What a beautiful Mass and what a powerful message. Likely far too "socialist" for many, but then Jesus was a socialist, so it follows. Pope Francis's focus on poor and working people is part of why the American Catholic church finds him so problematic,but Francis is right.
The dictate that we see Christ in others who are suffering is Jesus's own message, yet has gotten so lost in the right-wing cooptation
of Christianity in the US that it feels radical by comparison.
Jesus was a working poor socialist evangelist for separation of church and state.
Jesus wasn't born in a palace or a mega church, he was born in a barn. This is a fundamental element of the Christmas story as is the "littleness" Pope Francis referenced--Jesus needed care and nurturing, as does our faith and as do those who most need our help and support.
This is my encapsulation of Pope Francis's homily, but you can read his whole sermon online.
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate. 💚❤️
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Joan Didion was one of the greatest influences on my early journalism. An extraordinary writer whose vision saw around corners and through people to get to the core of things. What a talent she had. May she rest in peace with her husband and daughter.🌿
While Joan Didion led an incomparably full life, I am still deeply saddened by her passing. Thinking about how often I used her work in my writing classes and how her work was never dated. My two favorite photos of her, as she challenges her audience.
I began my writing classes reading her essay "Why I Write" aloud to my students. Her descriptions, her structure, her thought process are all so compacted into that short essay that just encapsulates everything essential to writing in-depth journalism and fiction. What a thinker.
The WSJ had to search for a bad photo of the VP to accompany this screed by Peggy Noonan, "Kamala Harris Needs to Get Serious." But we've seen this with Hillary and Pelosi--get a photo of a woman making a face to make a point you can't really articulate. wsj.com/articles/kamal…
ICYMI, my piece on how Legacy Media Is Undermining VP Kamala Harris explains what Peggy Noonan and her ilk are doing--and what the VP is actually doing. Noonan missed all the work Harris did this week for women. What a shame--or is it just shameful? damemagazine.com/2021/11/16/leg…
This was VP Harris on her way to the Kennedy Center Honors.
#ALERT Please RT:
6yr-old is still missing 7hrs later from 5600 Greene St.
My neighborhood is dicey, w/many carjackings lately.
The car her mother left her in is a burgundy Scion TC, license plate # LKV 1067. The child is Black, and wearing a pink puffy jacket and khaki pants.
Mother pulled up in front of the pizza place and left her car running with the child inside as she went in to get the pizza. She came out to find the car--with child--missing and called 911. Helicopters were searching the area for a couple hours. (Praying for her safe return.)
⚠️This is in the North Philly area of Philadelphia, PA.
This is a lie.
Abortion is actually often medically necessary to save a woman's life at all stages of pregnancy, but most commonly in the 2nd and 3rd trimester, when catastrophic health crises can occur. This is why it is spelled out so clearly in the Roe v. Wade ruling.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Physicians for Reproductive Health released the following joint statement: acog.org/news/news-rele…
“Pregnancy imposes significant physiological changes on a person’s body. These changes can exacerbate underlying or preexisting conditions, like renal or cardiac disease, and can severely compromise health or even cause death." acog.org/news/news-rele…
So many people were shot in Philly over the weekend that #GunViolence was the lead on the early local news. If a 16 year old is shot EIGHT times, that's a targeted hit over drugs or gangs or both. Where is the PPD gang unit? Twice as many teens have been shot in 2021 as in 2020.
Another teen was shot in the face at close range. These are not accidental shootings or kids caught in crossfire (though there have been a few of those this year). These are retaliatory hits. Treat them that way and get the PPD to act like these kids' matter, gangs or not.
Also, WHY DO ALL THESE KIDS HAVE GUNS? A teen shot a Temple student to death on Sunday as he was returning home from the Thanksgiving holiday. It was a robbery gone bad RIGHT ON CAMPUS. 2nd shooting at Temple in a couple weeks. Unnecessary gun-stoked tragedy.
A little🧵about supply chain + USPS + healthcare + poverty: I have been waiting for oxygen tubing for nearly two months. It's likely on a container in some port because it's mostly made in China. My healthcare provider doesn't pay for tubing, even though I'm on oxygen 24/7.
1/🧵
People on oxygen get tanks for travelling and an oxygen generator for daily use, which is large, loud and you're tethered to it. Insurance will pay part of the rental, but won't pay to buy it. So I've paid thousands of dollars to rent it over the past decade. Madness.
2/🧵
And they won't pay for tubing which should be changed every month or so but most people only change it once or twice a year because of the extra expense. But the plastic canula on your face gets hard and brittle over time. 3/🧵