Pippi Longstocking, There's no one like her!

 

All photos of book artwork by @melodyh_s

I was recently reading Pippi Longstocking, and I delighted in the interesting though experiment of comparing her with Peter Pan. In some ways, she is the female counterpart to him. They are both resolutely insistent upon their state of childhood. Peter Pan, by definition, does not grow up. For Pippi, it is ultimately her series of childrens' tales the define her by her performance of childhood.

What was most interesting to me in contrasting the two children was the kinds of games that they like to play. Peter Pan "plays" doctor, family, school, war, and many others similar. It is often unclear to those around him whether or not Peter understands these to be games and not reality. 

Half of Pippi's fun is in the stories she tells. Sometimes, she admits that these are lies, and therefore appears to know the difference between real and make-believe. The other half of Pippi's fun is ordinary child's play with extraordinary twists. These twists are only possible with the unbelievable amount of freedom Pippi has; without a family, without school, without all the social roles young women are usually accustomed to being raised with.

Unlike Pippi, Peter's games revolve around filling these roles. As much as he says that he never wants to grow up, he seems to desperately like pretending to. While this irony makes sense for the story of Peter Pan, I also think that gender partially provides some context for these differences.

Both Pippi and Peter exemplify a fantastical freedom of childhood. For boys, social roles are more freeing. They are chances for Peter to be powerful, then run off from these starting points on fabulous adventures. For girls, these roles are more constraining, and restrict Pippi's freedom to be herself. I won't go on anymore, but it was fun for me to think back to the make believe games of my childhood in this stream of thought. I encourage you to do the same.

Things I Learned from Little Women (Part II)

 

All photos of book artwork by @melodyh_s

"Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life become a beautiful success, in spite of poverty."

Chapter 11 "The Experiment"



In this chapter, the sisters run an "experiment" where they do no work for an entire week. The above quote is the lesson they learn after that week yields such boredom as to make them so frustrated that they react with wanting days full of hard work. Marmee's words of wisdom are, yet again, words I wish I'd heard as a child. So simply put, and yet invaluable. I hope to remember them in the Fall as I'm getting my masters, struggling to make rent, and missing my best friend in Philadelphia.

Things I Learned From Little Women (Part I)

All photos of book artwork by @melodyh_s

 "Watch and pray dear, never get tired of trying." Chapter VIII

Chapter eight is a very dramatic chapter. When I read this book with my bookclub, most of us admitted that we didn't forgive Amy for the terrible thing she did to Jo. While it's difficult to reconcile, I am happy for its foothold in my heart. The chapters of Little Women can be read like episodes, each teaching its own lesson. Near the end, Jo has a long conversation with her Marmee about how to deal with her anger. The reflections on Jo's experience have had an impact on my formation of this blog. Here is some of that conversation:



"'You think your temper is the worst in the world; but mine used to be just like it.'

'Yours mother? Why, you are never angry!' and, for the moment, Jo forgot remorse in surprise.

'I've been trying to cure it for forty years, and have only succeeded in controlling it. I am angry nearly every day of my life, Jo; but I have learned not to show it; and I still hope to learn not to feel it, though it may take me another forty years to do so.'

The patience and humility of the face she loved so well was a better lesson to Jo that the wisest lecture, the sharpest reproof. She felt comforted at once by the sympathy and confidence given her; the knowledge that her mother had a fault like hers, and tried to mend it, made her own easier to bear and strengthened her resolution to cure it..."



#metoo is very much about women sharing experiences, realizing we are not alone in them. I am reminded how valuable and empowering this is, and hope to be as humble and open with my own daughters as Marmee is in this story.








"Watch and pray dear, never get tired of trying." Read a story, tell a story, connect with someone new, do something new, change a habit. Be inspired this day, like Jo, by our Mothers, and resolve that your inspiration will affect tomorrow by sharing it with someone.

To Valerie Saiving

I am a student of theology

I am also a woman

Could you tell us apart?

Read more of what they say about the Divine and you'll learn more of my heart

Though the passion is not platonic, it is not self-controlled

It does know envy and boasts of pain

It's weak, if truth be told

My love is diluted because it has to go through me

Though these lenses lack prescription, they may yet help me see

They give me names and help assign

Superpowers to manipulate time

They help me fashion this simple rhyme

They make me speak of the Divine.

"Calling"

@melodyh_s 2014

I attended a retreat last weekend that gave me some frustration. Throughout the retreat, one proposition was asked in a hundred different ways: "Tell me how you have been called to become a pastor?" I have been so fixated on the word "calling" for days, and I have been barely able to articulate why. I keep trying to move on from this apparently minor semantics irritation because I tend to find that if I am getting too bogged down in a few choice words, it usually is an indicator of some limited understanding of my own due to immaturity, a youthful adamance over hills I ought not choose to die on.

However, I am thinking lately that the word "calling" to describe my chosen profession is indicative of a larger issue I have regarding pastoral work and my femininity. As a woman, I am constantly anxious that I need to prove that I have just as much reason to be in theological and ecclesiological conversations as the men already present. This comes from the numerous times men have manspalined scripture to me while I just stand there thinking about how little they know about the Colossians or the Greco-Roman gender hierarchy or Greek, checking off all the things they are saying that are just plain wrong. "Calling" has never been all I needed in order to even be considered to be taken seriously in my pursuit of pastoral leadership. That language completely undercuts how much I have been forced to prove myself against my gender, which has worked against me.

My God is a Woman

I cannot relate to you

The things I know are not quite true

No matter what I say or do

I must remain anonymous

Only allow me to sit in your pew

I'll empathize with our fallen testimony

I'll gaze up, eyes shining and listen to you

Tell me how, teach us we are new

Transformed and at peace with our troubles

Ready to grow and ready to follow

For "He" is greater than our fear

And has graciously made our roles so clear

Now, emerging from this caterpillar journey 

I will not stand still

You have allowed me to teach a class 

And testify at will. . .

Remind me that there's room to grow and knowledge to gain from each other

So I must be sure to stay with the fallen and learn from my brother

Hey, brother 

I have gained so much from what you're pleased to say

It's been years now 

I am committed and plan only to stay

May I address the congregation? I have some words to teach

Experience and study have taught me much and I think I'm ready to preach.

Today I learned another thing that scholasticism reinforces

Tradition, with a hint of point of view that one can barely notice:

I cannot relate to you

The things I know are not quite true

No matter what I say or do

I must remain anonymous

DEAR GOD

This is a music video for "Dear God," an adaptation of Taylor Swift's "Dear John." It is now a prayer for when we are doubting. At the end of the day, sometimes all we can do is kneel at the feet of Jesus.