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The Flatland Chronicles for Thursday, July 13
JOURNAL. Tonight we had another writing class. Ugh, I hate reading my stuff aloud, even though I enjoy listening to other people read theirs. They enjoy it (or seem to); I don't. .
I signed up for the class because I wanted to get Nick back in the arena; he's written a book which has received excellent feedback from everyone who has read it so far, and I wanted him to get feedback from objective third parties. It's been a great success from that standpoint.
But I don't like reading my own work. My internal narrator doesn't sound a thing like I do when I open my mouth to speak. I do it because it's expected, but I would rather not have to. But I do enjoy listening to other people read. There is something very intimate about hearing these works in progress read by their authors. I am fascinated by the things people choose as subjects and by the details which they select in telling their tales. I have heard some excellent stories.
I've tried during the last couple of days to begin reducing to written form (the rough essay form I use here) some of my thoughts and questions about Christ and the Christianity of Christ. My vision of him shifts constantly. Perhaps someone else who has some insights or information will eventually share them with me.
I'm continuing my rereading of the Old Testament using the New English Bible. The language of King James gets in the way, I find. It makes everything sound so remote in time that you can't picture it mattering. But reading the laws of the ancient Hebrews give a very vivid picture of how they lived. Furthermore, there is no better way to get insight into the anxieties and failing of a culture than through reading its laws.
But I am interested in it mainly because I am curious about what the world would look like if Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale ever came true. Scary is my verdict, at least for women.
I intend to keep it up; I'm learning a lot, and if anyone else can get anything out of it, they are very welcome.
Today:
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A MARGINAL CHRISTIAN LOOKS AT ATTITUDES TOWARD CORPORAL PUNISHMENT, SEXUAL ASSAULT, TRANSVESTITISM AND DIVORCE AS PORTRAYED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. An unsystematic look at Deuteronomy (& at the world according to the Christian Right). (Terminally) tough love; blaming the victim; bad news for Dame Edna, Eddie Izzard, and your grandma's pantsuit; and a warning to wives not to intervene too aggressively in the old man's bareknuckle antics. In The Heretic's Handbook.
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11:38:15 PM 
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