Rogue Reverend

Writing, Blogging, Preaching, and Being Busy

I miss writing. Well, more specifically, I miss blogging.

I’m still writing sermons, although they feel more raw, more private, and even more confidential than before. So I’m not posting them anymore.

But I haven’t written here since I really got going on my new job. Maybe it’s because I’m learning so much new stuff. Maybe it’s because I’m spending 15-18 hours a week on the road. Maybe it’s because I thought my head would implode with all this new information.

Whatever it is, I’d like it to stop. I want to write.

I want to write about the interesting (read that batty) person who told me last week that the meaning of life is TIME.

I want to write about seeing the elderly woman who had been arrested for solicitation face 90 days in jail for a $10 sex act.

I want to write about the amazement of learning that you are HIV+ when you see that information as an empowering choice to get care.

But for now, I’m just going to say, “Hi.” I’ve missed you.

Things I Wish I Had Learned at 24 (instead of 42)

Loving what you do is really important. But so is a paycheck.

Real, abiding love takes commitment and compromise, and is much easier to find and do before you become a crotchety old woman.

Boundaries are important, and you should always take your time learning to trust people. Make sure they deserve it.

A life ruled by “shoulds” is no fun, but a life ruled by “because I want to” is not too rewarding. Balance.

Love and partnership is important.

Acceptance and gratitude are the greater part of love.

Happy New Job

It’s been a while since I wrote on my blog, but tons of stuff has happened.

I interviewed with HIPS (Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive) in Washington, D.C. back in October for a position that wasn’t right for me. In late November, they asked me to interview for a different position. This one fit. And stuck.

January 4 was my first day as the Client Advocacy Program Manager at HIPS. HIPS’ mission is to assist female, male, and transgender individuals engaging in sex work in Washington, DC in leading healthy lives. Utilizing a harm reduction model, HIPS’ programs strive to address the impact that HIV/AIDS, STIs, discrimination, poverty, violence and drug use have on the lives of individuals engaging in sex work.

I’m so excited about the job. The people I’ve met have been warm and welcoming. I feel so grateful, first just to have a job, but especially to have a job I care about. Happy New Year!

In Honor of Tom, on the occasion of World AIDS Day

No worst, there is none. Pitched past pitch of grief,
More pangs will, schooled at forepangs, wilder wring.
Comforter, where, where is your comforting?
Mary, mother of us, where is your relief?
My cries heave, herds-long; huddle in a main, a chief
Woe, world-sorrow; on an age-old anvil wince and sing—
Then lull, then leave off. Fury had shrieked ‘No ling-
ering! Let me be fell: force I must be brief’.

O the mind, mind has mountains; cliffs of fall
Frightful, sheer, no-man-fathomed. Hold them cheap
May who ne’er hung there. Nor does long our small
Durance deal with that steep or deep. Here! creep,
Wretch, under a comfort serves in a whirlwind: all
Life death does end and each day dies with sleep.

~Gerard Manley Hopkins

Cultivating Gratitude: Friendship

Friendship, friendship, how I love thee.

I truly have the best friends in the world. I have brilliant, funny, loving friends. There’s the friend I call when I really need counseling (T), the friend I  talk to for hours, never running out of things to talk about (A), the friend I drink coffee with and eat vegan food (even if she’s no longer a vegan!) (R), the friend who challenges me to broaden my vision (also an R), the new friend who I like to hang with (E), and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

There’s the friend who has known me longest (T), and who always knows the right thing to say and do in life. Don’t forget the friend who is my best girl, the mother of my godchildren (K). There’s (D) who gives me hell when I fall off the right path, and loves me enough to tell me I’m wrong. There’s my friend (A) who is very busy right now, with new challenges (school, moving, new business), who has always been a better friend to me, and inspires me.

There are so many more, but I can’t write about them all.

I am so grateful. I found this cheesy poem that really says what I’d like to, but much cheesier:

Some people come into our lives and quickly go.
Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to
new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom.
Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon.
They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints
on our hearts, and we are never ever the same.
~ Flavia Weedn

Happy Thanksgiving, friends. I love you.