Eclectic Ascetic

Reboot

2007-04-11T14:34:00.000-05:00

Okay, just jump in and start blogging. I started this blog last summer just before I began school, and of course with all the changes--worker becoming a student, Brooklynite moving to Chicago, editor changing to minister--the blog got no attention. But I've found that I need to start writing, more than just journaling, to sort out some of my own thoughts, to comment on things observed, to engage with the world in print. So I'm rebooting Eclectic Ascetic. Read along if you like.

Government-approved religious symbols

2006-07-05T14:10:00.000-05:00

The Washington Post had an article on the 4th of July about the Department of Veterans Affairs refusing to allow a Wiccan symbol for a memorial to a sergeant in the Nevada National Guard who was killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. The VA allows 38 symbols, including the flaming chalice within double rings of the Unitarians (not listed as Unitarian Universalists), but won't certify a pentacle in a circle. This soldier was the first Wiccan killed in combat. His widow isn't putting in an "acceptable," symbol-less memorial and instead fighting with a blank space on a memorial wall.

I found that link on Jim Romenesko's Obscure Store site. And thanks to LaReinaCobre for the lesson on how to hyperlink.

UPDATE: The VA link I used this morning now gives a "404 Not Found," but I found another that has a different Unitarian symbol. As for the star within a circle, could it be the military not wanting its own design from World War II to be used for another purpose?

Nah, it's the Wicca thing.

ANOTHER UPDATE: The Washington Post ran a story December 4 that says that a government-issued plaque with a Wiccan pentacle was dedicated at the Nevada cemetery December 2.

Independence Day 2006

2006-07-04T05:56:00.000-05:00

I'm about to make a major life change by going back to school to pursue a master of divinity degree and a new career as a Unitarian Universalist minister. Tomorrow I'll give six weeks' notice at my publishing job. I figure I have time for one more career, so even though I face plenty of stress from finances, new social situations, moving to another city, and finding a way to make it through four years of schooling, becoming a clergyperson is the path I choose.

With such major change, I don't know if it's a good time to start a blog. This could be good reading for others, or it could be yet another first-person Weblog full of tedium. I don't intend this to be a diary, but it will follow the course of my life.

Today's my half-birthday--in 18 months I'll turn 50. Let's see if Eclectic Ascetic the blog makes it that far, and if EA the person does, too.