Let us sing of Easter gladness that rejoices every day,Sing of hope and faith uplifted; Love has rolled the stone away.– Frances Thompson HIll
Monthly Archives: March 2016
Birds for Bernie
Did y’all see the clip of the little bird landing on Bernie Sander’s podium? Isn’t that cool?! 🙂 I can’t imagine a little bird flying to the podium of any other candidate – thousands of people hooting and screaming around him – and happily sitting there for a minute to commune with the speaker. I also can’t imagine any other presidential candidate responding to that little bird in the same way Bernie Sanders did. I’m thinking if that small feathered earthling has the good sense to recognize a friend when he sees one, why shouldn’t human earthlings be able to do that, too?
I am caucusing in Washington State today. Four years ago I caucused for the first time and ended up going to the state convention as a delegate for President Obama. That was such a blast! (You can read all about that little adventure on my Humoristianity blog.) I’m not voting for Bernie today because that little bird endorses him – I have known from the moment Bernie Sanders announced his candidacy that I would be supporting him – but that video clip surely does help validate my choice for me.
Another Day to Laugh and Love
My dear Humoristian hooligans, You have a reason to live today. A purpose. You woke up this morning with another day to be alive and to love, and to create healing laughter for those around you. To…
Source: Another Day to Laugh and Love
And After the Wind
“And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.”
– I Kings 19:11-12
Courage, dear Humoristian hooligans…
Courage, my dear Humoristian hooligans –
Remember that it’s always darkest before the silver lining. Or… every cloud has a dawn. (?) No, wait… every rainbow has…clouds? Or early worms maybe? Okay, forget all of that. Here’s the thing: Sometimes when the world seems to be at its bleakest – when we seem to be surrounded by hate and racism and fear and anger and people who want to build walls between themselves and others – I think those are the times when we’re on the cusp of something really amazing. A breakthrough. A revolution. A revelation. What a privilege (I know there are other words we might use besides “privilege” – “bummer” might work, also – but I’m sticking with “privilege” for now) to be alive during these moments in our world’s history.
I believe, my dear friends, that there’s a reason you are here on this planet, right now. If ever there was a time when the world needed your good-natured joie de vivre it is now. To paraphrase a well-known passage from The Bible: “Let your joy of life and good will so shine upon the world’s nonsense that it will see the power in a good laugh and a kind word.”
Yours in Humoristianity,
Karen
Click here to hear Tracy Chapman’s inspiring song, Talkin’ Bout A Revolution.
Click here to hear Joan Baez singing We Shall Overcome.

photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell
Blow ye winds, blow!
My dear Humoristian hooligans,
We have got us some gusts here. Yesiree, bub, it is bellowing. Internet’s down. I am thumbing on my cellphone…which means this post is going to take a week or two to write. There will be grammatical mistakes and possible words that I didn’t bint …hah…right on cue…intend to write. But the good news is that my phone is adding a lotto…livid…lot of new words to my visit…dictionary…here. It is entertaining to teach my phone new words like “bub” and “yesiree” and together we even created a new word just now: bint. Whuch…(yeah, just made that one up, too) …that actually might be a great assignment for my high school students – create your own words.
Wishing you all a day of interesting adventures and cool new wirds. May you be easily entertained. And may you know kindness and love.
Xoxo
Karen
Sanders Makes Pollsters Feel The Bern!
I guess someone forgot to tell the people of Michigan how they were supposed to vote!
I Wish You Nothing But Good
Revelation!
I’m not angry, I don’t hate you –
all that happened then –
the unfairness of it, the injustice –
was a part of the healing. It was
all good – all of it – the people,
the place, the circumstances –
and it led to the healing –
it brought me to the place
prepared for me – a place of purpose
and joy. And I see you now –
and my feelings are benign towards
you. I wish you nothing but good.
How could anger and hate ever
abide where there is healing?
Madcap Christian Scientist for Bernie
“Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy has always believed that those who are entitled to vote should do so, and she has also believed that in such matters no one should seek to dictate the actions of others.”
– from Prose Works by Mary Baker Eddy
Christian Scientists are expected to follow individual conscience when it comes to voting. There are no bossy britches big wigs in the Christian Science movement telling other Christian Scientists how to vote… and, frankly, trying to dictate voting choices to Christian Scientists would be like trying to herd cats, anyway. We are a… peculiar… people. (And “peculiar” might be an under-statement. 🙂 )
In 2012 I served as a delegate for President Obama at the state convention. This year I am rooting for Bernie Sanders. It is very tempting for me to explain my choice by pointing out the flaws and foibles of the other folks running for President. But it’s probably a more positive thing for me to talk about the things about Mr. Sanders that I like and respect – things that I liked and respected about him even before he announced his candidacy: He is honest; consistent in his views; fights for the humble, poor, and disenfranchised; and cares about the same things I care about. He is an upright man:
“The upright man is guided by a fixed Principle, which destines him to do nothing but what is honorable, and to abhor whatever is base or unworthy; hence we find him ever the sane, – at all times the trusty friend, the affectionate relative, the conscientious man of business, the pious worker, the public-spirited citizen…He assumes no borrowed appearance. He seeks no mask to cover him, for he acts no studied part; but he is indeed what he appears to be, – full of truth, candor, and humanity. In all his pursuits, he knows no path but the fair, open, and direct one, and would much rather fail of success than attain it by reproachable means.”
– Mary Baker Eddy’s re-working of a description found in Murray’s The English Reader, published in 1823
There’s a quote in Timequake, by Kurt Vonnegut, that I think could have easily been said by Bernie Sanders: “Many people need desperately to receive this message: ‘I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.”
Feel the Bern! 🙂

photo by Carolyn Kaster