After years of ministering to AIDS patients overseas, evangelical Christians are turning attention to the disease in their own back yard — and one of the nation's largest and best-known megachurches is leading the way.

Nearly 2,000 pastors have traveled to Orange County's Saddleback Church for a national conference that coincides with World AIDS Day on Thursday. On the agenda: How to start local AIDS ministries and free HIV testing in churches.

The "Disturbing Voices" initiative, led by best-selling author and megachurch pastor Rick Warren and his wife, Kay Warren, represents a shift among evangelicals.

[...]

Warren said he's encouraging other pastors to offer free testing and counseling at their churches, start service group to help HIV patients with daily chores and train lay members to administer crucial anti-viral drugs.

The focus isn't on the behaviors that led people to contract the virus — and Warren hopes other pastors will follow his lead.

"The church has the moral authority to say, 'Hey, it's not a sin to be sick,'" said Warren, author of "The Purpose Driven Life," a best-selling book. "The Gospels repeatedly show that Jesus loved, touched, and cared for lepers — the diseased outcasts of his day. Today's 'lepers' are those who have HIV/AIDS."

Wow. First Rwanda, and now this? While I'm still not sold on the whole mega-church idea (and mentality), I'm super impressed that he's using his resources to combat such an important issue. And because a lot of contemporary churches tend to emulate the "big dogs" of the church world, hopefully these types of programs will take off all over the country.

In terms of authenticity, I'm trying to find a way to be "real." I'm on a journey to connect my life and faith. I am not alone, according to Wade Clark Roof, in his book, Spiritual Marketplace: Baby Boomers and the Remaking of American Religion (Princeton, 1999). He describes the contemporary scene as an "effusive quest culture" where there's a disenchantment with traditional theism and a "turning inward in search of meaning and strength." Like others mentioned by Roof, instead of leaving the church, I have taken another look at its teachings and found myself inspired by the possibilities of its prophetic edge. Mennonites have a long history of counter-culture protest, peace activism, and justice work. I think it's time to drag this out further into the open.

It seems that economic issues haven't been a big concern of establishment churches. Sallie McFague, in Life Abundant: Rethinking Theology and Economy for a Planet in Peril (Fortress, 2001), says of establishment churches, "in all cases personal sexual issues surface as the church's interpretation of sin and evil; public, economic issues seem to be of less concern."

Cheerful demonstrators opposed to the commercialization of Christmas managed to sing six anti-consumer carols at a Winnipeg mall before security evicted them.

About a dozen members of a group promoting a "Buy Nothing Christmas" set up near Santa's house in Polo Park Mall on Saturday and sang their versions of the old Christmas favourites.

"So, we enter the retail space, we put on our hats, we form a little semicircle two rows deep and start singing our song. And then we just launch into our songs, like 'profits here, profits there, profits everywhere,' you know those kind of things," said Aiden Enns, one of the singers and a veteran anti-consumerism activist.

"It's kind of an in-your-face way of saying stop and think about what your actions mean for you and for the world and the environment ... get people to re-think how they celebrate the season, " said group member Linda Trono.

Can I be a part of Buy Nothing Christmas even if I buy a few things?

Definitely. We are all going to have to buy some things. When you do buy things, we encourage you to remember principles like buying locally, fairly-traded, environmentally friendly packaging, recycling or re-using, buying things that last, and so on. The main aim of this campaign is not to save money (although that can be a side benefit), it's not to slow down the pace of Christmas (although that can be a side benefit), it is to challenge our over-consumptive lifestyle and how it affects global disparities and the earth. So, even though you might buy a few things at Christmas, it's important to think in these global economic terms.

, originally uploaded by becky b..

Look what we did! More photographic evidence here.

Yeah, it's not even December officially, and yet we have our decorations up. (I love Christmas.)

A dinner for two ..., originally uploaded by becky b..

So. full.

(and so very thankful.)

U of S English Graduate Student Wins Prestigious Award at Geminis

University of Saskatchewan English graduate student Tasha Hubbard will receive the prestigious Canada Award at the 2005 Geminis for her documentary film, Two Worlds Colliding, the National Film Board (NFB) has announced.

The Canada Award, created and sponsored by the Department of Canadian Heritage, is given for excellence in mainstream television programming that reflects the racial and cultural diversity of Canada. Hubbard and the NFB will receive the award on November 17 at the 2005 Geminis.

Two Worlds Colliding, a 49-minute documentary, was written and directed by Hubbard and produced by Bonnie Thompson of the NFB. The film is Hubbard's directorial debut and part of the NFB's Aboriginal Filmmaking Programming.

In January, she will speak at a conference in Australia on the idea of "testimony" in film and her thesis project is going to link the literary and the visual, building on her experience with the documentary. These themes were brought to light for Hubbard in her interviews with Darrell Night, an Aboriginal man who alleged he was driven beyond the city limits by police officers and dropped off in sub-zero weather to walk back to Saskatoon. An investigation resulted in the conviction of two Saskatoon Police Service Officers for unlawful confinement.

2. So "fugly" is like extreme ugliness?

Kind of -- we like to think of "ugly" as something that refers to an unchangeable condition, but also a condition above which people can rise.

Fugly, however, is a self-inflicted state, and no one seems to excel at dwelling in the depths of fug quite like pretty people with money to spare and little sense of how to spend it. Celebrities are always skipping around in public wearing things that are phenomenally perplexing; as these red-carpet dwellers are often considered trendsetters or bastions of Hip Present and Hip Future, we like to take them to task for careless choices. (Of particular concern: whomever got little girls thinking that miniskirts and Ugg boots were a stellar combination.)

"There's no question in my mind where the philosophical guidance and the flexibility in order to do so originated -- in the vice president of the United States' office," he said. "His implementer in this case was [Defense Secretary] Donald Rumsfeld and the Defense Department."

Link

(how's that for a legacy to leave behind?)

President George W Bush tried to make a quick exit from a news conference in Beijing on Sunday - only to find himself thwarted by locked doors.

After answering just six questions from a group of US reporters, the president strode away heading towards the door.

President Bush tugged at both handles on the double doors before admitting: "I was trying to escape. Obviously, it didn't work."

- Margaret Laurence

If we leave Iraq, all hell will break loose. But we still should leave, and here's why.

1. Iraq is a mess.

2. If the US leaves, all hell (more hell) WILL break loose, as described by the Weekly Standard, above.

3. But if the US stays, all hell will still break loose. We're not winning the war, 80% of the Iraqi public wants us out, 45% of the Iraqi public wants us dead (these are true poll numbers), US military deaths are increasing rather than decreasing, and our continued presence has been a boon for Al Qaeda recruitment and training.

4. The US military occupation of Iraq is simply prolonging the inevitable. Iraq is going to fall apart at the seams, with us or without us - it's only a question of when.

5. Thus, the debate isn't whether we should or shouldn't let Iraq fall apart. The only question we need to settle is whether it's worth the price - in terms of both US military deaths and the benefit our presence bestows on Al Qaeda - for the US to help prolong Iraq's certain death.

Iraq is Terri Schiavo.

Already dead, living on borrowed time, but the Republicans refuse to accept the inevitable. Yes, you can prolong the patient's life for decades. But at what cost, and for what real benefit?

The day a Republican responds to THIS argument, rather than simply saying "but Iraq will fall apart if we leave," that's the day we start having a REAL debate about Iraq in this country. In the meantime, the Republicans will keep scouring the videos for signs of life in a patient who's long-since checked out.

There's nothing like posting a flashback photo on your website, to show that special someone that you really CARE.

(heh!)

The Race
Sharon Olds

When I got to the airport I rushed up to the desk
and they told me the flight was cancelled. The doctors had
said my father would not live through the night
and the flight was cancelled. A young man with a
dark blond mustache told me
another airline had a non-stop
leaving in seven minutes -- see that
elevator over there well go
down to the first floor, make a right you'll
see a yellow bus, get off at the
second Pan Am terminal -- I
ran, I who have no sense of direction
raced exactly where he'd told me, like a fish
slipping upstream deftly against the
flow of the river. I jumped off that bus with my
heavy bags and ran, the bags
wagged me from side to side as if to
prove I was under the claims of material. I
ran up to a man with a white flower on his breast,
I who always go to the end of the line, I said
Help me. He looked at my ticket, he said make a
left and then a right go up the moving stairs and then
run. I raced up the moving stairs
two at a time, at the top I saw the
long hollow corridor and
then I took a deep breath, I said
goodbye to my body, goodbye to comfort, I
used my legs and heart as if I would
gladly use them up for this, to
touch him again in this life. I ran and the
big heavy dark bags
banged me, wheeled and swam around me like
planets in wild orbits -- I have seen
pictures of women running down roads with their
belongings tied in black scarves
grasped in their fists, running under serious
gray historical skies -- I blessed my
long legs he gave me, my strong
heart I abandoned to its own purpose, I
ran to Gate 17 and they were just lifting the thick white
lozenge of the door to fit it into the
socket of the plane, Like the man who is not
too rich, I turned to the side and
slipped trough the needle's eye, and then I
walked down the aisle toward my father. The jet was
full and people's hair was shining, they were
smiling, the interior of the plane was filled with a
mist of gold endorphin light,
I wept as people weep when they enter heaven,
in massive relief. We lifted up
gently from on tip of the continent and
did not stop until we sat down lightly on the
other edge, I walked into his room and
watched his chest rise slowly and
sink again, all night
I watched him breathe.

For the husband, who's an avid reader of the Tao Te Ching: Lao Tsu

For Dixie, heeeeeere's Hegel

For Sylvia, a Frida Kahlo puppet

For the recently thesis-topic'd Natalie, a Michel Foucault

For the wannabe communists in the house, Trotsky and Marx puppets

And for anyone else, a Buddha, Dorothy Parker, and Schrodinger's Cat to play with.

The Sweater
Meryn Cadell

Girls,
I know you will understand this
and feel the intrinsic incredible emotion
You have just pulled over your head the worn,
warm sweater belonging to a boy

Now, you haven't had a passionate kissing session or anything,
but you got to go on a camping trip with him
and eight other people from school
And you practically slept together,
your sleeping bag right next to his

And you woke in the night to watch him as he slept
but you couldn't see anything 'cause it was dark
so you just laid there and listened to his breathing
and wondered if your heart might burst

The sweater has that faintly goat-like smell
which all teenage boys possess,
and that smell will lovingly transfer
to all your other clothes

If you get to keep it for a few days you can sleep with it
but don't let your mom see, 'cause she'll say,
"what is that filthy thing, and who does it belong to
besides the trash man?"

So you have to keep it under the covers with you
You can kind of lie it beside you,
or wrap it around your waist,
or touch it on your legs, or whatever
That's your business

Now if the sweater has, like, reindeer on it
or is a funny color like yellow... I'm sorry,
you can't get away with a sweater like that
Look for brown, or grey, or blue
Anything other than that, and you know you're dealing with
someone who's different

And different is NOT what you're looking for
You're looking for those Alpine ski-chiseled features
and that sort of blank look which passes for deep thought
or at least the notion that someone's home
You're looking for the boy of your dreams
who is the same boy in the dreams of all your friends

Monday, wear the sweater
to school
Be calm, look cute
Don't tell him about the dream you had
about the place the two of you would share
when you get older
Just be yourself
The best, cutest, quietest version of yourself
Definitely wear lip gloss

He looks at you, and then he looks away
And then he walks away
and the smell of the sweater hits you again suddenly
like ape-scent gloriola
and you get a note passed to you
by a girl in History that says
"He needs that sweater back.
He forgot you put it on in the tent on Saturday
and he's been looking for it."

And you don't have to die of humiliation, you know
You are a strong person
and this is a learning experience
You can still hold your head up high as you run from the classroom
tearing the stinking sweater from your body
You've got a secret now, honey,
and though you'd never sink as low as him,
you could blab it all over the school if you wanted

The label in that sweater
said "100% Acrylic"