Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Confession
I have never:
been “the hero of my own life...”And, (for quite a while now)-
I do not:
know what to do…Posted by joe on from The Ether 07/24 at 01:55 PMI forget: Is it taboo to confess on Sunday?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 07/24 at 07:59 PMI donno. I used to be a Catholic. (You, too, Mickey? Everyone at mass was Irish or Italian… of course, everyone I knew was Irish or Italian, so I guess it was the neighborhood...)
I still keep massive amounts of guilt and anxiety nearby at all times, just to make “God” happy…
Confession used to be OK on Sunday but, then, mass used to be in Latin, and the whole tone was sombre and agonizingly boring. I went to a mass in ‘02, I think, because my mother, who had less than a year to live, asked be to go with her. Hell, there was folksinging and handshaking and everything was “aw-shucks” friendly. And the mass was in English…Hey - about your post, yesterday, about Lance Armstrong. I certainly have some mixed feelings about the guy - he left his wife after she nursed him through cancer, etc., - but there’s no doubting that he’s an awesome athlete, eh?
I used to hang out with a guy named Terry, in Michigan. In 1970, he rode “around the world” on a Schwin Paramount. He and his cousin rode from northern Michigan to NYC. Flew from there to London. Rode from London to Dover, & caught the ferry to Calais. From Calais, they rode all the way to Calcutta, India! Then they flew to LA, and rode back to Northern Michigan. He was a world class biker - quads the size of my waist! - who was passionate about riding. He was in a couple of 24 hour races at Bell Isle, Michigan, with some very elite competition. Came in 3rd, twice. He contended that many people “doped up,” in one way or another. I don’t know…
Anyway, he was in constant awe of Eddy Merckx, who he believed was the greated rider who ever lived. I never got to see him ride on tv or anywhere, but everything I’ve read, since, seems to agree with Terry. It would have been amazing to see the guy ride, eh? They say that he and Armstrong are pretty good friends and even Armstrong is still impressed…Posted by joe on from Oregon 07/24 at 09:40 PMIs this a Catholic thread? I’m Catholic by ethnicity although I stopped going to sacraments and so forth more than 20 years ago. I did go into a church in Italy a few years ago, and there amidst the damp stone and burning wax and the wood worn down by many generations of knees, just for a moment in the smell of old wood, I felt that my grandparents were there beside me. They were Irish, but a church is like a pub: When you’re in a good one, the kind where a million spirits of hopes and joys and dreams and desperate wishes sink into the place, you feel it.
Posted by Lee Hall on from 07/24 at 11:52 PMCatholic by ethnicity.
I guess I’m pissed off by ethnicity.Excellent paragraph, Lee Hall. A splendid, somehow liquid conclusion to an all too brittle and abrasive day. Thank you.
-joePosted by joe on from Oregon 07/25 at 12:58 AMCheers, Joe. Sleep well.
Posted by Lee Hall on from 07/25 at 03:30 AMI agree: what a wonderful paragraph, Lee.
I got innoculated against religion through 12 years of Catholic school. Thank god I’m an atheist.
As for Lance, Joe, I’m not familiar with the story behind his divorce but I just read his first book and found his upbringing, his recovery from cancer, and his return to cycling to be powerful. I hope to post more about this next week.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 07/25 at 08:33 AMI went to a Catholic primary school in Ireland and was lucky enough to get a zealot principal, praps if he was nice I would have believed the garbage. As regards confession, the word ´occult´ centuries ago didn´t have the same connotation it does now and only meant ´hidden´, neither good nor bad but the notion was pushed by churches that anything hidden was undesirable and so got themselves a pretty decent intelligence network in the process.
Posted by Owen on from Barcelona 07/27 at 05:53 AMMy confession: I am too lazy by half.
Here’s where I live:
http://travelvictoria.com.au/daylesford/Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 08/03 at 07:22 PMHey Helga, what’s the Mt Prospect Maze?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/03 at 07:24 PMI think that looks very lovely. A good place for a Friends of Mickey’s Blog Conference if you ask me.
Posted by Lee Hall on from 08/03 at 07:30 PMShh...it’s too early to let the cat out of the bag about the FOMB conference, Lee. (How’s that for a completely inappropriate cliche to use when addressing an animal rights advocate?)
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/03 at 07:36 PMHehehe. Well I would think that in most cases it is better to let the cat out of the bag than to put the cat into a bag.
Posted by Lee Hall on from 08/03 at 08:24 PM-
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/03 at 08:28 PM
<<The underlying concept of John and Yoko’s “bagism” idea is interactivity among people without prejudice. The Internet is a great place to achieve that ideal because you are judged only by your words—not by your looks, age, gender, ethnicity, etc. >>
I can dig it. It’s kind of strange, though: People are uncomfortable with it. Can’t count how many times I’ve been asked my sex over the Internet - just in the contexts of current events discussion lists, news subscriptions, and the like. As though the way I’m perceived to think or read would change by my answer? I normally tell people I’m the product of a mixed marriage, female on my mother’s side and male on my father’s. I like baggy trousers as well. Love & bagism,
Posted by Lee Hall on from 08/03 at 09:16 PMThis is fodder for a future post, Lee. You know, until I met you, I wasn’t sure if you were female or male. How could I know? We became cyber-friends long before I found out.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/03 at 09:22 PMWhen did you hear about bagism? I’m going to find a use for that site, probably in a paper I’m now writing for the site run by yet another of the speakers at last month’s Friends of Animals conference. Talk about organic thinking processes… I’ll thank you for pointing me to that.
Yoko and John also asked us to “imagine there’s no country” and we all should have listened. It would be easy if we try.
Some might not be aware of this: Because of the idea that there are two sexes and only two sexes and never the twain shall meet, people are being mutilated at birth to fit one of the categories. The Intersex Society has more about it.
Yours in the bag,
Posted by Lee Hall on from 08/03 at 09:44 PMI’ve always liked John and Yoko, so bagism was something I knew about. John mentions it in a few songs, too: “Ballad of John and Yoko” and “Give Peace a Chance.”
Intersex Society?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/04 at 05:02 AM
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