Comments (4)

By Kate, 14 March 2010

Hey team.

Check out a post my friend Ann just did with a list I made about being a woman. If blogs indeed can be beautiful, her blog is it!

Also… I quoted from Sojourner Truth’s famous speech “Ain’t I a woman?” That was one rockin’ lady. Click on her portait above to learn more about her & more Americans Who Tell the Truth.

Sojourner Truth (1797-1883): Ain’t I A Woman?
Delivered 1851
Women’s Convention, Akron, Ohio

Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that ‘twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what’s all this here talking about?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?

Then they talk about this thing in the head; what’s this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That’s it, honey. What’s that got to do with women’s rights or negroes’ rights? If my cup won’t hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn’t you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can’t have as much rights as men, ’cause Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.

Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain’t got nothing more to say.

Comments (6)

By Kate, 8 March 2010

HAPPY International Women’s Day!

Some of my favorite women!

Trunk full o’ beautiful women in Thailand 2005!

These ladies have had my back since middle school!

Some brave, beautiful friends!

Three cheers for women!

She-blogs I like to follow:

I love singing with women! (most especially this childless housewife)

I love catching a good Freak Show with Jill & reading her hilarious blog.

On Tess’s blog you can learn how to dye your own yarn, make your own Ethiopian food and grow your own mushrooms!

I love reading Sarah THE Vranes‘ insights & adventures.

Anne blogs about Doula adventures and issues.

Briana is a midwife. She delivers babies (including my niece June-bug in this shot) at home!

Thelma is a rockin’ activist in Thailand and blogs about it here. Ashley is one of the most creative and thoughtful people I know & when she blogs, you can read it here. (btw…this is a shot from a random day of classes at BYU back in the day. It was such a lovely coincidence that we all went for the “rainbow coalition” look that particular day… and, let’s face it, every other day too.)

AND, how could I leave out the premiere Food blog of the decade, run by my mom & sis: Fab Frugal Food!

I also really like Rowena’s Rants, but Jen and I go so far back that our photos together are not in digital format! She rocks.

Ann is a friend-of-a-friend and her blog is a sweeping tribute to the feminine and beautiful.

Lately, I’ve been on a Feminist Mormon Housewives kick. Although, shouldn’t there be a non-housewife feminist Mormon blog? I think yes.

FINAL PROPS to these two women for founding my law school in 1896 because they were rejected by other schools and told, “women do not have the mentality for the law.”

Comments (0)

By Kate, 19 January 2010

Final Season Of ‘Lost’ Promises To Make Fans More Annoying Than Ever

Comments (0)

By Kate, 8 January 2010

How have I not known about passiveaggressivenotes.com until now??

WoW.

Comments (4)

By Kate, 2 January 2010

Ok, in the interest of totally fair and unbiased coverage here at www.kateandneil.com I thought I’d include a link of Glen Beck up to his usual TOTALLY INSANE AND RACIST hijinks.

That dude is seriously creepy. I would not want to be left in a dark alley with him… or a room full of people for that matter. Yikes!

Comments (6)

By Kate, 1 January 2010

The news that the Church is going to elevate care for the poor up to one of its main missions.

Wow.

I am excited & hope that the question of WHY people are poor does not escape the discussion. I vow to do my part to assure that it will not in my congregation.

New LDS emphasis: Care for the needy

Compassion for the elderly and infirm that has come to characterize Thomas S. Monson’s ministry soon will be embraced more fully by the worldwide church he leads.

The LDS Church is adding “to care for the poor and needy” to its longstanding “threefold mission,” which is to preach the LDS gospel, purify members’ lives and provide saving ordinances such as baptism to those who have died.

This mission first was coined by late LDS President Spencer W. Kimball in the 1980s and since then has been repeated as a mantra by the church’s more than 13 million members.

The new group of phrases will be described as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “purposes,” rather than missions, and will be spelled out in the next edition of the LDS Church Handbook of Instructions , due out next year, church spokesman Scott Trotter confirmed this week.

“Caring for the poor and needy,” Trotter said, “has always been a basic tenet of the [LDS] Church.”

Elevating it to one of the faith’s major purposes brings added emphasis.

“This is a dramatic move and very important message,” said Jan Shipps, an Indiana-based American religion historian who has spent decades studying the LDS Church. “It’s not that Mormons haven’t already been caring for the poor and needy with its humanitarian program. It’s just that this moves it to the top of their priorities, along with proselytizing and temple work.”

It tells Mormons to be

philanthropic in ways that go well beyond helping the faithful, Shipps said. “And it’s a move that tells the world that Mormonism is Christian more effectively than changing the logo to make the words ‘Jesus Christ’ stand out.”The church unveiled a new logo in December 1995 to stress the faith’s allegiance to Christ and to help answer critics who claimed Mormons were not Christians.

This latest move recognizes what people of faith already know — that helping the poor should be a priority, said Glenn Bailey, executive director of Crossroads Urban Center in Salt Lake City, who was delighted by the change.

“This can only be positive,” said Bailey, whose center focuses on the city’s destitute population. “It does make a difference when the LDS hierarchy indicates the importance of reaching out and serving people in the larger community. When they’ve done that before, people responded and reached out to their neighbors even more.”

It won’t likely change minds of any LDS state legislators or influence public policy, Bailey said, but with average Mormons it is “very, very helpful.”

The move was made public Saturday by Bishop Richard C. Edgley, a counselor in the LDS Presiding Bishopric, during an LDS stake conference in Holladay, according to David H. Sundwall, who was there and then blogged about it at asoftanswer.com.

“He said it was something they had been working on for a long time,” Sundwall said in an interview. “They finally got it approved.”

That could have something to do with the elevation of Monson in February 2008 as the LDS Church’s 16th president.

Throughout his decades of service to the church, Monson has led his church’s efforts to collaborate with the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City in providing food for the homeless.

“President Monson is a great humanitarian,” said Pamela Atkinson, a Salt Lake City advocate for the homeless. “In some of his talks I’ve heard or read, he emphasizes again and again reaching out to others — not just to members but to every single person in need.”

She sees the LDS Church’s new emphasis as a reflection of the way Monson has lived.

“Giving to and helping others is just a natural part of his life,” Atkinson said. “He is saying to every single member: ‘You, too, can do something to make a difference.’ I am thrilled.”

Comments (1)

By Kate,

Happy New Year!

Neil made this video for me to watch at my bridal shower. It is filled with photos & video of our very first adventures.

Comments (3)

By Kate, 30 December 2009

Did you know that the UN has declared that a report by the U.N., “Livestock’s Long Shadow—Environmental Issues and Options,” has shown that raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined.

Eat that Al Gore.

Comments (2)

By Kate, 27 December 2009

After reading The Unwritten Rules of Being True-Blue Mormon I found these articles of faith for Mormon culture. Funny ’cause it’s true, funny ’cause it’s true.

13. We believe in being above average, good at crafts, optimistic, and being fifteen minutes late everywhere we go. Indeed, we may say that we follow BYU football. We believe rumors about famous people joining the church, we hope to meet the three Nephites, we have endured many pyramid schemes, and hope to be able to endure all pyramid schemes. If there is anything cheap, free, sold in bulk, or given away when somebody is moving, we seek after these things.

Comments (1)

By Kate, 2 December 2009

Here’s a new little diddy from the Story of Stuff folks. It’s all about how cap n’ trade is a croc.