God Hates Bigoted Cult Members

We had a little excitement in OKC last week. Fred Phelp's crazies came to see us. They protested outside of the Capitol building because the state senate had the audacity to allow a gay man, a state representative, to read a prayer. The horror. Thank Gawd we have these holy warriors to come and spread their own special brand of irrational hatred. Chutah and I came up with a fun little 'shop of their picture that appeared in the local news.



This was a direct result of an email exchange wondering what kind of life that little boy in the center of the picture is living, and if it isn't enough for him to be removed from that kind of horrifying existence.

My favorite part of their visit, though, is that the Westboro "Church" randomly chose Moore High School for a second protest in the region. They had posted on their web page that Moore High was full of "violent brats" and "sluts." As far as I know, these kids aren't any more violent or slutty than any other high school in the region or state. The really awesome thing about this portion of the protest is that local bikers reached out to other bikers and they formed a counter-protest. These bad ass bikers situated themselves across from the Jesus-freakery to protect the students and community from the notorious faggotry of Westboro. In addition to the bikers, veterans came out to protest, and high school students stood up for their school and their classmates. Throughout the city, churches held prayer vigils to remind their faithful and everyone else that religion is not all extremist and cultish.

I would have preferred the local religious community made their presence known at the counter-protest, but the fact that all different segments of the community pulled together to oppose the nutjobs gave me the warm fuzzies. With the attention given to these extreme groups, it's easy to forget that most people are decent and are willing to stand up for what's right and rational.

And the Ass Saw the Angel

About a week ago I finished reading And the Ass Saw the Angel by Nick Cave. This is from the back cover:

"Outcast, mute, a lone twin cut from a drunk mother in a shack full of junk, Euchrid Eucrow of Ukolore inhabits a nightmarish Southern valley of preachers and prophets, incest and ignorance. When the God-fearing folk of the town declare a foundling child to be chosen by the Almighty, Euchrid is disturbed. He sees her very differently, and his conviction, and increasing isolation and insanity, may have terrible consequences for them both. Compelling and astonishing in its baroque richness, Nick Cave’s acclaimed first novel is a fantastic journey into the twisted world of Deep Southern Gothic tragedy."

That said, this is one of those books that I wish I’d never read so I can enjoy reading it again for the first time. It’s like Christmas, and I read very slowly towards the end so I could savor it. The imagery is so brilliant, that I went to work the next day after reading it thinking I’d watched a movie the night before.

A major theme is about those people who are marginalized by society, why they’re marginalized, and how the marginalization affects them. And the Ass Saw the Angel is full of marginalized characters: Cosey Mo is a prostitute who is lovely in Euchrid’s eyes, Euchrid himself who is daydreamy and curious, but is assumed to be stupid and crazy, his quiet father, the only intelligent child of a severely inbred family.

Normally while reading a story, I can’t help but try to discern who the bad and good characters are supposed to be. But ATASTA blurs these definitions. The mainstream is the church people, the Ukulites, who purport to uphold what is pure and righteous, but then unleash heinous acts of violence against the people they’ve marginalized in the community: the prostitute, the crazy mute, the alcoholic. It’s no surprise that what they deem as putrid isn’t nearly as vile as the hate and violence that seethes inside them.

Throughout the book, Euchrid becomes increasingly more insane, and begins to commit more obscure acts of violence. I still can’t dislike Euchrid. It seems that in the beginning, his insanity was a seed that only grew wild because of the violence and indifference inflicted on him by his mother and the townspeople. I think it reflects a case of biology influenced by environment, which makes me sad when I think about our own stories in relation to our contemporary society.

Other than that, the story, the prose, the characters are heart-breakingly beautiful.

Here's another blog on it (but it's a spoiler on some of the action)

Not as focused as I had planned. . .

Perhaps I don’t understand the ways of Karma. Wasn’t it Earl (of My Name is Earl, not Squidbillies) that said, “Karma is a bitch?” I really like that show. For one, Jason Lee is a great comic actor, but for another, who is not attracted to the idea that if you live your life right you are rewarded. Hell, Eastern religion or Western religion, the idea remains constant. Treat others as you would like to be treated, give and received tenfold, turn the other cheek, the meek inherit the earth.

As a representative of the meek, I have to say I’m not getting anything but a hard time. I’ve tried to practice the basic “do unto others” rules: I’ve been poor my whole life, but I’ve given to others; I have needs that aren’t met, but I put others’ needs before mine; I have not received love, but I’ve given love; I have been neglected, but I’ve sacrificed a great deal to take care of others. Despite continually striving to be a better person, and to be fair and to be giving, I’m in a position where I’m in therapy once a week, on two antidepressants, and once again close to being fired at a job I hate. It doesn’t seem like karmic justice to me.

Do I need to make a list? I know there are people I have wronged. I know I’m not perfect. Maybe I’ve wreaked karmic havoc on myself. I keep thinking of a song in Mel Brooks’ musical The Producers that Nathan Lane sings called “The King of Broadway.” It is very much inspired by Fiddler on the Roof, and describes how life used to be great and now it sucks, and he sings,

“He was saying, when you're down and out, and
everybody thinks you're
finished,
that's the time to stand up on your two feet and shout,/"Who do you
have to fuck to get a break in this town?!"

Truly, who do you have to fuck to get a break in this town.