tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905236167079601771.post5367206037173430781..comments2023-12-25T11:13:04.495+00:00Comments on Seraphic Singles: Relevant InterviewSeraphichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251504033428511090noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905236167079601771.post-62708011597025444872013-10-24T21:39:45.351+01:002013-10-24T21:39:45.351+01:00Oh, that Suzy! I've come across Suzy on buses ...Oh, that Suzy! I've come across Suzy on buses in Edinburgh, too. <br /><br />Well, Ignatius Press is going to set me up with my own blog, so then we shall see!Seraphichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06251504033428511090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905236167079601771.post-59953061512763848402013-10-24T21:35:55.945+01:002013-10-24T21:35:55.945+01:00My mother & I just finished your book- she sai...My mother & I just finished your book- she said to tell you she met a 'Suzy' on a bus in London, and is disappointed to find she is a 'type' and not an anomaly, so thank you for writing about it. Also clear that you wrote it after being in Europe (not a 'has never left North America' novel at all).<br /><br />We very much enjoyed the book! Do you have a link yet to your novel blog? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905236167079601771.post-12986759843238639612013-10-24T20:21:12.530+01:002013-10-24T20:21:12.530+01:00I remember a case a couple of years ago about an A...I remember a case a couple of years ago about an Alberta woman whose murder conviction for killing her newborn was overturned and she was given a suspended sentence on the lesser charge of infanticide.<br /><br />I don't know the specific details of the case well enough to know whether there were factors like post-partum psychiatric instability that may indeed have diminished her criminal culpability. But what struck me was the judge's comments: it was something along the lines of it being such a similar circumstance to a late abortion, and a few days difference and she could have done it legally.<br /><br />And I thought "well yes, that's true, it IS exactly like, but the implication is that this makes it not so bad, when in fact it's the other way around."<br /><br />I was born a few weeks premature, and it's kind of chilling to consider that I in my incubator in the NICU was safer, legally speaking, than someone of the same gestational age still in their mother. The only difference was circumstance, but I was a legally recognized person with rights and they weren't.<br /><br />My parish is just down the road from one of Toronto's main "women's health facilities" so we tend to play host to 40 Days for Life at least once a year. There are also some wonderful ladies who stand out there and pray at any time of year. <br /><br />My best friend likes to play her trump card when "pro-choice" people discuss the subject around her. The hypotheticals about difficult situations generally stop when she says "Well I am the product of an unplanned teen pregnancy, and I'm glad to be alive."Heather in Torontonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905236167079601771.post-39965421179429572942013-10-24T19:49:49.210+01:002013-10-24T19:49:49.210+01:00Yay, I'm so glad you're going to be on Rel...Yay, I'm so glad you're going to be on Relevant Radio! I know almost everyone who works there through my insanely well-connected mom. I will plan to tune in and listen Monday morning! :)Tesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07797493386545660391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905236167079601771.post-45655612613261466722013-10-24T16:29:36.104+01:002013-10-24T16:29:36.104+01:00Actually, there are, but we don't do them. We ...Actually, there are, but we don't do them. We should all be weeping outside of the clinics, but we aren't. This sucks. <br /><br />It really is optional for Muslim women to wear Saudi clothes. Anyone who wants to cover her head can technically just wear a headscarf, like the Queen when it's windy and raining. Muslim women I know in Toronto look and dress exactly like modest Catholic South Asian girls. The only across-the-board rule for Muslims is to dress modestly. But as we know, there is an amount of coercion going on here. If priests told women we should have to cover our heads in church again, we would scream like banshees. It's not because we're immodest. It's because we would question what this means and why. Same for Muslim women covering their heads. Seraphichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06251504033428511090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905236167079601771.post-20018569044702972922013-10-24T16:22:09.358+01:002013-10-24T16:22:09.358+01:00Seraphic, I do understand what you mean. For the b...Seraphic, I do understand what you mean. For the big city liberal set, it is easier to show acceptance of minorities (often token minorities) than to promote or even be seen accepting the teachings of Christianity. And yes, at u of t it is probably a lot easier to be Muslim than to be a pro-life activist. But I don't think a hijab and a pro-life t-shirt are comparable! In a lot of Muslim communities, at least some of these observances are socially mandatory. There is nothing that Catholics are obligated to do that makes us instantly stand out on a city street.Woodbinenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905236167079601771.post-82340148245271173682013-10-24T16:09:25.558+01:002013-10-24T16:09:25.558+01:00Here's the little lady who made me look up Isl...Here's the little lady who made me look up Islamic attitudes towards abortion: <br /><br />"In response to a series of controversies over abortion debates on Canadian campuses, the student government of York University in Toronto has tabled an outright ban on student clubs that are opposed to abortion.<br /><br />Gilary Massa, vice-president external of the York Federation of Students, said student clubs will be free to discuss abortion in student space, as long as they do it "within a pro-choice realm," and that all clubs will be investigated to ensure compliance. (From National Post)"<br /><br />To my surprise, when I googled her, it turns out she wears a hijab. <br /><br />The president of York University is now a Muslim from Egypt, which I think shows a high level of inclusivity on the part of ol' York. Seraphichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06251504033428511090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905236167079601771.post-59985680788560243692013-10-24T15:57:06.557+01:002013-10-24T15:57:06.557+01:00@ Woodbine. The average Muslim woman in Canada--we...@ Woodbine. The average Muslim woman in Canada--well, Toronto--is invisible if she doesn't wear a hijab. (Ironically, a woman is less noticeable if she just wears a modest outfit--jeans and a hoodie--and no headcovering.) And many, many Muslim women do not practise "no physical contact between the sexes". It all depends on what particular form of Islam she practices, and how she interprets religious teachings on modesty, etc. It is not a rule of all-forms-of-Islam that women have to cover their heads and never shake hands with men. I could go on at great length about this, but I would bet the grocery money that a woman is safer wearing a hijab at U of T than a pro-life T-shirt. Seraphichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06251504033428511090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905236167079601771.post-81126353366030698102013-10-24T15:53:34.437+01:002013-10-24T15:53:34.437+01:00Self-promotion is only wrong when women do it. Whe...Self-promotion is only wrong when women do it. When men do it it's called "advancing one's career." Definitely a double standard.Fifinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905236167079601771.post-91964333460293386642013-10-24T15:33:12.072+01:002013-10-24T15:33:12.072+01:00Observant Muslims more at home in Canadian society...Observant Muslims more at home in Canadian society than observant Catholics? Respectfully, I can't agree with that. Unless the mark of an observant Catholic is to be so uncomfortable with the country's ab*rtion laws that you constantly feel uneasy when in public, I don't see how Catholics have it worse than Muslims in Canada, or the west in general. There are so many practices that clearly mark observant Muslims as different from the majority (extreme modesty, abstaining from alcohol, avoiding any physical contact between the sexes) that must have a huge effect on their daily lives. This on top of the linguistic and other cultural differences that many face as new immigrants. I don't see how their beliefs on early term ab*rtions would make them feel more at ease in society than Catholics, who in most visible ways blend right in. <br />I don't mean to be rude, but I really do think it's wrong to suggest that Catholics are so disadvantaged in Canadian/western society.Woodbinenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905236167079601771.post-12599985830918615032013-10-24T15:10:41.632+01:002013-10-24T15:10:41.632+01:00Thank you, Nulli, always my champion! :-DThank you, Nulli, always my champion! :-DSeraphichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06251504033428511090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905236167079601771.post-26948098005614776702013-10-24T15:09:06.449+01:002013-10-24T15:09:06.449+01:00Your eavesdropper's theory is contradicted by ...Your eavesdropper's theory is contradicted by experiment. Most of the technical books I have used in the last two years I have purchased after having read their authors' blogs and seen their books being flogged on their site. I would not have otherwise.<br /><br />I recommend staying the course.<br /><br />NS<br />2 cents.Nulli Secundusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905236167079601771.post-84624954438203195442013-10-24T14:23:15.385+01:002013-10-24T14:23:15.385+01:00By the way, Sunny, people in the UK and Canada are...By the way, Sunny, people in the UK and Canada are still very interesting in English-language writing from and about South Africa. To be a writer, all you have to do is write and not stop until you are done. <br /><br />As a woman living in Cape Town you must definitely have something to say about life as a woman in Cape Town!Seraphichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06251504033428511090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905236167079601771.post-85289757873632004392013-10-24T14:16:15.776+01:002013-10-24T14:16:15.776+01:00I googled, and Abdus Salaam Ibrahim most definitel...I googled, and Abdus Salaam Ibrahim most definitely does not look how I expected him to look. I am guessing that he is not practising a form of Islam native to, uh, Cape Town. Seraphichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06251504033428511090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905236167079601771.post-75607419152594595092013-10-24T14:02:56.114+01:002013-10-24T14:02:56.114+01:00I too narrowly avoided a terrorist bomb attack whe...I too narrowly avoided a terrorist bomb attack when the beach side cafe in Cape Town where I had whiled away a pleasant Sunday afternoon was bombed later that evening. In my case the culprits were PAGAD, or People Against Gangsterism and Drugs, also a Muslim organisation. To this day I cannot understand how they thought using violence in other, more affluent areas to protest against crime in their area was justified, or would ever be effective. I wish I was a writer too. I am sure the process was cathartic. Sunnysaffernoreply@blogger.com