Shin-ippets

Just a few thoughts from the mind of Shiny:

*  I’m still trying to determine how and why I’m so delinquent in writing blog entries here — while I can Twitter out entries several times a day.  Have I become one of those post-blogging 140-character ADHD short-attention-span types?  There’s a plugin I have for WordPress which will collect all of my public tweets for a day and consolidate them into a single blog entry. Would that be of any interest to anyone — just short messages about nothing in particular?

I suppose I have higher expectations of what I write on here — because I hardly ever revise what I write on Twitter. And why would I? The messages disappear into oblivion in the Twitterverse soon after they are publshed.  I suppose I should rethink the way I regard my words on here as well…

* Speaking of blog entries — the lovely and talented Miss Britt posted an interesting proposition on her blog: she offered to guest post on any topic of a blogger’s choosing.  I quickly jumped at the opportunity and asked her to write about her impressions of Judaism. I did this for two reasons primarily: (a) I wanted to see what she thought of Judaism from her own vantage point, having grown up in an area of the country where Jews are not nearly as prevalent as they are in my part of the world; and (b) I wasn’t quick enough to think of asking her to post risque shots of her in a lime green striped bikini lying poolside with a tube of sunscreen in one hand and a carrot peeler in the other. I suppose I’ll have to wait for the next time around that she does something like this to fulfil that wish…

But hey — Jewish stuff! That has to be interesting on some level, right?  I’m looking forward to seeing what she has to say…

* I suppose it would be prudent to take a sentence of this blog mentioning last week’s presidential election.

* I am, however, going to take more than a sentence to talk about California’s Prop 8 and the other ballot initiatives around the country which reared their heads during this election cycle.  I suppose I’m a bit jaded about this — as my state already passed a “definition of marriage” amendment two years ago which limits a marriage as between one man and one woman.  Although I voted against it, I wasn’t surprised that it passed by a 15 point margin. After all, I live in what has been considered a “red state.”

What I also remember about the election was driving around the rural county roads near my workplace, seeing local churches of all sizes with huge banners encouraging people to vote “Yes on 1.” It perplexed me: My synagogue was always extremely careful not to endorse a specific candidate or position lest its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status be jeopardized.  It was no secret that our rabbi has been very active with left-leaning political issues and has served as a vice-chair of the Interfaith Alliance, a multi-denominational group whose purpose is to counter the religious right and show that clergy can represent the entire religious specturm. Oh — and he was vice-president of a group called “Rabbis for Obama.”  But he made it abundantly clear that the synagogue was non-partisan. The synagogue is even a polling place and is held to much higher standards!

But these churches were proudly endorsing this one specific issue.  There were no sanctions, of course — who was going to prosecute a church in rural Virginia?  I was jaded, but I really should have been more outraged. Perhaps I wasn’t because I had such low expectations.

I had much higher expectations of California, however.  And if it’s taught me anything, it has proven to me that there I shouldn’t have been as jaded about my home state.  I hope the religious groups which have been funding initiatives to pass Prop 8 lose their tax-exempt status.  I have nothing against the freedom of expression our constitution guarrantees. But if you’re simply funneling tax-exempt money towards a political cause through a church? As far as I’m concerned it’s simply a type of laundering.

Wow – that sure was a lot to get off my chest… 🙂

* I stumbled upon the BBC show Gavin and Stacey for the first time on Sunday.  I was folding a lot of laundry, and I decided to watch it On-Demand on my digital cable. What a great show!  The only option I had was to watch from the beginning of the second series, but I was able to catch on quite easily.  It’s quirky — reminds me a bit of Arrested Development. I especially like the character of Bryn, Stacey’s unmarried uncle who rambles on at length about things only a middle aged uncle can.  He reminds me a hell of a lot of my Dad in some ways, in fact… 🙂

* Finally, a belated happy birthday to a good friend of mine whom I met in my former blogging community, Mindsay. Dessie has really been a good friend to me through thick and thin.  We’ve talked about everything and anything. And we were fortunate enough to meet up and have a great family dinner several years back together — she, her husband and daughter and the three of us as well!

Anyway — Happy Birthday Dessie!  In true Dessie spirit, I’m including pictures. This is one of us when we were young, silly and a tad drunk:

Ah, to be young again! Well, she still is. Me? Not so much.

Dessie’s daughter, by the way, is this adorable, smart, witty kid who is just a joy to be around. Here’s a picture of the two of us when she was just a baby:

I’ve offered to babysit many times since then, but they’ve decided that they wouldn’t want me to be inconvenienced. I keep telling them that it’s perfectly alright, but I suppose they simply don’t want to take advantage of me. That’s the kind of wonderful friend Dessie is — she and I just have that mutual bond of respect.

Anyway — Happy Birthday, Dessie!

And that’s it for now.  Look for Miss Britt’s post shortly…