Queer comedy and kickass bluegrass

A few things from the past week.

There was the movie 45 Years about a couple that is about to celebrate their 45-year anniversary when the husband receives upsetting news from his distant (and secretive) past. The incomparable Charlotte Rampling stars. It was our kind of movie because it left us with a lot to discuss. How would we have reacted in a similar situation?

Then there was the "quirky queer Quaker performance artist and scholar" Peterson Toscano, who hails from Pennsylvania and spoke at our church on Thursday. He's a bible scholar who brings a new perspective to biblical figures in nonconforming gender roles. He is a Christian who spent 20 years and $30,000 trying to convert to heterosexuality because he felt homosexuality and Christianity are incompatible. Along the way, his intense study of the bible revealed interpretations that you don't hear about on Fox TV. He spoke very eloquently of the importance of scholarly research because translations of the bible reflect the biases of the translator. One of his interpretations: Joseph's technicolor dream coat would be better translated as a princess dress (the only other place in the bible the phrase appeared was in describing a special dress for a princess). Joseph was a gender transgressor, which explained why his brothers beat him so savagely. All Souls (my church) has an annual remembrance service for transgendered people. I didn't realise how, to this day, violence against them is so common.

Saturday we went to a bluegrass festival in Omagh. Bill Monroe, Stanley Brothers, all the standards were played by virtuoso musicians, most from Ulster but some from the U.S. and Canada. It was a great day of music at the Ulster American Folk Park, which showcases the lives of Ulster families before and after they left for America. So you'd see a cottage from Donegal and then a cottage in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. They actually moved houses and barns from the U.S. and rebuilt them here. It was kind of disorienting, with the U.S. properties looking just like properties where we lived in Chester County.

Sunday I made my debut in the church choir. I love to sing and, now the dissertation is nearly over, I want to get re-engaged in the world. So Monday night is choir rehearsal and Sunday is choir. I love singing in harmony, so this was a treat. After church we talked to the minister about what we in Northern Ireland can do to help the refugees fleeing war in the Middle East and Africa. More on that later. We also went to two art shows at Queen's and at the Ulster Museum. One was by a portrait artist named Colin Davidson who does giant portraits. His show: Silent Testimony, includes portraits of people affected by the Troubles in different ways. Some lost their children, some their parents, some their spouses, some their eyesight. His portraits are haunting and are aimed at helping understand the trauma and grief that continue 20, 30, or 40 years on.

I've been working from 9-4 every weekday on the dissertation, despite the activity captured here. I'm nearly at 14,000 words and 40 pages single spaced. I'm pretty worn out at this point. One more week and then it goes to the printers. I will be so very very relieved to have this off my shoulders.
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