5.31.2006
Wednesday we gave these issues over 2 hours on the floor. We are considering sending these petitions to the General Conference of the United Methodist Church from our Annual Conference (the next step in the hierarchy). The General Conference sets our Book of Discipline. The body of the General Conference is the United Methodist equivalent to the Catholic Pope.
The time was broken down this way:
We do not vote until Thursday morning. I don't get to vote, but I get to wear all the propaganda I want:) I have on pins, stoles, bells and ribbons making my stance clear.
Coverage of our conference in the strib.
A former Bemidji pastor: Lyle Christiansen spoke for this issue. A retired lesbian clergy Jean Audry Powers spoke to the motion. The retired clergy are a force for these issues. There is even a reconciling retired clergy caucus.
Ack! A young Marzan from Crossroads is speaking against (so misguided).
Somehow people see this as an attack on gay people who have changed to heterosexuality - I don't see that.
I get the feeling that these petitions are going to pass. That's encouraging.
The time was broken down this way:
- 10 minutes for prepared speeches from each side
- 2 minutes of silent prayer
- 10 minutes for small groups of 3-4 to discuss
- 7 minutes for people from the floor to speak for/against each petition (9)
- moment of silence
- closing prayer from those who gave 10 minutes for and against
We do not vote until Thursday morning. I don't get to vote, but I get to wear all the propaganda I want:) I have on pins, stoles, bells and ribbons making my stance clear.
Coverage of our conference in the strib.
A former Bemidji pastor: Lyle Christiansen spoke for this issue. A retired lesbian clergy Jean Audry Powers spoke to the motion. The retired clergy are a force for these issues. There is even a reconciling retired clergy caucus.
Ack! A young Marzan from Crossroads is speaking against (so misguided).
Somehow people see this as an attack on gay people who have changed to heterosexuality - I don't see that.
I get the feeling that these petitions are going to pass. That's encouraging.
I was tagged by Aimela! And stole a lot of her answers:)
5 Things in my Fridge
1. Yogurt
2. Apples
3. Milk
4. Beer
5. Cream Cheese
5 Things in my Closet
1. Purses
2. Shoes
3. Clothes
4. Lamp so I can wade through the masses
5. Bags of Target Bags (I just feel like I'm supposed to save them)
5 Things in my Purse
1. Camera
2. Change purse of cash and cards for easy purse switching
3. Phone
4. Pens
5. Tampons
5 Things in my Car
1. Snow brush/scrapper
2. Car phone charger
3. Extension cord
4. Glass bowl I bought at the DFL fundraiser
5. Non-perishable left-overs from the Youth Group Party
5 Things I wish I was doing right now
1. Drinking coffee at a coffee shop with reasonable hours
2. Making out!
3. Laughing louder
4. Drinking beer or a cocktail
5. Eating lunch - I'm starving
5 Things I like most about my bedroom
1. My fushia and orange bed spread and skirt
2. My mattress - nice and soft
3. Pictures of friends, family and travels
4. My pink, red, and purple curtain
5. View of the Lake
I tag:
Froyd
Lindsi
Andi
5 Things in my Fridge
1. Yogurt
2. Apples
3. Milk
4. Beer
5. Cream Cheese
5 Things in my Closet
1. Purses
2. Shoes
3. Clothes
4. Lamp so I can wade through the masses
5. Bags of Target Bags (I just feel like I'm supposed to save them)
5 Things in my Purse
1. Camera
2. Change purse of cash and cards for easy purse switching
3. Phone
4. Pens
5. Tampons
5 Things in my Car
1. Snow brush/scrapper
2. Car phone charger
3. Extension cord
4. Glass bowl I bought at the DFL fundraiser
5. Non-perishable left-overs from the Youth Group Party
5 Things I wish I was doing right now
1. Drinking coffee at a coffee shop with reasonable hours
2. Making out!
3. Laughing louder
4. Drinking beer or a cocktail
5. Eating lunch - I'm starving
5 Things I like most about my bedroom
1. My fushia and orange bed spread and skirt
2. My mattress - nice and soft
3. Pictures of friends, family and travels
4. My pink, red, and purple curtain
5. View of the Lake
I tag:
Froyd
Lindsi
Andi
I'm sitting in the back in my yellow vest at Annual Conference. I'm volunteering as a page for my church's state wide convention. We're at the St. Cloud Civic Center and I'm using the lovely wireless.
They just mentioned Bemidji as a church that is experimenting (EPIC) in a state of churches that are declining in attendance and membership. Bemidji is being proactive in some ways.
Last night, at the opening worship service, I remembered why I love worshiping with this group. I've never heard more joyous hymns sung. They aren't mourning, they're joyful. Suddenly hymns are fun and actually sound good!
The conference is a mixture of worshiping 3 times a day and church legislating. We have proposals for full inclusion of gay people (finally!). We'll see how the "holy conferencing" goes. I don't get a vote, but I get to count the votes:)
We are also celebrating 50 years of full clergy rights for women so there is a nice overly feminine overtone for the event today.
They just mentioned Bemidji as a church that is experimenting (EPIC) in a state of churches that are declining in attendance and membership. Bemidji is being proactive in some ways.
Last night, at the opening worship service, I remembered why I love worshiping with this group. I've never heard more joyous hymns sung. They aren't mourning, they're joyful. Suddenly hymns are fun and actually sound good!
The conference is a mixture of worshiping 3 times a day and church legislating. We have proposals for full inclusion of gay people (finally!). We'll see how the "holy conferencing" goes. I don't get a vote, but I get to count the votes:)
We are also celebrating 50 years of full clergy rights for women so there is a nice overly feminine overtone for the event today.
5.29.2006
Starting tomorrow I will be out of town for pretty much the next three weeks. Ack. That means planning what to wear for June 16th today. Sheesh.
Schedule:
May 30 - June 2: St. Cloud for Minnesota UMC Annual Conference (volunteer)
June 2: SheDaisy Concert and Liana's Bachelorette Party in Walker
June 3: Cousin's Wedding in North Dakota
June 6: Cities for DFL Training
June 8 - 11: DFL State Convention in Rochester
June 12 - 16: Cities for Field Worker Training
Then maybe I can start to get some things done.
To do:
pack
pay bills
blog
last minute work/campaign details
gas
wash car
take out garbage/recycling (roommate that's moving out did it!)
finish writing thank-yous
vaccuum
Schedule:
May 30 - June 2: St. Cloud for Minnesota UMC Annual Conference (volunteer)
June 2: SheDaisy Concert and Liana's Bachelorette Party in Walker
June 3: Cousin's Wedding in North Dakota
June 6: Cities for DFL Training
June 8 - 11: DFL State Convention in Rochester
June 12 - 16: Cities for Field Worker Training
Then maybe I can start to get some things done.
To do:
pay bills
last minute work/campaign details
finish writing thank-yous
vaccuum
We celebrated Jadie's birthday at Green Cheese on Saturday.
Of course I brought my usual dessert and beer:)
We had so much food and so many people that we had to set up an extra table. Here is the aftermath.
Then I met up with Benton and Joe, cause they were in town for little brother's graduation. And they proceeded to tell me to get the hell out of Bemidji and make something of myself. I don't know if I'm offended or flattered.
Notice Benton's Mustache
I really am wearing clothes - my new supercute tube-top dress that I pulled out for the first 90 degree day of the summer.
Of course I brought my usual dessert and beer:)
We had so much food and so many people that we had to set up an extra table. Here is the aftermath.
Then I met up with Benton and Joe, cause they were in town for little brother's graduation. And they proceeded to tell me to get the hell out of Bemidji and make something of myself. I don't know if I'm offended or flattered.
Notice Benton's Mustache
I really am wearing clothes - my new supercute tube-top dress that I pulled out for the first 90 degree day of the summer.
If you thought I was lame for seeing Nickelback in concert, just wait till you hear that I went to Jessica Andrews last Friday! Amber, Angi and I had a great time in Walker, cause Jessica Andrews is a great singer that sounds just like her CDs. Hopefully, she'll find a recording company to distribute her latest album cause I really need a copy of "I Need a Man":)
Our cowboy boots
We had excellent 5th row seats in the tiny little convention room they used for a theater.
Our cowboy boots
We had excellent 5th row seats in the tiny little convention room they used for a theater.
5.28.2006
It only took one jump on the tramp to put my knee out and throughly scare the witts out of me. Crap, I'm old.
Marshmallow shooter. Who doesn't know what that is - come on!
5.24.2006
Laura and I stopped at the Wild Hare Bistro for Iced Chai on Monday. She's going to paint me another beautiful picture - I'm so excited!
5.23.2006
5.22.2006
Pentecost 2006: Building a Covenant for a New America
June 26-28 in Washington, D.C.
Pretty much the biggest progressive/xian/political gathering of the year put on by Call to Renewal and Sojourners. Check out who is going to be there:
But I'm giving my life to local politics this summer, so no traveling outside SD4 for me.
June 26-28 in Washington, D.C.
Pretty much the biggest progressive/xian/political gathering of the year put on by Call to Renewal and Sojourners. Check out who is going to be there:
- Sen. Barack Obama
- Sen. Hillary Clinton
- Sen. Blanche Lincoln
- Sen. Olympia Snowe*
- Sen. Elizabeth Dole*
- Ambassador Tony Hall
- Marian Wright Edelman
- Tavis Smiley
- Rev. Tony Campolo
- Rev. Sharon Watkins
- Rev. Brian McLaren
- Rev. Jim Wallis
But I'm giving my life to local politics this summer, so no traveling outside SD4 for me.
5.17.2006
We did a little adbusting at youth group today. I had Sandra Robinson come and talk with the groupies about media awareness. We played an object lesson game and she helped them gain a better understanding of how the media plays our minds so that we will buy more stuff. At EPIC we staged our own little Thin Place at the center of our universe in the Chapel. Thin Places are those where the separation between God and ourselves is "thinnest". It can be an actual place (nature, church) or other things like people or music. They are places of connection, a place where you allow your heart to be opened.
It made me think about my own Thin Places. I think I'm something of a neo-transcendental, where transcendentalists found God all around them in nature, I tend to find God all around myself in culture and the city. Like in secular music, or in good works and justice, etc. Of course, walking the Labyrinth at First Lutheran is a place where I allow/force myself to be in the moment and in that can commune with God.God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason.
Dag Hammarskjold
5.16.2006
Sorry, that I've been silent for so long. I've been lazy, away from my computer and doing other things and have been too overwhelmed to blog lately. Here are a few of the highlights:
I really wanted to post last week about Green Cheese. About how I called in for the first time and we all had wings and looked up silly facts in books and on the internet and then sang along to the Dixie Chicks and I braided everyone's hair. And how pretty the light was. But then I didn't.
It was graduation last Friday. The ceremony was long and boring (and I like crap like that). And it was cold and rainy so we didn't do the traditional march from Bangsberg to the Fieldhouse. This was actually okay with me because then I was able to wear my red, 80s, peeptoe heels that I stole from my Mom that go oh, so well with my favorite dress:)
We had a great party at my parent's house with fabulous people and food. I totally made out like a bandit on grad cards (whoops forgot to say no gifts). And I received some much needed pots and pans. I'm determined to learn how to cook for myself. I almost bought a cookbook at Target entitled "Cooking for One". But it was just too depressing.
My roommate Yulia also graduated and so her brother and mom are here from Ukraine and are staying in our 2bedroom apartment. As well, my new roommate, Katia moved in on Sunday too. So, we went from 2 to 6 (including Yulia's boyfriend who was here for the weekend) in about 2 days. Ack. It's fun to have the house full, but for this bathroom hog and living room aerobicizer, it poses a bit of a problem.
To get out of the house and to celebrate/mourn my fellow politico, Anika's moving away, I escaped to the cities for Monday and Tuesday. I had time to read my free book from Young People For, Crashing the Gate by Daily Kos' Markos Moulitsas and MyDD's Jerome Armstrong.
I haven't gotten very far but so far they are bashing the single-issue groups for not having the foresight to see that banding together to elect a Democrat (that is perhaps not liberal enough for them) is more beneficial in the long run, than working AGAINST said (less-liberal) Democrat and ending up with a Republican. Duh.
This book is definitely fireing me up to A) elect my candidate B) make my Party better.
Anyway, I was reading that at a coffeeshop while I waited for the lovely Julie G. to get off work and make it home through traffic. Then, she and I got to spend some quality shopping time together in Uptown. I picked up a cook book that claimed to be "Quick and Easy" and had pictures on every page at a used bookstore. That was step one. Now I need to go to the grocery store cause I don't even have salt & pepper or flour. Most days I'm lucky if I even have milk to eat cereal with.
It was when we stopped for a snack that I spied advertising for a certain sour-grapes, local political blog outside on the light pole. I was shocked for about a second and then proceeded to take a picture and remove said advertising.
If you're still reading, after shopping, I took a "speedy delivery" detour to Eden Prairie to pick up a Duluth Pack for "Top Chef/Survivor Man"'s BWCA trip. And then back to South Minneapolis for Anika's Unbirthday Party Celebration. Again, fabulous food and people including the imfamous Benton.
This morning I left early and made stops at my favorite bagel place, indulged in outlet clothes and pitstopped at the St. Cloud Barnes & Noble to use the rest room, pick up some clearance fiction and an iced mocha.
I made it through the trip without getting too lost and home in time to make my meeting in Bemidji.
I really wanted to post last week about Green Cheese. About how I called in for the first time and we all had wings and looked up silly facts in books and on the internet and then sang along to the Dixie Chicks and I braided everyone's hair. And how pretty the light was. But then I didn't.
It was graduation last Friday. The ceremony was long and boring (and I like crap like that). And it was cold and rainy so we didn't do the traditional march from Bangsberg to the Fieldhouse. This was actually okay with me because then I was able to wear my red, 80s, peeptoe heels that I stole from my Mom that go oh, so well with my favorite dress:)
We had a great party at my parent's house with fabulous people and food. I totally made out like a bandit on grad cards (whoops forgot to say no gifts). And I received some much needed pots and pans. I'm determined to learn how to cook for myself. I almost bought a cookbook at Target entitled "Cooking for One". But it was just too depressing.
My roommate Yulia also graduated and so her brother and mom are here from Ukraine and are staying in our 2bedroom apartment. As well, my new roommate, Katia moved in on Sunday too. So, we went from 2 to 6 (including Yulia's boyfriend who was here for the weekend) in about 2 days. Ack. It's fun to have the house full, but for this bathroom hog and living room aerobicizer, it poses a bit of a problem.
To get out of the house and to celebrate/mourn my fellow politico, Anika's moving away, I escaped to the cities for Monday and Tuesday. I had time to read my free book from Young People For, Crashing the Gate by Daily Kos' Markos Moulitsas and MyDD's Jerome Armstrong.
I haven't gotten very far but so far they are bashing the single-issue groups for not having the foresight to see that banding together to elect a Democrat (that is perhaps not liberal enough for them) is more beneficial in the long run, than working AGAINST said (less-liberal) Democrat and ending up with a Republican. Duh.
Divided We Fall
And the problem is not just the categories and the segmentation, but the mind-sets they represent - there is too much emphasis on what the party can do for them and not enough on what they can do for the party.
...For the [insert special issue] groups, electing a Democratic majority that will build a progressive movement had to take a back seat to their own narrow agenda.
This book is definitely fireing me up to A) elect my candidate B) make my Party better.
Anyway, I was reading that at a coffeeshop while I waited for the lovely Julie G. to get off work and make it home through traffic. Then, she and I got to spend some quality shopping time together in Uptown. I picked up a cook book that claimed to be "Quick and Easy" and had pictures on every page at a used bookstore. That was step one. Now I need to go to the grocery store cause I don't even have salt & pepper or flour. Most days I'm lucky if I even have milk to eat cereal with.
It was when we stopped for a snack that I spied advertising for a certain sour-grapes, local political blog outside on the light pole. I was shocked for about a second and then proceeded to take a picture and remove said advertising.
If you're still reading, after shopping, I took a "speedy delivery" detour to Eden Prairie to pick up a Duluth Pack for "Top Chef/Survivor Man"'s BWCA trip. And then back to South Minneapolis for Anika's Unbirthday Party Celebration. Again, fabulous food and people including the imfamous Benton.
This morning I left early and made stops at my favorite bagel place, indulged in outlet clothes and pitstopped at the St. Cloud Barnes & Noble to use the rest room, pick up some clearance fiction and an iced mocha.
I made it through the trip without getting too lost and home in time to make my meeting in Bemidji.
5.08.2006
5.05.2006
Happy Fiesta for no good reason day.
I'm speaking at Middle School Career Day today for Web Design. This is kinda funny because my contract at CRI is ending next week (by choice, not cause CRI isn't a great place to work, but because I want to do lots of things besides web design) and I just got a job working for the DFL Senate Caucus. Really, the only reason I was asked to speak is because Liana is on the committee.
I'm excited to make code interesting, encourage all of them to take math classes (a personal soapbox, stupid math anxiety) and wear my supercute suit that I bought for the 7thCD Convention.
I'm not sure how html-savvy these kids will be, but they will probably surprise me. I'm going to try and keep the technical stuff to a minimum and I have a little activity planned.
I'm hoping some of my youth groupies will end up in my session.
I'm speaking at Middle School Career Day today for Web Design. This is kinda funny because my contract at CRI is ending next week (by choice, not cause CRI isn't a great place to work, but because I want to do lots of things besides web design) and I just got a job working for the DFL Senate Caucus. Really, the only reason I was asked to speak is because Liana is on the committee.
I'm excited to make code interesting, encourage all of them to take math classes (a personal soapbox, stupid math anxiety) and wear my supercute suit that I bought for the 7thCD Convention.
I'm not sure how html-savvy these kids will be, but they will probably surprise me. I'm going to try and keep the technical stuff to a minimum and I have a little activity planned.
I'm hoping some of my youth groupies will end up in my session.
5.04.2006
By the way my lamp came this weekend. I put it up on Sunday to kill time. It falls down all the time and gets all tangled, but its cool.
5.01.2006
So it has finally ended, for good. And I feel like crap (although chocolates from my coworker and pizza and beer and movies and working out are making me feel better). But this is supposed to be a good thing, right? A new beginning or something. Time to find a guy who is good for me. Who understands me, is as involved as me. Actually cares about what I have to say. But, who doesn't smother me so much I lose my identity.