Month: January 2013

  • Brainstorming and Crowdsourcing a BITG Book Club

    Brainstorming and Crowdsourcing a BITG Book Club

    I’m starting a book club. The Bishop In The Grove Book Club. Cool, right? For those who are keeping track of the number of projects mounting on my desk, the thought of one more new endeavor probably seems like insanity. But I don’t care. I think a book club sounds like fun. I could use a dose of […]

  • Keeping Vigil to the Fire, Again

    Keeping Vigil to the Fire, Again

    In a week I will publish the next Solitary Druid Fellowship liturgy. This morning, I spent some time going over the previous one, seeing where small adjustments might be made and looking for places where supplemental material would be useful. It’s been interesting to take on this position, which is a little like leadership, but […]

  • Privilege: The Other “P” Word

    Privilege: The Other “P” Word

    Yesterday I said, “Be nice.”  Perhaps encouraging nicety is not the right approach. Perhaps to say “be nice” is too simplistic, and worse, reads very much like, “Hush now, your problems are not important,” or, “You are making me uncomfortable with your anger,” or “There really isn’t that much to be angry about, so can’t you […]

  • Be Nice, Pagans. Be Nice Polytheists. Be Nice.

    Be Nice, Pagans. Be Nice Polytheists. Be Nice.

    I had occasion to speak to a very nice, young man last week about online etiquette. For me, what it boils down to is this: Be nice. It may seem simplistic, or perhaps reductive to some. But, I think it’s a good rule. Be nice when you talk to people, whether you know them or […]

  • Genderqueer is to Trans as Polytheist is to Pagan

    Genderqueer is to Trans as Polytheist is to Pagan

    My kid is transitioning, but he’s not trans. He’s genderqueer. He doesn’t mind being called “trans,” because it’s accurate, but he identifies as something different. For some, this is a brain breaker. I don’t blame them or vilify them for that. One has to be flexible with definitions in order to approach these (seemingly) subtle, nuanced uses of identity language, […]

  • When Pagan Discourse Becomes Reality TV

    When Pagan Discourse Becomes Reality TV

    I’ve been transfixed by a particular reality television show on Netflix. I’m not typically a reality TV kind of guy, save for a few of the more hands-on creative shows. And the ones with drag queens, of course. This show documents the Olympic-like achievements of super-couponers, who, if you don’t know, are people who stockpile mass amounts of […]

  • Top of the Week at BITG

    Top of the Week at BITG

    Top of the week to you! This week is starting off with a whole bunch of Internet happenings. First, it seems that my RSS Email subscribers haven’t been receiving my blog posts since mid-December. Sorry everyone. Here’s what you missed: I wrote a post on Yule at HuffPost, and we talked about decentralization. After pulling […]

  • The Road Ahead: Being Matt Morris Again

    The Road Ahead: Being Matt Morris Again

    As many of you know, I have two names. There is the name you know me by, Teo Bishop; a name which I chose for myself several years back, and one that I took as my legal name last year. There is also the name which I’ve performed under for most of my life, Matt […]