Tennessee

I seem to be getting a little old for this epic road trip shit. At least, the recovery time keeps getting longer. Could I really have left Georgia nearly a month ago? Oh yes. Add a raging case of PMS (thanks crappy road-trip food), and I just want to hide under the covers for another 2 weeks.

Bah. Enough with the self-pity.

Today my thoughts are with the flood survivors in Tennessee, Kentucky & Missouri. Loved ones lost, homes destroyed, lives upended. I'm most shocked because I learned about this disaster? On FACEBOOK. And it's not like I avoid the news. I read the New York Times and Washington Post almost daily. I'm addicted to the BBC. But between the would-be Times Square bomber and the crude oil gushing in the Gulf of Mexico, it's no surprise the mid-South is getting the short end of the news-cycle stick.

Just look at this slide show from the Tennesseean newspaper. My family in Nashville is safe and dry; we've been blessed and I am thankful.

Want to help? Text 'REDCROSS' to 90999 to contribute $10 to the relief effort.

A little good karma

See that pretty lady in the middle?

That's Miss Amanda, my beloved baby sister. (The great ox on the end is my brother Jeremy. He'll get his own post someday.) I got a lot of reasons to admire my sister. Pretty. Did I mention pretty? Also super smart and pee-your-pants freakin hilarious. She's a hardworking single mom who don't take crap from anybody. I guess that's no surprise -- the bitch-force is strong in my family.

This year Amanda signed up for the American Cancer Society Relay For Life. I know!!! I am duly impressed! I realize it's not really a race, but you'd have to put a mean dog after me to keep me circling a track all night long.

However, being the dedicated slacktivist sister, the least I can do is help drum up publicity. I'm asking every reader of this post to support Amanda's Relay For Life team.

Relay For Life is a fund-raising effort for the American Cancer Society, a community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem. The ACS pursues cancer advances through research, education, advocacy and service -- and offers cancer patients, survivors, and their families a place to turn.


Please make a gift today using this secure online form, or this handy printable form.

Amanda is also offering Relay For Life Luminaria for a suggested gift of $5. A luminaria is a paper sack, weighted with sand, containing a lighted candle. Each one bears the name of a person touched by cancer. Please contact me if you're interested in Luminaria, and I'll hook you up with the details.

 Image via Relay For Life

Last, if you're in or near Metropolis, you can sign up to join the team. The ladies would appreciate your company and help!

Thank you everybody, for indulging me in karma-building. Now follow those links and build some for yourself.

A matter of faith

I have to confess: I've mostly avoided news coverage of the Haitian earthquake. Human suffering on that scale wrenches my guts, especially since there is not one damn thing I can do for those people. I mean, yeah, I did my ten-dollar-text thing, and I hope y'all are doing the same.

Mobile donors can text “Haiti” to 90999 to send a ten dollar donation to the Red Cross.

Nonetheless, that gift feels like a futile gesture. What's $10 when a city is in ruins? Then, last night, from the back of my head...

Pray for them.

Not quite my grandma's voice but it might has well have been. I'm not much of a pray-er myself. (Speaking of futile gestures!) But it drives the point home why, despite my religious skepticism, I don't begrudge the faithful.

Faith offers comfort in the face of insurmountable sorrow. I get it. Sometimes I'm even vaguely jealous. So if you're into that sort of thing, do your thing.

Lots of religions (from all over the world) concur: prayers, spells, or rituals only work if those involved believe. And I keep hearing that the people of Haiti are asking for our prayers. So I say pray, chant, meditate -- like the angel Earl says in Saving Grace: "climb up a tree if it gets you closer to God." If enough people believe those actions have a positive impact, maybe they will.

Shout-out break -- I'm real glad this girl is praying.

But then, this crap:

Evangelical broadcaster Pat Robertson says Haiti has been "cursed" because of what he called a "pact with the devil" in its history. His spokesman said the Wednesday comments were based on Voodoo rituals carried out before a slave rebellion against French colonists in 1791.

I grew up with this joker. In those days it was, "pray that Reagan will get to appoint more conservative justices to the Supreme Court," and, "AIDS is God's curse on the homos and druggies." Then I learned that justices receive lifetime appointments, and suddenly realized he was praying for someone to die! I likewise couldn't believe his lack of compassion for sick people.

Oh, Brother Pat: just one of the extremist voices that drove me out of the flock. Don't even get me started on the subjugation of women, threats of damnation, or the Rapture.

Still, if I don't do faith, but respect those who do, is it too much to ask for the same from the faithful?

Hope I didn't get too deep today...