Blogaround

Chandler and Joey from "Friends." "I got her machine." "Her answering machine?" "No, interestingly enough, her leaf blower picked up." Image souce.

1. Mr. Rogers and Child Liberation Theology (October 15) "When you view children as sinful or evil, you are more likely to misinterpret developmentally appropriate behavior as sinful or evil—and thus more likely to punish them for just being children." R. L. Stollar has just written a book called "The Kingdom of Children," about child liberation theology. I really want to read this!

2. China's youngest-ever crew of astronauts heads to space station (October 26) Cool!

3. Journal Club: Whitewashed (October 25) "This chapter discusses how whiteness is the default for ace representation, and how that affects the intersection between race, gender, and asexuality. In particular, the chapter focuses on how aces of color can violate or confirm stereotypes, and how it can be difficult either way."

4. Can church groups and Louisville be sued on old child sex abuse claims? Court to decide (October 24, this is an archive link because the original is paywalled) Umm, so, a victim of sexual abuse is challenging the laws about the statute of limitations in Kentucky. And, for some reason, the Southern Baptist Convention- which is not part of this case at all- has submitted a brief arguing that the statute of limitations should NOT be changed. Arguing against the victim. What on earth. Like, they are not involved in this case at all, but they just want to pop in and let everyone know they're on the side of the abusers.

5. Vikings DB Enlists Help From Senators to Acquire Visa for Wife in Philippines (October 26) Oh man, this is so real. As a US citizen married to a non-US citizen, let me tell you, this is SO REAL. We're lucky- someone advised my husband to get a 10-year US tourist visa *before* we got married, and he did that, so he's always been able to travel to the US on vacation with me. But a lot of couples run into problems with this- the US often refuses to issue someone a tourist visa if they are married to a US citizen, because the US thinks it's likely they actually intend to overstay their visa and live in the US long-term. And applying for a spousal visa (this is part of the process of getting a US green card) can take a long time. 

And yeah, asking your senators for help speeding up the process- also VERY REAL. Hope this guy is able to bring his wife to the US soon. 

6. Julie Roys and LGBTQ+ People (August 1) Julie Roys runs a blog dedicated to reporting on and calling out abuse in the church and in other Christian environments. That's great work that she's doing. Unfortunately, it seems she does not support LGBTQ people. I didn't know that- sad to hear about this.

7. Flamy Grant - What Did You Drag Me Into? [Official Video] (2022) Music video from a Christian drag queen called Flamy Grant. This is the exact content I am interested in.

8. Matthew Perry, Star of ‘Friends,’ Is Dead at 54 (October 29) and ‘An ironic, self-deprecating metrosexual’: how Matthew Perry captured the spirit of the age (October 29)

"Friends" is hugely popular in China as a way to learn American English. My husband loved it, and introduced me to it, and I also became a fan. Sad to hear this news about Matthew Perry- he was great.

9. The Hardest Puzzle Of The Year (2022) 1-hour-50-minute sudoku solve video. Simon is a genius.

10. Pence ends White House campaign after struggling to gain traction. ‘This is not my time,’ he says (October 29) Good. As an ex-evangelical, I am more creeped out by Mike Pence than by any other politician.

11. Virgin-shaming hurts everyone, including asexual people like me (October 24, via) "What I am proud of is that I didn’t have sex to appease everyone’s demands."

Also from Tyger Songbird: Purity culture made me feel trapped. Finding asexuality set me free. (October 26) "It turned out that when the church was saying 'True Love Waits,' what they really were saying was 'True Love Waits… but you better get the Ring By Spring!'" This article is SPOT-ON.