The Air Force Academy in Colorado is adding an outdoor stone circle to its collection of worship areas.

The circle, located atop a hill overlooking the Cadet Chapel and Visitor Center, will offer easy access to the academy's followers of Earth-centered religions. It will be dedicated in a ceremony in March. 

Read the whole story here and don't miss the comments at the bottom from Tech. Sgt. Brandon Longcrier, NCO in charge of the Academy's Astronautics laboratories, worked with the chapel to create the official worship area. He thanks the Sacred Well Congregation, Circle Sanctuary, and Cherry Hill Seminary for their contributions to this project.

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Patheos is holding a video contest about faith. If you can create and submit a five-minute video about your faith and how you live it, you could win up to $2500. The deadline is January 31. Check out the website for more details.

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Here are some random bits and pieces in archaeology news.

The BBC reports that archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a new tomb, the largest so far in the ancient necropolis of Sakkara, south of Cairo. The tomb dates back 2,500 years and contains important artifacts including mummified eagles.

Apollon reports that a new find in Botswana shows that people in Africa engaged in ritual over 70,000 years ago. That's 30,000 years before the earliest finds in Europe so far.

The Love of History blog comments on the destruction of a temple of Aphrodite in Greece to make way for a mall.

The Canadian Press reports on a new find in Israel. Archaeologists have uncovered remains of an 8,000-year-old prehistoric building as well as ancient flint tools in the modern city of Tel Aviv. It's the earliest structure ever found in the city.

In other news, for those that loved and miss HBO's Rome, Starz has a new show for you -- Spartacus: Blood and Sand.





The show premiers January 22, but episodes can be found online already on sites of dubious legality. I haven't seen it yet, but the trailer looks exciting and the show stars two familiar faces I really like, John Hannah and Lucy Lawless. Meanwhile, Mary Harrsch over at Roman Times blog shares her thoughts on old Roman stereotypes that shows like this can perpetuate.

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Haiti

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By now you've heard about the devastating earthquake in Haiti. You can help the relief efforts in a number of ways:

You can easily donate $10 to the Red Cross to be charged to your cell phone bill by texting "HAITI" to 90999 or a $5 donation to Yele Haiti by texting "YELE" to 50501.

And Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab is adding proceeds from all January sales of the Orisha blends (in the Excolo category) to the Red Cross fund. The following scents apply: Elegba, Obatala, Ochosi, Ogun, Olokun, Osun, Oya, Shango, Yemaya plus Port-Au-Prince.

Please be careful with your generosity and don't let an unscrupulous charity take advantage of your goodwill. Find a charity with a proven track record of success. If you're unsure if that charity you've never heard of is fly-by-night, just pass. The ones listed above, especially the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, are safe bets.

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Mary Daly

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I've just learned (thanks to M. Macha NightMare) that Mary Daly has passed. 

Mary Daly was an important contributor to feminist theology and theory. She was and will remain a highly controversial figure. She is quite possibly responsible for the myth that 9 million women were executed as witches during the so-called Burning Times. But she's also the author of a foundational work in feminist theology, Beyond God the Father. Her book Webster’s First New Intergalactic Wickedary of the English Language is also well regarded for its exploration of the labels that she claimed patriarchal society places on women. It was Daly who said it is the role of women to unveil and reclaim the liberatory nature of labels such as "witch". 

Daly passed over yesterday, January 3, 2010.

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I returned last night from Florida Pagan Gathering. The tribe and I camped in and around cabin one and had an excellent time. 

I arrived late Thursday night and missed the day's workshops, but managed to take in a few over the weekend. I attended one on hypnosis and past lives with Donald Michael Kraig. He was great! I'd never seen him before and found him funny, very knowledgeable, and approachable. I finally met Jason Pitzl-Waters at his workshop on media trends. Super guy. I would have liked to hang out with him more, but there just isn't enough time for everything at FPG. The last workshop I caught was Honoring the Mighty Dead: Lessons from the Lucumi Tradition, which was excellent as well. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone.

I get very lazy at FPG. All I want to do is chill, read, drink mead, ride the tram, and stare at the lake, the birds, and the stars. I never attend the rituals and only go to a handful of workshops. My favorite activity is just sitting around my campsite with friends after dinner and talking late into the night.
Next on my list is Pantheacon. Or maybe Feast of Lights. So many festivals, so little time!

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I tuned into the Tyra Banks show today and caught an old episode about the Ashley Madison Agency, an online dating service for people who are in relationships and want to have affairs. The company motto is "Life is Short. Have an Affair."

Tyra interviewed the founder, a man whose name escapes me at the moment, about his motivation for creating such a site. Basically he said that he noted the success of sites like Match.com and eHarmony and realized that many of the people registered on those sites are looking for affairs, but lying about it. With his site, people can be honest about the fact that they're married and looking for affairs. 

Tyra then had a few guests, couples where one spouse had used the site. I didn't watch past the first couple. The wife used the site, cheated on her husband with three partners, and her husband was devastated and wanted to punch the website's founder. He responded that he's not responsible for the affair; the marriage was obviously troubled. That's true, but I also think he facilitated the affair. Tyra asked him about his conscience, but he didn't have much of a response. 

I think it was on the Polyamory Weekly podcast that the host, Minx, was talking about how many American movies and television shows feature an affair at the heart of the plot and how they are often viewed as exciting and romantic. For example, The Bridges of Madison County, Unfaithful, and Nights in Rodanthe. There's nothing new about the romanticizing of affairs. Medieval literature is full of that. Your classic example is Guinevere and Lancelot, but a big reason for that lies in the fact that marriages were often arranged for political reasons. Therefore, love had to be found outside marriage. A similar reason explains the mistress phenomenon of, say for instance, the 1950s. A man married a woman he loved, but such women were boxed into roles of wives and mothers and little, if any, thought was given to women's sexuality.

But this is America in the millenium. Marriages aren't generally arranged. We can marry for love and women can claim and own their sexuality. So why, as a culture, are we still obssessed with affairs? Why do we romanticize them? Why have we become so accepting of them as if they're just part of the relationship routine? And while we're at it, why are we, again as a culture, horrified by polyamorous relationships, where all the people involved are (ideally) open and honest about their romantic and sexual involvements? People don't bat an eye at an illicit affair, but are shocked at the idea of a triad relationship.

Tyra reminded me why I don't watch television. It's so depressing.

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