Cast your vote!

It's time for the Washington Post Peep Diorama Contest Peeple's Choice Awards!

This year, I have been closely following the fortunes of one entry, the National Cathedral in Peep form ("a house of prayer for all peeple") which has its own Facebook fan group. 

Here's their entry:

Note the Darth Vader Pez dispenser peeking out behind the pillar.  Fabulous.

But I would not wish to impose my partisanship on your free choice in a democratic system.  Therefore, you should go and look at all the Peep Dioramas on display at the Washington Post and make your choice.  They're all fantastic.

Quote of the Day

I merely think that declaring a homeless, apolitical, non-violent hippie in first century Palestine as someone who would bless a twenty-first century terrorist militia in North America is a bit of a stretch.

Andrew Sullivan, on the Hutaree Christian Militia's "Christianity."

Teaser Tuesday, March 30

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I am just today starting Troublesome Young Men by Lynne Olson, part of my Britain in WWII reading.

One of the most outspoken supporters of Germany was the Prince of Wales, who told a German prince in 1933 that "it was no business of ours to interfere in Germany's internal affairs either [regarding] Jews or [regarding] anything else" and that "dictators are very popular these days and we might want one in England before long.' Indeed, the prince was so vociferous in his praise of the Nazis that on one occasion even his pro-German father thought he had gone too far and told him to tone it down.

The aforementioned quote wasn't going too far?

***
Previously on Teaser Tuesday: I finished Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett which was good, but not his best. If you've never read Terry Pratchett you might want to start with Equal Rites or Wyrd Systers--some of the earlier ones. Still, he has more insights per page than most other authors I know, and does it with great good humor. Random example:

Why do we tell one another that the leopard cannot change his shorts? she mused as she watched him scurry away. Has anyone ever seen a leopard wearing shorts? And how would they be able to put them on if they had them? But we go on saying it as if it was some kind of holy truth, when it just means that we've run out of argument.

***

In other news, I'm now an Amazon Associate so if you buy any of the books I link here, there's a little kick-back in it for me. I didn't want you to think I was being altruistic, making all these convenient links.

Happy reading!

Why I love Theresa of Avila

I'm sorry to report that Theresa of Avila suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of George Herbert in the Final Four of Lent Madness. Who knew such a humble country parson was such a fierce competitor? My last-minute plea for the good Doctor came too late. Or maybe it was inevitable. Mr. Herbert did go on to defeat Julian of Norwich for the coveted Golden Halo.

And I like George Herbert. Truly I do. But Theresa is my hero as well as the person I'd like to be when I grow up.

I read The Interior Castle for the first time kind of on a whim as a Lenten discipline almost 20 years ago now. I thought to myself, "Won't it be nice to read a sweet little book written by a sweet little nun from the sweet little Middle Ages?" and she proceeded to kick my spiritual ass. I encountered a ferocious intelligence whose perception of the ways of heart and soul laid me bare. I've gone back to IC time and again just to get my head on straight. (I need to read more of her writings, actually.)

I also adore Theresa because of her administrative and organizational skills. You don't establish a ton of monasteries without some political and organizational savvy. Too often there seems to be a divide between the spiritual types and the practical types, but Theresa was certainly both spiritual and practical. Much like George Herbert, it seems to me.

There's one line of Theresa's that is a cornerstone for me, as follows: "The important thing is not to think much, but to love much; and so, do that which best stirs you to love." Not that she's not a thinker, but she understands at a fundamental level, as she says, “It is love alone that gives worth to all things." That's why I love Theresa.

Sunday funnies

Click on it for an enlarged image.

The rest of the Facebook Passion can be found here.

(h/t Episcopal Cafe)

And just to mix in the crucifixion, because...I don't know why they do that on Palm Sunday, but they do:



(h/t Ship of Fools from their Twitter feed)

A blessed Holy Week to you all.

Theresa of Avila needs you!

Over at Clergy Family Confidential, we're down to the last of the match-ups before the finals: Theresa of Avila vs. George Herbert.

Meanwhile, on Seven Whole Days, my former friend Scott Gunn is talkin' smack against my girl T, saying, "She can’t make up her mind if there should be an “H” in Theresa. Which is it, Teresa or Theresa? This is worse than being shifty-eyed (a sure sign of suspicious behavior). She is shifty-named."

Can we let this happen? Can we let the good doctor T who led us through the Interior Castle get picked on by a panty-waist poet who arranges words to look like butterflies? My friends, this cannot be.

Hie ye over to Fr. Tim's place and vote for the saintly Spaniard. God will love you better if you do.

Ugandan update

Last week, I reported on the burning of the tombs at Kasubi. I thought I should do a follow-up on that.

First of all, my friend Joseline reports that her family is fine--and that she's about to graduate from beauty college, which is great news.

On the more global, newspaper level, the seven days of mourning ended badly with two people trampled to death and over a hundred hospitalized at the closing ceremonies. "The streets surrounding the Kasubi tombs were packed so tightly that it was almost impossible to move, with people who failed to find space on the ground hanging off trees and scaling buildings to catch a better view of things."

The picture below is captioned "A crowd mobs the Kabaka’s convoy at Kasubi on Friday" (the Kabaka being the ceremonial king of the Baganda tribe). Note the palm branch!




Also, in case you're wondering whatever happened with the anti-homosexuality bill that was headline news late last year, well...it's still floating around. GayUganda is keeping me up to date on developments and I will keep you posted.