Marcella's passing

I am sad to pass along the news of the passing of Dr. Marcella Althaus-Reid. Some of you may know that she is the reason I wanted to go to the University of Edinburgh. I wanted to work with her.

In 2005 Jonathan and I took a trip to the UK to figure out whether or not a PhD program there would be a good fit for me. In preparation for that trip I told Emerson that I wasn't sure if I really wanted to meet Marcella or if I was scared to meet Marcella. Emerson smiled and raised his eyebrow and said, "Well then you must meet her." Marcella's approach to theology, pedagogy, and gender issues had opened up a whole new world for me, but I wasn't sure if I was ready to discuss The Queer God in the flesh. When Jonathan and I arrived in Edinburgh Marcella took the better part of an afternoon to meet with us. She was gracious and open and was the most approachable, realistic person we met with on that trip. She was the one who gave me the advice that no matter where I chose to write, or what I chose to write on, that I must always make sure my theology relates in concrete ways to my community, to my specific group of people. Frankly, when I stepped away in January of '08, it was largely because her advice helped me to realize I was off track.

Although Marcella was one of my PhD supervisors, I didn't have a chance to work with her while I was in Edinburgh. She was on sabbatical my first semester and was too ill to return to campus in the spring. Below is the e-mail that went out to all Divinity school students and staff.

With sadness,
Beth
------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Professor Marcella Althaus-Reid


Dear colleagues and students,
With great sadness at our loss of an internationally respected scholar
and a lively and enjoyable colleague, I give notice of the death of
Professor Marcella Althaus-Reid on Friday 20th February, at the Marie
Curie Hospice (Edinburgh).
The memorial service will be held at St. George's West Church
(Shandwick Place), on Saturday 07 March, at noon.
There will be much more to say about Marcella's accomplishments, her
contributions to Divinity, and her relationships with so many of us.
But for now, I acknowledge in this preliminary manner all these things.
Larry Hurtado


L. W. Hurtado, FRSE, Head of the School of Divinity
Professor of New Testament Language, Literature & Theology
New College
University of Edinburgh
Mound Place
Edinburgh, UK. EH1 2LX
Office Phone: (0)131 650 8920. FAX: (0)131 650 7952

--
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Staton, by Beth

Well folks, as of today Jonathan is half of seventy years old.  Many thanks to Mary for describing his age in such a poignant manner.  What are big sisters for.  ;)  

I've always said that being with Jonathan is like knowing a secret.  He's a lot different than folks assume, and it is my great joy and honor to journey through life with such a creature.  We've been together since 1990 and my life is richer and stronger and more meaningful because of what we are together.  Happy birthday, Mr. Staton.  

The most recent photo I have of the three of us is here, from Christmas.  Thanks to Linda for actually snapping a photo of us!  

Last year we went to London on his birthday and spent the week touring the sites.  Julian 

slept through a lot of it, as you can see here.  We've got something a little less elaborate planned this

 year.  We're going over to Davey and Meredith's to watch Lost.  ;)  Friday night we'll gather with even more Statons for a game night.  And of course we'll sneak in an anniversary celebration this weekend-- twelve years!  

Here in Georgia it's raining like cats and dogs, and it's thundering!  Either the apocalypse or global warming.  Take your pick.  

I hope you're liking the new site design.  I think it's muy bien.  We'll have photos soon of Julian's upcoming birthday.  

Peace out,

Beth

a work in progress

Hey, if you're seeing this, then I was successful with the transfer. I had to scrap the old template I had designed in the process and since I don't have time to design a new one, I decided to find a free one that I liked. I found this one at btemplates.com

It's pretty cool, but I'm having some difficulties with the archive list and the way it's displaying. Hopefully I can correct the problem because I really like this design and would hate to trash it. Also, some of the links aren't working yet and a good bit of the pictures from our older posts have gone MIA. I'll do some recon and have everything up soon.

Jonathan

ch ch ch changes.........

So, I know it's been forever since I have posted anything but I am going to try and be better about it for all the Staton Family fans across the globe. It was so much easier to post things on a regular basis when we were in Scotland. I guess that was due to the lack of a social life and the fact that Julian took two naps a day.

Anyway, I just wanted to let everyone know that our site may be down for a while in the next week or so. Long story short, my old employer gave me free web hosting while I was employed there and since I'm no longer employed there I will be moving the site to another server. The template will probably change during the transition as well so don't think you're at the wrong site if you don't see our picture in the header.

And in other news.....if you haven't got your copy of The Warm Fuzzies Bubblegum EP - you can get it here - http://cdbaby.com/cd/warmfuzzies or on iTunes!

;)