A Different Street

Savage Chickens.

I’m coming to think that the reason that the Jeremiah Wright issue has legs is not only, as I wrote earlier, that it keeps being resuscitated by both the left and the right. It’s also because, as Dave Neiwert writes, it raises deeply uncomfortable issues of self-knowledge among Americans that some would prefer not to hear:

But it’s also apparent that the larger context in which Wright condemns American behavior — the reason he shouts “God damn America” — in fact reflects hard historical realities that Americans, and the American media especially, really don’t want to talk about, let alone confront the present-day consequences thereof.

And doing so, evidently, is now proof of being “anti-American.”

Whatever the effect on the Obama campaign, regardless of the amount of self-serving Wright is doing, and however difficult it is to hear the questions Wright raises, they lead to a discussion that we must have.

NB: Rogue Columnist says what I tried to say except better.

Sarah Bickle, guest-blogging on Real Live Preacher, treats some difficult questions about the character and nature of God and the meaning of suffering, from an unfortunately front-row-center seat.

So this is my theory: Death is a mystery. Even for those who believe we’ll meet again in the sky, suffering and death are scary and sad. A thousand years may be a day for God; but for you and me, the space between the difficult now and the glorious hereafter is an awfully long time.

Interestingly, my bravest friends, be they Christian pastors or confirmed heathens, have tended to explain the least. Instead, they have quietly anointed us with their kindnesses. They have prepared meals for us in the presence of our bitter enemy. They are holding our hands as we walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

A friend recently introduced me to Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, who are my new enthusiasm. “Ragged Company,” in particular, is a song that I haven’t been able to get out of my head. Listen if you can, it’s fantastic. (I can’t post a direct link, but the Media button on the home page pops up a new window, and “Ragged Company” is the seventh song in the list.)

O Lord, I think I’m falling to my disbelief
I’m cursing like a sailor and lying like a thief
It’s hard to heed the calling from the better side of me
When I’m blaming everybody else and no one’s coming clean

O Lord, can You see my thick skin wearing thin ?
And the demons of a lesser me are beckoning me in
Those who gathered ’round me I’m watching them all leave
‘Cause I am my own ragged company

So you can take a trip to China or take a boat to Spain
Take a blue canoe around the world and never come back again
But traveling don’t change a thing, it only makes it worse
Unless the trip you take is in to change your cruel course

‘Cause every town’s got a mirror
And every mirror still shows me
That I am my own ragged company
I am my own ragged company

Won’t You help me, Lord?
Won’t You help me, Lord?
Someone cut the cord
And I’m falling down again

Oh, it’s lonely, Lord, it’s mighty cold
And I don’t wanna live this way
Afraid of growing old

It’s hard to heed the warning when you cannot see the crime
The only way to remember is to forget in a rhyme
And I’m scared to tread the red road that leads to Galilee
‘Cause I am my own ragged company
I am my own ragged company
I am my own ragged company
I am my own ragged company
©
5 CENT CHECKS©
ILLUSION TOURNET MUSIC©
SHAKEY UNDERWOOD MUSIC© HOBBITVILLE MUSIC

Lyrics provided by Gracenote

Caroline Heldman, Ph.D., assistant professor of politics at Occidental College, writes in Ms. Magazine that media consumption, especially of fashion magazines, is bad for women’s mental health:

My research with college age women indicates that the less women consume media, the less they self-objectify, particularly if they avoid fashion magazines. By shutting out media, girls and women can create mental and emotional space for true self-exploration.

Parents of daughters, are you listening?

Why the Jeremiah Wright issue has legs: thanks to both the left and the right wing.

I’ve listened to prophetic preachers before and they usually challenged me and made me uncomfortable. That’s their JOB! But as Tristero says:

Of course, there is much I don’t like about Wright – you can start with his defense of Farrakhan and go from there – but that is hardly the point. He was made into a campaign issue – and thereby given a national voice – by Republicans and a media who deliberately distorted his words. These are the very same people who had no trouble excusing Huckabee’s enthusiastic effort to release a serial rapist and his anti-science initiatives as governor. And who, right now, are burying McCain’s actively sought support of a Catholic-hating pastor. Some of Wright’s ideas are rotten, but hardly more so than those preached at Bob Jones. What’s different is the way those ideas are portrayed and that portrayal – which seeks to link Wright to Obama – stinks of bigotry. This is an unavoidable issue and shame on those who think it shouldn’t be raised in this context or can be finessed in general. It will be raised again and again and Obama will lose ground until liberals fight back tooth and nail rather than try to distance themselves.

EDITED to add: Must read: Pastor Dan’s righteous takedown of Steve Soto’s left-wing criticism of Wright.

FURTHER EDITED to add: Chuck Currie has second thoughts:

My natural instinct is to want to support Rev. Wright, with whom I share a denomination. He has built a great church in Chicago that continues to do good work. But this week Rev. Wright made the issue not the gospel or the church but himself and we don’t have room in this election for that. There is a war to end, a broken health care system to fix, a climate change crisis to address, and a world to reconcile.

ONE LAST EDIT TO ADD: In her usual succinct way, PeaceBang nails it:

We have played Inclusive Nice Guy for so long that when one of us dares to speak in tongues of fire in the true liberal prophetic way, we can neither protect or defend him. [...] The teaching moment is over, and it’s politics as usual.

Now and Not Yet explains exactly why PostSecret is so compelling, and takes the lesson:

Visiting the site reminds me that I am surrounded by people who desperately want to be known, but instead choose to hide. It reminds me that very few people find the acceptance they crave. It also inspires me to do everything I can to create environments where people can tell the truth about themselves.

Apparently some upstanding Wyoming resident celebrated the removal of the wolf from the endangered species list by shooting a disabled one and two pack mates in an elk preserve near Yellowstone.

Via Werewolf Prophet on Street Prophets, who suggests:

Write. Email. Make phone calls.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: 1-800-344-WILD

http://www.fws.gov/duspit/contactus.htm

Did you know that they could be broadcasting your browsing history, recent orders, and wishlist contents to the world? Check out the My Profile page and edit those settings!

Michael Chabon. I loved Kavalier and Clay, I loved Yiddish Policemen’s Union (being released in paperback on Tuesday!), and I am absolutely knocked out by Gentlemen of the Road.  It’s just beautifully written, succinct, elegant, witty, and a great story.  I also adored the Tristram Shandy-style chapter titles, viz.:

Chapter Nine
On Anxieties Arising from the Impermissibility, However Unreasonable, of an Elephant’s Rounding Out a Prayer Quorum

Tell me that you can read that without wanting to read the chapter! The book is also a lovely object: the paper is handsome, and the page headers and page numbers are printed in a lovely rubric red.

For more Michael Chabon, you might enjoy his piece from the New Yorker: Secret Skin: An essay in unitard theory, whether or not you’ve heretofore concerned yourself with superhero costumes.