Dark Night of the Soul

substance to the shadows

In case you're wondering why the statues of Jesus and Mary have purple shrouds over them, it's because they're in mourning for Lent over Jesus' impending crucifixion. The technical definition of "Dark Night of the Soul" is what Jesus felt as He was dying on the cross, when He cried out, "Oh, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Very religious people and saints, like Mother Teresa, are said to have experienced this same Dark Night of the Soul (in Mother Teresa's case, it's documented in her letters) -- a feeling of God having turned His back on them. Paradoxically, this experience makes them closer to Jesus in that they know what He went through on the cross. For them, as I believe in Mother Teresa's case, this Dark Night of the Soul can last for years. It has become a term, however, that people use to describe general desolation or despair that is not necessarily religious... although such depression can make one feel, that if there is a God, He has turned His back on them! Anyway, this is just my layperson's definition. If a priest, nun, theologian, or anyone who knows better is reading this and I am wrong, let me know :)

soundtrack to 2011... so far

Small Blue Thing--  Suzanne Vega
Fast Car-- Tracy Chapman
Black Hole Sun-- Soundgarden
Landslide-- Fleetwood Mac
I know this was on my last playlist, but I'll put it on this one, too...
Bette Davis Eyes-- Kim Carnes
(if I spend a morning smoking cigarettes and listening to a song on repeat, then it goes on that year's playlist, no questions asked. This scenario applies to "Bette Davis Eyes.")

And now, a special treat for you... for your viewing and listening pleasure, the David-Lynch-brand-of-macabre video for "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden! (This video does not fall under this site's copyright pertaining to original material.)








Here's a blog you should check out (as long as we're on a '90s kick): '90s Woman

Modestly Yours

I just read an interesting article called Portman and Her Critics on a site called Modestly Yours. Not only is Portman getting crap from feminists for having said, when she received her Oscar for "Black Swan," that motherhood will be her greatest role, she's also getting crap for that statement from conservatives who say she's glorifying being an unwed mother! Here is a comment I left on the article:


"Like Shanna, I too am a feminist. I don't think there's anything wrong with being an unwed mother (when I was still on myspace I was friends with the group 'Single Mothers By Choice.') However, I am married, but my husband and I are choosing not to have children for a myriad of reasons, one of them being that I want to focus that energy into my work (I'm a photographer and a writer, and I just don't have that much energy to go around!)But even though I personally am CHOOSING not to have children to focus on my career, I have no problem with Natalie Portman saying her greatest role will be motherhood. That's HER CHOICE. Madonna has called her children her 'greatest work of art,' and Sally Mann once said in a lecture in response to her photographs of her children, 'You can say I'm a bad photographer. Sometimes I think I'm a bad photographer. But I KNOW I'm a good mother.' And if Madonna and Sally Mann are not strong women, then I don't know who is."

I wonder what people who frequent a site celebrating modesty will think of my giving Madonna as an example of a strong woman!

I would also like to add here that many women-- many feminists, often of the Goddess-worshipping variety-- see their ability to bear and nurture children as empowering, as an embodiment of life-giving creation that is theirs alone; a microcosm to the macrocosm of the Great Mother Creatrix of the Universe. I personally will take a pass on that, but if they find that empowering, then they have my full support and respect!

Soundtrack to my life... so far

DJ Trish requested more playlists, and I am delivering! The following is the soundtrack to my life... so far.

Disc One: "They said you were something in those formative years..." --Tori Amos

Like a Prayer-- Madonna
A Day in the Life-- The Beatles
Sweet Child O' Mine-- Guns'n'Roses
Heart-Shaped Box-- Nirvana (to view the video for this song, click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page)
Man On the Moon-- REM
Mr. Jones-- Counting Crows
Longview-- Green Day
Good Sister, Bad Sister-- Hole
Crush With Eyeliner-- REM
Stars-- Lisa Germano
Saturday Afternoon (Won't You Try)-- Jefferson Airplane
Ice Cream Phoenix-- Jefferson Airplane
Two Heads-- Jefferson Airplane
Buildings and Bridges-- Ani Difranco
To Bring You My Love-- PJ Harvey
Through the Eyes of Ruby-- Smashing Pumpkins
Hyperballad-- Bjork
Pissing in a River-- Patti Smith
Mr. Gallo-- Cat Power
Plants and Rags--  PJ Harvey
In Liverpool-- Suzanne Vega
Bette Davis Eyes-- Kim Carnes
Famous Blue Raincoat-- Leonard Cohen
Spark-- Tori Amos


 Disc Two: "...help me in my weakness, for I've fallen out of grace... Jesus, Jesus..." --Velvet Underground

Keep On Living!-- Le Tigre
Strange Fire-- Indigo Girls
Jesus Loves Me Like a Bird-- Rose Polenzani
Little Earthquakes-- Tori Amos (click here to donate to Tori Amos' favorite charity, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, (RAINN) which she co-founded)
Otherside-- Red Hot Chili Peppers
Tomorrow, Wendy-- Concrete Blonde
There Is a Light That Never Goes Out-- The Smiths
Where the Streets Have No Name-- U2
Wayfaring Stranger-- Johnny Cash
The Swimmer-- Sleater-Kinney
Let My People Go-- Diamanda Galas
Fire Snakes-- Laura Veirs
Gimme Shelter-- Rolling stones
Suddenly I See-- KT Tunstall
Lightning is My Girl-- Melissa Auf der Maur
When Under Ether-- PJ Harvey
Black Balloon-- The Kills
Letter to God-- Hole
Jesus-- Velvet Underground

T's Snow Angel

Noodles wants to see more pictures, and I am delivering!

pictures from my church's Women's Spirituality Retreat, 2011

sunrise on the drive down

the next few are just shots around the grounds of the retreat house

we helped make a quilt for someone in need

shrine in the center of our sacred circle

as we were leaving, I took this parting shot

Movies That Take Place in Chicago

As if this will ever happen, but T and I thought it might be fun to get some friends and alcohol together to watch a movie marathon of movies that take place in Chicago. Here's the list off the top of my head:

Blues Brothers
Home Alone
Ferris Buehler's Day Off
Breakfast Club
The Untouchables
The Princess Bride
The Matrix
Wayne's World
Wayne's World 2
High Fidelity
Stir of Echoes
The Fugitive
U.S. Marshalls
Chicago
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
The Sting

That's all I can think of right now, but it's a lot! (Good thing we don't live in New York!) Let me know what I'm leaving out.