sex isn’t that.

On the topic of sex, still, in this podcast, toward the end, Carter Sherman talks about sex not being just about two people in a bedroom.

It’s political, societal, cultural, etc…

Which got me thinking… wow. What if we saw sex as something that effects way more than just the two (or three or four) people involved but instead what linked to culture, society, religion, and the way human beings are seen and treated.

I know, right… good luck with 2 billion being spent every year on abstinence training in America. We’re a long way from talking about sex in nuanced and realistic ways but hey… maybe we can start?

just a sorry?

Was listening to Carter Sherman and Trevor Noah talk abut sex - a great podcast, by the way.

In it, at one point, Carter said she was sexually assaulted in college. She didn’t report it and nothing really happened. Later Trevor asked her what “justice” would have looked like and she said, simply along the lines of Just a sorry. Just an acknowledgment of what was done.

Which led to a discussion about punitive justice and restorative justice.

Which led them to the fact that punitive justice often has more money and so we often seek it, instead of just a sorry (where that works - which is, obviously, not all the time.)

But all of this really stuck in my head. Wow, even our justice is often about money in our culture and, because of that, we just miss out on so many opportunities to just say sorry and to just hear sorry.

Ugh.

my pet peeve.

My pet peeve is people who act more_____ than they are.

More wealthy. More enlightened. More cool. More sexually experienced. More fill in the blank.

But, in reality, it’s more that I think I’m more _____ than I think you are (or are acting) which means it’s very ego-centric and my own issues.

Maybe my biggest pet peeve is that I’m constantly judging. Or my pet peeve is that I can’t stand my own pride.

that’s NOT pizza!

Was talking to a friend who just got back from Naples. He was telling me that he ate a pizza there and it was very different from the pizza in Rome so he asked the chef… what makes them different?

The chef blew up. What! That is NOT pizza! This is pizza! That is NOT pizza!

I guess when that happens, there are a few choices.

1. Conserve the tradition. You’re right. This is the only pizza.

2. Try to push the tradition. You’re wrong. This is pizza too!

3. Leave the pizza game. I don’t care. I’m not even making pizza. I’m making good food. Call it whatever you want.

This has nothing to do with being a pastor for 10 years and being told what is and what is not Christianity.

not that help.

I recently heard someone says something along the lines of…

I don’t need AI to create art so I have more time to do the dishes and laundry. I need AI to do the dishes and laundry so I have more time to create art.

And, yeah, if that isn’t the truth.

But, bigger, it does ask the question, where can we save time and what kind of time do we want to be saving?

We pay $9.99 for Amazon grocery deliveries. It’s at our door when we get home.

Ina Garten says why don’t you buy the pre-cubed squash for your soup.

Just a thought… what kind of help are we looking for in life? Have we even thought about it?

Fuck no.

I couldn’t agree more here.

“I saw a demo of AI and I thought that’s what people think animation is, giving prompts and the computer does it.  A.I. has demonstrated that it can do semi-compelling screensavers. That’s essentially that. The value of art is not how much it costs and how little effort it requires, it’s how much would you risk to be in its presence? What would you do to be int he presence of starry night at Museé d’Orsay? Would you go to Paris? Yes. Would you stand in line for three hours? Yes. And then you will have five minutes in which you will be monumentally moved by that. How much would people pay for those screensavers? Are they gonna make them cry because they lost a son? A mother? Because they misspent their youth? Fuck no. It’s not going to happen.”

Guillermo del Toro

window seats

So airlines are being sued because they sell window seats that don’t have windows. (I’ve had the unfortunate luck of being sat in a window seat without a window and it sucks.)

United has asked the judge to throw out the case because… are you ready for it….

A window seat does not mean there is a window.

Wait, what?

So, a window seat is just a seat next to the aisle seat.

My god, is this really the world we’re living in?

the sheriff brings it!

This old speech from David Harbour (from Stranger Things) has been going around and, wow, we need it all. Watch it, read it below.

“But this award from you, who take your craft seriously, and earnestly believe, like me, that great acting can change the world, is a call to arms for our fellow craftsmen and women to go deeper and, through our art, to battle against fear, self-centeredness and exclusivity of our predominantly narcissistic culture and through our craft to cultivate a more empathetic and understanding society... by revealing intimate truths that serve as a forceful reminder to folks that when they feel broken and afraid and tired, they are not alone. 

We are united in that we are all human beings and we are all together on this horrible, painful, joyous, exciting and mysterious ride that is being alive.

As we act in the continuing narrative of Stranger Things, we... will repel bullies, we will shelter freaks and outcasts, those who have no home, we will get past the lies, we will hunt monsters, and when we are at a loss amidst the hypocrisy and the casual violence of certain individuals and institutions, we will, as per chief Jim Hopper, punch some people in the face when they seek to destroy the weak, the disenfranchised, and we will do it all with soul, with heart, and with joy. We thank you for this responsibility.”

what is a christian?

If Trump is a Christian and Anthony DeMello was a Christian, I have no idea what the word even means.

Honestly. It’s completely worthless.

share…

If we’re not sharing, we’re screwed.

Sharing power.

Sharing wealth.

Sharing knowledge.

One of the key advancements of civilization was the advent of money - which allowed humans, for the first time, to specialize in something. We suddenly had experts. We had craftspeople. We had people who could dedicate their lives to something and if multiple people did that in different fields, we all excelled.

And now, we’re suddenly going backward. Power and wealth to a few and knowledge something everyone believe they have as much as the next person.

I don’t like any of this. At all.

sommelier

I was at a restaurant the other day and the sommelier came over and started telling us about how this wine would pair with this food… you know.

I eventually just looked at him and laughed. What does he know?

Yeah he studied for years, has tasted millions of wines, and taken tests that very few do, but, I mean, what could he possibly know that I don’t?

And this is the problem with the culture in our country right now.

More drugs

It’s been said way too many times but, for some reason, last night it really hit me.

Money and power are drugs.

But, think about it for a second. They really are.

As in, addictive, dangerous, destructive, and the more you get the more you tend to want.

I’m not saying that money is bad but I am saying that billionaires are addicts and to think they are someday going to just leave their addiction is a bit naive.

Yeah, AI is shit.

I’m truly starting to agree with our boy Vince, from Breaking Bad fame. Even if you don’t, it’s hard to argue his points.

"I hate AI. AI is the world’s most expensive and energy-intensive plagiarism machine. I think there’s a very high possibility that this is all a bunch of horseshit. It’s basically a bunch of centibillionaires whose greatest life goal is to become the world’s first trillionaires. I think they’re selling a bag of vapor."

BIG America.

“In this country, size matters. Who but Americans (and not just the really rich ones) insist on living in houses with significantly more toilets than rear ends? Who but Americans would make the sports utility vehicle their default automobile in an age of climate change?

Who but Americans demand that their refrigerators have a shelf on the door wide enough to hold a gallon carton of milk?”

Read the rest here.

free electricity.

In Australia, they have so much solar electricity that they want to start offering it free to citizens at peak hours.

This, and a million other reasons (healthcare, gun control, tuition, wealth equality) are why, when people say America is the greatest nation on Earth, people laugh.

It’s not. At all. Not even close.

the greatest evil.

The greatest evil is making anyone feel as though they are not worthy. That’s it.

And that evil is more prevalent in religion than almost anywhere else.

Woke?

It’s a head scratcher that so many Christians are frightened and rebuke the notion of “woke” when the entirety of Advent is about waking up. In Mark 13 alone, Jesus says it six times.

Oh Father G, he’s just the best.

I’ve been a bit hard on “woke” myself because, like all things, it’s complicated and nuanced but I will say that if “woke” means “waking up” then I don’t know how anyone can be against it?

Relativism…

You’ll hear the structure, the system, and those leading it, often talk about relativisim as though it’s some kind of evil. We must guard against it?

My question: isn’t relativism just acknowledging complexity, nuance, and change? If truth is absolute - and never changes - then, wow, doesn’t that mean we can’t?

It’s kind of mind boggling that this word that acknowledges all the things that we inherently know to be true about life, has become such a bad word in the certain systems - but, then again, I guess it’s not, because they want things to stay the same as they’ve always been - with them in charge.

Oh Hafiz…

“I have come into the world to see this: the sword drop from men’s hands even at the height of their arc of rage because we have finally realized there is just one flesh we can wound.”

Hafiz. Damn you, that is so good.

mystic politics.

I’m a fan of the mystics - this is not a surprise to anyone.

But, I’m recently realizing I’m also a fan of mystic politics.

In other words, the politics that

a) act as though we’re all tied together

b) acknowledge nuance and mystery

c) value being present and wonder and curiosity

d) resist wealth and power

e) value love over fear, compassion over retribution, and waking up over being hypnotized to sleep.

Yes, I think I’m more Independent than Democrat or Republican, because neither of those parties are all that mystic but, when weighing the Mystic scales, that’ll be the one I vote for.