[Jane]

I worked for a while at a university hospital at which the staff was, I would guess, about half African-American. The employee cafeteria did ethnic ‘theme’ menus every Friday, and during February they specialized in Soul Food (Is it still called that?) I loved it. There was macaroni and cheese, collard greens, cornbread, dirty rice, sweet potato pie… but the centerpiece was the best fried chicken I’ve ever tasted. Now I teach high school, in an ethnically-mixed urban setting. The other day, a conversation with my ninth graders turned to ethnic foods, and each of three of my Black students asserted proudly that *no one* makes fried chicken like his mom. …so I guess I don’t get it. I’ve heard of watermelon as being kind of a stereotyped thing about Black people. I have some vague recollection of reading about it being connected with slaves allegedly stealing watermelons. And I can’t remember watermelon ever being on the actual table in any situation in which Black people have shared ‘home cooking.’ So I’m thinking that that is a real stereotype. But the chicken… I dunno… seems like that’s just a traditional food. Still, Leonard Pitts is Black and I’m not… so I guess he knows… Anyway, I was glad to see this site mentioned in his column — for the second time, I think. He noted it a few years ago, too.

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Name : Jane, Religion : Unitarian, City : Anchorage, State : AK, Country : United States, 

[Jane]

Wicca, and neo-pagainsim, like most religious categories, take in a wide spectrum of beliefs and practices. ‘The Spiral Dance,’ by Starhawk — available at any major bookstore — is a good overview of ‘mainstream Wiccan’ beliefs and practices. ‘Women’s Rituals,’ by Barbara Walker takes a completely non-supernatural approach to pagan ceremonies. On the other hand, there’s a series of book by Silver RavenWolf more geared toward ‘true believers.’ In any case, of course, wicca has nothing to do with Satanism; Satan is a Christian concept and wiccans, in general, do not believe in him/it. Two beliefs in particular are held in common by virtually all pagan. The first, sometimes called the Wiccan Rede (rule), is ‘AS IT HARMS NONE [including oneself], do as ye will. The second is the Law of Three, which states that any energy you send out — for good or ill — returns you you threefold.

User Detail :  

Name : Jane, Religion : Unitarian, City : Anchorage, State : AK, Country : United States, 

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