Pretty quiet on the social networks this week, aside from some of the posts about South Carolina and various other breakaway issues stirring the pot a bit. But we had some great things shared with us, in the meantime.
On Twitter, in honor of National Coming out day (today), Laura Toepfer shares with us the “Greeting Card Emergency” YouTube series, of which episode six is oriented around Coming Out Greeting Cards. Host David Ellis Dickerson (a former greeting card writer for Hallmark) notes that he was asked about the lack of cards for this occasion on his recent visit to NPR’s Talk of the Nation.
Facebook has been interesting to watch. Some folks have become very vocal in their objection to issues raised in some of our posts. While at times I wish I could mute the more inflammatory comments, it’s better to just take note of where it comes from and move on. What often surprises me in these interactions is that at times we all agree on some things: and it’s beautiful when it happens.
Some of the best comments on Facebook this week came from Donald Schell’s Daily Episcopalian essay, Imagine No Religion, which calls equal attention to the bad things that wouldn’t have happened were there no religion and the good things that would never have been created if there were no religion. Commenters added some of their own.
From Fran Rossi Szpylczyn:
No Etty Hillesum. No Franz Jaegerstaetter. No Stabat Mater by Poulenc. No Dorothy Day or Catholic Worker movement. No William Sloane Coffin. No Fellowship of Reconciliation. No Dalai Lama. No Thich Naht Hanh. No Peace Pilgrim. No Abraham Joshua Heschel. No Rumi. No Parker Palmer
Paige Baker observed, “I’d miss Eucharist, Bach, and Emily Dickinson the most.”
Mark Matzeder:
No Gothic Cathedrals. No Renaissance art. No Ingmar Bergman. No Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter. No Gregorian Chants. No Gregorian calendar. No monks copying the ancient Classical Literature through the Middle Ages.
Jill A. Sweifach has made a couple of posts on the Cafe wall inquiring as to whether readers might be interested in acquiring bumper stickers that say “Member of the Nazarene Carpenters’ Union” or joining a Las Vegas based Episcopal motorcycle club.
And when I, in a fit of frustration after reading a very critical and condescending comment to one of our posts, asked if you were all _really_ fans of the Cafe, got this outpouring of love–and honesty. (You’ll need to be logged into Facebook to see the feedback.) Thought it interesting that some of you prefer going directly to the site — it’s pretty easy to do from Facebook, actually. When the “note” posts, click on it, then scroll to where it says “read original post.” And for those of you who have trouble reading it in the Facebook interface because it’s tiny, tiny print, try hitting “control +” (or command + if you’re on a Mac) to enlarge the text on your screen. Ctrl 0/ Command 0 resets it when you’re done.