fun in threes, sometimes fours
general
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Why would there be any way to see hate in a text written by a completely benevolent deity?
Why would there be any way to see prejudice in a text written by a completely benevolent deity?
Why would there be any way to see malice in a text written by a completely benevolent deity?
"Last year's kids were a real challenge," the seventh-grade teachers all admitted. And to be fair, they warned us about them this time last year: "This is some group!" We hear that a lot, and we put it down to a typical exaggeration: they're never as troublesome as last year's teachers make them out to be.
But last year, they were right. One-hundred percent accurate. Last year's group was exhausting.
"This year is going to be so much calmer for you guys!" all the seventh-grade teachers have been reassuring us during these first days back. Today we met a lot of them.
It's hard to tell after such a short exchange, but we are, indeed hopeful.
Here's a video of the Boy's spring band concert.
Before Biden bowed out, a meme was going around among Trump supporters.
I'm not going to label his followers as this meme does, but anyone who can look at Trump and not see how completely unhinged he is almost all of the time, how uneducated he appears to be, how incapable of critical thought he seems to be -- I just don't understand.
I freely admitted that Biden was showing some mental deterioration. I never worshipped the man: I was only support him to do a job. Many Trump supporters, however, seem almost to worship the man. He literally can do no wrong.
And even if he does wrong they overlook it.
Today, the Girl competed in AAU Nationals in high jump for the first time in her life, but it's the fourth or fifth time she's competed in AAU Nationals in general. It's just that before today, it had always been in volleyball.
Unlike volleyball, though, these nationals did not take place a day's drive away. Instead, they were a mere three hours away.
It was also by far the biggest track meet she's ever participated in: three high jump mats with over 50 girls participating.
How did she do? She'd say "Meh" if you asked her that question.
But she placed twelfth out of fifty-one girls.
And of course, no matter how it ended, we're all proud of her and her accomplishments this year.
The Girl has decided she needs to be cooking more, to learn how to cook more than mac and cheese and quesadillas. She’s done chicken alfredo a couple of times, but when K asked L to cook dinner tonight and suggested she just make the tried-and-true chicken alfredo, the Girl demurred. She wanted to try something new. Something different.
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Something Asian.
Long, long ago, when K and I were dating, she wanted to do the same thing — try something new, something different. She decided on something decidedly non-Polish, something from southern Europe. She chose lasagna.
Mother and daughter both chose pasta. They both had similar issues with the pasta. And in both cases, those they cooked for ate the dish with enthusiasm.
During our three trips to Florida this summer, I noticed a lot of interesting billboards. I also saw a sign on the the trailer of several semi trucks.
I'm not sure what that image is supposed to evoke. There are hints of Uncle Sam draft posters in the overall design, but the wording would have been something like "I want you to pray." Additionally, given the right's strong feelings about the necessity for clear gender boundaries, this person seems unexpectedly androgynous. Finally, there's the feeling of aggression inherent in the shadows and pointing finger. It's like it's daring you not to pray.
The bruhaha about the opening ceremony in Paris offers an instructive insight into the minds of fundamentalist Christians. It was everywhere. On friends' feeds:
It was on public figures' streams:
It was on Polish streams:
Even the parish K attends got into the action:
And those public figures not posting about it were commenting to the media.
Robert Barron, a Catholic bishop with a large online platform, said,
France felt evidently as it's trying to put its best cultural foot forward, that the right thing to do is to mock this very central moment in Christianity where Jesus at his last supper gives his body and blood in anticipation of the cross.
It's presented through this gross or flippant mockery. France which used to be called the oldest daughter of the church. [...]
France has sent Catholic visionaries all over the world. France whose culture and I mean the honouring of the individual, in human rights and of freedom is grounded very much in Christianity. [...]
What's interesting here is this deeply secularist, post-modern society knows who its enemy is, they're naming them, and we should believe them, because this is who they are.
But furthermore we Christians, Catholics, should not be sheepish. We should resist, we should make our voices heard.'
Daily Mail
Trust me, Mr. Barron, your voices are heard. Some of us are just a little bemused at the ignorance behind it all.
What makes more sense? That the organizers would choose to satirize a Renaissance painting or portray something distinctly Greek, specifically the Feast of Dyonisus?
Whatever their intent, the
[o]rganizers of the Paris Olympics have apologized for any offense caused by a skit in the games' opening ceremony Friday that featured drag stars in what many viewers saw as a parody of Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous “The Last Supper" masterpiece, a similarity that drew the ire of Catholic leaders and conservatives like Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr.
Forbes
They also pointed out that
[r]ecreations of “Last Supper” are not uncommon and have not often been met with the same kind of backlash as what followed the Olympic opening ceremony. Popular TV shows like “Lost,” “House,” “Battlestar Galactica,” “The Sopranos” and “The Simpsons,” among others, have posed their actors in similar photos, and art with celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, Freddie Mercury and Bill Murray portraying Jesus are readily available online.
Forbes
Heck, the MAGA people who are so upset were decidedly less upset about a different recreation of the painting:
At its heart, though, I can't help but see this as an example of Christian fundamentalist ignorance and hypocrisy. They are all "America first!" in everything else, but here they're willing to refuse to support American athletes who had nothing to do with the planning of the opening ceremony because in their ignorance they've confused the Feast of Dyonisus and a Renaissance painting which isn't even part of any religious canon at all. Davinci's painting was itself a derivative and unrealistic interpretation.
After Polish mass today, the women of the choir (which K more or less leads) had a birthday surprise for her.
"I've never had so many flowers," she said when she got back home..