tyra banks can bite me

yesterday turned out good. choppy internal seas calmed thanks to some writing and then lunch with jayne in which we concluded that hormones are a rollercoaster of shit and that the only solution is a good cry and some cake. drinks in muriel’s followed (photo’s below) with lovely folks, and then ikon Last Supper at The Roost.

it was a privilege. peterson shared poetry, an extended scene from doin’ time in the homo nomo halfway house and a wonderful extract from a brand new project he’s writing.

and then peterson’s partner, glen retief, shared an incredible chapter from his memoir, the jack bank, which is due to be published in 2010. an equally powerful extract available here. their offerings left me speechless, shaken and stirred. amazing stuff.

::

which brings me to today…
my plan was to return to dublin this morning but instead i’m staying an extra night. am heading to QUB tonight for an event peterson’s doing (details here), and looking forward to a final nightcap with P&G after.

and the morning has proved rather eventful…

i awoke to find my plan B for 2009 of applying to be on America’s Next Top Model cycle 13 (all models under 5’7″) is no longer necessary. which is a relief, since Celia was knocked out of cycle 12’s final 4 for being “too old”. at 20-fricking-5.

so this plan B is in the bin thanks to,
(1) getting notification from UCD that,

“The Graduate Board of the College of Human Sciences has approved your application for the MA Women’s Studies programme (full-time)…We hope you will accept the offer and look forward to seeing you here in September”

colour me saying, “i will.”

and

(2) at the age of 35 and a 1/2, i’m now adding “cover girl” to my resume – *without* the help of the above mentioned ms banks. seventeen magazine?, i hear you ask. oprah magazine? french vogue? ms.? bitch? bust? national enquirer? fly fishing weekly? nope. Christian Century. details here on pete’s blog. the article’s actually an interview with pete but the cover makes for a kind of ikon where’s wally? of familiar faces and silhouettes.

as of tomorrow i’m gonna follow in ms evangelista’s footsteps and won’t get out of bed for less than $10,000. i presume this means i need to purchase a cathater forthwith.

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photos of some of the lovely folks of the week – sadly missing is a pic of steve lawson, who surprised us with a visit. he managed to convince me of the beauty and possiblity of twitter. and did so without the use of thumb screws. i usually don’t get to see steve any other time than greenbelt so this made for an unexpected treat.

peterson and ian (mrs tumnus) strike a pose in muriel’s…

LittleBird and Pád, my love…

The Father (our host for the week) and Glen sharing a lunchtime pint at The Nook,
before walking down to the Giant’s Causeway on Monday…

right, i’m off to meet the rollins for lunch. which reminds me,

friday night, centaur, gb09. ikon will be committing theological arson. we is rubbing our collective and collaborative hands together gleefully at the plan that is coming together… we’ve now 3 months to do a Macgyver on it…

LB

p.s. i’m really rather proud and admiring of fr tim bartlett for standing up for his convictions. tim’s a nice guy, was very supportive of zero28 and i’ve seen him faced with some very difficult questions over the years in various fora. but none as difficult as last sunday.

lots of dark, tiny signs of light

bit of laundry list this. stuff that caught my eye and ear inbetween to-ing and fro-ing… i’d write more on what i’ve been thinking on all of this but the tops of my fore and middle fingers on my left hand had an accidental encounter with a razor blade and so typing is proving awkward.

from the daily dish:
i’ve gone back to this video several times. an arresting juxtaposition of happy people and angry voices…

li wei‘s amazing *not photoshopped* images:

After Wars, Mass Rape Exists an important highlighting of an issue that has had pitifully little attention given its severity. and a not uncontroversial report by Nicholas Kristof in the NYT of the same – the comments are provocative.

it’s been a troubling week for being part of Christendom on this part of the world…
there’s good coverage of the ‘gay debate’ at the Church of Scotland’s general asssembly over at sunday sequence and william’s blog, including the big question that now hangs over CofS’s daughter church, the presbyterian church in ireland. none of it entices me to return to the fold of the denomination.

sunday sequence yesterday gave most of the programme, unsurprisingly, to the 3000 page report on child abuse in the Catholic church in ireland published last week. the debate: will there be justice for victims? made for powerful and at times deeply uncomfortable listening.

i had a job a few years back typing up statements from victims of abuse in church run institutions. i’m not sure there’s ever going to be anything to say as adequate response to the horrific history brought unequivocally into the light. the challenge lies in what should be done, rather than said, in response. with two more reports yet to come this summer, the role of, and extent of power given to, the roman catholic church in irish society is now severely under question.

on a (perhaps, slightly) more positive note, william had a very interesting conversation with susie orbach last Sunday about her new book, Bodies. the interview is no longer there but there’s an Observer review here.

LB

the woman next door

via an incredibly eloquent dorothee soelle quote from sarah,

and via the daily dish. sullivan got choked up over Miss Boyle, (who, physically, reminds me so much of the Scottish women i was surrounded by in my youth), and i’m unashamed to say, so did i.

here’s to the unseen and unexpected. which is a theme i’m increasingly interested in, especially in a gender and queer context – seeing the assumed normative deconstructed as it is subverted by those kept to the edges because they don’t quite fit our expectations.

my dear brother-by-choice, Chris, said, “If The Wire were a bible passage it would be this:” seems fitting here too…

God chose what is weak in the world to make the strong feel ashamed. And God chose what is insignificant in the world, what is despised, what is nothing, in order to destroy what is something, so that no one may boast in God’s presence. (1Cor 28-29)

LB