Physical Fitness Friday Five

Sophia posted this wonderful FF: "I just got back from an 8 mile bike ride down the beach boardwalk near our home, and was struck with the number of people out enjoying physical activity. Runners, other cyclists, surfers, swimmers, dogwalkers, little kids on scooters....

It's easy to lose track of my physical self-care in the midst of flurried preparation for a final on-campus interview Monday for a college teaching position in the Midwest (prayers welcome!) and the family move that would accompany it. But each day that I do make time to walk or ride my bike it is such a stress reliever that it is well worth the time invested!

So how about you and your beautiful temple of the Holy Spirit?"

1. What was your favorite sport or outdoor activity as a child?
When I was a kid we had a huge backyard and all of our activities took place there. I liked riding my bike on the streets of my small town, playing games with my friends in the backyard-cowboys and Indians-I had a Davey Crockett hat and cap gun and holster!

2. P.E. class--heaven or the other place?
I went to Catholic School, 6 periods per day and one was religion, so if you took band (and I did just to avoid gym for 4 years) you didn't have to take gym. I didn't know I was a lesbian then, but the thought of undressing and showering with other girls just undid me. Little did I know, I would be undressing and dressing in band uniform in the tiniest of rooms with all the other girls in the band virtually the first day!

3. What is your favorite form of exercise now?
I love to walk around the city that never sleeps. I also swim, not very well, in my gym.

4. Do you like to work out solo or with a partner?
I like to walk along because I can walk at my own pace which is considerably slower than my friends, cane and all. I'm also easily distracted by sales, bookstores and various things to take pictures of.

5. Inside or outside?
Both, see above.

Happy 4th

And on a Lighter Note

Friday Five It's all about the look

Sally posted this excellent FF: "In readiness for my move in 6 weeks time I spent almost all of yesterday morning sorting through my wardrobe ( closet, I am so British :-) marvelling at how I had accumulated so much stuff! The result is three large sacks full of clothes to be given away. Some came into the category of " what was I thinking", some too big now ( at last), and others I will never shrink into again. Some are going simply because I want to streamline my wardrobe."

So how about you:

1. Are you a hoarder, or are you good at sorting and clearing?
I let things go in my closet until it really gets too crowded, then I clear things out and send stuff to "Housing Works" the local HIV housing thrift shops. They also get the books that overflow my apartment. We, just this year, got a storage place, two blocks away.

2. What is the oddest garment you possess and why?
I have an assortment of odd hats and DID have an alligator head that I made for a costume-it was really nice, but it got lost.

3. Do you have a favourite look/ colour?
Since my 12 years in Catholic schools, I tend to be a little tailored. That uniform look carries on way too long.

4. Thrift/ Charity shops, love them or hate them?
Love to give to them and buy books and sometimes small furniture to them, although the Stressless lounge chair and ottoman I'm currently sitting in came from Housing Works-quite a buy!

5. Money is no object, what one item would you buy?
I would buy a tailor to make all my clothes, so that I would never have to shop for clothes again-except shoes which I like to buy!

Gay Pride 1972 NYC

My first Gay March was in 1972.
That was the year I moved to NYC. Since the Stonewall riots were in 1969, that would have been the 4th year after the stonewall riots. I was a member of the Gay Activists Alliance a group that met at an abandoned firehouse in SOHO before it was fashionable. That year we marched from Central Park to Washington Square Park in the Village. Later I'll scan some pictures I took and post them. Not time now. At that time I was working for SR Rosenberg LTD a store planning company making $100. per week, no benefits and lived in a sublet with 2 men. The person I was renting from was a dancer who was working for the summer stock company I just resigned from. I was thrilled and scared to be living in NYC. I was poor but free at last to be living as myself an open lesbian. It was a heady time with women's liberation really going strong and the gay liberation movement lively. I was in love for the first, but not the last, time.

Welcoming in Pride Week

I'm reprinting this most excellent article by Kate Childs Graham on Jun. 18, 2009 Young Voices from the National Reporter to Welcome in Lesbian and Gay Pride Week in NYC. Thanks Kate.

"June is lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Pride month around the country. After a great weekend of Pride celebrations in our nation’s capitol, I began to reflect on the word pride; after all, its connotations can be both good and bad, especially for those of us who are practicing Catholics.
Pride, or hubris, is one of the seven deadly sins. In fact, it is considered by scholars to be the original and most serious of the sins. It separates one from their community and from God. With pride, one cannot recognize God’ grace. Thomas Aquinas said that pride is "inordinate self-love…the cause of every sin ... the root of pride is found to consist in [hu]man not being, in some way, subject to God and [God’s] rule."
This is certainly not the pride I saw this weekend. The pride I saw this weekend was an expression of love and survival. It was a pride that brings people together, gay or straight. It was a joyful, and at times rowdy, pride. And though not a spiritual celebration, the grace of God was certainly present in these celebrations.
Every year, there are a few moments in the Pride parade that move me. As the parents of LGBT folks march with their signs reading “I love my gay son” or “Relationships are precious,” my heart swells with, well, pride. As those who have served in the military solemnly march in uniform with US flags, my eyes fill with tears. As people from religious congregations of every stripe, including Catholic, march and declare their stance that God is love, my spirit sings.
Now, there are obvious reasons why, for me, these are the moments that move me. I am lucky to have a family that accepts me. I am lucky not to work in a profession in which I must hide myself. And I am lucky to have found a church community that does not demonize me for my sexuality, although the church hierarchy continues to do just that.
I am proud that our country and church have come so far so that I can feel so lucky. There is no doubt, however, that our country and church still have a long way to come. And, in certain instances, one may even argue that pride interferes with some people’s ability to overcome their prejudice in order to grant equal rights to all people.
Take, for example, the U S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The bishops'' position on same-gender relationships is widely known -- so I won’t go into that. However, what is perhaps less well known is how this position shadows the other good work they do.
Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif. introduced the Reuniting Families Act (H.R. 2709) on June 5. This bill is a big step towards comprehensive immigration reform. This legislation would free immediate relatives of U.S. citizens from the bureaucratic nightmare that currently plagues families separated by borders and provide these family members with an easier and faster way to be with their families.
One would think that the bishops, with their historic and astounding support for the rights of immigrants, would be among the first to support this bill. Unfortunately, this is not the case. While the bishops have endorsed and pledged to work for the enactment of the Senate version of the Reuniting Families Act (S. 1085), which Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. introduced last month, the bishops wrote Honda to tell him that they couldn't support the House version. You see, the bishops have decided not to lend their support to this bill because it includes provisions for same-gender couples.
To me, it seems that the bishops are letting pride get in the way of supporting important legislation on immigrant rights. Their pride is so vast that they refuse to revise their teaching on same-gender relationships in light of today’s world and modern knowledge. Their pride is so great that they believe that their views on same-gender relationships must be imposed on all people. As a result of this pride -- while I hope this bill will pass with or without the support of the bishops -- families may indeed suffer. I hope that one day the U.S. bishops are able to push their pride aside for the good and equality of all.
So, is pride good or bad? I suppose it can be both. The pride I saw this weekend was certainly good. It was loving and inclusive. The pride of those who maintain prejudice and discriminate based on race, gender, sexual orientation, age and so on is not good. This pride is exclusive and destructive.
Let us all work to end prejudice and discrimination for all people, including those of us who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Let us all free ourselves of our pride that makes us unable to recognize the grace of God in same-gender relationships. When we do so, we can truly be proud of our church and society."
Read what Rep. Honda has to say about the Reuniting Families Act (honda.house.gov/rfa/#summary) and read the bishops letter to the congressman (www.usccb.org/mrs/mrp.shtml).

Friday Five-Life is a Verb

"Jan posted this thoughtful FF Jennifer recommended this book, which I got because I always value Jennifer's reading suggestions. The author of Life is a Verb, Patti Digh worked her book around these topics concerning life as a verb:
Say yes.
Be generous.
Speak up.
Love more.
Trust yourself.
Slow down.
As I read and pondered about living more intentionally, I also have wondered what this Friday Five should be. This book has been the jumping off point for this Friday.

1. What awakens you to the present moment?
When a client/consumer is at the front desk creaking a rukus and I'm the (only) supervisor in the office! I have my days when I can talk to people and be with them so that they can feel satisfied, sometimes not.

2. What are 5 things you see out your window right now?
Fog, the backs of big buildings, backyards, trees, sky, people walking,

3. Which verbs describe your experience of God.
Imagine
Disapprove
Wonder
Ignore
Behave

4. From the book on p. 197:
Who were you when you were 13? Where did that kid go?
I was a freshman in a Catholic HS, Ursuline HS. I was really in the wrong place and it was my choice. I was unhappy and I didn't know it. I'm glad I'm not there.

5. From the book on p. 88:
If your work were the answer to a question, what would the question be?
Do I love my job? Usually.

Bonus idea for you here or on your own--from the book on p. 149:
"Go outside. Walk slowly forward. Open your hand and let something fall into it from the sky. It might be an idea, it might be an object. Name it. Set it aside. Walk forward. Open your hand and let something fall into it from the sky. Name it. Set it aside. Repeat. . . ."

Obama and Gay Civil Rights

Which  side of side of his face is he speaking out of today?

Friday Five-Trader Joe's

Sophia posted this quirky FF: "Gals and pals on the West and East coasts, and a few spots in between, may know of Trader Joe's--a quirky, well-stocked, well priced semi-gourmet store that attains near cult status among some. I discovered it through my Aunt Judy, who always brought a couple of their desserts to holiday parties....The best was a chocolate ganache torte that had my four year olds begging for it (and among the only four year olds on the planet to know what ganache is, presumably).


My family has happily Trader Joe'd in southernmost California, up to the Northwest, and back down to southern Cal. And now we're really excited because today a brand new Trader Joe is opening up across the street from our apartment. Wahoo! There are sure to be lots of tasty free samples on opening day and from now on we can just walk across the street to get a lot of our shopping done. I have a new spiritual directee coming tomorrow and she has already mentioned that she'll be stopping in on the way here, leaving me to be jealous cause I'll be spending that noon hour like, praying and preparing and study-vacuuming and everything, and won't be able to stop in till the afternoon.


So in honor of the new Trader Joe's, this week's Friday Five is all about food shopping."


1. Grocery shopping--love it or hate it?
I might like it if I had a car and could load all of my groceries in the trunk and take them home, but as I have a cart) and have to go to one store for the organic things (Fresh Foods) and another for the regular stuff (Gristedes,) well it's a real drag- in the literal sense. Note: I'm always surprised when I shop outside of the city, how little I pay for the same things, NYC is so expensive!


2. Who is the primary food shopper in your household?
We share the wealth, although I tend to get the necessities and BL tends to wander to the farmers market, go to Intergral Yoga (for things she likes) and Whole Foods (she's the one who insists on organic.)


3. Do you have a beloved store like TJ's which is unique to your location or family?
No. BTW our Trader Joe's is great, but always really crowed and I have seen lines that have gone all the way from the checkout around the store, right to the door! :-( Don't go there much.


4. How about a farmer's market, or CSA share, as we move into summer? Or do you grow your own fruits/veggies/herbs?
We have a wonderful farmers market that is in Union Square. I took my aunt there, the one who is now 91. She used to have her own store and live in an orchard and she saw things she had never heard of!


5. What's the favorite thing you buy at the grocery store?
The last thing on my list!

Maddow on takes on Obama on DADT