Tuesday, June 26, 2007

vacation's all i've ever wanted. vacation, have to get away!

look at me! two postings in as many days. it's obviously getting to summer vacation. tomorrow is the last day (!!!!!). i'm planning many wonderful things for my summer - making extra money by working - not teaching, rather, observing new teaching fellows teach in summer school. i'm going to use the money to pay off the little bit of debt i have and go to san francisco on vacation in august.
this weekend i'm going to the community of the holy spirit at their house in brewster, ny. this is where the true hippies who became nuns live. i'm going to spend sat. night at their full moon fireside - explanation below.
i hope to spend more time with the sisters this year, esp. as i'll be fostering one or two children soon. i'll need all the spiritual resources i can get!

"Full Moon Firesides" at St. Cuthbert's are relaxed, focused evenings of conversation. Each evening is held on the night of the full moon for that month, which not only recognizes the moon's phase changes, but also allows the meeting to occur on a different day of the week. We hope this enables more people to join us.

We begin with a half hour of drumming, then a half-hour of meditation, followed by an evening where we can learn together what it means to be a powerful, responsible species on Earth. We'll explore some of Brian Swimme's work, throw in some cooking fun in the kitchen, and generally enjoy being "bio-spiritual creatures" together!

Join us for any part of any evening — or come to everything! If you're interested, e-mail us to have your name added to our e-mail notification list.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

gay pride

today was the gay pride march in nyc. this year, spiritual and religious groups went up at the front. i went with my church. it was great fun and very moving.
living in such a liberal place as nyc and in such a liberal diocese i rarely see first-hand the strife that is occuring in the episcopal church. i only hear about it on the news. today i only saw one very small group of people declaring homosexuality to be a sin. i mean, there were maybe 6 people huddled together praying in that group.
sour pusses.
one thing that does give me pause is how easy or difficult it might be for me to live in africa (which is where i'd like to live and work in my vocation as a religious and a teacher/child care-giver). i hear that regular every day people in africa are not too fussed about any issues dealing with sexual orientation. they are just trying to get by and don't have the "luxury" of such problems. but, will the american church pull away from the anglican communion? do i want to be part of the anglican communion if they aren't accepting? these are problems that will reveal their natures as i get closer to my time. i still have to find a convent!
a sister from order of the holy paraclete emailed me recently about their orphanage in swaziland. it has moved to a new site called bulembu village, out of which is run bulembu ministries. i'd like to go visit there next summer.
first, i have a lot to do here. paying my student loans is one of them. you can't go into a convent with debt.
i'm going to an orientation to foster a child or two children. this is something i've been wanting to do before i go. i wish i could have 5 lifetimes to do all i want to (live in spain, foster children, live in africa, be a nun).
i'll write more frequently as summer vacation is coming soon.