Consider Complexity

[considercomplexity]

Usually it's not so much what people say as how they say it. Conversation is more organic than edited text. The foundations of my strongest relationships are listening carefully and questioning inferences.

[considercomplexity]

Consider Complexity: My Great Void

I started this blog so that I could write the things I want to shout into the great void. If I could, I would daily wander through the backwoods and find a void-like ravine into which I could shout. Alas, I am stuck in suburbia and my great void is you, tumblr. I called it "Consider Complexity" because I have adopted this statement as my personal motto. Paradoxically, It's as simple as it sounds. It means I commit to conscious thinking, observing, and living. If you haven't read "This is Water" by David Foster Wallace, please stop reading my blog and go read it. It is brilliant. Go now. Ok so I guess you have already read it or you just finished and decided to return. This is what I mean. I never want to forget that this is water. I want to discuss and explore and read and stand breathless in wonder at beauty. So consider complexity. Open your mind, breathe deeply, and live fully. This is your only chance. Do not let it pass you without consent.

[considercomplexity]

The thresholds of feminism

Feminism is the idea that the feminine expression of humanity is equal in dignity to the masculine.

Femininity and masculinity are unbound by sexuality and gender, yet they are intrinsically intertwined. They are associated human qualities, but they are not interchangeable. Consider the possibility that a person can be any conceivable combination of identities and expressions.

Imagine a life where all people are held in equal dignity. A time when society will not crush a little boy’s femininity nor shame a little girl’s masculinity.

Let us exist in the thresholds between reality and fiction, truth and hope, and tolerance and traditionalism. Further, let us boldly enter the spaces of reality, truth, and love, but let us not abandon our hopeful, imaginative fictions and our time honored traditions.

Thus, may we see the world both as it is and as it might be, and let us never fear to cross the threshold.

[considercomplexity]

Soul mates

Once a youth pastor told me to pray for my future husband. As an obedient 12 year old, I began to add a checklist to my nightly prayer. "Dear Jesus, Please let my future husband be smart, funny, and kind. Amen." Doesn't sound so bad, right? Those are admirable qualities and this exercise taught me to reflect on what qualities I consider valuable in a future romantic partner. Here's what disturbs me. I had been taught that God already knew what would happen to me. I was an actor and God was the play write. All I had to do was learn my lines and I would be happy. Turns out, it's not that simple. The course of life is not predetermined. Life is a choice. Love is a choice. I am a 17 year old girl, and I don't believe in soul mates. But I can't think of anything more beautiful than the idea that someone might choose life and love with me.