Virtual Oases, Holy Week

• Rebecca links to Palm Sunday talks on lds.org
• I’ll raise Kristine’s enviable Palm Sunday: I got to attend a remarkable Palm Sunday concert that brought together gifted musicians in the LDS community, including D. Fletcher — who’s song Weepin’ Mary is singularly beautiful . . . and on the way home, I listened to the Pope’s Palm Sunday service from St. Peter’s square. The passion sung in Italian. Beautiful.
• A series of unfortunate events, indeed, in Colorado — first brought to my attention by my brother in that CO. I assume this incident inspired Ardis’ lovely post on her own missionary past.
• The pope makes a forceful call for peace in Iraq — in the shadow of the murder of an Archbishop
• Tracy: Momma said there’d be Sundays like this . . .
• This cartoon hit a little too close to home.
• Voice from Exponent past: Dr. Elvira Barney’s vision of our time
• BiV: Making women’s history on the court in Saudi Arabia
• Juliann Reynolds: Post-Sunstone thoughts on women who know . . .
• Holding on to the passport — spiritual escape-hatches . . . . (discussion of article here)
• At Segullah: Mother-identity and external validation
• G explore the term “temple worthy”
• Jana: “Contemplating the price that bought my mobility.”
• Examining the case for single-sex education (as a teacher — currently in a single-sex school — I believe in sum, it’s better for most girls than it is for most boys)

• Justine’s thoughts on women’s history month mirror my own ambiguous feelings about “____ history month” or “______ awareness day.” I can’t help feeling that such carved spaces both highlight and marginalize the contributions of segments of our society. I find myself viscerally drawn to reflections like this one from Barack Obama (via Andrew Sullivan):

My favorite moment was a very simple one. [Obama] referred to the anniversary of the March on Selma, how he went and how he came back and someone (I don’t remember who now) said to him:

“That was a great celebration of African-American history.”

To which Obama said he replied:

“No, no, no, no, no. That was not a great celebration of African-American history. That was a celebration of American history.”

Speaking of Barack Obama, I encourage you to listen to or read his speech on race in America. As a member of a church which, like our country, has a difficult history with race — I responded to this moving address on spiritual, political, and personal terms.