“Intersectionality,” Google told me through the voice of my speech synthesizer, “is a concept often used in critical theories to describe the ways in which oppressive institutions (racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia, classism, etc.) are interconnected and cannot be examined separately from one another.”
Huh?
In a September 24, 2015 article in the Washington Post, Kimberlé Crenshaw, the term’s creator, stated that intersectionality “was my attempt to make feminism, anti-racist activism, and anti-discrimination law do what I thought they…..
Pastor Kendall Walker’s Palm Sunday sermon got me thinking.
He explained that both “King” Pilate, the Roman ruler of the area, and “King” Herod, the man who reported directly to Pilate, would have each preceded Jesus into Jerusalem, each riding in chariots with large groups of noisy followers and battalions of soldiers for protection and an aura of strength. Like Pilate and Herod, King Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on a donkey — a Jewish symbol of royalty — with a…..
Choir culture confuses.
Women and men divide themselves into four groups, except that one of the men’s groups sometimes includes women. The women’s groups call themselves sopranos (sops for short) and altos, while the men’s groups call themselves tenors and basses.
Idle chatter ceases when someone calling herself or himself a conductor calls the meeting to order by asking participants to stand and participate in such adult activities as “follow the leader”, making silly noises, and waving their arms.
Then…..
“There are many things I don’t quite get about this election year,” I said while munching on a piece of cake in honor of the birthday of my church choir’s conductor, “but the thing I find most weird is how conservative Christians are supporting Trump over one of their own.”
“Trump is more of an outsider,” someone suggested.
“But none of the Republican elite like Cruz.”
“But he is still a senator.”
“And Trump has political connections through his businesses.”
…..
Last summer, I received a commission to compose a piece that a small choir will perform as part of the The Missouri Composers Orchestra Project concert. This concert, sponsored by the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation, will take place on Sunday, March 20, 2016 at Broadway Christian Church in Columbia, Missouri.
I asked Emily Edgington Andrews, the choir’s conductor, if we could reach out to the local high schools to encourage students to submit poems for me to set. One thing led…..