See Enders Game or Not? Debate flares on Facebook over Homophobic Orson Scott Card

My friend and mentor Edward Viljoen (senior minister at  Center for Spiritual Living Santa Rosa) posted on his Facebook wall yesterday this tidbit:

 "Orson Scott Card, not one penny of mine will you see. No Enders Game for me. I don't expect you to

change your views to match mine. I just prefer not to help fund your anti marriage-equality activism with my pennies. I'm just a small voice in the wilderness yet when I go to sleep on opening night I will do so knowing I just made a donation to Positive Images instead of to your movie."

This sparked a lively debate on Facebook about whether or not one should withhold one's pennies from artists where you like the product but detest the views they espouse.    I'm a big Orson Scott Card fan.  My kids and I have been looking forward to the movie for a while.   I think it's as simple as this, in the the cosmic democracy, it matters what we choose. This is a person that has opinions and views and he is famous, and he's about to be more famous, and he uses his fame to express these views and push this viewpoint. We don't have to choose to support a platform for hate. And we don't have to hate Orson Scott Card either. We can know that he is brilliant and we can be sad.

Edward also posted this piece by Orson Scott Card from the Mormon Times as reported on Joe My God Blog:

"If America becomes a place where our children are taken from us by law and forced to attend schools where they are taught that cohabitation is as good as marriage, that motherhood doesn't require a husband or father, and that homosexuality is as valid a choice as heterosexuality for their future lives, then why in the world should married people continue to accept the authority of such a government?
What these dictator-judges do not seem to understand is that their authority extends only as far as people choose to obey them.
How long before married people answer the dictators thus: Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down, so it can be replaced with a government that will respect and support marriage, and help me raise my children in a society where they will expect to marry in their turn."

My God, even in op eds, this man writes science fiction!



My daughter says that notwithstanding OSC's homophobia it's imperative to see Enders Game on the big screen and that it will not work to watch illegal downloads because they're such low quality.  The conversation between us sparked an idea of how to see Enders Game without supporting OSC or ripping off the theater:

Go to a multiplex, buy a ticket for another movie and then see Enders Game.  Thoughts?

Day 9 -- 30 days straight of hot yoga?

I didn't want to write anything about this until I was sure that I was really going to do it, and now I am. I have just completed 8 consecutive days of Bikram (aka hot) yoga.  Above is a picture of some random class that has nothing to do with me, although maybe we could just pretend that I'm the blond in the middle because I think we can all agree that she and I pretty much share the same bod.

In some ways it has become prosaic to describe one's 30 day Bikram experiences.  I've read at least one in Oprah (yes, I love Oprah and Oprah) and another in the Sacramento Bee (and no, those links aren't to those articles, just to the publications, sigh).  But this is my experience with it as a 52 year old woman who has been doing "maintenance" level exercise for years on a non-maintenance body.

I'm telling people that I'm doing this because the articles I read convinced me that I might experience a real transformation in my system, get my endocrine and hormonal systems working smoothly (a real plus in the middle of menopause), speed up my metabolism and heal aches and joint pains.  But of course I really expect to come out of this (as one mentor puts it) "wearing a white string bikini" so I have to be suspicious of my motives.  I also have a tendency to start something new rather than concentrate on the business at hand, so this is what's new for me.

So far, I'm struggling to stay hydrated (have added in some coconut water to replenish electrolytes lost--I'm not used to sweating!), to have energy and to find clean laundry.   Yesterday I wore a snappy tennis skirt to yoga, it's come to that.  Also, I'm very sore.

On the up side, my persistent shoulder pain and carpal tunnelish-ness  has either dissipated or can't be felt behind my overall soreness.  Also, I am finding a huge increase in my ability to stay present at least in during the hour and a half of class.  By that I mean, I am not constantly checking my watch or thinking about what comes next.  I'm just in that pose or another.

So, here we go!