I am recovering from a nasty bout of strep throat. We were all infected. I was sick all weekend. I even called out of work Saturday night, which I would never do. Especially after a lousy week and a freaky friday, but I was not in the position to loose eye contact with my bathroom.
Friday night the crazy storm sewept though Rhinebeck with the force of a freight train. In comapraion Kingston looked like a mild rain. The wind blew in great gusts, the rain came in sideways. Then it hailed huge chuncks of ice, and a screen blew out. The lights fickered and the door blew out of the hands of peopple peeking outside the pastry area. Then the lights went out and stayed out. Thank goodnes we only had a handful of tables, because that was it, we were done.
Turns out a huge old oak tree fell on the huge old victorian house -right behind the resturant. Part of the roof was smashed in and a whole wall feel off the front. The van parked in front of the house was on two wheels due to the roots ripped up. It ripped the wires down. The firetrucks came out. They were out all over Rhinebeck, huge branchs down everywhere. When I drove into Kingston, the fire trucks were all calm at the house. It almost felt like a little tornado.
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I love this:
In the Name of God
A crucifix for the right to contraception and sexual education
The copper sculpture depicts a pregnant teenager in natural size crucified on a big cross. It is a harsh comment to the impact of the fundamentalist branch of the Christian church, with President Bush and the Pope in the lead, on contraception and sexual education. Women, including teenagers, bear the brunt of the disastrous consequences of the ban on condoms based on ´Christian´ morality.
The first sculpture will be inaugurated on 1st December 2006, international AIDS day, in front of the Cathedral of Copenhaguen.
I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me. (Matthew 25,40)
What else needs to be said?
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Although I definitely would not want a storm to cause injury or damage, there’s something about wind and rain that and wild weather that I like – maybe because we don’t have any here in No Va. I’m glad you’re OK, hope the damage in your area isn’t severe.
The crucifix will definitely get attention, anytime a religious icon is used in this way it’s bound to. The problem, I think, is that the very people who need to reflect on the message are likely to be repudiated by the image and therefore will focus on that. Almost like a catch-22 – you need a shocking image to get people’s attention, but then they just focus on the image and ignore the message.
I like something I read in the Post this weekend – a group is going around DC to laundromats and other small community businesses and putting out baskets of condoms. No fanfare, no big deal – and reaching people who need them.
Although the original message is that the banning of condoms is wrong, I see more in that icon. I see the treatment of the single mother, as a whole, depicted in that image. She is reviled, repudiated, stereotyped and harvested like a field of wheat as soon as she “ripens.”
There is a world of meaning in that picture from those of us who have hung there with no one to aid us. I know what the original meaning was, but the creators of this sculpture said a whole lot more than they may have been meaning to say.
It is sad that the self-righteous religious will see this and scream “sacrilege.” In that, I fear that third mom could be right..that they would only see the picture and skip the message, as powerful as it is. I still think it is useful and moving.
As far as the weather is concerned, Christmas in Florida is getting old, fast. I am hoping that, by next Christmas, we will be observing the holiday in a place where there actually might be a need to wear a coat.
There is also the possibility that the ‘good churchfolk” will use the image of the crucified pregnant mother to promote adoption. It seems that they have a hard time making the connection between pregnancy and raising one’s child.The religious people I have met, if they are not outright condemning, usually respond to unmarried pregnancy by saying” we must love those girls and help them find homes for their babies. There are so many loving Christian couples”
(((Claud)))
Didn’t you just have strep not too long ago? I hope that you are all feeling better soon!
I need to learn how to put pictures into my post….
wow. powerful image. so much could be applied to it.