I was going to write about the article more this week anyway, but I saw a pretty good responding article which I am sharing here:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/07/20/1403522/-So-About-That-Cascadia-Article#
This is a recommended read.
I appreciate the even-handedness of this article. The New Yorker's take was full of gloom and doom. It is possible that the melodramatics will cause some people to face the issue that have previously been ignoring it, it is just as easy that the perceived hopelessness of the situation will lead people to bury their heads in the sand in despair.
So, yes, the earthquake threat is not new. People have been aware of it for decades now, and some people are doing things differently - that's why I was writing newsletters about it back in 2008. There is also room to do more.
There were four main points that stuck with me out of the original article. The first was about the duration:
"Seismologists know that how long an earthquake lasts is a decent proxy for its magnitude. The 1989 earthquake in Loma Prieta, California, which killed sixty-three people and caused six billion dollars’ worth of damage, lasted about fifteen seconds and had a magnitude of 6.9. A thirty-second earthquake generally has a magnitude in the mid-sevens. A minute-long quake is in the high sevens, a two-minute quake has entered the eights, and a three-minute quake is in the high eights. By four minutes, an earthquake has hit magnitude 9.0."
While it is well known that the magnitude gets bigger exponentially, can still be hard to understand the difference between 6.9 and 7.5. Fifteen seconds to thirty seconds is more comprehensible, and then thinking of 15 seconds to 4 minutes, and how much more shaking that is, kind of sinks in.
The second thing that stuck with me was that I am not aware of any magical properties of I-5, where saying everything west of I-5 is toast could be anything but a simplification. Maybe I'm wrong and Lake Oswego will be miraculously unharmed while Tigard and Tualatin are destroyed.
It probably makes more sense to imagine that while the Coast Range will protect those to the West from tsunamis, the significant shaking will not only cause damage to buildings but also roads, and so getting access to those communities will be more difficult. As you continue heading East - depending on where the epicenter was and all the other factors - there will start being less damage and more access.
(Next week it will probably make sense to talk more about those issues, including liquefaction, but I want to get to the other two points.)
The Gearhart school situation stuck out to me. No one wants to imagine a school full of children being wiped out by a tsunami. That has already happened too often. However, my first thought was perhaps you could build a pathway over the bog. I have seen trails built over marshy lands before.
That may not be practical, so maybe they will need to look at building a new school. That's expensive, but new schools do need to be built periodically. If a tsunami comes tomorrow that won't work, but if the earthquake is three or thirty years away, it's doable. It's at least worth looking at the issue.
Finally, I was struck by the predicted economic collapse; I'd never heard that one before. On the one hand, if you have no utilities or infrastructure it sounds plausible, but there are many business for whom it would not be plausible.
I work for a company that provides health insurance in four states, including Washington and Oregon. We have a business presence and physical locations in all four states. There will be lots of people alive, they will still need insurance - I don't think we'll just pull up stakes, but electricity and internet are necessary.
Fortunately we have a contingency planner. I meant to write to her this week, and I didn't get around to it. I wasn't expecting an answer this week necessarily, but still I did procrastinate. I intend to write to her next week.
It makes perfect sense to ask if your employer has a plan for a big earthquake. There are some other good places to ask, and we will get more into that next week, but I wanted to make one final point here. We may not get to everything right away, but keep them in mind. I think writing to our planner this week versus next week will have little impact. Never asking would. Waiting two years to ask might. Try to maintain some balance between doing everything in a panic versus not getting to anything at all.
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Earthquake! - Summer Rerun edition
I remain distracted from the series I was working on.
In this case, the New Yorker ran on article on the expected earthquake in the Pacific Northwest, and it has triggered many other articles, and a lot of people are feeling a bit panicky and thinking of moving.
Well, I would not make the decision to move without serious prayer, but remember, we have known that we are due for a large earthquake here for some time. It's good to think about it, but it would be silly to start freaking out now, mostly because freaking out isn't helpful.
I did an earthquake series in 2008 that I am going to post links to now, and they still contain pretty good advice. There are some new things to consider, and we will do that too, but this week, let's just review the basics.
Before the earthquake: http://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2009/03/june-2008-before-earthquake.html
During the earthquake: http://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2009/02/april-2008-during-earthquake.html
After the earthquake: http://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2009/02/may-2008-after-earthquake.html
If you want to see what has everyone so stirred up, here is the New Yorker article: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one
In this case, the New Yorker ran on article on the expected earthquake in the Pacific Northwest, and it has triggered many other articles, and a lot of people are feeling a bit panicky and thinking of moving.
Well, I would not make the decision to move without serious prayer, but remember, we have known that we are due for a large earthquake here for some time. It's good to think about it, but it would be silly to start freaking out now, mostly because freaking out isn't helpful.
I did an earthquake series in 2008 that I am going to post links to now, and they still contain pretty good advice. There are some new things to consider, and we will do that too, but this week, let's just review the basics.
Before the earthquake: http://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2009/03/june-2008-before-earthquake.html
During the earthquake: http://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2009/02/april-2008-during-earthquake.html
After the earthquake: http://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2009/02/may-2008-after-earthquake.html
If you want to see what has everyone so stirred up, here is the New Yorker article: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Priceless Blessings of the House of the Lord
That's a lesson title in President Benson manual.
I wrote last week's post because I was afraid that the testimony meeting would be horrible, and I wanted to have my thoughts organized and clear just in case. The reading of the letter went much better than expected, and there was only one horrible testimony, but the meeting was almost over then so I let it go. It might come out a little this week.
This week I am teaching Relief Society (as a sub), and I want to get all my thoughts out here so that only the ones that are pertinent to the class come out.
A lot of my feelings about the temple lately have centered around the family history that I am working on.
To give some context, my parents were both converts and joined after they were married, so there wasn't a history of church membership, though as you get further out into cousins sometimes you can find some others here and there.
There were still several people that were interested in genealogy, including my grandmother Harris. She had one cousin of her own, and one cousin of her husband's, who were both really into it, and had a lot of information going back which my grandmother collected and then gave to my father when he asked for it.
My first interaction with it was in social studies in junior high, when creating a family tree was among the project choices. I created a great one, because all the material was there, but I couldn't leave it at that, because there were heartbreaking stories. My grandmother had a twin who died. On my mother's side, her grandmother died in childbirth, with twins who also died, and because her grandfather had to work, my mother's mother was primarily raised by nuns. There was one family on the Davison side that lost four children to disease in two weeks. They had other children later, but for then they had no children left.
The great thing about the temple is that it can heal these wounds. I submitted my first names for temple work then. At the time you filled out sheets by hand and mailed them to Salt Lake, and then they could send cards to the temple you specified, or you could just ask for the work to be done.
There have been other spells of submission. Marguerite Rippey was the Harris cousin, and some other cousins took her work and put it in a book. That was the first thing I really entered into Personal Ancestral File. The first batch I'd submitted happened before I'd ever gotten on a computer.
As I got some Harris names ready, now we used computers. You would take them to a Family History Center on a disk, and it would check there for approval, and then you could take them to the temple to be printed into cards. This was progress.
Later another cousin sent me hundred of pages on the Bobiers. A different cousin I had never met contacted me, and he had a smaller batch of information on the Chaffee side, but it still filled in some blanks.
Every time someone would randomly hand me pages of genealogy I would take it as a sign that there were people ready, knocking through the veil. I would submit more names. After that I started hitting snags.
I tried preparing another batch in 2002, and when I got to the Family History Center none of them were approved. I tried a really big batch and the same thing happened.
Five years ago we could start getting things approved over the internet. It occurred to me that what was needed was organization. I would start going through and see of all the people in PAF, who had work done and who needed it, and submit that way. However, it occurred to me that with such a large database (about 7500 names) that it could be a long time until I would get to anyone, so I submitted another large batch in the meantime, with over 300 names.
That was too much to manage. I hadn't meant for it to get that big, but it added up really quickly. It takes a long time, and then we don't have any active men in the family, so I would part those out and one guy who swore he could get all the initiatories done really quickly lost about 40 of them. About a year ago I started getting e-mail from other people on the lines pointing out that these names had been reserved for a long time. They were generally nice about it, but I still felt ashamed.
I released some names, reprinted some, and I still have several cards left from this batch, but it feels more manageable.
The spreadsheet had gotten discouraging too. The idea was to write if they needed submissions, or research, or were done, but I got so scared to write "Done". Okay, their work was done, but their children weren't sealed to them yet, so would they feel done? What if I was missing information, like what if this person I thought hadn't got married really did?
I have pulled myself together now. If I have the children entered, then being sealed to their parents is part of their ordinances, and will be attended to. If I don't have everything that happened to everyone, I do still have a lot to work with now. When I have finished checking all 7500, maybe I will feel a need to research different things. I mean, I have gotten unexpected leads when they were necessary before.
The other thing is that so much has happened since that had nothing to do with me. Those names that didn't get approved were because someone else was working on them, or they were already done. There have been more done since I had stopped looking at it. I am not alone in this work. I may not know the other people doing it, but they are still helping me, and we are sealed together across many generations.
A few weeks ago we had a temple day where we took names all the way through, and six women in my family were able to have their work completed.
As I fill in ordinance completions, I see many where their work happened really close together. It could have been something like my experience, but for many of them I think it was that they had to travel to the temple, and make the most of it. There has been sacrifice.
That makes me think of a few things. One is gratitude at the increase in temple construction. My parents and my brother had to travel to Oakland. By the time I was in Young Women's it was Seattle, and before I was out it was Portland. We are so lucky. I think there were 58 temples when I went into the Missionary Training Center; there are now 147 operating, with another 31 under renovation, construction, or announced.
It has also become easier to arrange to do baptisms, with limited use recommends and temple assisted ordinances.
It is easier that we can do check and submit names at home with an internet connection, and can take names to whichever temple we choose. Families in different areas needed to coordinate a lot more before.
It is wonderful that home computers and internet also allow people of all ages to do extractions. People who may not have the resources to research their own can participate in this way, improving the resources for others and also learning more that will help them when they are ready to research their own.
So this is the thing held over from last week, when one testimony was very upset about how we are losing our rights. Putting aside for the moment that there has never been (nor should be) an actual right to force people to live the way we think they should, what rights are being infringed?
No one is stopping us from praying, or attending church. No one is stopping us from attending the temple. No one is stopping us from keeping our covenants. Only we can do that.
I love being at the temple; getting there is a different story. Finding the time and changing clothes and preparing mentally takes some work, but if I don't do that, that's on me.
There are so many blessings and opportunities available. Different ones will fit into your life at different times, but there will be something. Make room for it.
I wrote last week's post because I was afraid that the testimony meeting would be horrible, and I wanted to have my thoughts organized and clear just in case. The reading of the letter went much better than expected, and there was only one horrible testimony, but the meeting was almost over then so I let it go. It might come out a little this week.
This week I am teaching Relief Society (as a sub), and I want to get all my thoughts out here so that only the ones that are pertinent to the class come out.
A lot of my feelings about the temple lately have centered around the family history that I am working on.
To give some context, my parents were both converts and joined after they were married, so there wasn't a history of church membership, though as you get further out into cousins sometimes you can find some others here and there.
There were still several people that were interested in genealogy, including my grandmother Harris. She had one cousin of her own, and one cousin of her husband's, who were both really into it, and had a lot of information going back which my grandmother collected and then gave to my father when he asked for it.
My first interaction with it was in social studies in junior high, when creating a family tree was among the project choices. I created a great one, because all the material was there, but I couldn't leave it at that, because there were heartbreaking stories. My grandmother had a twin who died. On my mother's side, her grandmother died in childbirth, with twins who also died, and because her grandfather had to work, my mother's mother was primarily raised by nuns. There was one family on the Davison side that lost four children to disease in two weeks. They had other children later, but for then they had no children left.
The great thing about the temple is that it can heal these wounds. I submitted my first names for temple work then. At the time you filled out sheets by hand and mailed them to Salt Lake, and then they could send cards to the temple you specified, or you could just ask for the work to be done.
There have been other spells of submission. Marguerite Rippey was the Harris cousin, and some other cousins took her work and put it in a book. That was the first thing I really entered into Personal Ancestral File. The first batch I'd submitted happened before I'd ever gotten on a computer.
As I got some Harris names ready, now we used computers. You would take them to a Family History Center on a disk, and it would check there for approval, and then you could take them to the temple to be printed into cards. This was progress.
Later another cousin sent me hundred of pages on the Bobiers. A different cousin I had never met contacted me, and he had a smaller batch of information on the Chaffee side, but it still filled in some blanks.
Every time someone would randomly hand me pages of genealogy I would take it as a sign that there were people ready, knocking through the veil. I would submit more names. After that I started hitting snags.
I tried preparing another batch in 2002, and when I got to the Family History Center none of them were approved. I tried a really big batch and the same thing happened.
Five years ago we could start getting things approved over the internet. It occurred to me that what was needed was organization. I would start going through and see of all the people in PAF, who had work done and who needed it, and submit that way. However, it occurred to me that with such a large database (about 7500 names) that it could be a long time until I would get to anyone, so I submitted another large batch in the meantime, with over 300 names.
That was too much to manage. I hadn't meant for it to get that big, but it added up really quickly. It takes a long time, and then we don't have any active men in the family, so I would part those out and one guy who swore he could get all the initiatories done really quickly lost about 40 of them. About a year ago I started getting e-mail from other people on the lines pointing out that these names had been reserved for a long time. They were generally nice about it, but I still felt ashamed.
I released some names, reprinted some, and I still have several cards left from this batch, but it feels more manageable.
The spreadsheet had gotten discouraging too. The idea was to write if they needed submissions, or research, or were done, but I got so scared to write "Done". Okay, their work was done, but their children weren't sealed to them yet, so would they feel done? What if I was missing information, like what if this person I thought hadn't got married really did?
I have pulled myself together now. If I have the children entered, then being sealed to their parents is part of their ordinances, and will be attended to. If I don't have everything that happened to everyone, I do still have a lot to work with now. When I have finished checking all 7500, maybe I will feel a need to research different things. I mean, I have gotten unexpected leads when they were necessary before.
The other thing is that so much has happened since that had nothing to do with me. Those names that didn't get approved were because someone else was working on them, or they were already done. There have been more done since I had stopped looking at it. I am not alone in this work. I may not know the other people doing it, but they are still helping me, and we are sealed together across many generations.
A few weeks ago we had a temple day where we took names all the way through, and six women in my family were able to have their work completed.
As I fill in ordinance completions, I see many where their work happened really close together. It could have been something like my experience, but for many of them I think it was that they had to travel to the temple, and make the most of it. There has been sacrifice.
That makes me think of a few things. One is gratitude at the increase in temple construction. My parents and my brother had to travel to Oakland. By the time I was in Young Women's it was Seattle, and before I was out it was Portland. We are so lucky. I think there were 58 temples when I went into the Missionary Training Center; there are now 147 operating, with another 31 under renovation, construction, or announced.
It has also become easier to arrange to do baptisms, with limited use recommends and temple assisted ordinances.
It is easier that we can do check and submit names at home with an internet connection, and can take names to whichever temple we choose. Families in different areas needed to coordinate a lot more before.
It is wonderful that home computers and internet also allow people of all ages to do extractions. People who may not have the resources to research their own can participate in this way, improving the resources for others and also learning more that will help them when they are ready to research their own.
So this is the thing held over from last week, when one testimony was very upset about how we are losing our rights. Putting aside for the moment that there has never been (nor should be) an actual right to force people to live the way we think they should, what rights are being infringed?
No one is stopping us from praying, or attending church. No one is stopping us from attending the temple. No one is stopping us from keeping our covenants. Only we can do that.
I love being at the temple; getting there is a different story. Finding the time and changing clothes and preparing mentally takes some work, but if I don't do that, that's on me.
There are so many blessings and opportunities available. Different ones will fit into your life at different times, but there will be something. Make room for it.
Sunday, July 5, 2015
Even though you are sure homosexuality is wrong...
After last week (on chastity versus virginity), I was planning on spending some time on consent and modesty-shaming, but I need to digress. This link should give some context for why:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/mormontherapist/2015/07/compassion-called-for-please-while-reading-of-the-letter.html
Even though the there has been more of a focus on accepting LGBTQIA people lately, where we should have compassion and do not support discrimination, it feels like some members read them only looking for confirmation that it's wrong, and so they can continue to feel angry and judgmental. That would be missing a significant part of what is being said.
One good starting point is http://mormonsandgays.org/.
It says right there that the attraction is not a sin, but it is common to look down on people for it.
Actually, that's one of the first points that bugs me here. The focus in the scriptures is pretty consistently on how you are supposed to live, not about forcing others to live your beliefs. We are encouraged to share those beliefs, but knowing that others can only be converted by the Holy Ghost, and knowing that they will not be able to feel the Holy Ghost if we are carrying contention and anger with us, that right there should often be a reason to shut up. If you can't speak to them in love, shut up. Maybe consider listening.
The first thought that I would like you to keep in mind is what you think the "it" is that you think is wrong. There is a lot of misunderstanding. A very kind and wise and good man made a statement about not being unkind to people based on the lifestyle they choose because of their feelings about gender. Some people will object to the use of choice even for the actions, but there is another mix-up there in that sexuality and gender are separate issues. I use the LGBTQIA because it takes in more of the variations, but it has expanded before and could expand again. There are a lot of things that happen in human experience.
I'd like to mention two stories of trans people that I have heard recently. I know there is a lot of attention on Caitlin Jenner right now, because celebrity does that, but that is not the normal experience.
First of all, I'd like to share some statistics. One in twelve trans women is murdered by cis people. (Cis meaning that gender matches sex). For trans women of color, the murder rate goes up to one in eight.
That is staggering, and when you consider how many people will abuse in some way while stopping short of murder, that is a very hard life. That is probably why 40 percent of transgender people have attempted suicide.
Now to the stories. One was born a girl, but suffered horrific sexual abuse as a child. They now feel like they are neither male nor female. The other was also born a girl, and there were bad life circumstances, but part of the early life experiences included seeing that women had no power, and could be abused by anyone. He started identifying as male.
Not everyone's story is going to be like that; you should not assume abuse is involved. I mention those because it seems like working for a world where children are safe from abuse, and where girls feel like they can be strong and powerful, and boys feel like they can be artistic and sensitive, seems like it would be a much better goal, that would benefit everyone, rather than spending a lot of time worrying about whether people are forcing their gender and sexuality to conform to your definitions.
Perhaps this is where the listening could come in again. It would be really hard to feel like you were born in the wrong body, even if it didn't raise your odds for being mocked, beaten, and murdered. Listening to them, and hearing their humanity, is the list someone who is trying to follow Christ can do.
Here's the thing I have been thinking about most. I have a friend who works on a suicide hotline one night a week. Because many of my Twitter contacts are also suicidal, we talk about that sometimes, and the things we have learned.
Many of her contacts and mine are gay. They may feel like they need to hide their sexuality, which takes a toll, or they may be bullied if they are open, and sometimes they can be hiding it but still be bullied. The world can be really hard on them.
I was expressing frustration once with how parents sometimes can't accept their children because they need so much for the child to understand how wrong he or she is, and my friend told me "What I would say is they believe you. The message has been received. They know they're bad."
It chilled me. I knew exactly what she meant, but hearing it said that way, because she has heard their voices when they are right on the edge and reaching out, and they believe in their badness. They are convinced enough of their wrongness that suicide seems like the answer.
They need to know about their goodness too. They should never be reduced to whom they are attracted to!
I hope that there are no parents who really want that. If they do, that is a huge sin there; worse than whatever you are thinking. But for parents who just really want their kids to be straight, making the kid feel worthless is not going to do it.
If they can live, and feel loved, then they can have a chance to grow, and build their own relationship with God, and get their own inspiration on how to conduct their lives. That is what you should be working for. God does love them, and knows their value, and how to help them. Don't get in God's way by making sure that the only thing they can feel is self-loathing. There is no righteousness in that.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/mormontherapist/2015/07/compassion-called-for-please-while-reading-of-the-letter.html
Even though the there has been more of a focus on accepting LGBTQIA people lately, where we should have compassion and do not support discrimination, it feels like some members read them only looking for confirmation that it's wrong, and so they can continue to feel angry and judgmental. That would be missing a significant part of what is being said.
One good starting point is http://mormonsandgays.org/.
It says right there that the attraction is not a sin, but it is common to look down on people for it.
Actually, that's one of the first points that bugs me here. The focus in the scriptures is pretty consistently on how you are supposed to live, not about forcing others to live your beliefs. We are encouraged to share those beliefs, but knowing that others can only be converted by the Holy Ghost, and knowing that they will not be able to feel the Holy Ghost if we are carrying contention and anger with us, that right there should often be a reason to shut up. If you can't speak to them in love, shut up. Maybe consider listening.
The first thought that I would like you to keep in mind is what you think the "it" is that you think is wrong. There is a lot of misunderstanding. A very kind and wise and good man made a statement about not being unkind to people based on the lifestyle they choose because of their feelings about gender. Some people will object to the use of choice even for the actions, but there is another mix-up there in that sexuality and gender are separate issues. I use the LGBTQIA because it takes in more of the variations, but it has expanded before and could expand again. There are a lot of things that happen in human experience.
I'd like to mention two stories of trans people that I have heard recently. I know there is a lot of attention on Caitlin Jenner right now, because celebrity does that, but that is not the normal experience.
First of all, I'd like to share some statistics. One in twelve trans women is murdered by cis people. (Cis meaning that gender matches sex). For trans women of color, the murder rate goes up to one in eight.
That is staggering, and when you consider how many people will abuse in some way while stopping short of murder, that is a very hard life. That is probably why 40 percent of transgender people have attempted suicide.
Now to the stories. One was born a girl, but suffered horrific sexual abuse as a child. They now feel like they are neither male nor female. The other was also born a girl, and there were bad life circumstances, but part of the early life experiences included seeing that women had no power, and could be abused by anyone. He started identifying as male.
Not everyone's story is going to be like that; you should not assume abuse is involved. I mention those because it seems like working for a world where children are safe from abuse, and where girls feel like they can be strong and powerful, and boys feel like they can be artistic and sensitive, seems like it would be a much better goal, that would benefit everyone, rather than spending a lot of time worrying about whether people are forcing their gender and sexuality to conform to your definitions.
Perhaps this is where the listening could come in again. It would be really hard to feel like you were born in the wrong body, even if it didn't raise your odds for being mocked, beaten, and murdered. Listening to them, and hearing their humanity, is the list someone who is trying to follow Christ can do.
Here's the thing I have been thinking about most. I have a friend who works on a suicide hotline one night a week. Because many of my Twitter contacts are also suicidal, we talk about that sometimes, and the things we have learned.
Many of her contacts and mine are gay. They may feel like they need to hide their sexuality, which takes a toll, or they may be bullied if they are open, and sometimes they can be hiding it but still be bullied. The world can be really hard on them.
I was expressing frustration once with how parents sometimes can't accept their children because they need so much for the child to understand how wrong he or she is, and my friend told me "What I would say is they believe you. The message has been received. They know they're bad."
It chilled me. I knew exactly what she meant, but hearing it said that way, because she has heard their voices when they are right on the edge and reaching out, and they believe in their badness. They are convinced enough of their wrongness that suicide seems like the answer.
They need to know about their goodness too. They should never be reduced to whom they are attracted to!
I hope that there are no parents who really want that. If they do, that is a huge sin there; worse than whatever you are thinking. But for parents who just really want their kids to be straight, making the kid feel worthless is not going to do it.
If they can live, and feel loved, then they can have a chance to grow, and build their own relationship with God, and get their own inspiration on how to conduct their lives. That is what you should be working for. God does love them, and knows their value, and how to help them. Don't get in God's way by making sure that the only thing they can feel is self-loathing. There is no righteousness in that.
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