August 2, 2019 · 2:31 pm

Truth survives — or is born from — scrutiny

Photo by Shane Lin via Flickr.com; some rights reserved.

One of the YouTube channels I watch regularly is that of an atheist speaker, Seth Andrews, because he’s a calm and reasoned speaker on a topic that’s important to me, and he has a deep, mellow radio voice I could listen to for hours. Today, I found a speech of his on another channel and fell in love with this part of it: He mentioned how young people from religious families often email him to say they are having doubts about faith and they don’t know what to do. That puts him in an awkward position, he said, because he wants to be honest while also honoring their family’s boundaries. Here’s how he said he typically responds:

“You know, you are under the guardianship and authority of your mother and father, and they need to be respected. At the same time, even if you’re in church every day, use this time to get information, because good decisions come from good information. If you have to go to church, fine – learn the Bible. Learn what your church is teaching. Learn what other churches are teaching. Sponge up information as best you can. There will come a day when you are making life decisions on your own, and you will have then been able to use this time to develop the arsenal you need for battle. And then you can determine what you want to stand for, and what you accept as being based on the evidence, and what you accept as moral. And you can carve your own path. And until then, you know, you are a child under the authority of your mother and father. Respect them, be the best kid you can, and be a sponge.”

That’s a good answer and a pretty fair one, don’t you think? It’s hard as a teen to accept counsel that tells you to be patient and pay attention rather than bowing up to parents and fighting them tooth and nail. But it’s good advice. My favorite part: “Good decisions come from good information.”

Leave a Comment

Filed under Advice, Atheism

November 3, 2018 · 10:36 am

Motel Negative Six

Nastiest motel ever. Motel 6 at 7707 Lee Highway, Chattanooga.

We only stayed here because it’s where our youngest daughter’s rowing team was staying.

I have low expectations when it’s this cheap — you can expect thin, rough towels that they are stingy with. Ditto for the cheap mattress and thin pillows, plus the use of an exterior stairway instead of an elevator. I was even fine with expectations of thin walls and noisy kids (who were surprisingly quiet, though). I hoped they would have a hair dryer as I didn’t pack one, but I was philosophical when I saw that they did not. But check this out for Room 215.

NEGATIVE FACTS:

  • The floors LOOKED clean. But this morning after my shower, I dried off, got mostly dressed and put my makeup on. When I went to put my socks on, the bottoms of my feet were BLACK. Ew, ew, ew. I’m not a clean freak and I’ve certainly had dirty feet before, but that was GROSS.
  • No trash can or bag.
  • No spindle in the toilet paper holder.
  • Husband couldn’t completely lift the toilet seat because the toilet tank leaned over onto it.
  • Probably close to a dozen cigarette burns on the edge of the tub.
  • A partially peeled off paint job on the tub.
  • No shampoo or conditioner.
  • A busted doorjamb on the bathroom door so you couldn’t even click it closed, much less lock it.
  • The bathroom doorknob was hanging loose.
  • The bathroom door (back side) was FILTHY.
  • One electrical outlet was either partially burned on had some dried opaque stain. I didn’t check closely.
  • Cigarette burns in the blanket and on the bedspread.
  • Curtains were half off the rod and had cellophane tape on one end and what appeared to be nail holes along the edge of the other side.
  • Not a big deal, just ugly: The old TV mount was left on the wall when they installed another TV on the dresser.
  • Inside of the microwave wasn’t throughly wipes out.
  • The door and wall next to it had clearly not been wiped down in a LONG time.
  • Not in my room, but one of the kids on my daughter’s team reportedly picked up the remote control in her room and a few bugs came crawling out.
  • Our daughter’s room had no heat.
  • Oddly enough, this hotel was OVERBOOKED and out of other rooms. We were tired and it was late, so we stayed anyway.
  • I pulled bedding off and checked for bedbugs but I didn’t see signs of them. The mattress was seriously stained though.

For my peace of mind, I’m glad I had no black light to check for stains on the blankets.

And it makes sense that the room number on the wall next to the room’s door had Braille on it. The blind are probably the only reason this hotel has a two- or three-star rating (depending on where you check).

NEUTRAL FACTS:

  • Our room smelled strongly of fragrant pipe tobacco (not smoked, just the tobacco). That actually didn’t bother me. Made me think of my maternal Papaw.

POSITIVE FACTS:

  • The mini-fridge looked clean.
  • At least they had no bedbugs, and there was a fart fan in the bathroom. Fancy.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

October 26, 2018 · 2:02 pm

‘He’d better be a white male.’ SERIOUSLY?!

Michael Avenatti. Photo credit: vpickering, Occupy Lafayette Park via photopin (license)

I went to Facebook this morning looking for a topic idea to write a personal column for my day job, as a weekly newspaper editor in west Tennessee. Instead, I got all personally liberal’d up about some topics I saw there. Some of my thoughts are too partisan to have a proper place in the newspaper I edit because I don’t think it would be fair for me to dominate the discussion with my personal views in a newspaper that I don’t own — although I desperately wish other opinionated locals would write THEIR partisan opinions, from both ends of the spectrum.

So here I go, putting the onus on my precious-and-few blog readers to soak up more of my proudly liberal thoughts today. You peeps rock.

Ahem. Here goes.

I had to respond to this story, wherein Michael Avenatti says the 2020 Democratic candidate for president better be a white male, if Dems are to have a prayer of winning. (Avenatti is an American attorney, entrepreneur and, apparently, a Dems’ demigod.)

Here’s my gut reaction

I don’t know whether to say, “Oh, for fuck’s sake” at this nimrod’s frankly utilitarian misogyny or to say “He’s probably correct” just because I fear it’s going to be a close race and difficult enough to win without making the haters clutch their pearls over promotion of feminism and racial equality.

I *want* a woman in the office. Ideally, a woman of color, compassion and wisdom. That would be GLORIOUS. But I will take any frigging Democrat we can put in the Oval Office to unseat Donald Trump, who is dangerously stupid.

I think we are going to learn a lot about where we need to turn our efforts for the next presidential election, based on the volume and direction of votes we see on Nov. 6 this year.

MY QUESTION OF THE DAY: Who is YOUR 2020 Democratic presidential pick? And why do you think this person has a prayer of winning against an incumbent, even one as impenetrably malicious and idiotic as Trump?

Leave a Comment

Filed under Feminism, Politics