"That would be so God."*

I was raised Baptist, of the “Footloose” sort, in the little-known South Jersey Bible Belt of fundamentalism. I survived a childhood fraught with the emotion of altar calls, and worries that the Rapture would take my parents and leave me behind. But I went to a secular college and left my strict upbringing as far behind me as I could.

I attribute years of therapy to my relative mental health regarding religion. Shalom Auslander mentions his therapist early in Foreskin’s Lament, but it’s possible that he needs even more therapy…he is a funny, sarcastic, insightful, and EXTREMELY bitter writer.

I almost didn’t start the book last night – I have three others I am halfway through – but it’s a seven-day library book and I really REALLY wanted to read it (because Jessa loves Auslander, so I want to, too). Once I started it, I had a very tough time putting it down. If it’s possible for my kindred spirit to be a lapsed Orthodox Jewish author, then Auslander is mine. He GETS how fucked up religion in its extreme form can be, and what havoc it can wreak on impressionable young minds, and like me, he also questions why any sane, caring adult would subject their child to the mindfuck that is fundamentalism in any form.

He and his wife refer to his childhood religious experiences as “theological abuse.” I know EXACTLY what he means. I want to email him and say, “Yes! Yes, I get it, and you are so right, and oh my fucking God, ME TOO!”

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*Shalom Auslander, Foreskin's Lament

"We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.”*

We have an electric cooktop at this house; I am used to cooking with gas. But it really doesn't matter - I am notoriously horrible at cooking rice: I scorch it, boil it, leave it crunchy...

I just had a rice disaster. My house still reeks of scorched rice, and the only good thing that came out of the whole experience is that I know my smoke detector needs new batteries.

Do I need a rice cooker, or no? Discuss.

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*Condeleezza Rice

“It is very, very easy not to be offended by a book. You just have to shut it.”*

Tuesday random:


I don't want to forget what they look like at this age - since this is my LAST baby.

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The lovely and erudite (and pregnant - not that that's here or there...) Doppelganger is plugging the Dewey Donation System. Help a library in need get books. Go on, you know you want to. I had a good time picking out board books for the preschoolers that I know *my* guys liked. I Love You, Stinky Face, given to us by my friend D, is a particularly huge hit.

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I like lasagna. But I would be happy not to see another piece of it for a few weeks. Don't mean to sound ungrateful as a lot of friends have been bringing us meals - and some have brought yummy lasagna - but three lasagnas (lasagni?) in the space of a week is plenty. I froze a lot of it, and will be very thankful for it later. Meantime, I am plowing through my friend L's delicious dessert of strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries in some sort of whipped cream/sour cream sauce-y stuff. YUM.

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Gina just asked me to go hear Salman Rushdie speak next week. I am so very psyched. Satanic Verses is one of my favorite books ever, and I loved Midnight's Children as well. Gina said I should come prepared with a question written down to ask him; would it be incredibly rude to ask when in the hell he is going to write another decent book? Because the last couple? Dreck. Redundant and derivative. Or actually, self-derivative, which being Salman Rushdie, could be worse, but still...

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*Salman Rushdie

"Fear of Triscuits!"*

Triskaidekaphobia.

The age of reason.



A mediocre movie.

WQED.




Sixth smallest prime.

Seventh in a Fibonacci sequence.

Atomic number of aluminum.

Mats Sundin.

Anniversary H and I celebrate today.

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* Ross, "Friends"