Orange is the New Black has Jax Thinking About Punishment and the US Prison System
I was visiting my sister last week (hence GG graciously filling in for me<LINK>), and we binge watched the Netflix Original series Orange is the New Black. Have you seen it? If you’re unfamiliar, it’s a thirteen episode TV series inspired by Piper Kerman’s memoir about her year incarcerated in a minimum security prison. I...
Acxiom Corporation Knows You. Do you Know Them?
A good friend who’s a choir director introduced me to Vienna Teng’s “The Hymn of Acxiom†because it’s creepy, artistic, and amazing. Read the lyrics while you listen, and see if you don’t get chills and possibly a tick or two when the electronic chords morph into dissonance as the lyrics subtly change. Teng named...
DIY Destressers
I’ve had STRESS this week–the kind that makes you see red and feel blue all at once. I apologize for being unable to discuss the whys; other people’s business is not for me to air on the interwebs. But I have literally broken out into an itchy mess over it. Not okay! What’s a princess...
Herbal Remedies–St John’s Wort
Disclaimer: I am not in any way suggesting a medical course of action for anyone. I am not a doctor. I am writing about my personal experience. Like a lot of other Pagans, I’m not a huge fan of pharmaceuticals. Not that I never take them–sometimes that pulsing pain in my head just needs an...
My Magical Daughter
For those of you new to the blog, TheScott and I are currently fostering two girls, ages four and seven, with the hope of adopting them. I haven’t been doing much religious work with the girls, mostly because we’ve been trying to organize life as a new family and it hasn’t been an imperative. As...
Race, Pride, Children and Me
I’m going to make myself uncomfortable today. I’m going to talk about race. I need to learn to do this. There’s a good chance my kids will be a different race than I am. And even if they’re not, it’s important to me that my children grow up as unprejudiced as I can help them...
As I Dig
As I Dig As I dig in the garden My trowel strikes something hard. And the child inside can’t help but wonder Is it a time capsule? Some buried artifact, Left behind by owners long gone? Or pirate treasure? My adult self knows it is a rock. A big one. And it will be arduous...
Kirk Cameron and Free Speech
This week on The Grand Overseer (i.e. Facebook) I watched an argument over whether or not Kirk Cameron’s comments regarding homosexuality on Piers Morgan were out of line or not. The argument centered less around the content of what he said and more around whether or not Kirk Cameron has the right to have and...
I’m Anti-Consumerist, Not Anti-Capitalist
Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfactions, our ego satisfactions, in consumption…Â We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced, and discarded at an ever increasing pace. We need to have people...
A Good, Wholesome Pagan Girl
I’ve noticed we don’t get defined this way a lot. Pagans get defaulted to “mysterious†or “rebellious†or even “tech-savvy†but not “wholesome.†I think this is a real shame. Why? Because I’m a good, wholesome Pagan girl. In fact, I think there are a lot of good, wholesome people out there who are not...
Is Faith a Function of Brain Architecture?
(or “Are the gods just in my head?”)
Last week, I shared what I learned about a scientific field called the evolutionary psychology of religion. I wanted to write about it because I felt torn when I first started delving into the topic. I’m a pagan and my beliefs are dear to me, as is the company I keep when I practice my...
An Introduction to Evolutionary Psychology of Religion
I am a scientist at heart and by training. Much of my work day is prescribed by the scientific method. And I love it. So when I came across an article in the Los Angeles Times about the scientific inquiry into religious belief as an evolutionary trait, I was intrigued — even though the article...
