text:
Feminist Liberation Theology
A Contextual Option
by Denise Ackermann
from Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, 1988, no. 62, pp.14-28
This article will, after introductory remarks on the background to feminist theology, deal briefly with its main trends. A choice is made for a feminist liberation theological approach which is then explicated in terms of the work of certain North American and European feminist theologians. This approach is then spelt out further in regard to anthropology as a theological category which merits particular attention in our context. Certain criticisms of feminist theology are discussed, followed by some thoughts on the search for a contextual feminist liberation theology. No one article can cover the field of a particular theology adequately. This one is no exception. I have opted for an introductory approach and can therefore merely touch on issues which merit more attention, while referring the reader to the footnotes for further reading.
Until the early 19th century most intellectual and theological endeavours proceeded from a prefeminist perspective. Womens experience, as womens experience, was not perceived as relevant to intellectual pursuits. Women were part of mankind and as such remained invisible. The awakening of a feminist consciousness probably first occurred noticeably in the United States of America. Women, as women, started to take part actively in the religious sphere. Sarah Grimke highlighted the masculine bias of biblical interpretation; Antoinette Brown who studied theology at Oberlin College in 1837, examined Pauls epistles with feminist questions and in the 1890s Elizabeth Cady Stanton together with a committee of 20 women wrote commentries to expand the interpretative framework of those major passages in the Bible which referred to women, resulting in the Womens Bible.(1) Elizabeth Schussler - Fiorenza finds that Elizabeth Cady Stanton outlined two critical insights for feminist theological hermeneutics (Fiorenza 1984:7). Firstly, she perceived that the Bible is not a neutral book but a political weapon against womens struggle for liberation and, secondly, she saw that the Bible is not just misunderstood or badly interpreted but that it is patriarchal and androcentric.(2)
In the 20th century womens studies appeared as part of the academic curriculum. Womens studies stressed the need to include what had been left out - that part of history that is womens which, though different to mens, needed to be added so that together his-story and her-story could present a more complete picture. Womens studies, an interdisciplinary venture, tended at first to be remedial, but ultimately resulted in expanding the body of knowledge and of raising womens consciousness.(3)
It was this raised feminist consciousness that paved the way from womens studies to feminist studies and then to feminist theology. According to Zikmund, two things happened:
. . . first, the new material and methods cultivated in womens studies became the basis for a critique of past assumptions and paradigms. Enthusiasm about new knowledge turned into critique of old knowledge. Second, a feminist critical consciousness, in relationship with other liberation movements, began to shape an entirely new interpretative framework.(4)
Feminist theology arises from the historical reality of sexism in human society. Sexism, according to Rosemary Ruether, is gender privilege of males over females.(5) It is almost a cliche to say that the subjugation of women is the oldest form of oppression. However, when the private and corporate pain of sexist oppression is reflected on critically and systematically in the light of faith, feminist theology is born.(6)
Different Streams in Feminist Theology
There is, however, no one feminist theology. As is the case for. all theologies, context as well as cultural and religious traditions play their roles. In broad terms, however, two distinct tendencies surface in western feminist theology. They have been described as exclusive and inclusive. In the former sexism is the key to all social oppression, while the latter views sexism as one of the structures of oppression, recognising that, for instance, racism and classism are also oppressive.(7) Sallie McFague describes these two streams as revolutionary and reformist.(8) Before attempting to deal with their differences it is necessary to note that all feminist theologians agree on at least one issue: the patriarchal model for doing theology, developed and maintained over almost two thousand years can no longer be tolerated.(9) Differences arise as to strategies to deal with this model and as feminist theology has few, if any, traditions to fall back on, it would be true to say that it is characterised at this moment by diversity. Another issue on which most feminists agree, be they revolutionary or reformist, is the central role of experience in their theologising. In this regard, Ruether, who would fall in the reformist camp, says that the tendency to treat the use of experience as unique to feminist theology and to see it as distant from the objective sources of truth of classical theologies, is based on a misunderstanding of the experimental base of all theological reflection. She maintains that what have been called the objective sources of theology, scripture and traditon, are themselves codified human experience and that human experience is the starting point and the ending point of the hermeneutical circle. Feminist theology draws on womens experience which, according to Ruether, has almost entirely been shut out of theological reflection in the past.(10)
Revolutionary Feminist Theology
Revolutionary feminists are those who feel that the Judeo-Christian tradition, which purports to speak of the human experience of God, has in fact been created by men for men and that it speaks to them and not to women. Its symbols, language and paradigms are in fact so hopelessly patriarchal that its very essence is a denial of an integrated self-concept for women and it should therefore be abandoned.(11) There are several varieties of revolutionary feminist theology. One of the more interesting is the Goddess religion of which Naomi Goldenburg, Carol Christ and Mary Daly are exponents. They agree that a female deity or divine principle is necessary if womens experience is to be included in a religious world view.(12) The mention of a Goddess religion may well sound bizarre to many and I would agree with McFague that one of its basic difficulties is that it is anachronistic. Goddess religion is agrarian in nature and thrived in cultures prior to the male-dominated ones we now know. It has not survived in our urban world.
The writings of these feminist theologians can however, not be dismissed lightly. Apart from their obvious erudition, they should also be read as a great cry of pain and anger against the destructiveness of patriarchy to women at every level of their beings physical, emotional, spiritual, political and cultural. They are also immensely creative in their ability to present new thought patterns in language and terms hitherto not used. A prime example is Mary Dalys Gyn/Ecology: The Metaphysics of Radical Feminism, an innovative philosophical work which illustrates how male scholarship and language have erased women from consciousness.
Reformist Feminist Theology
According to McFague, reformist feminist theologians believe that the root-metaphor of Christianity is human liberation, not patriarchy, and that liberation for women can occur within the Christian paradigm.(14) This is, as she remarks, a bold faith for it does not have a great deal to support it at first glance. Here feminist theology finds its place within the contemporary theologies of liberation which have emerged from the so-called Third World. The heart of the Christian gospel is seen as containing within it the need for human liberation which will be manifested in a new human-divine relationship in a new just order.
Feminist theologians who may be termed reformist include, among others, Letty Russell, Rosemary Ruether, Elizabeth Schussler-Fiorenza, Phyllis Treble, Sallie McFague, Catharina Halkes and Elisbeth Moltmann-Wendel. They too, however, differ in emphases which becomes apparent when their hermeneutics are examined.
I choose to work within the reformed or inclusive model of feminist theology in which liberation is a key concept.(15) Despite its emphasis on womens experience, it is not exclusivistic by nature, and seeks liberation and a new vision for all of humanity. It also finds its roots in the radical impulse of biblical faith.
Feminist Liberation Theology
As liberation theology opened up a new context for theology with its concern directed at praxis, women articulated the need for liberation from sexist oppression. They realised that oppression is multi-dimensional and that oppression occurs not only in the church but also in the social, political and economic spheres. It is not surprising, therefore that feminist liberation theology takes as its point of departure the acceptance of the equal human worth of all in a just society. The views of three leading exponents of feminist liberation theology, Rosemary Ruether, Elizabeth Schussler-Fiorenza and Letty Russell demonstrate how they approach feminist liberation theology.
Ruether defines her approach as follows: The critical principle of feminist theology is the promotion of the full humanity of women. Whatever denies, diminishes, or distorts the full humanity of women is, therefore, appraised as not redemptive . . . The uniqueness of feminist theology is not the critical principle, full humanity, but the fact that women claim this principle for themselves.(16)
Ruether is a prolific writer and a fine classical scholar who established her theological reputation before she began to apply herself to the feminist perspective. Her definitive work on feminist theology is Sexism and Godtalk, described by Harvey Cox as one of the most important theological books of this or any other season.
Elizabeth Schussler-Fiorenza, a New Testament scholar, defines her approach as follows: Feminism is not just a theoretical world view or perspective but a womens liberation movement for societal and ecclesial change. Likewise patriarchal oppression is not identical with androcentrism or sexism . . . [it is] a social-political system and societal structure of graded subjugations and oppressions . . . Therefore a critical feminist theology of liberation does not speak of male oppressors and female oppressed, of all men over and against all women but about patriarch as a pyramidal system and hierarchical structure of Society and church in which womens oppression is specified not only in terms of race and class but also in terms of marital status. (17)
In any situation in which women suffer the injustice of oppression in patriarchal structures, feminist liberation theology remains first and foremost a critical theology of liberation. It explores womens experiences of struggling for liberation particularly in biblical religion, while at the same time articulating an alternative vision of liberation.(16)
Lastly Letty Russell wrestles with the implications of the praxis of freedom for women. While affirming the biblical basis for her theology, she sees the need for a paradigmatic shift in our move away from what she calls the pyramid of domination in our theology and church life to one of partnership. Woman can no longer be the outsider or the other but must share with men as participants in a common journey to discover the meaning of life and ministry in Christ. The paradigm then shifts from one of authority over community to authority in community.
Hermeneutics is not only a key issue in feminist theology but also the area in which it has to give account for itself in the face of past experience for the dangers involved when an advocacy stance is used as a point of departure. It is the place where differences in approach between feminist theologians surface. The three theologians cited above, all work within the biblical framework, albeit in different ways. Like other liberation theologians they question the sole efficacy of the historical critical method. They would probably hold that while the latter method has claimed objectivity, the results of its scholarship has been largely in the service of white middle-class males. As mentioned above, feminist theology starts from position of advocacy. It makes use of the critical tools of analysis, but remains sceptical of the ideological framework in which these tools have been used in the past.
Ruether, Fiorenza and Russell would all accept patriarchy as the social context of scripture. Ruether finds that within biblical faith there are resources by which biblical texts themselves can be criticized. This prophetic-liberating tradition is incompatible with patriarchal ideology, which then loses its normative character; in fact it becomes idolatrous and blasphemous. It is idolatrous to make males more like God than females. It is blasphemous to use the image and name of the Holy to justify patriarchal domination and law. Feminist readings of the Bible can discern a norm within Biblical faith by which the Biblical texts themselves can be criticised. To the extent to which Biblical texts reflect this normative principle, they are regarded as authoritative.(20) She points out that no theology, regardless of its claim that the Bible is a work of inspiration, ever considers all parts of it as equally authoritative. Feminist theology finds what is normative in the rediscovery of the prophetic context and content of biblical faith itself. This prophetic liberating principle claimed by Ruether as hermeneutic for feminist theology is not new. The fact that it is claimed for women is.
Fiorenza has probably devoted more time and painstaking scholarship in search of a feminist critical hermeneutic than any other feminist theologian. In her monumental work In memory of her, she says that Regardless of how androcentric texts may erase women from historiography, they do not prove the absence of women from the center of patriarchal history and biblical revelation. Therefore, feminists cannot afford to disown androcentric biblical texts and patriarchal history as their own revelatory texts and history.(21) Yet women must remember that these androcentric texts are not necessarily a trustworthy account of human history, culture and religion. Fiorenza suggests that a feminist critical hermeneutics must move from androcentric texts to their social-historical contexts. Then it can claim the contemporary community of women struggling for liberation as its locus of revelation, and it can also reclaim its foresisters as victims and subjects participating in patriarchal culture. Such a feminist reconstruction of the historical world of Christianity needs a feminist hermeneutic described as one which shares in the critical methods and impulses of historical scholarship on the one hand and in the theological goals of liberation theologies on the other hand.(22)
Russell agrees with Ruether that the Bible has a critical or liberating tradition embodied in its prophetic-messianic message of continuing selfcritique . . . As a feminist I look to the horizon of expectation of the Bible as the source of my own expectation of justice and liberation.(23) She finds her interpretative key in the witness of scripture of Gods promise (for the mending of creation) on its way to fulfilment. All that denies the intention of God for the liberation of our groaning creation in all its parts is not viewed as authoritative. This hermeneutic is developed around the theme of partnership - Gods partnership at work in the biblical story and in our lives, and partnership between women and men, who develop new ways of relating to the world and to one another.(24)
The dilemma or paradox of feminist theology, or rather of those feminist theologians who use the Bible as the source book of their theology, is pointed out by Mary Ann Tolbert: . . . one must struggle against God as enemy assisted by God as helper, or one must defeat the Bible as patriarchal authority by using the Bible as liberator.(25)
A Feminist Anthropology
The task of feminist liberation theology is to engage in a systematic reconstruction of our religious symbols which, in reflecting the relationship between humanity and God, are founded on a sexist bias. Such an exercise would require, among others, that we look at our God-language, Christology, redemption, our views on anthropology and on church and ministry.
Feminist theologys concern with finding new images makes the doctrine of anthropology a central concern. It is chosen here to illustrate how some feminist liberation theologians deal with this theological category. It is also of prime importance in our search for a contextual feminist liberation theology in a country where issues of race, sex and class are glued together by the ideology of apartheid.
Christian theological anthropology is seen by feminist liberation theologians as based on a dualistic understanding of humanity. Our present humanity is fallen and sinful and not an authentic representation of the image of God. When theological tradition is examined it is found, on the one hand, that the equivalence of female and male in the image of God is deeply rooted in Christian thought. On the other hand, however, it has tended to be obscured by the tendency to correlate femaleness with the lower part of human nature in a hierarchical scheme of mind over body, reason over passions,(26) thus already revealing a certain anthropological stance. Ruether reasons that this lower part of the self is seen as the source of sin; femaleness then becomes linked to that part of self which is prone to sin. She sees this phenomenon as a case of projection - men who have monopolised theological self-definition project onto women the rejection of their lower selves. Women are then viewed as rather an inferior mix and as such are by nature to be subjugated.(27)
The result of this is the patriarchal anthropology which has dominated classical theology for so long. The pattern is familiar and has been supported by views on the nature of women by great lights like Augustine, Aquinas, Luther and Barth. Woman, in the vulgar eloquence of Chrysostom, is a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable calamity, a domestic peril, a pained ill.(28) According to Ruether, Augustine is the classical source of this type of anthropology. When discussing the question of the image of God, he reflected on the trinity, arriving at the conclusion that the woman . . . when she is referred to separately in her quality as a helpmeet . . . then she is not the image of God, but as regards the male alone, he is the image of God as fully and completely as when the woman too is joined with him in one.(29 )
Aquinas continued this tradition holding that women are defective by nature. He also said: Father and mother are loved as principles of our natural origin. Now the father is a principle in a more excellent way than the mother, because he is the active principle, while the mother is the passive and material principle. Consequently, strictly speaking, the father is to be loved more. (30)
No real changes were brought about to patriarchal anthropology by the Reformation. Luther suggests that in the original creation Eve would have been equal with Adam but that through the fall she lost her original equality and became inferior in mind and body. Subjugation is her punishment for sin - an expression of divine justice. In Calvinism women are viewed as equivalent with men in the image of God. Their subordination is not an expression of inferiority but rather reflects a divinely created social order which has ordained the rule of some and the subjugation of others. This pattern of thought continued in Barths theology. For him his established, created order of male over female reflected the covenant of creation.
Distinguishing between history and nature he found that the female is as significant for human nature as such as the male is for human history.(31)
Apart from the patriarchal models of anthropology, there are those models which can be called complementary or egalitarian. They are, acording to Ruether, a transmutation of the hierarchical model which took place during the eighteenth century under the impact of the Enlightenment. Liberalistic feminism rejected the classical tradition that identified the order of creation with patriarchy and confirmed the equivalence of all beings. Liberalism secularizes the doctrine of imago dei. The equivalence of male and female refers to the actual capacities of men and women as finite, historical persons.(32) Thus the restoration of equality becomes the aim of all reform. Marxist feminism builds on this tradition. It recognises that inequality is not simply a legal structure but also an economic system of discrimination against women. Echoes of this approach are found in the thinking of black feminists in South Africa.
In the complementary model, the secularisation of society and the privatisation of religion were accompanied by the identificaion of religion and femininity with one another, an identification in which each expressed altruism and non-rational spirituality. As a result, a new dualism emerges, one in which women are the spiritual, nurturing, affective, non-rational beings; and men are aggressive, logical and materialistic.
Clearly an approach is sought which moves beyond those described above. Why? The effect of the above anthropologies on women demand it. Womans experience of herself has been greatly influenced by these views on her as they have provided legitimation for her inward doubts. Mary Daly has described womens original sin as her internalisation of blame and guilt.(33) Womens complicity, enforced to large measure by conditioning, has allowed women to live out the abject role assigned to the second sex. The eradication of this sin of complicity in self-destruction is basically redemptive for the whole of society, as sexist oppression is dehumanising to both women and men. Daly finds that in self-liberation women are performing the most effective action possible toward universal human liberation, making available to men the fullness of human being that is lost in sexual hierachy.(34) There are certain side effects that arise from this internalisation by women of their identity and being as the other. Psychological paralysis, which arises from a general feeling of hopelessness and anxiety over social disapproval, is one such effect. Another is feminine antifeminism - so prevalent in our society. This is generally expressed in hostility, disapproval or ridicule. Another side effect is false humility - found in the attitude that women should not rival men or threaten mens egos. It is publicly expressed in womens organisations which espouse self-depreciation. A striking example in the USA is the National Council of Catholic Women who voted against the Equal Rights Amendment, saying that the amendment was a threat to the nature of women. Lastly, emotional dependence is another such side effect rooted in a low self-image. Women accept being subordinate in their job situations, for example, the position of women teachers in this country.
Clearly all feminist theologians reject patriarchal anthropology. Greater ambivalence exists in regard to the complementary models. Instinctively most recognise that the complementary model in its patriarchal form is intended to make women different, and even better to keep her in her place in the home. Some have resorted to the use of androgyny as a concept which expresses the human nature that all persons share alike. Androgyny refers to the possession by both males and females of both halves of the psychic capacities that have been traditionally separated as masculinity and feminity.(35) The term can be misleading, for it suggests that men and women possess both male and female psychic characteristics, and thereby perpetuates the idea that certain attributes can be labelled feminine and others masculine. There appears to be no valid biological basis for such labels. In her inimitable manner, Ruether comments: To put it bluntly, there is no biological connection between male gonads and the capacity to reason. Likewise, there is no biological connection between female sexual organs and the capacity to be intuitive, caring, or nurturing. Thus the labelling of these capacities as masculine and feminine simply perpetuates gender role stereotypes and imports gender complementarily into each persons identity in a confusing way . . . We need to affirm not the confusing concept of androgyny but rather that all humans possess a full and equivalent human nature and personhood, as male and female. (36)
So where does this leave us? There is a third alternative anthropological model from a feminist perspective, described by Catharina Halkes as the transformative model. Such a model is directed at the attainment of full personhood for both men and women, whilst realising the simultaneous need for societal change. It derives from a more holistic impulse than the complementary model (or quite obviously than the patriarchal model).
The transformative model, according to Halkes, seeks a theological base in the concept of imago Dei based on Genesis 1:26-28. In their search for a biblical grounding it is not surprising that women turn rather to the creation account in Genesis 1 than in Genesis 2.
It is argued that, in an adequate biblically grounded theological anthropology, humankind, in the first instance, reflects Gods image. According to Halkes: Zonder de tekst van Gen. 1,26-28 geweld aan te doen, kunnen we stellen dat bet diepste geheim, de meest markante trek van elke mens is dat zij/hij geschapen is om op God te lijken, God te representeren en verantwoordelijkheid te dragen voor de schepping. Mannelijk of vrouwelijk zijn is secundair, komt overeen met bet karakteristieke van al het geschapene om vruchtbaar te zijn en vraagt telkens, in de geschiedenis en in elke cultuur, om een verantwoorde invulling en vormgeving.(37)
Here we see a different emphasis to Ruethers who does not view sexuality as secundair. Such an anthropology strives to incorporate a cosmic dimension, which sees the interrelatedness of all of creation and in so doing enriches and deepens relationships between people. For Halkes the transformative model contains the clear injunction to recognise the potential and abilities of every human and concentrate less on sexually specific roles, qualities and commissions. She raises the question whether such an anthropology does not result in a neutralised, colourless equality of humanity in which it becomes difficult to speak of male and female.(38) What are the implications of such an anthropology for men? The transformative model identifies deeply with Pauls vision in Galatians 3:2728 - There is no such thing as Jew and Greek, slave and freeman, male and female; for you all are one in Christ Jesus. Men here are addressed not merely to partake in some future vision, but to become involved in the practical and present application of such an anthropology in breaking down all patterns of domination in society. Nor does it imply the neutralising of the sexes. The experience of being a woman or a man contributes its own particular colour. It asks that we become medescheppende partners van God.(39) When women, moving outward from a whole view of self seek a new sociological integration that overcomes the dualisms in mind and society, the holistic thrust in the transformative model becomes apparent. Recovering our imago Dei and the realisation of our full redeemed humanity necessitates the transformation of structures in church and society, so that the recovery of our full potential can function at all levels. The transformative model wants not only a newly integrated self, but a newly integrated social order.
Some Criticisms of Feminist Liberation Theology
In critically assessing feminist liberation theology after about twenty years of its existence, it may be slightly premature to ask whether it has realised its potential as a liberating force for women of faith. In some respects the answer would be a resounding yes. The voice of women is now being heard in theological debate, more women are studying theology than ever before and many churches are looking at the role of women in their structures with a new concern for their gifts and ministries. In other respects, however, the gains seem meagre when weighed against the massive volume of feminist theological writing of a high level of historical, textual and linguistic competence. Women in the Catholic church are experiencing painful rebuffs; the churches who ordain women are doing so very slowly; feminist liberation theology is still relatively unknown in this country; the structural oppression of women continues in church and society.
With the wisdom of hindsight it is possible to say now that feminist liberation theology spent too much time and energy on the question of womens ordination in its earlier stages, when in fact what was needed was a new theological understanding of women. It seems to me that for Catholic women this door will remain closed until the Catholic churchs understanding of women changes, indeed, until it rethinks its anthropology. Ordination as such cannot liberate women. Once there is a new understanding of women, ordination will follow for those who qualify. When feminist theologians make ordination the central issue, they reinforce the foundations of the very hierachical and patriarchal order which discriminates against them.(40)
Feminist theological scholarship has also devoted an inordinate amount of its energy to the historical study of the injustices perpetrated by patriarchy. It is now a social evil which can be documented with ease. The question this raises is the following: to what end is this done and will men, once provided with the facts, stop discriminating against women? Kee comments perceptively: The danger is that by putting the responsibility for ending domination on to men, women might reinforce one of the most fundamental elements in male domination of women, namely that women have been dependent upon men for their well-being.(41)
Of great relevance in our context is the fact that feminist liberation theology has been accused of being both middle class and racist. It is undoubtedly true that its origins in North America and Europe are largely found among white middle class women whose initial concern tended to be more with individual rights than with their movements social impact. However, the use of the tools of social analysis in regard to the relationship between patriarchy and social, political and economic conditions and the understanding that racist and sexist oppression have much in common, have contributed to a shift in emphasis. Context as a determining factor however remains, as women of different races and classes seek to understand the meaning of liberation, equality and justice for themselves in their respective milieus.
Afro-American women are seeking to affirm themselves as black while simultaneously owning their connection with feminism in what is called Womanist Theology. The concept womanist, which can be found in the writings of, for instance, the novelist Alice Walker, seeks to reclaim black history, religion and culture.
Black South African women, who resist feminist liberation theology as a bourgeois import from an alien culture, will grapple with the particular problems of race, sex and class from their place. White feminist liberation theologians in South Africa will, as their starting point, have to understand that the differences between white and black women have to be recognised and responded to. If this is not done, white feminism will remain in the realm of the abstract and whites will remain in bondage to their roles as oppressors. We will need to develop a critical social theory which will enable us to tackle the persistent problems of both racist and sexist domination, and to understand our roles in each. Otherwise we may justifiably be accused of dabbling in feminist theology, of being upperclass women (mostly white) [who] realise their so-called liberation at the expense of the oppression and exploitation of the lower class women.(42)
Feminist liberation theology is in essence practical theology, that is it is committed to action and reflection in a reciprocal relationship. If it remains on the level of reflective theologising only and does not take up an advocacy stance in the struggle for a just and new society, it can rightly be accused of an utopianism which deals only in eschatological dreams. Our concern is with liberating praxis not with abstract universals. There is no separation of the private and the public - the personal is political.
The Search for a Contextual Perspective
Some of the problems which are present in a search for a contextual feminist theology are touched on above. There can be no one feminist liberation theology for South Africa.
The question of race alone provides different perspectives. In South Africa the colour of ones skin - ones race, in the popular terminology - is a crucial determinant in ordering peoples lives.(43) The enforcement of apartheid by the white minority, has created race, class, social, political and economic barriers in a unique way in our country.
I shall, therefore, endeavour to address this search from my context. What does it mean to be Christian, to be woman, to be a white, in South Africa today? What does it mean to believe in a gospel of love, justice and peace and to be a female member of the white tribe in South Africa? In attempting to do theology in this situation, I need to find a strategy in the battle for truth which reflects my own context. Herein lies my dilemma. In my context I am both oppressor and oppressed. I live inside the white web of power, I benefit from white supremacy in terms of education, housing, freedom of movement, etc; economically and politically I am advantaged by the very fact that I am white. As a woman, however, I am subjected to an oppressive patriarchy - both in sociopolitical terms and worst of all, in the religious sphere. I have learnt that being a woman means in many senses being second class. How do I pursue feminist liberation theology in this dichotomy of being oppressor and oppressed? Clearly my context differs from that of black women, the majority of whom suffer racist, sexist and classist oppression. In certain respects therefore our agendas for liberation must differ, in others they will meet. Ruether, commenting from an American perspective, says: Sociologically, women are a caste within every class and race. They share a common condition of women in general: dependency, secondary existence, domestic labour, sexual exploitation, and the projection of their role in procreation into a total definition of their existence. But this common condition takes profoundly different forms, as women are divided against each other by class and race. In a real sense, any womens movement which is only concerned about sexism and no other form of oppression, must remain a womens movement of the white upper class, for it is only this group of women whose only problem is the problem of being women, since, in every other way, they belong to the ruling class.(44)
In South Africa belonging to the ruling class involves both class and racial distinctions. A white feminist liberation perspective must therefore both seek freedom for white women (indeed for all whites) who are trapped in the situation of being oppressors, while at the same time articulating alongside black women our struggle for our liberation from patriarchal oppression - an awesome agenda. Ours, in the words of Brigalia Barm, is indeed a patriarchal society.(45) The very pervasiveness of patriarchy, the fact that it is so part of our religious institutions and our cultural traditions calls for the voices of women to be raised in protest from all sections of our society.
It is probably true to say that the majority of white women do not see themselves as oppressors. We share the social advantages of our class and race unthinkingly, blanketed by years of cultural and educational indoctrination which is reinforced by the determination of the rules to keep us ignorant. We are taught to leave important matters like the affairs of church and state to the experts (the men), the acceptance of which allows us to remain in the state of collective denial we already know so well. We suffer from the most dreaded of all diseases the absence of doubt. For instance, devoted white mothers blithely keep devoted black mothers in situations of separation from their children.(46) We have in our patriarchal society inherited a basic division between private and public morality, between our family life and our life out there at the work place, between our personal and our public behaviour. Theologically speaking we have lost our concept of neighbour. We have lost sight of what Martin Buber described as love your neighbour he [sic] is like you. When love of neighbour dies, love becomes a one dimensional experience restricted to the private sphere. It no longer defines our human relationships or regulates them satisfactorily.
Dorothee Soelle says: The state of permanent, built-in injustice we contribute to and benefit from in this society has, of course, consequences for our system of values(47) - apt words for white South Africans. As oppressors living in a racist structure, we cannot but sin. As we sin, not only against our neighbour but against ourselves, we become estranged from both neighbour and self. Ultimately we are alone. The signs of being estranged from our humanity are found, firstly, in our truncated anthropology - we no longer see people as people, but as groups, other races, above or below us. Secondly, and following on this, we no longer identify with what it means to struggle against oppression, against hunger, poverty and injustice.
The above remarks are not meant to constitute a systematic analysis of the situation of whites and more particularly, of white women in South Africa. The oppression of women in the social and religious spheres is barely spelt out. The question thus arises - how do we white South African female oppressors and oppressed rediscover our imago Dei both in ourselves and in others? Has feminist liberation theology tools to offer us in reconstituting our anthropology in our journey to freedom?
Feminist theologians would say that such a journey must start with a process of conscientisation. It is a truism to say that change can only happen when awareness of the need for change is present. Critical dialogue must be shaped which enables people to become aware of their particular world and makes them want to reject what is dehumanising in it. Brainwashing must be debunked and shibboleths like separate but equal must be understood as to their intent.
Mary Daly has pointed out that there are many devices available to both women and men for refusing to see the problems involved in sexist oppression. One such device is to trivialise, eg. Why worry about the problem of women? There are so many other more pressing issues like racism, pollution. Another is to particularise: That is a Catholic problem. We are not medieval like they are. By spiritualising one refuses to look at the facts: In Christ there is neither male nor female, so why worry. And lastly, some try to make the problem disappear by universalising the issue: But isnt the real issue human liberation? (48)
The challenge in a process of conscientisation is to overcome feelings of powerlessness - the belief that we are not capable of changing anything anyway. The most frequently heard motto from those in whom a glimmer of awareness is present, is there is nothing we can do. This is often undergirded in a somewhat pietistic fashion by the belief that the more helpless we are the stronger and greater that makes God. Ultimately we rob ourselves of our own capabilities and responsibilities and wait for the powerful God to act. Feminist theology challenges the concept of God found in this kind of thinking. Soelle says: I have to ask why it is that human beings honour a God whose most important attribute is power, whose prime need is to subjugate, whose greatest fear is equality.(49) She finds Gods inner authority in powerlessness in the crucified Christ, in love that is weaponless power.
Once white women become alive to their roles as oppressor and oppressed, we will, in order to choose life, have to take up the cause of liberation. We will have to examine the part played by religion in our history in the legitimisation of domination in all spheres - racial, sexual, political and economical. We begin to see that patriarchy is not just the expression of a dualistic theology but it is in fact a socio-political ideology expressed in an oppressive system in which we are graded as the other. We share our experiences and a common resistance is born. The validity of one of the basic insights of the feminist movement becomes a reality - the personal is political. My situation as oppressor and oppressed is not merely individualistic - it is part of a vast socio-political system which is, among others, legitimised by the church. Its implications touch the whole of my life as well as that of my neighbour. The need to move from the collective estrangement as a white and a woman to partnership and mutuality becomes an imperative. To affirm the gospel of love, justice and peace means to become involved in liberating praxis. In the words of Soelle: That God loves all of us and each and every individual is a universal theological truth, which without translation becomes the universal lie. The translation of this proposition is world-transforming praxis.(50)
The way out of the dichotomy of oppressor/oppressed does not ultimately require two different solutions. As a white and as a woman I need to be released from all that diminishes my humanity. For me this means to become involved at all levels in the struggle for freedom. As a theologian I will have to take cognisance of both the perspectives of the oppressed and of my place in the history of South Africa as an oppressor - both can be met by a liberation perspective. Sharon Welch says: To be a liberation theologian is to be engaged in specific battles for justice, to work for social structures that enable, rather than destroy, possibilities for justice and human dignity.(51)
To conclude, I shall have to do my feminist liberation theology from my perspective as a white South African woman, to determine my place and reflect on it critically. At the same time women of faith in other contexts will be finding an authentic response to their need for liberation. Then we shall meet, because ultimately, all women have much in common. Indeed, all who seek liberation, women and men, black and white, will ultimately meet on common ground. As women we shall meet in the center of the circle as issues of rape, battering, economic and sexual exploitation, legal discrimination, pornography and prostitution draw us together. In the center of the circle our female bodiliness will be our common link. Ultimately we must find one another as the best tactic of the preservers of the status quo is to make sure that they convince different groups of women that they have nothing in common. This will prevent the use of their collective power for the elimination of racism, sexism and classism in the building of a more humane society.(52) In the search for our common humanity we shall have to reconstitute our anthropology, eliminating discrimination of any kind and affording dignity and justice to all as Gods creatures. Herein may lie the contribution of feminist liberation theology to the much needed crossing of barriers in our fragmented society.
1. B.Zikmund, Feminist consciousness in historical perspective, in L.M.Russell (ed), Feminist Interpretation of the Bible, Philadelphia: Westminster Press,1985) p.23.
2. E.S. Fiorenza, In memory of her, (New York: Crossroad, 1984) p. 7.
3. Zikmund, op cit., p 26.
4. ibid.
5. R.R. Ruether, Sexism and God-talk, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1983) p. 165.
6. D.M. Ackermann, Liberation and practical theology: a feminist perspective on ministry in Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, 52, 1985, p. 33.
7. ibid
8. S. McFague, Metaphorical Theology: Models of God in religious language. (London: SCM Press, 1982) p. 152.
10. Ruether, op. cit., p.12.
11. Ackermann, op. cit., p.35.
12. McFague, op. cit., p.156.
13. ibid., p. 160.
14. ibid., p. 164.
15. For differences between feminist liberation theology and liberation theology, see Ackermann, op. cit., p. 36.
16. Ruether, op.cit. p. 18.
17. E.S. Fiorenza, Emerging issues in feminist Biblical interpretation in J.L. Weidman (ed.), Christian feminism: Visions of a new humanity, (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1984) p. 37.
18. ibid., p. 38.
19. L.M.Russell, Women and ministry: Problem or possibility? in J.L.Weidman, op.cit., pp. 76-92.
20. Ruether, op. cit., p. 23.
21. Fiorenza, In memory of her. p. 29.
22. ibid.
23. L.M. Russell, Authority and the challenge of feminist interpretation, in L.M. Russell (ed.), Feminist interpretation, p. 139.
24. For the development of Russells views on creatidn and partnership see her two volumes, Future in partnership and Growth in partnership, both published by Westminster Press.
25. In Russell Authority and the challenge. . . p. 140.
26. Ruether, op. cit., p. 93.
27. ibid.
28. P.K. Jewett, The ordination of women: An essay on the office of Christian ministry, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980).
29. De Trinitate 7.7.10 in Ruether, op. cit., p.95.
30. M. Daly, The church and the second sex, (New York; Harper 1975) p, 91.
31. K.Barth, Church Dogmatics 1,2, (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1956) p.195.
32. Ruether, op. cit., p 103.
33. M. Daly, Beyond God the father: Toward a philosophy of womens liberation, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1973) p. 49.
34. ibid., p. 51.
35. Ruether, op. cit., p.111.
36. ibid.
37. C.J.M. Halkes, Vrouwen-Mannen-Mensen, (Baarn: Ambo, 1984) p. 11.
38. ibid., p. 16.
39. ibid., p. 13.
40. A. Kee, Domination or liberation: The place of religion in social conflict, (London: SCM Press, 1986) p. 26.
41. ibid., p. 29.
42. From An open letter to men, husbands sons and brothers, Womens Decade Consultation, Hammanskraal, 1984, published in Women and Change, (Johannesburg: SACC] p. 20.
43. C. Walker, Women and resistance in South Africa, (London: Onyx Press, 1982) p. 4.
44. R.R.Ruether, New woman new earth:Sexist ideologies and human liberation, (NewYork: SeaburyPress,1975) p.125.
45. See her article Priorities for women in South Africa in D.L. Eck & D. Jain (eds.) Speaking of faith: Cross-cultural perspectives on women, religion and social change, (London: The Womens Press, 1986) pp. 39-45 for a black womens perspective in this regard.
46. See Angela Davis comments in this regardin Women, race and class (London: The Womens Press, 1981) p. 235.
47. D.Soelle,The strength of the weak: Toward a Christian feminist identity, (Philadelphia:WestminsterPress,1984) p.28.
48. M. Daly, Beyond God the Father, p. 5.
49. D. Soelle, op. cit., p 97.
50. Quoted from S. Welch, Communities of resistance and solidarity: A feminist eology of liberation, (New York: Orbis Books, 1985) p. 47.
.51. ibid.,p. 65.
52. L. Russell, Human liberation in a feminist perspective: A theology, (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1974) p.37.
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Samsung partners with Italian designer Alessandro Mendini
Samsung Electronics has teamed up with renowned Italian designer Alessandro Mendini to create exclusive bands and watch faces for the Gear S2, its latest smartwatch that features a circular design and an intuitive, custom UX with advanced features. The collaboration between Samsung and Alessandro Mendini provides a variety of options to customize and personalize the Gear S2 smartwatch while adding more style and whimsy to the mobile experience.
Alessandro Mendini has played an important role in the development of modern Italian design, and is well known for his mixing of different cultures and sensibilities to push design boundaries and forego conventional notions of function. This design philosophy aligns closely with Samsung's approach to create wearable devices that redefine the culture of mobile communication through a functional, yet incredibly chic and personal experience. As one of Samsung's main watch face design partners, Mr. Time by Apposter worked closely with Alessandro Mendini to help seamlessly integrate his designs with Gear S2.
"I believe the watch is one of the most precise and valuable devices that mankind has ever made, and Samsung has successfully reinvented this device in a way that fits within in our technology-driven world," said Alessandro Mendini. "It was a fun and highly collaborative experience working with the global leading mobile company to craft something that merges the style of a traditional watch with the digital world for a completely unique design experience – it will truly become the future of mobility."
Alessandro Mendini – The Poetry of Design
Dream Design Center, Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Seoul
October 9, 2015 – February 28, 2016
A spectacular exhibition of designs and career of Italian architect and designer Alessandro Mendini and his Atelier is opening in Seoul on October 9, 2015. The Poetry of Design will be an exhibition of 1,300 square meters at the Dream Design Center, Dongdaemun Design Plaza, the new municipal culture center designed by Zaha Hadid.
The exhibition promises to be a labyrinthine interweaving of the poetic and the theoretic, a theater of images displaying 600 pieces of work. Among them are rarely seen projects such as the precious Colonna Cartier, several famous versions of the Poltrona di Proust (which was shown in the SACI Gallery in 2010), a selection of 150 drawings from the Design Museum of the Triennale di Milano, work from the collections of the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain in Paris, the Groninger Museum in The Netherlands, and from the Fondazione Bisazza in Vicenza, architecture models made with Alessandro Mendini's brother architect, Francesco, and with the group at Atelier Mendini, his recent Korean projects, videos and installations.
The curatorial coordination and the spatial layout of the display are being made in tandem by the Korean team of IDA-MyArt Seoul and Atelier Mendini. Adjacent to the show, a shop will be set up that sells specially made merchandise and internationally manufactured serial products by Mendini. The Swatch company will be issuing a new Mendini watch for this occasion. Two catalogs will be published as documentation of the exhibition.
Dream Design Center
Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), M1 Design Exhibition Hall
281 Euljiro, Jung-gu, Seoul
Open: Tuesday-Sunday 10:00~19:00, Wednesday and Friday 10:00~21:00
Closed: Mondays & February 8, 2016
Tickets: 14,000KRW
Alessandro Mendini is also a member of the SACI Artists Council.

subset: commoncrawl


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Medical and pharmaceutical packaging made in clean room
Packaging Solutions
Encaplast S.p.A. – What we do
Custom solutions for medical and pharmaceutical packaging.
Encaplast studies the best solution for its partners' needs with its technical office, in strict compliance with norms and quality standards. Material cutting, printing, coupling/laminating and welding are the main steps of the productive process through which the packaging solutions for your needs are made.
The productive process starts by cutting the material. From Tyvek® jumbo rolls, papers, aluminums and films, the machines shape the material according to the customer's needs.
Once shaped, the material is ready to be printed (where necessary). Logos, certifications, texts, infographics, details: thanks to the technical office, the most appropriate solutions are adopted. Encaplast has flexographic printing systems up to 6 colors, even duplex.
If necessary, at this stage of the productive process, the layers (papers, aluminums and films) are joined to create the desired packaging. Once paired/laminated it is time to weld!
One of the most delicate phases is welding. It is important to meet high quality standards to ensure maximum sealability, repeatability and performance of the materials used, without forgetting the peelability of the envelopes for the medical and pharmaceutical sector.
The ISO 8 clean room and the staff
Product quality in the medical and pharmaceutical sector especially means production in protected and extremely clean environments. In the last few years, our clean room has been completely modernized, enhancing quality control systems and educating the staff according to the highest standards of reliability and professionalism! The clean room at Encaplast is highly innovative, with particular attention to the flow of goods and constantly updating with state-of-the-art machinery and techniques. It is important to emphasize that Encaplast's production offers high quality standards also due to the accuracy with which the "skilled hands" of our qualified personnel control every single produced packaging.
Technical department
The central part in the company organization is the technical department, strengthened and expanded more and more over the years. Ability to customize the different packaging solutions and constant customer support are the strengths of the technical department at Encaplast.
Here are the Encaplast products available on the catalog. They can be sterilized according to traditional sterilization processes and guarantee maximum performance and quality.
Should you have special needs, the technical and commercial offices are at your disposal to find the solution that best suits your needs.
album EO, gamma rays, beta rays, plasma gas.
Packaging made with one side Tyvek® and one side plastic film provides a high microbiological barrier and puncture resistance, the cleanest peel (coated Tyvek®) and complete visibility of the packaged product. Customized sizes available.
Bottom web
album EO, steam, gamma rays and beta rays.
Thermoformable reels are made from plastic film. The vast range of thermoformable film available in different gauges (thickness) and combinations can permit different deep drawn (cavity) packagings to be obtained to meet the variety of requirements for medical products.
Tyvek® is a registered trademark of Du Pont
Get in touch with us
We are available for any information and clarification.
You can contact us by telephone, by e-mail or through social networks.


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make a donationYour support is invaluable. It enables us to undertake vital humanitarian projects which help ease the suffering of the Syrian people.
Shelter Project in Northern Syria5.3 million Syrians are living in inadequate shelters lacking proper bathing or cooking facilities, sufficient space and protection.
Our exciting new project will provide shelter to support 155 vulnerable families in northern Syria whose homes have been destroyed. We are coordinating with local authorities to replace camp tents, which requires regular repair work, with brand-new sustainable homes. Families will be given protection from extreme weather conditions and disease and will have a chance to rebuild their community.
Through our shelter projects, we are helping to establish both long and short-term accommodation for some of the most vulnerable families in the hardest to reach areas in Syria as well as the surrounding countries.
This project is ambitious but sustainable. By building a house with Syria Relief you will be giving protection and security to families during their most difficult time.
We have mapped shelter compounds which are in the process of construction, to help Syrian families resettle. Please support our work by donating to our housing project in Northern Syria.
you can make a difference
We provide life-saving Core Relief Items6.3 million Syrians are currently internally displaced with thousands more displaced across the surrounding counties. Countless homes have been destroyed and many areas are no longer safe leaving innocent Syrian families with no alternative but to flee their homes.
Many Syrians are now living in fragile make-shift shelters and some have no option but to sleep out in the open, with nothing but the supplies they could carry from their homes. Syria's extreme heat in the summer and freezing temperatures in the winter are putting vulnerable children, families, pregnant women and the elderly at risk.
With Syria Relief you can help support Syria's displaced population by providing shelter and daily essentials for some of the country's most desperate families.
Our team is on the ground helping Syrians resettle, by setting up housing facilities for families and all those affected by the ongoing war.


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Art. Photography. Arf.
Since the beginning of the new year, I have been doing a Dog-a-Day project on Instagram (as some of you are already aware). I was inspired in part by Sally Muir's delightful book A Dog A Day in which she sketched, painted, inked and printed the various dogs she encountered in all their wonderful, amazing, and delightful ways. I have made it two months so far mostly posting photographs of Jack Henry and Hubble. It has been an enlightening, if somewhat scary undertaking. 365 projects can be daunting anyway, but when you begin to narrow the parameters it can become even more so. I found myself having to be more flexible and aware of possibilities rather than trying to stage a shot every single day. I do not have that much patience and neither do the dogs. So it has been more a combination of the everyday, the unexpected, and the more formal. Some hits and some misses and a lot in between.
My hope is that like Sally Muir, I will begin to take more chances–not just with my guys–but with other dogs. And who knows? Perhaps I may be so bold as to try working with other media and mediums.
The photographs shown here feature some of Hubble's various wanderings and activities in the course of this project. If interested in seeing more, check us out at @littledogslaughed
Today's Dog Quote:
"Dogs love company. They place it first in their short list of needs."
–J.R. Ackerly
Images taken with iPhone 7 Plus and processed using Snapseed, iColorama, Stackables and Pic-Tap-Go
For today: The World of Hubble
Once upon a time, there was a dog, an apple and a totally clueless photographer. . . .
It is hard to believe that this photograph was taken just five years ago. I had the bright idea of taking a picture of Jack Henry with a green apple. (I was looking at a lot of William Wegman books.) I knew then that I wanted to do something beyond the snapshot "here is my dog playing/eating/sitting/sleeping" formula. I just was not sure how I wanted to do it. But you have to start somewhere and I also knew that what I really wanted to be doing was fine art photography, but incorporating a more painterly approach.
Here we are in 2016. Same dog but now two apples and a different table and a little better photography. (Also the studying of a lot of Northern Renaissance paintings) Jack Henry clearly liked being at the table, instead of on top of one. And thus began the Dog at the Table series.
A year later and Jack Henry with the help of some Photoshop magic now has a longer table and a few more apples. This was done for a competition called ArtPop! It was kind of a big deal because —
the winners get their winning image on a billboard–for a year! The same image is also seen on digital billboards at the airport and in Uptown Charlotte news kiosks. But not to worry– Jack Henry is very modest about his new celebrity.
But Jack Henry was not done yet! Dog at the Table #2 never quite made the cut. (It was Jack Henry with a bowl of brussels sprouts). I know, I know.
So we moved on to #3-I know this was a post fairly recently, but Jack Henry insisted.
Much to our delight, Dog at the Table #3 won a ribbon in a the juried competition at a local gallery and also picked up an Honorable Mention in the Still Life category for the 7th Annual MPA Awards which celebrates Mobile Photography in all its amazing forms. It has been a wonderful start to 2018, indeed.
Anything else Jack Henry?
Good boy!
Today's Dog Quote:
'You become responsible forever, for what you have tamed."
–Antoine De Saint-Exupéry
Images taken with Nikon D70, iPhone 4s, 5s and 7 Plus and processed using Photoshop, Snapseed, iColorama, Stackables and Retouch
For today: The Dog and the Apple
And a quick PS: for the time being, Little Dogs Laughed will be posting twice a month instead of every week. I hope we will be back posting on a weekly basis by early spring.
This week I tried posing Jack Henry near the window in the afternoon sun-it was kind of a mixed bag and to be honest, he and I were not exactly communicating very well. This is one of the last shots I got before his "I am really getting tired and want my cookie" look disintegrated into "I'm outta here-NOW" action. It is a reminder to me that dogs have their own moods and sometimes not everything clicks. Better then, to just put the camera away, offer the cookie, hugs, and some playtime. I will be going back to lighten the area around his face some and clean up the image a bit more.
Next time hopefully we both will feel a little better-
Today's Dog Quote:
"If every dog is a reflection of its owner . . . welcome to the madhouse!"
Image taken with iPhone 7 Plus native camera and processed using Snapseed, iColorama, Hipstamatic and Stackables
For today: The One and Onliest
This week brought a bit of the white stuff to North Carolina-what was supposed to be only an inch or so ended up being closer to 4.
It is fun to watch the dogs. Anna finds the snow invigorating and will run and jump. Hubble does his usual NASCAR speed sprints while taking sharp turns around the corner of the old garage.
And then there is Jack Henry.
Jack likes the snow–for a bit. After that he is more than ready to go back into the house for his version of the aprés-ski socializing which really consists of a cookie, a drink of water and back on the couch under some blankets.
I took a lot of pictures, but here are the two for today. The first shows Jack, looking a bit peeved at having to stop mid-sprint for a photo-op. The second image I debated whether to post, but I like it as I am a bit partial to action shots where figures are jumping in and out of the frame. I added a scraping effect to give more of a sense of movement.
Today's Dog Quote:
No man can be condemned for owning a dog. As long as he has a dog, he has a friend.
— Will Rogers
Images taken with iPhone 7 Plus and processed with Snapseed, iColorama and Stackables
For today: Snow Day Outings
For a dog that likes to tear around in the backyard garden, Hubble is clearly nonplussed when it comes to dealing with nature indoors. He was not always like that, but lately, he almost acts as if getting near a flower is personal affront-flowers are meant to be torn out and trampled on or used as a launch pad-
Unlike Jack Henry who does take time to stop and smell the roses-
Hubble clearly is not sure about having the vase in his personal space–
I like this image okay, but what I wish I had done was to step back more, like I did with the image below taken earlier in the week-there is something to me more pleasing to have more distance between the camera and the subject-but that is just me-what I do like is the more subtle tones of both. I have been wanting to use more muted colors and backgrounds as of late-
Today's Dog Quote:
"When I look into the eyes of an animal I do not see an animal. I see a living being. I see a friend. I feel a soul."
– AD. Williams
Images taken with iPhone 5s and iPhone 7 Plus and processed using Snapseed, iColorama, and Stackables
For today: Hubble and the Yellow Tulip
Happy New Year to all our WP friends!
We hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday and that 2018 is off to a glorious start!
For today, two portraits of Hubble that I took early this morning. The only refining has come from Snapseed. I am once again taken by how far this little dog has come in the time he has been here. When he wants to, Hubble can be a thoughtful looking little guy. And sometimes the lightest touch in processing is plenty-
Today's Dog Quote:
"Dogs have a way of finding the people who need them, and filling an emptiness we didn't ever know we had."
Image taken with iPhone 7+ native camera (Portrait setting) and processed with Snapseed
For today: Simple and Solitary
Somedays it is just hard to be a Hubble-your morning starts out with a rousing round of barks over breakfast. From there, you go outside to torment the dogs next door and a few squirrels for good measure. Then it's back inside where you bark at the birds in the fig tree, jump on a clean bed with dirty paws, chase your sister, tell your mother how you feel about her putting your current favorite toy on the shelf and then bark at your brother. Oh, and tipping the water bowl over.
What follows next is badly needed "time-out" for everyone in the house.
I did not hear a peep from him for most of the afternoon-
And we will be taking a break from the blog through November and part of December. I am at a crossroads with it and need some time to figure out where we go from here-if there is something you would like to see in the blog posts, let us know. It may help in determining our direction.
Today's Dog Quote:
"If you want loyalty get a dog. If you want loyalty and attention, get a smart dog."
— Grant Fairley
Image taken and processed using iPhone 7 Plus and Snapseed, iColorama, Stackables and Touch ReTouch-
For Today: Time Out
© 2013-2016 by Little Dogs Laughed. All rights reserved
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This meeting took place in 2004
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Structural Genomics (Z1)
Upon completion of this conference, participants should appreciate and understand: - Appreciate the challenge of selecting structural genomics targets that will both increase our knowledge of the protein structure universe and enhance biomedical research. - Understand automated approaches to high-throughput sample preparation for solution NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. - Identify strategies for automated data reduction, structure determination, refinement, and PDB deposition. - Learn approaches to functional annotation of new protein structures that incorporate information from phylogeny, gene expression profiling, protein-protein interaction maps, gene knockout studies, and biochemical/biophysical analyses. - Understand the role of high-throughput structural studies of protein-ligand complexes in drug discovery.
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Abstracts submitted for poster presentation will be used as the basis for awarding the scholarships. Scholarship recipients will be selected based on the quality of science of the abstract and the relevance of the abstract to the conference topic. Only one application per abstract is accepted. Only one award per lab will be allocated.
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Being part of a TEAM
The first few weeks as an Early Stage Researcher (ESR) on TEAM have definitely not been dull.
I am based at ReachOut Ireland, an Irish health promotion website for young people whilst registered as a PhD student with UCD. There are numerous opportunities associated with being placed at ReachOut including: having access to local networks that focus on youth mental health; direct access to resources that inform my research as well as expert input. The greatest benefit however is being able to be part of a team. The experience of being a member of the ReachOut team has been invaluable to me; not only professionally but personally.
Many of the ESR's, including myself, have had to move country in order to pursue their PhD and project. As exciting as this is, it can also be quite daunting. It's not only navigating your way through a new research project but also through a new university, city, country and culture. As exciting as all these new settings are, it does help to have some support and guidance to help you on your way. I feel my transition has been made all the easier by being part of the ReachOut team and has made my experience much less lonely than I think it could have been.
I am doubly lucky as I am also part of the TEAM ITN, a network of ESR's all working on different projects related to youth mental health. The opportunity to discuss experiences and ideas with peers will be a key element to the success of our research projects.
Being apart of these two teams has played a positive role in my mental health and well-being. These first few weeks have flown by and I can't imagine having had a better start to this experience."


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I understand that, could it be something that you could do if I purchase a premier ticket for $99? as it would make life so much easier :)
Your friends over here at WebAssist! These Dreamweaver extensions will assist you in building unlimited, custom websites.
These out-of-the-box solutions provide you proven, tested applications that can be up and running now. Build a store, a gallery, or a web-based email solution.


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Prestil at EIMA fair in Bologna from 7th to 11th November 2012
From the beginning Eima was recognized among the others Fair Shows for it's huge presence of manifacturing companies which displayed their products from all around the world.
Also, the large exibitors area, is a strong attraction for many visitors which could have a closer look to the novelties of the agricoltural sector.
Prestil, would be pleased to show you all the latest products which are related to the vineyards and orchards, as well as our complete selection of products.
We are looking forward to see you in Bologna!


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Mile Square Golf Course has been one of Orange Counties premier public golf courses since the first course opened in 1969.
With a reputation of having the finest putting greens in Southern California and two courses designed by famed golf course architect, David Rainville, Mile Square Golf Course is a "must play" for anyone in the area.
Today, Mile Square Golf Course features two challenging 18 hole courses and a beautiful clubhouse with full service banquet facilities. Conveniently located in Mile Square Park, just off the 405 freeway in Fountain Valley, Mile Square Golf Course provides the ideal location for any special event you desire.
Come to Mile Square Golf Course and see why those who play here consider our courses as the best value in Orange County.
Welcome, our goal is to exceed your expectations.
All News Events Jobs Volunteering
7 monthsThe Fly Fishers Presents The Fall Casting Clinic at Mile Square Park
Are you an experienced fly fisher? Or do you want to learn how to fly fish? Come out to Mile Square Park and learn the basics about equipment and fly fishing techniques. At this event, you will learn everything there is to know about fly fishing. You do not even need your own equipment. The event will be followed by a BBQ lunch, and potentially a fish story. And it's absolutely FREE! Register now! ... Read more
7 monthsBeginning Archery Classes Offered at Mile Square Park for Free!
Have you ever wanted to shoot a bow and arrow like Robin Hood or the Green Arrow? Come out to Mile Square Park on Saturday at 9 a.m. and get free instructions and lessons on how to properly shoot a bo w and arrow. The course will be about how to shoot a bow and arrow, and the safety precautions associated with it. This course is for ages 10 and up. An adult must accompany kids under 18 years old. Make sure you get to Mile Square Park and do not fail your city. ... Read more
8 monthsNational Night Out
It's that time of year again!
National Night Out Day is observed annually on the first Tuesday in August. This night focuses bridging the gap between the community and law enforcement agencies by raising awareness on issues that affect communities both locally and nationally. Every year, Fountain Valley Police Department joins forces with thousands of communities nationwide to host "National Night Out."
National Night Out is designed to: (1) Heighten crime and drug prevention awareness; (2) Generate support for, and participation in, local anti-crime efforts; (3) Strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships; and (4) Send a message to criminals letting them know neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.
The City invites you and your family to join us for to celebrate this awesome night. There will be tons of displays from the Fountain Valley Police Department, West County SWAT, K9 demonstrations, The Fountain Valley Fire Department and Fire truck, Neighbors ... Read more
over 1 yearMile Square Regional Park Archery Range
The archery range at Mile Square Regional Park is open to the public. Hours are 7 a.m. to sunset, daily.
**WEEKLY MAINTENANCE: Archery Range closed Wednesdays 7 to 11 a.m.
Use of the range is free, and you must bring your own equipment. Free beginning archery classes are available by advance reservation and include use of equipment. Check the Mile Square Regional Park events calendar for a schedule.
The 6.71-acre redesigned range features 24 in-line shooting stations beneath a continuous metal shade canopy with 24 targets, bow racks, tables for servicing bows, perimeter fencing, north orientation and a 20-foot safety berm. The new range is the largest in Orange County.
The new archery range was designed in consideration of public input and archery dynamics. Much of the dirt used to construct the safety berm came from the nearby Haster Basin Project, in which OC Public Works relocated a portion of a flood-control outlet to add space for an open field and improve upon the existing park with increased recreation opportunities.
For more information about the archery range, call the park at (714) 973-6600. ... Read more
about 2 yearsGiving Gala 2018 - Eat, Drink, and Be Giving
Thank you for supporting St. Barbara's Giving Gala 2018. All proceeds raised will benefit the school facility upgrade project.
Hosted by St. Barbara School.
Dress Code: Dress to Impress (Semi-Fo rmal)
Menu: Hors d'oeuvres, Prime Rib/Salmon, & Desserts
Location: Mile Square Golf Course Banquet Center
Seating is limited, reservations are required. Tickets can be purchased at the school office. ... Read more
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Montreal's #1 new on-demand storage company, Spaceful is reinventing the traditional self-storage experience, replacing the stressful parts of storage (like hauling, booking a truck, and dealing with storage facilities) with a seamless, full-service experience powered by technology.
Articles in this section
- Pick-up and delivery areas
- What is Spaceful?
- Why use Spaceful?
- What is the minimum length of stay?
- When will my Moving Specialists Team arrive?
- Do I have to pay for fuel or drive time?
- Can I visit my stuff in storage?
- What if I won't be there for my appointment?
- What areas does Spaceful service?
- Can Spaceful help me move other items that aren't going to storage?


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IDG Connect conducted an online survey on behalf of EMC to understand the approaches to cloud computing in organisations Australia, New Zealand, China, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.
Research was conducted using an online survey completed among about 600 respondents. Emphasis of study was on hybrid cloud and its related aspects like objectives, current drivers, barriers/concerns and cost considerations in cloud implementation in the organisation and the findings were turned into a series of Interactive papers and infographics.


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Slips in Beaucette Marina
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The world's largest Online Nautical Guide with information on more than 8500 Marinas
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The marina Beaucette Marina is located in La Lande (Guernsey). Its users may take advantage of its basic range of services. This moderate-capacity marina has moorings for medium size, because it has moorings for boats with a maximum length of up to 20.00 m and a maximum draught of 3.00 m. For those who would like to carry out maintenance work or need to repair their boat, the marina Beaucette Marina has a travelift for boats up to 16 tons..
This marina has a complementary selection of nautical activities, so you can practice a number of different sea-related sports.


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Summer Work:
Here are my thoughts on summer work. I want it to be meaningful, enjoyable, and reasonable and don't want to overload you with tedious assignments just to "set the tone" for the class. The goals for summer work in AP lit are to continue to move forward in reading and writing, introduce you to contemporary texts, learn how to ask questions, and get to know you. I think this is the right balance of those goals and work.
NOTE: An online copy of the summer work can be found at https://susangbarber.com/ap-lit-summer-work-2019/. This copy has live links to book recommendations, activities for the journal, and the teacher letter.
Here's what you should do before the first day of school:
Part 1: Reading
Read and develop questions for ONE of these books which I consider to be the Top 25 Contemporary Novels for AP Literature: (the links take you to my GoodReads account for a personal review).
All the Light We Cannot See – Doerr
Behold the Dreamers – Mbue
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao – Diaz
Exit West – Hamid
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Foer
The Goldfinch – Tartt
Homegoing – Gyasi
The Kite Runner – Hosseini
The Leavers – Ko
Little Bee – Cleeve
Mudbound – Jordan
The Namesake – Lahiri
The Nix – Hill
The Poet X – Acevedo
The Poisonwood Bible – Kingsolver
A Prayer for Owen Meany – Irving
Purple Hibiscus – Adichie
The Road – McCarthy
Salvage the Bones – Ward
The Secret History – Tartt
Sing, Unburied, Sing – Ward
Station Eleven – St. John Mandel
Southernmost – House
The Things They Carried – O'Brien
A Thousand Splendid Suns – Hosseini
You do not have to annotate the book because I just want you to enjoy reading and not be slowed down by marking (they'll be plenty of time for that during class). I would, however, like for you to write ten questions that you would like to further explore. With each question, reference a specific scene or quote that prompts your question and cite the page number. These questions should not be about plot but rather show deep thought into the themes, characterization, or craft of the writer. You should have the book finished and questions written by the second day of class.
Questions can be based on universal themes in the book found on here.
Or you can choose to focus on how and why any of the following literary elements are used:
- Portrayal of characters
- Identify and reflect on the significance of character foils
- Allusions
- Symbols and motifs/ recurring details
- Imagery
- Foreshadowing
- Tone/ attitude of the narrators
- Diction/ syntax and how both are used to create distinctive voices for the characters
- Theme/ thematic ideas
- Structure of the novel
Part II: Writing
Having a broad range of experiences upon which one can draw is important to understanding the resonance of many of the works we read. In preparation, I would like for you to broaden your experiences this summer. As part of your summer activities, keep a journal. The following items should be in journal when you turn it in anytime between now and August 30th (but if you turn it in on your first day of class, you will be rewarded).
- Entries for at least two days per week beginning with the week of June 2nd, 2019. Write about the experiences you have, the things you are reading both for summer reading and in addition to it, your thoughts on important philosophical ideas, current events, and life in general etc. The last entry will be made on August 12th or 12th during our first class; you should have nineteen entries (this allows for one missed day because it's summer after all) before our first class, and the in-class entry will make for twenty total.
- You must also choose at least five of the following activities to complete. Document your experience in your journal by writing a reflection of not less than one page for each activity. You may include pictures or drawings. Each journal entry about the five activities you select should include an item number and the date you completed the activity. These can count for as part of the twenty entries.
- In addition, you should also find two poems that you find particularly enjoyable and/or meaningful and write about them in your journal. These entries will be included in your twenty entries.
Activity list:
- Attend a summer festival. Try the Atlanta Jazz Festival (free) during Memorial Day weekend, Atlanta Ice Cream Festival, Summer Film Festival at the Fox, or any others you can find.
- Go to a museum or a historic attraction. Try the High Museum, Carter Presidential Library, or the Stone Mountain Laser Show if you've never been.
- Spend a day without electronics (no cell phones, ipods, TVs, etc). I would love for everyone to try this. You can survive without electronics.
- Explore a neighborhood in Atlanta. Eat at the Krog Street Market. Walk the Belt Line. Explore the Westside Provisions or Ponce City Market.
- Do some gardening.
- Hike at least 5 miles in a national or state park such as Sweetwater Creek, Providence Canyon, Amicalola Falls, or the Appalachian Trail in Georgia.
- Talk with a grandparent or older adult (40 + years older) about life in their younger years. Count this as two entries if you record it on StoryCorps.
- Go tent camping at least 10 miles from home (or anyone's home).
- Go to the theatre (not the movie theater) to see a live production. Try the Shakespeare Tavern, plays in Piedmont Park, or the Center for Puppetry Arts. Buy half-price tickets at AtlanTIX.
- Work on a farm (at least a couple of hours).
- Eat a different meals from a foreign culture.
- Work a shelter, food pantry, or other organization preparing or delivering food for the elderly or disadvantaged.
- Visit with the patients at a nursing home.
- Go fishing or horseback riding. (Nature = Thoreau)
- Prepare a meal for your family and then enjoy it with them.
- Pick berries and make a cobbler or pie.
- Attend a service of a different religion or interview a person of a different religion.
- Repair or build something or do some kind of maintenance (changing oil, rotating tires).
- Plan a trip – map out the route, find places to stay, and located points of interest to visit.
- Spend an evening playing board games or cards with your family and friends.
- Visit a cemetery and read the headstones. Consider the history of family, community, state, and nation embodied in these headstones. Reflect on your experiences. Creepy but fun. Try Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta then go to Six Feet Under or Tin Lizzies for dinner.
- Visit a quiet spot on a beach, by a stream, or by a lake. Spend an hour in thought and record your thoughts in a journal or notebook.
- Something you don't normally do; the point is to try new things in order to experience the world through a different lens.
Why keep a journal?
Writing is born out of experience. A large part of this class is about helping you find your writing voice. Finding your voice takes time. Writing throughout the summer will give you time to begin to figure out your voice. Be yourself when you write. Don't try to be too serious or academic. Be funny. Be sarcastic. Be vulnerable. Be real.
What is a journal?
A journal is what you make of it — the more you put into it, the more benefit you will see. It is your journal and, as long as you are serious about it (and yourself), you will receive full credit for it (see specific instructions below for what I expect of your journal). Hopefully your journal will be much more (and a little less) than a diary. I am not interested in your daily routine or what you had for lunch. If, on the other hand, you wish to record your dreams last night or a rough draft of a poem or an interesting quote from a friend, please utilize your journal.
I hope that you will consider buying a bound journal — something costing between $5 and $20, a cheap spiral notebook is often another way of saying, "My thoughts aren't really valuable." If you wish, you might even try constructing your own journal, but you should remember that what you put in the interior of your journal is most important.
Will I read your journal?
I will only read with your permission. I will, of course, want to read a page or so about each of your summer activities and readings, but you are free to photocopy or transcribe these or designate sections of your journals as personal.
Writing more in your journal will benefit YOU. There will be a reward later for being diligent in your journaling efforts. Writing improves your skill at writing.Remember to write at least three days per week. Waiting until the end of the summer and then trying to go back and "recapture" the days you missed may fill up the pages and give you a certain number of entries. It does not fulfill the intent of the assignment, however, nor does it provide you with the kind of writing practice that will be beneficial to you during the school year. Additionally, academic integrity is important. As you approach the end of your high school experience, think about what is right and ethical. Therefore, keep up with your work rather than trying to recreate it in a hurried manner at the end of the summer.
Will I know if you wait and then write all at one time? Maybe I will, and maybe I will not. You, however, will know, and that it what is most important. Happy journaling!
Part III: Write a Letter to Me
Read this letter from me to you then write a letter to me that you will hand in on the first day of school. The directions for this letter are in my letter.
If you need to get in touch with me over the summer, feel free to email me at email@example.com, and I'll be happy to answer any questions. Have a great summer, and I'll see you the first day of your SENIOR year!
All the best!
Mrs. Barber


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Welcome to Next Step!
At Next Step, we believe that ALL students can succeed. Our staff is truly invested in the students who attend our program. We create strong relationships with each student and help provide the instruction, experiences, guidance, and support to move them onto the "next step" in their lives.
School Hours: 8:30am-2:20pm
Office Hours: 7:45am-4:15pm
Phone: 651-621-1900
Fax: 651-621-1991
Next Step News & Information
Superintendent's Message - Thursday, March 26
Here is an update from District 622 about COVID-19 (distance learning, free meal program, and child care). District 622 will begin distance learning on Monday, March 30. Visit www.isd622.org/coronavirus to see more information about coronavirus and previous messages from Superintendent Tucci Osorio.
Next Step Ambassadors for Respect in Action!
Next Step students are pictured in this post by the Minnesota Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities. This school year alone, Next Step Ambassadors have delivered anti-bullying training's to 271 fourth graders throughout District 622.
Spring Transition Event
Watch the Video: Ambassadors for Respect- Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities
The Next Step Transition Program has partnered with PeaceMaker Minnesota and the Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities to deliver anti-bullying presentations to fourth grade classrooms within District 622. The Next Step Transition Program was recognized in this video for their participation in the anti-bullying program during the 2018-19 school year.�
Dog Bone Order Information
Next Step students make and sell dog bones using natural ingredients.


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"You brought this into our house!" screamed Nicole from the top of the stairs.
"I didn't mean to!" sputtered Kevin.
"Get out!" she said.
"Be reasonable! Where am going to go?" he said, looking up his wife and leaning on the newel for support.
"I don't want to get sick!"
"No one wants to get sick!"
"You could have prevented it!"
"I had to go to work, they needed me! There weren't enough ambulances," he took in a deep breath and his chest ached.
"I told you not to go, didn't I? Didn't I say that?!"
"What did you expect me to do, just let people die out there?!" he shouted, then got suddenly dizzy and sat down on the bottom step.
"Don't you do that!"
"I'm about to collapse," he said.
"Go out on the lawn. You can't die in here!"
"I'm not going to die," he said weakly. A wave of nauseousness quickly passed over him. "And I'm not going out on the lawn. dammit Nicole, what about that 'til death do we part stuff!?"
"Don't give me that," she said. "You have no right to come back here and bring that virus into this house, not after I told you that I wouldn't let you in if you tried to come back."
"So that's it?"
"Don't guilt-trip me! You really think it's best that instead of one of us dying, two of us will?" She peered over the railing at him, then decided to pull her sweater collar up over her nose and mouth. "I'd rather it was neither of us dying, but you had to go and not listen to me, again!"
"It is a survivable disease you know, with the proper care. If you would just take care of me I could recover," he said.
"There are hospitals full of dying people, and they're getting better care than what I could give you," said Nicole. Tears started forming in her eyes.
"They're not getting better care. The hospitals are overwhelmed. A lot of the doctors and nurses are sick now too. If it's just you and me, that's not so hard," he said, feeling queasy. Sweat was soaking through his shirt. He started to unbutton it, but couldn't feel his fingertips. "It's really hot in here..."
"And you would almost definitely infect me, and then who would there be to take care of both of us?"
"I dunno--" Kevin vomited profusely onto the wooden floor.
"Please go out on the lawn," whispered Nicole to herself. There was no other way down to the first floor than the stairs. "Kevin, sweetheart, you have to go out on the lawn," she said.
"No," he said. "I can't. Everything is blurry."
"Then why don't you go lie down on the sofa? It's just in the living room."
"It's too far," he said, his words slurring. "This is too fast. I'm not supposed to have these symptoms--oh God--" he vomited again. This time there were traces of blood. Nicole started sobbing, and sank down to the floor. She clutched the balusters and looked down between them. Kevin turned and looked up at her. "Don't cry," he said quietly. She wiped her eyes with the sleeves of her sweater.
"I can't help you," she said, choking back more tears. "I'm sorry." Kevin turned and stared blankly at the back of the front door. A few seconds later he lost consciousness and slumped into the mess. His body slowly slide to rest on it's back. The pool of vomit kept spreading outward, slowly, over the floor. Nicole screamed into sweater. She felt frozen in place, staring at his body.
Finally she got up and ran into the upstairs bathroom and slammed the door shut. She left the light off and crawled into the bathtub. She sat and rocked back and forth. After a few hours she slid down, curled up, and slept. She was out for a good twelve hours, before waking to the sound of birds cheeping in the trees outside. Strong morning light poured in through the frosted bathroom window. She briefly wondered why she was sleeping in the bathtub. Then she remembered and sat bolt upright. She got up, used the bathroom, then walked slowly out to the landing.
She looked down over the railing. She felt cold. He was still there, though the mess had dried somewhat. There were flies already buzzing around the body, and she wondered how they had gotten there, since the windows and doors were pretty airtight. After a few minutes, she walked into their bedroom and went to the closet. She pulled down a backpack Kevin had used on fishing trips from the top shelf. She checked to see that it was empty and threw it onto the bed.
Nicole changed into her hiking clothes, long jeans, a T-shirt, then a camp shirt, then a polar fleece anorak, athletic socks and her hiking boots. Into the backpack she tossed a change of clothes and several changes of underwear and socks. Then she packed up soap and sundries from the bathroom. When she was done she looked at Kevin's side of the closet. She grabbed a handful of shirt sleeves and buried her face in them. She inhaled deeply, and tried not to start crying again.
She let the sleeves fall and she went and sat on the bed. She picked up the remote and tried to turn the TV on, but it wouldn't come on. She looked to the digital clock on the bedside table, but it's face was dark. She reasoned it was probably time to leave. She got up then knelt down beside the bed. She extended her hand under the bed ruffle, searching. She found the emergency rope ladder and pulled it out. She went to the bedroom window, pulled up the sash, and secured the ladder to the window, letting the rope rungs fall down into the rose bushes below. Then she flung the backpack into the back yard, and climbed down shakily, scratching her jeans on the rose thorns. She picked up the backpack and headed to the edge of the forest that abutted their property, and started down a deer path towards the creek. She did not look back at the house.


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Can you tell from which movie these screenshots were taken? Please send in your answer by using the form below and maybe you will make it into our Hall of Fame!
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