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Any words I could offer on the inauguration of President Barack Obama are going to pale alongside this eloquent prayer offered by Bishop Gene Robinson at a pre-inauguration concert in Washington last month. Because it apparently got no airtime on the HBO broadcast, and because it just plain rocks, here is the text:


“O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will bless us with tears -- tears for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women in many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

Bless this nation with anger -- anger at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.

Bless us with discomfort at the easy, simplistic answers we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth about ourselves and our world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

Bless us with patience and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be fixed anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.

Bless us with humility, open to understanding that our own needs as a nation must always be balanced with those of the world.

Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance, replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences.

Bless us with compassion and generosity, remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable.

And God, we give you thanks for your child, Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States .

Give him wisdom beyond his years, inspire him with President Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for all people.

Give him a quiet heart, for our ship of state needs a steady, calm captain.

Give him stirring words; We will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States .

Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

Give him strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.

And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking far too much of this one. We implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand, that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity, and peace.

Amen."



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marginalized priest
honors his new president:
brothers, pioneers

This game's got my number

It only looks like a math game. But it's really a game of logic that just happens to use numbers. I discovered I liked SuDoku when I randomly set my pen to a version using letters which appeared in Vineline (of course, the Chicago Cubs monthly magazine), and found it was not only doable, but fun.

For all you numerophobes (there are a few in my acquaintance), it's simply a nine by nine grid where numbers 1-9 must each appear only once across and down each row, and also in each square. No adding, subtracting or multiplying. It's not even really as hard as it sounds.

Check out The Daily SuDoku, which offers two puzzles per day which can be played online, and two which can be printed and completed later. I recommend clicking on the "archive" link and trying out one rated "easy" if you're SuDubious about your abilities.

And if you end up getting hooked, I'd be honored if you blamed me. :)



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go ahead, try one
one through nine a tricky trap
you'll be SuDicted

stuck with each other

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I'm inexplicably addicted to cable human interest documentaries. With a particular focus on disasters and medical wonders. It always gets me pondering the bigger questions, as writers so love to do.

This week I re-viewed a special about conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel, whose story I've actually been following since they were very young. I love these girls--despite sharing an entire body between the two of them, they really couldn't be more "normal." After a few minutes of seeing them walk, drive, bike, play sports, play piano, and type on the computer together, you tend to forget that there's anything really unusual about it. This is the only life they've ever known, and they embrace it with grace, enthusiam, and all the typical responses of teenagers.

What I love about the Hensels is the perfect harmony of two brains in concert. Sure, they disagree as much as two sisters would, but mostly they cooperate in a way that mystifies--each girl controlling her own arm exclusively, but fully sharing one lower body. Two distinct minds so coordinated to master the finest of maneuverings, as one body. Questions abound, but I ask myself, what do they do when they get angry at each other? Going to their own rooms is out of the question. I suppose they could choose not to talk to each other for a time, but sooner rather than later, unified decisions are going to be required again.

Might we see Abby and Brittany almost as a microcosm of all of us, being distinct persons but sharing these homes, these cities and countries, this planet? It may take longer to realize (or be easier to deny), but the fact of our connection and common fate as earth-mates is as undeniable as two girls sharing a common space, a medical story, a body. They have little choice but to work out their differences quickly. We have more "freedom," to act as if our destinies are separate, our lives isolated from one another, or at least distinct from all those we don't like or with whom we don't agree. But it's all illusory in the end.

Post election week, once again we claim blue and red identities. But just as all have suffered the misdeeds of one misguided administration, we will all continue on the good ship USA together, in whatever direction it is now heading.

Onward, Captain! :P




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for better, for worse
conjoined in our destiny
what path shall we choose?

A fresh cyber inkwell...

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I want to begin by saying I hate blogs.

But I ran out of pages in my journal this morning, and I got to thinking...what's the harm? So here it is, for better or for worse. The Stray Pen. Animals and writing--two things I love. A good place to start.

So...post-election euphoria. I am so there. It's Baracked my week! But I realize it's not euphoric for everyone. Namely, Californians and Proposition 8. I've heard a lot of anguish around yet another rejection of personhood for my GLBT homies. And I share their disappointment.

What I do not share is the claim that California voters care more about rights for animals than for people, with the successful passage of Prop 2 guaranteeing liveable conditions for farm critters. Why does it have to be one or the other? Animals have suffered--and continue to suffer from a warped anthropocentrism which has justified all manner of inhumane treatment over the centuries. Kudos to CA voters for at least recognizing that animals (being raised for food, for heaven's sake) deserve a space big enough to stretch their legs/wings and perhaps even take a few steps. Maybe this is a small indication that there is indeed a measure of compassion in our fellow humans. Now, let's work on expanding it...

Equal treatment under law is coming, as sure as history was made again this week. It's painful that it's not here yet. And that the changes come sooooo slooooowly.

Today I take my hope from eight years of nonsense about to end.

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confessed blog-hater
embracing hypocrisy
chooses to dive in