21st Century Mom

My blog is relatively barren. Relative to all the stuff I write in my head, anyhow. My head explodes with ideas - I process my whole day in terms of how I would write about it - and yet I don't. I am sitting right next to a list that says:

Long lines at Peets
Girls badge
Internet dating
Then and Now

All of those are things I would like to write about and yet I suspect I won't. Or I will write something and post it to the drafts folder of my email and forget about it.

Part of the problem is that I'm a terrible first draft writer. When I write it comes out like crap and requires several edits which means it takes a long time which is a great excuse to just skip it. Part of it is that I don't find most of my writing particularly entertaining and yes, I realize that is an acquired skill that will not get better until I put more time into the craft. Mostly I seem to approach writing the same way I deal with exercise. I listen to the whiney little voice in my head who is a master of excuses and a notorious procrastinator.

I feel like the Elephant Man who said (in the fictionalized play) "Sometimes I think my head is so big because it is so full of dreams" only mine is so full of stuff to write about. It's also a rather small head but hopefully you get the point.

The 4 or so people who regularly read this blog all have blogs of their own (I think). So how do you do it? What motivates you? How do you get the stuff rattling around in your head to come out the ends of your fingers? I'm not as concerned about the 'why' as I am about the 'how'.

Discuss....

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 09:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

It seems the Republicans have finally been convinced not to try to adjust the ethics rules to accommodate that lying, cheating sack of dog poop, Tom DeLay.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the package was certain to include a reversal of the rule that would automatically dismiss an ethics complaint after 45 days if the committee is deadlocked, according to the report.

A House Republican aide told the newspaper the automatic-dismissal rule was "the rule that is most commonly believed to be designed to protect Tom DeLay" and that it was "impossible to win the communications battle" on it.

One can only hope this is the beginning of a reversal of the steam rolling our government has taken under the Bush Administration.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 09:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The pontiff has email. No kidding! You can send him a message at benedictxvi@vatican.va. The man has had a fan club for years and they have graciously put his email address on their home page. These people are so dedicated it brings tears to my eyes. You can buy FAN CLUB MERCHANDISE! I'd like to report that they donate every dime of profit to the church to be used relieving the suffering of the poor but such is not the case. "Welcome to the Ratzinger Fan Club Giftshop. Proceeds from this store go towards the monthly costs of keeping our website online. " I'm sure the cost of the website - max a couple hundred bucks/month assuming it is maintained by dedicated volunteers, is barely affordable on their CafePress sales. Of course being that these are hardline Catholics it is more likely that the Ratzinger Fan Club has a well paid staff. But that's another discussion

Here is what they have to say about this merchandise

"Wear your faith on your sleeve! Our shirts, hats and stickers will provoke a response and initiate debate in such places as RCIA meetings, campuses of pseudo-'Catholic' colleges, or any educational function with a tendency to spread confusion and dissent! "

Cool - it's Catholic against Catholic! The RCIA is for grownups who have decided to convert. I don't know which Catholic colleges rate being called 'pseudo'.

Apparently John Paul also had an email address. If only I had known... but at least I can still send a missive to his holiness. If only I knew how to start out.

Dear Pontiff.... too casual
Your Holiness .. well - no...
Yo, Pope! .. way too casual
Excellency.... not for me so no.
I kiss your ring ... correct real time behavior but inappropriate as a salutation
Dear Pope .... probably not but it's the best I can do.

So how would you begin an email to the Pope and what would you say?

I might say -

Dear Pope,
I am a dissenter. I think it is wrong to promote uncontrolled reproduction among people who don't have any food. I think women who support and believe the Catholic doctrine should be able to say Mass without having to hide in fear of excommunication (what the hell drives them beats me but I'm just sayin'), I think your wishy, washy view on gays that says being gay is inherent but must be fought as evil is hypocritical. And what about all the molestation? What exactly is the church going to do about that? If being gay is so bad, why is it that a large percentage of your ordained are violating little boys in the ambry?

In short - if you can be 21st Century enough to have an email address why can't you loosen up and get with the program? What is up with calling one kind of Catholic a dissenter and another kind of Catholic a-okay? What's up with keeping the Catholic doctrine so strict as to be unconscionable in this day and age? And what about the sexual abuse? Really - what are you going to do about that?

Actually, thank you for getting yourself elected. Please be so completely hard assed over the next 3 to 5 years (your expected term of Popeness) that the church is forced to adopt some 21st Century reforms,

Sincerely,
21stCenturyMom (not now, nor ever a Catholic)

Before you get too busy writing your email please be advised of this statement made in the Fan Club FAQ
You can email him at benedictxvi@vatican.va, but good luck on getting a response. =)

Darn - I was so hoping for some dialog.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 07:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I had a really vivid dream last night about grrl. Really vivid. I'm sure it was fueled in part by the guilt I suffer for pooping on her blog and calling the new Pope a Nazi. So okay - he is not a Nazi and served, probably against his will or desire only long enough to figure out how to escape. Or something like that. Whatever. I don't actually care about the Pope because I'm not Catholic and I'm not a Jew and I'm not really anything although I do strongly feel that the last thing this world needs is another strict religious fundamentalist! For the honest love of God (and I mean that) we need more tolerance and recognition of 21st Century realities and less Catholic, anti-birth control, anti-gay dogma. But I digress.

What I really wanted to talk about is my dream of grrl. I'm pretty sure you all (all 4 of you) know who I am talking about but in the event you don't I am talking about getupgrrl of Chez Miscarriage. This is a woman who is so smart and so articulate that I'm pretty sure if she had one of those memory foam pillows it would go completely flat and be about 1/100th of an inch thick in the morning because her brain surely must weigh a ton. This is a woman who can take tragedy and loss and write about it so that her audience laughs and cries at the same time. She does this repeatedly with the kind of skill that would bring her a Pulitzer at the very least should she ever publish her work through the standard channels. She is a master of righteous indignation, humor, irony, charactiture and parody. Whatever she writes about is done with a full command and deep knowledge of her subject (unlike some blog commenters who just toss a little verbal poop around and leave). Last night she dominated my dreams and it seemed like a more interesting thing to write about than my recent experience managing the food for our local Junior Prom. I am going to send grrl an email regarding this post but I will not post a comment on her blog pointing to it because that would be blog whoring of the worst kind.

In my dream I was at grrls apartment - a teeny, messy little studio. I wondered why her husband didn't live there but it somehow made sense because they are both so very busy and need their space. I was visiting her to apologize for making an inappropriate post on her blog and to go out to lunch with her. This also made sense as is true of most of the incongruous, illogical things that populate my dreams. I was very curious about her life and wanted to peruse her bookshelf but more than anything I wanted her mother to call and speak through the answering machine so I could just listen to what she had to say. I kept asking grrl why her mother hadn't called - was this going to be the one day when the woman didn't call every 15 minutes? Geeez - I just have all the luck. Grrl and I chatted about this and that and I think we were trying to figure out how to fit a baby into that little, teeny apartment but it wasn't a major focus. What I really remember was how the place looked. It was very messy. The bed was unmade, there were books on every surface and the apartment was just so tiny - so completely inadequate for the person it housed.

I suppose the significance of the dream is that my own world is too tiny and too full of crap and I'm not really getting what I want but it was much more fun to experience that from the perspective of hanging out with getupgrrl and wishing her Mom would call. I wonder what she would have said?

So thanks for the inadvertant invite, grrl and sorry for the Nazi post.

ps- the title of this post is also the title of a book by Nuala Ofaolain, a sort of off beat but interesting Irish writer. It only seems right to give her proper attribution.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Jessica of Daughter of Opinion has initiated the Interview Game. Here are the rules:

The Official Interview Game Rules
1. If you want to participate, leave a comment below saying "interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions - each person's will be different.
3. You will update your journal/blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Here are my questions and answers:

1. Best concert you ever attended?

A Bruce Hornsby concert at a little jazz club in Oakland. He was fantastic. I am a huge Hornsby fan, anyhow but watching him play is sort of a zen experience although he's the one with the zen thing going. He is the piano. He and the keyboard are one in the same and he just plays and plays and moves in and out of various genres and tunes and he sings, too. People in the audience send requests up via little pieces of paper which he arranges on the music tray. He reads a lot more of them then he grants but he always makes comments. His concert is interspersed with amusing anecdotes and introductions and little bits of information. The guy is a genius.

2. Hardest lesson you've learned in life?
Don't do anything you wouldn't be willing to see published on the front page of the New York Times. Really. It is the only way to avoid committing a regrettable act.

3. The light is yellow - do you slow down, or speed up?
This is a really boring answer but it depends on how close I am to the light. If I'm really close and I'm moving pretty fast I speed up so that I don't have to slam on the breaks. Otherwise I stop.

4. The last book you read?
I have been reading more than one at a time so this is a little tricky. I read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time which I liked very much. I also read a book of short stories by Wallace Stegner called The Women on the Wall. That man is also a genius. Crossing to Safety is one of the most engaging, almost plot-free books I've ever read. There is a story but it just sort of blossoms out of description and dialog. oops! I'm cheating on this answer - sorry.

5. Who might you have been in a previous life
A rebel and revolutionary. A free thinker and a big mouth. I was probably burned at the stake or subjected to public humiliation for which I engaged in thoroughly wicked subterfuge in order to repay my oppressors. I was an imp, I'm sure.

The End

If you would like me to interview you please post a comment. Thanks Jessica!

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 03:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)