sandhyarjha

Boxed in: does gender identity take away our chance at full humanity?

[for accompanying music, listening to this in the background! And, yes, it does make me laugh to have suggested it.] Some of my friends were joking with me about dressing in drag. “I’m not sure I’dContinue reading “Boxed in: does gender identity take away our chance at full humanity?”

“But there are lots of people of color who support this policy, so it isn’t racist”

In a recent article about Michelle Alexander’s phenomenal The New Jim Crow, a book on the impact of the war on drugs on Black men and women, James Forman, Jr. of Yale Law School raised a criticism or two, including that he feels the book “ignores the violent crime wave of the 1970s and minimizesContinue reading ““But there are lots of people of color who support this policy, so it isn’t racist””

Oppression Olympics

He fumed about gay (white) men being the most oppressed group in the Disciples because our version of middle management (regional ministers—the equivalent of bishops or conference ministers) was afraid to trust that a congregation might like a pastor for who he was and then not really care that he was gay. The more heContinue reading “Oppression Olympics”

When we include, who do we exclude?

I had a conversation with someone recently who had considered being active in our church. I would have been THRILLED to have that person’s gifts and real-life experience in the congregation, but it never quite clicked. Then that person told me they appreciated that my church worked with people with addictions and unsheltered folks, butContinue reading “When we include, who do we exclude?”

Less Warmth From Other Suns

Over vietnamese spring rolls this evening, I shared a story with some fellow-immigrant friends of mine that they noted captures the immigrant experience, so I’m sharing it, with the hope that my parents won’t mind.

Whose womb?

I find myself among a lot of people shaking their heads and sighing, “Kids today…” It’s not my beloved gray-haired church members, though. It’s feminists my age or a bit older, experiencing the profound lack of concern among people in their twenties about the re-emerging battleground that is reproductive rights.

You can’t go with this or that…you can only go with OTHER

I was on a conference call the other night for the committee that evaluates board nominations for all the different arms of our denomination. Someone was giving his report on the makeup of the NAPAD board (North American Pacific and Asian Disciples), of which I’m a member. He said, “Well, their racial-ethnic percentages are great–almostContinue reading “You can’t go with this or that…you can only go with OTHER”

The clutched purse phenomenon and The Warmth of Other Suns

I pulled my suitcase and my laptop behind me as I walked from Lake Merritt BART station towards home last night. I got to my least favorite part of the walk–a stretch with no businesses, poor lighting, and the highway underpass. A guy crossed the street towards me and I deliberately worked to make myContinue reading “The clutched purse phenomenon and The Warmth of Other Suns”

How do we render visible the invisible?

I can feel it already. You’re going to roll your eyes when I say it. You’re going to think I got it from that movie about tall blue people who live in the rainforest. But it’s true–I think one of the most powerful things we can do for people is to SEE them, to renderContinue reading “How do we render visible the invisible?”

Not THAT kind of church

Last night I had dinner with a high-ranking naval officer and her wife who works in an optometrist’s office–a mixed race couple–and heard about the challenges of working at Guantanamo Bay from a woman’s perspective. This morning I had breakfast with a teacher and her wife who’s a drummer–also a mixed race couple–who discussed PauloContinue reading “Not THAT kind of church”