The Guise of “Christian Values”
Posted: 25 September 2013 Filed under: Christianity, Current, Opinions, Personal | Tags: gay, gay cure, gay rights, homophobia, homosexuality 1 Comment
Well, hello again. It’s been so long since I wrote something that anyone who visits my blog probably thought I was dead. Ahem. Well, you’re not far from wrong. I am obviously still alive, but the reason why I’ve been absent from blogging recently is something I’d like to save for another time.
*takes a deep breath*
You know those niggling, annoying things which send you straight up the wall of apoplectic rage as soon as they’re mentioned? Well, smush all of them together in a big angry mess and you’ve got a taste of how I feel about certain “Christians” and their horribly well thought-through attitudes regarding the LGBT plus community. I could name names. I’m sure you could too. Michele Bachmann for one, who is portrayed most wonderfully in this caricature by Cole Dixon of Chronicles of the Nerds fame.
Grr, Grrrrr and GRRRRRRRRR.
However, I don’t want to talk about my anger or indignation. I’ve done it before and I’m sure anyone who has read this far without closing the window will already know what I would say about the above. I want to write about the things that I’ve done that I’m ashamed of.
The Almost-Spring’s Reading: Less of the Male Already
Posted: 15 May 2012 Filed under: Library, Literature, Opinions, Personal | Tags: 50 book challenge, Ariana Franklin, book review, Erika Mailman, Gretel Wachtel, Kaaron Warren, Malalai Joya, Mary Shelley, reading, Sara Stockbridge, Trudi Canavan, Violet Cannon 4 Comments
My review of March and April’s books has been unfortunately delayed due to a gallavanting around the southern counties, which I must apologise for. As a consolation, I was carrying a copy of Philip Pullman’s The Tin Princess on my travels to keep up my comfortable lead on the 50 books challenge. You see, by reading one book per week and thus four books per month, I would succeed. Given it is May now and I’m on my 22nd book, I’m pretty pleased with how this is progressing!
In March I looked back at my list and realised that the vast majority of it was taken up by male authors. I then decided, henceforth, to read more books by female authors. This resolution drew me towards a collection of wonderful writers I hadn’t read before: famous, not so famous, exciting fiction, history and autobiography. All in all, a most enjoyable two months’ worth of reading.
The Twenty-four Copies of Good Omens I Was Getting Rid Of
Posted: 23 April 2012 Filed under: Current, Library, Literature, Opinions, Personal | Tags: Good Omens, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, The Mad Hatter, World Book Night Leave a comment
The excitement was almost too much. The sun dawned bright and… sunny; today, finally, at last, was the day I was to bless twenty-four neighbours with twenty-four copies of one of my most favourite books as part of World Book Night. From the word go the experience of being an official ‘giver’ had been one of personal fulfillment and righteous pride. For once, I was actually making a difference!
That was, of course, how I felt until the slightly uneasy feeling of last night emerged fully-grown into some kind of twenty-four-copies-of-Good-Omens-shaped nightmare. What was I actually going to do with these books? Who would I give them to? Oh, crap… and then, it sunk in. Not only had I no idea where I would offload my precious charges, but I had entirely forgotten the fact that I would be approaching total strangers to do so.
The Ever-dwindling Group Beside the Fire
Posted: 13 April 2012 Filed under: Personal, Poetry | Tags: bereavement, death, dementia, eulogy 2 Comments
Yesterday morning my grandmother-in-law passed away. It was half 8. I found out yesterday evening, when my mum came to tell me. I was sitting here, in my room. No tears, just sadness. We all knew it was coming.
It’s funny, how I seem to be in the same place every time I discover that another one of us has gone. Us, as in my family – the ‘ever-dwindling’ group around the proverbial fire. 2007 was a year for leaving. Three of us faded into the shadows. I remember sitting in this very spot when my mum told me about dad. I had known that was coming, too. The weight of the news didn’t settle immediately. For days, even weeks I sat staring out into the darkness among the trees. I couldn’t quite yet accept that it was final, that he was gone, that he wouldn’t be coming back. He left so quietly that his shadow still roamed out there, just beyond my vision, just beyond where the flickering light could reach.
The Good Stuff You Lose Out On By Not Reading Other People’s Blogs
Posted: 4 April 2012 Filed under: Opinions, Personal | Tags: blogging, blogs 1 Comment
You know, one thing I reckon bloggers don’t do often enough is read other people’s blogs.
If you come at blogging every time with the premise ‘What Eternal Wisdom Shall I Impart To the Ignorant Masses’, then the chances are the so-called ‘ignorant masses’ will realise how ignorant you are and avoid you like the plague. It is probably a blogging rite of passage, that moment when you realise that you are not the elite intelligentsia you think you are but rather just another run-of-the-mill mind with a WordPress account.
As a blogger you put a lot of effort and time into your own posts. On occasion I’ve spent whole days writing something because I really believed in it and wanted everyone to know what I thought about that something; and because of that, all I wanted was for others to read my blog – and oh my – even commenting! I didn’t even think about doing some reading myself to ‘share the love’. Perhaps I should’ve done. I might have learned something.
The fact that I chose today to do some reading and the positive results of that choice are illuminating.
The Idiosyncrasies of Working in a Library I: Trying to Be ‘Booky’
Posted: 22 March 2012 Filed under: Library, Opinions, Personal | Tags: fail, Jordan, Katie Price, Peter Andre Leave a comment
Today, I’d like to share with you one of the daily occurrences at work which both amuses and irritates the heck out of me.
Books by Katie Price.
They’re turning up on the shelves in surprising abundance.
Sheofthestupidlysizedboobs is famous (or rather, infamous) for a lot of things. Having huge boobs. Being on a certain celebrity game show. Having huge boobs. Marrying Peter Andre with ‘unique’ style and then killing a Disney song in quite spectacular fashion live on TV. Having huge boobs. Separating and fighting with said ‘singer’ in the tabloids (I can’t stand him either). Oh and did I mention, having huge boobs?
The Point Whereupon I Become Free
Posted: 12 March 2012 Filed under: Christianity, Opinions, Personal | Tags: atheism, belief, Bible, church, faith, love 5 Comments
This blog post has been a long time coming. I have an admission, a declaration to make, which has changed my life forever.
I am no longer a Christian.
Just typing those words stirs up a maelstrom of emotions. It is so difficult for me to write this. But I need to sort this out in my own mind, if not for the friends who care about me. For those of you who may be reading this in shock and disbelief, I’m sorry. I hope I will be able to justify my decision. Please don’t judge me for it, or try to talk me out of it, no matter how much you feel you need to. I’ve already made it.
For those of you who may be reading this with a ‘told you so’ smirk, don’t assume that I’ve turned into a Christian-bashing atheist overnight. Not to say that all atheists bash Christians. But a lot of them do. I am not that either.
The Winter’s Reading: A New Year, A New Challenge
Posted: 5 March 2012 Filed under: Library, Literature, Opinions, Personal | Tags: 50 book challenge, Bettany Hughes, book review, George Mann, Ian Sansom, Jasper Fforde, Jesse Bullington, Kim Wilkins, library, Neil Gaiman, reading 2 Comments
I hate to begin a post with a negative comment, but here it is: my attempt at the ’50 book challenge’ last year ended in tears. Tears as in the liquid kind, dear reader; after all, could you imagine a devotee such as me, defacing a book? Moving on swiftly… before I admit to the hundreds of condemned flyleaves torn out, date sheet still attached, or the inside covers stamped and scribbled upon for the purpose of book sale, or that one occasion I lost my temper with a so-called Christian book* which had ‘homosexuality’ marked as the opposite to ‘marriage’ in a neat little chart… I love and respect all books. Honestly.
However, after bravely beginning the year with Hans Christian Andersen (and realising I’d bitten off more than I could chew), I came to realise that not every book I may lay eyes upon will readily see me through until its last page. It is not with pride that I abandon a badly-chosen book, either for the nature or the SHEER AMOUNT of its content. Therefore in this year’s attempt I promise to avoid such books which threaten the average Bible girthwise.
The Noble Art of Procrastination
Posted: 22 January 2012 Filed under: Current, Discworld, Friendship, Library, Personal | Tags: Beth Hart, depression, Hogswatch, libraries, positivity, Terry Pratchett 1 Comment
Hello! It’s me – the epic procrastinating blogger.
(Boy does she mean that)
Yesterday I left work in the best of moods; a light rain and a frosty wind had blown the clouds away, leaving the sun to shine down on me as I headed to the bus stop. The air smelled so clean and fresh. I thought, ‘Marie, you’re finally on the right track’. The last few months have been exciting, life changing and blessed; packed with good memories to replace the bad ones and personal fulfilment. It of course hasn’t been plain sailing (when could anyone say that about life?), but I feel stronger, more confident and more able to deal with the crap that life throws at me.
I’ve decided I no longer need to apologise for long gaps in between posting. It’s part of a whole new mindset for me. I’ve realised that my normal habit of apologising to everyone and about everything – from going through a doorway first to holding my bus pass the wrong way up – needs to stop. My friends would agree it’s possibly the most annoying characteristic I have, and the ironic thing is – it’s NOT part of me. It’s part of the ‘black dog’ which is, even as I type, being beaten into submission with the aid of Citalopram, job satisfaction and the company of the most amazing friends on the planet.
So – what have I been up to?
The Poem I Wrote In the Early Hours of the Morning
Posted: 11 November 2011 Filed under: Opinions, Personal, Poetry | Tags: books, England, libraries, poem, reading Leave a comment
For a Library.
My soul is like a book;
woken in the morning by the Jolly Postman
and nurtured in the loving arms of Enid,
amid the snows of Narnia.
Looking out into cold reality it saw
hope and endless possibility;
because it found Charlie’s golden ticket and
saw the green world through the eyes of Mole
on that first Spring morning.
Like Bilbo it rushed out without a clean hanky
and made windows with Stig out of jam-jars,
but always came home for tea at Mister Tom’s
because it had a place to belong.
Leaves in the Lonnen 