lizzie : lightbox: Lois

These photos of Lois and Lizzie’s text is so beautiful. What a privilege it is to be able to reflect on each other in this way. xxx

lizzie : lightbox: Lois

New Hair

Well, actually it is old hair newly styled. Charity and I played hairdressers again on Monday and this was the result. It was an attempt to deal with the 2 weeks of being a ginger that had preceded. The original plan was to do more colouring and to add a red layer to the hair do. However, in order to remove the afore mentioned ‘ginger do’ we had to leave the peroxide on for a long time. Too long. My head was very sore. So, we decided it was probably best to not take the further step of going rock-star red. I myself am pleased with the result. Hope you like it too.

ps I am not gingerphobic it was just that it isn’t for me. Some of my best friends are ginger.

Mark Loudon’s new webpage

My lovely husband Mark has set up his website. Which, though still a work in progress, is well worth a look at. Some fantastic photos there. Lovely. xxx

Amnesty International – Greetings Cards

Amnesty International launched their
greetings card campaign at the beginning of the month and it runs until 31 Jan 2006.

‘It brings people across the world in touch with each other in a simple way – sending a card with a friendly greeting or message of solidarity to someone who is in danger or unjustly imprisoned. These are prisoners of conscience, people under sentence of death, human rights defenders under threat because of their work, and others at risk.

The campaign offers hope and encouragement to the people who receive our cards. It can also help bring about change – the impression their international mail makes on police, prison staff or political authorities can help keep them safe.’
from the Amnesty International publicity for the campaign

Last week was prisions week and in chapel on wed in chapel I wrote some intercessions about prisioners of conscience. As part of this I put together 30 greetings cards for people at Trinity to send. Most seem to have been taken and sent on. My thanks go to Bob Dickinson for drawing my attention to the campaign last year.

Back Street Boys

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-6739710473912337648&hl=en-GB

I know I am getting a bit carried away with google clips but I love this so much. It is pure joy!
xxx

Moral Philosophy and Ethics

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-966002756166969429&hl=en-GB

I am posting this just as I have been to a Moral Philosophy and Ethics lecture. This helps put a few things into perspective. xxx

Birthday Thanks

I share these with you because we are a strange but lovely family and these illustrate this perfectly!

Anyway, I wanted to report on my birthday. It was a great day. I had 3 parties – one with Mark and Eva; one with my pastoral group; and one at our house with some ‘new’ friends. All of which were a great blessing. I really am very blessed. I have only lived in this city since August and already I have have some great people to hang out with. It was a special day. Thanks

ps I got an ipod full of excellent toons (from Mark), some lovely perfume (from my Mum), a pingu t-shirt from Claire, chochies, candles, cards and cash. Not that the material things are important to me (much!!!).

I am a little bit of a heretic

Adam and I have have had a little go at this quiz and it turns out that I am a little bit of a heretic. Adam on the other hand has pure doctrine.
I was:
You are Chalcedon compliant. Congratulations, you’re not a heretic. You believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man and like us in every respect, apart from sin. Officially approved in 451.
Chalcedon compliant 83%
Monarchianism 67%
Modalism 67%
Socinianism 50%
Pelagianism 33%
Monophysitism 25%
Adoptionist 17%
Arianism 0%
Apollanarian 0%
Docetism 0%
Donatism 0%
Nestorianism 0%
Gnosticism 0%
Albigensianism 0%

Big Bibles

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-4138367087196865501&hl=en-GB

Again I am poncing off Harry Steele. But this is well worth repeating. I bet Harry has a big bible!

Antigone

Emerge from the darkness and go
before us a while
Friendly one, with the light step
Of total certainty, a terror
To wielders of terror.

You turn your face away. I know
How much you dreaded death, and yet
Even more you dreaded
Life without dignity.

And you would not let the mighty
Get away with it, nor would you
Compromise with the confusers, or ever
Forget dishonour. And over their atrocities
There grew no grass.

More Bertold Brecht Poems

I am back from the foundation ‘winter snug’ at lee Abbey. Completely trashed. Mark has gone to foundation and I am pondering on the weekend. It has been a hard weekend not least because I traveled over some old paths that I hadn’t expected to need again. I also got angry. I felt like Antigone. Or rather I felt like Brecht felt about Antigone (see poem above). There are some things worth getting angry about. It is worth being angry about the sex trade and human-trafficking. But anger is worthless if it renders us impotent.

Si Johnson drew our attention to Protest 4 which is ‘a global network of activists, tricksters, cultural creatives, and entrepreneurs, working in collaboration for justice. The first issue we’re picking off the ‘hit-list’ is human-trafficking.’ Many of us within Foundation are working, living or spending time with people for whom the effects of abuse and the sex-trade is an everyday reality. I am glad that others are visibly realising that this is an issue to ‘pick off the hit-list’. My hope is that a momentum will gather around this campaign.

The danger is we get so caught up in our own feelings about the situation we become immobilised by the sheer horror of it. Watching a film like Lilya 4-Ever overwhelms me. It makes me feel too much. I don’t want to feel so much that I can not act. I don’t need to be shocked I need to be empowered. Brecht attempted to shift the focus away from the feelings of his audience to the way in which they might be empowered by cultural artefacts to bring about social change. I am not feeling empowered yet…just a bit jaded. hence my return to the epic and to Brecht. Searching for a creative form that doesn’t rely on high emotion is a challenge. I wonder if, as Christians, we rely on emotional provocation too much?

Tonight I am tired and tomorrow I am going to spend in solitude (well as much solitude as is possible with a small child to play with, a PhD to write and an ethics essay to prepare for). I had expected to come home revived. I had thought that was what I needed. I was caught in a spin when I didn’t get what I wanted. My cage has been rattled.