Monthly Archives: December 2006

From the Den of Chaos comes this one –

Which classic screen goddess are you?

You scored as Rita Hayworth.

You’re the one who has the most fun. People are attracted to you because you don’t pretend to be anything but what you are. You know you are attractive and like to play on that – which makes you even sexier. However, when it calls for you to be serious, like Rita, you need to know that only hard work will get success.

12 December 2006 – Today’s NY Times has a front page article about http://gaychristian.net/, a ministry for gay Christians started by a Raleigh man. The article, http://tinyurl.com/w4zbn highlights the dilemma often faced by gay Christians –

“Justin Lee believes that the Virgin birth was real, that there is a heaven and a hell, that salvation comes through Christ alone and that he, the 29-year-old son of Southern Baptists, is an evangelical Christian. Just as he is certain about the tenets of his faith, Mr. Lee also knows he is gay, that he did not choose it and cannot change it. . . . Gay evangelicals seem to have few paths carved out for them: they can leave religion behind; they can turn to theologically liberal congregations that often differ from the tradition they grew up in; or they can enter programs to try to change their behavior, even their orientation, through prayer and support. But as gay men and lesbians grapple with their sexuality and an evangelical upbringing they cherish, some have come to accept both.”

Many gay Christians are still taught that their natural sexual orientation is inherently sinful. I can’t imagine how it feels to be told that your own nature is evil, and it’s infuriating that that some churches that preach such a gospel. Perhaps someday Christian congregations will embrace all worshipers, as I believe Jesus intended. Meanwhile, I hope this ministry will be a source of fellowship and support for gay Christians.

And not a moment too soon! You know the monstrosities of which I speak? Bulky cardigans plastered over with embroidered, sequined, and otherwise “embellished” Symbols of the Season? December in an office job is just one sparklysweater after another.

Exhibit A:

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

I know this is silly, but it’s fun and the cards are pretty!
Here is mine:

You are The Star

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Star is one of the great cards of faith, dreams realised

The Star is a card that looks to the future. It does not predict any immediate or powerful change, but it does predict hope and healing. This card suggests clarity of vision, spiritual insight. And, most importantly, that unexpected help will be coming, with water to quench your thirst, with a guiding light to the future. They might say you’re a dreamer, but you’re not the only one.

There is an article that is wrong-wrong in the current issue of the state bar journal. It makes two basic points, both misleading and false. One is that Brady v. Marylond, rather than requiring prosecutors to disclose favorable evidence, gives them the privilege to decide whether the prosecutor considers the favorable evidence sufficiently “material” to hand over. This is incorrect. Materiality is not the standard for disclosure, but the after-the-fact review standard for assessing the effect or prejudice from the prosecutor’s misconduct.

Even worse, the article opines that, inasmuch as there is a new open-file discovery statute in place, there is no longer any basis for a moratorium on capital punishment.

For various reasons, it would not be prudent for me to be the person who publicly responds to this article. But, someone needs to!

Raleigh House – Setting for Imagined TV Show

I walk past this house every day. It’s divided into apartments, each with a large 12 x 12 foot porch. Every day I imagine it as the perfect setting for a television show, with a cast carefully chosen to be “diverse” in every possible way. At the beginning of the program all the tenants would come out on their respective porches. Let’s see . . . there would be a young couple in one apartment, perhaps with a baby; maybe a couple of young and unmarried people in another; an old person in one; non-English speaking people in one apartment; perhaps a reclusive sort in one unit; or an animal nut in one; oh, and one apartment would have a person who is attracted to someone in another apartment, allowing for their gradual courtship. Of course, the tenants would also be nicely assorted as to racial or ethnic identity, sexual orientation, and political viewpoint. It would begin and end and often take place on those wonderful porches. Can’t you just see it?

One more thing – I totally photoshopped that picture. I took it at dusk on a cloudy day from a parking lot, then deleted most of the parking lot, brightened it all up, and added that glorious blue sky. I’ll post the original sometime.

So – what should the show be called? Who should star?