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He was obviously a great guy, cared about people less fortunate than himself, befriended and championed sex workers, he even eschewed organized religion. But I have to say that, as an atheist, I really like Jesus. This can be filed under me trying to catch up with the weirdo religions of the world. “The Gospel According to Jesus,” by Stephen Mitchell. I mean, I am a magic nut and I want to learn some card tricks but I keep forgetting to bring a deck of cards to bed so I can practice, and then I think how weird it would be and not a good sign for my relationship to start playing cards in bed, so I don’t bring them and therefore I have never learned a single card trick from this book. I don’t know why I have this on my night stand. I have a fantasy that I will plant a beautiful organic garden and tend to it, barefoot and serene - a bit like Nicole Kidman’s character in “Nine Perfect Strangers.” But then I remember that I travel too much and other people would have to look after it for me, and then I think of all the times throughout the summer when gardener friends suddenly become manic and try to fob off all their excess bounty on anyone who comes into their orbit and I fear I would become the version of Nicole Kidman’s character who is off her tits on psychedelics and lying under a tree with blood coming out of her nose and I decide to postpone my garden plans for another year.
Theme of the catcher in the rye series#
Like why is it called the World Series when only America and Canada play in it? And saying the president is the “leader of the free world” also smacks of jingoistic superiority as it assumes the rest of the world that considers itself to be free must also consider itself to be led and guided by America and its leader, and - spoiler alert - that has not been the case for a while (especially during the last presidency). I always take delight in pointing out this type of arrogance to my American friends.
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foreign policy, but doesn’t really help in the P.R. It suggests that becoming an American is the natural thing to do, and therefore not being American is unnatural. I have to say I think the word ‘naturalization’ isn’t good. I have had this on my night stand since I was given it at my naturalization ceremony in 2008. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. I also embraced atheism early so I just never got into the habit of retaining information about the different types of religion and now I’m trying to catch up with the crazy. I didn’t meet a Jewish person until I was 18. I remember it being a big deal when some Catholic kids enrolled in our high school.
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I think my upbringing in rural Scotland was so monolithic in terms of religion. I just get confused with all the different types and their origins.
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The concept of having faith in a higher power, some kind of symbol that gives you succor and moral guidance and all that is totally fine. “A Short History of Islam,” by William Montgomery Watt. I also used to have a therapist who was a student of Laing’s and so I had this fascinating insight into the man himself. Part of the reason I wanted to write “Baggage” was to show I am still on a journey, still learning and still affected deeply by trauma I’ve had in my past. His belief that madness or mental illness is not something to be locked away and hidden but that it is potentially a shamanic experience with much to teach us is fascinating to me. “I would play her as a man, not in drag or anything,” says the Tony-winning actor Alan Cumming, whose new memoir is “Baggage.” “Once you’ve played everything in ‘Macbeth’ (like I have) there are slim pickings in terms of great, complicated, messed-up Scots left to play!”