Me, Myself, and I. And, uh, I., originally uploaded by mind on fire.

I’m a big, big fan of flickr. I’m a real world introvert and a Web 2.0 extrovert. One of the best things about flickr are the various groups. There’s one devoted to sea green, the second best color e-var, at least two for nose picking (one called ‘pickr’–you can search for those yourself), and, of course, octopus on yo head.

My favorite groups, however, are the ones that cost a bit in terms of vulnerability and creative effort, and build community. I made some “flickr friends” during my two month stint on 365 Days, which required members to post one self portrait each day. It also resulted in the crazy photo at the top of this post, and in less creative but insecurity-revealing snapshots into my soul.

Inspired by all of this flickering, I’d like to invite you all to join me. No fancy cameras or fancy skills required. What I’d like to do is to set up a flickr group (inspired partly by Flickr Group Roulette) in which we take turns issuing “challenges” to each other. Maybe one day the challenge will be to take a picture of our the oldest thing you own. Maybe the next day the theme will be “stars.” Or maybe you have to take a picture of yourself right upon waking up. Or you with an old stuffed animal. Or represent an insecurity in photographs.

The point is, I’d like to experiment with online group photography as a medium for building friendship, intimacy and community. Let me know in the comments or in an email if you’re interested. (that’s mindonfire.com, preceded by “john” and “at”.) Our first act of sharing can be brainstorming and ironing out all of the details.

I just ran across this, from Not the Nine O’Clock News. Rowan Atkinson explains the conservative political position, which has not changed much since the late 70s/early 80s. (Complete with a Bible misquote!) NSFW.

Or, the “God hates gays and wants to punish them act.”

It seems to me that all of these Marriage Protection initiatives (like so many political actions) is misnamed.  I want to do a more complete post later on, but here are some thoughts for the moment:

• There are many in society who aren’t keen on marriage: gays who think the institution is hetero, feminists who see it as inherently patriarchal, and lots of average Janes and Joes who don’t think that an  piece of paper stamped by the local county clerk adds anything to the commitment they feel.  These are the true enemies of marriage!
• Some studies in states and countries that have approved gay marriage actually shows the hetero divorce rate falling.  Not sure what the connection is, but it seems to suggest that gay marriage is good for straights as well!
• Since conservatives readily point out that marriage is under siege by the above forces, why not take this opportunity to build a powerful, political spectrum-spanning coalition in favor of the marriage institution?
• I’m in favor of this kind of debate, because it would be waaaaaay more interesting than the age old identity politics.  We might actually have an intelligent examination of the ancient institution of marriage and its place in a modern, democratic society.
• Plus it would be fun to see gays and religious conservatives squirming in each other’s presence holding hands working together for a common goal.  Agree with them or no, some good might come out of it.

Anyhow, it seems to me that marriage is not what it’s all about, but simple discrimination against gays.  All those valiant marriage-defenders should just come out and say so.

I’ve been collecting emails since the success of the last Fun Quotes post. Without further ado:

A myth is a religion in which no one any longer believes.

-James Kern Feibleman, philosopher and psychiatrist (1904-1987)

This is definitely something I’ve believed in for awhile. It’s just nice to hear someone with authority say it (in this case, the authority of having been learned and being dead).

When the oak is felled the whole forest echoes with its fall, but a hundred acorns are sown in silence by an unnoticed breeze.

-Thomas Carlyle, historian and essayist (1795-1881)

I know that I can feel acorn-like about my affect on the world. Me driving or biking to work: does it really make a difference? I suppose I just have to have better faith that I am one of a thousand acorns.

When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.

-Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the U.S. (1809-1865)

Now there’s something to shut up the “Founding Fathers wanted it to be a Christian Nation” people…even if Lincoln isn’t a founding father per se, he is still on our money.

What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite.

-Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, author, Nobel laureate (1872-1970)

Amen.

Nothing is more humbling than to look with a strong magnifying glass at an insect so tiny that the naked eye sees only the barest speck and to discover that nevertheless it is sculpted and articulated and striped with the same care and imagination as a zebra. Apparently it does not occur to nature whether or not a creature is within our range of vision, and the suspicion arises that even the zebra was not designed for our benefit.

-Rudolf Arnheim, psychologist and author (1904-2007)

And finally, a note to creationists. Have you all any quotes to share?

I was listening to this the other day while packing and it made me cry (as it always does). If anything could make me a pacifist, it would be this song: Don McLean’s the Grave

This line, particularly:

When the wars of our nation did beckon,
A man barely twenty did answer the calling.
Proud of the trust that he placed in our nation,
He’s gone,
But eternity knows him, and it knows what we’ve done

A while back, NPR had a series on PTSD and one of the people essentially said something along the lines of “When we [the People] ask of our soldiers the kinds of things they are asked to do in a war, we should expect that they come back fucked up.” Indeed, those who might come back from that without any remorse, or change, we would not want to give guns to in the first place. These are the kinds of people we want in a war:

And deep in the trench he waited for hours,
As he held to his rifle and prayed not to die.

And yet it is just these kinds of people it is the greatest crime to send into that fray.

Two of my sisters often have this argument: one (#2) refuses to let her children play with weapons (although one is taking fencing); the other (#4) has so many toy guns in the house it looks like a toy armory for when the toy zombies attack. “You need people like me,” #4 will say, “to protect you and your way of life.” “Without people like you,” comes the response, “weapons would not be necessary.”

Do we need soldiers for when we (even stupidly) go to war? Or should PTSD be something that we reserve for only the most important of goals?

C. L. Hanson excerpts the following quote from the current Aaronic Priesthood manual over at the Latter Day Main street:

“We recommend that people marry those who are of the same racial background generally, and of somewhat the same economic and social and educational background (some of those are not an absolute necessity, but preferred), and above all, the same religious background, without question” (“Marriage and Divorce,” in 1976 Devotional Speeches of the Year [Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1977], p. 144).

It’s racist (and classist) shit like this that makes me glad that our children are no longer being taught out of these carefully vetted and Church leadership-approved manuals.  Quotes like this don’t make it in by accident.

It’s one thing to recommend that Church members take into account all the factors that may strain a marriage; it’s another thing altogether to highlight something like race and to recommend to against it.  A quick survey via Google of studies on divorce shows that unrealistic expectations, marrying young, and communication problems are among the primary risk factors for divorce.  I don’t see the Church telling its youth to put off marriage until they’re older.

The practice is not unique to China, but comparitively rare elsewhere.  The real Chinese innovation is the woman-only mosque.  I have mixed feelings about this: like separate spaces elsewhere in the Muslim world, segregation create opportunities for women to become professionals, business owners, academics–and imams–that wouldn’t otherwise exist in institutions or societies dominated by a strict, misogynist hierarchies.

h/t The Daily Dish

The LA Times has this handy guide to the various attitudes towards gay marriage from religious denominations.  It should come as no surprise that the Mormon and Catholic churches condemn gay marriages, and that the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalists support them.  In fact, both the Mormons and Catholics will be using their $$$ and organizational muscle to push for an amendment prohibiting gay marriage in California.  Expect to see some powerful advocacy from your ex-Mormon and ex-Catholic hosts at Mind on Fire.

I never thought I’d get choked up watching a stupid dance video, but this one is amazing for both the incredible range of Matt Harding’s travel experience and for showing that no matter the culture, age, race or location, homo sapiens loves to dance.

on Fox. I don’t know how long that link will work…there’s a YouTube of it somewhere, too, I may imbed it below a fold later when I find it.

This is my father, busy exploiting his illness for his life-long pet project: “the right to life”. Which I’ve learned translates into “the denial of rights”, “inadequate education”, and “my way is better than yours”. *sigh*