
Paying a Debt is a Deed, Part II
Last week, I told my tale of education and how I accrued student debt. I’ve got mad cred academically, but as a result, I’ve got bad cred financially. Actually, my credit score isn’t that bad, but it isn’t great, either. This week, I’ll share with you the second part of me education / student debt...

Paying a Debt is a Deed, Part I
You may have seen the headlines about student debt being crazy high nationally. As of June 2010, student debt is higher than credit card debt. I’m not sure why it’s okay for credit card debt to be high, and not student loans, but economic pundits tell us this shift does not bode well. I should...

Portrayals of Thor in Movies and Television
I’m sure many of you have seen the second installment in the Thor movies series by now. Jax wrote a review of the first movie when we saw a few years ago. I thought the second movie was neat, but it wasn’t awesome. But it did get me thinking about other images of Thor I’ve...

Exaggeration of Religious Behavior on Surveys
I heard a great story on NPR this morning about how people over report their religious behavior when they respond to surveys. Over reporting a behavior means a person says they do something more than they really do it. This is not unusual when the behavior being asked about is something viewed positively by society...

Keep TPP Weird: Three Unusual Traits About GG
As I mentioned last week, Jax is on vacation. I’m posting a few not-too-long and not-too-serious articles in her absence. The Pagan Princesses live in Austin, where the city motto is “Keep Austin Weird.” It’s a rallying cry and a marketing strategy designed to encourage patronage of local businesses and merchants. And it also helps...

Travel to Cosmos Through Space and Time
Jax is on vacation! So today’s post and next Tuesday’s post will be short and sweet. Well…they will be short. =) Today, I want to encourage you to watch the re-launch of the education program “Cosmos.†The original series, called “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage,†launched in 1980 and starred Carl Sagan, the acclaimed and widely...

Native Americans and Two-Spirit People
I recently read an article about Darren Black Bear and Jason Pickel of Oklahoma City. Darren and Jason are a couple and they wanted to get married. But they live in a state where their marriage is illegal. They say that love will find a way. And their love did. Cheyenne Arapahoe Tribal law (for...

Finding Pagan-related Stories in Mainstream News
I’ve thinking lately about how Paganism is treated in mainstream media. We’ve written a lot of articles about Paganism and Pagans in the news — too many to cite here. There are great resources if you are interested in Pagan news by and for the Pagan community, like The Wild Hunt, Pagan News, and Pagan...

The Rapunzel Tax: Water and Electricity Use and Long Hair
As I explained last week, I have long hair. I hadn’t really thought about the possible environmentally negative consequences of long hair until Jax got me thinking about the products I use to care for my hair. I’ve continued thinking about the “cost†of long hair. Actually, I’ve been thinking about this for a while....

The Rapunzel Conundrum: The Delight and Plight of Having Long Hair
“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!†No one has ever said these exact words to me, but I have been (jokingly) called Rapunzel at one time or another. That’s because I have long hair. From crown to end, it’s about 24 inches when it’s styled with a roller brush — meaning my natural waves are...

Looking Skyward for Momentary Meditations
I’ve been taking photos of sunrises and sunsets from my car these past six or so months. A car isn’t the ideal vantage point for a beautiful photograph, but it’s where I find myself when I’m gazing skyward these days. I don’t spend a lot of time in my car, mind you. It just so...

Valentine’s Day and the Feast of Váli
Last week I wrote about the overlap and differences between the Wicca (and all-around “generally Paganâ€) Wheel of the Year and Heathen holidays. In the course of writing that article, I learned a bit about Heathen holidays myself – as is often (and happily) the case when we write articles for the Realm. I learned...