If I were a Christian Quaker, I would be strongly drawn to the tradition of plain dress. Perhaps it’s good that I’m not, in that I don’t have to do the difficult work of discernment that I probably would if I were. It does seem to me that plain dress, like all the Quaker testimonies, needs to have its seed in a spiritual leading, and I cannot be sure that my inclination toward it isn’t merely personal. Pagans as a... Read more

I keep thinking I’m gonna give up memes, and then there will be one I just can’t resist. Like this one… Which I flat out stole from Bright Crow (and he, in turn, stole from Igraine). If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now (even if we don’t speak often or have never met), please post a comment with a completely made up, fictional memory of you and me. It can be anything you want... Read more

Came across this quote the other day: Ecstasy doesn’t last. But it cuts a groove for something that does last. –E.M. Forster Yet another reason to love that writer… Read more

Teaching has been both easier and harder than ever for me this year. It has been a really tiring year; I don’t remember having such long days since my first year in the classroom. Probably that’s because I’m teaching a course I’ve never taught before, and I’m putting in enough extra time developing my own approach to it that I’m just putting in more time day by day. It’s been satisfying, though. In three out of my four classes, I... Read more

I’m up to Acts in my blitzkrieg tour of the Bible. (Clearly, there’s a whole lot of prophets I’ve missed and will need to go back for–this Biblical literacy notion is not for sissies. ) I don’t believe I’ve ever read Acts before. Though I was not raised Christian, still, I’ve dipped into the Bible once or twice over the years. I’ve done my time in Deuteronomy, having had it quoted at me by the soapbox preachers at my colleges;... Read more

No, listen–! Marriage is wonderful. It really, truly is. Of all the many wonderful and miraculous things that I’ve experienced in my life, from the smell of clover in my six-year-old nose to the sound that a good dog makes settling at my feet by a fire, the best, the absolute most wonderful and beautiful best thing of all is being married to Peter. I know–not exactly interesting to those of you who are not married to Peter. I’m sorry.... Read more

There’s a bumper sticker I really love, that’s something like “The people who could really run the country are all busy teaching school.” I’ll spare my readers my thoughts on running the country in the midst of this politically-loaded election year. But I will say that the people who normally run this blog have indeed been busy teaching school. Along the way, however, I did accept an invitation from Erik of Executive Pagan to do a guest blog over there.... Read more

Each year, in my classroom, I deal with the echoes of 9/11/2001. This year, after the Pledge of Allegiance was recited over the loudspeaker, instead of the usual brief moment of silence, our principal reminded us of what day it was, and asked that we remember those who died. A slightly longer moment of silence ensued. For me, even an extended “moment of silence” is at once too much and too little remembrance: just enough reminder of the day to... Read more

I guess when you have to complain about an overabundance of love, you don’t have too much to complain about. As Erik of Executive Pagan commented recently, the world of Pagan bloggers “is a mini-community.” This makes me particularly happy, as one of the editors of Metapagan, since my purpose in contributing to that project has been to encourage the kind of blogging community I see in the Quaker community, thanks to Martin Kelley and the editors at Quaker Quaker.... Read more

They probably should never let Pagans own Bibles, much less read them. (Too late now.) I’m up to Job. Though this post is going to be more inspired by an excerpt from Archibald MacLeish’s play J.B., based on Job, than by the Biblical text itself. Bear with me. Job is probably the central book of the Bible for Pagans, whether we’ve read it or not. However monotheists might come to terms with it, Job cannot satisfy the polytheistic Pagan mind.... Read more