My friend Lindsay posted a facebook status today that had me jumping out of my seat: “Just in case anyone is confused. The phrase “boys will be boys” means that boys will come home with frogs in their pockets, bite their Graham crackers into gun shapes if you take their super soaker away, climb way too high in trees and try to set their farts on fire. THAT’S what it means. STOP trying to make that phrase include sexual... Read more
Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They said in reply, “John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said to him in reply, “You are the Christ.” Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him. He began to teach them that the... Read more
It was evening on September Twelfth. I was performing my annual watching of the videos of the 9/11 attacks, trying to remember what it felt like to see it for the first time, trying to remember what it was like when this was not familiar, not an historic tragedy but a recent shock. Rosie looked over my shoulder. I’ve told her about the attacks before, but I’ve never let her look at pictures or watch any recordings. Violent images aren’t... Read more
It’s that day again. It’s the seventeenth anniversary of the bloodiest day on American soil. People who were babies during the 9/11 attacks are old enough to vote or close to it this year. They’re finishing high school, starting college,working jobs, driving cars. I don’t know why that’s so strange to me: that there are adults or people who are almost adults who can’t remember what it was like before the 9/11 terrorist attack– for whom a post-9/11 America... Read more
Hello friends, this is not a real blog post. This post is your periodic reminder that Steel Magnificat, and my family, are almost entirely run on gratuities. I work from home as a writer due to my chronic illness, churning out three to seven literary art projects per week here, my husband copyedits for me, and he’s also the homemaker who takes care of Rosie and does the housework since I’m so often too sick to get off the sofa... Read more
Again Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis. And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to... Read more
First of all, pretending that sexual abuse never happens will not stop sexual abuse, nor will pretending that if you ignore it it will go away. That method was used liberally, for decades or centuries, and it led to the current crisis. Pretending sexual abuse never happens makes it more likely to happen. Moving the abuser to a new venue, such as a new parish, will not stop sexual abuse. A change of scenery won’t cure an abuser because... Read more
As I mentioned earlier this week, Rose and I have finished our first year of homeschooling– Kindergarten, plus about eight weeks of first grade, and we’ve started second grade in math. I already told the story of how I second guessed myself and how it turned out to be the right choice, just for us. I have no idea what works for other people, other than the Decalogue and the Golden Rule. But homeschooling worked for us and this technique,... Read more
The beginning of September was a disappointment. In joyful expectation I laid out my orange plaid tablecloth, the scarecrow centerpiece, the pumpkin-shaped chalkboard and the ornamental gourds, and the next day there was a heat wave. There was a heat wave all weekend. The weather was less bearable than it had been in July and August; it was 100 degrees on Tuesday, according to the Walgreen’s kiosk. I quickly developed the worst fibromyalgia flare-up I’ve had since January and... Read more
We finished our first year of homeschooling. I’ve been meaning to tell you guys about homeschooling for weeks, but August was a busy month for news and I never got the chance. Rosie completed her Kindergarten year, and immediately started the first grade, because she gets frantic if she goes more than a few days without lessons. Besides, schooling through summer means we can take a day off whenever we think of an excuse to during the year. I vacillated... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In