Last night, Lisl and I were blessed to hear the most amazing transgender actress, Alexandra Billings, speaking at the GSC's Lavender Graduation. Among some of the best quotes she pulled out were, "The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off." Also, "Every single on of us is made of 0.3% stardust." However, one point she made works best for the theme I've been thinking about for a month or so now.

Jesus the Christ is risen! Jesus is alive and still around! However, he is no longer present among us in the same way he was with the disciples of the gospels. Let's be honest, it's actually pretty freaking difficult to get our heads around the way Jesus is actually WITH us. We come up with clever metaphors that help us get close to understanding Jesus' presence.

Every time I go to see the Vagina Monologues, I think about my mom. (By the way, the women of UIC did an amazing job this past weekend! Bravo!) This past weekend was the first time I saw the monologues since my mother died last summer. I cannot help but picture my mother every time I hear, I Was There In The Room. The bleeding and the sacrificing of the vagina and the heart are vivid descriptions not only of birth, but of the warmth of the love my mom showed for me... even when I was disobedient!

I am finally sitting down to read Prayers for Bobby, a book recommended to me by one of our UIC students. This book is all the more poignant for me now because we are gearing up for a counter-celebration next Monday when the anti-gay (anti-everything) group Westboro Baptist Church comes to visit. I have only read through the introduction of the book, but one paragraph already struck me.

Leroy Aarons writes about a California family, the Griffiths, who lost their gay son to suicide.

Most old school horror movie creators will agree that audiences are more afraid of what they cannot see than what is obvious and in their face. Continuing our Lenten theme of engaging grief, loss and darkness, we must address what it is like trying to see in the dark, finding vision in the dark. The prophet Isaiah wrote these verses:

Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
And you that have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,