Welcome to Breathless Noon:
an exploration of culture, relationships, and philosophy.
"Not the sun nor the summer alone, but every hour and season yields
its tribute of delight, for every hour and change corresponds to and authorizes
a different state of mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson, from his book Nature
Drowning For Jesus: part 3 of a childhood memoir
August 1st, 2007
My inner ears are deformed, preventing water from draining out of them properly, causing many ear infections as a little girl. Swimming therefore terrified me, because a stint at the pool usually ended in pain and two weeks of amoxicillin.
If swimming frightened me, you can surely imagine what I thought of the idea of full body immersion baptism. I put my foot down.
“But I don’t wanna be baptized!” I cried. Even saying the words, I felt slightly like a traitor. Jesus, after all, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and buried, and I was throwing a tantrum over spending five minutes in a holy wading pool. But traitorous or not, I held my ground: Jesus did not have to suffer two weeks of amoxicillin.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Christianity, General Religion, storytelling & memories | 7 Comments »
Speaking In Tongues: part 2 of a childhood memoir
July 27th, 2007
My mother was a deeply religious woman. She was what most people would call a fundamentalist Christian. She believed in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only son, our Lord.
And how.
But she especially believed in Hell, and she even more especially believed that my brother and I were headed straight for it because of our latest shenanigans. So she decided to call an intervention, and for an intervention, she required the assistance of her best friend, LaVerne. She dialed her number on the kitchen phone.
“LaVerne? Oh, I’m so glad you’re home. It’ Shirley,” my mother said, phone cord wrapped around her fingers. My mother’s name is Shirley. Anybody familiar with lat 1970’s TV sitcoms can understand why my brother and I found their friendship particularly amusing “You’ll never believe what Amber and Carleton were doing. Last night, I found them outside worshipping idols.”
She didn’t bother to mention that we were only pretending to worship idols. I guess it was all the same to her.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Christianity, General Religion, storytelling & memories | 8 Comments »
The Egypt Game: a childhood memory
July 22nd, 2007
When I was in elementary school, I read a wonderful novel called The Egypt Game. It was about five children who decided to recreate ancient Egypt on a piece of abandoned property, and how the gods of the game integrated themselves into the children’s everyday lives in spooky and entertaining ways.
I fell in love with the book, and knew immediately that I wanted to create ancient Egypt for myself, because I would certainly be a very fetching priestess for Isis. I looked very good in sparkly gold eyeshadow.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Christianity, Miscellaneous, storytelling & memories | 3 Comments »
Introducing Technical Poet
July 2nd, 2007
As Technical Poet is now more or less finished and live, I’m going to be moving all my chatter about design and communication arts to that website. There will be some occasional cross-posting, as I’m sure some of my ramblings about my work will have cultural, philosophical, or ethical undertones.
In the meanwhile, enjoy the new blog, the newest post, and the frivolity of the design. I like to indulge my inner kiddo.
Posted in Uncategorized, Miscellaneous | No Comments »
Junk Food Shame
July 2nd, 2007
I have done a lot of things in my life that I should feel embarrassed, guilty, or even ashamed of. I have said horrible things to people. I have broken promises. I have made promises knowing full well I was going to break them. I’ve betrayed trusts. I’ve lied. I’ve selfishly put my needs before those of loved ones. I have done truly despicable things.
The horrible part is that I don’t usually feel bad while I’m doing these things. If I feel any kind of regret, it usually isn’t until much later.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Personal Ethics, General Culture | 7 Comments »
