The Social Porcupine

  (somewhat of) a satire It might be old news, but women are frustrated . Unfortunately, they can’t blame men anymore. They tried, they won, and now their rights are safeguarded by nuclear threat, and by the brains of nerdy, effeminate men willing to bring home the paycheck and change the newborn’s diapers. There just isn’t time anymore to open the car door or pay attention to which side of the street she is walking on. His picks up his dirty underwear now, but he also won't share a sock drawer anymore. And she feels slighted.  Who licked the icing off the cake? Women have lost their sense of identity, and it all started because they didn’t want men to spend so much time at the bars. Actually, they didn’t want their men to drink at all. Hence the reformation among Presbyterian and Methodist preachers to put down the bottle and ordain a few  women pastors. Hence the temperance movement. Hence the end of moonshine and the beginning of World Wars, pantyhose, and pink razors....

If you're a writer, you probably shouldn't read this. I will be speaking a lot of truth swaddled in satire. I will be telling you what you shouldn't be listening to as I tell you that you shouldn't be listening to anything. I humbly tell you now that I shall make a hypocrite of myself to save you from being a foolish beta reader (because, if we're all honest, knowing all the cool writing rules doesn't make you a better writer but a terribly annoying beta reader).  Show Don't Tell For all of eternity writers were paid to disobey this rule. And then we started cranking out cheap slave labor novels for Walmart shelves and suddenly everything had to be "show-don't-tell". Well, let me tell you something. I will never work in a factory for a dollar a week and I have no desire to be the next harlequin mass paperback author.  I am a storyteller, not a story-shower.  "But," you say. "It's always better to see the wedding t...

 One of those days where I decided to just be wonky and record it. Posting here because too lazy to create in-depth content. 

I once worked in customer service. You know, the job where you paste a smile on your face when all you want to do is let that other person have what ought to be coming to them. But of course, you keep the smile, keep the words, and keep on serving. For the small, silly reason that you want to keep your job (though, those of us that have quit, know that we’d never take such a job back. Even when our bosses have told us over and over, “Oh, but you were made for customer service!”).  Hah. Made for it.  But how the world has changed.  Now, or so I heard, rude customer service is encouraged. Of course, only for the correct political reasons. Maybe I would have stayed in the business, had it been so in my day . . .  But then maybe not. Back then I definitely had my moments of wishing to spit in people’s faces. But now . . . with that warning constantly being bombarded into my eardrums, I’m sure I’d not be able to curb the temptation.  Back then I’d merely have been fi...

I think life is a big game we play ~  Eric Cantona  "I'm done. With everything, but mostly with life." "Oh?" I asked. "I just don't get the point anymore. Life is just a stupid  game." "But ... that's the point. Only, to play the game well." My cynical friend stared at me, then let his eyes roll, obviously not impressed by my making light of his having made fun of life. If he'd just listened to me for a moment longer, I would have said something of substance. Instead he walked away from me and right off the edge of a cliff, ending his game of life forever. Life is a song - sing it. Life is a game - play it. Life is a challenge - meet it. Life is a dream - realize it. Life is a sacrifice - offer it. Life is love - enjoy it ~ Sai Baba As a want-to-be distinguished chess lover and player, I strongly believe that life is the greatest game and that many people under appreciate this. Or run away from the fact, as i...

"All we are is dust in the wind." I don't know why this thought came to me, except that I felt I must stand against it. Even though it's from a fairly new song written by Kansas , the idea that we are nothing but dust struck me as something that must be as true and old as a proverb, perhaps even scriptural.  I asked my mother, "Is the idea that we are nothing but dust in the wind biblical?" "I think maybe." "It can't be," I said. "It is totally wrong." My mother turned to me. "Now be careful what you say." "But it can't be. God wouldn't ever say that we are worthless." And that's when I realized the full extent of why this bothered me. Surely, it wasn't in the Bible. Surely there would be no justification to the idea that we are nothing, meant for nothing, and to be nothing forevermore. God is a God of purpose, order, and beauty. Nothing, or rather, nihilism,  seems to be against His very ...

TAKE A CHILL PILL Maybe the Earth isn't destined to end in flames—all we need is a bit of cold love. Five freshmen from a small northern country school have decided that the heated debate around global warming can no longer be ignored. Together they invented the vending machine they are calling The Chill Cube. After winning the county state fair, their invention has received much attention—and speculation. Can a machine that dispenses ice cubes be the answer to curing global warming? Mallory Benton, age fifteen, the only girl and the spokesperson for the teenagers said, “I was raised Northern Baptist. People and the environment are all created by God. I was taught that everything starts in our hearts. My friends and I believe that's what's at the core of the threat of global warming—humanity's heart. When man's anger is flared everything gets heated that should have been civil—politics, theology, sports. You name it." "Humanity needs to cool down...

You Can't Trust Music So many notes, so many tunes, and so many melodies. We call it beautiful, art, the only thing that makes sense to a soul when all else fails. Like math, if you will. But unlike math ... how can one really trust the music to be authentic? The more I've pondered this question the more I've realized music has to be messed up. I'll explain why. The other day I pulled my guitar out of its case and plucked a string—it was off-key, even though I had just played it the day before. Now, if I'd just had it in the car I could have understood. But it was no big deal because I had my digital tuner and quickly readjusted my strings. But the whole thing got me to thinking ... Back in the old days when people had only horse and buggy, or further back when man-kind traveled by chariots. Back when traveling was a longer, bumpier, messier business than driving by auto. Before digital tuners had been invented. I bet the people of the old still n...

I clean in rain, sun, or snow. All who commune in the Lord's Supper pretend to understand its significance. But do they? When the pastor invites all who are worthy to unite with one another in Yeshua's blood and Yeshua's body what are the qualifications? Remember the words of Paul: "I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good . . . For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes." ~ 1 Corinthians 11:17-29 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ, they eat and drink judgment on themselves. Have we examined ourselves, or do we all blaspheme this Holy practice by taking it unworthily? "Our body is the house in which ou...

Originally written March 28, 2015, then emailed to nearly every person I knew because I thought they'd think it funny. Turned out I made quite a few people mad, and my grandpa and I ended up not speaking to each other for over three months. Ah, memories of when I've tried to be funny and failed...  Picture of me when I was sixteen with my favorite dumb, non-talking beast named Catriona. I think she liked my necklace. Animals—should we eat them? Are they just dumb beasts, or as C. S. Lewis' famous series suggests, are there animals that are possibly equal with us humans? Most Christians argue that only humans are intellectual. Only we are capable of morality and true emotions. Then there are the evolutionists. They, in essence, believe that animals are on the same level as humans. Of course, they also deny the fact that there is a heaven and a hell, and that someone else made all of Earth and what lives on it, dumb and sentient alike. Thus, because many of their b...

If I understood my Au Pair family correctly, this is the largest organ, and it's in Passau, Germany. glittertextmaker.info People, I have dug deep into my soul and found myself to be a hypocrite. You see, for years I have judged other protestants or non-catholic Christians for celebrating on Catholic holidays as if they were their own holidays, or for acting like those holidays must be celebrated in order to be a real Christian. I mean, look at me. Look at my family. And look at the many, many other Christians like my family who don't keep Christmas, Halloween, or Easter. But I have been humbled under my hypocrisy, because I have realized that there is a Catholic holiday I keep and love, and there's no way I will ever stop celebrating it. And so, I have decided to stop judging people when it comes to matters of affiliated parties. I don't care if you'd Jew or Greek, Protestant or Catholic, you may keep your St. Patrick's, Lent, Back to my con...

Mittens I knitted */*/*/*/*  Father, why did you give me hands  If you desire my life to  Be always out of my reach?  Father, why do you tell me, "Stand!  I have much for you to do."  If only to flood my beach.  Father, they say home is where the heart is. But my heart is everywhere ... or nowhere.  Father, they say this world is not my home.  But would you give Eden to a foreigner?  I don't wish to follow my heart.  Yet I do wish to find it.  Father, I yearn to find home.  If I may not control my part  Or place in life, so be it.  Take my hands, but give me Shalom.   */*/*/*/*  Some things I've learned this last month: >It's possibly to be rejoicing over one thing and grieving over another at once  >Peace can strengthen your days and stress can rule your nights, and sometimes the two can intermingle >One can be angry and grateful in the same momen...