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In the Beginning by Natalie Weaver

/ Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

I am not a very religious person. It never occurred that anyone would be compelled to write his or her own creation myth. Therefore, this intrigues me greatly and I am seriously considering trying to do this myself. However, it will be difficult for me to do this without seriously considering all the science I know which is counter to the word “myth”. Would like to hear what others think about creation myths.

Natalie Kertes Weaver's avatarFeminism and Religion

Natalie Weaver editedDear Friends,

Every year on New Year’s Eve, I read creation stories to my family.  We light candles, sit in a circle, eat, drink, and read.  This little ritual began as my protest to the vulgar commercialization of the New Year and the ponderous weight of trying to be/do/achieve something new every twelve months.  Last year, I discovered, however that I felt like the ancient creation myths and the new ways of bringing in the new year messaged similar things.  I wrote about it in my blog post from January 2015, committing to write my own creation myth to read this year.  I like where it is going… even this little exercise is causing me to think differently about sacred literature.  I am becoming Inspired, I gasp to myself, to write my own Scripture, my own sacred truth.  Here’s what I’ve got so far.  I hope you enjoy it.  Happy New Year!

Sirius in the Sky1

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Costa Rican Adventure-Day One

/ Juliana Lightle / 1 Comment

Instead of staying in the US for Christmas, my daughter, grandson, and I went to Costa Rica on a National Geographic Family Adventure for seven days and then rented a car and explored on our own for three additional days.  We arrived in San Jose a little after three in the afternoon, met the other tour members and our two guides, Jose and Josie, and headed for our first hotel, the Intercontinental.

Because the capital, San Jose, is at an altitude between 6 and 7 thousand feet, it is cool.  On the day of our arrival it was also very windy which made the air seem quite chilly.  Altitude and whether you are on the Pacific or Caribbean side are everything in Costa Rica.  High elevations are quite cool, lower elevations tropical and hot.  The Pacific side is drier, especially in the north.  The Caribbean is always wet and rainy especially in the north so the two sides are just the opposite weather wise.  Down the middle runs the cordillera, the mountains, which determine many aspects of the weather.

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On the road to San Jose from the airport.  I know it says San Jose when you make reservations but the airport is not actually in San Jose or even in the same province.

The last time I was in Costa Rica it was summer here and the rainy season there–winter.  In much of the country even though it supposedly was the dry season, it did not seem very dry.  Look at those clouds.

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At the Intercontinental, a large, rather elegant hotel with multiple restaurants and shops, my grandson wanted to buy a plushy sloth in one of the shops.  We convinced him to wait.  The next day we found it nearly 50% less in a shop at El Mercado.

The food we had at the hotel, however, was excellent, the ceviche especially tasty.

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I was quite entranced by this bench, carved out of old wood.  It is illegal in Costa Rica to harvest certain woods considered rare and/or endangered.  This includes rosewood and mahogany.  If you find pieces made from these rarer woods, it is old wood from dead trees or at least that is what it is supposed to be.  You can find beautifully made wood furniture in various parts of the country.

We spent only one night and the next morning through lunch in San Jose.

 

 

 

 

Ethiopian Wolves

/ Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

When I went to Ethiopia a year and a half ago, I missed seeing these incredibly endangered animals.  Less than 500 remain in and around Bale Mountains National Park.  Unlike other wolves, they do not hunt in packs, perhaps because they do not bring down big game, but rather eat the large, big-headed mole rat.  The wolves use their extremely long noses to get the rats out of their burrows.  Another hunting tactic includes hiding among the herds of gelada baboons, the only remaining grass eating primate in the world.  These baboons, like the wolves, live only in Ethiopia.  The wolves and the baboons live peacefully together while the wolves hide among the grazing baboons, sneaking upon the unsuspecting rats darting from burrow to burrow.  Although the baby gelada are not much bigger than the rats, the wolves refrain from eating them.  Like the situation with many other wild animals, human activity ruins their habitat through subsistence farming and cattle grazing.  Rabies, caught from domestic dogs, further decimates the population.  For more information on these rare wolves and conservation efforts, go to:

http://www.ethiopianwolf.org

 

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gelada baboons–I took this photo summer of 2014

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Image from ethiopianwolf.org.

Painting Marys, Welcoming Refugees by Angela Yarber

/ Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

Last week I read the article in “National Geographic” about Mary, this shows up today in my email, saw “Amahl and the Night Visitors” a week ago, and Christmas comes soon. The Mary article was inspiring because it shows several places in the world where Christians and Muslims pray together to honor Mary. We need so much peace and goodwill now!!!

Angela Yarber's avatarFeminism and Religion

angelaThis holiday season, in the midst of our ever-repeating mass shootings and debates about the welcoming of Syrian refugees, I have seen a meme, a pithy quote, a bumper sticker time and time again amidst my fellow liberals:

“If only we had a seasonally appropriate story about Middle Eastern people seeking refuge being turned away by the heartless.”

Similarly, many have posted pictures of nativity scenes with a tongue-in-cheek quip, “I’m so glad people are placing these lawn ornaments in their yards to indicate that they welcome refugees into their homes.”

Myriad articles have been published encouraging Christians to remember our calling to welcome the refugee, and as an ordained clergywoman, I affirm these thoughts. I believe it is our responsibility, as Christians and particularly as feminist Christians, to welcome the marginalized, the oppressed, the refugee. I am also a strong believer in the separation of church and state, a…

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My 27-Book Haul from @AkeFestival #AkeFest15

/ Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

This perfectly fits my goal to expand awareness of literature from non-western cultures. Reading remains one of the best ways to expand intercultural awareness especially if you cannot travel there.

Kinna's avatarKinna Reads

I didn’t do badly this first time at Aké; I come home with 27 books!

Books I Bought:

Ake Books I bought

  • The Birth of Illus by Jumoke Verissimo. This is Jumoke’s second collection of poetry. I’m a fan of her work.
  • Bound to Secrecy by Vamba Sherif. A detective novel set in Liberia. A new-to-me writer.
  • Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor. The first of Okorafor’s books that I own. It’s been a long time coming.
  • Minaret by Leila Aboulela. She has a new book, The Kindness of Enemies, out. I’m trying to catch up.
  • Blackass by A. Igoni Barrett. I”m behind on my reviews but I loved Igoni’s Love is Power or Something Like That.  This is his newest book.
  • A Killing in the Sun by Dilman Dila.  Speculative fiction.  I first came across his work in Jalada’s Afrofutures issue.

(In a special category) The Etisalat Prize Longlisted Books

Etisalat Prize-longlisted books

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Relaxing Into an All-Encompassing World by Oxana Poberejnaia

/ Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

I found the part about the history and current culture of the women of Ukraine and big surprise. Who knew.

Oxana Poberejnaia's avatarFeminism and Religion

oxanaI believe that as feminists what we are striving towards is not just equality between women and men, although this aspect is crucial. Feminism has contributed to developing of such disciplines and practices as deconstruction, environmentalism, LGBT rights, and animal rights.

Feminism walks in step with all the movements for more justice and freedom in the same way as patriarchy goes along with capitalism, exploitation and environmental degradation.

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The Mother of Socrates: Priestess, Pharmacist, Obstetrician by Stuart Dean

/ Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

I never knew anything about Socrates’ mother before, never even heard of her. Fascinating.

Stuart Dean's avatarFeminism and Religion

ParthenonBecause the dates for the life of Socrates are certain, it is safe to conclude his mother, Phaenarete, was born about 500 BCE.  She seems to have lived well past menopause and thus was certainly alive to see the start of construction of the Parthenon (447 BCE) and probably its completion (432 BCE).  As was traditional for many Greek mothers, after menopause she became a priestess, pharmacist and obstetrician.

The relevance of the chronology for Phaenarete requires some context to appreciate.  Writing had yet to be widely adopted during her life (the alphabet was not standardized until about 400 BCE).  Literary evidence in particular for the practice of medicine before and during her life is scarce. Although Hippocrates was a contemporary of her son, nothing survives of medical writings from antiquity that can confidently be attributed to him.  Parmenides and Empedocles (contemporaries of Phaenarete) appear to have been medical practitioners…

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