Today the Wilson College Board of Trustees begin a two-day deliberation on how to turn around the desperate financial state of the college. Among several options being put forth by the president is the option of going co-ed. The alumnae have been kept in the dark about the financial situation [running on a deficit budget for the past three years, plus millions of dollars of debt].

These are alumnae who in 1979 went to court and kept the college from closing. We have been known as Wild Wilson Women for decades. We know how to think outside the box [what box?], and we are very generous to our alma mater.

Alumnae are gathering on campus today and tomorrow in a vigil of support for the college. I am going up tomorrow. And in the meantime, I am keeping the entire Wilson community in my thoughts and prayers.

Wilson was established as a women's college in 1869, and has been dedicated to women's education ever since. It is one of very colleges who offer a Women and Children program for single moms that allows them to live on campus with their children.

Adding a few men to the enrollment will not save the college, especially in an area full of excellent co-ed institutions.

Four Corners Photographs

Having returned from our Four Corners Trip, I have created a Shutterfly page with my photographs. For now you will find a random selection of photos from the Four Corners.

starrmark.shutterfly.com

Today has been a very difficult day for me spiritually. Several years ago, I decided that I could no longer say that every story has two sides; I now say "Every die has six sides." Not unlike the six blind men and the elephant..

I just listened to Bishop Michael Curry's sermon from this past Sunday at General Convention about Crazy Christians. I have been reading comments on various blogs and FB today about the Blessing for Same-Sex Unions that was just passed at GC. I have spent time reading about Sister Jose Hobday and reading Rachel Held Evans' blog today [http://rachelheldevans.com/taking-thumb-off-scale-tverberg], which has to do with judging others. And once again, I have been judged and found majorly wanting by my daughter.

So many of my FB friends are positively jubilant about the approved Blessing; some are wailing that it is not sufficient. Some of the posts from GC want to take Bishop Curry's sermon as his blessing on the gay question, and are flashing their Crazy Christian badges. Other esteemed, faithful Christians are essentially calling this the final blow for the Episcopal Church. In my own ponderings today, I have wondered seriously whether it is now time for us to leave.

This same GC has announced a $1 million budget for Mission and $20 million for litigation against the "rogue" dioceses and parishes. Nine bishops are being sanctioned for standing behind parishes and dioceses who have left the TEC. Is this the face of Crazy Christians? The Crazy Christians Bishop Curry was talking about?

My gut is in knots; my eyes want expel buckets of tears; and my heart is aching.

In the past few weeks, as I have faced the same-sex question, I have had these same reactions. The only thing that has kept me sane has been Rick LaRocca's musical setting for the Prayer for the Gift of the Holy Spirit:
Come Holy Spirit, Fill the Hearts of the Faithful
Kindle in Us the Fire of your Love
Send forth your Spirit and We shall be Created
And You shall renew the Face of the Earth....

Only the Holy Spirit can lead us now. Lord, I believe, Help my unbelief.

Things Come to Pass

In the summer of 1975, I was working in the young adult department at the Hyattsville Branch of the Prince George’s County Library. I was pregnant with my daughter Dawn. It was hot. I could barely get my feet in my Dr. Scholl’s sandal.

Things weren’t going as smoothly as I would have liked. My father-in-law was really pissed off about our choice of name for a daughter—Dawn Elizabeth. My mother felt that I had betrayed her by on ur asking my mother-in-law to come for the baby’s birth. And my father was angry that we hadn’t asked Mom to come. I was trying to complete a district-wide photo contest for teens and finish up other projects that I was responsible for. And it looked like the baby might come early [NOT].

I was sitting in the YA area at the branch with my feet propped up on a chair to see if I could get some relief, when a friend tiptoed into the area, put a small piece of paper on the desk, and slipped away.

I picked up the paper and discovered one of the most soothing sayings that I had ever read—“Things Come to Pass, They do not Come to Stay.”

If you know me, you know that is my life’s mantra [along with “Fear Not Tomorrow, God is Already There”].

My friend Sally Thurston had heard the saying at an AA meeting the night before and knew I needed it.

I felt instantly transported to a cool glade in the woods next to a high waterfall, and I could put my feet into the stream.

Dawn was two weeks late. My mother came the week after she was born. And the two sets of parents continued as good grandparents.

Sally Thurston died this week, alone in her apartment. I heard this afternoon, and wonderful memories are seeping in as I try to deal with her passing.

There is a huge hole in the universe this week where the one-and-only Sally once was.