Update on stuff nobody but me cares about anyway

It's a working weekend for me, as if there's any other kind. The Y-chromosome carriers are out having fun, and I get to stay home reading books about death on this beautiful sunny day.

I'm working on an article on how non-religious parents can help their children cope with the idea of death, and just as an aside: there were a few books that I really thought would be helpful, but were a little pricey and could not be found at the library. I needed them quickly, so there wasn't time to fuss around with interlibrary loans. It's not that I mind buying books, but money's tight and books (my drug of choice) are one thing I'm trying to be a little more frugal about.

Then I thought: people are shelling out seven bucks a copy for SHM because they like reading it enough to pay that. And these are books I really need in order for this article to be as good as it possibly can be.

So I ponied up almost a hundred dollars for three books; and just as a wonderful coincidence, that day I received more than enough in subscription orders to cover the cost of buying said books.

Pretty cool.

Anyway: before I settle down to my dire reading, just wanted to tap out a quick Mad Editor update.

1. I'm sitting around on a gorgeous autumn afternoon reading about death not only for the article I mentioned, but for another one on teaching our children about the Holocaust. If you write and you don't hear back, you can safely assume I'm in the tub trying to think of a reason not to do myself in.

2. Since I was in danger of being too happy about the election, California (my home state) obligingly denied gays the right to marry. As a former Catholic who still feels a connection with her father's church (and what Catholic ever feels completely separate from that group, regardless of how long ago or why she left it?), I'm angry at how much support the church as a body gave Proposition 8, and how little irony they see in this stance. I grew up in a church that had no problem at all with the idea that its ideas about who could marry whom were utterly distinct from the government's. My in-laws married in the Catholic church, drifted away from it, had a civil divorce, and went on to marry other people. In the eyes of the church, they're still married to one another. In the eyes of the state, they're not. The church is fine with not having their own position on this particular marriage be legally binding, and it's highly inconsistent of them to push for the state to reflect a religious idea about marriage. I assume they now want to make it actually illegal for priests to marry?

3. I'm growing my bangs (fringe, for my Brit readers) out, and they're not going quietly. I see do-rags in my future for the next twenty months or so.

4. There isn't enough chocolate in the world to make me any less bummed out about any of these things, but I did just bake a huge batch of brownies based on a recipe secular homeschooling goddess Kathy in PA was good enough to send my way. I'll be posting about that soon on my BellaOnline chocolate page (if I haven't already by the time you read this). If you didn't know I had an alter ego, and/or are morbidly curious to see what the bleep I look like, you can check out my weekly chocolate column here:
 
http://www.bellaonline.com/site/chocolate
 
If you were too busy to read all that and just skipped to the end hoping for a summary: please send chocolate, hats, and a separation suitable for lodging between church and state to California, care of SHM.