Don't forget Liz!

One more

Liz

who loves
kitties

i'm the fungus among us.... and so are you!

It all started when I was filling JenG in on an encounter I had at the Justice Revival.

When I snuck downstairs for coffee, a lady (A Stranger!) started talking to me.

Though I often am outgoing, this is not always the case. And, I had used up all of my "Outgoing Power Reserve" (think video game street-fighter) on inviting people to this thing in the first place! Ug.

This is why I needed my coffee. And now, The Stranger was asking me if the coffee was strong? Should she get one cream or two?

One? Two? Something Funny-to-say? I DONT KNOW!! Why is this happening to ME?

little me

So, I did what I often do when I'm nervous, I asked her a question.

At this point, JenG pointed out that "That's your defense mechanism."

Which, kinda put me on the defense. Well, I mean, I thought about it.

Am I not genuinely interested in people? Am I just throwing questions at them like pelting them with snowballs until they leave me alone?

Sometimes yes. Sometimes no.


It occurs to me that, in social situations, I'm like a little mushroom. I live on the forest floor, amidst ferns and rocks and trees. I love my little spot and am perfectly content. And, one on one, I am at ease. But, throw in a herd of deer or a bunch of kids and I am suddenly realize how fragile I am. I Don't. Want. To be Stomped!

Are you a mushroom too?

Mushrooms, snowballs... I mix my metaphors like a tossed salad! But a salad it seems to work for me.

Now, meet my mushroom people:

me

eljabo~ a fancy friend

alise ~with 4 kids... J's back at work


The Cats~ Mugsy & Pooper
who've taken to napping
in a nice basket

Jen & Ben

Power Paradox

Greater Good Magazine ran an article called "The Power Paradox."

Here's a snippet.

Perhaps more unsettling is the wealth of evidence that having power makes people more likely to act like sociopaths. High-power individuals are more likely to interrupt others, to speak out of turn, and to fail to look at others who are speaking. They are also more likely to tease friends and colleagues in hostile, humiliating fashion. Surveys of organizations find that most rude behaviors—shouting, profanities, bald critiques—emanate from the offices and cubicles of individuals in positions of power. My own research has found that people with power tend to behave like patients who have damaged their brain's orbitofrontal lobes (the region of the frontal lobes right behind the eye sockets), a condition that seems to cause overly impulsive and insensitive behavior. Thus the experience of power might be thought of as having someone open up your skull and take out that part of your brain so critical to empathy and socially-appropriate behavior.

Power may induce more harmful forms of aggression as well. In the famed Stanford Prison Experiment, psychologist Philip Zimbardo randomly assigned Stanford undergraduates to act as prison guards or prisoners—an extreme kind of power relation. The prison guards quickly descended into the purest forms of power abuse, psychologically torturing their peers, the prisoners. Similarly, anthropologists have found that cultures where rape is prevalent and accepted tend to be cultures with deeply entrenched beliefs in the supremacy of men over women.

This leaves us with a power paradox. Power is given to those individuals, groups, or nations who advance the interests of the greater good in socially-intelligent fashion. Yet unfortunately, having power renders many individuals as impulsive and poorly attuned to others as your garden variety frontal lobe patient, making them prone to act abusively and lose the esteem of their peers. What people want from leaders—social intelligence—is what is damaged by the experience of power.

"We're not our hair,
we're not our skin,
we're the soul that lies within."

~ Robin Roberts this morning on GMA

apparently,
after you follow your heart,
& take off your wig,
life only gets better...

cuz then she went on to interview Danica Patrick!!

words fail

words fail
fooling with that new knife
before you know it
before i felt it
no pain
there was a white slit
no blood
at first
just looking in there...
like time stood still
no pain no action no nothing
it was open
and nothing happened
weird
looking in there


then it bled while I looked for the band-aids

Mom's Take on Voyager Episodes

As I was reading in my room,
I heard Mom ask Dad:

"Don't they get caught by the Borg
every other episode?"

Finally!

Name this movie

QOTD: What Makes You Happy?

Question of the Day!

What makes you Happy?

Here's my list:

• rediscovering ALF on dvd
• having a generous friend who took me for a spin in his sportscar
• then, let me drive it!
• "i love it when a plan comes together" ... any of my plans
• npr
• having cousins
• having friends who are family
• listening to/singing in my college gospel choir
• church "work trips"
• weekends at the Eastern Gros Ventre B&B!
• icanhascheezburger
• the Goat Trail
• finding new radio shows/websites.. (NerdAlert!)
• getting comments on my blog
  

You are Invited

Wouldn't it be something if we could get a few people together, invite our friends, and check this out?

Wonder what kind of discussion we could get going if we brought together some people with different backgrounds, lifestyles, and expressions of spirituality?

Wouldn't it be a good opportunity to build some bridges? Make some connections? Explore and affirm different ways of working for Social Justice?

I'd like to have a coffee/discussion time afterwards.... if it's not too late.

If you're free Wed, Thurs or Fri night at 7pm, come over and check it out!

Who knows, it might be a total bust. ...but what if it's not?

Drop me a comment!




The Vineyard's Promo Video

Vineyard Leader's Letter

Some Tutu for Youtu

Thanks to my local library, I've been able to hear his book, "God Has a Dream" on cd.
It totally rocks.
I wish we had a "Tutu Minute" on the news (and Christian radio) every day.
There are so many stories & examples that we need to lift up.

I am not the Cookie Monster

Cookie Coma!


no-bakes, specifically

been hungry all day





way hungry & eating everything I can cook, thaw, unearth from a drawer or find in a ziplock lying in state under some magazines in an old basket (yes, I write of FORGOTTEN HUNTING SUPPLIES- Hershey Miniatures- from way back in rifle season- or, as you may call it, "December")

Oh, and I ate a block of baking chocolate. Yes I did!

Now, the suffering.

The no-bakes put me over the edge, just after the orange juice.

I think I accidentally doubled the sugar. I can never remember the recipe.

All of this to tell you that, as I climbed into bed to sleep it off, I hit play on my music player device.

A book on tape... my attempt at redemption.

A People's History of the United States.

IF you are like me and don't/didn't know who Howard Zinn is,
CHECK HIM OUT

Netflix introduced me to him the other day when
You Can't Be Neutral On A Moving Train
was waiting for me in my mailbox