Parting is such sweet sorrow

This has been a really terrible week. I had to say goodbye to several friends this week. Four people in my department have been layed off as of Tuesday. Another was layed off yesterday, although I didn't find out until today. Its one thing to wish someone well as they leave to move on to bigger and better things or simply something different, its another when you say goodbye because there's no other choice since they were told to leave. I have been thoroughly drained by this week. I have been nervous and jumpy, even though I was fairly confident that I wasn't going to be layed off... simply the atmosphere of the school was enough to put me on edge. You start seeing the worst around every corner. I swear my heart skipped a beat when my director came around the corner near my office. He was simply talking to someone in the office across from mine as he often does, but that didn't stop me from worrying.

Thankfully the president of the college came out and stated that the "reduction in force is completed." I don't think I quite knew my level of stress until I felt portions of it melt away as I read the e-mail. This has to be one of the most stressful things I have ever had the mispleasure of experiencing. I feel for those who in the past few years have had to deal with many rounds of layoffs with no end in sight. I don't even want to think about what those who did get laid off must have gone through. I certainly hope the economy gets better soon... this is not a fun place to be right now.

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Dreams.... Further discussion

I discussed it with several people I know and apparently "nom, supernom" is a bastardized translation of "nomen supernomen" which means "Name above all names" which is in reference to a passage of Philippians 2:9. The exact quote in Latin is "Propter quod et Deus exaltavit illum: et donavit illi nomen, quod est super omne nomen." which means "For which cause God also hath exalted Him, and hath given Him a Name which is above all names." I don't know what this means in relation to the dream but I am still very disturbed by the dream.

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Dreams...

I had a particularly disturbing dream tonight. In it there were religious people defending portions of their religion. This is all well and good, except they wanted to perform publicly two portions of their ceremonies, one was called a "creping" (pronounced crape-ing) and another ceremony for which I don't remember the name or the things associated with its ritual.

The "creping" seemed simply to be a unique form of a wake where the priest ran a long metal rod against the face of the person who had died. The person was on the alter rather than in a casket. This is the image that flashed through my head when "creping" was being discussed in my dream and at the end of the flash the priest figure turned and glared at me. He was old, thin and a bit malevolent looking with long stringy unwashed hair.

The other ceremony escapes me as to what it was, but it was what I was most offended by and afraid of. It had something to do with the refusal of an extreme orthodox group to recognize the blatant faults and inaccuracies in their ceremony which completely contradicted acceptable scientific arguments.
I believe it may have had something to do with "religious therapy" using religion and belief in the miracles of God at the complete echewment and abandonment of modern medicine.

I can only imagine that this dream partly stems from my existing issues with the Catholic Church and my inability to reconcile that which is believed by religions that is definitively refuted by science. Also factoring in to this was an episode of "Judging Amy" that dealt with a mother whose child was autistic and who stopped bringing her son to physical therapy. She brought her child to a church that said they would cure him of his affliction. Rather than accept he had a neurological disorder they felt he was possessed by a demon and that he could be cured by releasing the demon within. The episode ended with Maxine (who place a Dept. of Children and Families social worker) entering the ramshackle establishment of the "church" with police escort to take the boy into custody. It seems she got there just in time. The people were sitting in circle while the “pastor” had bound the child’s feet, laid him on his stomach and were whipping his back while reading bible passages. When Maxine arrived the child was either passed out or almost there and his back was raw and bleeding across its entire surface.

Obviously a very powerful image that may have contributed to this dream.

The other odd thing was that at the end I was told that it all had to do with "nom, supernom" which in my best efforts to translate is French meaning "name, super-name" or "name, greater-name". I have no idea the significance of this phrase but it was repeated to me several times and was important enough that I remembered it most of all as I woke up while tossing and turning. I was told that I just didn't understand and the key to it all was simply "nom supernom". It stayed with me enough while the fog of sleep was lifting that I went online and tried to find any definition of it. It also prompted me to write this entry to record my thoughts on this dream before it went away.

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Delays, delays, delays….

Senate President Travaglini is going to delay the vote on the MA Constitutional Amendment to allow the SJC to deliver their opinion on the proposed Civil Unions bill.
-Boston.com Article-

Conservative groups are pushing the SJC to extend the stay of judgement on the Marriage case possibly indefinately "until the legislature and the people democratically decide what course to take with respect to marriage." Also, "The Massachusetts Bar Association said in a brief of its own that the civil union bill violates the court's ruling because it relegates same-gender couples to "something less than marriage." "
-Advocate Article-

Is anyone else tired of holding their breath until May 17th?

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Cheney's Opinion Sucks

So Cheney has come out and said that he will support the Federal Marriage Amendment (designed to eliminate any and all forms of gay unions, including marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships). This is a reversal of his original statement that this is a matter for the states. Apperently the unsaid part of that was that its a matter for the states unless he didn't like the states decision.

The amazing part of this whole thing is his daughter is silent on it. Granted its only been a day but for someone as politically active as she is/was I'm surprised she didn't have a statement on it.

I don't know what I'd do if my parents wouldn't support me getting married (eventually - have to find Mr. Right first).

I just hope that the SJC comes back soon with a ruling that says that Civil Unions won't cut it. It would also be nice if they recinded the 180 day waiting period and told the legislature to begin immediately.

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QE on Southpark

I just watched the Southpark episode that lampooned the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy show. It was hilarious! All the men in the town became over the top "metro-sexuals" and were totally about shopping and using hair and skin products and the latest fashions. Of course I didn't like the fact that they also had them become super-wusses but hey - if you are gonna do satire, you have to do the extremes. Also hilarious was the crab people impersonating humans as the Fab 5. "Crab people! Crab people! Taste like crab, look like human, crab people".

Everytime I think I can't be surprised with what Southpark comes up with next I find I'm wrong.

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Taboos

I just read a really good article on "What You Can't Say"

Here's the line I think sums it up the best and is very true when considering the latest clash of the Religious Right vs. Gay America in the fight for rights and marriage.

"I suspect the biggest source of moral taboos will turn out to be power struggles in which one side only barely has the upper hand. That's where you'll find a group powerful enough to enforce taboos, but weak enough to need them." - Paul Graham

Yes, this implies that the Church's dominance is once again waning as the moral beacon for the world. They've already lost the ability to be the intellectual beacon. That was called the Renaissance which heralded the end of the dark ages where the church kept books and the written word strictly controlled in the confines of the monks who transcribed everything. The printing press was one of the harbringers of the end of the Church's dominance on the every day people's thinkings.

In time we will look back on this time of strife and conflict and say "What were people thinking? Its so obvious that any couple who loves each other should marry." Just like we currently can't fathom what's wrong with a black and a white person marrying, or a Christian and a Jew. In time taboos fade, I only hope that it doesnt' take too long in this instance.

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