Sometimes, events in life conspire in such a way as to take your breath away.

The whimsical, fanciful way things sometimes happen in such a disordered fashion that brings a sudden order to your thoughts can lead you to think that there is a hidden hand somewhere, out there in the cosmos that is either trying to send a message, or just having fun.

This can happen in "real time" - the present - or in the past, by observing history.

Some folks call that "Coincidence". It's something uncanny, accidental or unexpected that happens without being related to the original event or intent. The folks in 12 Step Programs maintain that there is no such thing as "Coincidence," which some maintain is the name God uses when S/he wants to remain anonymous.

Others call it "Synchronicity." The concept of synchronicity was developed by Carl Jung who defined it as "temporally coincident occurrences of acausal events.". It's the experience of two or more events that are apparently unrelated by cause and effect or unlikely to occur together by chance that are observed to occur together in a meaningful manner.

I like the word "Serendipity". It means those occasions wherein you are looking for something and, quite unexpectedly, find something else that is of equal or greater importance than your original quest.

I don't know whether it's coincidence, synchronicity or serendipity, but reading over today's historical events has given me pause to consider these events on a framework of deeper meaning.

1865: The House of Representatives passed a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery.

1919: Baseball Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, who broke the sport's color barrier in 1947, was born in Cairo, Ga.

2006: Coretta Scott King, the widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., died at age 78.

There's something about the juxtaposition of these events on the historical time line that catches me up short.

One wonders about things like the destiny of a child born on the day when slavery was abolished and deep sadness of the death of a Civil Rights hero and wife of a Giant of Justice who died on that very same day.

The New York Times article on the abolition of slavery contains this report:

At 3 o'clock, by general consent, all discussion having ceased, the preliminary votes to reconsider and second the demand for the previous question were agreed to by a vote of 113 yeas, to 58 nays; and amid profound silence the Speaker announced that the yeas and nays would be taken directly upon the pending proposition. During the call, when prominent Democrats voted aye, there was suppressed evidence of applause and gratification exhibited in the galleries, but it was evident that the great interest centered entirely upon the final result, and when the presiding officer announced that the resolution was agreed to by yeas 119, nays 56, the enthusiasm of all present, save a few disappointed politicians, knew no bounds, and for several moments the scene was grand and impressive beyond description. No attempt was made to suppress the applause which came from all sides, every one feeling that the occasion justified the fullest expression of approbation and joy.

One can only imagine the joy of that moment. . . restraining joy while waiting for that 'final result' that would finally remove the stain of slavery from our democratic process.

Well, slavery may have been removed as a legal entity, but the stain of the history of slavery can never be removed. Racism continues to linger today, in this very moment in history.

There have been some bright spots along the way. Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson would be one of them when, in 1947, the Brooklyn Dodgers signed him on to be come the first black Major League Baseball player since the 1880s.

It wasn't only that Robinson was a magnificent athlete and stellar baseball player. The example of his character and unquestionable talent challenged the traditional basis of segregation, which then marked many other aspects of American life, and contributed significantly to the Civil Rights Movement.

It should be noted that part of the significance of this dramatic event was that it was played out on the 'fields of dreams' of the great American pastime of baseball.

He was one of the children of The Great Migration, born the youngest of five children of a family of sharecroppers in Cairo, Ga, during a Spanish flu and smallpox epidemic. After Robinson's father left the family in 1920, they migrated to Pasadena, CA, to be part of an extended family, which was one of the survival strategies of people who were fleeing the harsh injustice of Jim Crow.

There's something in me that rejoices in the birth of Jackie Robinson, who did his part in the Civil Rights Movement by being all that he could be as a man and an athlete and a citizen of the universe. That his birth "coincides" with the date on which slavery was abolished brings greater significance to both events.

And then, there's Coretta Scott King, whose most prominent role may have been in the years after her husband's 1968 assassination when she took on the leadership of the struggle for racial equality herself and became active in the Women's Movement.

She was roundly criticized for her support of the full inclusion of LGBT people. In a speech in November 2003 at the opening session of the 13th annual Creating Change Conference, organized by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Scott King made her now famous appeal linking the Civil Rights Movement to LGBT rights:

"I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people. ... But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream, to make room at the table of brotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people."

Coretta Scott King's support of LGBT rights was strongly criticized by some African-American pastors. She called her critics "misinformed" and said that Martin Luther King's message to the world was one of equality and inclusion. She told them "Like Martin, I don't believe you can stand for freedom for one group of people and deny it to others."

Coretta Scott King, died in the late evening of January 30, 2006 at a rehabilitation center in Rosarito Beach, Mexico, In the Oasis Hospital where she was undergoing holistic therapy for her stroke and advanced stage ovarian cancer.

Her legacy of peace and justice makes her a Giant of Justice of equal stature to her husband. Her call to "make room at the table" is one that echoes the message of the abolition of slavery. Her death underscores the importance of this day in history.

Coincidence? Synchronicity? Serendipity?

I'm not sure.

I think history has a way of calling to the future, underscoring certain events with happiness and joy, sadness and loss, reminding us of the lessons we've learned - and, perhaps, have forgotten.

George Santayana said it best: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

We still have much to learn about the shameful legacy of slavery and racism. On this day, may we commit ourselves to those lessons of the past, that we, ourselves, might be transformed and become agents of change and transformation of the future.

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By far the question I get asked the most is how do you get an agent?

I wish there was an easy answer. But the truth is you need persistence, sometimes a little ingenuity, and luck.

There is a directory of agents that the Writers Guild offers. Some smaller agencies will accept new submissions. Contact all of them.

Try to distinguish yourself. And by that I don’t mean grab a sign and stand on the interstate. This is a writing career, not voiceover work. Bizarre stunts like billboards and Mardi Gras float cars just scream that you’re a loser and need to be hospitalized. That is not what you want.

Get yourself noticed by entering and winning contests, be the pride of your college’s writing program, write a play or short film or YouTube video that attracts positive attention.

Networking and contacts are important. That’s one of the reasons it’s so much easier if you’re in Los Angeles. You can work out in the same gym as an agent. He's the guy on the Stairmaster texting.  A fellow parent at your kids’ school could be a tenpercenter (I always loved that expression). Get into any pick-up basketball game in West L.A. Chances are you’ll be slamming a WME agent into the boards before too long.

Do you know a working writer who is a big fan of your work? Ask him to recommend you to his agent. Do you have a professor who loves your work and is willing to make a few calls on your behalf?

Date Anne Hathaway.

Find out where agents went to college. Maybe you and a CAA guy both are Southwest Arkansas State A & M alums. Use that as an introduction.

Do you know anyone on the crew of a multi-camera show? See if they’ll get you on the floor during a filming night. There are always a few agents milling about. They’re the guys in nice suits hanging around the craft-services table. Texting.  Casually make their acquaintance.

Go to work in an agency mailroom.

Keep an eye out for Learning Annex, UCLA extension, and WGA classes and lectures.

Freeze your ass off at the Sundance film festival.

Date Aaron Sorkin.

Of course, connecting with an agent means nothing if you don’t have the goods. Most agencies want three writing samples – two current show specs and original material like a pilot, play, or screenplay. If you are lucky enough to have an agent consider your scripts, make sure they’re the very best work you’ve ever written. Sometimes you only get one chance.

Good luck. I know it’s hard but talented writers do find agents. You be one of them.

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One of the hardest tasks in any script is coming up with names. They have to sound right, fit the character’s personality and ethnicity. Every writer has a different method for coming up with them. Woody Allen uses names that are as short as possible so he has less to type. For David and I, we tend to use either baseball player names or personal friends.

On MASH we had the added problem of all the patients that rotated in and out of the 4077th. For the seventh season we just used the 1978 Los Angeles Dodgers roster. When you watch those shows you’ll find private Garvey, Cey, Russell, Sutton, Rau, Rhoden, etc. By the end of the season we were down to coaches, announcers (Scully), and even the owner, O’Malley. The year before we had an episode with four Marine patients. They were the then-Angels infield (Chalk, Grich, Remy, Solita). We once wrote a movie about a Club Med being held hostage and maturely used the entire 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates roster.

We also use the names of personal friends. For the “Dancin’ Homer” episode of THE SIMPSONS the minor league announcer (voiced by me) was named Dan Hoard (pictured left), my broadcasting partner in Syracuse. The major league spieler was Dave Glass, my partner in Tidewater (former San Francisco Giant announcer and now mayor of Petaluma.) The Capital City owner who fires Homer was “Dave Rosenfield”, my GM at Tidewater.

In the “Point of View” episode of MASH, the central patient is named “Bobby Rich”. Bobby is a radio personality who hired me in San Diego and is now in Tucson (pictured right). General “Dean Goss” is another former radio chum. For many years he was a morning man at KFRC in San Francisco. The blind patient Hawkeye befriended in “Out of Sight/Out of Mind” was “Tom Straw”, a friend from high school who became a TV writer himself (NIGHT COURT, GRACE UNDER FIRE, THE COSBY SHOW, CRAIG FERGUSON SHOW).

Radar’s girlfriend in “Goodbye Radar” was “Patty Haven”, my former girlfriend. In an earlier episode he was sweet on nurse “Linda Nugent”, a girl I was sweet on in high school. Radar had better luck than I did.

Maybe the happiest married couple I know is Bill & Sherry Grand. So naturally when we needed a couple on CHEERS with a marriage so bad the husband tried to end it in murder we gave them the names “Bill & Sherry Grand”.

Many other writers use this device as well. Scully from X-Files was named for Vin Scully. When Mulder left the show he was replaced by Doggett. Jerry Doggett was Vin Scully’s broadcast partner on the Dodgers.

There was a writing team, Gloria Banta and Pat Nardo who wrote for MTM in the halcyon days. When the producers moved on to TAXI two characters were named Elaine Nardo and Tony Banta. I’m sure there are thousands of other examples. 24 has named various bad guys after network and studio executives.

One time this practice backfired on us. David and I were rewriting MANNEQUIN 2 (believe it or not, the first draft was not perfect). There was a security guard named Andy. We had to give him a last name and since we didn’t want to spend the entire afternoon coming up with one (okay…five minutes) we just used Ackerman. Andy Ackerman is a long time colleague and director (CHEERS, SEINFELD, BECKER, and every pilot that Jim Burrows doesn’t direct). Unfortunately, in later rewrites the character became even more of a complete idiot and the name Andy Ackerman stuck. Ooops. Thank God no one ever saw the movie! And we learned our lesson. Anytime we have a character now who’s going to be a goof we go right to the Clippers roster.

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Dan O'Shannon, now an executive producer of MODERN FAMILY, was a producer on CHEERS when the "We Will Rock You" teaser was shot.  He dropped me a note with some more details. 

When we shot it, we weren't intending to fade out during the song. Instead, the song just kind of peters out, and that's when Cliff comes bursting in singing "we will rock you", too late to join in. When we looked at it in editing, it didn't seem all that funny, so someone (Cheri or Bill Steinkellner, I think) decided to cut out early.

Thanks, Dan!

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My friend Kevin has a policy that I have recently adopted. I will not carry on a text conversation. Text messages are great for short alerts.

I’m running late. 

I’m at baggage claim. 

I’m pregnant. 

But they’re not designed to replace conversations. After a couple of quick back and forths, if you want to continue to converse with me I will CALL you. You’re obviously there. You just texted me two seconds ago.

Yes, the ability to send text messages that are received instantly is pretty amazing. Clearly, the purpose of human thumbs is to communicate. But even more amazing is that by simply pushing a few buttons you can actually TALK to the person. Imagine, carrying on a dialogue in real time. And hearing the other person’s voice. Not having to decipher what ob meant when the person hit the wrong key. Being able to express a thought longer that a tweet.

Since I adopted this policy, there have been a few times when someone has tried to engage me in a text conversation. So I would call them. And they were always startled. Completely in shock.    It’s like, “Ohmygod, did somebody die?” Has it been that long since people talked to each other that it is now awkward?

So if you want to tell me you’re on your way, the team bus leaves in ten minutes, or my hair is on fire, then by all means text me. But anything else, let’s talk by smartphone.

If this policy works I then might suggest something really insane – we actually get together and talk face to face. I know.  WTF? 2M2H.

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I'm beginning to think that the Republican Majority in the House of Representatives knows and understands that they can't accomplish what the Tea Party money paid elected them to do, so they are going to flex their muscles and scare people for the rest of their term while sending a message to their supporters that, see, they are actually doing what they were paid elected to do.

That's what I think on a good day.

On a bad day, like today, I think they've all lost their minds.

It's getting more and more squirrely on Capitol Hill - and I fear it's going to get worse, if it ever gets better.

I thought the reading of the Constitution was pretty silly. I thought the vote to repeal the Health Care Reform Bill, even though they knew it would accomplish nothing, was pathetic. 

But, this! Well, this just absolutely blows my mind.

There's nothing to be done but get directly to it:  Nick Baumann over at Mother Jones is reporting that the House GOPs are planning to redefine rape.

Yes, you read that right. They are planning to redefine rape. 

Rape, they say, is only really rape if it involves 'force'.

But, you see, it's really not about rape. It's about abortion.

Stay with me now. I warned you. It's going to get pretty squirrely.

As Baumann reports,

There used to be a quasi-truce between the pro- and anti-choice forces on the issue of federal funding for abortion. Since 1976, federal law has prohibited the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions except in the cases of rape, incest, and when the pregnancy endangers the life of the woman.

But since last year, the anti-abortion side has become far more aggressive in challenging this compromise. They have been pushing to outlaw tax deductions for insurance plans that cover abortion, even if the abortion coverage is never used.

The "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act"  - a bill with 173 'mostly Republican' co-sponsors that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has dubbed a 'top priority' in the new Congress - contains a provision that would rewrite the rules to drastically limit the definition of rape and incest in these cases.

Here's where it gets squirrely.

With this legislation, which was introduced last week by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Republicans propose that the rape exemption be limited to "forcible rape."

Yes, you heard that right. "Forcible rape".

I'll give you time to scratch your head as you ask, "So, what's 'non-forcible' rape?"

Remember, we're making this up as we go along because the point isn't really about rape - much less, God knows, justice or the law - but abortion.

Turns out, forcible rape has no formal definition under federal law, Baumann notes, but legal experts and abortion advocates told Baumann that, should the bill pass, the new wording would most likely prevent Medicaid from paying for abortions for victims of statutory rapes not involving the use of force.

Okay, let me slow that down and run that by you again.

That was "statutory rapes (generally understood as the rape of a child below the legal age of consent) not involving the use of force".

So, ahem, okay. Let me just ask an obvious question: If an act of rape with a child below the legal age of consent results in pregnancy, how could it not involve 'the use of force'?

Does that mean that if a child below the legal age of consent consents to the sex act, it's not rape because, well, your honor, she obviously wanted it even though she couldn't legally consent to it?

Cue Annie Hall, "I'm too tense. I need a Valium."

Baumann's sources also told him that the revised wording might also disallow funding of abortions in cases where perpetrators used date-rape drugs on their victims, or targeted mentally incapacitated women.

Some states have no definition of forcible rape on the books, calling into question whether any abortions would qualify for federal funding in such jurisdictions.

Incest victims would have to be younger than 18 in order to access Medicaid-funded abortions. The bill also denies tax credits to private insurance plans that pay for abortions.

Wait. Wait. Wait.

Incest?

Incest is, well INCEST. It's wrong. At any age. And, don't these people know that part of why incest is illegal is that a pregnancy resulting from incest (when there is consanguinity) is always a recipe for serious birth defects?

Sweet mother of Jesus, have these people lost their minds? Or are they just intent on driving us all insane?

So, here's a little primer for The 'boyz and girlz in da House' to help them understand a little more about rape. Let's just call it:

"Rape 101: The basics".

Rape is not a sexual act. It is an act of violence. Sex is the weapon.

If a woman does not consent to sex, it's rape.

If a man has to drug a woman in order to have 'non forcible' sex with her, it's rape.

If a man has sex with a post-pubescent child under the legal age of consent, it is rape (and reprehensible).

If a man has sex with a pre-pubescent child who is obviously under the legal age of consent, it is child molestation and rape (and heinous).

If a man has sex with a person who is mentally incapacitated, it's rape (and evil).

If a woman is out on a date with a man and doesn't want to have sex but he does and threatens her in any way and she capitulates because she's afraid of him, it's still rape, even though she knows him or may have even known him for a number of years.

If a husband forces himself on his wife, it's still rape, even though they are married.

If a woman is dressed in what is considered "seductive attire" and declines to have sex, it's still rape and it's not her fault. She wasn't "asking for it."

As we used to say, way back in the 80s: "What part of 'no' don't you understand?

Isn't that ironic!?!?

"The Party of No" doesn't understand "No."

Abortion? Well, that's a different subject all together.  But, I promise - with my hand on a stack of bibles - that if you work to change the reasons women feel compelled to have an abortion - like poverty, lack of access to quality health care, education, reproductive rights - you will reduce the number of abortions. That includes the number of abortions paid for by the federal government.

I know. That's a lot more difficult than changing the definition of rape.

I'm not a lawyer (and I don't play one on TV), but it seems to me that diminishing the legal rights of all women which are designed to protect them against rape, in order to protect the rights of those who are not yet legally 'persons' is, well. . . it's not only bad law, it's an injustice.

Besides, if it was your daughter, Congressman/woman, who had been raped, I'm thinking you're not going to sit in the waiting room of the local hospital Emergency Room trying to discern whether or not it was 'forcible' or 'non forcible' rape.

I don't know about you, but I am sick unto death of "Coach Boehner" telling his "team" to try some fake passes, end runs and trying to "sack the quarterback" (the POTUS). It's a desperate, pathetic, dangerous game they're playing.

Even though House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio has called the bill a "high priority", it seems unlikely that the Democratic-controlled Senate would approve the law.

President Obama would also undoubtedly veto the legislation if. . . and I think that's a Very Big "if". . . it made it to his desk.

High priority?

What happened to employment - finding jobs for people - being "high priority"?

What happened to the economy being a "high priority"?

What happened to the "high priority" of reducing the deficit?

And what the heck ever happened to the Republican "high priority" of staying the heck out of people's private lives?

One of my friends suggested that this bill is just a little something bright and shiny to distract the Tea Party folks and make them think the Republicans are really doing what they wanted them to do.

Even so, it might be time to pick up your telephone and call the office of your local Representative(s) to Congress and let him/her know what you think about this absurd piece of proposed legislation.

Here's your opening line: "Aw, nuts!"

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Farmer's Daughter Crystal Bowersox Lyrics

Title: Farmer's Daughter Lyrics

Artist: Crystal Bowersox

Here is Farmer's Daughter Lyrics performed by Crystal Bowersox @ PlazaMp3.Blogspot.Com

Half way to crazy

Not far from sane

Oh, sick and tired for all of your games

And all I ever wanted was you to take care of me

Honor thy mother, oh and father too

But I know there ain't no way in hell that God mentioned you

And all I ever wanted was you to be there for me

Oooooo, and all I ever never needed was you to be here for me

found on TopLyrics.Org

This time is the last time you're gonna see us, around

Oh this was your last chance to prove you wouldn't let me down

So go on get gone and get away from here A... lone

Oh alone is how your gonna spend the rest of your years

Cause I'm no Farmer daughters anymore, Mommy dear

I remember back in high school

My brothers and me, Willy put his head through the door to find clarity

And you'd come home with Burban breath

Jack in the air

And when you broke my bones I told the school I fell down the stairs

All I ever wanted was you to be there for me

And all I ever needed was you to be here for me

This time is the last time you're gonna see us, around

Oh this was your last chance to prove you wouldn't let me down

So go on get gone and get away from here A... lone

Oh alone is how your gonna spend the rest of your years

Cause I'm no Farmer daughters anymore,

I aint no farmers daughter any more

No farmers daughter anymore, mommy dear... Mommy dear

Mp3 Lyrics Crystal Bowersox - Farmer's Daughter

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Three months ago, in October, 2010, Rolling Stone, an Ugandan newspaper, featured a front page diatribe against homosexuality with a picture of human rights activist and gay man, David Kato, under the banner that read "100 Pictures of Uganda's Top Homos. Hang Them."

Mr. Kato, an advocacy officer for the gay rights group Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), led the list of 100 homosexual men and women whose names, addresses, and photographs were published in the paper. Rolling Stone urged readers to kill those on the list. A Ugandan court ruling prevented the paper from publishing more names.

On Wednesday afternoon, January 26, 2011, Mr. Kato was beaten to death with a hammer in his own home. Police officials said the motive was robbery, but LGBT Ugandans disagreed and said Mr. Kato was singled out for his outspoken defense of gay rights. He had been receiving death threats ever since the October edition of the newspaper hit the stands.

Indeed, one SMUG spokesperson went straight to the heart of the matter.

“David’s death is a result of the hatred planted in Uganda by U.S. evangelicals in 2009,” Val Kalende, the chairwoman of one of Uganda’s gay rights groups, said in a statement. “The Ugandan government and the so-called U.S. evangelicals must take responsibility for David’s blood.”

Ms. Kalende was referring to visits in March 2009 by a group of American evangelicals, who held rallies and workshops in Uganda discussing how to turn gay people straight, how gay men sodomized teenage boys and how “the gay movement is an evil institution” intended to “defeat the marriage-based society.”

Those U.S. evangelicals include Scott Lively, the former head of the California affiliate of the American Family Association who has written the book "The Pink Swastika" about what he calls the links between Nazism and a gay agenda for world domination.

He and two others, including Don Schmierer, a board member of Exodus International, have led conferences and workshops about the evils of homosexuality in Uganda.

A direct result of all this anti-gay evangelical rhetoric was the Anti-Homosexuality Bill introduced into the Ugandan legislature in 2009 which would prescribe the death penalty for gays and lesbians, though it has yet to be made into law.

The Americans who were involved forcefully asserted that they had "no intention" of stoking a violent reaction. The antigay bill, however, was drafted soon after. Some of the Ugandan politicians and evangelicals who wrote the legislation admitted that they had attended those sessions and that they had discussed the legislation with the American evangelicals.

Political Research Associates condemned the murder and demanded an end to “the export of homophobia to Uganda by American conservatives.”

“Kato’s murder is a heavy blow to the international human rights community,” said Rev. Kapya Kaoma, the director of PRA’s Project on Religion and Sexuality. “Those U.S conservatives who have lit the brushfire of homophobia in Africa have to bear some responsibility for this tragic death and for the conflagration that now threatens to consume all gay Ugandans.”

Some of you - okay, a distinct minority of those of you who read this blog - are saying, "Oh, pshaw! That's like comparing the so-called violent rhetoric of "a few" right-wingnuts to what happened in Tuscon. You can't blame the violent actions of criminals on evangelicals or politicians or conservative media. People have to take responsibility for their own actions."

Okay, let's talk about talking responsibility for own's actions - whether or not the consequences of those actions are "intended".

Let's review the time line here. In March, 2009, American evangelicals came to Uganda and gave impassioned sermons and lead workshops to educate Ugandans about the "evils" of homosexuality.

Eight months later, in November, 2009, legislation was introduced into the Ugandan Parliament which would include some of the harshest anti-gay regulations in the world, which includes jail sentences for those who "fail to disclose or report" known homosexual persons.

Even a reporter who privately interviews homosexual people - or their parents or medical staff to treat them - but keeps their identity anonymous could be found to have "promoted homosexuality," an act punishable by five to seven years in prison.

And were any Ugandans to have sex with someone of the same sex in another country, the law would mandate their extradition to Uganda for prosecution. Only terrorists and traitors are currently subject to extraterritorial jurisdiction under Ugandan law. Even murderers don't face that kind of judicial reach.

World wide attention by human rights activists focused on the proposed draconian legislation which resulted in provisions for the death penalty being dropped, but the bill continues, at this very moment, to simmer and stew in Parliament.

In October, 2010, the Rolling Stone published its "Homosexual Hit List".

The paper said homosexuals were raiding schools and recruiting children, a belief that is quite widespread in Uganda and has helped drive the homophobia.

Mr. Kato and a few other activists, who had endured months of death threats, sued the paper and won. This month, Uganda’s High Court ordered Rolling Stone to pay hundreds of dollars in damages and to cease publishing the names of people it said were gay.

On Wednesday, January 26, 2011, David Kato was bludgeoned to death with a hammer in his own home. He died on the way to the hospital.

Why yes, let's do talk about taking responsibility for our actions, shall we?

I would love it if someone would - indeed, could - explain to me how these events are NOT connected, one to the other.

Words have enormous power.

There is power in the fact that Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and the President of the United States of America have soundly condemned the murder.

Ms. Clinton said, in part,

"His crime is a reminder of the heroic generosity of the people who advocate for and defend human rights on behalf of the rest of us -- and the sacrifices they make. And as we reflect on his life, it is also an occasion to reaffirm that human rights apply to everyone, no exceptions, and that the human rights of LGBT individuals cannot be separated from the human rights of all persons."

Mr. Obama said,

"At home and around the world, LGBT persons continue to be subjected to unconscionable bullying, discrimination, and hate. In the weeks preceding David Kato’s murder in Uganda, five members of the LGBT community in Honduras were also murdered. It is essential that the Governments of Uganda and Honduras investigate these killings and hold the perpetrators accountable.

LGBT rights are not special rights; they are human rights. My Administration will continue to strongly support human rights and assistance work on behalf of LGBT persons abroad. We do this because we recognize the threat faced by leaders like David Kato, and we share their commitment to advancing freedom, fairness, and equality for all."

I am deeply grateful for their words.  I am especially grateful for Mr. Obama's assertion that "LGBT rights are not special rights; they are human rights."

Those are powerful words. Thank you, Mr. Obama.

I am grateful for the words of our Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, who issued this statement from Dublin, Ireland, where she is attending the meeting of the Primates of the Anglican Communion:

"At this morning’s Eucharist at the Primates Meeting, I offered prayers for the repose of the soul of David Kato. His murder deprives his people of a significant and effective voice, and we pray that the world may learn from his gentle and quiet witness, and begin to receive a heart of flesh in place of a heart of stone. May he rest in peace, and may his work continue to bring justice and dignity for all God’s children."

I am even more grateful that The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has finally broken his silence about the deadly homophobia in Uganda. Dr Williams is also in Dublin for the Primates' meeting. He made the following statement regarding the murder of the gay human rights activist David Kato Kisule in Uganda:

The brutal murder of David Kato Kisule, a gay human rights activist, is profoundly shocking. Our prayers and deep sympathy go out for his family and friends - and for all who live in fear for their lives. Whatever the precise circumstances of his death, which have yet to be determined, we know that David Kato Kisule lived under the threat of violence and death. No one should have to live in such fear because of the bigotry of others. Such violence has been consistently condemned by the Anglican Communion worldwide. This event also makes it all the more urgent for the British Government to secure the safety of LGBT asylum seekers in the UK. This is a moment to take very serious stock and to address those attitudes of mind which endanger the lives of men and women belonging to sexual minorities.

It is, indeed, "a moment to take very serious stock" and "to address those attitudes of mind which endanger the lives of men and women belonging to sexual minorities."

It would also be a good thing, indeed, to make the connection between the words that convey those "attitudes of mind" and the consequences of such communication.

In 1987, six gay activists in New York formed the Silence = Death Project and began plastering posters around the city featuring a pink triangle on a black background stating simply ‘SILENCE = DEATH.’

In its manifesto, the Silence = Death Project drew parallels between the Nazi period and the AIDS crisis, declaring that ‘silence about the oppression and annihilation of gay people, then and now, must be broken as a matter of our survival.’

The slogan thus protested both taboos around discussion of safer sex and the unwillingness of some to resist societal injustice and governmental indifference. The six men who created the project later joined the protest group ACT UP and offered the logo to the group, with which it remains closely identified.

Artist Keith Haring developed this theme into the above graphic which became one of the logos of ACT/UP (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power).

As dangerous as silence about oppression can be, 'coming out' as an LGBT person and breaking the silence about the reality of LGTB people among us is still a dangerous act.

Ignorance continues to bread fear.

Ignorance, combined with fear, can be deadly.

If Keith Haring were alive today, I suspect he might alter his image and cut right to the chase, as it were.

Ignorance + Fear = Death.

Ignorance killed David Kato. Bigotry and prejudice, under girded by hateful, false religious doctrine fed that ignorance and provided fuel to ignite the flames of fear and violence.

There were consequences to David Kato breaking the silence about the reality of his sexual orientation as part of the fullness of his humanity. He did not intend those consequences. Indeed, he recently said, that he wanted to be a “good human rights defender, not a dead one, but an alive one.”

I have a hard time believing, given the wording of the legislation crafted by American evangelicals and the Ugandan politicians they influenced, that they did not intend the death of someone like David Kato as a consequence of their preaching and teaching.

What they, in their ignorance, perhaps did not intend is that Kato's death has made him a martyr to the cause of the liberation promised by the Christ they say they follow.

History has shown that martyrdom is stronger than any force to oppress. That will be David Kato's legacy. I suspect that the pending Ugandan legislation now has an even slimmer chance of passing Parliament.

While American Evangelicals like Scott Lively and Don Schmierer and the Ugandan politicians they influenced did not place the hammer in the hand of Kato's assailant, nor did they directly commit his murder, the consequence of their teachings will be their legacy:  Ignorance, fear and death.

In the end, that will speak a message that may not find justice in the courtroom, but will resound loud and clear throughout the cosmos and into the very heart of God, whose peace and justice surpass all human understanding.

UPDATE:  Read ENS story: Episcopalians condemn murder of Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato

Archbishop Henry Orombi has previously declined to condemn violence against homosexuals.

The Anglican Church of Uganda has said it believes that "homosexual practice has no place in God's design of creation, the continuation of the human race through procreation, or His plan of redemption."

UPDATE #2 COMMENTARY: David Kato's funeral illustrates schism of Anglican Church

As the Anglican Primates gather in Dublin, Ireland, the question they must ask themselves and ponder this weekend is what kind of Anglicanism are we really representing? What are we proud of from David Kato’s life and the rites our church provided over his dead body? And what are we ashamed of?

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More of your Friday questions and my attempt at answers.

Phillip B asks:

I noticed that the opening on CHEERS was often entirely unrelated to the rest of the episode. Was it just a chance for a good joke, was it made detachable knowing it was going to get cut in syndication, or was this a chance to give a chance for an actor to more fully develop their role?

Doing a self-contained bit as a teaser was an artistic decision the Charles Brothers made at the outset of the series. Personally, I thought it was a pain in the ass. It’s so much easier to do jokes that tie into the story.

We were always scrambling for teasers. Usually the lowest ranked staff writers would be sent off to come up with them. This was the CHEERS equivalent to being assigned to KP.

The only advantage to this practice was that sometimes we would film a show and it would end up too long.  We could lift a goofy bar discussion and use it some later week as the teaser.  

What is your favorite teaser? This is mine. Director Jim Burrows deserved an Emmy just for this.



From Michael:

If MASH had never existed and AfterMASH was pitched as an original series, do you think it would have gotten on the air?

A period comedy set in a Veteran’s Hospital with no real star, and a patient population made up exclusively of elderly men? Not a chance in hell. Chuck Lorre couldn’t sell that series.

People always wonder why I wrote for AfterMASH. Because it was a chance to work with Larry Gelbart. I established a life-long friendship, and got to learn at the feet of the absolute master. Tell me you wouldn’t jump at that chance, too.


Michael in Singapore has a question in several parts:

Why are the Golden Globes held in such high esteem in Hollywood when everyone knows what a crock they are? Who IS the "foreign press" (movie critics from Belgium and Lithuania?), and why are their accolades so much more important in Hollywood than awards given by the LOCAL or AMERICAN press? The Golden Globes, by all accounts, should be insignificant. How did it become the second-most important award next to the Oscars? Why does anybody care?

First of all, they’re not held in high esteem. But the Foreign Press did something very smart. They didn’t just stage an awards ceremony, they put together a giant bash. It’s a really fun night. Lots of good food, LOTS of booze, and by the time the ceremony starts, everyone is pretty looped.

So to paraphrase the famous line in FIELD OF DREAMS, “If you throw it, they will come”.

And because a lot of feature and television stars attend, they’re able to televise it nationally. And that exposure is what gives the Golden Globes whatever stature it may have. Remember during the Writers Strike when actors refused to cross the picket lines at the Golden Globes? The show was canceled. No one cared who won.

The common industry belief is that the Foreign Press can be bought, so the awards have a certain lack of credibility.

Feature studios hope winning Golden Globes builds momentum for the Oscars. This is award season. The Golden Globes, WGA, DGA, PGA, various critics associations, SAG. But don’t kid yourself. The only one that really counts to Hollywood is the Academy Awards.

The Foreign Press is an organization that does have members who are freelance and part-time, and many do have other jobs. People joke that they’re waiters but in some cases they really are.

What’s your question? And favorite CHEERS teaser?

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Toronto, Canada. In December I've already posted a EP, Sing & Flow, where John Legend has pleasured us to be part of his gorgeous talent. Now I found this great track "Heartbreaker" by MSTRKRFT ft. John Legend. This unique track has a nice beat surrounded by a bright piano play. It's out of the album "Fist Of God" which was released on 18th September last year.

download track

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Denver, CO, USA. That's amazing. In the first moment, I didn't listening to "Tennis". Cause of its band name and the cover. Well, I expected something totally diffrent. I don't know. By all means, a kind of boring music which I wouldn't recommend to you. But, hell no!! This is (in my eyes) a being in a good mood music. A happy, sunny, lucky, bright, gorgeous music. It's keeping to nod one's head all the time. Lovely!

Tennis - Marathon by Pretty Much Amazing

And if you want to get know "Tennis" better, you'll have to check out this video below. It includes the track "Pigeon".

Yours Truly Presents: Tennis "Pigeon" from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

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One of the joys of being at EDS is learning new ways to think about things - words, especially - that you always have always taken for granted.

I had a serendipitous lunch with Dean Ragsdale the other day, the way things often happen in refectories - now called "Brattle Cafe" (but not, thanks be to God, a 'cafeteria').

She happened to mention, in the off-handed way of casual conversations among old friends, that she's been thinking about the word 'parson', which she said, is derived from the word 'person.'

We went on to discuss the public nature of priesthood and all of the implications of that, but I found myself focused on this part of what she said.

"We often forget," she said, in that wise, wonderful way of hers, "that clergy are people first, before they were ordained. They are priests, yes, but they are people, too."

One of the wonderful resources I now have at my disposal is online access to the Oxford English Dictionary.

So, I looked up the word. Of course.

And, of course, she was right.

Here's what I found, in part:

Brit. /ˈpɑːsn/ , U.S. /ˈpɑrs(ə)n/

Forms:

α. ME perosone , ME personne, ME persoun, ME persun, ME 16 person, ME–16 persone; Sc. pre-17 persown.

The ecclesiastical use of Latin persōna does not appear before the 11th cent; for a British (Scottish)

It appears that a person who was a parson was sometimes referred to as such as a pejorative term. Someone who thought he (sic) was 'above' being a mere human.

Now a person who is a parson who is in charge of a parish is often called a "rector" - "ruler", from the Latin regere and rector meaning "teacher" in Latin. In the Church of England, the rector is the Third Person of the parochial trinity, the Cruate and the Vicar being the other two.

Believe it or not 'rector' is also a nautical term. It can mean the number of miles a ship has sailed east or west. A 'rector' is also part of the rudder of ancient boats. It is not that which directs the ship but assists the rudder in determining the course of the boat.

I love that image. A rector is not the rudder which sets the direction of the boat, nor the Captain whose hand steers the rudder, but a small part of the rudder which helps to keep the boat on course.

Given the hull shape of the ceilings of most churches, it's a wonderful image. I'm told that this is one of the many theological statements made by ecclesiastical architecture.

For example, the space at the (liturgical) east end of the sanctuary, before the apse which contains the altar, is intentionally in a cruciform shape.

The apse intentionally faces east, reminding us from whence the sun/Son rises.

The particular pitch of the church ceiling is designed to remind us of Noah's Ark, now turned upside down, in which we make our spiritual home, secure in the promise of the rainbow that God will never destroy the face of the earth.

This is why we call the inside of the church a "sancturay". It's not just a holy place. It's holy, in part, because it offers shelter and security to all God's people.

I remembered something someone on my very first field education placement said to me, as part of my evaluation. He said, "Remember, in ordination, you are 'set apart' for service. Never forget, however, that you are still 'a part' of the whole people of God."

I think, when clergy forget that, well, we deserve being called 'parson' as a pejorative term. When we remember that we are 'a part of the whole' - a small bit of the rudder designed to help steer the boat - we become 'parsons' who have been set apart for a particular purpose, working together to bring us all closer, in the journey on the Baptismal waters of our faith, to the Realm of God.

I was thinking about that and connecting it to something Dr. Cheng mentioned in the class on Contemporary Christologies. He was talking about the four points of tension in answering the question Jesus asked Peter, "Who do people say that I am?".

The first is the tension between the person - or ontology - of Jesus and the works - or function of Jesus. Do we define him only by what he is reported to have done, or the person we know him to be?

So person vs. works. Ontonlogy vs. Function.

Another way to look at Jesus is "From above" - the mystery of Jesus, wherein the Divine is prioritized - vs. "From below" - the historical person of Jesus, wherein the Human is prioritized.

So, Mystery vs. History. Divine vs. Human.

Dr. Cheng pointed out that if we focus too much on one thing, we miss the fullness of Jesus. It's not either/or, but both/and, he said, in good Anglican fashion.

I think we miss the fullness of what it means to be clergy - an 'alter Christus' - when we focus too much on the status of ordination vs. the status of being a person.

Which, I think, was Dean Ragsdale's point.

Parson. I'm liking the sound of that word more and more.

It has a lovely non-gender-specific quality about it that makes it even more appealing to my sense of egalitarianism.

Parson Kaeton.

Okay, so it's not going to take off immediately and be the next red hot thing in The Episcopal Church. Given time, however, I think it just might catch on.

It's an admittedly archaic term that has a lovely quaintness to it - just quirky enough for a branch of Christianity already known for its penchant for quirky works like "refectory", "narthex", "apse" and "undercroft".

A parson is a person who is set apart for particular service in the church, but still part of the whole people of God.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love being here at EDS?

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Reader Travis Puterbaugh wrote: "Ken, how about a column on "Episodes," the new Showtime series. Have you seen it yet?"

I feel bad reviewing a show that’s on SHOWTIME since not all of my readers can watch it. But I see that you can go on line to Hulu and places like that and screen episodes, so what the hell?

I have seen EPISODES, and I enjoy it. I do have some issues but first the good stuff. Kathleen Rose Perkins, as the network VP of Comedy is so pitch-perfect dead-on that it makes me cringe and roar with laughter every time she opens her mouth. Creators David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik know of whom they write.  Ms. Perkins portrayal is nothing short of inspired character assassination.

Her assistant, played by Daisy Haggard, also kills me. She’s a network executive in comedy development with zero sense of humor and less-than-zero personality. You may watch it and think, “Well, then how does a person like that get that job?” And the answer is, “I’ve been wondering the same thing for twenty years!” (In fairness, not all network comedy execs are blank like that, but in any given meeting there always seems to be one.)

The other revelation is Matt LeBlanc. He’s smart! Who knew? He plays a (hopefully) distorted version of himself -- the self-centered asshole star. But what I really like is (a) the real-life Matt is a good sport for allowing himself to be portrayed like that, and (b) he knows to play the character equal parts monster and equal parts charming. That’s what elevates him from a villain to what America really loves to see -- a true psychopath.

The premise is loosely based on Steven Moffat and his wife Sue Vertue, who created COUPLING for the BBC. (COUPLING is my favorite sitcom from the last ten years.) It was a big hit in England and NBC talked them into overseeing a U.S. version. NBC, and by that I mean Jeff Zucker, then proceeded to change and ruin every single aspect of the show. Similarly, in EPISODES, a British couple with a hit series are seduced into making an American version, and they too are thwarted at every turn.

My only problem is this (and I had the same problem with the movie TV SET): At some point, the showrunners (in this case, the British couple) are going to say no. When the network won’t approve the British star of their series (HISTORY BOY’S extraordinary Richard Griffiths) and instead force Matt LeBlanc upon them, it’s very very funny, but the truth is the showrunners would say, “Fuck no! We’re going back to London. Kiss our ass!” And when Matt LeBlanc wants to change the character from a boarding school teacher to a hockey coach, I laughed, but again, the showrunners would say, “We’re so outta here.  Cheeri-fucking-oh!”. It just makes me uncomfortable to see showrunners portrayed with absolutely no spine. Because here’s the dirty little secret: You might as well fight and do the show your way because even if you do all of their suggestions, and even if you surrender to them at every turn, if the show doesn’t work YOU still get blamed.

So that’s my issue, and I know it’s a personal one. I understand that you need to exaggerate, you’re doing satire, and you have to take some creative license. But that’s why I’m so in love with Kathleen Rose Perkins. As outrageous and horrifying as her character is – it’s not an exaggeration. She’s real!

EPISODES is worth watching. It's a fun send-up of television.   You'll laugh till you hang yourself. 

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Sweat Lyrics Snoop Dogg

Title: Sweat

Artist: Snoop Dogg

The new rap song: Sweat Lyrics performed by Snoop Dogg @ PlazaMp3.Blogspot.Com

Dig Snoop Dogg

Can you be my doctor?

Can you fix me up?

Can you wipe me down?

So I can make you give it up give it up

Until you say my name

Like a Jersey Jersey shuttin’ down the game

Be my head coach

So you can…

And never take me out

Till you can taste the way

Do it again, and again till you say my name

And by the way

I’m so glad

I just wanna make you sweat

I wanna make you sweat

I just wanna make you sweat

I wanna make you sweat

Sweat, sweat

Drip drip drip for me mommy can you drip drip drip

Drip drip drip for me mommy can you drip drip drip

She’s hot on a rainy day

Don’t drown

Call call me up, I I I can save you now

(Lick your feet and kiss your lap)?

(?)

There’s only one way we can stop the drought

Come with me

We can take a trip down south

I can tell she’s thirsty

I’m in the whoa like a birdy

Whatcha wanna do tonight?

It’s still early

Wanna get some tonight

She’s all sturdy

I’m in I’m in

Like a cigarette

She wanna quit

I just wanna make you sweat

I wanna make you sweat

I just wanna make you sweat

I wanna make you sweat

Sweat, sweat

Drip drip drip for me mommy can you drip drip drip

Drip drip drip for me mommy can you drip drip drip

Can you, can you get me up like I’m late for my first class

So I can give it to you rough like a first draft

Hold you like a paper plane

You know I got paper babe

Them dollar bills

Girl I’ll make it rain

Holiday Inn

Come and meet me on my eighth floor

Damn it feels good but I feel bad for (them next door)?

And I, I I I up on the (?)

When I slip slip slip like two girls into slip n’ slide

(There’s a flood in your heart love)?

Girl, let me pop up in your hot tub

Every night every day,

Sippin’ on a different drink

Different chicks, different tastes

I do it different ways

Where you goin?

Whatcha say?

I’m why her river flowin’

To another lake

By to ocean by the ocean

On the beach on the beach

I’m bout’ to take a swim

Let me dip my feet in and make you sweat

I wanna make you sweat

I just wanna make you sweat

I wanna make you sweat

Sweat, sweat

Drip drip drip for me mommy can you drip drip drip

Drip drip drip for me mommy can you drip drip drip

Mp3 Lyrics: Snoop Dogg - Sweat

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Stockholm, Sweden. I can't believe it. In March PB&J will release "Gimme Some" - the 6th album. I don't know where they have hidden from me the others. Okay, I didn't recognize PB&J until "Young Folks". I thought, "Writer's Block" were their first album (actually the third). And than, I fell in love with their fifth album "Living Thing" (in my eyes, the second). I'd never got in touch with the mystic three albums. Anyway, in 2011 they make us happy, again. With my third PB&J album and worldwide their 6th album. So, clear the way for "Breaker Breaker".

Peter Bjorn & John - Breaker Breaker by Pretty Much Amazing

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Last week I went to a restaurant I’ve been going to for years. Some great entrees and it’s a block from Cedars-Sinai hospital so if I have any kind of attack during dinner I’m covered.

There are three or four dishes I always like and their soups are m-m-m good (which is the official standard for soup). I hadn’t been there in a few months but when I picked up the menu I was shocked. They had completely changed it. Now there were a million appetizers and only four main courses. And none of my favorites made the cut. What the fuck? I asked the waiter what soups they had and he said, “Not sure we still have soup. Let me check.” (They did, much to his surprise)

I guess this is a new trend. Skew towards tapas items, “small bites”, or whatever cute name they have for charging you $9.95 for a crab cake the size of your eye.

So today’s topic: Things that change for the worse, or, as I like to call it -- “the New Coke Phenomenon”.

For those unfamiliar, Coca Cola decided for some inexplicable reason to change its formula in 1985 and sales plummeted. People were so upset in the south that there was almost a second burning of Atlanta. Coke eventually went back to its original “classic” formula.

Side note:  It should be noted that the original formula was not the first version of Coca-Cola.  My grandmother used to say that Coke was the greatest drink ever when she was a kid.  Somehow they ruined it.  Uh, yeah... in that initial formula there was cocaine in it.  

Meanwhile, the Necco candy company has now ruined Chocolate Necco Wafers. They’ve made them different flavors of chocolate and they’re awful. Who are they even kidding with “flavors”? It’s chalk. Chocolate Necco Wafers never tasted like chocolate. Sweetbreads don’t taste like sweet breads. And Rocky Mountain Oysters sure don’t taste like oysters. So what? Chocolate Necco Wafers tasted good. Now they don’t. Were Chocolate Necco Wafer sales down so alarmingly that the stockholders demanded a change or heads would’ve roll?

When you think of industries that have changed for the worse, you have to put airlines at the top of the everyone's list. At least when restaurants change their menu it’s with the hope of attracting new and more customers. But the airlines don’t give a shit. If they could get away with just strapping you to the wings and filling the cabin with more cargo they would.

XM radio used to be much better. The minute Sirius merged with them the cost cutting began. Less live talent, less musical variety, and more syndicated fare. There used to be a baseball-only talk channel. Now they just simulcast MLB-TV in the late afternoons and evenings. So this is a highlight they might now feature: “Whoa, will you look at that? Can you believe it?” And I’m paying good money for this?

Speaking of baseball, what was wrong with stadium organs? Going to a big league game used to be a night of Americana. Today it’s like stepping into TRON. Kudos to those few clubs that still have stadium organs. Is the ballpark experience really better with Snoop Dog?

And closer to home, Blogger “improved” their format and now it’s impossible for me to upload pictures if I’m in Firefox. And every time Facebook changes something I worry that all my private settings are being viewed and mocked by Mark Zuckerberg, Sean Parker, and the rest of the drunk nerds at Mark’s rented party house in Palo Alto.

Has anyone used “Advanced” Cascade on their dishes? “Advanced” means crusty film on your dishes. Nabisco Ginger Snaps are now awful. With all the things in the world that really do need changing, why start with Ginger Snaps? And Campbell’s Bean with Bacon soup used to be m-m-m-m good. Now the “new improved” version is eh-eh-eh ech!!!

These are just a few examples, the Chocolate Necco Wafers being the most disturbing. I bet you guys can name others.

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Ah, the French! Always so fatalistic. And, often so right!

It was author Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr in the January 1849 issue of his journal Les Guêpes (“The Wasps”) who coined the epigram "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose". It has become a modern proverb of sorts, meaning, roughly, "The more things change, the more they stay the same".

That's been my experience, thus far, of returning to the campus of The Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA after graduating almost twenty-five years ago.

Much has changed - and much is just about the same.

I should note that I am in what is probably the fairly unique position of being both an alum of Lesley University (it was College then) as well as EDS. That's important to know because EDS and Lesley are now partners in an educational enterprise, sharing a library and classrooms as well as student residences (formerly called 'dorms').

In the very near future, they will also be sharing educational programs, so one might be able to graduate with a double Master's Degree - say, an MDiv and a Masters in Psychology or Social Work.

I really believe this is the way of the future for ordained and lay ministry in the institutional church.

Needless to say, I'm a big fan of this collaborative arrangement. Even so, I must admit to stopping in my tracks the first time I saw the green "Lesley University" signs on the stately brown stone buildings of Winthrop and Lawrence Halls.

The Refectory, where seminarians always gathered to discuss theology or church history or wail over the impossibility of learning Greek while eating meals prepared with 20 year old men in mind - meat, potatoes, vegetables - is now "The Brattle Cafe".

I should give thanks that it's not "The Cafeteria". I know. I know. We Episcopalians are a persnickety lot about things like "undercroft", and "narthex" and "sacristy".

Just work with me, here.

A huge salad bar is now the centerpiece of the room.  In front of that, by the cash registers, is a hot buffet. Yesterday's offerings included chicken caccatori, eggplant parmesan, sauteed vegetables, brown rice and garlic bread.

A new feature is a chef with a hot plate and a wok who took up his station over to the right of the kitchen and stir-fried up a mean garlic chicken and broccoli with a light cream sauce, served over penne pasta. Lord have mercy, it was good!

The kitchen area still houses the coffee and tea (all fair trade, of course) as well as cereals, breads, bagels, fruit, and dessert.

A surprising number of Lesley kids were eating cereal for lunch. At first I thought it was because it might be less expensive, but then I remembered that my own kids, when they were that age, would eat a bowl of cereal as sort of an appetizer - before they really started to eat a meal. Or, they'd have a few bowls as their actual meal.

I watched one young woman eat a bowl of what looked like Lucky Charms while she sipped a few glasses of soda and munched on three pieces of garlic bread and then had a couple of oatmeal raisin cookies.

I couldn't help but think that her parents must have been, at that very moment, at a job they really don't want to do but need the money to pay her tuition and were comforting themselves that at least they were able to afford the "meal plan" so their daughter could eat well while at school.

Her parents may be surprised to know that she's cut her hair - well, shaved it, actually, on both sides - but she's left an interesting long curl at both ears. It's purple now - her hair - but just on top.

Not to worry. It will all grow out by the time she's home in June. Or, not. I did hear her say to a friend that she planned to ace the bio lab on Friday.

All is well.

It has ever been thus.

Having young, undergraduate students around EDS is a HUGE change, however. They are loud and giggly - as students that age have always been - but they have just never hallowed the sacred grounds of the campus, much less in the library and hallways and classrooms of The Episcopal Divinity School.

Yesterday morning, one young female student took a glass of water and went outside as we all watched her through the glass walls. She waited for the wind to blow and then threw the water into the air. It came down in snow. Honest to God!

We all applauded her efforts. Emboldened, she then disappeared into the kitchen and returned with an egg and a paper plate. She went back outdoors, cracked the egg open onto the plate and then returned as we timed the event.

In exactly 19 minutes and 48 seconds, she returned with the egg frozen solid on the plate. The room roared its approval as we collectively sent up a lament about the frigid temperatures that have beset the Boston/Cambridge area these past few days.

Suddenly, it felt warmer in that room - warmer than I had ever remembered it.

Did I mention that I love these kids?

Which is part of what hasn't changed. I mean, this is still a center of learning. Of intellectual curiosity. Of education. We are a 'divinity school' - a place of theological education - not just a 'seminiary'.

This is not a 'factory' which produces clergy who are carefully schooled in what to say and how to move in carefully choreographed liturgical dance steps - although, if you want that sort of thing, it's also available.

It's a unique place where clergy and laity are educated to think. To be intellectually curious about God and the people of God. And, once they have carefully learned what the voices of the academy and church tradition have had to say about any given subject, to question and challenges those assumption.

Everyone here - at EDS and Lesley - is here for the same thing - we just go about it differently and pursue different paths on the same journey.

Those who are passionately pursuing a path toward God through Jesus are still very passionate about that pursuit. It's just that there are a lot more people here, now, and not all of them are passionate about the same thing.

Which means that one can not automatically assume, when one meets a fellow student in the Refectory at the Brattle Cafe that the person is not a seminarian. Neither can one assume that said seminarian is an Episcopalian.

There are people from the broad spectrum of religious experience who are "seriously considering" becoming a member of The Episcopal Church, but haven't been "officially" confirmed or received. Others have become members of the MCC (Metropolitan Community Church), which also has a partnership with EDS.

Back in the day, the only question one might ask is, "What is your sponsoring congregation/diocese?" because no one was allowed into the MDiv program unless you were a postulant for Holy Orders.

Not so much any more. It's a bit more complicated here, now.

Which, I like, actually.

A lot.

It's such a wonderful opportunity to learn about someone else's journey and . . . and. . . AND, for them to learn about yours.

In fact, this is more like the "real world" where these seminarians - those who will become empowered members of the laity as well as those who will be ordained - will apply what they have learned here.

If you haven't noticed, the "real world" is very diverse - and getting more and more so every day. I think EDS is preparing its students for real ministry in the real world (Hey, I think that's a pretty catchy tag line, don't you think?)

That's called "Evangelism," folks. That hasn't changed. There's just more of an opportunity for it, now.

Oh, and one other thing has changed which provides unexpected challenges.

There are women who identify as men - but who are obviously (or, perhaps, not so obviously) women - and men who identify as women - but who are obviously (or, perhaps, not so obviously) men - and other people who are, well, trying to figure out the whole androgyny thing.

The challenge comes when talking with someone whose name is a bit gender-ambiguous who looks like what my mother would describe as a 'handsome woman' but refers to herself in the male pronoun, and expects that you, of course, will, as well.

It's a bit like looking at an orange and saying "pear". Or looking at the color red and saying "blue." I do well, one to one, but when a third or fourth person joins the conversation and I hear myself say, "Well she - er, I mean HE, was just saying . . . .". Well, it's a bit awkward.

I'll get the hang of it.

What I love is the way I am challenged to think - or reconsider - my assumptions about gender - especially the politics of gender and how that all connects at the crossroads of sexuality and spirituality.

I think the Trans/Queer community is helping this discussion and leading us to new insights in ways we couldn't have imagined without this element now being an honest part of the conversation.

One person said to me that s/he felt it was a vocational calling to be a Queer/Trans person - that this was a call from God to help fellow Christians understand what St. Paul meant when he wrote, "... no longer male nor female...." but "alive in Christ".

If we take that seriously, how do we live that out in community? How do we live that out in the world which is still rigidly structured around traditional - ancient, actually - understandings of what it means to be male or female.

How can we be faithful to being 'alive in Christ' and bring ourselves and others closer to the vision of the Realm of God when the the dominant (though dying) social paradigm is patriarchy and heterosexism?

I'm learning new ways of being with others in Christian community - which is exactly what I was learning 28 years ago when I first arrived on this campus.

As the French say, "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose".

It's really quite wonderful, all this change and yet being the same.

In fact, it may really be the only way to live fully in this life as we prepare ourselves to return home, one day, to Eternity.

As the kids here say, "Peace out, girl scout!"

And, "Rock on!"

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