tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12818036459513138832011-07-07T16:19:06.937-04:00Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.comBlogger321100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-75262624094964053502009-08-26T16:03:00.004-04:002009-08-26T16:16:56.242-04:00

Yes, despair no longer reigns, even though I'm still plenty P.O.'d. Just sent off another e-mail in support of single-payer health care to the whole gamut: the Prez, my Senators, my Congress critter (as Jim Hightower so endearingly calls them -- mine is a rabid right-winger, thanks to Republican gerrymandering of my state which deprives our heavily Democratic city of a rep who is in tune with

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-69468410381038596962009-08-22T15:44:00.005-04:002009-08-22T16:28:16.394-04:00

Hello readers, if any --Haven't cooled off much in the past five days. A nasty ear infection hasn't exactly bettered my mood, and the collective wimpiness of our President and the Democrats is enough to remind me viscerally why I quit the Democratic Party so long ago! If this health care mess turns out to be more window-dressing behind pretty words, I will be more than tempted to barf on the

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-75137155934414876622009-08-17T08:48:00.004-04:002009-08-17T09:16:34.603-04:00

Well, this is a new low. It seems to me and my spouse as though health care reform is being derailed AGAIN. Our government doesn't have the spine to stand up to a poisonous coalition of misled, hysterical screamers and cynical big-money corporations (insurance, pharmaceuticals, HMOs, you name it). Of course, our political system as it presently operates is with very few exceptions a cat-house

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-14220355398650818112009-08-07T15:24:00.005-04:002009-08-07T15:44:36.995-04:00

Hello readers, if any --No apologies for the long "radio silence." I was on the road from May 21 to July 20, pretty much non-stop. Up the East Coast in my Smart car (a really fun ride, 980 miles in one day!), three days at my college reunion (including a stint as the most out-of-shape duffer in a racing four with coxswain, my hands shredded after 6 miles at the oar), four and a half weeks

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-32736347396603935582009-05-01T08:12:00.002-04:002009-05-01T08:27:54.441-04:00

It's a very odd thing when your partner has to go away for a long period of time and you're deprived of all the usual benefits: company, a sounding board, someone whose schedule, willy-nilly, helps determine yours. My partner of more than 22 years is literally on the other side of the globe, and it's taken a week to find a not yet totally acceptable interim rhythm. Work is getting done, but not

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-4168657262269961282009-04-06T08:51:00.005-04:002009-04-06T11:26:06.006-04:00

It's a Catch-22, in my opinion. A vast number of unreflected bigots out there believe that gays and lesbians are immoral simply because they are gay or lesbian. Where does this hugely wrong idea come from? I would argue that it's an inextricable aspect of patriarchy, which we still live in, somewhat diluted though it is. Patriarchy in its undiluted form, which remains the basis of our social

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-79850132269245207322009-04-04T16:47:00.005-04:002009-04-06T11:25:52.934-04:00

Well, posts will be few and far between, it seems. But the topic of the last one remains very pertinent, since yesterday saw the courts of the state of Iowa OK same-sex marriage. I always thought Iowa had more than its share of common sense, and it's nice to have that confirmed. One of my favorite people in the world grew up in Iowa, though I fear her very fervent Catholicism may put her on

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-71153306616849298642009-03-26T19:42:00.004-04:002009-03-26T20:11:43.671-04:00

Well, it's more than two weeks since my last post, and I have good news. Two days ago, voters in my city (I, alas, live outside the city limits so I couldn't vote) rejected a nasty anti-GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) city charter amendment, 58% to 42%. Too close a margin by my lights, but at least injustice did not prevail.I did a little door to door persuasive canvassing against

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-23996968152434166402009-03-09T11:52:00.007-04:002009-04-06T11:24:58.059-04:00

I'm back. It's been a long hiatus, ever since January 19th. What got me all tied up? Life. Taxes (mine, my spouse's, and my mother's: all done now, happily). Dealing with the fall-out from the dramatic break-down of the economy. Trying to gear up for another challenging year despite very low energy. Which remains sub-prime, to make a bad pun.But I've been doing a lot of thinking. Funny

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-14703400493927818982009-01-19T10:57:00.003-05:002009-04-06T11:20:28.066-04:00

Finally another sign of life from the overloaded Pagan Pundit. Between the looming advent of tax time, house guests, and assorted challenges I won't detail here, I haven't been able to think of anything but my book manuscript, continuing house repairs, and being a supportive spouse. But, just in the nick of time, I want to pass on something I heard on the Rachel Maddow Show (9 p.m., MSNBC,

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-39390571167689305832009-01-08T17:43:00.004-05:002009-01-08T17:56:15.805-05:00

Some unexpected free time for a quick post. I did a lightning Internet search and discovered that the Baltic region, and specifically Lithuania, have a tradition of tall, hollowed-out tree stumps carved into the likeness of a grotesque, bearded man and lidded with a thatch roof, with an opening in the mouth through which bees can access a hive within (and a door in the back for the beekeepers to

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-89829773258010821502009-01-08T09:02:00.004-05:002009-04-06T11:19:55.679-04:00

Back in the U.S. since December 28th, but despite warm weather, snowed under in work of various kinds. We hosted a dozen people for New Year's Eve, then had the painter/carpenter in for more touch-up work on the house, and now I have house guests for a week. But I did want to convey some moments from the Frankfurt Sacred Night Market (Weihnachtsmarkt). The weather was none too clement,

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-66801655325561953852008-12-19T04:18:00.003-05:002009-04-06T11:19:18.020-04:00

Here I am, three thousand miles away from home -- if my latest address is home, which I sometimes doubt -- in grey weather, cold too, trying to get the time change behind me and start soaking up the holiday spirit. The spouse and I are sitting in the hotel lobby, both working away on our computers. In a little while I'll get myself in gear and head off to do some errands. So this is "holiday

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-47710832965937156922008-12-07T17:17:00.004-05:002009-04-06T11:18:43.974-04:00

Yes, odd and possibly reprehensible as it may seem, I do love to watch American football. Never got a chance to play it, though I've played quite a few other team sports. But I grew up watching football (and baseball, and basketball) with my Dad, a true fanatic, not just a fan. And somehow life is not complete without occasionally plopping my butt down in front of a TV and screaming my lungs

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-82341393729100677962008-12-06T18:09:00.006-05:002008-12-07T17:17:48.069-05:00

So, it's December 6th and I haven't posted in four days. The holiday preparations continue to rev into ramming speed, and I suspect posts will be fewer and farther between until after the New Year. But I wanted to touch upon a subject I've already mentioned and develop it a bit, in preparation for more concentrated treatment when life becomes a bit less harried (ha, ha).One of Barack Obama's most

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-24518156933893773742008-12-02T18:41:00.003-05:002008-12-02T20:29:32.720-05:00

It's December 2nd, and holiday preparations here are already in full swing. I am happy to report that I've made two batches of mulled wine and my gift procurement is just about completed, which leaves a lot of wrapping, mailing and delivery in my future. We have many of what I like to refer to as Goddess-children, some too grown up to be "gifted" but still due a hand-written and heart-felt

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-20641560603077386982008-11-30T16:16:00.002-05:002009-04-06T11:18:03.173-04:00

This is an excerpt from a presentation I made a few years ago at a national conference: Patriarchy literally means “the rule of the fathers,” and its core concept is the idea that all men are born superior to all women. As Shulamith Firestone put it in her classic book, The Dialectic of Sex, this sexual class system, which in its purest form demands the literal enslavement of women and

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-24019187154498556282008-11-29T17:52:00.002-05:002009-04-06T11:16:54.372-04:00

Something just struck me. I wrote in an earlier post about my objections to women taking their husbands' names upon marriage. Well, in one way this connects with my problems with societal homophobia. I believe that people are capable of remembering two or even more family names in connection with a single family unit, but many of them just aren't familiar with the concept and therefore bridle at

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-65888820745241404062008-11-29T09:35:00.001-05:002009-04-06T11:16:15.994-04:00

Here's an excerpt from "When, Why...If," by Robin Wood:"When you were small, you were taught a certain world view by your parents, your peers, and the people around you. Your mind was primed then, and ready to accept those things that would enable you to adapt in this society. You eagerly learned the concepts that your parents taught you, and by the time you were two, your basic view of the world

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-26325924555590551802008-11-28T17:51:00.001-05:002009-04-06T11:14:26.983-04:00

Terrorism is something I particularly hate, and I'm not in the least apologetic about it. Anyone who feels entitled to cut short anyone's precious life to draw attention to a cause, even to protest some dire injustice, has to me divorced her- or himself from the human race. The only exception might be if one were able to confront someone directly responsible for the injustice. But killing

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-2561792361676468902008-11-26T17:29:00.001-05:002009-04-06T10:29:24.541-04:00

Since marriage is dwelling on my mind since the, to me, incomprehensible passage of Proposition 8 in California -- I still don't get that here in America, a coalition of religious and other bigots managed to write something into a state constitution to take a specific group of people's rights away -- here are some musings. After I say that, if you can amend a constitution to take one group of

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-32734713624174412662008-11-25T18:30:00.001-05:002009-04-06T11:13:41.893-04:00

Just a few lines which may be all I manage until after Thanksgiving. We're expecting, as of right now, 24 people (including our two selves). A 21-pound organic turkey just arrived at the front door, and is now reposing in our fridge. Yikes!Actually, we've been hosting this festivity for 14 years now, so although it's always a bit of a frantic rush, we're used to it. It's a lot of fun to bring

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-7630995637113423512008-11-23T16:34:00.001-05:002009-04-06T11:13:23.401-04:00

Here's a brief piece I wrote for a panel discussion at a college reunion, almost ten years ago:Starting in 1991, I came back to the belief system I think I was born with. It's called Goddess spirituality, eco-spirituality, eco-feminism -- the big, catch-all term is Neo-Paganism. None of these names fit completely, and some of the words are given a negative spin by popular culture.It's partly

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-62512280106461629132008-11-23T16:21:00.001-05:002009-04-06T10:36:48.503-04:00

It's great to get one's nose outside the house after a whole morning and half an afternoon spent preparing for another mass Thanksgiving -- up to 25 people! Everyone was supposed to have told us whether they were coming by yesterday morning, but of course, four have managed not to report in yet. The art of the RSVP is all but lost. I had to call pretty much everyone on the guest list to

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-53698553732380194472008-11-22T16:49:00.001-05:002009-04-06T11:12:38.264-04:00

To go along with what I just posted about the afterlife, here are a few more thoughts generated by my viewing of "The Damnation of Faust" this afternoon at the movie theatre. An aside: nothing is more civilized than going to an opera broadcast with friends, a bar of decadent dark chocolate, some prosciutto sandwiches and a thermos of home-made mulled wine, all enjoyed in the obscurity of one's

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-1750471119188673652008-11-22T16:29:00.001-05:002009-04-06T11:11:15.303-04:00

Just got out of the live HD transmission of the Metropolitan Opera's production of Hector Berlioz's "Damnation of Faust." It was staged by the well-known director Robert Lepage, his first work for the Met, and beautifully sung, especially by the baritone singing Mephistopheles, John Relyea. Lepage filled this episodic opera with fabulous visual tricks illustrating the hallucinatory imagery in

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-8212750997316961522008-11-21T17:00:00.001-05:002009-04-06T11:10:31.417-04:00

Just a little food for thought. Here's a little excerpt from the book "When, Why...If," by Robin Wood, which I mentioned in my previous post. It's drawn from the chapter titled "Harm," and explains some things about the paramount rule of Wicca, the Wiccan Rede: "An it harm none, do as ye will.""Eight words the Wiccan rede fulfill,An it harm none, do as ye will." (Traditional)"An it harm none. [As

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-19406167571955508262008-11-20T13:34:00.002-05:002009-04-06T11:09:28.062-04:00

Last night a friend of mine and I went to see the Metropolitan Opera's HD transmission of the new opera by John Adams, "Doctor Atomic." The opera centers on the director of the atomic bomb project, Robert Oppenheimer, during the last days leading up to the first test of the atomic bomb in July, 1945 in Los Alamos, New Mexico. It's a compelling work, even though music that modern doesn't

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-70514635242544727162008-11-18T15:55:00.001-05:002009-04-06T11:08:31.519-04:00

Will he or won't he? Will she or won't she? All sorts of speculation about whether or not Barack Obama will choose Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State. When my cleaning team was here yesterday -- yeah, we've budgeted a cleaning service every two weeks ever since we got hitched, we both hate housework -- one of the ladies complained that it seemed Obama was surrounding himself with people

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-35747086659610386372008-11-17T19:41:00.002-05:002009-04-06T11:08:05.385-04:00

This is just a brief post, I'm pressed for time today, but I had to talk about what is on my mind again and again as I contemplate the 2008 elections. I'm really angry that my great joy in the election of Barack Obama, a win I feared would be negated by the same sort of dirty tricks that so terribly marred the 2000 and 2004 elections, was robbed from me within hours by the sorrow I feel over the

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-13191925746371796222008-11-15T16:32:00.002-05:002009-04-06T11:07:25.160-04:00

Here's how I became a Pagan, if that's the correct way to put it. I prefer to think that I found my way back to my original, gut belief system. Anyway, it took a long detour through "official" spirituality and layers of cultural training to get there.During my childhood, my parents and I attended three different Protestant churches. We left the first when I was a toddler, after its hierarchy

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281803645951313883.post-6728802883644453462008-11-15T16:07:00.001-05:002009-04-06T11:06:45.670-04:00

November 15, 2008Welcome to my blog, Pagan Pundit. I intend to let loose, intermittently, on current events, pet peeves, and plenty more from an eclectic pagan perspective. Since I have the equivalent of three full-time jobs to try to keep up with, there may be long intervals between posts.Until less than two weeks ago, what free time I had was dedicated to working to elect Barack Obama president

Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137026159421250557noreply@blogger.com0