Category: Community

Life and Choice

On By SarahIn Community, Opinion, Politics, SpiritualityLeave a comment

“Pro-life” and “pro-choice” are not mutually exclusive terms. Indeed, I claim to be both.

I am pro-life. I value all living things that the Creator has blessed us with. I embrace my responsibility as a human being to steward the Earth and its resources.

I am pro-choice. I believe that women should have the right to privately make decisions about their reproductive health with her doctor and her loved ones.

Right-wing Christians who call themselves “values voters” don’t have the lock on moral issues that they claim. My moral compass informs my politics and the way that I vote. I support candidates and policies that I believe will build a just society.

  • I support family values, where every child is a wanted child, no person fears violence in their own home, and where any loving marriage between two consenting adults is honored and respected.
  • I support environmental conservation and policies that make sustainable day-to-day living practices possible for more people.
  • I support fairness and economic justice for everyone.
  • I believe that healthcare is a right.
  • I support public education.
  • I support working for peace with justice, and working towards building a non-violent society whether it is combating gun-violence in urban neighborhoods or finding diplomatic solutions to international conflicts.
  • I support the abolition of the death penalty.

As articulated by the Matthew 25 Network, I support “life with dignity, caring for the least of these, supporting families, stewardship of God’s creation, working for peace and justice at home and abroad, and promoting the common good.”

Perhaps I have a broader definition of what being “pro-life” means than how it is used in popular discourse. In the same way that I am reclaiming my religious faith, I want to reclaim what it means to be pro-life. I want all children to be born into a sustainable peaceful world where they have access to the food and healthcare they need, the education that they deserve, peaceful parks and clean air in their cities and towns, diverse communities where they can learn about and respect different cultures and traditions, and freedom to make decisions about their personal lives. I want all people to be able be who they are and to live without fear for doing so.

These are the Pro-Life values that I embrace.

An Invitation For Respectful Dialog

On By SarahIn Community, Opinion, Politics1 Comment

Perhaps it is what the media is choosing to focus on, but it certainly seems like people in the McCain-Palin camp are more interested in continuing to assert misinformation about Barack Obama’s character and personal background. And to be fair, I know there are liberals who lash out at conservatives in ugly ways.

When I see these hateful outbursts in public, I respond in fear, and I go back to the comfort of my family and friends who share my values and opinions. What I see are people who hate me and my loved ones, and who want to move towards ensuring I am stripped of my civil rights. I am actually afraid for my personal safety, and I’m afraid to engage in any sort of dialog.

But I also know that if we are never able to talk to each other about our different perspectives, our country is never going to heal our divisions. I know there are people on either side of the issues who want to talk about about energy policy, the environment, healthcare, and the war rather than dig up dirt and attack the character of the candidates. I wish people would stop looking for reasons to hate and fear each other.

I know there are good people out there who have a world view different from my own, who are respectful and compassionate and who desire an open dialog about our differences. I just don’t know how to connect with them.

I suspect that I am like many others in that I tend to associate with people who are like-minded. My friends and my online social network reflect values that I hold. I am interested in dialoging with conservatives, and try to meet in the middle and find common ground on divisive issues. At the very least learn about what informs opinions that are different from mine and offer up the opportunity for people to learn about what informs my opinions. I want to get away from that place of fear and move towards mutual respect.

If there are conservatives out there who are interested in respectfully reaching across and learning about people who have a different perspective, let’s find a way to talk to each other.

Observing Blog Day

On By SarahIn Community, Internet1 Comment

In observance of Blog Day, I am going to write about five blogs that I think are worth reading.  Based on the rules of Blog Day, I’m cheating a little. Some of the blogs that I am going to review today are not new to me, but they are probably not as widely-read as they should be. Though they may not get much more circulation as a result of my effort here (I don’t have many readers, either) I’m doing my part as a good Internet citizen.

Ample Sanity is Anne Mathewson’s blog. I discovered Anne through Ma.gnolia a while back (my favorite bookmark sharing site), and since I’ve been following her there, I try never to miss what links she posts. She has eclectic tastes, and finds the most amazing sites! I decided a while back to check out her blog, and I find that Anne is a delightful writer and a creative spirit. She’s silly, thoughtful, profound, smart, and terribly interesting.

Nurture Girl is Jean Russel’s blog. I had the pleasure of making Jean’s acquaintance at a recent Net Tuesday event here in Chicago. Jean is a non-profit consultant, and she blogs here about uses of information technology and social media to foment social change. Her blog is critical and thought provoking, actively taking part in the discussion of how the grass roots social networking movement can most effectively organize and mobilize people.

Eszter’s Blog is Eszter Hargiattai’s blog. I stumbled upon this recently via Twitter. Eszter is a girl after my own heart, studying “social and policy implications of information technologies with a particular interest in how IT may contribute to or alleviate social inequalities.” Here she blogs about her interesting scholarship, how to select a ripe and delicious cantaloupe, and useful and fun Internet tools, like Yearbook Yourself.

Metacentricities is Michelle Murrain’s personal blog. Michelle is someone else that I discovered through Ma.gnolia because of links we have in common. Michelle and I have a few other things in common: we work in the nonprofit world, we’re queer; we’re alums of PSR; we’re former Bay Area residents (and I gather from her blog that she’s moving back there!); and we’re Progressive Christians struggling with the institution of our faith. Michelle is a nonprofit consultant with expertise in technology, and she also blogs at Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology. I enjoy reading the cross section of faith, politics, good works, and how these play out in Michelle’s day-to-day musings.

La Marguerite “is an environmental blog, focused on behavioral solutions to climate change and other sustainability issues.” This is another blog I discovered through Twitter. I like this blog because it links the larger issue of environmental policy to the choices that individuals make about how to live every day. It makes me think about my carbon footprint, and is one of the many blogs that inspire me to make responsible and sustainable choices.

Honorable Mentions

I feel I must at least make reference to the Neighbors Project which I think is such a cool use of social media to build community and actually foment social change. I haven’t partaken yet in any of their activities, but I’m aware of the work that is going on in Chicago as a result of this effort. Right in my neighborhood, as a matter of fact. As I make my new home here, the Neighbors Project blog reminds me of the impact that I have here, and informs the choices that I make so that I can be a better neighbor. I look forward to meeting my neighbors who are involved with this project.

And I want to give a shout-out to my brother-in-law, Archer, who is blogging about the RNC while events unfold in his backyard: The RNC is Coming to Town

And there are many others. I feel challenged and inspired by so many creative and wonderful thinkers and writers out there.

I don’t know what’s worse…

On By SarahIn Community, SpiritualityLeave a comment

I went to a new church today. Nice place. But I don’t know what’s worse: Standing around awkwardly not talking to anyone and not knowing what to do with my hands, or having my time monopolized by the sweet church lady who was so obviously trying to connect with a younger person and convince me to come back. Its almost like going out on a date with someone who is, you know, a little desparate.

Nice people, though. I think I’ll go back and try again. Hopefully I’ll be able to meet some others next time.

Chicago Pride 2008

On By SarahIn Community, Fun & EntertainmentLeave a comment


Dyke March Chicago 2008

Originally uploaded by TheFemGeek

We had a blast during our first Pride weekend in Chicago. Here we are at the Dyke March on Saturday, courtesy of TheFemGeek (thank you!), sitting on the sidelines watching the dykes go by. By San Francisco standards, this was a much smaller event than what we’re used to. We were laughing at the “tiny Dyke March,” but make no mistake, it was charming and fun. We do have to adjust our expectations when we say things like “if boys were here, there would be a DJ and a disco ball suspended from a crane.” I love the grass-rootsyness of this event, the drumming on plastic bins, the hand painted signs, all of the women just amazed by the large crowd…it’s all so fun.

The next day we went to the parade, and it was pretty crazy. I forgot how ferklemt I can get at Gay Pride, and I really almost lost it when the veterans marched by. There was another contingent that was fantastic, though I don’t know who they were. It was and all African-American group clad in brightly colored clothing, many twirling enormous bright flags and rifles. There must have been over one hundred of them, and they were so amazing. I also loved the two-steppers and the cheer leaders.

The parade stopped for a long time at one point. After about half an hour, folks in the crowd started talking and getting a little impatient. It was all fine for a while. Boys on top of the building across the street from us were entertaining the crowd by throwing Mardi Gras beads. Gillian caught a strand of each color for me. When a couple of cops walked by, Gillian stopped them (beer in a paper bag in hand — that’s how they do it in Chicago) and asked what the hold-up was. They told her someone’s foot got run over. It was all good, but I was just starting to get a little nervous by the time the parade got going again. People were starting to get agitated. I don’t know why they would think that it would be safer to hold up the parade for 45 minutes to an hour as opposed to getting the injured person out of there as fast as possible. This just tells me that the safety monitors don’t have it together for this event yet.

We then somehow made our way up the street (salmon swimming upstream — it was a little stressful for a moment) to the Anne Sather’s parking lot for the Girl Blast, which we heard was the place to be after the parade. The moment we got there, it started to pour. We held out, made some new friends huddled under our umbrellas, and got soaked anyway. It didn’t matter. We knew it would blow over, and sure enough, it did and more people showed up.

After a while, our new friends got a little too friendly, so we decided it was time to move on. We then hit the dance floor. The music was great, but for some reason we were the only people dancing. We didn’t care. We were having so much fun, and it had been so long since we’d been out and about, we just let go our inhibitions and cut a rug in the parking lot. Eventually others joined us.

At the height of the party, it was time to go home. It was about 5:00 and we were exhausted. For the rest of the evening I was pasted to the couch. All in all, a very satisfying weekend.