Lauren Winner...Live and Uncut
Lauren Winner is perhaps my favorite author right now. I have enjoyed the two books of hers that I have read, and have recommended her to many a reader. Her writing is both smart and funny with just a little bit of sauciness, which are all characteristics I aspire to. I'm probably a little too heavy on the saucy trait right now and light on the other two, but I'm still maturing. So what if I'm 27? I'm not afraid to admit I haven't made it yet.
I would have paid money to go to a conference to hear Winner speak. Lucky me, she accepted an invitation of a local church and led a two hour book discussion on Real Sex, Saturday afternoon and then stuck around to preach on Sunday morning. Lucky us. I kind of felt like Saturday was heaven day, actually. It rained all day, thus making it feel very Portland-esque. Then I went to my book discussion with a nice warm mug of coffee after hanging out with my family all day. Just peachy.
So anyway, Winner. She's the bomb dizzle. Very much all of the things her writing portrays her as. One interesting aspect of the discussion was when she outlined some things she wishes she had not left out of the book. You think about how much work an author of her caliber puts into a book, but then at the same time realize that she will never be completely satisfied with it. I also thought it was cool that as accomplished as she is, she's still humble enough to self-critique.
The one big thought that I came away with after the weekend was said and done is the idea of how we use our bodies as a proclamation of the gospel. As Winner put it, "how we have sex, how we drive, and even where we buy our houses". She did such a great job of keeping sexual ethics in perspective. It's very hard to find the place where you can passionately discuss something like sex as A big deal, as opposed to THE big deal. Very difficult, indeed. But, it does help us to keep everything in perspective, especially as it relates to humans as intricate and multi-dimensional beings.
Fair Dinkum
I would have paid money to go to a conference to hear Winner speak. Lucky me, she accepted an invitation of a local church and led a two hour book discussion on Real Sex, Saturday afternoon and then stuck around to preach on Sunday morning. Lucky us. I kind of felt like Saturday was heaven day, actually. It rained all day, thus making it feel very Portland-esque. Then I went to my book discussion with a nice warm mug of coffee after hanging out with my family all day. Just peachy.
So anyway, Winner. She's the bomb dizzle. Very much all of the things her writing portrays her as. One interesting aspect of the discussion was when she outlined some things she wishes she had not left out of the book. You think about how much work an author of her caliber puts into a book, but then at the same time realize that she will never be completely satisfied with it. I also thought it was cool that as accomplished as she is, she's still humble enough to self-critique.
The one big thought that I came away with after the weekend was said and done is the idea of how we use our bodies as a proclamation of the gospel. As Winner put it, "how we have sex, how we drive, and even where we buy our houses". She did such a great job of keeping sexual ethics in perspective. It's very hard to find the place where you can passionately discuss something like sex as A big deal, as opposed to THE big deal. Very difficult, indeed. But, it does help us to keep everything in perspective, especially as it relates to humans as intricate and multi-dimensional beings.
Fair Dinkum