Spiritual Bulimia

“spiritual bulimia - The act of taking in lots of spiritual information and knowledge (ie sermons, podcasts, books etc) and then purging it by telling all of this new information and knowledge to everyone you know before it has a chance to take root in you.[...]“

Saw this here and got a really good visual.

Are you a Christian/anyone in need of a good laugh?

Well if you are, then a “must read” for you will be the satire section of the webzine, Jesus Manifesto. Check it out if you haven’t before. You might laugh, you might not, but you should really check out the one on the Holy Spirit being held for ransom since the 80s. No one seemed to notice he was gone, not even the Pentecostals. Also, the one on the Sermon on the Mount was a crack up. Turns out Jesus didn’t say to love our enemies but to hate them. None of the big name pastors were too disturbed by the fact that we had gotten it wrong all those years. They knew that’s what Jesus meant all along…

Golden Girls, Designing Women, and Sex and the City

Is it just me (Emily) or are there striking similarities between the fictional characters in the sitcoms: The Golden girls, Designing Women, and Sex in the City? And I’m not just talking about the fact that they are all centered around four female friends, either. It’s surreal. 

There’s a sweet naive character in each sitcom (Rose, Charlene, and Charlette). There is a rich, *cough* slutty character in each sitcom (Blanche, Suzanne, and Samantha). There’s a cynical, relationship challenged character in each sitcom (Dorothy, Mary Jo, and Miranda–two of which are red-heads). Did you notice that three of the matching characters from Designing Women and Sex in the City have names that start with the same letter? Wow. Then there’s the “Every Woman” characters (Julia Sugarbaker and Carrie Bradshaw). I don’t know where Sophia from The Golden Girls fits in, but anyway…

And if you bring in the four friends from the book/movie Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, or the sisters from the classic book/movie Little Women there continues to be a pattern that I see in the characters created where small groups of women are at the center of the story line (the innocent, the slut, the cynical, and the every woman–hey, it’s like that Meredith Brooks song “Bitch”). And, it should be noted, that most of the writers for these stories are women (so get it out of your head that these patterns are actually stereotypes put on women by men, if it is a stereotype, then women have done it to themselves). I have two theories (which probably will not surprise you). Theory 1: In groups of women friends there has to be at least one of the patterned characters mentioned earlier. Each woman brings needed completion and balance to the group (every group needs a whore, a child, a smart-ass, and the more universal woman to bind the group together). And, each womans’ personality and characteristics are enhanced and brought to the surface by the other womens’ (so as to come across in a very exaggerated way). Theory 2: The characters in these stories represent one woman through many women. The every woman character represents the best and the strongest in women, while her friends represent the worst in women (naive, slutty, and cynical). But all of the personality traits actually exist within one woman (every woman) like in the song, “Bitch.” Ever notice how everyone wants to identify themselves with the every woman character, though? I think it’s because we want to think the best about ourselves. 

Well, I have officially taken this too far. What I am saying no longer makes any sense. So laugh, roll your eyes, or think I’m brilliant. I’m off to the gym.