So we went off on that whole nun thing last week, and in retrospect, feel a need to clarify: Yes, we are a tad repentant.
The last thing we want to do is come off all disrespectful, especially toward the sisters. It is complicated psychology that triggers associations and memories, after all (and we aren’t about to attempt that messy unraveling here, fret not …). But suffice it to say that we really, really like nuns, and wrapped up in that affection is a whole lot of admiration. See, we are Cathoholic — recovering Catholic, as it were. We’re one of those ex-devouts who smirks politely and shakes our head when we see our non-genuflecting friends get all mystical and new-agey over Catholic iconography. We smile at shrines, and our friends’ affinities for saint candles, scapulars, hair shirts, and Virgens de Guadalupe, but we wonder if they who surround themselves with holy trinkets and the like consider that putting those images on the pop culture altar — while perhaps not such a different action from actually praying to the things — might be venturing into the realm of cultural appropriation, irony, or ethnodisrespecticity.
Hey, we aren’t any more pure, mind you. We certainly dabble in candle burning, crossing ourselves, and imploring of the Son of Man every now and again, and we acknowledge that being an ex-Catholic does not give us the same rights to these rites as being a practicing Catholic might. It is one of those things that makes us go, “Hmmm.”
It’s interesting, really. In the Seventies, everybody and their mother (our own mother, for that matter …) dabbled in Eastern religions and philosophy, and the offshoot of that was a pop culturalization of Buddha tchotchkes and meditation mats. Faith and the questioning or lack thereof are parts of our human experience, so it stands to reason that different levels of devotion peek through in our exploration of our spiritual selves and into our material realities. But there is a point where worship and curiosity split.
The same goes for The Sound of Music (a stretch, we admit, but bear with us …). Is it with tongue firmly planted in cheek or total sincerity that drives most fans of the 1965 Robert Wise film adaptation of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Broadway hit? High holy or high camp? The Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival along with the fine folk from Project Transitions are banking on both. We suppose they don’t much care if you come to cry tears of joy or tears of hysterical laughter, they just want you to come to their The Sound of Music Sing-Along at the Paramount Theatre later this month. Charmian Carr, who played Liesel in the film (and we lay prostrate offering to wash the feet of our “16 going on 17” heroine for misspelling her name last week!), will be in town to make an appearance at the group karaoke spectacular and to promote her book Forever Liesel, Sat, Jul 29. Proceeds from the musical mayhem will benefit Project T and all their fine, fine work. www.agliff.org or 454-8646.
This article appears in July 14 • 2000.