Tuesday, January 18, 2005
One of our clients sent us an email last week informing us that they were taking the Martin Luther King holiday off.
No biggie except that this company has virtually no black employees. (I don't use "African-American" because all blacks aren't of African descent. My apologies if you're offended by "black" but it beats the hell out of what the racists used to call them when I was growing up in Indiana.)
In all our time working with this company we have seen exactly one (count 'er, one) black employee.
They have repeatedly told us not to use black people in the pictures for their brochures.
Their CEO lives in a house once owned by one of the biggest racists ever to be president of this country.
You be the judge.
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Steve Nash: Get well NOW! Your Suns NEED YOU!
------
I was so busy last Sunday that I didn't watch any football. And more remarkably I woke up Monday and realized I didn't care. Especially after finding out the Colts had lost. I thought they were going to go all the way. Oh well.
------
I am not a Christian. However, this weekend, the Valley is being visited by one of the most forward thinking Christian writers and thinkers I've ever had the pleasure of reading, John Shelby Spong. He's a retired and controversial Episcopal Bishop who, among other things, has been trashing the fundamentalists for the backwards cavemen that they are, all the while trying to make some sense out of the scriptures that can be explained and considered useful today, given how far we've come technologically and sensibly.
Among Spong's beliefs (fasten your seatbelts):
1. Jesus was not God. God is God. Jesus was the most "god-like" person who ever lived; therefore if you are a Christian it is a good thing to want to live your life as much like Jesus as possible. (Yeah, I know, if you put the word "Buddha" in there you get the same thing, but shhh.)
2. Both testaments are, for the most part, works of fiction, written by people of the time (NOT inspired by God, by the way) as the best explanation of why things are that they had available at the time. As man has progressed, most of the stories in the bible have been revealed as just that -- STORIES. Anyone who thinks otherwise doesn't get invited to dinner at Spong's place very much.
3. The new Testament, the gospels of which were written 30-100 years after Jesus left this swingin' sphere, are pure HEARSAY. The miracles are all probably stretched truths, or complete fabrications to get folks excited about this new Judaism spin-off, which is what Christianity was. The writers said what they had to say in a way that got the religion rolling.
4. Anyone who takes the bible completely literally is an idiot. (My words; his implication.) Sadly, one of those idiots is President.
Interested? I'm gonna try to go see him on Sunday. On Saturday, he's at Asbury United Methodist Church (I think that's the one at 16th Ave. and Indian School that's shaped like a muffin). On Sunday he's in Scottsdale at a Boys and Girls club that doubles as a methodist church on Sundays. Get all the information at www.bishopspong.com, where you'll click "Calendar" for the info.
This is apparently his "farewell" tour; he's gonna retire so if this interests you at all now would be the time to go see him.
If you CAN'T go, by all means check out his books. The one I read that had me going "YES! YES! ABSOLUTELY YES!" is entitled "Why Christanity Must Change Or Die" and it's available pretty much everywhere except religious bookstores. LOL
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After you curtail your Sponging activities (to paraphrase Mr. Cleese) this Saturday, and you've found yourself a nice piece of cheese, you might want to venture over to Encanto park, because it's JANUARY and this weekend is time for the annual SONGWRITERS get-together! Scores of songwriters get 10 minutes each to entertain and dazzle you -- many of them with different songs than they did last year!
Two stages and tons of fun. I'm in the boathouse at 1:40. Special half-hour concerts by Jennifer Yates (Garth Brooks' Phoenix-based songwriting partner) at 3:00 and the always fan-fuckin-tastic Hans Olson at 3:30.
Other folks you need to see (so come out in the morning and stay all day): Nancy Freeman, Larry Jolly, Tom Whitlock, oh hell, EVERYBODY's good. It runs from 10-4.
ALSO: Next Friday, the 28th (I'll bring this up again but mark it now) I'll be playing the Trunk Space at the corner of Roosevelt and Grand, just north of the Bikini Lounge. There will also be belly dancers, thanks to the Kindred Spirit Dance Company. You should be there to give us money. $5. 8 p.m.
TT
No biggie except that this company has virtually no black employees. (I don't use "African-American" because all blacks aren't of African descent. My apologies if you're offended by "black" but it beats the hell out of what the racists used to call them when I was growing up in Indiana.)
In all our time working with this company we have seen exactly one (count 'er, one) black employee.
They have repeatedly told us not to use black people in the pictures for their brochures.
Their CEO lives in a house once owned by one of the biggest racists ever to be president of this country.
You be the judge.
------
Steve Nash: Get well NOW! Your Suns NEED YOU!
------
I was so busy last Sunday that I didn't watch any football. And more remarkably I woke up Monday and realized I didn't care. Especially after finding out the Colts had lost. I thought they were going to go all the way. Oh well.
------
I am not a Christian. However, this weekend, the Valley is being visited by one of the most forward thinking Christian writers and thinkers I've ever had the pleasure of reading, John Shelby Spong. He's a retired and controversial Episcopal Bishop who, among other things, has been trashing the fundamentalists for the backwards cavemen that they are, all the while trying to make some sense out of the scriptures that can be explained and considered useful today, given how far we've come technologically and sensibly.
Among Spong's beliefs (fasten your seatbelts):
1. Jesus was not God. God is God. Jesus was the most "god-like" person who ever lived; therefore if you are a Christian it is a good thing to want to live your life as much like Jesus as possible. (Yeah, I know, if you put the word "Buddha" in there you get the same thing, but shhh.)
2. Both testaments are, for the most part, works of fiction, written by people of the time (NOT inspired by God, by the way) as the best explanation of why things are that they had available at the time. As man has progressed, most of the stories in the bible have been revealed as just that -- STORIES. Anyone who thinks otherwise doesn't get invited to dinner at Spong's place very much.
3. The new Testament, the gospels of which were written 30-100 years after Jesus left this swingin' sphere, are pure HEARSAY. The miracles are all probably stretched truths, or complete fabrications to get folks excited about this new Judaism spin-off, which is what Christianity was. The writers said what they had to say in a way that got the religion rolling.
4. Anyone who takes the bible completely literally is an idiot. (My words; his implication.) Sadly, one of those idiots is President.
Interested? I'm gonna try to go see him on Sunday. On Saturday, he's at Asbury United Methodist Church (I think that's the one at 16th Ave. and Indian School that's shaped like a muffin). On Sunday he's in Scottsdale at a Boys and Girls club that doubles as a methodist church on Sundays. Get all the information at www.bishopspong.com, where you'll click "Calendar" for the info.
This is apparently his "farewell" tour; he's gonna retire so if this interests you at all now would be the time to go see him.
If you CAN'T go, by all means check out his books. The one I read that had me going "YES! YES! ABSOLUTELY YES!" is entitled "Why Christanity Must Change Or Die" and it's available pretty much everywhere except religious bookstores. LOL
------
After you curtail your Sponging activities (to paraphrase Mr. Cleese) this Saturday, and you've found yourself a nice piece of cheese, you might want to venture over to Encanto park, because it's JANUARY and this weekend is time for the annual SONGWRITERS get-together! Scores of songwriters get 10 minutes each to entertain and dazzle you -- many of them with different songs than they did last year!
Two stages and tons of fun. I'm in the boathouse at 1:40. Special half-hour concerts by Jennifer Yates (Garth Brooks' Phoenix-based songwriting partner) at 3:00 and the always fan-fuckin-tastic Hans Olson at 3:30.
Other folks you need to see (so come out in the morning and stay all day): Nancy Freeman, Larry Jolly, Tom Whitlock, oh hell, EVERYBODY's good. It runs from 10-4.
ALSO: Next Friday, the 28th (I'll bring this up again but mark it now) I'll be playing the Trunk Space at the corner of Roosevelt and Grand, just north of the Bikini Lounge. There will also be belly dancers, thanks to the Kindred Spirit Dance Company. You should be there to give us money. $5. 8 p.m.
TT
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