I did do one thing during my week off. It revolved around The Precious. I’ve written before about my new-found love of playing the piano. A friend from my church gave me her old piano, a 1984 Wurlitzer, last August. That piano opened a whole new world for me. I started taking lessons, and found that I have a surprising facility for music. More important, I discovered that I love making music. The minute I sit down at the piano,... Read more
I had 1001 things planned for my first week after session closed down. I was going to storm the gates of heaven and get flaming arrows of direction in reply. I was going to clean my house from top to bottom. I was going to move the garden statue of Our Lady that’s been languishing in my “music room” (Don’t laugh. There is a piano in there.) outside and buy an arbor thingy and plant flowers and create a prayer garden... Read more
One way the Communist government in China attempts to control Christianity is by confining it to government-approved churches. The government then picks the bishops, priests and preachers who work in these churches. That places these “official” churches and their message under government control. One way Christians in China try to get around this is to worship in “house churches” which are basically underground churches where people can worship the true Jesus found in the Gospels. The government attempts to suppress... Read more
It’s a done deal. I’ve finished my last day of my last legislative session. I had a lovely evening after we adjourned with the people I love. When I came home, it felt so good. I just looked around and thought how much I love being here. Then, when I went to bed, I couldn’t sleep. I got up, got dressed, got in my car and drove around. I even drove back to the capitol building and did a loop... Read more
Unless we manage to tie ourselves in knots, this is the last day of session. I will still be the representative for House District 89 until November 16 of this year. People will be able to call me “Representative” all the rest of my days. Unless I sign up as a lobbyist (don’t hold your breath) I have privileges of the floor of the Oklahoma House of Representative so long as I live. We’re a small club, and parts... Read more
The Vatican Mistresses, a group of 26 women who either are or want to be having sexual affairs with Catholic priests, sent a letter to Pope Francis asking him to allow their lovers to marry them. This isn’t the first time a group of women who are having affairs with priests have written a pope. Pope Benedict got a similar letter. I could respond to this in quite a few ways, but I think I’ll focus on the fantasy... Read more
Pope Francis made a few statements on the environment. Read more
I gave my farewell speech. I’ve been feted and roasted. But the legislative session is still droning on. We are working long hours, trying to drag this baby across the finish line. I won’t be a free woman until we make the motion to “sine die.” We were in legislative session until … I’m not sure, but I think it was around 10:30 pm last night. When I got home, I couldn’t sleep. My husband had followed the session... Read more
Note: This is a re-post of an earlier post. I hope you enjoy reading it again. Eve Tushnet and a friend went to see a presentation at the Jewish Community Center in Washington, DC. The presentation was designed to prepare people for the High Holy Days. Since the High Holy Days are about repentance, it tracks that the presentation was on atonement. However, Eve finished the evening more bemused that enlightened. As she put it, All of the stories were interesting... Read more
We were in legislative session when the sirens went off. For the first time that day, the room fell silent. It was the kind of bottom-dropping-out, free-fall silence that occurs when people face their omnipresent dread. Tornadoes are an omnipresent dread in Oklahoma. Their unpredictability, coupled with their potential for absolute deadliness are the source of our nightmares. I don’t personally know a single native-born Oklahoman who does not have tornado nightmares. Fear of these things is drilled into us... Read more
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