This Is Who I Am*

read this

2008-11-11T06:56:07Z

http://www.musingson.com/ccCase.html

This is an article written by a conservative Christian woman in 2000, directed at other conservative Christians, making the case for civil same-sex marriage. It's very interesting...I don't agree exactly with every single thing she says, but the gist that supporting civil rights is the Christian thing to do I definitely agree with. I think her argument is lacking a dimension of tolerance/empathy for its own sake, but nonetheless she makes some very good points. Definitely worth a read.

they won!

2008-10-10T21:56:22Z

Congratulations, Doc A.!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/11/nyregion/11marriage.html?hp

boo on nature in my house

2008-10-01T00:58:16Z

Right now in my kitchen there are two spiders in a web fighting over a half-dead silverfish, and naturally, Kevin's not home to take care of it yet. It's disgusting. Where do they think they are, the Discovery Channel?

jealous.

2008-03-03T05:57:48Z

Is it too late to move to Brattleboro?

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_david_sw_080302_will_police_from_bra.htm

wtf

2007-11-06T18:13:21Z

So, I was doing some reading for one of my classes, and the chapter was about those leveled books teachers use in early elementary classes. At the end of the description of all the levels, there was a little blurb about how the levels aren't exact and are always being revised based on teacher feedback. Then it goes on to encourage you, the teacher, to use the form in Appendix K to send them (the publishers of this textbook and designers of the particular leveling system in question) said feedback. And then: "In appreciation, we will add you to our mailing list to receive further information about books" etc etc etc.

Am I the only one who thinks that plugs for your company's MAILING LIST do not belong in a TEXTBOOK?!?

YAYAYAYAYAYAY!

2007-10-22T04:30:03Z

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

WORLD SERIES, HERE WE COME!

seriously?!?

2007-10-21T18:40:45Z

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/21/at_texas_theological_school_the_role_of_the_godly_woman_101/

I find this offensive. As a woman and as a Christian.

things that never get old

2007-10-11T23:38:40Z

so, every semester I spend a few hours a week in a classroom.
One of my favorite things is the amazed look the kids get when you call them by name without being introduced...it never occurs to them that you might *read* the name they wrote on the top of their paper. I love it.

And yes, I should be writing a paper. Two of them, in fact.

cue excitedness!

2007-10-01T22:53:18Z

if there's anyone here I haven't told or who's not on facebook......

Kevin and I are going to get married!! :D

also: does anyone know how to get in touch with Gina? I want to call and tell her we're engaged, since she's the one who set us up, but the number I have for her isn't hers anymore.

ahahahaha

2007-09-28T18:09:02Z

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/28/washington/28bush.html

Priceless.

Is it November 08 yet?

the Church

2007-07-08T01:18:37Z

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/world/08POPE.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

The Pope issued a document today lifting restrictions on the use of the Latin Mass, restrictions issued by Vatican II.

From today's Gospel reading:
"People do not put new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined.
Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved." (Mat 9:17)

Ironic, isn't it?

funny stuff!

2007-06-09T20:17:59Z

boooooo

2007-05-30T15:30:59Z

I don't know which is farther from Boston--Green Bay or DC. But they both suck!!! At least Mike was going to come back from Green Bay :*(.

the news....

2007-05-30T14:14:54Z

So, apparently, there is a halfway house around the corner from my apartment. How do I know this? The bajillion TV news trucks lining the street to make their reports on the former mayor of Providence, who's moving in there today. So much for people's privacy.

Reporters are really annoying.

i <3 little kids

2007-05-07T21:28:39Z

so, Mass yesterday was the cutest thing ever!

It was the last 6pm for the semester at St. Cecelia's, and the religious education families had had their end of the year dinner beforehand, and all came to the Mass. The kids had been raising money for the Heifer Project, and when they all processed up to the alter to bring up their little boxes of coins they were wearing pig and chicken noses. Even more adorable: at the end of Mass Fr. John said that he'd had a conversation with a little boy at communion who was very upset because he had a pig nose and wanted a chicken nose. Fr. John asked if somebody could find the boy after Mass and trade. Another little boy jumped up and said he'd do it, and went right there to trade w/the other boy (they were both about six). Sooooo cute!

MLB and Comcast suck.

2007-04-24T01:43:58Z

I live in Boston.

I get Boston network TV and Boston basic cable.

So why the hell don't I get Red Sox games???

for Danie and Jetta

2007-04-19T04:00:46Z

http://www.mooarcade.com/games/play-5261-Wargames_1983.html

April is the perfect time of year for the Big Red Button!

about yesterday's post...

2007-04-01T17:32:35Z

case in point: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/education/01girls.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

nicca2007 @ 2007-03-31T19:42:00

2007-04-01T00:42:43Z

So, I just got home from my first all-women retreat. Awesome good stuff. The theme was "Women of Worth"...all about recognizing our dignity as women through God rather than relying on the often contradictory and/or degrading definitions of womanhood society gives us. I really ought to read Captivating...a lot of quotes on the retreat came from that book. (And yes, I know, it's been recommended to me before now)

I think in our generation, it's become almost anathema to acknowledge that women still have not achieved full dignity in our society. Male domination is still present, but in different forms. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to villify men. It's just as harmful to men as it is to women...we live in a society that is often degrading to everyone. The relationship between men and women should be mutual respect and partnership (and I'm talking a whole-society thing, all kinds of relationships, not romantic relationships). The way society is (and has been pretty much forever), women and men are objectified. Feminism is often equated with man-hating. We talked in my small group about that--a few of us had been in situations where a large group is asked if they are feminists. Each time few or no people had raised their hands, even though they would say that they disagreed with salary differences, discrimination, etc. Being a feminist has become associated with degrading men. It shouldn't be that way. We can and should uphold the dignity of women and men equally. It is degrading to women to degrade or dominate men, and vice verca.

One of the women in my group talked about abortion in that context, and I really liked what she had to say. She said that the problem with abortion isn't about the rights of the fetus, but about the dignity of women. Outlawing abortion wouldn't fix anything, because it's a symptom of a bigger societal problem. Our society is set up in such a way that women do not have the financial, emotional, material, medical, or any other kind of support to raise children. The stigma is the problem. Beyond that, there is the sexual pressure on women (and men) that is a precursor to unintended pregnancies. Women are valued as sexual beings, but not as mothers. If there was much more support for parents (and not just in crisis pregnancies, but a society that actually acts on the "it takes a village" adage), there wouldn't such a demand for abortions. There is also I think a kind of stigma on fatherhood. Men are not allowed to be nurturing, especially young men. How can we as a society expect men to behave with dignity and respect when we devalue them as fathers? How can we expect them to be responsible for their actions if we say that a pregnancy--the result of two people--is only the jurisdiction of women? It's no wonder we have so many deadbeat dads. Men need to be accountable, and the only way that will happen is if their responsibility is valued. What is left for men when society sends the message that responsibility is not valued, that nurturing is not valued, that treating women with dignity is not valued? Dignity is a two-way street. Dignity has to be reciprocal.

All in all it was a very good day. :)

snow day

2007-02-14T12:41:24Z

We've had no snow all winter, and therefore no snow days.
There's at least 2 inches on the ground and it's still coming down.
Everything is closed......everything but the schools that affect me.

I'm skipping class in protest.

nicca2007 @ 2007-01-28T21:28:00

2007-01-29T02:32:17Z

Jonathan Swift started the dead baby jokes!

and we're back to the soapboxing!

2006-12-17T03:32:55Z

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/magazine/17charity.t.html?pagewanted=1

Article about philanthropy, the superrich, and how by the numbers there is *no ****ing reason* anyone should be living in poverty. it's long, but very interesting, and makes me have a lot more respect for Bill Gates. He may have created a shitty product, but at least he's using his shitty product to keep kids from getting malaria and stuff. Of course, the article does nothing to address the concept of fair trade....so many of these super rich people giving large proportions of their money to charity *got* that money in businesses that exploit the cheap labor of the poor. Rather than focus solely on charity, we need to start paying people decent wages. And that doesn't require increasing consumer prices in America, which the market can't really handle (making the poorer people here even poorer is not a good solution to poverty elsewhere). What it requires is putting less money in the pockets of the superrich to begin with. If someone is rich enough to give away 35% of what they have and still be the richest person in the world, we're paying them too much. How about a business model built on equity?
That being said, this kind of thing really makes me consider how much I give...I often wonder what it would be just for me to be giving away. On the one hand, I have a comfortable life. On the other hand, I don't have a reliable source of income. How do I balance insuring I'll be able to pay my bills in the summer with not being a selfish schmuck? Especially living in Boston, seeing homeless people a lot. Is it just for me to retain some luxuries if those luxuries prevent me from giving to people who really need it? What constitutes a luxury? Does buying more expensive things from independant/fair trade merchants who I know don't exploit poor workers, or are less likely to, count as luxury or charity? Idk. I have more thoughts but no more time to type.

what? an uncontroversial update? surely you jest!

2006-12-11T16:58:49Z

so, i figure every once in a while i should post something that's not just me being a flaming theology nerd. since it's almost the end of the semester and all. which is crazy...this semester has *flown*. I seriously feel like it just started. I'm looking forward to the break from work (Emmanuel is so much more work than Southern. In a good way, but still.) but I'm also sad to see it end. Partly because I've been enjoying it so much, partly because I know next semester will be even busier (I'm adding a few hours a week of pre-prac and possibly another day of babysitting. I know, I'm crazy.). I'm looking forward to seeing people over Christmas, tho...I know I suck big time at that whole keeping in touch business, doubly so when I'm living near Kev.

The past couple weeks have been nuts. I don't think I've even called my parents for any reason other than panic or money since Thanksgiving. The panic being last Thursday...my big massive mega-important portfolio was due. I was really proud of myself, I'd managed to get it done in a reasonable amount of time. And then in the morning before class I went to print. And I'm an idiot and hadn't backed up my flash drive properly, so when my roomie's broken computer decided to corrupt all the files on it, I lost the whole thing. Luckily my prof was really nice and let me switch my presentation to Tuesday. I've spent most of the weekend re-doing stuff...I ended up with more to do the second time cuz some of the assignments from the semester that I'd just needed to edit I had to now type in from hard copies.
I also managed to get a sinus infection this weekend and lose my voice, which made the weekend even more fun. My voice is back now, but I still don't know if it will hold out for my chorus concert this evening, or if I'd be able to sing for an hour and a half without coughing/needing a tissue/etc.
I did still manage to have some fun despite the chaos. On Friday Kev and I went to target and found 6-ft Christmas trees (the fake kind) for $18, so we each bought one. We decorated his on Friday night, and mine on Saturday before my party. I had a few people over and we watch Muppet Christmas movies and made a gingerbread house and paper snowflakes, general little kid Christmas fun :) Our gingerbread house is a little ghetto, but Mike's running commentary likening it to every sketchy neighborhood in Boston made it worth it. (side note: calling him just Mike sounds so weird. I don't like putting full names on lj, but everybody usually calls him by his full name w/"from Fischer College" added on, cuz he's from Fischer College and that's wierd. Or we just call him Cow Tippa, cuz he's from Wisconsin. Yeah, I <3 Newman club.) We ended up hanging around goofing off til about 1, waaaay later than I'd originally intended, but it's all good. I'd planned on the party starting a lot earlier too...JP was the first one there and he was 2 hours late :P. Mary and Meghan came an hour and a half later when Mary got out of work, Kristin and Samir came a bit after that when Meghan called them, and our darling Mike showed up about the same time as when I'd originally planned on kicking people out. The sinus infection came in handy then, since I can't exactly teach Sunday school with no voice, so I could legitimately call in sick instead of getting no sleep. It was wicked late but sooo much fun...my Newman friends up here are *hysterical*. I'm really glad I've become friends w/them...I get a little disappointed in myself sometimes that I haven't made more of an effort to meet people at Emmanuel, but I've made some really good friends at Northeastern so it's ok.

mkay, done rambling now.

i'm just a font of ethical connundrums this week, aren't I?

2006-12-05T20:24:47Z

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/05/health/05essa.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

quiz and stuff

2006-12-05T15:35:19Z

quiz yoinked from Kristina/Becca. I'd cut it but I only know how to do that in rich text mode, which isn't available on Macs. Sorry.

How Much have YOU changed in 2 years?

How old were you?
Then: 19
Now: 21

Where did you live?
Then: New Haven/Stratford
Now: Boston

Where did you hang out?
Then: my dorm, Dadd's (the arcade), my house, St. James, Kristina's car
Now: my apartment, Kevin's apartment, the Catholic Center

Who was your regular-person crush?
Then: Kevin <3
Now: Kevin <3

How many tattoos did you have?
Then: None
Now: none

How many piercings did you have?
Then: just one in my ears
Now: just one in my ears

What car did you drive?
Then: I didn't have a license yet
Now: white 97 Chevy Cavalier, when I'm in Stratford; I take the T in boston

What was your worst fear?
Then: Having another semester like Holy Cross; losing Kev
Now: losing Kev

Had you smoked a cigarette?
Then: eeeeew no.
Now: eeeeew no.

You been arrested?
Then: No
Now: No

Had your heart broken?
Then: no
Now: no

Single/Taken/Married/Divorced/Bitter?
Then: Taken <3
Now: Still taken! <3

And for more theology musings, see my comment replies on the last entry, cuz I feel the need to share (as always ;P) but I'm not typing it all again.