Idle and Blessed

I have a serious problem with people tearing the Bible apart for term papers. I have a problem with the prerequisite of scholasticism being a complete disregard for intuition, mystery, and the movement of the Spirit. I have a serious problem with redaction criticism, because it's worth maybe 15% of our time and demands 90. I have a problem with myself and my peers for sitting in classrooms three days a week thinking we're doing Christianity when we can't name one person living in poverty in our city. If Jesus were sitting in the circle with us, he'd probably discuss the meaning of the scriptures, sure. He was a Rabbi. But he knew plenty of people who did that all day long, and he had a name for them. Hypocrites. It seems very presumptuous of us to make claims like "Proverbs perpetuates an evil system of economic inequality," and get standing ovations from each other. And an A. I don't know, that's probably true about Proverbs, in one sense or...

I didn't think it was possible, but autumn has come and made the east side of Atlanta pretty. These trees turn colors too, it turns out. Not like the Tennessee ones, but in their own way. Instead of pollen my car is now covered in yellow and red crunchy things, and soon there will be nothing to cover it, which is great news for someone who never washes her car but bad news for someone who isn't ready to admit winter is coming. I don't have the luxury of time anymore. My weeks are never ending, speeding along like Marta trains on infinity loops that begin where they are supposed to end. The to-do lists grow long each day and no moment can be wasted until night comes back around. It's a busy life, this work-and-school life, trying to make sure neither one screeches to a halt or goes up in flames. I don't have the luxury of shopping anywhere except Walmart and the world market, because there is a foreseeable future in which I will be unable to pay rent. I part with...