General update, not exciting

So much to do today and this weekend: Hurricane Irene means that there will be no gatherings of friends, and I am sad about that.

However, it does give me time to do the 10,000 things that have been put off this week.


* Home reassembly is tops on the list---many successive weekends away and excessive packing and repacking have taken a big toll. I'm on it, but it's slow. Still need to rebottle the kambucha, too.

* Was asked to submit a workshop for the New Jersey Women and AIDS (NJWAN) annual conference. Need to push on that---due Monday

* Need to review edits on an article in Academic Med---also due Monday

* Was asked to speak at the World AIDS Day conference in Pennsylvania that I attended as a guest last year. Yay! Must write talk. Slides due Nov. 1st

* Have a book talk on Tuesday for the staff at NJWAN. Yay! Must write talk.

* Must review PRSA letter and send off book with it to Puerto Rico

* Preliminary qualitative analysis of three practices due at end of month. Must hop on this harder.

* Agreed to review an article for Poor and Underserved. Must do it well and on time.

* Michael is pushing hard on his business and I need to support him and pick up home responsibilities, too: hop, hop, hop.

* Must work with Krissy, Sharon, Peggy and Mike on their Blue Star paths. Very important. Must be a good teacher.


Hope I can get everything in place for FoV and roll with all my other responsibilities soon.

Larissa, Rill, and Robin: will call you all this weekend, at least briefly. Thank you for being so patient!

Writer's Block: It’s Women’s Equality Day!

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I think that unequal treatment of many categories of humans is endemic to our culture and to most, if not all, other cultures.

The problem is not the unequal status of women. The problem is the way humans insist on creating and promoting systems of inequality.

On the other hand, this gives me something meaningful to do with my life: I can work towards shifting humanity away from this pattern by promoting the transformation of those individuals, groups and cultures within it.

Something to do, right?

(no subject)

I have just realized I am unbelievably fortunate. There is no part of my life I have not chosen. I have the privilege of walking away from people, projects and situations I do not like and/or love. I work, play and volunteer only where I want to. My sexuality is mine to enjoy---not a resource for survival or under the control of others. I am able to choose my friends and collaborators on the basis of resonance and respect. Much of the world cannot say that.

My work and my life are full of meaning.

My life rocks.

Surprise!

Know what I discovered?

Stephen Mitchell, who created my favorite translation of the Tao te Ching, is Byron Katie's husband.

I was really surprised at first, but then I realized it made sense: birds of a feather flock together. Magnificent people tend to come in pairs, and beyond that, in groups.

The pleasure of Firefly

Every time I watch Firefly I am more gripped by a compulsive sense of adulation for Joss Whedon's writing team. I know it's not just him, because genius happens in groups more than in individuals. I imagine the feel of the synergy characterizing his team---each member adding his or her own glorious quirks to give birth to a perfect whole. What a joy, to be one fraction of the egregore that creates such beauty.

I often debate which is more stunning: Objects in Space or Out of Gas? Probably, for the sheer creativity of the story arc, Out of Gas. Still, Objects in Space is a pearl, with some of the most imaginative dialogue in the series.

Beautiful!