Please let me remind readers old and new that I consider myself a Christian. However, I think Christ must weep daily over the atrocities done in His name. What I am about to relate isn’t exactly an atrocity… or is it?

I was barely awake and listening to talk radio, left on by my husband after he fell asleep the night before. I can’t even recall who the host was, but he was talking about this.

Now, to me, this a prime example of how reactionary the Religious Right is. Anyone tries to be least bit inclusive and all of a sudden our country is going to hell in a handbasket, and secular humanism is taking over. Pretty soon, it’ll be like the days when Christians were thrown to the lions. What they lack is perspective. For the short time I have taught at a Jewish school, one thing I have learned is how dominant and omnipresent Christianity is in our culture. Of course, I speak from the perspective of someone who lives in the South — specifically in Georgia. I really don’t think Christianity is currently in any danger of being subverted.

The talk show host ranted especially about Kwanzaa, citing all the usual objections: the holiday’s creator did prison time; it detracts from Christmas since it’s so close; it isn’t an African holiday at all; it’s an invented holiday. Blah. Blah. Blah. I guess one could say most of those things are true, but so what? Why was he so threatened by Kwanzaa? No one is forcing him to celebrate it or even to accept it as legitimate. Kwanzaa matters to those who celebrate it; to those who don’t — who cares? Why should it bother you that it exists? Kwanzaa is no threat to any religious holiday, because it isn’t religious.

Slaves brought over from Africa were made to convert to Christianity by their Christian masters. Over time, their culture became entwined with that of the slaveholders to create African American culture. What is so threatening, as I said, and to extend that, what is so wrong with wanting to embrace parts of your culture stolen from you? Or even to marry the cultures and create something new?

First of all, yes, the holiday’s creator spent time in prison for assault. Because of that, the holiday is bogus? I don’t understand this argument, because it seems to insinuate that in order to create something, you need to be without blemish — perfect or pure. Who says?

Second, yes, it is close to Christmas. But there seems to be a pretty good explanation for that.

Third, Kwanzaa is not an African holiday, but some of the principles incorporated into the celebration are African, and it embraces African roots. I think the idea is to make something distinctive that means something to African Americans, who are disconnected and removed from their antecedents in Africa. Again, is there something wrong with trying to connect with that past?

Finally, “it’s an invented holiday” is the weakest argument, because every holiday was invented at some point in the past. Christmas, for example, is most likely nowhere near the time when Christ was actually born. It does coincide closely with the Winter Solstice, which was celebrated by many different cultures. Rather than suppress the “pagan” celebrations, Pope Gregory I did something very politically astute: he encouraged Christian missionaries to incorporate those celebrations into Christianity. Christmas was born. It has been in Christian theocracies, such as Puritan New England, where Christmas has been suppressed. Surprising, no? Our staunchest Christians in the past — so devout that they devised a government that would be a shining city on a hill, a beacon to light the world and show the world the way, a government with God at the center — should suppress celebration of the birth of their Savior? Why? Because they recognized it as pagan, that’s why. It should logically follow, then, that if you are truly a fundamentalist, devout Christian, then you shouldn’t celebrate such a pagan holiday as Christmas. If what I just said sounds absurd to you, then maybe you’re starting to understand my point.

I suppose I’m talking about more than Kwanzaa here. I suppose I’m taking about Christmas, Hanukkah, the Winter Solstice, and maybe even Boxing Day and Hogmanay. Or Twefth Night. Or whatever. I’m talking about the fact that there are groups out there so threatened by the idea that holidays besides Christmas be acknowledged that they are taking out ads encouraging Christians not to shop at stores that have signs declaring “Season’s Greetings” instead of “Merry Christmas.” One of my few holiday cards this year was sent to me by a Jew — a rabbi, as a matter of fact. She honored my holiday by sending me a card a few days before Christmas. Why can I not honor her holiday by simply acknowledging it in the form of greeting I use during the holidays?

The end of the WSBTV article was chilling to me:

But to many, the threats and demands that stores put up “Merry Christmas” signs are no laughing matter.

“Why not simply require stores owned by Jews to put a gold star in their ads and on their storefronts?” the Rev. Jim Melnyk, associate rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Raleigh, wrote in a letter to the editor.

That was how it started once before…

One more day of work and we have two weeks off. I am going to miss my students. I was working on these handouts I give out at the beginning of a “unit” today — I call them “minisyllabi.” They’re kind of cute. Bascially, their purpose is to list the works of literature we’ll study, literary terms they’ll learn or review, major assignments, and recommended literature for extension. Yeah, that last bit is kind of “way out there.” I’d be surprised if my students ever actually decided to read one of those books I put on that list. I do it just in case there is another Dana in my class — someone who is quiet, who might not participate much in class discussion — but someone who might actually want teacher recommendations.

I went through this phase in high school when I determined I was going to read every book I needed to read to prepare for college. It started well. I tried to read Agamemnon, but it wasn’t the best introduction to Greek epics — why didn’t my teachers ever have me read The Odyssey? Or even The Iliad? I have come to the conclusion that until I moved to Georgia, I had the crappiest English teachers (generally speaking). I can’t remember doing a single thing in my tenth grade English class except busy seat work. I don’t remember reading a single work of literature that year. My 11th grade teacher was different. I do remember reading “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” in her class, because I remember having to write a sermon. It was an assignment I agonized over, having never yet been to church at that point in my life. I asked my 11th grade English teacher for a list of recommended reading before I moved to Georgia. She gave me a box full of discarded paperbacks instead. There were selections from Twain and Dickens in that box. I was really grateful. I was kind of weird, I guess, but I had it in mind that if I hadn’t read certain books before college, I’d be lost, and all the other students would be ahead of me — I’d never be able to follow class discussions. I found this antiquated book in the library after I had moved. It listed recommended reading for students looking to prepare for college. Like I said, I stalled at Agamemnon. Not a good start. I recall that I tried to read Crime and Punishment, too.

So for any kids I teach who might be as weird as I was, I compile a list of recommended reading related to the literature units we cover.

I had already compiled a “Civil War, Civil Rights” unit handout, which I tweaked with a new font. I made one for “Regionalism, Realism, and Naturalism,” during the course of which, I discovered the husband of my American Realism and Naturalism professor in college has edited a new(?) collection of Realism and Naturalism for Penguin. Remarking upon this to my husband, I was told (in a rather unimpressed, offhand tone, I might add) that I had been “touched by near fame.” Yeah. Whatever. Butthead.

I rounded out the collection with handouts for “Modernism,” “The Harlem Renaissance,” and “Flannery O’Connor and William Faulkner.” I didn’t complete them, really — just the list of works we’ll study. I still need to round out the parts about literary terms and assignments. But they look spiffy. Pretty fonts and pictures. I sure do spend a lot of time on handouts my students probably don’t use or bother to look at even once after I give them out. Oh well. No one can accuse of me of not trying to give them an education — which is something that definitely could be said of good old Mrs. Boyd in the 10th grade.

I bought kosher Star of David cookies at Kroger at 2/3 off since Hanukkah is over. I figured it might be a nice send-off for my colleagues at school. So one more day. Sparker and I have to compose a letter. I need to give my principal grades for some students. I need to verify grades (actually, I don’t need to do that until January 3, by why wait if they’re ready?). I need to clean off my desk. I don’t know how Sparker shares a classroom with me.

I really am going to miss my students. I usually really look forward to breaks. I need the rest, I guess. Well, no, I really do. No guessing about it. Still…