Kiki Caturday ~ whiskers

On Liz Curtis Higgs's website:  "If you want to make Liz a happy woman, ask about her cat, Jack."  Here's a picture of him.  So I went to Nashville this week prepared to ask her about Jack, but didn't think about it the whole time I was there!  It was a busy few hours, taping a Bible study together and changing clothes between shoots so (I suppose) it would appear that we studied over an extended time together — and to make the videos more visually pleasing.

=^..^=

A cat's whiskers are so sensitive,

she can find her way through the

narrowest crack in a broken heart.

=^..^=

It's been nine months since Kiki died, and I still miss her — a lot.

TGiF ~ let's learn some new words

In an article I read this morning, Leonard Sweet said that

"generational distinctions have been replaced by cultural divides. The main divide is between those raised on print technology and book mentality ('Gutenbergers') and those raised on digital technology ('Googlers')."

He also talked aboout TGiF culture, from "Twitter, Google, iPhone, and Facebook.”  As folks in a TGiF culture, we need to ask ourselves:

Am I a Gutenberger? or a Googler?

And then, while still ruminating on these words and concepts, I clicked over to Facebook.  Kathryn had shared a link to a video from code.org (thanks, Katt!) about the need for critical thinking and problem solving.

"Every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn to code."

Googlers are more likely to understand that sentence than Gutenbergers.  Today's children are growing up as Googlers, and they need to learn about a new "superpower" that isn't being taught in most schools.

So tell me:  Are you a Gutenberger? or a Googler?  The illustration I chose probably gives you a clue to my answer, though I always thought of myself as a bookie.

Go away ~ I'm reading

Have you ever been reading in a public place, like while having lunch, and someone tries to start a conversation with you?  I have.  It's like they think you are so lonely that you've had to resort to a book to keep you company.  And they've decided — in all kindness — to rescue you.

Okay, so maybe I'm just trying to think the best of people.  After all, they have no way of knowing you've been waiting all morning for your lunch hour so you can dive back into your novel and find out happens next.  Your boss does expect you to work during the week and not call in sick so you can stay at home to read.  And here's this stranger (or co-worker) interrupting your precious reading time.

What's a girl to do?  Someone came up with a great idea ~ in the form of book covers, like the one above.  Yeah, go read about it.  Personally, my favorite is "Shhh. I'm in book mode."

BTT (#31) ~ currently reading

Deb @ Booking Through Thursday asks:

"One of those quick, easy questions that I ask periodically because the answer is always changing:  What are you reading right now?  And, is it good?  Would you recommend it?  How did you choose it?"

Saving Jesus from Those Who Are Right: Rethinking What It Means to Be Christian ~ by Carter Heyward, 1999

In radical opposition to the Jesus of the Christian Right, Heyward presents Jesus as our brother and us with him in the commitment to embody right relation, which she calls mutual relation.  She envisions a counter-cultural force, which she names christic power, that can help save American culture from its greed and domination and save the figure of Jesus from culture-generated distortions.

The Rev. Dr. Carter Heyward is an Episcopal priest, professor, liberation theologian, activist, writer, and pioneer in the areas of feminist liberation theology and the theology of sexuality.

I first became aware of her when she and ten other women were ordained Episcopal priests on July 29, 1974.  I watched the uproar with fascination as the Episcopal Bishops held an emergency meeting to invalidate these ordinations.  Nevertheless, at the General Convention of 1976, the Episcopal Church officially approved the ordination of women into the priesthood.  Wow!

When I ran across this book at the huge used-book store in my town, I grabbed it.  I'm slowly working my way through it.  Slowly, because I'm taking so many notes.  Slowly, because I stop to ponder her words.  But slowly and surely go together, and I've already quoted parts of it in two classes I'm teaching.

Would I recommend this book?  No, not if you are a confirmed, conservative, right-wing, Christian literalist.  Yes, if you are a liberal thinker open to hearing...

"...that mutuality, rather than obedience, is the basis of our life in the Spirit, and that learning to share our power in mutual relation is the most redemptive response we can make to the power of evil" (p. 82).

So far, this book is garnering a high rating from me.

A photo from the video taping session

Liz Curtis Higgs posted this on Facebook a few minutes ago:

"Oh, baby!  Yesterday in Nashville we shot a brand-new Video Bible Study for Bad Girls of the Bible.  SO thrilled to open God's Word with these beautiful sisters in Christ!  The new video and updated book will release on July 16.  We can't WAIT for you to see it!"

My friend Donna is on the left, front row, and I'm behind her on the next row.  Liz (front row, center) yelled, "Throw your hands out!"  So we did.  My right hand is touching the left side of the photo, extended above Donna's head.  That shows how well my physical therapy is working for range of motion, as my broken shoulder continues to heal.  I'm glad I was healed enough to drive to and from Nashville for this opportunity.  As I posted yesterday, Liz had promised us "a nice bag of books, a tasty snack, and a warm hug."  I got my hug when Liz arrived, and the "snack" was a huge box lunch — sandwich, salad, a couple of side dishes, and dessert.  As for the books, Lizzie said she chose these for us herself:

• A Perfect Mess: Why You Don't Have to Worry about Being Good Enough for God ~ by Lisa Harper, 2009
• At the Feet of Jesus: Daily Devotions to Nurture a Mary Heart ~ by Joanna Weaver, 2012
• Come Walk with Me: A Woman's Personal Guide to Knowing God and Mentoring Others ~ by Carole Mayhall, 2010
• Come Along: The Journey into a More Intimate Faith ~ by Jane Rubietta, 2008
• His Princess: Love Letters from Your King ~ by Sheri Rose Shepherd, 2004
• A Sudden Glory: God's Lavish Response to Your Ache for Something More ~ by Sharon Jaynes, 2012

One thing I didn't expect was having to stop recording — and waiting — whenever a train rolled by loudly on a track nearby.  Donna says she especially enjoyed talking with the other participants, who came from (at least these I remember about the 22 participants) Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Illinois.

Liz Curtis Higgs

I'm spending some time with Liz Curtis Higgs today (see my Sunday salon post).  I'll tell you more about it later this week, but for now I hope you enjoy her "Righteous Ruth Rap" from last year, following the publication of her book about Ruth, titled The Girl's Still Got It.  You may also want to read what I wrote in 2007 about her and the first of her books I read:  My Heart's in the Lowlands: Ten Days in Bonny Scotland.  I wrote about Liz and this book again a few months later on one of my other blogs:  Book Around the World: Scotland.  And here's a copy of the email she sent me yesterday.

Hi, Bonnie!

Tomorrow—Tuesday, February 26—is our Big Day together in Nashville! Can't wait to see you at 8:30am Central Time at Houston Station.

Any questions or concerns, just respond to this email. If an emergency comes up tonight or tomorrow morning, please phone our producer, Rebecca, at 501-349-xxxx.

You can be sure a nice bag of books, a tasty snack, and a warm hug will be waiting for you.

God bless and MANY thanks!

Your sister, Liz

Isn't it exciting?  Learn more about Lizzie on her website.  By the way, if this video quits working, you can watch the Righteous Ruth Rap on YouTube.

Library Lust ~ which would you pick?

I found a link to The 30 Best Places to Be if You Love Books among Rachel Held Evans's Sunday Superlatives 2/24/13 yesterday.  The one I chose to show you is a library behind a tub in someone's home.  It's an interesting concept, but I'd be afraid a book would get wet.  Yeah, but what fun to have books within reach while you soak, huh? The "library lust" in the title comes from my favorite feature on Claire's The Captive Reader.  Oh, the things I have found by reading bookish blogs!