Week ending February 15, 2025

Happy Valentine's Day to those who celebrate the patron saint of beekeepers. In Latin valens means "strong" or "vigorous." Apparently, the man who would later be the patron saint of lovers--it is thought he helped young men get married so as to avoid conscription--was beheaded for sticking to his beliefs in the face of persecution. He was strong in the face of persecution by the dictator of the Roman empire though he never saw the Roman salute as it wouldn't be invented until a 17th Century painting and popularized by 20th-century Germans, specifically, Nazis. I saw somewhere that he, rather than St. Gall, was also the patron saint of birds. Being the patron saint of the birds and the bees would be fitting. Also, why isn't the patron saint of birds named "Gull"? Anyway...

Finite Disappointment

The week started with a bang in my particular part of South Florida, with my kid doing great at a Model UN event in Orlando and celebrating by bringing COVID home with her. The kid is a pretty good masker, but several people on the trip knew they were sick and went anyway. My high school-age child was discussing why they wear a mask last week and told the other student, "In case I'm sick, you know, I don't want to get anyone else sick." The student then asked, what my child would do if they knew they were sick and my child replied that they'd stay home from school. The fellow student stated, "You must be the nicest person in the world." I didn't realize that chicken would come home to roost just a day or two later.

Then the dog experiencing homelessness in Miami because his owner can no longer afford to live in a place that allows dogs, had a medical emergency that's going to cost north of $1000. Leave your thoughts in the comments below if you think it is stupid of me to take care of the permanent houseguest in my house (please don't, I'm comfortable with my decision even if the bank account isn't).

Housing affordability in the Miami area remains a top concern for people who live in one of the most “rent-burdened” metropolitan areas in the country. While stable now, rents shot up shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic, with some areas seeing a doubling or tripling in rent after remote workers from across the country poured into South Florida. Many people already in the region decided to leave due to the increased cost of living.

Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/health-care/article297879918.html#storylink=cpy

My hope is that by the time you're reading this, I've already been to Naples, Florida, to connect with a good friend and taken lots of pictures of the Gulf of Water Between America and Mexico. First Google and then Apple and Bing (Microsoft) maps changed the name, at least for people in the United States to Gulf of America. Personally, it's been a pain to try to rid myself of these companies and companies like Amazon. But, I've slowly been doing it. My desktop runs on Linux, I don't have any Apple products aside from a now ancient iPad, and those of you who know me personally know that I've changed my email to hey.com and Proton.me. I do try to not overreact to these things, honestly. For example, while lots of people were accusing Proton's CEO of being a Trump-loving Hitler fan, I dug around and found a convincing argument that maybe that's going to far--or is, in fact, just male bovine excrement. To be clear, I wasn't trying to feel good about Proton, I just wanted to make sure before I cut all my Proton services that it was the right decision.

Historic Interlude

On February 12, 1900, the "Black National Anthem" was performed for the first time publicly for Booker T. Washington in Jacksonville, Florida. Written by James Weldon Johnson, the principal of the school Washington was visiting, the performance was in honor of Abraham Lincoln's Birthday. (Source: This Day in Florida History, page 27).

Johnson, who was born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1871 and already the first Black man to sit on the Florida Bar, would go on to be appointed an ambassador by Theodore Roosevelt, spearhead the campaign for anti-lynching legislation and eventually become the director of the NAACP (source Wikipedia).

Infinite Hope

On Thursday, I saw a group chat about a small protest at Maria Salazar, the US House Florida Delegation 27th Congressional District representative. With only a couple of hours' notice, it was a squeeze to get there, but get there, I did. Salazar's Miami office is at the intersection of Red Road and Calle Ocho, for those who know the area. She won re-election handily and this district voted for Trump. It's a red area. You'd expect that we got some jeering, heckling, and middle fingers–and that we did. One guy yelled that we hate America, and he served in the military, so--something, something. The lady with the blowhorn politely told him she was also a veteran and loved America. I'm not sure what's triggering about taxing the rich and protecting the poor, but there it was. We explicitly denounced any party affiliation. Just positions of protection for the vulnerable.

Yet, for every jeer, finger, and heckle we got, there were at least six actions of affirmation from the cars passing by. These affirmations ranged from honks and thumbs up to applause to shouts of encouragement. So here we were, perhaps 20 of us, in a hot, humid Miami lunchtime event, getting far more support than criticism. Despite supporting Republicans in 2024, I suspect many people here have been upset over the past three weeks. It gives me hope that the support for human decency outnumbered those apparently opposed. Still, even the people telling us they disagreed with them, politely or otherwise, also gives me hope. We're Americans standing up for what we believe in. That's democracy. In a democracy, there are disagreements--often about critical issues. That's ok. The disagreements can be loud. They can be nasty. But so long as they aren't violent in any way, including anyone being forced to be silent (there were at least four cops watching us, FWIW) they are part of democracy.

Recognizing that some readers aren't Christian and some are atheists, I wanted to share something quite moving to me, but it is from a Christian perspective. Last Saturday, February 8, 2025, the Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney gave a talk on "womanism," based on her research and teaching on biblical translation and interpretation. Her 2021 book A Woman's Lectionary for the Whole Church was named by Sojourners Magazine as one of the most influential books of the century (so far). The talk was enlightening, entertaining, and challenging. Did you know that the "Spirit" in both the Old and New Testaments uses feminine pronouns? Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit with she/her pronouns. It wouldn't be a huge deal if it weren't for most English translations choosing to ignore this reality in favor of patriarchy. Her work, along with the sermon, is pro-woman, pro-Black, pro-LGB, pro-trans, and, well, angry at things in the way of those things. Also, in terms of statements of definitive understanding of scripture, she pointed out that most Christians on Earth use a bible with 80 or more books. Evangelicals and many other American protestants are in the minority with their 66-book Bible.

A bit about the Rev. Gafney from her website:

The Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney, Ph.D. is a biblical scholar whose work focuses on translation of the scriptures for congregations and lay readers, womanist and feminist biblical interpretation and, women who prophesied in ancient Israel and the ancient Afro-Asiatic world and, their reception in rabbinic literature. She is the Right Rev. Sam B. Hulsey Professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas. She is the author of A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church Years A, B and C and a novel Year W (a stand-alone volume) and, translator of its biblical selections. She is the author of Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to Women of the Torah and of the Throne and its sequel, Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to Women of Joshua Judges, Samuel and Kings along with a commentary on Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah in the Wisdom series and, Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel. She co-edited The Peoples’ Bible and The Peoples’ Companion to the Bible. From https://www.wilgafney.com/

Her sermon from the next day, Sunday, February 9, 2025, should speak for itself. It does not pull any punches. I suspect even atheists would appreciate it. The video below includes her reading from the Women's Lectionary and her sermon; I highly recommend it. The church cheered several times during this timely and poignant sermon.

Rev. Gafney lives and works in Texas, while James Weldon Johnson was from Florida and started his career here. These people give me hope and help me find the strength to march on until victory is won.

Lift every voice and sing,
'Til earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on 'til victory is won.

Follow Me to the Fediverse (encore post, now with more links!)

Think social media like X, Xitter, BlueSky, Threads, only not owned by CryptoBros, Would-be dictators, TechBois, or anyone else! The fediverse comprises thousands of little Twitter-like things (called instances) that are privately controlled, and users can come and go as they please. X or Xitter, is owned by the Saudis and their little democracy-murdering apartheid lover Elon Musk; Threads is owned by democracy-hating Meta (Facebook) and Mark Zuckerberg; BlueSky was started inside of Twitter, broke off when Musk bought it and is funded by shady investment groups, the known ones being mostly cryptocurrency ponzi+ schemes. It is run by a CEO whose primary experience is technical work for...cryptocurrencies. BlueSky says it won't be a crypto-centric thing. Also, cable TV said it wouldn't have commercials until it did.

Here is a page to help you get started. There's a learning curve at first and then it's intuitive.

The fediverse: all the assholes, none of the fascist rule.