Things that make me swoon

I'm many months into this Blogging experiment, and have yet to compile a things-that-make-me-swoon list. I've thorougly enjoyed reading everyone else's, so here goes ...

• A healthy disregard for authority
• Authority
• Bittersweet
• Brandy old-fashioneds, gin and tonics and Haacker-Pschorr (with a lemon)
• Bridges
• Buddy Holly eyeglasses
• Carhartt barn coats (put a big star next to this one)
• Driving at night
• Dry wit and/or sarcasm
• Fiction
• Geekiness
• Hailstorms
• Leaps of faith
• Long hair (in a ponytail, please)
• Macabre television (Buffy, Six Feet Under)
• Martial arts
• Muscles
• Montepulciano D'Abruzzo and white-and-red checked plastic tablecloths
• News junkies
• Paper products
• Poetry
• Social misfits
• Thumb rings
• Unpredictable endings
• Useless trivia

I love the Internet

I love the Internet for many reasons, not least of which is the fact that it helps me speak intelligently to my mechanic.

For example, the driver's side front area of my undercarriage is squeaking on right-hand turns. Pre-Internet, I could have told my mechanic exactly that.

However, a quick search on Google reveals that this could indicate a worn CV joint or wheel bushings. So now, I can tell my mechanic: "I'm wondering if the problem perhaps has to do with the CV joint or some other aspect of the suspension."

Oh yeah, I hit an orange traffic cone three weeks ago. It lodged in my driver's-side wheel well. It was in the middle of the highway, people. Thanks, Mayor Daley.

I did it!

Today was the official new story submission day at www.sugarquill.net.

Please cross your fingers for me, I just submitted my first chapter for review. I should find out shortly after the New Year whether my story is accepted for beta-reading and publication.

I've come to care about this project, and handing it over for acceptance or rejection was very difficult. As the story has grown it has come to have a life of its own. There's a part of my brain that's always thinking about "What happens next … ?"

I know I'm a good writer. I would have never survived journalism school if I weren't. But the anxiety of having someone else evaluate my fiction (something I've never tried before) is terrifying. I know I can give you the facts (ma'am), a quote that sings, and a caption that'll pique your interest.

What I don't know is if I can make a relationship work between two people who are, on the surface, exceptionally poorly suited for each other; mend a broken heart in a man who's lost the love of his life; and find the cure for a highly contagious disease.

Wish me luck.

It's beginning to feel a lot like … Advent.

Sorry to co-opt a religious theme for secular application, but J.K. Rowling announced that she's done writing book six and that her publishers are due to announce (on Winter Solstice, nonetheless) the release date for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince tomorrow.

A whole new season of waiting.

More details at www.the-leaky-cauldron.org.

Neverland

Today was an excellent day. After church and working with Beatrice, my friend from Liberia who I'm helping to learn English, I joined my friends Janelle and Brad to see Finding Neverland starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. (Back to that in a moment.) I also had a nice dinner with them, and went to the annual Global Reflections Christmas concert at my congregation. I also got a big secret off my chest, and was rewarded with laughter.

For the first time since Amelie, I saw a movie with whose protagonist I related. Perhaps it's just the recent creative streak that has kept me from updating this blog as often as What, You Too? might like, but I've come to discover that I need peace and quiet and introspection to be the creative person I'm meant to be. And that I can't be creative in all genres at once. When I write there's no room for screen-printing. And when I screen-print there's no room for painting. And when I paint there's no room for writing.

Back to the movie. There are two scenes in Finding Neverland that completely resonated with me.

In the first, Johnny Depp's character, James, invites his wife to go with him to the park. "Are you going to write?" she asks. He considers his journal. "Yes," he says. And his wife decides to stay home.

In the second scene, James' wife has confiscated his journal, looking for clues of infidelity within. She finds nothing but his creative process. She expresses disappointment that, having married a writer, she is never transported to that realm of ideas where he finds his inspiration; and disillusion upon learning that such a place does not exist.

When we write, we do live in another world. But it's a world flavored by our real-world experiences. And if we don't allow ourselves to have real-world experiences, we can never conceive of places such as Neverland.

And even if our friends and lovers and spouses can't join us for our fictional flights of fancy, we'd like to have them join us for an afternoon in the park.

I want to be an activist

"What's stopping you," you ask. Good question. Sometimes I ask myself the same thing. Here's the answer: I can't.

I'm a professional journalist, as are some of the other readers of this blog. As journalists, being involved in activism casts a shadow over our credibility. Some journalists take it so far as to refuse to vote. (Personally, I think everyone who can vote should.) But I think it's necessary that we stay more-or-less out of the public sphere, otherwise.

I work for a church-related magazine. Unfortunately what I'm angry about this week is a church-related issue.

The United Church of Christ, which has been ordaining gay and lesbian people as ministers for thirty years and which welcomes gay and lesbian members, has put together a powerful TV advertisment called "God is still speaking."

I could describe the ad, but it's more powerful if you watch it yourself.

NBC called the ad "too controversial."

CBS, told the United Church of Christ "because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples ... and the fact that the executive branch has recently proposed a constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the (CBS and UPN) networks."

The proposed (emphasis on proposed) consititutional amendment that CBS cites seeks to define marriage as union between a man and a woman. As far as I know, the amendment is not seeking to outlaw gay and lesbian relationships.

The UCC advertisement makes no political statement about whether the institution of marriage should be extended to include gay and lesbian couples. It simply sends the message that gay and lesbian couples are welcome to worship at United Church of Christ congregations.

What's going on here? The same networks that have dedicated audiences for shows such as "Will & Grace" and "Queer Eye" refuse to air an ad that shows the painful reality that gays and lesbians are often disowned by their religious communities.

My faith compels me to love my neighbor.

If you share my outrage, please share your concern with decision-makers at both networks. People for the American Way has an email campaign to make raising your voice as easy as possible.

Other ways you can take action including affirming that there are churches that welcome and affirm gay and lesbians. You can join or contribute to the Human Rights Campaign.

If you disagree with me, I thank you for respectfully hearing me out.

Sabbatical

Ligature's on a little sabbatical while I launch myself into some other creative pursuits: writing fan fiction (104 pages at Times 10.5 … I really should write something with which I can make money…), screen-printing tee-shirts and doing what I hope will be a very cool collage.

Don't give up on me, please. I'm just conserving my creative energy. I'm still checking in with all y'all's blogs, and hope to be a contributing member of this blogging community again soon.

When (if, cross your fingers please) my fan-fic is accepted here during their next call for authors, I'll be sure to let you know.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with this bit of plum dialogue:

She giggled.

"What is it?" he asked.

"You took off my shoes," she said. She’d just become aware that he was tracing her stocking feet with his own.

"I just violated your mind, but it’s the shoes you mention," he said sarcastically.