Filed under: India, Religion, Seattle, travel | Tags: art of buddha, bedel, Buddha, Buddha depictions, chewing bedel leaves, friendship gestures, ganesha, guest welcomes, Indian dynasty, Indian era, Khorta, krishna, laughing buddha, New Delhi Archives, New Delhi National Museum, roman buddha, roti, sari, shanties, snuggie, south indian, welcome customs
The only reason to wake up this morning is the possibility of Surender having gotten better or the cleaning woman, and neither of those things happens until 8:30 at the earliest, which is still a little early since our activities last night ran until 1am.
But nonetheless I do what I can to be prepared, and by 9:45 I deem it safe to assume that Surender isn’t coming and that I can make myself breakfast once again. I really worry about making him mad, so I’ll be damn sure to clean up after myself when I’m done. Maybe he will think the eggs have just disappeared.
The eggs themselves are a bit of an ordeal. There’s only one left in the fridge, so I take one from the dozen in the pantry and hope like hell there isn’t something really wrong with them, or that they aren’t months old. Breakfast, I decide at the end of my meal, is a success.
I work on some work stuff for a bit, attempt to place some calls, unpack, and randomly step outside on occasion. It’s a slow morning, but I again allow for this since I’m still not feeling entirely well, and it was a late night last night. At 11 I proudly take a shower, having mastered the art of turning on the switch for the hot water heater. As I am finishing the doorbell rings and I know it’s the cleaning woman. Always when you’re in the shower.
I leave it be since there’s no way I can get to her in time. Then I dress, make some tea, and take a call from Alam. Alam invites me out to brunch, which I eagerly accept. I genuinely enjoy Alam’s company—he’s got a great sense of humor, and aura of calm, and a full understanding of how confusing this culture shock is the first time around. His sympathy is clear when he asks in the car whether Shubh and I had had continental or Indian last night. “I figured you wouldn’t want either in a row,” he explains. I opt for south Indian, since I am, in fact, in India and feel like I’ve been a little wimpy so far.
Alam converses with Rhea, who jumps about in the back seat. She eagerly replies back, and I catch bits and pieces of the conversation. It’s either that some Hindi words are the same in English, or they’re inter-dispersing English words—I can’t tell, but it’s a bit like catching words and phrases as one tunes a radio.
Filed under: India, Religion, Seattle, travel | Tags: beggars, crossing the street in delhi, delhi, delhi driving, food illness, ganesha, gurdwara, Hindu temple, India, jet lag, kirshna parade, krishna, minar, old delhi, open air market, pickpockets, pigeons, red fort, terrorism threats, travelers sickness, wild parrots
I am deceived. I wake this morning after a solid 8 hours of sleep and feel pretty good. Until I step out of bed, that is. It was like the end of a long scuba dive—you feel good in the water—but the party’s over when you climb up onto land. This is what it feels like when I get out of bed.
Everything still aches, and the fullness of my weight is immediately realized by every cell in my body; even my hair hurts. And I feel start to feel sick again.
As I walk downstairs I realize how much I’ve come to love the floors here; I’ve been reading an Indian culture book in bits and pieces and have now learned that it’s common to not wear shoes in the house, so I’ve taken to walking around barefoot. The feeling of feet on extremely smooth, clean marble is really nice. I’ll have to remember to reenact Risky Business later, sans prostitutes.
Filed under: Religion, Seattle | Tags: Beowulf, Boddington's, Havasu, it's always sunny in philadelphia, jocks, kangaroo and kiwi, marathon, Murphy's, New Zealand, OCD, road trip, run, the sabbath, twinkie deconstructed, wallingford house of pizza
Sundays is the day of rest for atheists and believers alike. Of all the religious rules obeyed by non-religious folks, saving Sunday as the day of rest seems most popular. Even I came to Jesus today.
Waking at 9 I got up and puttered around the house while my oatmeal was cooking. I wrote some emails, made some phone calls, and folded my laundry. Even though I needed to run, the lousy weather made me feel like starting that new book was more important, so I did. Two chapters into “Twinkie, Deconstructed”, I look at the clock and think that I should get going. Then I realize that it’s the Lord’s day, so I relax and read another chapter.
On my run I get cocky. Though I haven’t really run in about 4 months now, my mind still remembers all the tricks of the marathon runner and seems to think that knowledge is equal to conditioning, which it isn’t. The first three miles go swimmingly, but the last 4 don’t. I’m running the outer track, which is not paved and has less foot traffic. One would think that this would mean less human interference, but it does not. People still pass me, distract me, and apologize for cutting me off. That’s not a problem. It’s the Under Armored, high-kicking Jockocracy that displeases me.
Filed under: Religion, Uncategorized | Tags: abortion, anti-choice, AtCenterNetwork, Freakonomics, Libertyville, pro-choice, pro-life
I stumbled upon this year-old video of from the AtCenterNetwork covering an abortion protest in Libertyville. The interesting twist in this is that instead of asking the normal question of what to do with the now-born baby, the interviewer asks what should happen to the mothers who seek the (would be) illegal abortion. No one has a clear answer. As I’ve learned form my college activism days, it’s easy to jump onto a cause bandwagon when someone paints you a black and white picture. It becomes a simple logical syllogism; if abortion is murder, and you approve of abortion, then you approve of murder. (more…)
Filed under: Movie Reviews, Religion, Uncategorized | Tags: child warriors, creationism, evolution, fanaticism, global warming, indoctrination of children, intelligent design, Jesuscamp, Religion, science
Genre: Documentary
Venue: Netflix
Actors of Note: n/a
Rating: Horrifying, but not as bad as it could have been.
Viewing Date: 18 December 2007
Personal Notes: Terror, thy name is JesusCamp. While not as intense as I thought it would be, Jesuscamp does a good job of showing the thought process and brainwashing techniques of the lunatic fringe of Christianity. Most of the film is interviews with members of the ‘youth ministry”, but eventually devolves into a child advertising documentary in which catalogues the step by step process used by the religious right to brainwash children into becoming “warriors for the lord”. It’s a horrifying example of child abuse that mirrors McDonalds’ and Big tobacco’s attempts to influence and harness a child’s thinking from a young age. There’s a reason schooling is done when humans are young—not only are they the most susceptible, but they are less likely to change their beliefs as they get older, which is why religious fanatics devote the time that they do to children.
Among my favorite bits of tragic humor in this piece—forgoing the imagined “talents” of “prophecy”, “speaking in tongues”, and the like—are the quotes. At one point the leader of the camp and self-proclaimed youth minister lectures the children of her congregation that Harry Potter was evil for his use of magic and “if he’d been around in the old testament, he would have be put to death!” She thrusts her fist up as she says this. Another moment of shining brilliance comes when a mother explains her reasons for home schooling her children (evolution) and proceeds to cover a science lesson with her son. “Well some people say that global warming is happening, but the earth has only gotten warmer by one degree,” she leads him. “Yeah,” responds her son. “That’s not very much, is it?” “I guess not,” he responds again, which is enraging for 1) anyone with basic math skills, 2) anyone with scientific training above the fifth grade, 3) anyone with a brain in his or her head, or 4) anyone who expects more than “because Jesus says so” for a scientific argument. Basically the movie is great if you’re looking to get really mad, or really scared—it depends on your level of motivation.
Filed under: Movie Reviews, Religion, Uncategorized | Tags: Cancer, Confusing as shit., Conquistador, Hugh Jackman, Sci-Fi, Space Travel, The Fountain
Genre: Sci-Fi/Romance
Venue: Netflix
Actors of Note: Hugh Jackman
Rating: Very Interesting, couldn’t get my head around fully.
Viewing Date: 2 December 2007
Personal Notes: A really interesting movie that will require some afterthought. Three story lines trace the tree of life as well as Hugh Jackman’s character through varying story lines of a conquistador, a research oncologist, and a space traveler. Reoccurring themes of consumption and death as rebirth make this twisting and tale extremely interesting, but highly philosophical. It’s a thinker movie, not one to be watched with frivolity if it’s to be understood.
