When I was a child in the 1950s we often played cowboys and Indians. There is a photograph of my brother and me in no doubt inauthentic costume complete with feathered headdress. In kindergarten I named myself Morning Star. (I… Read More ›
Activism
Flicker’s New Year Gift – Part 2 of 2 by Sara Wright
[Continued from yesterday…] All sentient creatures are negatively affected by the deaths of one species. And still people refuse to see. As I wrote about the loss of trees and woodpeckers old tree memories surfaced without warning. Resolutely, I faced… Read More ›
Let’s Try Creativity This Year by Barbara Ardinger
As usual, I’m writing my post a couple weeks before you’ll be able to read it. I bet we’re all wondering in mid-December if 2020 is really gonna happen. Will we still be living in a civilization? Will there still… Read More ›
Charity Is Not Enough by Susan de Gaia
Gift giving is an important focus this time of year, along with reflection, reconciliation, and renewal. This spirit of charity is needed now more than ever. And yet, charity is not enough. Thousands of women, maybe even millions, re-experienced the… Read More ›
Love Actually Is All Around by Karen Leslie Hernandez
For over a year and a half, I’ve worked at an organization in San Francisco called, St. Anthony’s. At first, I was a full time employee and now, part-time. A well-known entity in the City, St Anthony’s is most recognized… Read More ›
Poem: Make America Kind Again by Marie Cartier
Make America Kind Again was my favorite poster slogan of every Women’s March. We’ve had three and will have a fourth soon, January 18. I’ll be there and hope I see this sign again. It’s a sign that maybe it… Read More ›
The Holy of Holies and the Umbilical Cord: The Evolution of a Ritual Object by Jill Hammer
In the Jewish calendar, we’re just past the holiday season—the High Holidays, the harvest festival of Sukkot, and the concluding festival of Simchat Torah when the last verses of the Torah are read and the first verses are started again…. Read More ›
The Pomegranate by Sara Wright
It is mid November and shiny crimson Pomegranates catch the discerning eye in food markets; even Walmart carries them! Why do these beautiful and very ancient fruits appear during this dark time of the year? One answer to this question… Read More ›
Susan B. Anthony’s Bargain with the Devil by Carol P. Christ
[T]he most grievous wrong ever inflicted on woman has been in the Christian teaching that she was not created equal to man, and the consequent denial of her rightful place in Church and State. –Matilda Joslyn Gage, Woman, Church,… Read More ›
Poem: She Works Hard for the Money and a Working Class Dream by Marie Cartier
My neighbor gets up at 2 a.m. and is at work by 3:30 a.m. Six days a week. She works hard for the money* She works at a grocery store. She has two dogs and I have two dogs. Our… Read More ›
ERA—Equal Rights for Women—in the US: Has Our Time Finally Come? by Carol P. Christ
On August 26, 1970, I borrowed an old VW bug from my mentor and summer employer Michael Novak to drive from Oyster Bay, Long Island to New York City to take part in the Women’s Strike for Equality march down… Read More ›
Reimagining the Classroom: Embodied Ecofeminism and the Arts Course on Hawai’i Island by Angela Yarber
“The classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the academy.”-bell hooks Like many academics, my “in the box” dream was to be a professor. The full-time, tenured kind. Like many queer feminist academics, I know that such dreams… Read More ›
Metamorphosis and a Press Conference: A Kafkaesque and Shakespearean Fantasy about an Unreal Individual by Barbara Ardinger
Donald wakes up too early. Feeling confused and disoriented, he looks around the room. His bed has disappeared! He seems to be lying on the floor. Why? he asks himself, how’d I fall off my king-size bed? The floor (uncarpeted??)… Read More ›
From the Biblical ‘Woman on Fire’ to Female Kurdish Fighters: The Women Who Mama Up by Tallessyn Zawn Grenfell-Lee
I was one of millions inspired by Greta Thunberg’s speech to the United Nations. In her usual courageous fashion, she spoke plain truths all adults need to hear about our failure to assure a future for generations of all creatures…. Read More ›
Untapped Communal Potential and Yom Kippur by Ivy Helman
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, was the 9th of October 2019. On this day, Jews typically attend shul, offer various prayers, and participate in some form of fasting. The day is meant to be a reflection on the ways… Read More ›
Ant Hill by Sara Wright
Yesterday I gave a poetry reading at a local library beginning and ending with thoughts about how Climate Change is affecting all living things. I am a naturalist who holds the radical belief that all living things are sentient. I… Read More ›
Call Out Culture vs. Mentor Culture: Which one will save us from the apocalypse? by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
Have you felt the satisfaction of putting someone in their place? Have you ever felt the rush of power that comes with delivering a cutting set-down? Have you ever felt a glow of pride after making fun of a horrible… Read More ›
Climate Change, the Generations and Religion’s Bad Rap by Susan de Gaia
As I reflect on my experience at the climate strike on September 20, 2019, I see a connection between climate change and the bad rap that religion has today. When asked what they think about religion, many are quick to… Read More ›
The Prophetess: Greta Thunberg, Global Warming, and the Legacy of Prophecy in Our Own Day by Jill Hammer
My community and many others have been watching in awe as Greta Thunberg makes waves around the world—her lone climate change protest in Sweden growing in a single year into a climate strike with millions of demonstrators around the world. … Read More ›
A Blinding Light? by Sara Wright
Nature is a Living Being. Animals and plants have souls, and a spirit. Each species is unique, and yet we are all interconnected, human and non – human species alike. This is more than a both and perspective; its multi-dimensional…. Read More ›
A Lover of Bears by Sara Wright
She’s a Lover of Bears. A poet, a dreamer, enamored by beaded eyes black and brown fur, rotund bellies. Heartrending cries. Grunts, moans and huffs – She’s a Lover of Bears. She knows that a Universal Language is spoken by… Read More ›
Rejecting TMT: Protecting and Protesting the Sacred for Mauna Kea and for all by Anjeanette LeBoeuf
Roughly 3 ½ years ago my FAR post was about the struggle that the Hawaiian people were facing with the proposed building of a Thirty Meter Telescope on the most sacred mountain in the Hawaiian Islands, Mauna Kea. When that… Read More ›
#GunControlNow: While We Still Have Now by Marie Cartier
If you are somewhere: a movie theater, festival, mosque, temple or church, bar (especially a gay one although it could be any bar –cheers), concert, elementary to college classroom, or any other public space in America…and someone starts shooting, shooting… Read More ›
“If All Knowledge Must be Reinterpreted, Why Not Religion?” Says Islamic Feminist
Vanessa Rivera de La Fuente is Muslim, feminist, and a human rights activist Photo: Personal archive Background: Journal O ‘Globo, one of the most important newspapers in Brazil, belonging to the transnational media group of the same name, published this… Read More ›
PENTECOST a time to FILL THE WORLD WITH SPIRIT by Mary Jane Miller
Pentecost is followed by Ordinary time, the longest season of the church year. It gives us plenty of time to think about what happened when the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles. I have always loved the idea that this… Read More ›
Gentle Moments in a Violent World by Marcia Mount Shoop
“Be gentle with yourself.” It may be some of the most redemptive guidance I have ever received. And I share that invitation daily with people in painful situations. “Be gentle with yourself.” In a world seemingly hell bent on self-destruction,… Read More ›
Plant Trees, Trees, and More Trees by Carol P. Christ
I dream that all of us who are suffering burn-out because of national and world politics come together to plant and nurture trees. Scientists say that planting ONE TRILLION TREES would neutralize two-thirds of carbon emissions and reverse climate change…. Read More ›
“Go Back to your Country!” OK. But … I’m From San Francisco! by Karen Leslie Hernandez
On December 15, 2018, at 10:22PM, I received a call and a voicemail from someone I didn’t know. The charming message left for me? “Hello, Karen. You fat, disgusting slob. Go back to your country. I hope your new year’s… Read More ›
And We Are Singing, Singing for Our Lives! by Carol P. Christ
Last week I wrote about the grief I feel for the state of my nation (the United States) and of the world. A few days later one of my favorite writers, Katha Pollitt, asked why we are not all in… Read More ›
Coming to Terms with Privilege: A Personal Reflection by Elise M. Edwards
In my two previous posts, I shared my recent experience talking about privilege at a church near me. Today, I will wrap up this short series with a more personal reflection about privilege from a Christian perspective. Last month, I… Read More ›
