#so we'll replicate that in individual book form :)

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Russian Poetry!; Or, Birthday Gifts, Plus Some.

I studied Russian in college and, despite my Duolingo efforts, miss it, so I figured the most approachable way to Get Back Into That was to read dual-language poetry. Rationales: It's nice to have someone (read: the translator) hold your hand when you're out of practice; Poems Smaller than Novels or Short Stories and therefore bite-sized/less intimidating; I can do a couple poems a session without risking Losing The Plot like I might for fiction (and isn't that how you're supposed to enjoy poetry anyway??); I can take notes and jot down new vocab words in this handy little journal! (Do I read much poetry in English? No. Are we ignoring that? Very much yes, thanks.)

The three books on the top are Actually Dual Language, with Russian on one page and English facing. THIS IS US LOSING COUNT is contemporary, but Akhmatova and Tsvetaeva are decidedly not, so I'll be starting with LOSING COUNT.

The two on the bottom are English only, but the whopping 948-page complete Akhmatova as All Her Poems, plus context, which will definitely be helpful (the Selected Akhmatova above is a companion volume!), and the Parnok is a combination of context + translated poems and she was a lesbian, Harold.

I'm planning on making a year(s)-long (however long it takes!) study of this, and chipping at it regularly. Expect to see volumes pop up in my "Books of [Year]" posts intermittently!

[snsl0530]

Do memes (as it is popular in Malaysian politics) provide a useful way of understanding politics?

Hey there! In today's digital age, memes have become a super important part of our online culture! Memes are awesome! They’re these funny and sometimes sarcastic images or videos that can grab the attention of so many people in no time. And guess what? They’re also a popular way to express political opinions. The word "meme," meaning a "social gene," was coined by evolutionary scientist and author Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene (Kumar, 2023).  In this blog post, we're going to dive into the fascinating world of memes in Malaysian politics. We'll take a closer look at how they play a role and see if they can help us understand the political climate in the country. So, let's get started and explore this interesting topic together!

Understanding Memes as Political Tools:

Memes have come a long way from just being entertaining. They now play a significant role in social and political commentary. Memes were a fun way to express ourselves through sarcastic writings, visuals, and performances! They allow people to share their thoughts clearly and imaginatively, helping everyone understand complicated political ideas. Researchers have shown that young people, especially those raised in the digital age, respond positively to exposure to political memes and that this exposure aids in their understanding of political topics (Kulkarni, 2017). In the world of Malaysian politics, memes have become quite popular, reflecting the current state of the country's political scene. Humor has always been a valuable tool when discussing political issues in society. It draws in politically engaged individuals and those who want to stay on the sidelines, where they may better establish their beliefs (Kulkarni, 2017). According to G. De Leon and Ballesteros-Lintao (2021), because of the way they are structured linguistically and visually, memes may be used to generate and simplify intricate political narratives, particularly those that include elements from the Shops, Text, and Stacked Stills categories.

Memes as a Reflection of Popular Sentiment:

Malaysia's political scene is full of life, with a diverse range of parties, ideologies, and issues. Memes provide a fun and creative way for people to share their thoughts and opinions about political figures, policies, and events. Understanding the political leanings and hopes of the Malaysian public may be gleaned from an examination of the nation's internet memes (Lee, 2020). By taking a closer look at the memes that are being shared online, we can get a better understanding of how Malaysians are feeling and what they care about when it comes to politics. It's a fun and interesting way to gain insights into their thoughts and aspirations! The meme below reflects how Malaysians feel about Tun Mahathir dramatically change political party.

Memes and Political Awareness:

Memes have the power to spark political awareness, especially among young people! They can help educate people about political issues, start conversations, and bring attention to important but often ignored topics. Memes are awesome because they spread like wildfire and reach so many people! This helps get more people involved in politics and encourages them to stay informed and participate. Panjaitan (2015) states that a set of digital products that share qualities of content, form, and/or position; that were developed with knowledge of each other; and that were shared, replicated, and/or modified over the internet by numerous users, as defined by MIT academic Limor Shifman in 2014. Since memes may reflect societal attitudes, governments can use this phenomenon to their advantage by using memes to gather information about what the public wants and how they feel about certain topics. (Panjaitan, 2015)

The Impact and Limitations of Meme Culture:

Memes are a fun and unique way to explore politics, but it's important to remember that they do have their limitations. Hey there! Memes, being sarcastic in nature, can sometimes oversimplify or misrepresent complicated problems, which can lead to some misinterpretation.

Memes, when not taken seriously, can sometimes spread harmful stereotypes or false information. According to Kumar (2023), being exposed to terrible material that creates unpleasant sentiments has a carryover influence in real life and makes understanding facial emotions more complex. So it's always a good idea to be cautious and double-check information before jumping to conclusions based solely on memes.

Memes and Political Discourse:

Memes can have a big impact on public opinion and political discussions too! Groups can bring people together, inspire support, encourage critical thinking, and hold politicians accountable to the public. Memes are great because they can bring people of all ages and cultural backgrounds together for fun conversations! People's political leanings and goals can be better understood by examining the memes that are becoming viral on the internet. (Tenove, 2019)

Memes are a fun and creative method for Malaysians to express their opinions, discuss politics, and mobilize support. Memes are cool because they represent political sentiment. They can even engage individuals in politics. They're not everything, but they contribute! It's crucial to view memes critically, considering their limitations and the danger of disinformation. In the big picture, memes can provide some insight into politics, but policies, historical settings, and other perspectives must also be examined.

Reference:

G. De Leon. FM & Ballesteros-Lintao, R 2021, “The Rise of Meme Culture: Internet Political Memes as Tools for Analysing Philippine Propaganda,” Journal of Critical Studies in Language and Literature, vol. 2, no. 4, Global Talent Academy, pp. 1–13, accessed <http://dx.doi.org/10.46809/jcsll.v2i4.70>.

Kumar. S 2023, “The Psychology Behind Memes and Their Impacts”, accessed 2023 October 20, <https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/psychology-behind-memes-impacts-sudipti-kumar>.

Kulkarni, A 2017, “Internet Meme and Political Discourse: A Study on the Impact of Internet Meme as a Tool in Communicating Political Satire,” SSRN Electronic Journal, Elsevier BV, accessed 2023 October 20, <http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3501366>.

Lee. Y. J 2020, “10 Memes That Helped Malaysians Get Through This Crazy Year”, Says, accessed 2023 November 23, <https://says.com/my/fun/10-memes-2020-that-helped-malaysians-get-through-this-crazy-year>.

Panjaitan. R. P 2015, “Meme culture: A tool of reflection and empowerment,” The Jakarta Post, accessed 2023 November 11, <https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/29/meme-culture-a-tool-reflection-and-empowerment.html>.

Tenove, C 2019, “The meme-ification of politics: Politicians & their ‘lit’ memes,” The Conversation, accessed 2023 October 18, <https://theconversation.com/the-meme-ification-of-politics-politicians-and-their-lit-memes-110017>.

[firstumcschenectady]

“Interconnected” based on James 1:17-27

Welcome to the book of James. It is one of my favorites, despite the fact that it takes away one of my best preaching tools. That is, I usually spend a lot of time explaining context and making sense of a scripture in the time and place it was written. But James is almost a form of wisdom literature. It is universal. So, we're able to spend our time on the ideas in the book directly.

James is written to the followers of Jesus in the diaspora – that is, those who lived outside of the Holy Land. The ones who had been DISPERSED from the land of their ancestors in faith. This feels relevant right now too. I don't know any church members at FUMC Schenectady who would claim modern Palestine or Israel as their native land, but I think that all of us are displaced from the “land” we once knew, and have not yet settled into the “land” we'll live in eventually. The Pandemic has displaced us all (although not all the same amount.)

In this opening chapter of the book of James, we are urged to LIVE our faith. James wants faith in ACTION. He urges people not to just listen to preachers ;) but to LIVE their faith, and he gets rather specific about it. James believes that people who are followers of Jesus should be acting out different values than the world's.

The crux of the advice from today's passage is “let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God's righteousness.” For James, this is integral in what it means to be “religious” - right up there with caring about God's beloveds who the world doesn't value (“widows and orphans.”)

As far as I can figure it out, the work of Christians is to build the kindom of God. The kindom, sometimes called the beloved community, is God's vision for the world. We will know it is here when the power of love overcomes the love of power; when the abundant resources of the world are used for the good of all people; when kin-ship connections cross all boundaries; when the poorest and most vulnerable people have enough to survive and thrive; when no one has to teach anyone about God because God is known by all. The kindom is God's long term plan for us, and our work to get there happens in two broad ways: first, by creating Christian communities where we practice kin-dom values and treat each other like we're already there and second by working with God to share love, to seek mercy, and advocate for justice so that the world is healed.

One of the parts of kindom building that can be hard sometimes is that it requires seeing clearly what the world is like now. We have to do this so we can hold it in tension with how God would have the world be in the kindom, but often the aching pain of the world as it is can be hard to let ourselves see clearly. For instance, we can't work towards a world without rape and violence unless we admit that we live in a world with rape and violence, and that there are barriers to changing it. So, we seek to see clearly. We seek to see how things are AND how God wants them to be.

Now, I don't want to shock you or anything, but the United States is a highly individualistic society. (The kindom is not.) We in the US have proven to the world how terribly individualism works – time and time again. Including in our responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

You might think that if you were looking at this pandemic with clear eyes that you would see that none of us can be well unless all of us are well- that we are collectively only as healthy as the least healthy among us – that every act of protection and prevention has enormous ripple effects. However, if we had learned this lesson, we'd be spending as much as possible to make it feasible to vaccinate every willing person in the world as soon as possible. We'd even do this before triple vaccinating our own population, because slowing down the spread of the virus is the most important way to keep everyone safe, healthy, and alive. The well being of all and the well being of the USA actually align! Yet, we miss the mark.

The book of James has an interesting perspective on the relationship that Christians have to the world. In the face of the injustices of the Roman Empire, the wealth inequality, the slavery, the power imbalances, the death rates of the poor, James urges the faithful … not to get angry.

I find that my first instinct is to argue with this a little bit. “Are you sure?” “What about when...?” Yet, even as I argue, I am convicted by this passage.

Society is rife with anger. Anger is pulling us apart at the seams. Some of the anger, I'd argue, is “righteous.” It is a response to injustice that needs to be seen, acknowledged, named, and addressed. We'll talk about that in a moment.

Most of the anger is misplaced. The anger is being used to create groups of “us” that stand against “them,” and those distinctions dismiss that everyone in both groups are beloveds of God. The anger is being used to provoke fear, sell products, pass unjust laws, and elect politicians. The anger is being USED.

And James points out directly that the people who want others to get angry are selling them on the idea that if they get angry enough, they will provoke God to action. James says it won't work though. God will act when God will act, and furthermore, prayer is a better way to go about it. Anger serves the people promoting it, not God.

But what about righteous anger? As I've been saying recently, anger is a “secondary” emotion. That is, it exists like a red flag to mark a place where something that is held precious is being violated. It lets us know when our values are attacked, and underneath that is another emotion. Most often anger is there to act as the bodyguard to sadness or the diversion to fear.

Sadness and fear are sufficient. They can guide us to good action, they can show us the ways of compassion, they can help us grow together. They are wise enough, that once we find them, we can let go of the anger that guided us to them.

Which means that the way to be “slow to anger” is often to identify anger, and then sit with it and find out what is underneath it. It means that we sometimes need to listen – to ourselves and our tender emotions. God is there, with us when we listen, with us when we feel, with us when we discover what is under our anger. This is, even, a form of God's healing, God's salve in our lives.

Of course, “be slow to anger” is the third piece of advice we're given in today's passage. The first two are to be quick to listen and slow to speak. It seems clear that James' advice is aimed at faith COMMUNITIES, because his advice is aimed at deepening and maintaining good relationships among the followers of Jesus.

For the past several years, I have participated in “listening circles.” These intentional spaces have careful guidelines that are aimed at making sure there is holy and sacred space for listening – and speaking. At times there have been 20 or 30 people in these circles, and you might think that there would be a lot more speaking than listening. But, there isn't. Often there are prolonged silences between speakers, and they feel like time to absorb the wisdom one beloved of God has offered. When the obligation to have a response is taken away, along with the tendency toward chit-chat, there is spaciousness for silence and listening.

When I hear James say, “be quick to listen, slow to speak” I think of how healing those circles have been in my life. I love being freed from having to have a response to something someone says, and instead just listen to them and receive their wisdom. And, when I do speak into such a space, I am astounded at the power that comes with being heard with love.

As much as I have loved these experiences though, it isn't clear to me how to live “be quick to listen, slow to speak” ALL the time. Really listening to another of God's beloveds takes energy and attention, and … let's be honest dear ones, those are finite resources!!! We will drain ourselves if we try to listen WELL all the time. (I've tried.)

That said, there is a being who is capable of listening with complete attention, and full energy, with love and compassion, with care and support – all day, every day, to all of us. God, the creator, sustainer, redeemer has gifted us with life, and God is with us breathing new life into us day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, and even second by second. When we seek God in prayer and meditation, we find that God is close at hand, ready and able to offer us healing. When all we have to offer are sighs too deep for words, God knows what we mean. When we are full of words, God listens until we have exhausted them. When we are able to be with the Divine in holy silence, God meets us there. And, of course, when what we offer God is our listening, …

well, that's when things really start to happen ;)

James encourages us to an active faith – not just to worship God once a week, but to live out faith in every day. He reminds us that the very people the world dismisses (the “widows and orphans”) are the ones that followers of Christ take care of. James doesn't hate the world – though he isn't impressed with it either - but he doesn't think being angry with it is going to change it. James encourages the people of faith to act differently. Take care of the struggling and vulnerable, listen deeply, speak with intention, slow down anger and learn its lessons instead of acting it out. Don't replicate the brokenness of the world – change it.

So, dear ones of God, I invite you to God's restoration, God's healing of the world, God's work of the Kindom: be quick to listen; be slow to speak; be slow to anger. With such “simple” acts as these, we can heal the world. May God help us. Amen

Rev. Sara E. Baron 

First United Methodist Church of Schenectady 

603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305 

Pronouns: she/her/hers 

http://fumcschenectady.org/ 

https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

September 5, 2021