Actually it feels like we’re flowing into mid-summer. And Everything is so pretty! And I’m so tired. So here is just a picture this week. Despite the brokenness in us and around us, this is a beautiful world.
Just Spring
Interrupted by books!
Weave a Circle Around by Kari Maaren (2017, Tor). Freddy is big sister to genius Mel and step-sister to Roland. The new configuration of her family is one thing. High school is another. Freddy would like to just be normal. And then they get new neighbors. There is magic and time travel and the fate of the world. And growing up. This was a great read. The time travel is handled really well! It sort of reminds me of Madeleine L’Engle.
Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh (2024, Tor). I really liked Emily Tech’s previous Greenhollow books and I am happy to say I really liked this as well. Her writing is so good! In fact, Kyr is unlikeable at first, and it sort of grew on me, hey she may not be hero. But things happen. She sort of is the hero. In her world, the children are trained as warriors. Or as mothers. Kyr is the best in her class….but then she gets a terrible unanticipated assignment and at the same time needs to help her brother and her life is turned upside down. She slowly and painfully learns the rest of the story of the universe. Power is tricky indeed. “Others” can be your friend. There is time travel here too, and really well done. And this is space opera and full of adventure and there is love, but perhaps not romantic love, and a lot of food for thought.
Cascade Failure by L.M. Sagas (2024, Tor). This was a really fun read. If you liked the show Firefly, you will like this rag-tag band of misfits who find themselves saving the world and each other. Space opera, found families, a wonderful AI, adventure, snark, and really good stuff. I am looking forward to the next one!
What Cannot be Said by C.S. Harris (2024, Berkley). A new Sebastian St. Cyr mystery! Hooray! I really like historical fiction with lots of interesting history and characters and a mystery that needs solving. At this point (book 19) these characters are old friends. Sebastian’s colleague, the Bow Street magistrate Sir Henry Lovejoy, has the unfortunate task to investigate the murder of a mother and daughter in the park – who died in a manner exactly like his wife and daughter did 14 years ago. Was the wrong man convicted back then? Is someone out to get Lovejoy? Is it a horrible chance? There are many twists and turns and so much heart break. A deep, rich wonderful read, and mercifully not a bit of time travel.
Mark 2:1-12 how are we saved?
Ignoring for a moment* what “being saved” even means, are we saved by what we do** for others, how we love, how sorry we are for the things we did wrong? What else can save us? In this story, it is your friends. You are paralyzed: lets go for metaphor a minute. You have messed up your life so much, so deeply, you are frozen. Your friends lift you up. Your friends get you to Jesus. (That could even be another metaphor: Your friends give you a “come to Jesus” moment like “no ‘retirement’ doesn’t mean life won’t have anymore trouble for you, silly old bear, just a different type of trouble”.) Your friends took action and in this story Jesus saw their action (verse 5), he forgave you.
Okay you can argue the “their” in verse 5 means both you and your friends who did the work of getting you to Jesus.
But really you are paralyzed and had no choice but to go where your friends took you.
Or did you implore your friends?
Or are they really your friends? For years I thought that verse 3 said “friends”. And it doesn’t actually.
Or in a new interpretation that I am not sure about (The Bible for Normal People, Ep. 266, guest Candida Moss), they could be enslaved men. In the podcast/transcript, this is toward the end. Dr. Moss thinks that a “mat” would not be sturdy enough to lower down a roof, that it would be a “litter,” which were what rich people were carried about on. And a litter would be carried most likely by enslaved people. She is not sure about the interpretation used for the word “people” in verse 3, that “friends” would perhaps not be a valid interpretation even though it is common. Is it even people? Is is more like, “the unseen labor lowered him down on his mat”? However if this is so, then when Jesus thus forgives the paralyzed man, we can imagine how there would be stuff to be forgiven, yes, in this case? And when Jesus then heals him, to show that Jesus has this power of forgiveness, Jesus tells the man to go home and now take care of people too. This was a really fascinating episode of the podcast.
Because I want actions on the behalf of others to matter to God. I want “to be saved” — while mostly a private mystery — to also be somehow, in some cases, a group effort. That friendship and loyalty matter.
Although if Dr. Moss’s interpretation is pressed on, then your prayers and actions on behalf of anyone, even someone you hate, could “count.” Could save them. Could save yourself. Could save the world.
Perhaps I just don’t think as big as Jesus and God who want to free and forgive the whole world, whatever it takes!
Unseen labor, people, friends — Jesus saw their faith — they were not unseen or just people to Jesus. He looked right at them, at the hole in the roof, and brushed the dust created off his robe, and smiled. I bet his eyes twinkled right at these men, seeing them. I bet Jesus was filled with joy at this messy situation that he was going to clean up, a carpenter rolling up his sleeves.
FTGOG
*I’m ignoring defining “to be saved” but I would suggest it means being forgiven for your sins, to be “remembered” that is put back together from all the broken pieces that make us up. Maybe? I’m not talking about “heaven.”
**Yes yes faith by grace not by works. But seriously “doing” is important too, isn’t it? The older I get the more I know I need grace. And more I know I need to try to do something that helps. This just can’t be an either/or, can it?
Mark 2:1-12 and windows and doors
This is a curious coincidence — my husband and I have watched several movies lately that revolve around doors as magical things. And then here is a door in verse 2 of this biblical story (Mark 2:1-12) — “So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door….” It seems as if, from various lectures and a tiny bit of google, that generally houses in Jesus’ time and place did not have windows, and they wouldn’t have had glass like we think of windows. But doors, yes. Doors let in light and air! Doors kept danger out at night. Doors are kind of magical aren’t they? You are one place, then you are another when you open the door and step out (or in).
In this case, for there to not be any more room even in front of the door, that meant there were a lot of people around! It was packed!
And the magical thing really was Jesus “was speaking the word to them.” I like the translation “preaching” better — Jesus was preaching! And I would capitalize “the Word” — he was speaking the Word! Wow! If I had a chance to ride on a time machine, this is where I would go, that hot, packed, aromatic incredible moment where Jesus spoke the word.
I imagine that Jesus would speak the truth, wiser than anyone else. I imagine he used stories from the Torah and so on. But the Gospel of Mark doesn’t say! At all. This is not a story about what Jesus said. This is a story about what Jesus does.
So there was no more room, but — then more people came! What is going to happen next? Stay tuned!
FTGOG
Back to Mark 2:1-12
It seems that I haven’t written about my favorite bible story on the blog! I am shocked! I’m delighted. I’ve been at a loss about what to write about. Let’s dive into Mark 2:1-12! In fact look at the first verse. He — that is Jesus — returned to Capernaum and after a few days of quiet, people found out that he was at home.
Jesus was at home. How amazing is that! We think of Jesus as being on the road and dusty and miserable and homeless. But here, at the beginning, he was at home — he had a home maybe, or maybe he felt at home. Relaxed? Energized? What was Jesus like when he was at home? Isn’t that curious to wonder about?
Verse 1 has more to wonder about. Capernaum is by the sea of Galilee and it was (if I see the map properly) “toward the top” but definitely in the ancient days it was Judean, but under Roman control.
I have been told that Capernaum was bustling — but not perhaps by our modern standards.
So Jesus has returned (we’ll look at this in the future, where did he return from?), he’s “at home” and he has been found out to be at home. This starts with quiet. But the quiet is already about to end.
FTGOG
Happy Easter
May all our new beginnings
May all our springs
Be full of blue skies and warm breezes
of the peace from God that passes understanding.
May we see each other with eyes of love
May we see the beautiful world.
May our hearts be thankful.
Interrupted by Cinderella
As much as my husband and I like to experience dance performances, ballet is admittedly one of our least favorites. Yet the story of Cinderella, for reasons that I don’t understand, entranced me as a child. I still have the “Disney” plastic Cinderella that my Cinderella watch came with. I’m really too old to keep it. It’s really too old to be kept, all faded. But I keep her anyway, with my little figurines from the TV show “Supernatural” and a wonderful Ruth Bader Ginsburg figurine. I think they are having some interesting conversations!
But back to the Cinderella ballet. It is a different version of the story, of course, because ballet has story limitations. There’s no spoken dialogue or song lyrics. The language of classical ballet is also limited (ymmv). This version had wonderful set design. It was performed in a theater space we had not been to before and that was a really interesting space. I simply do not recall being allowed to take food and drink inside a theater space before; there were even cupholders. The bathroom was the best public bathroom I have ever been in. All of the workers were so kind and helpful.
And it was enchanting to see dozens and dozens of little girls there (a few boys), some of them very young, and most of them all dressed up. Some dressed like Cinderella. Some just dressed fancy. It was adorable, especially to see the little ones with their papas.
And let me mention that the “extra performers” — I would guess local students. They were the “magical frogs” in one scene and “time keepers” in another. They were great! They were clearly thrilled to be there, clearly born little performers. It was wonderful to see performers so young with such delight and practice and charm and skill.
What I hate is the ballet-style version of Cinderella.
It is time for a change in the story of Cinderella. Now I am sure that someone like T. Kingfisher or Naomi Novik have or will do a retelling. I have read some cute or charming romances in that genre that flip things around and go into a deeper well. So why is the ballet world seemly stuck on this horrible version?
Let’s “Barbie” up Cinderella! The “evil” stepsisters — is that necessary for them to be evil or mean or buffoons or pranksters? Is it necessary for them to be in drag? Couldn’t they have a story too (whether drag or not)? Perhaps they are frightened children not knowing how to deal with grieving mother (we’ll get to the “evil” stepmother in a second)? Perhaps they are much younger than Cinderella, and that is why Cinderella is doing more of the chores? Maybe they try to help and break stuff? Maybe they can’t dance because they are too young, not because they are “failures”? What if they are much older than Cinderella, and they feel too worn out — or injured — to do chores? What was their life like when they lost their father?
Maybe there is a poverty factor — a widow with two daughters and a step-daughter in the world of “magical fantasy” that is ballet Cinderella are not likely to be rich. That too could explain Cinderella doing chores. Or perhaps Cinderella, having been the “daughter of the house” for so long, won’t accept help from any of her stepfamily. She knows how things are supposed to work.
So do women have to compete with each other?
Do women have to find a prince?
Do the stepsisters have to be portrayed as ugly — and therefore just a joke?
Does beauty mean everything?
Even if those “rules” of this magical fantasy land are accepted, couldn’t there be hints of more, of deeper?
And the shoe scenes — this isn’t really ballet Cinderella ‘s fault, all the stories seem to do this. If the prince is so entranced by the mysterious beauty at the ball, why does he need the shoe to recognize her? I realize that when Cindy shows the matching shoe that proves she is the one to others. But why the fantastic nonsense of trying the shoe on the stepsisters — he knows that they are not the girl he danced with. He knows that! That scene is just there as some sort “see how far a girl will go to capture a prince?” type of warning to young men, maybe. (I think the original version has a very gross version, but it still doesn’t make sense.)
There simply must be some other way to tell this story, even in the limitations of ballet.
I love a good transformation scene. One of the best ever (for me ymmv) is the first Wonder Woman Marvel movie with Gal Gadot. Another is in The Princess Diaries with Anne Hathaway. The transformation scene in ballet has challenges of live performance, but surely somehow, there could be a way?
Because the true magic of Cinderella, I think or at least wonder about, is that the physical and emotional change from being a child to being a young woman are profound. And you can feel as if you lose your father, or at least you have to set aside being “daddy’s girl” at some level. And you suddenly can find you don’t understand your mother and don’t want to be your mother. In our world, there is an understanding of teens needing space, needing to differentiate themselves. In “magical fantasy land”, this being represented by death, by suffering, by confusion of change…. by shoes? …. by suddenly transforming, as if by magic, to the beautiful, confident suprise princess should work. But I think there needs to be a deeper level, one the tiny and adorable girls in the audience might not understand. But at some other level, perhaps they would? Perhaps some restoration to right relationships between the steps and Cindy? Perhaps some “buffoonish” boys at the ball that the stepsisters clearly like and who like them back? Perhaps just some glimpse besides the soup-for-the-old-lady scene that beauty is as beauty does? Not a heavy handed lesson, but perhaps restoration with the steps can give them beauty too, because beauty comes in all shapes and being awkward and clumsy doesn’t mean you aren’t loving and kind.
Perhaps the true fear in the story isn’t that the Prince won’t find Cinderella, shoe or no shoe. Perhaps the true fear isn’t that a woman could be widowed twice and be in fearful position in the world. Perhaps the true fear is that a girl might not “make” the transformation to being a beautiful, graceful young woman. The girl might transform instead to a mean, awkward, grace-less, ugly girl. And the more they try to fight — the more the stepsisters shove their feet into the glass slipper — the more they fail.
If you know of a version of Cinderella that I should check out, let me know!
Interrupted by Book Reviews!
Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R.F. Kuang (2022). Because I mentioned this book when I had just begun I want to “finish up” by noting that, to me, it ends well. This is “alternative history” type of speculative fiction in which silver and magic words creates unlimited power to fuel the industrial resolution and to fuel and to entrench the strata of society and colonization. It is a brilliant book. The four friends are tossed together by chance, and by being different in similar and overlapping and even competing ways. Our main narrator is Robin Swift. And his is a heart-breaking story. The world-building is completely amazing and powerful. Equally powerful is the comment explicit and implicit on our real world. There is, ultimately, such a beautiful hopeful dream-image of the Oxford of learning, boating, and picnics, of endless fall and spring, of tea in shabby rooms with companions of the heart, that is might indeed be a dream of heaven. This is worth every minute of reading and at a certain, shocking, twist you won’t set the book down until you finish.
Starter Villain by John Scalzi (2023). This is just a joy to read. The worldbuilding is silly, the first-person narrator is charming, his cats are perfect. If you inherit a business and a fortune from your long-lost uncle, and then it turns out to be an evil business and a un-spendable fortune, and people are trying to kill you, what do you do? Plus cats (and dolphins). Plus true love, although not necessarily for poor Charlie. This was just a bunch of delicious bubbles.
Always Remember by Mary Balogh (2024). I just love a good romance, by which I mean you know it is going to end up happy and be true love but the path to get there is full of sorrow and challenges. Does love, true love, make us better people? I vote yes. In this part of the Ravenswood trilogy, Ben — the loyal oldest brother but the illegimite brother — starts to fall helplessly in love with Lady Jennifer, who was disabled by an illness in her childhood. She is determined that her helplessness not be a burden on her family so she is cheerful. Ben too bears his burdens with cheerfulness and kindness. To each other, they find ways to reach and connect and not always be unnoticed or no trouble. Their society would disdain their match, but it is not giving away the ending to say rest assured true love wins. It is the journey that is the fun. I love Mary Balogh’s romances.
Better Days: Tame Your Inner Critic by Neal Allen (2023). Non-fiction alert! This book really is rather life-changing for me. I call my inner critic something unprintable, and he always flocks to me to suck joy out of things, to make me doubt that an enjoyable encounter really was, and to assure me that I am not love-able, worthy, and will definitely fail. It turns out maybe all of us have this inner critic. And there are ways to understand and ways to ignore the I.C. And there are human defenses, such as withdrawal, anger, and superiority, that we all do and ways to break these patterns that could make life more peaceful. Perhaps we need not worry about wasting time. Perhaps we learn to dance (or at least putter peacefully) through our days. I have read some of the chapters over and over.
Exodus 2:1-10 and seeing
My “word of the year” is attentiveness, and the women in Exodus 2:1-10 were quite attentive and changed the world. All these women see. The Mother saw a fine baby (verse 2). The thing is, I am pretty sure, that as a mother her baby was completely beautiful to her; he grabbed her heart. The love you feel holding your newborn is indescribable. I’m sure, besides that, he was quite a fine baby! But it wouldn’t have mattered objectively. Next up, the sister (Surprise! This wasn’t a first-born baby, but the first born after Pharaoh’s decree that male babies should be killed.) After the Mother floated the baby in the basket into the reeds at the bank of the river, the sister went “to see what would happen” (verse 4).
What happened next was a big surprise — Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bath in the river, this particular part of the river. Or the Mother and Sister knew Pharaoh’s daughter always bathed at that particular part of the river, and they planned or perhaps merely hoped that as part of daily routine, Pharaoh’s daughter would fine the basket and care.
Pharaoh’s daughter did see the basket, whether by chance or design. And then she saw the baby and cared, suddenly and deeply (verse 6).
Perhaps she was blind to her father’s actions before or helpless. Perhaps suddenly none of the politics mattered, just the welfare of this crying infant.
These women paid attention and saw. And took action to save at least this baby, but eventually this baby grew up and saved the Hebrew people.
Perhaps God, too, already saw even though it is later in chapter 2 (verse 25) when we are told that “God looked upon the Israelites.”
FTGOG
Interrupted by Hinduism
This semester I am learning a little bit about some of the other world religions. And I did not even know how little I knew about Hinduism before this class. This video is one of the best things out of the class so far.
Video: Why Rama and Jesus Are an Inspiration by Sadhguru https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chb6F9Q7CWU
Life throws stuff at you and you do your best. Not to acquire things or power but to love and forgive. I might add, if I were political, being hateful, resentful, and retributive is not in this picture.
Back in my wheelhouse of storytelling, this speaker is telling a couple of powerful stories and managing to help me see connections. The power of good stories!
FTGOG 