by Roxanne -

Unfair By Design

Americans are notorious for not wanting to look at the systemic problems underlying many of our social ills. For example, we’d rather believe that if we vote for the right politician or political party our problems will be solved – rather than tackle the underlying systemic problem of campaign finance reform and lack of term limits that keeps politicians of both parties beholden to big financial, military and corporate interests. Far easier to turn politics into a competitive sport where we pick a political party more or less like a sports team and cheer for our side to win.

We’d rather tell ourselves that charities should take care of those made poor and those who struggle with health problems or tragedies, rather than look at the huge wealth transfers (regressive rates, deductions) for the middle class, elites and corporations designed to take wealth unfairly from others. Wealth transfers are designed into our tax code. They can be designed out as well.

We’d rather think that millions of home foreclosures were due to the personal failings of homeowners rather than the predatory lending practices, high risk hedging and multi-trillion dollar bail-outs of the too-big-to-fail-banks encouraged by the repeal of banking regulation laws. This mortgage boom-bust was designed by lawmakers acting in the interests of the financial industry.

We’d rather tell ourselves that tolerance and warm feelings toward people of color will solve systems of white privilege and racism, rather than face and dismantle the wealth-transferring discrimination built into our legal, educational and corporate systems.

Many work for or against legalizing marriage for all, rather than acknowledge that systemically, the social benefits assigned arbitrarily to those who are married could and should be made available to all, independent of marital status, and how conventional marriage creates poverty for women and children by design.

Others want to believe that raising the eligibility age for social security or medicare is not the same as privatizing them (meaning giving all the attendant fees and insurance dollars to corporations) when it is exactly that. Health care, like clean water is a basic human right. Without adequate social safety nets crime, corruption and violence will radically increase in our society. Not a country or a world I want to live in.

It’s no different for religious institutions. Within the Catholic church, for example, many feel that ordaining women will solve the governance problem in the church. But it is the ordination system itself that allows for one voice to trump all within a community. Those who are ordained in this system are formed in such a way that they are predisposed to elitism, privilege, self-focus with no accountability. This creates a situation that fosters corruption and abuse. Lack of financial transparency within the church similarly promotes unethical and immoral behavior. Ordaining women will not change these fundamental flaws designed into this system.

Our refusal to look at or discuss underlying systems persists because doing so would take time, require self examination and is complex. It’s easier to focus on personal charity, personal spirituality or personal failings of high profile individuals. But this is to fail ethically and morally because we are all interconnected and interdependent. We either work to transform unjust systems or we are part of the corruption.

Refusing to learn about systemic injustice makes us morally culpable. There are no easy answers or quick fixes. However, this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t endeavor to work for systemic change. We’ve had the moral courage and tenacity to make systemic changes in the past (ending slavery, women voting, environmental laws, human rights, etc.). A better future for everyone requires it.

You may also like Time to Tax Wall Street and True Freedom.

by Roxanne -

Authentic Living

Photo DesktopNexus.com
Recently I had the occasion to reconnect with the woman who was my principal for eight years in grade school. She is just as bright, vibrant and sharp today as she was then. While she worked many years in education and administration, she still works three days a week as a chaplain. Her focus has always been in the area of social justice and service. I credit her and her faculty with my own interest in service and social justice.

However, there is more going on here than simply a focus on justice. The capacity to focus on others in a permanent way allows us to “de-center” ourselves. It is in “de-centering” or becoming other-centered that we experience a deeper, more permanent happiness and joy.

This can feel like a scary process that involves giving up control. However, in reality any feelings of security or control we imagine we have are really illusory. There is no real security or control in life. Life lives us. We are being lived.

Often circumstances in our lives will naturally move us towards this process of becoming other-centered. Falling in love, becoming a new parent, religious conversion or work situations can nudge us toward de-centering temporarily. This is why new lovers are so happy, as are new parents. But not until it becomes a permanent way of living and being will joy and happiness envelop us and permeate our lives.

The medical profession knows too. Those struggling with depression or recovering from addiction are encouraged to volunteer and engage in service. They are encouraged to “de-center” as part of their healing.

Bring more joy into your life. Learn about social justice. Focus on others in the world. In doing so you will become more authentic, bring depth to your life, become real.

You may also like Secret to the Fabulous Life, Authentic Living – Life Editing and Endlessly Interesting.

by Roxanne -

Nostalgia or Reality?

Recently I watched Woody Allen’s film, Midnight in Paris. In addition to an intriguing plot, the characters in the film are nostalgic, romanticizing the past and pining for eras gone by. One of the characters in the film makes the point that indulging in nostalgia is merely a way to escape from dealing with current reality as it is. I think this is true.

We might long for the days of the “horse and buggy” but we don’t include the stench of rotting horse manure, straw, flies and a lack of refrigeration in our longing for “days gone by.”

People wax on dreamily about “the good old days” which when you really stop and think – in too many ways – weren’t that good at all. I’ve watched relatives spend hours telling the same old stories and glorifying the “glory days” of an era, of high school, of college or whatever.

On the other hand, these same people often steadfastly refuse to engage in honest discussion regarding current cultural, social or political events – because this is complex, messy, requires reading, self-reflection and can make us uncomfortable.

Our culture promotes sinking into nostalgia with it’s glorification of the secularized holidays of Halloween, Christmas and Easter. It’s another way to sell products and anesthetize us from facing the hard realities of our time. But it also prevents us from entering more deeply into the positive aspects of life too.

We can resist this however. Use these same holidays as a way to focus on life as it really is – both the positive and the negative. For example, go to both museums and homeless shelters, art exhibits and food shelves. Meet and talk with people from many cultures. Watch foreign films with English subtitles and try new ethnic dishes.

Reality and people are rich, diverse and fascinating – far more fascinating than social media, TV, Twitter and IPhones. Enter more deeply into reality. Experience life – your life – before it passes you by.

You may also like Technology Changes Us and Legal Nomads.com.

 

by Roxanne -

Slim and Slimming Wardrobe

Always on the quest to simplify my life, I’ve been working with a smaller, easier wardrobe for some time.

Last year, traveling to and from Chicago – while studying for my doctorate – I learned to live with a 10-piece wardrobe. This worked quite well and the decisions I used to pare down to just ten pieces worked surprisingly well for the rest of my wardrobe:

  • Remove whole categories of clothing. For example, I no longer wear dresses, skirts or high heels. This also eliminates hosiery, slips and most shape-wear.
  • I eliminated blazers, high-loft tops (mohair sweaters, chunky knits) and hip length tops which add pounds.
  • Anything that shines, has sequins or shimmers adds pounds. That’s out.
  • Instead low-hip or thigh length cardigans and blouses can work as jackets over shirts and tank tops. Longer tops also create a long, flattering line over skinny pants and jeans.
  • Basics like a white shirt, denim shirt, black and white slacks and a gray cardigan go a long way. Think about what pieces are the “basics” in your own wardrobe.
  • Shorts and utility pants with zippers add pounds. Forget that! Stay with lighter weight, longer pants for warm days.
  • Clear, bright colors are flattering on me as are grays, taupes and browns. But pastels and olive-toned colors don’t work very well for me. Editing to one color intensity range immediately minimizes what is in my wardrobe – and insures that what I have can be mixed and matched through the seasons. It makes shopping easier too.
  • I don’t carry a purse or bag. This cleared out an entire shelf in my closet along with the expense.
  • Wear flattering, comfortable jeans in darker colors that don’t require belts. Another accessory gone. Darker jeans can work for casual looks but can be dressed up too. One pair of white slim-legged jeans adds variety.
  • Use scarves as jewelry. They add updated color and textures inexpensively. When traveling scarves can be used as shawls, sarongs and even purses.
  • No dry cleaning. Too many chemicals and another expense I don’t need.
  • No ironing. Machine wash fits my lifestyle and my suitcase. Besides, you can get beautiful, luxury-feeling fabrics that are machine washable. Even merino wool and silks are now machine washable. Who wants to spend time ironing?
  • Footwear consists of 3 pairs of shoes and a pair each of slippers, boots and sandals. I wear Earth shoes because they make my back and legs feel great when standing for long periods of time while teaching.
  • A water-proof, hooded raincoat and a wool car-length coat serve as outerwear year ’round.
  • Shop sales in January and July. Frequent local consignment stores. Classic styles on basics and quality fabrics will still be in fashion the following season.

This smaller, more flattering wardrobe frees up my resources and my time for more important things in my life. I’ll continue to pare back and make changes as I go. What about you? What works for you?

You may also like Simple Wardrobe and Richness of Simplicity.

by Roxanne -

Cross and the Lynching Tree

In Jame H. Cone’s new book, The Cross and the Lynching Tree, (Orbis, 2011) white, Christian theologians are taken to task for failing to make the connection between the cross and the lynching tree. Cone references Acts 10:39 – “They put him to death by hanging him on a tree” – then details the pervasive history of lynching in the U.S. which occurred in virtually every state. Lynching emerged immediately after the emancipation and was a way for the white population to terrorize and control the newly freed black population.

Cone takes on theological giant Reinhold Niebuhr (Chapter Two) for Niebuhr’s extensive reflections on the cross, white supremacy and racism – yet noting Niebuhr’s failure to link Christianity and the cross over against white supremacy and racism. Later Cone quotes Niebuhr, “‘People without imagination really have no right to write about ultimate things'” a condemnation of Niebuhr’s white, racist theology itself (94).

Cone writes, “Walter White, national secretary of the NAACP and the author of several novels and the important book Rope and Faggot, indicted Christianity for creating the fanaticism that encouraged lynching. ‘It is exceedingly doubtful if lynching could possibly exist under any other religion than Christianity,’ he [White] wrote. ‘Not only through tacit approval and acquiescence has the Christian Church indirectly given its approval to lynching law . . ., but the evangelical Christian denominations have done much towards creation of the particular fanaticism which finds its outlet in lynching'” (112).  Take, for example, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), a white supremacy organization promoting racism and committing acts of terrorism that openly identifies as Christian. In fact, a cross burning occurred in April of this year – right here in Minnesota.

Lest we mistakenly think that lynching involved only black men, in Chapter Five Cone details similar violence against black women. “Although women constitute only 2 percent of blacks actually killed by lynching, it would be a mistake to assume that violence against women was not widespread and brutal. Black women were neither incidental objects of white vigilante violence nor marginal participants in the black resistance against it. Like black men, they were tortured, beaten and scarred, mutilated and hanged, burned and shot, tarred and feathered, stabbed and dragged, whipped and raped by angry white mobs” (122).

Quoting Ida B. Wells, “pioneer of the anti-lynching crusade” Cone writes ‘Why is mob murder permitted by a Christian nation?’ she asked. White Christianity was not genuine because it either openly supported slavery, segregation, and lynching as the will of God or it was silent about these evils” (131). “As far as she [Wells] was concerned, white Christianity was a counterfeit gospel – ‘as phony as a two-dollar bill,’ as blacks often said in Bearden” (133). “She therefore challenged white liberal Christians to speak out against lynching or be condemned by their silence” (131).

Cone charges white Christianity: “White conservative Christianity’s blatant endorsement of lynching as part of its religion, and white liberal Christians’ silence about lynching placed both of them outside of Christian identity. I could not find one sermon or theological essay, not to mention a book, opposing lynching by a prominent liberal white preacher” (132). Further, “White theologians in the past century have written thousands of books about Jesus’ cross without remarking on the analogy between the crucifixion of Jesus and the lynching of black people. One must suppose that in order to feel comfortable in the Christian faith, whites needed theologians to interpret the gospel in a way that would not require them to acknowledge white supremacy as America’s great sin.” (159).

Cone brings to our attention the sexual violence of slavery still evident in the ongoing genetic linkage of whites and blacks. “What happened to blacks also happened to whites. When whites lynched blacks, they were literally and symbolically lynching themselves – their sons, daughters, cousins, mothers and fathers, and a host of other relatives. Whites may be bad brothers and sisters, murderers of their own black kin, but they are still our sisters and brothers. (italics author’s 165). “We were made brothers and sisters by the blood of the lynching tree, the blood of sexual union, and the blood of the cross of Jesus” (166).

I believe Cone’s book can be summarized, in part, with this quote, “We were made brothers and sisters by the blood of the lynching tree, the blood of sexual union, and the blood of the cross of Jesus” (166). Cone is correct that white Christianity utterly fails as a religion in its refusal to oppose or even acknowledge chattel slavery, on-going systems of white supremacy and the restitution required to begin healing both.

You may also like “Minnesota Nice” & Cross Burning.