Black Professor reports on discrimination and bullying

“I can confidently say that when I was in graduate school, my identity as a Christian was far more under attack than my identity as a black,”

“I was repeatedly informed, ” [George] Yancey continued, “that Christians like me were the source of most of the problems in our society, and challenged to leave my Christian identity behind. Like many Christians today, I did not feel safe.”

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442224070/So-Many-Christians-So-Few-Lions-Is-There-Christianophobia-in-the-United-States

Usually those who do not like blacks or Muslims admit that they are intolerant but simply try to justify their intolerance. Those with Christianophobia tend to deny that they are intolerant but rather that they are fairly interpreting social reality.

Envisioning themselves as fair and free of intolerance allows them to blame those they detest rather than recognize how their emotions have distorted their intellectual judgments.

By documenting just how hateful some of the attitudes are toward Christians, and who tends to have such hateful attitudes, I hope to bring Christianophobia into the light so that we, as a society, can discuss this social problem and how we might address bigotry in all of its myriad forms.

http://freethinker.co.uk/2015/01/29/so-many-christians-so-few-lions/

Note: “So many Christians so few lions” is an anti-Christian  bumper sticker/slogan, which I assume is the reason for the title of the book.

http://heterodoxacademy.org/2015/11/24/i-should-not-write-this-op-ed-confessions-of-a-non-leftist-professor/

Do you ever feel like you’re from another time and place?

German Muslims join ISIS, then return to Germany

“Former militants who used to fight in the ranks of so-called Islamic State (former ISIS/ISIL) and other terrorist groups against the troops of the Syrian and Iraqi governments are now coming home, raising the threat of potential terror attacks to a new high, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told Bild am Sonntag.

The number of potential attackers currently living in Germany is “higher than ever before,” de Maiziere said, estimating the number of German citizens joining terrorists at 760 people, about one-fifth of them women, who usually do not fight among jihadists, but rather “assisting” the terrorists “in other ways,” de Maiziere said.

The vast majority of Germans fighting in Syria and Iraq are men in their 20s who were raised in Germany and had German or double citizenship, De Maiziere added.

According to the minister, some 120 German citizens have died in the conflict in the Middle East; while about 200 have managed to return back home. The rest is still somewhere out there, participating in terrorist activities, he added.”

Europe closed its eyes—all countries, not just Germany—to the dangers of their insipid multiculturalism, where all cultures are of equal value, and the U.S. is going down that path.

http://www.eurasiareview.com/23112015-germany-760-citizens-have-joined-islamic-state-200-returned-home/

Fellowship or worship? What do you look for in a church family?

Former Fundamentalist and Evangelical Dr. Wesley Vincent shares his faith journey to the Catholic Church. Hosted by Marcus Grodi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYSp9Q3CsEU

Dr. Wesley L Vincent, CP has a medical practice at 139 Hazard Ave, Suite 7, Enfield CT. He specializes in clinical psychologist, and has over 27 years of experience in the field of medicine.

As an adult he found a church with wonderful music and powerful sermons and after about 2 years discovers that the pastor’s “wife and daughter” were not—she was his girlfriend, and not divorced from her husband.  At another church, he felt he needed to correct what his son was learning in confirmation class. Some churches didn’t teach the trinity; another refused to use The Lord’s Prayer. He finally began to read the early church fathers thinking he would find justification for all the protestant churches different beliefs.

Music is good for you, especially in your later years

“Music, the most-studied art reviewed, has been shown to have a number of benefits. One landmark study compared older adults who were invited to join a choir to those not invited. Twelve months after the study began, choir members showed decreases in doctor visits, falls, and over-the-counter medication use. Improvements were seen in overall health rating and number of activities performed. In a larger study that randomly assigned individuals to a choir program or a control group, the choir partisans had lower scores on a depression/anxiety scale, and higher scores on a quality of life scale. A survey of older amateur singers before and after joining a musical group showed increases in emotional well-being, social life, quality of life, and self-confidence. In studies of instrumental music, 98 percent of 1,626 survey respondents said that playing an instrument in a group affected their health in a “uniformly positive” way. A study of organ players not only showed decreases in anxiety and depression, but also revealed increases in human growth hormone, a molecule associated with a number of positive health outcomes. Another study that compared the length of time a musical instrument was played (from zero to over 10 years) showed a possible linear relationship between the amount of playing and cognitive performance. However, not all studies reviewed showed such significant results, and in some cases the positive impact of a musical program were not maintained as early as three months after the program was completed. It should be noted that the studies with significant results were considered to be more rigorous.”

http://www.investigage.com/2014/01/22/can-music-dance-and-other-arts-programs-enhance-healthy-aging/

If you used to be active in the arts, but no longer are, perhaps you need to rethink why you’re enjoying life less, why there is more anxiety and depression, why you don’t feel well.  Pick up the trumpet, or sit down at the piano, or join that choir.  It’s good for you.

Republicans have led the way for women

Have you noticed how feminists have taken the back seat to LGBTQ issues, or to “blacklivesmatter” issues, or white microaggression, or any of the other victimology themes in today’s political and academic streams of thought? Now the media have to trot out Bruce Jenner for woman of the year, as if  hormone supplements, a manicure, and a glamorous dress make one a woman—accoutrements that a few years ago were an anathema for feminists. 

So looking back to the 2008 campaign I think Sarah Palin stole their thunder.  Feminists just didn’t know what to do with her, and gradually disintegrated, at least as victims.  The left had to seek new and fresh victims--trust fund black students, transgendered reality stars, and anchor babies wanting in-state tuition.

This item appear in SF Gate, September 21, 2008, written by Phyllis Schafly. Sarah Palin never became the first female vice president, but she perhaps did more—she led women out of the feminist swamp even if that looked impossible in 2008.

"Feminist anger against Sarah has exposed the fact that feminism is not about women's success and achievement. If it were, feminists would have been bragging for years about self-made women who are truly remarkable achievers, such as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, or former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, or Sen. Elizabeth Dole, or even Margaret Thatcher. Feminists never boast about these women because feminism's basic doctrine is victimology. Feminism preaches that women can never succeed because they are the sorry victims of an oppressive patriarchy. No matter how smart or accomplished a woman may be, she's told that success and happiness are beyond her grasp because institutional sexism and discrimination hold her down. . . Sarah Palin is an exemplar of a successful, can-do woman, and the feminists simply don't know how to deal with her. I hope she will usher in a new era where conventional wisdom recognizes that feminist negativism is ancient history and American women are so fortunate to live in the greatest country on Earth." SF Gate, Sept. 21

What Obama has given us

1.  ISIS.  No matter what you think of the wars of the Bush era, they were essentially over before Obama took office.  He only had to do the mop up and withdrawal.  He hastily left a vacuum into which ISIS/ISIL/IS poured.  Then he underestimated them more than once—first calling them the JV team, then calling them contained.
2. Iran.  The other Arab/Muslim countries should be able to work out a solution to the Syrian refugee problem, and join forces to defeat ISIS (they are afraid too—different branches of Islam).  But because Obama made a deal with the devil (Iran), they don’t trust him and won’t work with him.
3.  Trump.  Probably the worst “Republican” candidate of an otherwise terrific bench, any one of which could run circles around Hillary Clinton, is Donald Trump.  But Americans are so fed up with our juvenile, lead from behind, hate America first, know-nothing president they are falling for Trump’s glib, bombastic “just bomb ‘em” and “close the mosques” temper tantrums.

Don’t worry. . .

Are the campus cry babies and ISIS volunteers just Hunger Games babies?

“The world of the Hunger Games is a commentary on our own. The world in which we live is one in which our greatest goal is comfort, yet their [sic] are children dying in our streets from starvation. This is not just far away, it is right in our own country. This is just one talking point for Christians and the Hunger Games: what is it that we should be doing to curb our own “capitol”-like tendencies?”

Really?  Children dying in our country’s streets from starvation? When our 123 wealth transfer programs amount to $22,000 per person? When the average “poor” family in the US has HDTV, cell phones, regular manicures and over 30% have more than one car?
I’ve read the reviews of the books and movies.  I understand it’s science fiction, but I also understand that this is mind manipulation of children.

http://jwwartick.com/2012/03/25/hunger-games-movie/
https://www.reviveourhearts.com/true-woman/blog/a-parents-guide-to-the-hunger-games/

The Hunger Games movies have always been predicated on an emphatic and high-minded moral: War and death should never be a game. And it instructs that even when wounds from such dire dealings aren't visible, they sometimes never completely heal.

That kind of serious structure makes these movies hard to watch, none more so than this grand finale. Many people wondered how the final half of Suzanne Collins' Mockingjay book could possibly snag a PG-13 rating given its kill quotient. And it is truly a harsh experience—one that could really upset and even scar some moviegoers, particularly younger ones. I can't stress that enough … but even in the midst of such horror, this movie gives us hope.

When Katniss and what's left of her team take a breather under the streets of the Capitol—a metaphorical underworld, perhaps, bedecked with demons—the Mockingjay is overwhelmed by the horror of it all. She blames herself for the growing casualty count: "Everyone's dead because of me," she says.

But Peeta reminds her that those who died in the tunnels, they died as free men and women—unlike those who died in the games.

"All those deaths?" Peeta says. "They mean something. … They chose this. They chose you."

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 is no more a nice movie than Katniss is a nice person. But it is a courageous movie, just as Katniss is courageous. And it cares about a cause, just as she does.
http://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/hunger-games-mockingjay-part-2

Collective bargaining for teachers result in poor student outcomes

“Laws requiring school districts to engage in collective bargaining with teachers unions lead students to be less successful in the labor market in adulthood. Students who spent all 12 years of grade school in a state with a duty-to-bargain law earned an average of $795 less per year and worked half an hour less per week as adults than students who were not exposed to collective-bargaining laws. They are 0.9 percentage points less likely to be employed and 0.8 percentage points less likely to be in the labor force. And those with jobs tend to work in lower-skilled occupations.”

http://educationnext.org/bad-bargain-teacher-collective-bargaining-employment-earnings/

The new ten dollar bill

Here’s a history of how it’s changed over the years.  We know that this change will be political and that a woman will be chosen, even if she is unknown, unworthy, and undeserving.  It’s time; just like for the Democrat nominee.
https://thenew10.treasury.gov/history/history-10-note
Alexander Hamilton’s face has been on the $10 bill since 1929.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/alexander-hamilton-woman-10-dollar-bill_55a6891fe4b0c5f0322bfcb6
http://www.businessinsider.com/hamilton-to-stay-on-10-bill-says-lew-2015-7
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-the-treasury-is-changing-the-10-dollar-bill-instead-of-the-20-2015-6

Already?

I was talking to my brother in northern Illinois yesterday when he mentioned the snow and predicted chill factor.  I hadn’t been watching the weather report, so I thought he was kidding.  No.  Snow is early this year, especially in South Dakota.

http://www.argusleader.com/story/news/crime/2015/11/20/sioux-falls-snow-weather-forecast-south-dakota/76094970/

Fourteen inches of snow were reported in the southwest quadrant of the city by Friday evening, the National Weather Service office said. On the other side of town, Sioux Falls Regional Airport recorded 7.1 inches by 6 p.m.

The numbers shattered the previous snowfall record for Nov. 20, which was measured at 3.8 inches in 1975.

Other parts of southeast South Dakota had a variety of snowfall levels. In Harrisburg, one area measured a whopping 17 inches of snow, while Huron did not see a single flake, said National Weather Service meteorologist Kyle Weisser.

Snow totals for Friday

Tea –18 inches

Southeast of Harrisburg – 17 inches

Southwest Sioux Falls - 14 inches

Tyndall – 11 inches

Yankton – 8 inches

Salem – 5 inches

Chamberlain – 4 inches

Dell Rapids – 2 inches

Madison – 1.2 inches

Flandreau – 0.3 inches

A solution to the book overflow?

Most of the books designated for give away have at least left the garage counter (one bag is still in the car, one box is on the porch of our summer cottage, and 2 titles snuck back into the house).

A special Thanksgiving menu from November 22, 2007

               

Today is my wonderful daughter’s birthday—she has been such a blessing.  I can get teary remembering the first time I laid eyes on her—and her face really hasn’t changed that much, but she did grow into her long eye lashes.  Last night I came across this “Thursday Thirteen” which listed the 13 items she’d prepared for our Thanksgiving dinner in 2007, so I decided it was worth a delicious rerun.

“It's all about being thankful--for family, friends, country and milestones passed. So yesterday after church we drove along the river and past some woods to my daughter's home for her 40th birthday and our Thanksgiving celebration. I asked several times and offered to bring something, but she wanted to do it all, and she really did. All I did was dry the dishes after dinner.

Here's the fabulous meal that awaited us--and we're going back today for leftovers! Everything was sugar-free, and most dishes were low-fat until we got to dessert. She used her lovely Lenox wedding china and crystal and seasonal decorations.

1. A 24 lb turkey roasted to perfection--I've never seen a prettier golden brown.

2. A spiral sliced honey baked ham.

3. Cubed and roasted butternut squash, the best I've ever tasted.

4. Fresh, buttered beets.

5. Homemade, chunky applesauce.

6. Wild rice and mushroom stuffing (I think I saw one of her Martha cookbooks on the counter).

7. Sausage/corn stuffing (with a side portion without corn for my husband who hates corn)

8. cranberry relish, home made

9. Veggie platters of 4 colors of bell peppers, grape tomatoes, pickles, celery

10. hot clover leaf rolls

11. Mashed potatoes and gravy

12. red wine (2 choices), coffee

13. 2 deep dish homemade pies (apple and cherry) and one pumpkin pie, with crusts so tender and flakey she's getting very close to my mother's standard, served either with Cool Whip or vanilla ice cream.”

We’ll be going to her house this coming Thursday; I can’t wait to see what special things she’s prepared for her family.

Black, female professor is under fire from transgender students

Must be both sexist and racist in addition to anti-Christian bigotry.  I can’t tell which direction the student is going based on the photograph.

Carol Miller Swain is an American political scientist, professor of political science and law at Vanderbilt University, and television host. She is the author or editor of six books. Wikipedia

https://www.outandaboutnashville.com/story/vandy-trans-student-we-are-allowing-culture#.Vk-_efmrRbW

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/19/black-christian-conservative-vanderbilt-professor-carol-swain-says-facebook-blocked-account-calls-religious-discrimination/

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/20/facebook-restores-carol-swain-account-breitbart-exposes-block/

So conservative Christians are being blocked on social media.  This is the kind of hatred that has turned “progressives” into fascists.

Yes, m’am, women are interested in different things

Yesterday some guy from Apple (I’ve never heard of) got himself into deep do-do by commenting on how women search for music differently than men.  Now he’s been forced to walk it back and apologize!  (It actually made sense to me, having been a young girl thinking about boys at one time.)  Apparently, this angel investor, Christina Brodbeck, co-founder of YouTube which made her fabulously wealthy when she and the other two sold it to Google for for $1.65 billion in stock in 2006, also chooses at least some of her investments based on relationships and “things that interest” her. Really, do you think a guy  (she does have a male co-investor) would have come up with Icebreak, which helps couples increase understanding, excitement, and connection in their relationships.

“Christina was on the founding team of YouTube, the company's first UI Designer, and then later went on to lead design for the company's mobile efforts.

Before that, she worked at NASA Ames, MRL Ventures, and Keynote Systems. She's a proud Chicagoland native and attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She holds a master's in Instructional Technologies and Multimedia Design, and is passionate about building technology that makes people happy and improves their everyday lives.

Christina lives in San Francisco.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV2nxO0y78E

Annual Conference of the Church of the Brethren, Winona Lake, Indiana: Panoramic Photograph, 1913

I don’t have a scan of the photo, but I would be able to see it if I went to Manchester University (formerly Manchester College) in North Manchester, Indiana at the Funderberg Library college archives.  I only note this because I think the archivist was very clever in finding a method to preserve it—a hot humid day.

“Many panoramic and oversized photographs were rolled up and stacked on a metal shelf in the photograph section of the Archives.  These pictures had become dry and were impossible to unroll.  The Archivist took the photographs outside on an extremely humid and hot summer day.  In about 30 minutes the photographs had relaxed enough to unroll and were brought back into the Library and pressed under books, using archival photo file folders as blotters between pictures.”

I think I remember my mother telling me about attending Annual Conference at Winona Lake, and at one time I had a post card of the facility. I may have even scanned it for the blog since it had been addressed to my mother, but after 13 years of blogging, and many tagging systems, I doubt I can find it [after checking I found a mention in a 2006 blog, and noted in 2005 that the Winona Lake post card was from her brother Clare]. 

There must be dozens of rolled up panoramic photos in attics and store rooms—perhaps they could be left in the bathroom with the hot shower left on.

I have a panoramic photo of the Tennessee Reunion, but I don’t believe it was rolled. Very difficult to store or frame.

He’s drowning us in watered down values

“No commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces can be wholly irrelevant, but to the extent one can be, Mr. Obama is,” writes Peggy Noonan. “After the attacks Mr. Obama went on TV, apparently to comfort us and remind us it’s OK, he’s in charge. He prattled on about violence being at odds with ‘universal values.’ He proceeded as if unaware that there are no actually universal values, that right now the values of the West and radical Islam are clashing, violently, and we have to face it.” “ Quoted in Wall Street Journal, Nov. 20, 2015

Using “thou” instead of “it”

“This week’s practice [poetry] exercises included some fun options. Wooldridge suggested changing our perspective by referring to an object as “thou” instead of “it,” and asking questions of it.”

The shoe box of VHS tapes
By Norma J. Bruce
November 20, 2015

I’ve made an inquiry.
Thou who wait
Imprisoned in the dark
And dust,
Sitting in an old box, a cell size 8 medium
Longing for the glory days
When thou did entertain and
Enlighten.
Alas, the VHS player has been loaned
To a homeschooling Mom
Who knows not thy desire.

Do you ever read poetry?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srt2j6iVhsM

Christina Rosetti

Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.