Gotta crawl to the Ugly Bug Ball
So right now I'm watching a very large, hairy and multi-legged bug crawl up the wall. Actually I'm trying desperately not to watch said bug because it gives me the proverbial willies.
It's the kind of bug that only exists in old houses, and particularly in basements. Ya know the type, you've seen it. I wonder what it is about old houses that makes it hospitable to insects of this nature. My parent's house back in the Cleveland (which was built pre-1930) has these bugs. I have sucked one up in a vacuum cleaner whilst squealing like a little girl.
Problematically, this present hairy bug has disappeared off the wall which has made it more willy-inducing then when it was visable.
You know you've watched too much sci-fi when you imagine an insect leaping up toward your face hissing. Most bugs are not that atheletic nor interested in making you a host body.
It's reassuring really.
The point of this post was not to wax poetic about the creepy insect...actually at this point I don't quite recall what the point of this post was. So I'll talk about what came to mind.
When I began this blog I intended on having every post be titled with a song lyric. Right now I'm having trouble thinking of a title for this post.
This past week I've been working in the school's library. Starting an archive of all the sermons, pamphlets and bits of ephemera that have accumulated over the years. As many people know if I wasn't in seminary (or if seminary doesn't work out) I would/will be getting my masters in library science. So sorting and categorizing and filing and all that is supremely interesting to me.
Not only that but doing this work is like sorting through the history of Unitarian Universalism, and at times being present for it.
This week I've gone through some personal papers of James Luther Adams, read sermons dating back to at least 1815 about a variety of interesting topics.
I've seen Unitarianism and Universalism deal with issues of slavery, temperance, women's suffrage, racism (both insitutional and otherwise), disarmament, enviromentalism, 2nd wave feminism (there was one interesting pamphlet whose audience had to be a staunch, rationalist, Unitarian in a staunch and rational suit about using gender-inclusive language) and gay rights (including a sermon from a minister that, as a queer person, gave me more willies than the aforementioned insect due to it's clueless but well-meaning attempt to wrestle with his homophobia.)
I've read a report circa 1958 from the Commission Oppossing Consolidation and wondered what we'd be like had we not become UU...where would the two separate U's be now?
I also found out from a pamphlet from 1963 that I can indeed be a mystic and a UU which is a good thing because otherwise I'd have to change the name of my blog.
In general this job has made me feel a certain pride in being UU that I haven't felt all year at seminary. I am part of a tradition and while that tradition has it's faults and weaknesses it is still rich, oftentimes progressive and always thoughtful.
And while, as a former and cultural Roman Catholic, I occassionally snicker when the words "history" and "tradition" are used in relation to Unitarian Universalism. I feel connected to a history and tradition that I am excited about representing through my ministry. I would be proud to emulate the work of Dorothea Dix in my chaplaincy and community ministry, or to have the prophetic power of Channing or JLA in my writing and preaching. That would, as they say, rock.
And this fall I'm starting a New Brook Farm...for anyone who's interested in hoeing and being utopian. If we're playing transcendentalists I get to be Margaret Fuller. Though I've learned I share my birthday with Orestes Brownson.
Anyway, this is proof once again that yellowing, moldy and crumbling pieces of paper are awesome and big time fun.
This post makes no sense to anyone who isn't UU. Or I should of made links on each name to like Wikipedia or something. Go, learn, be happy.
The title of this post comes from a song in an old Halley Mills Disney movie called Summer Magic.
Oh, and the bug never reappeared...so thankfully I've not become a hairy insect zombie or anything...at least that I know of....
It's the kind of bug that only exists in old houses, and particularly in basements. Ya know the type, you've seen it. I wonder what it is about old houses that makes it hospitable to insects of this nature. My parent's house back in the Cleveland (which was built pre-1930) has these bugs. I have sucked one up in a vacuum cleaner whilst squealing like a little girl.
Problematically, this present hairy bug has disappeared off the wall which has made it more willy-inducing then when it was visable.
You know you've watched too much sci-fi when you imagine an insect leaping up toward your face hissing. Most bugs are not that atheletic nor interested in making you a host body.
It's reassuring really.
The point of this post was not to wax poetic about the creepy insect...actually at this point I don't quite recall what the point of this post was. So I'll talk about what came to mind.
When I began this blog I intended on having every post be titled with a song lyric. Right now I'm having trouble thinking of a title for this post.
This past week I've been working in the school's library. Starting an archive of all the sermons, pamphlets and bits of ephemera that have accumulated over the years. As many people know if I wasn't in seminary (or if seminary doesn't work out) I would/will be getting my masters in library science. So sorting and categorizing and filing and all that is supremely interesting to me.
Not only that but doing this work is like sorting through the history of Unitarian Universalism, and at times being present for it.
This week I've gone through some personal papers of James Luther Adams, read sermons dating back to at least 1815 about a variety of interesting topics.
I've seen Unitarianism and Universalism deal with issues of slavery, temperance, women's suffrage, racism (both insitutional and otherwise), disarmament, enviromentalism, 2nd wave feminism (there was one interesting pamphlet whose audience had to be a staunch, rationalist, Unitarian in a staunch and rational suit about using gender-inclusive language) and gay rights (including a sermon from a minister that, as a queer person, gave me more willies than the aforementioned insect due to it's clueless but well-meaning attempt to wrestle with his homophobia.)
I've read a report circa 1958 from the Commission Oppossing Consolidation and wondered what we'd be like had we not become UU...where would the two separate U's be now?
I also found out from a pamphlet from 1963 that I can indeed be a mystic and a UU which is a good thing because otherwise I'd have to change the name of my blog.
In general this job has made me feel a certain pride in being UU that I haven't felt all year at seminary. I am part of a tradition and while that tradition has it's faults and weaknesses it is still rich, oftentimes progressive and always thoughtful.
And while, as a former and cultural Roman Catholic, I occassionally snicker when the words "history" and "tradition" are used in relation to Unitarian Universalism. I feel connected to a history and tradition that I am excited about representing through my ministry. I would be proud to emulate the work of Dorothea Dix in my chaplaincy and community ministry, or to have the prophetic power of Channing or JLA in my writing and preaching. That would, as they say, rock.
And this fall I'm starting a New Brook Farm...for anyone who's interested in hoeing and being utopian. If we're playing transcendentalists I get to be Margaret Fuller. Though I've learned I share my birthday with Orestes Brownson.
Anyway, this is proof once again that yellowing, moldy and crumbling pieces of paper are awesome and big time fun.
This post makes no sense to anyone who isn't UU. Or I should of made links on each name to like Wikipedia or something. Go, learn, be happy.
The title of this post comes from a song in an old Halley Mills Disney movie called Summer Magic.
Oh, and the bug never reappeared...so thankfully I've not become a hairy insect zombie or anything...at least that I know of....
posted by Hildegardian at 5:52 PM
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