by Monica A. Coleman | Sep 6, 2011 | Blog, Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
I grew up in the 1980s before AIDS was called HIV. My closest friends and I were trained to be deathly afraid of unprotected sex. At worst, you would get AIDS and die. And best, you got pregnant and there went your career dreams. Or so we believed as we sat around the...
by Monica A. Coleman | Aug 31, 2011 | Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog, Uncategorized
If you’ve been following my blog, you’ve noticed that I’ve been really quiet lately. Like all summer lately. What’s up with that? Well, part of the challenge of writing about depression is that it’s hard to write when depressed, and, well, depression happens. But I’m...
by Monica A. Coleman | Aug 19, 2011 | Blog, Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
I’m an ordained minister, but I’m not good at all that the life of ministry requires. I’m particularly embarrassed at how bad I am with hospital visitations. Early in my ministry career, I delighted when I put the clergy pass on my car’s dashboard and parked in the...
by Monica A. Coleman | Aug 16, 2011 | Blog, Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
I have a big cookie, I break it in two Some for me and some for you I’m sharing! When my sister was in pre-school, she learned this song. The last line about sharing was shouted in loud toddler glee. The short song is catchy—it was stuck in my head for hours after she...
by Monica A. Coleman | Jul 20, 2011 | Blog, Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
Borders Book Stores are closing. It’s the end of an era. That’s a little melodramatic, I know, but I’ve got my reasons. Although Borders Books is known to most people as a large chain that could be found all over the country, it’s still a neighborhood store to me. I’m...
by Monica A. Coleman | Jul 12, 2011 | Blog, Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
I’m into new media. I have a website, Twitter account, four Facebook pages, a LinkedIn profile, an old-school Myspace page, and I’m thinking about adding Tumblr. I use my smartphone for GPS, finding restaurants, playing crossword puzzles, texting, emailing, and...
by Monica A. Coleman | Jun 27, 2011 | Blog, Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
Perhaps the story of Lot’s wife is a monument. Perhaps the pillar of salt is a testimony to the fact that sometimes a place calls your attention home. “I feel a strong spiritual pull to go back to the South.” These are the words of Deborah Brown as quoted in a...
by Monica A. Coleman | Jun 20, 2011 | Blog, Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
“You have to believe in it. It won’t work if you don’t have some faith that it will work.” These are the words my friend said to me years ago when I realized I could no longer manage my depressive condition without medication. Friend to friend, depressive to...
by Monica A. Coleman | Jun 17, 2011 | Blog, Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
I met my pastor on Facebook. I hate to admit that because I’m one of those people who only “friends” people who are actually my friends. I don’t care if we know 42 of the same people. If I don’t know you, we aren’t friends. We aren’t even associates. Not until we...
by Monica A. Coleman | Jun 14, 2011 | Blog, Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
I know that progressive Christianity is the new f-word for some Christians who don’t want all its associations. But I want it all. Many women know what it’s like to live with a label with varied understandings that may or may not indicate what she would...
