If we want to be loved, we are looking for a support system. If we want to love, we are looking for spiritual growth.
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Steve & Leeana [radio hosts] got this from a set of dads in Baldwin who were really upset over how one mom, Beth, chose to respond to their daughter's birthday party invite. Do you think she was right to write this? Would a simple phone call RSVP'ing "no" been better? BTW: Beth gave us permission to post her phone number and said anyone who has a problem with what she wrote can call her, too!Commenters at the above link are divided over whether the station should have blurred out the bigot's phone number even though she apparently welcomes complaining calls.
Lots of people sharing this around like it's confirmed. Have we not learned the Dayna Morales lesson? These notes are hoaxes. In this case, the radio station that ran the note said the nastygram author followed up with them, saying to go ahead and share her number with the public, so they could call if they had a problem with her. The phone number is 516.362.1357. It's a VoIP line with a voicemail box that sounds like an old-school answering machine. The voicemail box is not full. Also: The party hosts withheld their own names and yet are somehow willing to have their daughter Sophia's name splashed all over the internet. And their handwriting looks like my mom's. Have you ever met a gay man with handwriting like that? Fake. Fake. Fake.Normally I don't report on these things and I ignored the lesbian waitress hoax that Barro mentions. What do you think? Barro makes some good points. (Except that I do know gay men with handwriting like that.)
Meditation,
simply defined, is a way of being aware. It is the happy marriage of
doing and being. It lifts the fog of our ordinary lives to reveal what
is hidden; it loosens the knot of self-centeredness and opens the heart;
it moves us beyond mere concepts to allow for a direct experience of
reality.
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We're
swamped with therapies, self-help books, and techniques—what musician
and activist Bob Geldof called ‘the thriving economy of
psychotherapists, designer religions, and spiritual boutiques’—which
treat our lives as projects to be tweaked and fixed. Isn't meditation
(if it's anything at all) a relief from all this? Isn't it the opposite
of repairing and adjusting and striving and perpetually wanting things
to be different?
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As
we begin to practice mindfulness of breathing, we often see ourselves,
initially, as the breather, apart and separate from the breath itself.
The direction and development of the practice is eventually to bridge
this separation until our attention is absorbed fully into the breath.
The breath breathes itself, and we experience a place of deep calmness,
concentration, and ease. When we breathe, we just breathe.
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Coaches at the University of Missouri divided players into small groups at a preseason football practice last year for a team-building exercise. One by one, players were asked to talk about themselves — where they grew up, why they chose Missouri and what others might not know about them. As Michael Sam, a defensive lineman, began to speak, he balled up a piece of paper in his hands. “I’m gay,” he said. With that, Mr. Sam set himself on a path to become the first publicly gay player in the National Football League. “I looked in their eyes, and they just started shaking their heads — like, finally, he came out,” Mr. Sam said Sunday in an interview with The New York Times, the first time he spoke publicly about his sexual orientation.Sam has been forecast to be drafted in the early rounds and says he came out now because he knew rumors were circulating. Some of his teammates knew he had been dating a member of the Missouri swim team. Hit the link for the New York Times' video interview. UPDATE: Outsports has a behind-the-scenes look at Sam's coming out.
Sam was a defensive end for Mizzou Tigers of the University of Missouri. He graduated in December and is currently a highly-touted prospect in the National Football League (NFL) draft. He becomes the first publicly gay athlete in any of the Big 4 sports drafts. In interviews with The New York Times and ESPN tonight, the football player stated: "I am an openly, proud gay man." In December 2013, The Associated Press named him the SEC's Defensive Player of the Year. He was also selected as one of ten unanimous first-team all-Americans. He led the SEC in both sacks and tackles-for-loss and resides in the top 10 nationally in Division I in those categories.UPDATE III: Athlete Ally reacts via press release.
He is originally from Hitchcock, Texas. Sports journalist Cyd Zeigler stated to GLAAD: "Every NFL draft expert has Sam being selected in the first to fifth round of this year's NFL draft." Before his announcement, Michael Sam's publicist Howard Bragman introduced to him to athletes including openly gay former NFL players Dave Kopay and Wade Davis Jr., openly gay NBA player Jason Collins, openly gay former Major League Baseball player Billy Bean, as well as outspoken straight allies and former NFL players Brendan Ayanbadejo and Chris Kluwe. This is the fifth professional athlete that Bragman has taken out of the closet, along with more than a dozen celebrities.
“Michael has shown great courage in taking this step and not only do we support him, we are incredibly grateful. His decision to welcome us all into his world as he embarks upon a professional NFL career is an honorable one. This moment will resonate in a unique and important way for countless people, particularly LGBT youth,” said Super Bowl champion and human rights activist Brendon Ayanbadejo, who is a member of the Athlete Ally Board of Directors. Hudson Taylor, Founder and Executive Director of Athlete Ally said: “With Michael Sam’s brave step, he emboldens LGBT athletes and straight allies everywhere. We are in the midst of incredible transformation in American professional sports. In a very short period of time, athletics has gone from being known as ‘the last closet in America’ to being in a position to lead on this issue. This is the power of sports.”UPDATE IV: The NFL has issued a statement: "We admire Michael Sam’s honesty and courage. Michael is a football player. Any player with ability and determination can succeed in the NFL. We look forward to welcoming and supporting Michael Sam in 2014."
The
goal of practice is not to pursue pleasure and avoid pain, but rather
to experience both with full awareness, neither favoring one nor
opposing the other. It is thus possible to experience mental pleasure or
happiness while experiencing a certain amount of physical discomfort.
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According to Spanish news agency EFE, only 19 out of 84 lawmakers on Friday voted in favor of the ban. The measure, which cleared the chamber in 2012, defines marriage as between a man and a woman and their children. It also sought to prohibit El Salvador from recognizing the foreign marriages of gay couples and bans gays from adopting children. A constitutional amendment requires the approval of two consecutive legislatures; a simply majority (43 votes) during the first reading followed by a supermajority (56).RELATED: El Salvador is the only Central American country that allows gays to serve openly in its armed forces.
