Ok so I normally limit my posts to being about books. And when I say normally, I mean all 5 or 6 of my pathetically small pile. Today, though, I have something on my mind and I want to speak it publicly but not aggressively. It is a little worrying to me how much of my mind is taken up with thoughts related to what I read on social media, so hopefully spilling my guts will help me get back to studying.
Background: As so often happens in the mornings, I checked my email (nothing exciting) then scrolled through the news feed on my facebook. This morning a very large number of people had matching profile pictures which I quickly determined were to show solidarity with folks who strive for marriage equality. And then drama ensued.
I don't like getting caught up in such stuff. Sometimes I think it's because it can only be divisive and is thus unproductive, but sometimes I worry it's because I'm a coward who wants to please everybody. There are people entrenched very deeply on both sides of this issue of varying connection to me, whose opinion I value, whom I would not wish to offend. Typically, I keep my mouth shut, figuring that opening it will only cause everyone to scream louder. This was demonstrated for me quite plainly when someone I lost touch with commented on something I posted in a way that made me think they'd misunderstood. (I don't think women should be required to get transvaginal ultrasounds for non-medical reasons nor do I think it's up to a committee of men to decide such things) Conversations like marriage rights, female reproductive rights, health disparities, and such are better as face to face conversations between people with emotions in check and probably discussing over a coffee and delicious baked treat (alternatively at a bar with a large number of very stiff drinks). Written word (like facebook, blogs, books. the Bible) is so often misconstrued, which leads me to my unofficial, ill-formed thesis:
It is possible to be a "Christian" and disagree with "Christians"
I tried to make it more specific but I can't without deviating towards self-defense. I do feel a bit defensive. It hurts to scroll down the internet and see some people bemoaning the falling ideals and standards of our God-fearing nation, interspersed with angry and sarcastic jabs at stupid, hypocritical, superstitious tight wads trying to oppress the world. Both sides stab towards me. I see no reason that the benefits of federally recognized marriage should be limited to relations between people of opposite sex only. I believe in God and read the Bible (sometimes...) and I flatter myself to think I have some intelligence (even if it took some time to prove it to the medical school admissions folks). I don't like the implication that I view myself as Judge'n'Jury over how God interprets the actions of my fellow man. I also don't like being told that I'm not a REAL christian. I am a part of a very broken body and I do not seek to cut off those who disagree with me because then it would not be much of a body. It'd probably be less than an organelle. (oooh histology! It's working! I'm studying!) I know I am not the only one who feels this way on both points, because I see these people on facebook too, even if they're quiet like me.
Truly, the majority of what I see is supportive, nonjudgmental, and constructive; yet the few jabs from either side are louder than all the rest no matter how much I try to tune them out. (I don't want to imagine how painful said jabs would be if I was a victim of social oppression. I know I'm one lucky chick) To get personal, I believe in a Creator who I call God and I believe God loves God's Creation and meant it for good. The lines get fuzzy right around this next part but somehow the creation got off track from good, but God was willing to sacrifice Godself, so this creation would be able to experience Creation as it was meant. By that last sentence I mean I believe that Jesus was God-and-man and died and beat death and lived again to show that even the finality of death cannot bind God. So whatever binds the creation to separate it from the Creator, God can beat that too. I really don't care if you believe that with me. I have no idea what will happen to you or me when our bodies quit functioning. Maybe I'm just not the "evangelical" type. For me, this belief means that I am free to try to find that Creation, and I think God-being-man means that at least part of it is still here. All the rest of my limited theology is an attempt to allow God to use me, to unearth that Creation, to pull out what's left. And I believe that is done solely through very active, very messy, very difficult love. And I suck at it just like you do, just like we all do.
Well now I've talked myself into a circle and out of a point, and still managed to get defensive. That wasn't my intention but I can't bring myself to delete it. Judge me how you will. Mostly, I just wanted to take this opportunity to highlight language out here in the interwebs which I feel tends towards the love I try to give and shies away from judgment. Caveat: I do not prescribe to this person's theology (just like I don't prescribe to my pastor's or my mom's). I don't actually know her theology. I just like the way she said things in this letter:
http://momastery.com/blog/ (first post)
And just because this is supposedly a blog about books, I would recommend all my avid readers to find and read Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Harrison Bergeron" (I found it for you: http://www.tnellen.com/westside/harrison.pdf) to get a feel for why the word "equality", even as in marriage equality, gives me the heebyjeebies.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Free Audiobooks are the BEST
Wow two days in a row!
Now I do not typically listen to audiobooks since I read faster than the readers, I like making up my own voices, and I don't want to buy two copies of a book (print and audiobook). However this is an opportunity that should not be missed:
Some crazy-awesome group of people got a bunch of famous and not-famous people to read a chapter of Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Each chapter is being posted, for free, onto iTunes and other sites, one a day until The End. 135 chapters! And Stephen Fry read one of them! There's also a number of other great readers.
If you, like me, have long drives or other requirements that do not take up your entire brain space but do not allow for a book in front of your face (or if you like audiobooks and free stuff) go HERE
Happy Listening!!!
Now I do not typically listen to audiobooks since I read faster than the readers, I like making up my own voices, and I don't want to buy two copies of a book (print and audiobook). However this is an opportunity that should not be missed:
Some crazy-awesome group of people got a bunch of famous and not-famous people to read a chapter of Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Each chapter is being posted, for free, onto iTunes and other sites, one a day until The End. 135 chapters! And Stephen Fry read one of them! There's also a number of other great readers.
If you, like me, have long drives or other requirements that do not take up your entire brain space but do not allow for a book in front of your face (or if you like audiobooks and free stuff) go HERE
Happy Listening!!!
Monday, October 29, 2012
Well Hello Again!
So I was super excited about this blog when I started it. It was supposed to keep me reading AND writing in the midst of a crazy science filled life. Whoops... I have lots of excuses. Allow me to use them all:
1. I applied to med school only I was really bad at working on the application. I told myself that the only writing I was allowed to do was the writing required for the application. So I didn't write any blog posts. I also didn't write my application for a long time. Well... I did it eventually
2. I took 20ish credit hours my senior year while still applying for medical school. Bad idea.
3. I took classes that had writing assignments (Glory glory hallelujah!) Perhaps I'll post one of the writing assignments
4. I was introduced to the BBC's Doctor Who (probably the biggest limiter of my reading and writing in free time)
5. I graduated and spent several months in limbo. Read a lot. Didn't sit still enough to write
6. I started medical school. Still reading. Sometimes instead of studying. Yup it's that important. So I decided to keep writing about it sometimes. Now is one of those times. WOOOO
For a list of all the books I've read recently, I will refer the reader to the social reading network known as GoodReads. I have chronicled all the books I've read and even written some rudimentary reviews.
I have a goal to read 100 books in 2012. I will try to set up a widget to keep you, the reader, updated on my progress (which is generally slow)
Thanks for staying tuned!
1. I applied to med school only I was really bad at working on the application. I told myself that the only writing I was allowed to do was the writing required for the application. So I didn't write any blog posts. I also didn't write my application for a long time. Well... I did it eventually
2. I took 20ish credit hours my senior year while still applying for medical school. Bad idea.
3. I took classes that had writing assignments (Glory glory hallelujah!) Perhaps I'll post one of the writing assignments
4. I was introduced to the BBC's Doctor Who (probably the biggest limiter of my reading and writing in free time)
5. I graduated and spent several months in limbo. Read a lot. Didn't sit still enough to write
6. I started medical school. Still reading. Sometimes instead of studying. Yup it's that important. So I decided to keep writing about it sometimes. Now is one of those times. WOOOO
For a list of all the books I've read recently, I will refer the reader to the social reading network known as GoodReads. I have chronicled all the books I've read and even written some rudimentary reviews.
I have a goal to read 100 books in 2012. I will try to set up a widget to keep you, the reader, updated on my progress (which is generally slow)
Thanks for staying tuned!
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Mennonites are not Mormons!!!
While I would not call myself an expert on Mormonism, I can very confidently say that Mennonites are not the same as the followers of Joe Smith and Mr. Young. In fact, Mormonism has very little to do with this post at all so perhaps it's a bad idea to have it in the title... well I didn't major in English so deal!
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen
Memoir
I am a proud flying dutchman! This is yet another book recommended to me by my mother and it did not disappoint. Only after she finished it, laughing til the very end, did she notice that Ms. Janzen is a professor of English at my dear Hope College. Boy do I envy you English majors! Not only can you appropriately title a blog with relevance to the subject, you also have the opportunity to study with such a fun person. At least she sound extremely fun in her writing. You would never guess that her main field of study is poetry (at least until she told you, which she does within the confines of this memoir). Janzen treats her childhood, her family, and her origins with candid humor, deep love and appreciation. While she pokes fun at her Mennonite heritage, it is more like she's laughing with her subjects, not at them. She celebrates her upbringing in all its strangeness and glory. Definitely a worthwhile summer read, especially for any woman with a vendetta against her ovaries... The first chapter will have you hooked ;)
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen
Memoir
I am a proud flying dutchman! This is yet another book recommended to me by my mother and it did not disappoint. Only after she finished it, laughing til the very end, did she notice that Ms. Janzen is a professor of English at my dear Hope College. Boy do I envy you English majors! Not only can you appropriately title a blog with relevance to the subject, you also have the opportunity to study with such a fun person. At least she sound extremely fun in her writing. You would never guess that her main field of study is poetry (at least until she told you, which she does within the confines of this memoir). Janzen treats her childhood, her family, and her origins with candid humor, deep love and appreciation. While she pokes fun at her Mennonite heritage, it is more like she's laughing with her subjects, not at them. She celebrates her upbringing in all its strangeness and glory. Definitely a worthwhile summer read, especially for any woman with a vendetta against her ovaries... The first chapter will have you hooked ;)
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Simple yet Satisfying
Emma by Jane Austen
Novel (Classic)
One of my favorite things about Jane Austen is how the first sentence sets up each of her books. I struggle with the first sentence of anything that I write be it letters, essays, lab reports etc. And I can't continue writing until I have a first sentence - huge writer's block! Makes me wonder how long Austen had to think about the story she was writing in order to write the absolute perfect sentence to start the whole thing off.
I tried reading Emma in my senior year of high school and had to stop about half way through because I couldn't get any further. I hadn't tried again until this summer. A housemate of mine is an Austen fan and Emma is one of her favorites. I couldn't face her without the shame of knowing that I hadn't read the book. It honestly weighed on my conscience heavily; but i struggled to start it again due to worry that I'd stopped because I didn't like it. My fears were put aside when I re-read the first sentence.
I don't know how it happened, but I did not absorb a single bit of the story the first time I tried. I could not remember a dang thing. The story in general moves slow... as slow as most of life. What I love about Austen is how she dared to represent the middle class female life in all its simple beauty. I love character development and Emma is full of it! The characters were more believable in my opinion than those in Sense and Sensibility and the love stories were less abrupt than Pride and Prejudice. Emma is, I must admit, the first Austen book that I've read before seeing the movie and I was able to follow it better. I prefer Pride and Prejudice as a book but I like the characters in Emma the best.
As a side note, I was reading this while working out on the exercise bike in our basement, and laughed several times. My mom asked what I was reading and upon hearing said "You can laugh while reading Jane Austen?"
How could I resist?
Novel (Classic)
One of my favorite things about Jane Austen is how the first sentence sets up each of her books. I struggle with the first sentence of anything that I write be it letters, essays, lab reports etc. And I can't continue writing until I have a first sentence - huge writer's block! Makes me wonder how long Austen had to think about the story she was writing in order to write the absolute perfect sentence to start the whole thing off.
I tried reading Emma in my senior year of high school and had to stop about half way through because I couldn't get any further. I hadn't tried again until this summer. A housemate of mine is an Austen fan and Emma is one of her favorites. I couldn't face her without the shame of knowing that I hadn't read the book. It honestly weighed on my conscience heavily; but i struggled to start it again due to worry that I'd stopped because I didn't like it. My fears were put aside when I re-read the first sentence.
I don't know how it happened, but I did not absorb a single bit of the story the first time I tried. I could not remember a dang thing. The story in general moves slow... as slow as most of life. What I love about Austen is how she dared to represent the middle class female life in all its simple beauty. I love character development and Emma is full of it! The characters were more believable in my opinion than those in Sense and Sensibility and the love stories were less abrupt than Pride and Prejudice. Emma is, I must admit, the first Austen book that I've read before seeing the movie and I was able to follow it better. I prefer Pride and Prejudice as a book but I like the characters in Emma the best.
As a side note, I was reading this while working out on the exercise bike in our basement, and laughed several times. My mom asked what I was reading and upon hearing said "You can laugh while reading Jane Austen?"
How could I resist?
Monday, June 13, 2011
Reading List
Since I caught up on all the books I had read, there's now a bit of a waiting period until I finish the next book. Wah wah. So I figured I would post my anticipated reading list for all of you current and potential followers to review, and comment:
1. (current) Emma - Jane Austen
2. Menonite in a Little Black Dress - Rhoda Janzen
3. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
And that's all that I remember currently.
Let the comments begin!
1. (current) Emma - Jane Austen
2. Menonite in a Little Black Dress - Rhoda Janzen
3. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
And that's all that I remember currently.
Let the comments begin!
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