Almost two months have passed since the June 10th attack on the Gaza Aid Flotilla. As a means of continuing to remember and honor those who died on that day, we have posted a video of the memorial the Network of Spiritual Progressives held during the 2010 conference in Washington D.C.. See the video here:

This June hundreds of members, organizers, and nationwide spiritual leaders joined forces in Washington, D.C., for a weekend conference of discussion, planning, and strategy. One of the many exciting conversations happened in the form of a rally in front of the White House urging Obama to be the Obama we voted for! See the video here:

Rachel, Mary, and the Reverend Mother

Mary Clancy, the ne’er-do-well protagonist of the 1966 comedy The Trouble With Angels is the Catholic education system’s worst nightmare: she is clever, irreverent, wise beyond her sixteen years, and full of “scathingly brilliant ideas.” She is sent (along with her best friend and most loyal follower, Rachel) to St. Francis Convent to be “straightened out.” It is there that she meets her foil and foe — the venerable Reverend Mother (played by the equally venerable Rosalind Russell), a stern nun with a fondness for order and cooperative, obedient young women. Shenanigans, of course, ensue.

For most of the film, the plot is episodic and predictable. We follow Mary and Rachel through their four years of high school, which are peppered with pranks and subsequent punishments. The Reverend Mother can be seen lurking around corners and smiling ruefully at the folly and preciousness of youth before putting on her stern mask to punish the girls. She intends to expel them at one point, but her heart is softened by these two girls’ (especially Mary’s) particular need for a strong mother figure and a firm-but-gentle guiding hand. It is all very ’60s.

Keith Ellison is a congressman from Minneapolis and the first Muslim to be elected to Congress. Below is a video of his speech at the 2010 NSP conference in Washington D.C.