on the threshold

most of us take doors for granted. we pass through doorways tens of times each day, without reflection. the door is, however, a powerful feature of human mentality and life-practice. it controls access, provides a sense of security and privacy, and marks the boundary between differentiated spaces. the doorway is also the architectural element allowing passage from one space to the next. crossing the threshold means abandoning one space and entering another, a bodily practice recognized both in ritual and language as a transition between social roles or situations. doors and thresholds are thus closely linked with rites de passage, the word "liminality" itself stemming from Latin limen, "threshold." this does not imply that each and every crossing of a threshold constitutes a liminal ritual, but rather that passing through a doorway is an embodied, everyday experience prompting numerous social and metaphorical implications.

--marianne hem eriksen, university of oslo

in architecture, society, and ritual in viking age scandinavia

doors, dwellings, and domestic space

this week of waiting for the results of the election has me, once again, thinking about liminal space. we're (hopefully) on the threshold of something new - a return to normalcy (if that's possible) after the utter insanity of the trump years. and i'm looking forward to stepping through that door. 

but i fear that the door won't completely shut on these years because the fact is that there are a significant amount of people who actually agreed with the way he was running things and they voted for him a second time. they're apparently totally ok with the 97 million cases of corona and 235,000 deaths. they're ok with kids in cages and more than 500 children who can't be reunited with their parents due to the incompetence and cruelty of the trump administration. they're ok with a president who grabs women by the pussy. and who has spent $142,000,000 in taxpayer money golfing. and they're ok with leaving the paris climate accord and the iran nuclear agreement. and they're ok with the more than 20,000 lies. and the self-dealing and the nepotism. and the cozying up to dictators. and the humiliation on the world stage. and did i mention the lies? and the narcissism and the petulance and the twitter. there's just. so. much. i'm exhausted from it. and embarrassed by it. and tired of the way it's weakened my very foundation and made me ashamed to be american.

and i'm at my wits' end - with relatives and friends who support the monster. and it feels like some doors may need to close there. but on the other hand, that doesn't necessarily seem like the answer either. but they don't get a pass. they have to own what their choice means - that women lose the freedom to choose over their own bodies, and good friends who are legally married may have those marriages nullified by the conservative supreme court justices trump and his cronies in the senate rushed through. that people will lose their health insurance. that they don't mind children being put in cages. children in cage. just think about that. it's ok because your stocks did well? really?

but back to doors and thresholds. i think we are really standing on a threshold here. we just faced a choice between empathy and caring for our fellow humans and more division and further erosion of democratic ideals. and only by the slimmest of margins does it appear that we chose our fellow humans. what does that say? in this moment, while the whole world balances on the precipice with a global pandemic, that the choice wasn't clearer than that is astonishing. 

i hope we stride confidently through the door with our hearts open. i'll admit mine is pretty closed right now to those who have supported the spray-tanned narcissist and it will take a bit of work on my part to open it a little bit. and right now, i don't really know how that's going to happen.

oddly inspired on a monday

i awoke this morning, my brain buzzing with ideas. it's rainy and cold and grey as usual for november in denmark and a monday on top of it, but strangely, i feel sunny on the inside. and bright and hopeful. and inspired and full of energy. i woke up early, reaching for my little idea notebook that's beside the bed, to scrawl down some ideas that just had to get out. then, i read some of meg mateo ilasco's craft inc., a neat little (albeit rather amero-centric) book on turning your creativity into your living. but as amero-centric as it is, there is a lot of really useful advice and stories from people like lotta jansdotter and denyse schmidt sprinkled throughout. very inspiring stuff. along the same lines, this is also very inspiring to read (yay heather!!).

there are lots of reasons for renewed energy in spite of the weather. our thanksgiving on the weekend was an occasion of the best of energy-giving vibes. great conversation. masses of food. babies. the best-tasting turkey ever. pretty pies. loads of wine. and lots of laughter. and even a thanksgiving-related quiz, thanks to aunt M. totally worth all of the cooking and i was strangely calm and ready in the end. the table was even set (which is rather unusual for me). i must have gotten the tears and tension out of my system with the turkey fiasco on thursday, so it was all calmness and enjoyment on the actual day. and i even remembered to serve all of the dishes (also unusual). martha would have been proud.

i just had a great phone conversation which lightened my heart considerably and makes me feel like the door i'm closing right now is closed in a good way - not slammed and not left hanging open to interfere with what might be next. that's a big relief and clears out much anxiety that i didn't even know was lurking. now i'm well and truly ready to see what doors will open next. i'm sure only that they will be bright and colorful.

if you don't have the gold edition of disco underworld - live and in print, all of the highlights of the online editions - run and get one, don't delay!! i'm so inspired to read everyone's stories and really pleased to be among such high caliber, talented people! yay for stacy childs, editor of this fabulous magazine. she's the one who told me that writing is the new praying. and i'm pretty sure she's right.

my inner presbyterian

if you're a regular here at MPC, you know i have a thing about chains. they depict connections to me and i'm always trying to connect stuff. i guess because i want to believe that it's all somehow connected and that things happen for some reason, even if at the moment something happens, that reason isn't always apparent. i think of it as my inner presbyterian.

my inner presbyterian also likes doors. because she believes that when you close one door, another one opens (she learned that from her neighbor a couple of weeks ago, tho' she thinks she probably always believed it). and that it maybe even takes closing that first door in order to make the next one open. and she thinks it's pretty cool how already those doors are already opening, because it seems to be more than one. and that's pretty cool.

here's hoping there are lots of open doors helping you make lots of connections this weekend. and that you only get the 12-hour version of the swine flu, like husband did.

secret 18 - fired

my parents met at a newspaper. my mom was a typesetter and my dad a sports reporter. they always referred to the building as the scene of the crime when we drove past as a kid. my dad always told the story that he was fired from that job because he refused to wear a bow tie, which was part of the standard, required uniform. and i loved and admired that story and although one never hopes to be fired, it taught me that it's not really all bad if you are...

boring brown microsofty door

it's really true that when one door closes, another one opens. in may of 2004, i was fired. from no less than microsoft. no warnings. no reason. and i had a lawyer that eventually proved it. the only reason was an insecure boss (probably another failed state pageant wanna be--tho' from north dakota--which is also why i dislike fargo--another story for another day--and even more pathetic than being a miss south dakota wanna-be (we do all need our albanian and north dakotans are quite frankly south dakotans albanians--don't really know who the north dakotans have to look down on--perhaps people from idaho?)).

the real reason i was fired was that my boss wanted to kill my project. another area of microsoft with funding for it contacted me and wanted me to finish it. it was easter and a lot of people were on holiday. and i agreed, without securing permission. and a purchase order was opened. thereby foiling my utterly incompetent and insecure middle manager (whose name i will gladly tell you directly if you email me) in her attempt to stop my project. but which made me appear insubordinate. which perhaps it was. but it was actually in the best interest of the company (which her reason--hating me--was not). anyway, she had the power and she fired me--illegally, as it turned out--and they had to pay for that--six months of salary--which nicely gave me the summer off.

just an aside--i only accidentally worked for microsoft because they bought the danish software company i was working for--meaning that i did not choose to work for The Man. however, i actually did enjoy it. big companies have huge possibilities. and they teach you that if you make good arguments, you can do whatever you want. and that's a good lesson.

much prettier door

anyway..it's true that in being fired another door opens...because what it meant was that i saw other possibilities all around me. and answered an ad in a newspaper and got a great job that i loved and that afforded me the opportunity to create an incredible network and see a whole lot of the world. and although that job burned me out, leaving it (of my own accord, incidentally) in turn opened yet another door...

even prettier door

so you never know what series of events that being fired can set off...and what doors it may open for you, even far beyond what you think the statute of limitations might be. perhaps a door to a whole new life....which might be the life you should actually be living. 

i wonder what's behind this pretty, bright door...

(VEG, this one is for you.)