Odds and Sods...from an official non-loser!

Yes, that's right! I'm no loser! I have proof!

I would counsel that the test is somewhat culturally biased, with obvious extra points going to tattoos and piercings.

I am introducing a new feature here at Dead Air HQ, titled ODDS AND SODS. If I had that Twitter thing happening, I might try that, but I'm afraid it will be too complicated for my tiny brain. I mean, I could barely figure out Foxytunes!

~*~

For those of you who emailed me, concerning my soap opera with the preacher: let me assure you all, he did not see me enter the Gay Movie. They cordoned off the fundie protesters across the street, and unless they had binoculars (and I wouldn't totally discount the possibility!), they couldn't see who was going in. They did, however, preach very loudly and hyperventilated on cue for onlookers and video cameras.

The movie, titled FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO, was pretty basic, reminding everyone that gay people are often devout Christians too. I'd actually go one better, cribbing from my Imaginary Boyfriend, Rev. Michael Eric Dyson, who says the churches would fall apart without gay people: "Who's gonna run the choir and the Sunday School?" Indeed, WHO? All those deacons, all those priests, all those choir directors, all those nuns? ARE YOU SERIOUS? Well, I suppose this is news to some people, but certainly not me.

The main thing was the emotional reactions of the audience, the tears, the laughs of recognition.

It's an important movie that should be shown throughout the Bible belt. And everywhere else, too.

~*~

New to my blogroll:

AntiBarbie.Net writes short stories about cool stuff like women killing their ex-husbands (any ex-husbands reading this: you should NOT take this personally :P). At first, I thought ANTI-BARBIE meant "against Barbie dolls"--and then I realized she meant it like ANTI-CHRIST... she is The Anti-Barbie. Some atheists are so witty, you just gotta love it!

Charlottesville Prejudice Watch is a really great blog, deconstructing prejudice in all its sneaky little forms. Good politics and great reading!

And... speaking of deconstruction, we have the new Questioning Transphobia, a pointed reply to the really unpleasant website (which doesn't rate a link) "Questioning Transgender." I've never liked the snooty tone (we're girls and you aren't! nyah nyah!) of the aforementioned site, as well as the manner in which they totally ignore the reality of transmen (which of course, doesn't quite fit into their "colonization of women's space" theories).

Unfortunately, there have been few FEMINIST replies to these arguments, and the redoubtable Lisa at Questioning Transphobia jumps in with aplomb, making mincemeat of the usual Janice Raymondesque nonsense, which a lot of us grew up hearing and believing.

As penance for my one-time UNquestioning belief of several of these ideas, I am hereby linking Lisa and pledge to participate to the best of my ability and SIN NO MORE!


And... speaking of sinning no more, check out Roman Catholic Womenpriests!

I once had a root canal done* by a "substitute" dentist--a woman--since my usual dentist was on extended holiday. In so doing, I realized I'd never been to a female dentist before. And my oh my, wasn't she just so much gentler than my regular dentist... particularly as she began filing down the root of my tooth, the truly harrowing part of a root canal--even with copious amounts of nitrous oxide, which I demand forthwith, even before my novacaine shot. (I am paying for this, now, dammit, gimme my gas!) I remember thinking a woman dentist might make it better, and why can't we have more of them?

Same with priests! Wouldn't confession be so much nicer if you could say "Forgive me MOTHER, for I have sinned"? Would it be a bit MILDER, like that filing-down I just mentioned? Well, it would for me.

Did I just compare confession to root canal? Oh, hell yes.

*I've had 13 root canals in all.

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Listening to: Grateful Dead - Ramble on Rose
via FoxyTunes

My new imaginary boyfriend

I currently have a crush on Michael Eric Dyson, and I have been reading all of his books. He's a far better writer when he's all pissed off, as in Come Hell or High Water, Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster. Not surprisingly, he is an ordained Baptist minister, and knows how to preach it.

For example, snooping around on the intertubes, I found this entertaining exchange with Ann Coulter:

COULTER: I have not heard anyone say we’re fighting this war for Jesus. We’re fighting this war because of 9/11.

DYSON: But they do invoke Christian values. And you don’t have to mention Jesus specifically to talk about Christianity. As a Baptist minister myself, and this is Good Friday, I certainly feel a proximity to this issue. But the thing is, I think that the Crusades themselves—as is the contemporary crusade—are backed by an implicit reference to Jesus okaying this. And so not only do you have “patriotic correctness,” you got “Christian correctness” now. Because if you’re not on the right side of the war, which means that Jesus stands behind it to justify and legitimate missionaries, in the name of God, going over there. “By the way, we’re going to give them some food and help them out, but if we happen to mention God and conversion from Muslim faith to Christianity, it’s alright.” And as a Christian minister, I find that reprehensible. Because imperialism has been draped not only in the flag but in the cross. And we who are Christians must stand up and be voices for those who are oppressed, and those who have been maligned, and those who are being put upon. I think that’s the real role for Christians here.

COULTER: You know, this concern about George Bush referring to this as a crusade or denouncing this as some sort of crusade. I note that General Dwight Eisenhower’s memoirs about World War II were called The Crusade in Europe. That didn’t get people inflamed.

DYSON: There’s a huge difference between politics and religion.

COULTER: We’re not going to be killing people if they don’t convert to Christianity. What do you think the crusades were?

DYSON: There’s a huge difference between politically being opposed to persons in war and in the name of religion trying to wipe out your enemy who happens to be religious—whether it’s between Protestants and Catholics or, now, between Christians and Muslims. I think it’s a huge difference.

COULTER: You think that’s what we’re doing?

DYSON: I think absolutely that’s what we’re doing. Look at your president, I mean, who bows his head to God, and prays to God, and says, “Because I have God’s love— Here’s the problem. That’s not what’s happening. We’re praying, and then we’re blowing stuff up. That’s the real problem. I think that, as a Christian minister, I believe in praying, but I’m saying what do you do—not pray, p-r-a-y, but p-r-e-y, is the problem. In the name of religion we’re going over exploiting people and [saying] God’s backing us up. And this is what ticks me off. People always point to the civil rights movement. “Well, Martin Luther King, Jr.” Martin Luther King, Jr., did not want to make this a Christian nation. He was a Christian minister who believed that the disestablishment clause of the amendment was very critical to establishing every religion having its right to say, which means none should be officially enshrined. When the president and Rod Paige, the Secretary of Education, says that it’s good to have Christian schools, the administration is really shredding that line between separation. And I think that’s problematic. It shows in education, it shows in the war, and it shows across the board. So as a minister, I’m offended by that. Let’s keep God out of this madness that we’re doing and this militarism that we’re engaging in.

COULTER: After both World War II and the Korean War we specifically sent in Christian missionaries. And we got a Christian country out of Korea—[Laughter]—McArthur offered to convert all of Japan. That was a country that was not a Christian country that we conquered and occupied and turned into a country that is producing—is beating us in small electronics and cars now. I think that is a fine example. McArthur didn’t explain that the military doesn’t convert people, but he put out a call for Christian missionaries. They poured in, Bibles poured in, and now there’s religious freedom in Japan. And South Korea was converted.

DYSON: This is what Archbishop Tutu said. He told a story. When they went to South Africa, the Christian missionaries had the Bible and the South Africans had the land. They said, “Let’s pray.” When they opened their eyes, the South Africans had the Bible and the Christians had the land. That’s the deal. That’s the history of imperialism in America.

I just finished PRIDE, part of that Seven Deadly Sins series, and currently on RACE RULES. I have decided to forgo Know What I Mean, on the strength of HNIC's insightful review, at least for now. Although Dyson was engaging and positively electric on C-Span last week, discussing the book in a Harlem bookstore. I think he probably said more at the book store than he does in the whole length of the (very thin) book.

The good Reverend Dyson just left Penn and is now at Georgetown, which supposedly took everyone by surprise. Was this a hurried departure? Why? Gossip?!? Please add yours!

His wife, Marcia, is a preacher too. I am impressed that he preaches for women's access to the pulpit, then marries a woman preacher. :)