alexis in the city

abolish the national day of prayer

obama is being critized for taking a more limited role on this national day of prayer, and i say he’s not going far enough.

i feel like i keep having the SAME argument over and over and over again. america is NOT a christian nation! sure, it’s based on some principles that can also be found in the bible. sure a number of our founding fathers were christians. but our country was set up on the basis of religious FREEDOM, not on the basis of ONE religion. in fact, our founders were fleeing state-imposed religion! and yet somehow - every time i have the “christian nation” argument - the founding fathers get dragged into it as a reason why we should try to make the country (aka the STATE) more and more christian. does no one see the irony?!

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a revolution of hope, peace and change

i’ve been looking at two ideas put forth in mclaren’s book, “everything must change,” in response to a theocapitalist society. i.e., an economic structure where capitalism is king, where we look out for number one - either as a country or as individuals - and where we are deaf to the cries of the people that this hurts.

the two ideas being 1). the idea of jesus as a rebel, dedicated to bucking the socio-economic norms of his day, and seeking to lead us today in our quest to do the same and 2). the idea that these actions will lead to a revolution of hope. here mclaren tackles an idea that may sound hokey and superficial on the surface:

“it’s clear .. that we will not be complacent. … instead we will tell the truth about systemic injustice, as jesus did, and defect from it at every opportunity.”

mclaren goes on to say:

“more and more churches, thankfully, are showing a concern to show kindness or compassion - helping the victims of injustice through trips, giving to social needs and so on. but the number of individuals and churches focused on doing justice remains disproportionately low. depending on how you look at it, that could be an indictment, or an opportunity.”

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XKCD goodness

what’s not to love about a comic that covers “romance, sarcasm, math and language”? here are a few of my favorite recent ones - including a logic joke, of course

for anyone not familiar with XKCD, sometimes the really funny stuff is included in the comments of the box you get when you hover your mouse over a certain panel, which you have to go to his site to see. the “pirate bay” comic is a good example.

rational republican and parental appreciation

yes, there are a few out there, a few whose opinions and rationale for voting the way they are voting i respect. i wanted to point this out since i feel like many think that i am pro anything liberal and anti anything conservative. not true.

two of the people whose opinions and decisions i respect the most in the world are my parents, who are both conservatives. but - unlike so many conservatives that i’ve talked to - they are not unwilling to admit the current republican party is deeply flawed and has gotten this nation into situations we need nothing more than to get out of. we just disagree on how to go about doing this :-).

they have told me things like:

*they wish there was a better representative of small government on the Republican side.

*Sarah Palin isn’t the best VP candidate, but many candidates have grown into the office and went on to be great Presidents.

my dad even linked to an article where the author had enough foresight (and hindsight) to admit that the current republical party is in a world of hurt. (even though it was a list of reasons why not to vote for obama, yes, i’ll even put the link to the original article: http://boortz.com/nuze/undecided.html)

the author says:

*One thing for sure … the Republicans deserve exactly what is happening to them in this election.

*The Republicans don’t deserve power in Washington just as you don’t deserve a boil in the center of your forehead

*I operate on the principle that governments have the power to tax so that governments can collect the money needed to pursue and pay for the legitimate functions of that government.

of course, the author says a lot of other things that i DON’T agree with – and he doesn’t back up much of his information with sources or facts, which everyone probably knows by now is a must for me! but i’m willing to admit that many of his points are well-reasoned and at least purposefully thought-out, as opposed to simply regurgitating uneducated opinions and right-ist propaganda. which is more than i can say for most of the republican-leaning articles i’ve had passed on to me. then again, the bar has been set pretty low.

another thing i appreciate deeply about my parents is that they value – and taught me to value – rational thought, even if it leads us to two different conclusions. the more i’ve debated with people (mostly on the right) during this election, the more i’ve bemoaned the death of rational thought. and not just that. i’ve been shocked at the vitriol with which you’re attacked if you DO believe in researching your own information, evaluating positions, and coming to a personal, rational conclusion.

not only is rational thought for the most part apparently dead, you will likely be verbally pistol-whipped by obscene amounts of people if they suspect you’ve engaged in something remotely resembling “ration” or “thought.”  i cannot tell you the number of times i have been met with feelings or statements of, “bad christian,” “bad person,” “no values,” “biased,” etc because i was NOT towing the line of the religious right and i had opted to draw my own conclusions.

although i grew up in a relatively conservative home, i feel i came away with a bit of a different perspective than many in similar situations, as i was encouraged to broaden my horizons, think for myself, learn about (and visit!) different cultures, keep an open mind and treat people fairly.

and though my parents and i may be on different pages politically, i have something i’ve come to value even more over the last few months: their support in spite of our differences. they respect my opinions – and i respect theirs – because we each know we came to our conclusions based not on someone telling us what we should do, but based on a quest after the truth, and rational thought.

thanks mom and dad

my heart is still in san francisco

i felt like i should post something to wrap everything up and let everyone know we’re home. traveling was fun, and i’m so glad we had the opportunity, but i’m happy to be home. I honestly don’t know how those backpackers do it - for months at a time, with no real itinerary. having grown up military, i’ve always considered myself a bit of a modern-day nomad, but more of a longer-term nomad i guess. more like 1-3 years in one place as opposed to 1-3 weeks or months!

we’re still digging ourselves out from under the luggage, souvenirs, and mail we accumulated over the last 2 1/2 months and are enjoying our regular haunts like our neighborhood coffee shop, deli and grocery store.

i haven’t really decided what i’m going to do with the travel blog from here … one thing i learned from this trip is that i don’t plan to do something like it again any time soon!  when we first took off i thought if everything went well - considering our employment situation - we might continue doing these types of trips. but when we travel from now on, i think we’ll take longer chunks of time to see one or two areas - instead of six countries in one month! It was a great way to see everything - and obviously i’m psyched we did it - but it’s not something i necessarily want to repeat

and speaking of our employment situation, i think i’ll be looking for full-time employment now that we’re back. a lot of my clients stopped working with me around christmas time for various monetary issues and i honestly don’t love what i’m doing as a consultant/freelancer enough to try and build my client base back up again.

so anyway, i’m thinking i might just use the blog to update friends and family on our (incredibly exciting non-travel, day-to-day) life. so keep checking back and i’ll keep writing.

<3

alexis