Julie Clawson

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NW Emerging Women Gathering

Posted on January 29, 2007July 7, 2025

I returned home last night from the NW Emerging Women Gathering outside of Portland, OR. It was a refreshing experience of connecting with some amazing women. I got to see some old and new friends again and meet some more. The gathering was held at the Edgefield Manor which is this amazing complex of buildings. It is part of the McMenamin’s system which I had never heard of before, but which seems really cool. They try to create “third places” for communities – with ample space for people to come and find community. So at Edgefield there was the hotel, a movie theater, a concert hall, a pool hall, a brewery and pub, a winery with tasting rooms, a distillery, gardens, and lots of fun places to just hang out. I would love to have something like that near here.

The gathering of Emerging Women was a fun time. I’ve posted summaries of our activities over at the Emerging Women blog so if you are interested, you can read that stuff there. As I expected, this gathering was very different than the other two I’ve attended so far. Granted, it was in a different area of the county (one slightly more progressive and emerging friendly imho) and hence reflected it’s surroundings. But even with similar discussions taking place at each, I have come away from each one with a different take away. At the first Midwest Gathering last spring, I was repeatedly reminded of the need to use my voice. I found the encouragement to reenter discussions, start writing, and to not fear stepping up in leadership. At our East Coast Gathering back in October I was most influenced by the ecumenical nature of the women gathered there. I came to a new appreciation of our differences and the wonderful things we can learn from our divergent traditions. At this gathering the theme that kept popping up for me was that of spiritual direction.

We were encouraged by the leaders there to find mentors and/or see a spiritual director. While the need for something like that was something I had acknowledge before, it was always in the “wouldn’t that be nice” category. It’s kinda hard to have a spiritual mentor when you don’t know anyone who you would ever consider for that role. But during the gathering I got to talk with a number of women who either are or are preparing to be spiritual directors. I got to have a short spiritual direction session as well. It is not something I had ever really considered (or really knew much about) before. So I’ll be thinking about it and looking into it.

I also liked the space given to various forms of worship at this gathering and hope to bring some of that back to our church and to the upcoming Midwest Gathering I’m planning for this March. Using one’s creativity and body in worship is not normal for us, but can be a deeply meaningful experience. I think women need these times to learn from each other, to be encouraged and empowered, and be given a refreshing space to worship and grow.

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The Homework Myth – Better Get Used to It…

Posted on January 27, 2007July 7, 2025

One of the most common rationales given for assigning homework is what Kohn refers to as “BGUTI” – or the “better get used to it” excuse. In this line of thinking the logic is that some jobs require that the employees take work home so we had better get students used to it now. That line has been extended downward with the assumption that since students have homework in high school they had better get used to it in Jr. High, and since they have homework in Jr High they had better get used to it in 1st grade. In fact some of the trendy preparatory preschools are now assigning homework. So while on one hand the purpose is to help prepare the students for life, the logic is a bit flawed.

First this excuse begs the question as to what the purpose of education is at all. Is the purpose really to learn and help kids become life-long learners or is the purpose to accustom students to gratuitous unpleasantness so they can learn to deal with it. By that excuse any number of unpleasant things should be forced upon children just because they might have to deal with them later. How about let’s give our kids a lot of carcinogens because they will be exposed to them sooner or later. Or since one in four women experience sexual abuse, let’s just get it over with when they are kids so they can get used to it.

This excuse for homework makes learning vertical instead of horizontal. Instead of kids learning things that connect them with their world in meaningful ways, all learning becomes just about preparing them for later. Learning is not done for the sake of learning; it is done so that the kids are in some artificial sense ready for the next thing. The moment doesn’t matter, only what is bigger and better.

So when children are pulled away from family time and just being a kid in order to spend hours on homework and we tell them “better get used to it” what message are we sending them? We are telling them that their feeling and objections don’t count. Your unhappiness doesn’t matter. You will have to deal with it sometime, so do what I tell you. We are teaching them that the world is an unpleasant place and that there is nothing they can do about it. You can’t make the world a better place so you had just better get used to it.

That’s not the message I want to send my child. I want her to feel in control of her world. To know that she can work to make things better, that her opinions do matter. What is the point of teaching her that she can help change the big things if she isn’t empowered to change the everyday stuff?

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The Homework Myth – Completion

Posted on January 24, 2007July 7, 2025

One issue brought up in The Homework Myth was that of competition. The logic usually runs – “kids in Japan do so much more work than kids in the USA, so we need to work our kids harder so we can be better than them.”. Kohn points out that such assumptions are generally faulty and are based on cultural myth rather than actually facts (kids in Japan actually do less homework that kids in the USA). But the real issue is that of competition. Why is being #1 such a big deal.? Why does it really matter?

If what we care about is having our country or even just our district or school be #1 then we care more about rank and competition than about understanding and real learning. The real goal of education has been lost. For some reason we get caught up in an intellectual arms race. To beat everyone else we impose more and more “tougher standards” which usually just means more and more time consuming busywork. The drive to be the best clouds judgement to the point that it is generally never questioned why the pissing contest is taking place at all.

Why do we need to teach out kids that they have to be better than people from other countries/races? God doesn’t only bless America, we are not the only nation on earth. What is it that we are trying to prove in always having to be #1. I know that’s how a lot of governments operate, but I want my child to be a bit more mature and altruistic than that. And does it really matter if kids in other countries do well in school? So what if the cure for cancer comes out of Africa and not the good ole USA – it a freaking cure for cancer!

I found this typical excuse for homework to be the most absurd. Such notions of superiority and competition are not values I want to demonstrate to my child. I want her to respect others and value truth and knowledge wherever it is found. Knowledge is not a scare resource that one must fight for – there is no need to create a false competition in order to obtain it. Cooperation is a much better value in our global economy. So I don’t buy the excuses of “tougher standards” so we can kick everyone else’s asses.

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Walmart Organic Fraud?

Posted on January 23, 2007July 7, 2025

So last week I blogged about buying organic at various stores (here). I mentioned that if the same product is cheaper at Walmart vs. Whole Foods, then I will buy it at Walmart. Well this past week some accusations have come out against Walmart saying they are labeling non-organic food as organic. Read about it here. If it is true, what a underhanded way to save a buck. Not that I really trusted Walmart before, but this just makes it worse.

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Sexism Once Again…

Posted on January 22, 2007July 7, 2025

(cross posted at Emerging Women)

So the discrimination against women continues. I got online this morning and read this post over at Scot McKnight’s blog Jesus Creed regarding the removal of a female seminary professor by a new administration because she was female. Read the news brief here. Since reading it, I have been seriously pissed off all day. It was one of those last straw moments – how much more of this crap are we as women willing to take?

Now Scot McKnight poses some good questions on his blog regarding if one is inclined to ban women from teaching where do we draw the line? Can men read books by women? What about in high schools or non-theology classes? While I think those questions point out some of the absurdity of the stance that views women as lesser creations, there are guys commenting there who really think they should be considered if we are to be biblical. Since when does the excuse “being biblical” make it okay to be a sexist immoral jerk? And when women there complain about how hurtful situations like this are to women in general, men there accuse us of overreacting and getting away with it just because we are women. I feel like I’m being treated like I’m a puppy dog – “that’s a good girl, settle down now, there’s no need to get excited, you don’t count anyway, your opinion is worthless to me…”. So if we are hurt or offended we aren’t allowed to do anything about it because then we are overreacting or claiming to be victims. That’s a great way to guarantee the continuing spread of injustice.

I am sick of having to fight this battle. I am sick of having to actually defend the equality of women. I am sick that there are people who are so wrapped up in hated and fear that they do things like this to women. I am sick that the debate of whether women are capable of doing XY or Z or if we are inferior to men actually still happens. And I am sick that the only place that it is still happening is in the church.

So yes, this is an opinionated rant. I had to share here because my toddler wasn’t really interested in the long monologue she had to hear about the stupidity of men who think they are better than women just because they have a penis… But I had to say it. The news needs to go out, because the more people who know the more people there are to stop the evil from spreading.

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The Homework Myth – Learning

Posted on January 22, 2007July 7, 2025

I’m working my way through The Homework Myth by Alfie Kohn and I want to post some of my reflections. In the first part of the book, Kohn presents research to show that contrary to popular opinion, homework doesn’t help students (either academically or otherwise). I don’t want to get into all the technical research (read the book for that), but just point out a few things. It is common for homework to be defended on the grounds that studies show it is effective. But often that claim doesn’t reference any studies or as he found on multiple occasions, the studies listed in the footnotes didn’t show a positive effect of homework at all (were they just there to look good???).

The only studies that showed any positive effect of homework were those that had students cram on a certain group of facts and then test them on that group of facts the next day. Voila – the kids who crammed did better than those who didn’t. Big surprise there. But did those kids remember that stuff a week later, or a semester later, or the nest year? And who can actually call stuff like that learning? Rote memorization is not a meaningful understanding of the subject, just a form of acquired behavior (given the stimulus 3 x 4, you respond 12).

It is the more meaningful type of learning that is so lacking in schools and is hard to accomplish with homework. Teachers, who are already overworked and underpaid, are expected to give homework. To assign meaningful homework that involves the students engaging the subject would mean way more work grading for that teacher. It’s a lot easier to give homework that can be graded quickly, but that sort of homework is rarely meaningful but relies instead on drill and practice (rote learning). I liked this perspective presented in the book –

“… thinking should be ‘couched in terms of comprehending, integrating, and applying knowledge.’ But in their classrooms, the students’ job is ‘comprehending how the teacher has integrated or applied the ideas… and to reconstruct the teacher’s thinking on the next test.’ … The best classrooms not only are characterized by more thinking than remembering; they also have students doing much of the thinking.”

Comprehending, integrating, applying – far cries from rote learning and far more meaningful. It is active learning, not stimulus/response “learning.” I think we need to care more about such active meaningful learning in our schools and in our churches. This issue is part of why I despise a lot of children’s church curriculum like AWANA. In such programs the quantity of facts acquired is the point. The kids memorize Bible verses each week and then promptly forget them (until they have to cram for the end of the book test). While the adults may talk at the kids about the verses, the kids are not engaged meaningfully with all of those separate, out-of-context verses. Who has the time when quantity of verses memorized is the goal. (And don’t get me started on how warped it is to reward kids with badges, stickers, and jewels for memorizing the bible. I’m not into bribing kids to be spiritual or to love God).

A whole perspective change on learning is needed. Instead of just trying to tweak a broken system perhaps we need to question our basics assumptions about learning itself. If what we are doing doesn’t work or lead to any real learning, why do we do it?

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The Homework Myth

Posted on January 19, 2007July 7, 2025

I just started reading The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing by Alfie Kohn. Emma isn’t even in school yet, I know, but this is a topic that has bugged me for awhile. The book is tagged as “a compelling exposé of homework – how it fails our children, why it’s so widely accepted, and what we can do about it.” I’m sure the book will make me angry and frustrated with the pitiful systems that be and wish more than ever for decent and affordable educational alternatives, but I’m interested (hoping) to read the suggestions for those alternatives. And to read the studies and reasons behind why the current homework trend are pointless (and not just stupid as I would call them).

I see learning as a holistic experience. Engagement, imagination, creativity and critical thinking being far more important than memorization of facts or regurgitation of expected answers. The love of learning is something I value more than a test score or rank. So reading a book by someone who cares about those things and not just finding the best way to manage a failed system is refreshing. I plan to blog about some of the arguments presented in this book as I read through it. But I will start by quoting from the opening chapter. This quote is by Carlton Washburne from Parents magazines’ November 1937 issue (a magazine that today is full of tips on how to get your kid to do homework) –

If children are not required to learn useless and meaningless things, homework is entirely unnecessary for the learning of common school subjects. But when a school requires the amassing of many facts which have little or no significance to the child, learning is so slow and painful that the school is obliged to turn to the home for help out of the mess the school has created.

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Beauty and the Geek

Posted on January 18, 2007July 7, 2025

So as strange as it seems, I’m hooked on the reality show Beauty and the Geek. The premise is that a socially awkward geeky guy is paired up with a beautiful and usually dumb girl. They are supposed to do challenges outside of their comfort zones and learn how to appreciate each other. Each week one couple is forced to leave the house and the winners get money at the end. Read more here.

So the show is of course meant to play up stereotypes and all that, but this season has been really bad for that. I know we see whatever elements the producers actually want to bring out, but I continue to be amazed at how awful the girls are. I have no problem understanding that some people are well, not smart, and that a lot of women think their only asset is their sexuality – it’s sad, but expected. I just get frustrated watching how self centered and condescending the girls are. Besides forming cliques where the ditzy blonds got all the brunettes kicked out of the house, they obviously aren’t trying to learn stuff from the guys. The guys seem very open to accepting everyone and learning to see the world in a new light. The girls seem to think that they are there to bless the guys with their presence and do whatever they can to change them without being tainted by their geekiness. (reminds me a bit too much of how Christians view evangelism…). The guys are friends with everyone and stress that “geek” and “beauty” are just social constructs that don’t define the real person you are.

So while I fully realize that if I were on the show I would be cast as a geek (although I don’t see the geek girl and the hot guy scenario ever happening… a few too many other issues come into play with that), I just wish that stuff like this served more to broaden perspectives rather than enforce negative stereotypes. But its just a TV show right…?

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Feminism = Liberal = Satan???

Posted on January 15, 2007July 7, 2025

So I was surfing Amazon following links from my LibraryThing Feminist SF group and somehow came across this book. Evangelical Feminism: A New Path to Liberalism? by Wayne Grudem. I’m sure (or at least I hope) Grudem gives thought out arguments about why he believes egalitarianism is wrong (I doubt I will ever know since I don’t plan on reading his book, I gave up on him and Crossway a long time ago), but the whole title made me laugh. I kinda expected more from him. The scare tactic of equating two fearmongering words for evangelicals (feminism and liberal) is just too much. But of course it also makes use of the trendy media usage of the question mark. As Jon Stewart so aptly pointed out, anyone can make any sort of defaming claim as long as its followed by a question mark. But as a liberal and feminist (and post-evangelical) I guess I’m the evil they are warning against. I’ve already taken that path, so how is it possible to be “led astray” again? Anyway, I was amused briefly and I thought I’d share.

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The Future of Whole Foods

Posted on January 13, 2007July 7, 2025

So there is this part of me that wishes I could do all my shopping at Whole Foods. Yes, the closest store is an hour away and the prices are well, insane, but the lure of the wide variety of organic food and healthy options is appealing. I know my local Jewel carries some organic stuff (but do I really want organic Oreos???) and a few more varieties of fruits and veggies (don’t even ask how long it took the check out guy to actually believe that the bunch of rainbow swiss chard I brought up was actually for sell at his store…).

So I was interested when I came across this article about the decline of Whole Foods’ stock. Apparently the trend for big box retailers to sale some organic items (Walmart)is hurting the specialty stores like Whole Foods. As food that is healthy, environmentally friendly, and interesting becomes more mainstream other stores are catching on and Whole Foods declines. If I can pay $5 for a half gallon of organic milk at Whole Foods, $4.25 at Jewel and $3.79 at Walmart (and even less at Trader Joes, but that’s another story) – I’m going to go for the same product at the lower cost.

So if Whole Foods is to survive perhaps they need to create a new specialty market. They are losing the vegans, health nuts, and foodies to the cheaper stores, so what if they try to cater to the ethically minded. If they decided to carry “just food” – food that has been fairly traded, where the workers were paid decent wages and were given respectful, humane environments to work in – they would seriously corner the market. (and maybe being ethical might just begin to catch on as well – imagine that). But it would take a Whole Foods that caters to those who are predisposed to think of food as more than just food to start the trends. Down the road (in true freaknomics fashion) the masses might then copy the elite. Wouldn’t it me amazing if the rich and intellectual were setting the good moral trends for our society?

I like Whole Foods, I wish I could shop there. Who knows what path they will take, but at least I gave my oh so significant suggestion.

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Julie Clawson

Julie Clawson
[email protected]
Writer, mother, dreamer, storyteller...

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"Everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise." - Sylvia Plath

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