Thoughts on Women, Politics, Dress as I Travel to BlogHer 12

“Time makes more converts than reason” says Thomas Paine early on in Common Sense, which I tried to read this morning while waiting for the train in Minneapolis. I was tired and there were so many distractions that I did not get very far into the work, but I have always wanted to read the work that fired up so many to turn from rebellion to revolution and concomitantly to start our nation. It is one of the ebooks I’ve downloaded to read on this trip if time permits.
I thought the quote was most appropriate for conversation by the creek due, of course, to the overlap between topic and this blog’s name. And then there is the reason versus faith consideration that popped into my head when I realized the women sitting on both sides of me were Catholic and open to discussing modern versus traditional versus neo-traditional.
The chance make up of the people waiting in the station included three nuns in full habit. They are traveling back home to what sounds like a training center for the Daughters of Mary, Mother of Our Savior in Round Top, New York. They are on the web at DaughtersofMary.net, and describe themselves as a traditional Catholic congregation. The full wearing of the old style habit is so unusual, especially when juxtaposed against the simple hajib, or head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women, that is so much more contemporary than the habit.
The full habit is far more akin to a burka than is a hajib.
As I travel toward NYC and BlogHer 12 I think more and more about what women gathering together can and will do as a result of meeting and acting together. I’m walking a path that crosses the paths of Mission List folks, Boomer Women, folks who are done nesting, and an incredible collection of creative and brilliant women. So psyched to be on my way!