Things I Learned This Week

I'm back from the whole NYC-Oakland jaunt with Mr. Darling. Getting to share space again felt really good--with all the long, late-night conversations and cozy knitting and bad tv watching--and we also had good food and the theater and I found time to drop into Purl (even though there wasn't enough time for just about everything else). We also remembered that we are good at hard stuff. The remarkable solidity and the elegant integrity (in the architectural sense) of our relationship make all the inevitable tender rattles so much less....rattling.

Last night I watched Jesus Camp. Watch. This. Movie. It's totally fascinating and terrifying all at the same time. I was struck by how much agency evangelical kids get to claim. The children in this movie are more articulate and self-possessed than most of the kids I know. When I was a little girl, I started a club. Its mission was to overthrow adult rule. (I'm not kidding. Yeah. I know.) My sister and I were the only members, and we created new rules for driving that put kids behind the wheel, we lobbied my parents to use the term "kidsitter" because "babysitter" was demeaning, and we created "kids' coffee" because we weren't allowed to drink coffee. It tasted totally disgusting, but it was the principle of access that mattered to us. As I watched Jesus Camp, I realized that if evangelical Christians had approached me at age eight, I would have bought into the whole thing. All that authority--the experience of adults appearing to value my thoughts and opinions--would have been so appealing to me.