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I have worked six years as a college professor in the area of Theology and Ethics. Before that, I spent some years in Chicago, acquiring my Ph.D. degree. As a child I wanted to be an actress. Perhaps that is how I found my way into education. I often think to myself that there is only a minimal difference between acting and teaching.
I love college students because they have so many questions to ask. When they run out of questions, they like to put their foreheads to the table and take a nap. That is how I know they are looking for the thrill of a good question.
I think most of us are haunted by an irrational fear of good questions. Somehow we think they are out to steal our sense of security about the things we believe. But, really, when we hit upon a good answer to our questions then we realize something important. Namely that we would have missed the answer if we had not kept pushing our questions. So, we have no reason to fear good questions.
When I was a student myself, I always thought it was disgusting when teachers accidentally spit during their lectures. Now I do it myself. Sometimes. I guess that is what happens when you are passionate about life on the stage.
I am a slow writer, but I like it best that way. It gives an incredible sense of joy to uncover in writing what I did not understand when I first had an idea. It feels like watching as ideas mature. John Irving likes it best that way, too. He says he always knows the last sentence of a book before he has completed any of the first sentences. It is like that in most aspects of life anyway. The end is what we know. Getting there is how we mature.
A few years ago, one of my academic colleagues retired early and gave all his books away. I was shocked because I love my field and could never part with my books. Yes, they are tools for use in my professional work, but they are also like pillars in my personal life. No matter what I will do between now and leaving this world, I will always be a theologian. Which is why I could never part with my books.
Mother Teresa is my hero. There was no messing around with her because she spoke with authority. It was mostly because of the freedom she had in her faith that people listened to her. She was fearless of this world because she had faith. That is how she changed the world. And to think of how tiny she was! I am probably twice her physical size.
I love Mozart and Bob Dylan, and never get tired of listening to their music.
I believe men and women are equals. Therefore, I am not a feminist. Rather, I agree with Dietrich Bonhoeffer who said that God gave the first man and woman to each other as equals who needed each other. That was Adam and Eve. To this day, all of us are restless on our own, just like Adam was before he met Eve. It is always when we develop love for another person that we find the solution to our restlessness. Love gives us a sense of who we are.
My friends are to die for and I could not live without them. Not that I have very many of them. Nobody does. I am always suspicious when people say otherwise, because friendships are not to be taken lightly. In fact, they take a lot. Time in particular, which is why friendship is for life. But, the mystery of being friends is that we do not need to be together all the time. Because friends do not go away.
I grew up on a farm and drove a tractor before I could read. My best friend was a cow. When my father sent the cow off to be slaughtered, my world fell apart. But that is what happens around such places. Driving is still one of my great passions.
I say the Christian creed when I need to remember what I believe. Many think creeds are a thing of the past and formulated by men with a long outdated kind of patriarchal authority. They say it is time we start believing for ourselves. But then I read Dorothy Sayers. She wrote mystery novels and knew how to disarm authoritarian men on iffy missions. For her, the life of faith was a matter of creed or chaos. I agree. So, I stick with the Christian creed, because I believe what it says.
I would not do a good job in public office. Political charades rub me the wrong way. Still, every Sunday morning, I miss Tim Russert more than I care to admit. He knew how to pull a checkmate on those political wolves. Because he loved politics and knew how to ask real questions.
I have no idea how to survive without my massage therapist. As his eyesight continues to degenerate, he becomes better and better at his job. His hands are as big and as sturdy as frying pans. I am positive that massage therapy is the best preventive medicine available.
Speaking of health, I used to have terrible constipation. Then I did a colon cleanse and it changed my inner life. Out of continued care for my colon, I have Udo’s Oil every day. I pour it over my salad and like to lick my plate after I am done eating. Because Udo’s Oil is expensive. Except, I refuse to lick my plate when there are other people around. So, you cannot be sure that I actually do lick my plate.
I have one blue and one brown eye, am six feet tall, and wear a size 11 shoe. I am proud of it all, because my mother taught me to always think of personal differences as “extra charms.” Still, it does put shoe shopping in the category of nightmares.
Animals talk to me when I sit on the porch and work. They look at me in a way that gives me a certain kind of hope. Especially when I start talking back to them. Perhaps this was the kind of experience Adam had before God put him to sleep and made a woman for him. Adam thought he would find among the animals what he was looking for.
I know for a fact that I would be a chain smoker if I had ever started smoking. My most interesting recurring dream is the one where I have become a smoker. This dream is my favorite because it feels sooo good to inhale that smoke. It is also my scariest dream because I wake up and know for sure I am a smoker.
If you want to pronounce my last name correctly, think “Icing on the cake.” That is how to say it. Icing. It is Danish. Although you should know that I am not a Danish. I am a Dane. If social researchers tell the truth, this means that I belong to the happiest people in the world.
I do not have children. I am not married and never was. Nor am I sexually attracted to my own sex. One implication of these things is that I have never been divorced and do not fear losing my life partner. I am thankful for that.
I love the fact that St. Augustine was black, and that he was hard-wired for passion as well as confession. The world is a better place because there are priests who take confessions. My prayer is that God will be generous to these priests and pour on them an abundance of holy forgetfulness.
Does it make life easier to believe in the God of Christians? No. It easily makes life more difficult. But, when faith takes hold of you, it is impossible to then turn around and shake it off. I tried to do that, but could not get it to work. That is my personal experience with the resilience of faith and, because of it, I hesitate to hold believers responsible for their faith. Ask God, not them, for an explanation. Believers only believe what they have seen.
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