The Middle Ground.

So, I am not a radical.  I'm not a radical feminist, I'm NOT a radical Catholic.  I'm not even a rabid environmentalist.    I believe very strongly in the middle ground.    Except when it comes to assumptions.   I try not to assume anything about anyone.     Passionate?  Yes I'm passionate.  I think the big chemical companies have gone overboard, that we have to know what goes into our food and our bodies...   I believe in God, but I don't think you have to believe in God to be a moral human being.   But you do have to respect the beliefs of others.   I wish people would start raising their kids again...  there has been this overload of naughty children at work these days...

Yes, I know, I sound like a crotchety old lady.  

Things I am happy about?  CT got rid of the death penalty.    yay!   My house is staying slightly cleaner on a day-to-day basis...  (no, I'm not a hoarder, but sometimes feel as if I play one on TV)...   I'm caught up on all my bills...  (I think).   And will hopefully be able to mow the grass this afternoon.  

But back to the middle ground... there is so much of the time when it doesn't feel as if there is a middle ground, even though it is where I stand.    Its either WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, or RIGHT, RIGHT, RIGHT.
(and please excuse any odd formatting things, trying to figure out the new Blogger)  This is true in politics, in everything....

Pissed Off! Irate! Annoyed.

So I went to get my mail.   And in the box was a lovely thing from the "Council for Secular Humanism" offering me a subscription for the low low price of $25.   First of all, where did they get my name from?   And its basically "hate mail" against religion.  These people seem to feel that they have to convert everyone to their lack of religion.  Now, maybe they grew up in ultra-orthodox households, or maybe they grew up being fed the belief that religion is the opiate of the masses, and that anyone who believes in God is not an educated thinking person....  

The problem is not their lack of belief, that is fine, live and let live.  The problem is that they want me to believe that my faith is wrong, and they are right.  It is not a free inquiry unless you open yourself up to the possibility that maybe faith is right....  but being religious does not mean you don't also accept science.  The Catholic Church accepts evolution, after all.  

And they have an "Islam watch"?   ACK!  

Thoughts on Children's TV.

More specifically, Catholic children's tv shows.   I am horrified.  One show seems to have a bagel/doughnut (not sure which, honestly) in a box, with a slightly creepy guy who is the human host.  And they were singing a lovely little song about O-B-E-Y.   *shudder*

The next one was EVEN worse.   Puppets.  But not just any puppets.  Nun puppets, sacristan puppet, Father puppet, interacting with child puppets.   The puppets were not even synched with mouths moving for speech.  The "Sacristan" was shown as dumb, and the other puppets laughed at him.  THIS is a Catholic children's show?

Or else we have the real nun, who is syrupy sweet and showing the angelic little darlings how to look things up in the catechism.

Ok.  First of all, get some folks from Sesame Street conceptualizing the shows.   Have a little acid in with the sweet...  kids these days are very savvy in many ways.   Have a show with an I-pad that talks to God or something.

Oscar the Grouch makes her annual reappearance for the holidays...

Now, don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, but its about sharing joy, and love, and living alone, I don't always feel that I have that....I know my family (extended) loves me, but they have their own kids, their own lives, their own holiday traditions...   (and yes, I do have mine, but its not as fun as when you have joyous little people waiting in eager anticipation)

I do have a tree, and a creche.  It used to feel more like Christmas when Vallis was together, and did the Lessons and Carols.   When I had a couple of holiday parties to go to.  Now, I just feel like the Grinch.  I don't want to do any holiday baking, because I'll eat it all.  

Oh Bah humbug.  Constantly visited by the ghosts of Christmases might-have-beens...  I find myself very jealous of folks who have kids, who have partners...  but I am, in some ways, doing better than some of the older ladies I know from work, who really have no family, who are really alone for the holidays.   Because I am young, I am healthy (relatively), and its not too late to adopt, to have a kid for next year, maybe, to share a little of what I have...

And maybe today I'll find some Christmas Spirit hiding under the mat...

But in the meantime, a ghost from Christmas Past...
Bah Humbug

Living Like Little House

So, as most of you reading this may know, there was a storm, and basically all of CT lost power.   So I was living a little like a pioneer...  (except for going to my car to recharge my cell, so I could look at the CLP updates for the outage map and curse).  But it was candlelight, candlelight and firelight...  lots of reading, some crosswords..

I heated stuff up in one-pot meals over sterno...which was also how I made my coffee in the morning.     built up a big fire at night, usually ended up using nine logs a night...  would toast myself well before bed, then run up and dive into the chilly bed until it warmed up.      I now know why they used bedwarmers!  

The irony of this is that I had just finished reading a book called "I'll see you in a Hundred years" where one couple had taken themselves and their young son back in time to 1900 for a year.   And so, I suppose, in a way I was more aware of what I needed to do.  (Although back in 1900 they didn't have to worry about pipes freezing, no indoor plumbing).

What I want for next time?  (Because there is going to be a next time, thank you CLP)  Some kind of woodburning or pellet stove upstairs.    A gas stove in the kitchen.   A bedwarmer.  A way to at least cook over the fireplace!  (more cast-iron, please!).  And a tablet of some sort, so I can keep up to date.  CLP and the town were both updating online.  HOW, may I ask, are people supposed to access the Internet if they have no power, no laptop, no smart phone, and no libraries to get to the Internet?

I also need to figure out a better place for my wood, for the next delivery.  

But at the same time that I had no power, it was still oddly peaceful.   No Internet, no classes, no activities...  just quiet and books...   sometimes on the couch in the sun, other times in front of the fireplace, or tucked up in bed with candles blazing....

Mea Culpa...but an exciting announcement.

Yes, yes, I know.  I'm becoming one of those blogs again....  apologizing for never updating...   flagellating myself continuously.  tsk tsk tsk on me.  But I have an excuse, I have been busy....  and I wanted to share something very very exciting!  I'm having an art show!   I'm going to be showing some of my ceramics, in conjuction with two other artists who are painters....

So it is very, very exciting for me....   I keep thinking that I should make some cards that people can buy....  because, even though my ceramics are turning into "attack of the giant boxes in the basement" (and really, all over the house), they are my babies.....and there is also a part of me that can't believe people would buy them.  Even though folks have asked, in the past....  I'm the teeny pic at the bottom....

Also adding a link to the Facebook event, too...   so please consider coming!

Come see Catherine!

PAN AM. Or Am Not?

Hmmm...  so I just watched Pan Am on Hulu.   Its very much along the lines of Mad Men, somehow...  the glorious age of America, when we were triumphant and a world power to be reckoned with.     And this leads me to wonder why we feel we need stories like this.   Is it because the rest of TV world is filled with the bad side of America?  There is Hoarders, what not to wear, the biggest loser (and thank goodness one of the trainers left that show, I saw a smidgen of the first show of this season...that is not a smart way to lose weight!).  There are shows where the father is crass, and the whole family is unrefined...  There's a show called "Intervention" and "Are You smarter than a fifth grader"?

Just so many, many, many shows about the negatives in this country.   And maybe that is why Mad Men is so popular.  And why I suspect they made Pan Am.   Because it shows America as a world power, as a shining star.   And I think we do need to take back the image of our country.   And we need to see ourselves in a positive light...It was a time when women dressed well, when men had their own role, when everything had a place, an idealistic show (both of them) about the times.

I just find it interesting...  and wonder if its a trend....  and in some ways I hope so, but in other ways not.  Because even though it was a photogenic era, it wasn't a wonderful era.  It wasn't fabulous for women, by any means.   An airline stewardess was often one of the few career paths open for women.    They were viewed as adornements...

And in terms of the new tv show, they had an Indian man in the cockpit?   It would have been highly unlikely in reality.  From what i remember from my childhood (seven years after the setting of the show), I remember blonde.  I don't remember ethnic.  I don't even really remember brunette, per se.... They had an Asian stewardess shown...  They haven't even shown the smoking.   Plays set in the era had smoking, constantly.   The characters were always reaching for cigarettes...  which at least Mad Men got right.   Mad Men has glossed over, a little bit, of some of the issues of the day, glamorized them a little, but Pan Am takes it to an extreme..... really trying to idealize an era.