Feminism Friday: Trauma and Content

A short mobile post today.

It turns out that I have connections to both of the sad stories out of Orlando this week. If you've heard of the concept "6 degrees of separation" (or it's semi-humorous twin, "6 degrees of Kevin Bacon")...

I saw research once, that said by analyzing Facebook networks, it turns out to be between 4 and 5.

For both big Orlando stories, The Pulse and the Disney gator, I find myself at only 2 or 3 degrees of separation.

I think it's important to remember, that all of the tragedies we hear on the news? Those are real people, going through real, often traumatic, experiences.

And that, is a big part of why I support content warnings, also called trigger warnings.

Not to censor the material (no one can read this), but to alert people dealing with current traumas in their lives, that they may need to skip this story for now.

That it might be something they want to learn about with people they trust, or in their soft pajamas with a comfy blanket & a cup of tea.

Or whatever is necessary to help maintain their own mental health.

Thealogy Thursday: Big Tents and Concepts of God

As I mentioned last week, about a month ago Dr. Amy Jill Levine came to town for a series of lectures sponsored by an interfaith group of congregations.

On Friday evening, she spoke at Temple B'nai Sholom as part of their Shabbat services. One of the things she explained (for the Gentiles in the near-standing-room-only sanctuary), was that Judaism is a "big tent" religion. There are the different types of Jews (Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, ethnic), with many different beliefs and many different interpretations of the texts & teachings - and they love to argue about their different perspectives and their different beliefs. But at the end of the day, they are all still Jews.

Thealogy Thursday:Intro

For months now, I've been thinking about doing an occasional spotlight on theology and/or thealogy. Since this isn't a daily or even weekly blog, I'm not going to promise to use this topic every week. But occasionally I'll come back to these ideas.

Important disclaimer: My background is as a casual layperson. Academically, I have a Minor in Religious Studies, and spent 12 years in primary and secondary Catholic Schools. My M.A. in Humanities included some more philosophy, but I did not fit the Sociology course on Religion into my program.

I do a lot of independent reading, and have long been involved in Adult Religious Education discussion groups, but my opinions should be considered just that: opinion. I do not speak Greek, Aramaic, Coptic, Syriac, etc. I've recited or sung Church Latin quite a bit, and my minor in Spanish helps me with understanding it, but it wouldn't be enough to complete Seminary.

As I have discussed in various places on this blog, my faith background has five major roots: