conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

Lamb The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

by Christopher Moore

The birth of Jesus has been well chronicled, as have his glorious teachings, acts, and divine sacrifice after his thirtieth birthday. But no one knows about the early life of the Son of God, the missing years -- except Biff, the Messiahs best bud, who has been resurrected to tell the story in the divinely hilarious yet heartfelt work "reminiscent of Vonnegut and Douglas Adams" (Philadelphia Inquirer).

Verily, the story Biff has to tell is a miraculous one, filled with remarkable journeys, magic, healings, kung fu, corpse reanimations, demons, and hot babes. Even the considerable wiles and devotion of the Saviors pal may not be enough to divert Joshua from his tragic destiny. But theres no one who loves Josh more -- except maybe "Maggie," Mary of Magdala -- and Biff isnt about to let his extraordinary pal suffer and ascend without a fight.

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.

I'm finding it to be a way to connect my inner view of the world to the need to do and not just think. It names Resistance(from within) as the most toxic force on the planet. Then it moves into fighting procrastination and Resistance from the point of view of an artist (specifically, a writer). Finally, it muses on the need to connect to a higher spirit once resistance is cleared to allow the art to happen.

Looking for Mary: or, The Blessed Mother & Me
by Beverly Donofrio

This is by the same woman who wrote Riding in Cars With Boys. Micah suggested it after I agreed to work on a local women's retreat, and then found out the retreat would focus on Mary. While it hasn't yet converted me, its giving me more appreciation. Plus, Donofrio is really funny, reminds me a bit of Anne Lamott.

Yay, Mary!

I'm reading Hebrews, by Herb the author of Hebrews. A lot.

Somewhere back there, I'd almost finished Foucault's Pendulum, by Umberto Eco. So I suppose I'm also reading that, in a sense.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

A book that is more experience than story, although the stories are fantastice, the structure of the book is very very cool. Imagine the structure of Sin City (the film) except for the connected stories are hundreds of years apart.

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
easy read, 110 pages, fun story

bits 'n pieces of John Sanford's
Dreams: God's Forgotten Language
(actually reading while looking over someone's shoulder in class)

Wall Street Journal articles for
discussion at Club Med (St. Bart's Episcopal)
Very, very, very funny discussions
Priest Mark brought us wine one evening.
The evening we discussed articles on Dick Cheney's Escape from Public Humiliation

an sbc bill
a com ed bill
netflix envelope
student loan bill
i am by far the most interesting and philosophical of everyone who posts here.

Outside of my classwork, (which is a whole post in and of itself, so I won't burden you all with it here) I've been reading The Language War by Robin Lakoff. She a linguist who is working on ways to understand how language is used to create and influence political and popular culture. This book, for example, addresses such issues as the trial of O.J. Simpson, Hillary Clinton, the Anita Hill case, the issue of "ebonics" and so on. Great, great stuff.

Of course, if you'd rather, you can read her first influential book, Language and Woman's Place. It's great, too.

I'm reading "Empire of Light: A History of Discovery in Science and Art," by Sidney Perkowitz, the Gospel of Mark, and the L.A. Times. And about four billion plays. Doesn't that sound like fun?