Posts Tagged ‘Women’

Valentine’s Day

You could almost describe men as digital; a simple binary “yes/no,” “on/off” setting with, ultimately “do it or don’t do it” parameters is virtually always sufficient for the typical male. Women can have a thousand nuanced variations before, between, and beyond yes or no. The feminine...

February 14th, 2013 | Featured | Read More

He Said She Said

Men and women are an endless source of frustration, annoyance and fascination for each other. We bring out the best – and worst – in each other. Sigmund Freud’s most burning (and unanswered) question was wrapped around the idea of puzzling over what women want (apparently what men want is either...

December 4th, 2012 | Featured | Read More

An English Teacher Looks At Rush Limbaugh

I teach English, writing and public speaking at the college level. There are three key principles of communication; to inform, to persuade and to entertain. Effective and memorable communicators will incorporate at least one, but preferably all three, of these. Rush Limbaugh, much to my amazement,...

March 20th, 2012 | Democracy | Read More

Ode to Being “Unladylike”

I was three-years old the first time I heard Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz” on the radio. In 1971, Dad (though not a fan of rock and roll) thought it quite funny, and we heard it several times during a family trip that year. Forty years later, Janis Joplin remains one of my favorite female...

February 27th, 2012 | Blog | Read More

I am (Pastor) Kristen

On Sunday afternoon I will ring a bell, be let in through the security gate, sign in, put on the required name tag and be escorted to the gym for my allotted hour. The generic name tag simply says “Clergy” but as the residents at the felony DUI incarceration and treatment center file in,...

January 31st, 2012 | Essays | Read More

In and out of the Zoo

Where no gods are, spectres rule. Novalis One time I took a group of people in the drug rehab program to the local zoo. Most of our group had been to prison – some for years. Most were felons. Most of the women had been prostitutes as well as addicts. Most of them had been homeless, had lengthy...

September 28th, 2011 | Blog, Featured | Read More

Our Abstinence Fetish

I believe that only married people should have sex. You probably do, too. Evangelicals breastfeed their young on the notion that exchanging bodily fluids other than saliva (and sometimes that’s off limits) shouldn’t happen outside the bounds of matrimony. Now, tell me where it says that in the...

August 4th, 2011 | Essays, Featured | Read More

CEO of The Living Room

There are three things a Christian woman in her twenties can be guaranteed to experience: weddings, bridal showers, and baby showers. It doesn’t matter if you’re single, married, a rich corporate lawyer, or a poor freelance writer – your friends are going to get married and reproduce,...

July 19th, 2011 | Culture, Essays, Featured, Features | Read More

Sincerely, A Girl

The other day I was watching TV at a friend’s house when a Dove deodorant commercial came on. By the end of the ad, I was convinced that my armpits were so ugly they were not fit to be seen in public – at least not until I’d used Dove’s deodorant for at least five days. But after I’d...

May 27th, 2011 | Essays, Featured | Read More

The Casualties of Dehumanization

The state of Virginia executed a heinous criminal on September 23, convicted of murder for hire. The governor denied even entertaining the thought of clemency, which means, folks, we have an execution. Usually this is not outside of the normative nature of Virginia’s penal system. My home state is...

May 11th, 2011 | Social Justice | Read More