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« Week of July 18, 2010 »
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Practice Erases Perfect: A Journey of Faith in Imperfection- Christian and Buddhist Insights
Start: 19:30
End: 21:00

Join us for a very special Faiths and Feminisms with Dr. Bobbi Patterson, professor of Religion at Emory University as she shares her faith journey.

Daily living can be tough – 
even amid joys and dancing.  I thought by trying to ignore the
things that set me off, I’d be kinder and gentler with others and
myself.  But it turns out that by learning to let go of my perfectionism,
I gained more insight into my “imperfections.”  Those trigger
points of irritation and despair became invitations to healing and wholeness. 

Insights from Christian and Buddhist
contemplative traditions drew me to this journey of practicing imperfection.
I am learning practices that help me open up to the fullest experiences
of living alone and with others, listening completely to conflict, discerning
sources of pain, and realizing the causes of my own suffering. 
How helpful this seeming paradox is: to become motivated for compassion’s
sake to embrace stability in imperfection for love.  

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A Perfect Peace with Daniel Omotosho Black
Start: 19:30
End: 21:00

Don't miss this very special evening with Clark University professor Daniel Omotosho Black, whose new novel, A Perfect Peace, explores the complexities of gender and sexuality in one rural southern African American family.

Emma Jean Peace had always wanted
a girl, but after birthing her sixth boy, she swore she would never
be pregnant again as she is going through “the change.”  Unexpectedly,
she becomes pregnant yet again and gives birth to her seventh boy in
May of 1940.  Possessed by her wish to have a daughter and angry
at God for so denying her, Emma Jean declares the baby is her daughter
at last, naming her Perfect.  She then threatens her midwife to
keep her secret from her family and the community.   

When Perfect turns eight, Emma Jean
tells her bewildered daughter, “You was born a boy. I made
you a girl. But that ain't what you was supposed to be. So, from now
on, you gon' be a boy. It'll be a little strange at first, but you'll
get used to it, and this'll be over after while.”  From this
point forward, his life becomes a bizarre kaleidoscope of events. 
Meanwhile, the Peace family is forced to question everything they thought
they knew about gender, sexuality, unconditional love, and fulfillment.  

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