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I want a tee-shirt (Sweatshirt would be better, considering the season I'd be wearing it) with the message:
Jesus, Mary and Joseph
lit the menorah
With a soft-focus-pastelly graphic of the Holy Family at home, with the Menorah in the window behind them (Jesus maybe at maybe 10 or 11).
Y/Y?
BTW, the first night of Hanukkah, this year, falls on the Solstice.
Went to the library on Thursday. My library card had expired. ...They have a policy now, where they want to renew your card by confirming your address once a year. Had it really been that long since I'd been in? Could it have been two years (right after Dad died)? Yipes!
I think, maybe, if I want really want to write a novel seriously, next year, I should get back into the habit of reading novels -- not just single chapters of nonfiction, or short stories and fics, written by friends (as wonderful as those are). 'Cause I realized, as I was looking for a book I wanted to read, that when I was last writing a novel seriously, I was also reading novels at the same time (about two a week), so my brain was drenched in the pacing and methods and different writers' voices. It's kind of like a language. If you're not exposed to it, and you don't use it, for extended periods of time, you tend to forget it.
The above bit is not a complete non-sequitor. When I was in the library, I went into the children's section. And they had a Christmas tree up, with an angel on top, rather than a star, so it was clearly meant for Christianity, and not to be confused with anything even vaguely secular.
It made me happy to see it, 'cause I like the green, and the little twinkly lights all over it, and the handmade ornaments (many looked like they were made by kids-- probably a library-sponsered activity).
But at the same time, I felt kinda bad, because I couldn't help but imagine how left out a Jewish kid would feel, coming into that room. I mean, as a Pagan, I could at least pretend the tree was meant to include me, even if the people who put it up never would have dreamt that. But the angel, and the reindeer ornaments, and the "Merry Christmas" banner hanging on the wall next to the tree would make that very hard for a Jewish kid to do.
And if there's one place that should do everything humanly possible to make every child feel welcome and valued, even (or especially) a child who is in a minority, it should be the Children's Room of a Public library.
...That's when the idea for the sweatshirt popped into my head.
Oh, and the book I eventually took out was Solstice Wood by Patricia A. McKillip -- about fairies in the woods at Midsummer, set in modern times.
Just about to start chapter 4. So far, it's pretty good. My favorite of hers is still The Changeling Sea, though.
lit the menorah
With a soft-focus-pastelly graphic of the Holy Family at home, with the Menorah in the window behind them (Jesus maybe at maybe 10 or 11).
Y/Y?
BTW, the first night of Hanukkah, this year, falls on the Solstice.
Went to the library on Thursday. My library card had expired. ...They have a policy now, where they want to renew your card by confirming your address once a year. Had it really been that long since I'd been in? Could it have been two years (right after Dad died)? Yipes!
I think, maybe, if I want really want to write a novel seriously, next year, I should get back into the habit of reading novels -- not just single chapters of nonfiction, or short stories and fics, written by friends (as wonderful as those are). 'Cause I realized, as I was looking for a book I wanted to read, that when I was last writing a novel seriously, I was also reading novels at the same time (about two a week), so my brain was drenched in the pacing and methods and different writers' voices. It's kind of like a language. If you're not exposed to it, and you don't use it, for extended periods of time, you tend to forget it.
The above bit is not a complete non-sequitor. When I was in the library, I went into the children's section. And they had a Christmas tree up, with an angel on top, rather than a star, so it was clearly meant for Christianity, and not to be confused with anything even vaguely secular.
It made me happy to see it, 'cause I like the green, and the little twinkly lights all over it, and the handmade ornaments (many looked like they were made by kids-- probably a library-sponsered activity).
But at the same time, I felt kinda bad, because I couldn't help but imagine how left out a Jewish kid would feel, coming into that room. I mean, as a Pagan, I could at least pretend the tree was meant to include me, even if the people who put it up never would have dreamt that. But the angel, and the reindeer ornaments, and the "Merry Christmas" banner hanging on the wall next to the tree would make that very hard for a Jewish kid to do.
And if there's one place that should do everything humanly possible to make every child feel welcome and valued, even (or especially) a child who is in a minority, it should be the Children's Room of a Public library.
...That's when the idea for the sweatshirt popped into my head.
Oh, and the book I eventually took out was Solstice Wood by Patricia A. McKillip -- about fairies in the woods at Midsummer, set in modern times.
Just about to start chapter 4. So far, it's pretty good. My favorite of hers is still The Changeling Sea, though.
