Good morning! The blog action today is on my AmazonConnect blog; go to the Amazon page for The Thrill of the Chaste and scroll down to the latest blog entry, "God is a matchmaker."
Here's one more clip from the one and only time I sang live with a rock band, when I fronted the Anderson Council at Maxwell's in August 2002. It's from the period I mention in my book when the chastity message was struggling unsuccessfully to make it from my brain to my heart. My skirts are a bit longer these days.
The backup singer in shorts is none other than Chris Butler of the Waitresses, whose "Christmas Wrapping" is all over the airwaves during this Advent season. He wrote the song I'm singing, "Sure Wish That He Wasn't Here," which he originally recorded with his studio group Kilopop!
After I left the stage, I went outside and burst into tears, convinced that I had made an utter fool of myself because my singing was so off-key. It wasn't until I watched the video that that I felt better about my performance, if not my voice.
"You’d have to be from another planet (not Mars or Venus) to be unaffected by Cosmo sexual mores. You bump into them everywhere you turn. And believers have not done a very good job of countering the propaganda. Where Sex and the City promises recreational intercourse with pretty people, Christians have too often offered only platitudes, judgmentalism, or compromise. As a result, our son and daughters (and husbands and wives) have been drawn into the same dead-end back alleys where unbelievers meet their unfortunate ends.
"That’s why I was so delighted to read, over the weekend, The Thrill of the Chaste, a new book by Dawn Eden, a thirtysomething single whose frustration with “sex à la New York City” finally brought her to a point of accepting Christ and making him lord of her life, including her sexuality. Rather than buying into the 'born-again virgin' mindset, however, she recognized that God uses even our poor choices to prepare us for the ministry he created us to have."
— Author, reporter (Baptist Press), and blogger Mark Kelly, from his review of my book
“Out of all the centuries … we have never been able to invent a single pleasure. They’re all God’s. All we can do is encourage someone to take it at the wrong time, at the wrong place, and the wrong degree to pervert what God has created good.”
A couple of photos by Tony Carnes from my Dec. 8 book-release party at Dempsey's Pub:
Here, I'm in the midst of signing a copy of my book (note the pink Sharpie) for New York Observer reporter George Gurley, who is blinded by the flash. It was George's February 2005 interview with me that caught the attention of W Publishing Group, leading to my book deal.
I like this one of me with friend and Gegrapha member Jeanette Baik. Another friend, John Budnik, is in the background.
Well, it's over now — my first tour. Five talks in four days. My voice is so worn out that it's gone into Marianne Faithfull territory, and I feel about as wiped out as poor Marianne looks in the pic as right. But it was more than worth it. The talks went very well, and doing so many of them in such a short time gave me a real boot camp in public speaking. Best of all was meeting readers — both those who had already gotten my book, and those who were just buying it — as well as meeting the people who had booked my appearances (most of whom were Dawn Patrol readers I'd never met).
A few highlights:
The first person in line at my Blessed Sacrament signing, a young woman of about 20, asking me the all-important question: "How far is too far?" My initial reply was along the lines of, "Homina homina homina ..." Then I gave her the long answer, which is essentially that chastity comes from within, so questions of "how far" come back to how one is viewing one's partner. (But keep your clothes on, for sure.)
Father John Cregan of Blessed Sacrament's telling me about the e-mail he got from Father George Rutler after Father Cregan had come under fire in the press for undoing some unattractive "spirit of Vatican II" aspects of the church's sanctuary. Father Rutler, he said, told him, "Remember the words of Margaret Thatcher: This is no time to go wobbly."
The two lovely college-age sisters who approached me at Blessed Sacrament to have me sign a copy of my book that they had already received through Amazon. The one who ordered it had managed to read a couple of chapters before her sister had borrowed it and burrowed through to Chapter 3. They were both so enthusiastic and supportive; it was a great encouragement to meet them at my first tour stop.
Meeting Dawn Patrol reader Bender (a.k.a. Flexo at Blessed Sacrament; he missed part of my talk because he was teaching the 8th-graders CCD.
The Borders bookstore staffer in Vienna, Va., who had formerly overseen rock stars' appearances at the Washington, D.C., Tower Records. I asked her if a star had ever insisted on having only green M&Ms; or some similar stipulation. She said yes: Pedal-steel virtuoso Robert Randolph (who she said was otherwise very nice) had a contract that required his band receive a supply of Reese's Pieces — but only the orange ones.
Would like to go on, but must get sleep ... 9:55 PM |
Curtain call
Spotted on the front door of Blessed Sacrament Church, Alexandria, Va., Wednesday night:
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Back from tour — hope to write more later tonight.
(Yes, I am scraping the bottom of the barrel for rhymes ...)
A quick note from the road: The tour is going wonderfully and I am having the time of my life. One of my favorite things about giving talks and signings is getting to meet Dawn Patrol readers and other blogger pals. So far, I've had the great pleasure of meeting Bender, Kristine Steakley, Mario Mirarchi, Chug Roberts, Pia de Solenni, and many others. I even received some presents: A reader named Jeff answered my call (on thrillofthechaste.com) for songs about chastity by giving me a copy of the lyrics to a beautiful T-Bone Burnett song that epitomizes marital love (I'll print them when I get back; can any readers guess which song it was?), and another reader, Alan, gave me a copy of a book I'd mentioned I wanted to read: Pope John Paul II's Sign of Contradiction.
I also had the pleasure of riding the Metro with Peregrinator of Canterbury Tales, who I see is now telling the world about the experience. It turns out he is friends with not only my friend Matthew Alderman of Holy Whapping but also Vincent Uher, who, like Peregrinator, is an Anglican priest who converted to Catholicism, and who happens to have been a childhood friend of my sister's. I remember seeing Vincent around when I was a little kid growing up Jewish in Galveston, Texas — now we're both in the same church, with mutual friends. That is one of the things I love about the Communion of Saints: It is so huge, and yet it can seem as intimate as a family.
If you're in the Baltimore area, please come see me give a talk and signing tomorrow (Saturday) at 4:30 p.m. at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, which, contrary to what I wrote previously, is not specifically for a young-adult group; it's open to all.
"As a defense of Christian chastity, it pulls no punches. For the sake of discussion on issues of sex, Christians have been at a disadvantage for decades against the free sex crowd. For instance, certain feminists like to brag that we can 'finally have a discussion about the female orgasm.' Christians aren’t beyond such discussions, they simply believe that those discussions take place between husband and wife and see no need to air the conjugal laundry in public.
"That said, by not discussing sex in open yet modest terms, Christian sexual ethics have become quickly discarded and not part of the debate. Arguments like 'because God say so' don’t work in a room full of adults. Dawn, by bringing in personal detail, not only displays great courage but provides powerful refutation to cherished sexual notions that do far more harm to women than they have ever done good. Sex and the City feminism has made it all but impossible for men and women to relate to each other as people. Women enter the 'dating world' without the tools to have a relationship . . . aside from the one in the bedroom. There is a lot of talk and dating advice about people as 'sexual beings' as if that was the only aspect of their humanity.
"If Christianity ever expects to win people over to a Christian sexual ethic, it must answer in no unclear terms without being pornographic. Many have responded to this balancing act by simply avoiding the debate altogether. The result is many more women and men who have been harmed because they simply know no different.
"The central point of the book is vulnerability. In order to have any real relationship, one must be vulnerable to hurt. In a society that values feelgoodism, this idea is anathema. However, by not only advocating vulnerability but demonstrating it in the book, she displays not only great courage but great integrity. Advocating what you yourself would not do is hypocrisy. Many of the children dressed up in adult's skin in today's world likely giggled at the more personal details of the book, but likely many more will be won over by Dawn's candor."
Still on the road making appearances and away from a steady Internet connection; will catch up on blogging and e-mail at the start of next week. 11:22 PM |
Well, it's over now — my first tour. Five talks in four days. My voice is so worn out that it's gone into Marianne Faithfull territory, and I feel about as wiped out as poor Marianne looks in the pic as right. But it was more than worth it. The talks went very well, and doing so many of them in such a short time gave me a real boot camp in public speaking. Best of all was meeting readers — both those who had already gotten my book, and those who were just buying it — as well as meeting the people who had booked my appearances (most of whom were Dawn Patrol readers I'd never met).
