Public policy, social issues, gender politics, religion, civitas, and other taboo topics fall under the hammer of Shava's iconoclasmic force of natural philosophy.
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The blessing of the taxes
Thursday, March 24, 2005
8:45 PM
Does this count as a faith-based initiative? Today I got this in the newsletter from the Unitarian Universalist Association's UU Advocacy Office:
From April 8-17, congregations from different faith communities across the country will be taking part in a "Blessing of the Taxes" around tax day, April 15.
As Unitarian Universalists, we are committed to creating an equitable tax system that provides sufficient revenue to meet our country's human needs. Faced with a federal budget that includes massive tax cuts that largely benefit the wealthiest among us at the expense of the common good of our country, "blessing" our taxes allows us to reframe the national conversation about the role of government in society and its moral and spiritual imperatives.
What you can do:
* Lay hands on envelopes containing tax returns or copies of returns in worship, and pray over them; or create an altar for tax returns
* Weave the blessing into sermons or pastoral prayers
* Conduct special worship services
* Conduct prayer vigils at local Post Offices on April 15 (a great and easy way to get local media attention!)
* Distribute the blessing with attached information about how taxes are used and how citizens can contact their legislators
The message:
* Paying taxes is a moral responsibility of all people.
* Creating a just tax system used for just purposes is the responsibility of all people and institutions.
* Elected officials are entrusted with a greater responsibility to ensure that taxation hold as a primary concern the needs of low-income persons to prevent the entrenchment of poverty in society.
* Taxation must be used toward the organization of social structures to ensure that basic human needs for all people are met.
* Taxation must not inhibit a person's ability to meet their basic needs-the payment of a higher rate of taxation by those who have higher incomes or profits is just and good.
(Adapted from the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon www.emoregon.org)
Say amen, somebody!
Martha and the end of simple things
Thursday, March 10, 2005
5:54 AM
With the frenetic media frenzy around Martha Stewart's release from prison fading into dull background noise, I've been thinking a lot about why people love and hate her. In some ways she does exemplify the comic book superhero domestic goddess, it's true, and it's hard not to see her potential as a prosperity icon for the wishful bourgoise. And, I'll confess, seeing her go to jail for lying when male CEOs from Enron and Tyco roam free is infuriating.
But here is why Martha Stewart makes me sad.
When I was a child, people in rural Vermont still made music in their kitchens, like jam (pun very much intended). In Plainfield, when I was young, you might see a boy running down the main street just yelling his fool head off: "JUNKET! Junket tonight at the Jackson house!" And word would spread.
Now, a kitchen junket is half potluck and half string band jam. You came with a dish to listen, play, noodle (learning to play by playing under the music), and generally gossip and hang out and have a good time. It wasn't scheduled. It didn't go on a bulletin at the church or post office. You just heard, and you came or you didn't.
In my youth a change came over Vermont. A lot of people blame it on transistor radios, and that might be it. I was growing up in the late 60's and 70's, and although we had little radios, the number of stations and the reception held much to be desired. But the penetration of commercial music was insidious. People starting thinking, "If I can't play like that, maybe I should be ashamed to be heard in public." *Learning* to play an instrument became something you did in private, in a room where no one heard -- not sitting on the edge of the church stage, noodling, while the contradance band played loud up behind you.
Martha Stewart is doing the same thing to the domestic arts.
Now, most professional musicians don't play so well without elaborate studio equipment and editing, but you might never know that. Radio is free (sort of -- you listen to ads or ideally contribute to nonprofit stations). CDs cost reasonable money unless you steal the music off the internet. Going to a concert is just ridiculously expensive. So a lot of folks who like music may never have heard the folks they love most live, where the blemishes might show a bit (but the energy might make up for it!).
As a result, learning an instrument -- learning music -- has become a solitary, heroic act, instead of something one just did. Like cooking, or sewing, or growing flowers, or...
Oh wait.
Martha Stewart is bleeding simplicity out of simple domestic acts, just like the glitz of the music biz bled simplicity out of local music, and movies bled community theater and vaudeville.
Now, you can look at folks like Julia Child (of blessed memory) and say, "didn't she do that?" but in fact I would say Julia was the anti-Martha (or perhaps more properly, Martha is the anti-Julia). Julia Child took the scary art of Cuisine and turned it into cooking, made it approachable, and offered you a nip of sherry to make the work seem a bit more fun.
Martha hides her staff of fourty behind her like the production crew of the ArtistPreviouslyKnownasPrince, or the three minutes of rolling credits at the end of a Lucas film.
I propose we keep these things simple. Teach people good simple ways to make food that fit their schedules. Teach people flowers they can put in a pot on their stoops, and how to use water-retaining crystals in the soil so if they forget to water them for two weeks, they won't lose them. Teach people the fastest way to cut an onion. These are the lessons we need to learn, or relearn, but more to the point we need to share them with our neighbors, our friends, and especially our children.
Take time. Use it well. Live richly on less.
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