rancorous quality of civil discourse in the presidential campaign that we were all suffering through. (It had to be October.)  About six of us, and the pastors, talked about the candidates, and the pastors diplomatically did not reveal their preference, although half of us were pro Trump and half pro Hillary, near as I could tell. At some point, the rancher’s wife encouraged me to talk, or perhaps I just felt her support, and so I said something to the effect of, I don’t really feel safe here, as an out lesbian, but I’m attending, and I’m giving this church a chance. One of the straight women said she felt very supported as a single mother, and that she has a gay brother that she does not fear for. (She’s a trump supporter.) Another said she too has a gay brother (she’s a progressive. In fact, today, she said to me quietly, “great day on Saturday, wasn’t it?” referring to the millions of women and men globally protesting trump. Yes, it was indeed.)

One of the men there, who is a son of a very conservative pair of Paisley residents, said to me, I disagree with homosexuality but I can love you as a sister in Christ. I looked at him, hiding my cringe at the words “disagree” and “homosexuality”. But I thanked him anyway. At least he wasn’t condemning me to hell at the top of his lungs.  I did NOT say that God made me this way, there is nothing with which to agree or disagree, and no one LGBT uses the word homosexuality.

Basically I said, I’m here with y’all, giving you the benefit of the doubt, and coming in all humility, though not because my gayness is a sin, but that I, too, am broken, and seek wholeness in community. To share God. That seemed to be cool. Okay then.

I think I’ll skip the service with special guests who are missionaries to Africa. I’m afraid my blood pressure will soar…

I have found additional sources of church in the home of one Toni Bailie. She is a massage therapist and a Soul Collage facilitator. I’d never heard of Soul Collage, and now I participate in it once a month upon a Saturday after a delicious potluck meal. It’s a form of art therapy, kind of.  Toni scatters cut out pictures by the hundreds, all over her living room and dining room and kitchen. After a meditation together on a theme, we wander about and gather images that speak to us. Then we construct cards with glue and scissors. When we’re done, we go around the circle and explain that  “I am the one that… “ trying to share why these images spoke to us.

On New Years Eve, we gathered for Soul Collage and came up with mandalas for the new year. Mine is shared here. My wish is to be centered in my body, unselfconscious, healthy, joyfully eating and moving. I am the monkey at the center of an abundance of bananas, looking pleased. Turns out that, here I am, week 4 of the new year, on a clear liquid diet because of medication-induced pancreatitis. I may be forced into strict eating from now on, and hopefully it will become a joyful thing. At the moment, I am hungrier than I’ve ever felt, going into my 4th day of broth and watered down juice. That deep rumbling and gurgling you hear is my tummy.

Toni gathered a group of us on the day of the Women’s March, and we 4 marched around her double wide with drums. I felt silly for about 2 seconds, as I held and shook my rattles, following her.  But then it felt sacred and right. We were marching along with millions of other women on the planet in that moment. We spent the rest of the afternoon looking at Soul Collage cards and gathering up our courage, commitment, creativity, and strength for the years ahead.

Toni has a real gift of gathering women into what I call church. The other thing I do at Toni’s house is share what I’ve written for this blog, and listen to other women’s writings, twice a month in a gathering called the Easy Writers. Amazing, smart, tough, hilarious, experienced women. The average age might be 70, as there is a writer in her 90s. I am in the presence of crones, of wise grandmother’s. Twice a month. It is a sacrament: an outward and visible sign of an inward invisible grace. The grace of women’s wisdom.

So church doesn’t look like I thought it would. But I think I’m right where I’m supposed to be, for Paisley, Lake County, Oregon, at this time. I deeply miss my old church community, with its music from all parts of the world, with people committed to justice in their lives and in their professions, with a grand sanctuary that now has a labyrinth etched in the concrete floor that is so old and polished it looks like marble.

But I carry church within me and recognize it when it appears and I expand into it whether it’s in a tiny evangelical congregation or a group of sage-burning hippy grandmothers. Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

Alice Walker:

“I think us here to wonder, myself. To wonder. To ask. And that in wondering bout the big things and asking bout the big things, you learn about the little ones, almost by accident. But you never know nothing more about the big things than you start out with. The more I wonder, the more I love.”

#worship #church #crones #womenswisdom #soulcollage

WEWE AMANIKI

Its like the coop kondele is organising a bank robery but to no avail, the gateman resort to just talking to people even if you dont want, the service desk moving up and down to no end and their talks growing your head, infact when the gateman talks to you, you dont afford a sleep the whole night, liasing with the police if you partake ground nuts you see with some roges if you know them by looking at the pictures. Three rds leading to the bank at the intersection. They are wild even with customers coz have not yet gotten an opportunity to rob. Grenade lounchers are in place from Ug- CHAukwela 

  Kevinelson Mondy Lets Test Blood Groups, Finger Prints 4 These People. Also Get Money At 2goinvoice.Com & Bulishtrade.Com Using Your Phone With Chrome 4 Mobile. Google Also A Knock At Midnight With Other Sermons By Mlk. We Are Here Where Do We Go From Here By Mlk & Nobel Peace Price Acceptance Speech By Mlk. Google Chicken Coming Back Home To Roost & The Bullet Or The Ballot By Malcom X. Angela David Janet Raquel Hon Ferdinand Waititu انجي انا Kristen Laura Nguyễn Hùng Cơ Alexandra Fleming Donique Hindz روبا نزل Brandon Nuchow Arslan Alli شهد خالد Mero De Ana Ajit Kumar Patra Avery Miranda Jerly Borda Rocero Magret D Aginety Beby Ashok Behera Ashok Behera Florencia Lopez Kimberly Copeland Elizabeth Reuben Janet Wanza Brisa Escalada Frandy Menard Patrica Lee Muhammad Mosthofa Sugar Natasha Ama Alice Estela Whitham Itz Queen Vanessa Mary Mwax Shikuh Francis Ch Maryam Mariana Xavier Gustavo Souza Aurelio Reres Lisa Sheridan Labrillante Modestine Ardhie Ardhian Ardhiansyah Widow Sun Freemason Catherine Lucas Noellie Oluwa Kemy Gaurav Singh Akuah Ishkihid Ayu Renata Carolita Sheran Jasmin Thee Snapkid Eunice Mueni Conxo Yvonne Donald Trump And Theresa May Thats Not Raila, The Real Raila Ouma Has A Sturd Hole N Da Big Toe Is Missing, I Witnessed Thiz When He Kidnaped Me Kevinelson With Bent Toes N All Are Intact, Not A Single One Missing. He Has Not A Single Person That Transform 2 His Like But A Group Of Folks, One Being The Young Asiago Whose Ride Is Maroon N Is UAK, A Ugandan Car, Another David Bengurioniala, Billy Whose Mother Is Leonora N A P1 Teacher, Not 2 Mention Many Whom I Dont Recognise Yet. Blood Group Can Tel Thz, Or The Toe Structure And Da Finger Print With The IBC. Arrest Him Please, Am About 2 Sturb Him Coz He Disguises Himself 2 Other People I Know N He Is After My Food By Force 2 Da Point He Want 2 Put Up A Fight Like An Infant Ai N Dats Nasty With Us.He Was Even Matching Alongside U In Da Army, May When U Came 2 Kenya Dat Next 2 U With A Big Damn Ass Head Wid Swolen Face. Same 2 Uhuru Wa Kenyatta, Most English Speeches Are Done By Gilbert Ombeva Whom U Can Check On FB By Dat Name N Da Teeth Structure Can Affirm. If every nation builds up a transit or rail system to connect with every nation in Africah then we can eliminate the dangerous air travel by using a speed boat from any country along the coast in west africah to go to american, in netherlands we got buses that is solar powered the same can be used on midium sized speed boat or yatch. Eg, you go to congo, cameroon from east africah via a transit then connect using a speed boat, the beautiful thing is that the inside of a sea aint troublesome but still without waves opposite to peoples thinking, if you wanna go to Europe you go to Egypt or libya via a transit the get on a solar power yatch during the night used fuel then cross the ocean to Europe, going to Asia you connect via transit from west africah then get your ass on a yatch to middle east or india using a yatch same to Australia to create new markets for boat making companies and countries along the coast like somalia or nigeria to earn revenue and to avoid the long dubious stories of the plane fell aftermath which are true-lies somehow. You insinuate i love you, get this straight the people i love i visit and cary presents for them like flowers or i greet them but with you, just see am carrying bottled acid not water for you meaning i can hurt you, please women dont force water off magumo tree mt but read btwn the lines. Love is natural not forced, birds of the same feathers flock together. Pira says in loud voice, kevin hizi ni malectures tumechoka nazo- chore mtu wangu says dedan kimathief.

Nyaka bet ni-whongeyo loso accessories mi loso go Ae gadget like ghana otherwise sell the idea and get paid as a person and shut up your bg mouth or-else countries like japan or china will go into war with you coz you are using their properties to make what you are swaging 4. Money payment should be abolished greatly- direct money payment- we should have money in our bank cards and we transfer directly to another card of the same/different card at a reduced fee- we call it to wire money even on day to day small payments like shopping, taxi etc. We can wire using our smart phone or the computer. Paypal should be eliminated and banks should not accept it as it is used by criminals to get dirty money into the economy- let us know the source of the money like with western union. They fall ships and planes as much as buses or trains get that money buy 4 poor youth motor bikes to follow them recruiting them in their hooliganism. Who to the people who long to see the lords day, mfalme wa yawhodi. The same way in put them in wonder on how i say luo is the same way i can build ten times much better what they are upto even among other folks. Huduma number with fingerprints or body bmi or pulse rate to identify theft or know the exact population of a nation not cencus which aint correct. You even count pregnant kid on that woman, you delete the dead you add the new born that were never counted and you get the exact no of people in a nation not procrastination with census period. They even use human shit on bread or mandazi, get it from the smell and some of the workers who work in these supermarkets- the Hindu th, therko, sumbuwa, disturb, kuma as stupid. Towa mingi TM with 2ginvoice to support your future generation even if it is scraped, dont look at me in owe as if you are my woman and am on top of you pumping you just some few minutes to reach your orgasm. Pick your humble pisces, swallow your pride, resort to work and get to square one, i mean drawing board, stop being lazy and silly, sell your official clothing and get back to work. Ther mit, ten minas parable, timbe minaj. Sky scrapper are built using metalic bars just like the mobile booster are built, then on the floor partitioned with wood like the train rail and inside with card board or glass like with banks and on the outside on the metalic bars dark glasses like the tables from malaysia are fitted at intervals from inside or you can purforate holes from outside and tie the screw on the bars. luo say they built americah yet their building are concrete pillar made- so who is right, do it that way and why count you do it b4, then someone has told you. Thats the challenge. If you talk of the above concerning sky scrapper you see or visualized building collapsing as in the book of revelations it says a third of the earth collapsed. Those who destroy the earth as per the bible- uranium emissions ne, green-man with giving people kisii blooded kids who will people the whole earth with their offspring if not counteracted or checked. Eat ground nuts and where she is from the get to that country map and see which tribe or exact location they are from- any person dude- ecclesiastic four- his knowledge is not heeded but he saved the world and every tom, harry and dick is following him. Morever they make holes on earth from below changing temperatures and drying up some lakes, rivers and Aids virus epidermic, the people who brought it. Most nigros are from ghana, benin, cameroon, anzania, mozambique b4 greencard thing and from louisian and most southern states were there previously.