Blogging the Bible

I read an article in the San Francisco Chronicle today about David Plotz, a "not-very-observant Jew," who always tried to avoid the Bible but picked it up one day because he was bored at his cousins' bat mitzvah. He discovered, to his surprise, a graphic tale of woe, vengeance, violence, illicit sex. In his words, as quoted in the Chronicle, the Old Testament is "a bawdy, violent, sexy, jokey, sarcastic, Quentin Tarantino of a book."

In addition to his observations about what he reads, he is finding his faith deepened and, well, actually existing as a result of his reading. He has been asked to do the New Testament and the Qu'ran, but has declined, suggesting that somebody of those faith traditions should do that project.

His blog is at the following web address: http://www.slate.com/id/2150150/

Church Uniforms

This summer, I noticed all the different uniforms women would wear on their way to church. Not everybody could afford a uniform, but when I went to mass, for example, there were women in these long white dresses (more fitted than a choir robe) with purple and gold sashes and head pieces. My sister Nomkhosi explained that that was their church uniform. You'd see women in blue or green or red uniforms, each associated with a different denomination. Here, for example, is a women who is a member of the Shembe church. (I bought two Shembe belts, one for my mother and one for me, which are similar in design to the headpiece she's wearing.)

Anyway, last night, I was reading Terence Ranger's classic piece on the invention of tradition in Africa and in a roundabout way, it explained the reason why church members would have a uniform. Because the colonial rulers were obsessed with defending their right to rule over the territories they had decided were theirs, and because settlers wanted to be seen as "gentleman farmers" or of the gentleman class, they became equally obsessed with inventing traditions and rituals. These rituals of political and military organizations were a show of power, a way of demonstrating superiority through ritual, a way of indicating class. And Africans caught on in their own way. They were excluded from many of these colonial rituals but they invented their own. Creating your own uniform for the church you belonged to was one method of including these rituals of power into your life.

The A-Bomb

I'm T.A.-ing for a class on U.S. political policy post-1945, so we've spent the last agonizing weeks talking about the A-bomb. I say agonizing because how many lectures do you really need on the A-bomb? We've now had seven, plus readings for two weeks. Interesting fact that though there was very little opposition to the use of the A-bomb,. conservatives were the ones who overwhelmingly were horrified that it was used. Statistics cited by the prof:

Loss of life

In WWII, Americans 1:100,000; Japanese 1:1000
In Iraq war, Iraqis 1:500, Americans 1:100,000


I can't vouch for the accuracy of these statistics though, like most historians, he should be very concerned with facts being correct. He might have a weird interpretation of those facts but the facts themselves shouldn't be in dispute.

Back in the Saddle Again

I'm back in physical therapy--for my back this time. And going to an acupuncturist, too. The p.t. assistant, Chris--who has seen a LOT of me this past year--laughed when I admitted that I felt the stretches he showed me in my back, not my neck. Nobody is THAT stressed, he said. Except me. "You're weird," he announced.

This is something my family has known for some time. But I guess it's good to have it confirmed by the world.

Little Miss Sunshine

Last night, we watched what I suspect is one of the funniest movies of last year--Little Miss Sunshine, a satire that spoofs family vacations and beauty pageants. Although the themes could be distilled to trite sayings--"be true to thyself" or "love yourself" or "blood is thicker than water" etc.--the movie is ultimately a powerful affirmation of familial solidarity, love, and the importance of individuality. The dysfunctional family in the film is made up of a heroin-snorting grandpa kicked out of his retirement home for bad behavior, a nerdy 9-year-old who will compete against Jon Bonet-Ramsay look-alikes to try to win the Little Miss Sunshine pageant, a teen who reads Nietzche and hasn't spoken in 9 months, a husband who has started a wildly unsuccessful business of inspirational speaking about success, a wife at the end of her patience, and an uncle who happens to be the #1 Proust scholar in the U.S. but is fresh out of the hospital after a suicide attempt when his male lover left him for the #2 Proust scholar in the U.S. They are on their way to California for the Little Miss Sunshine pageant and a host of hilarious events accompany them. Unlike movies like Vacation where most of the action and comedy is based on external events that happen to the characters, Little Miss Sunshine is centered entirely around things that happen because of the characters' interactions with each other. But the family, as an entity but also as individuals, changes in both subtle and dramatic ways, as each discovers the truth about themselves and each other.

I felt a bit like I was watching a spoof of my own family, especially when the VW van they were driving broke down just enough that the entire family would have to get out and push it when they needed to start on an uphill slope, then run and jump in while the van was moving. Who, among VW van owners, hasn't had to do that at some point?