{"id":1050,"date":"2018-09-24T10:34:33","date_gmt":"2018-09-24T14:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/?p=1050"},"modified":"2018-09-24T10:34:33","modified_gmt":"2018-09-24T14:34:33","slug":"returning-to-the-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/returning-to-the-scene\/","title":{"rendered":"Returning to the Scene"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Who woulda’ thunk it? Thirty-two years after after I graduated from Columbia I have been invited back to read from my memoir and talk about my experiences there.<\/p>\n

I have mixed feelings about it. The strongest feeling I have is gratitude. Never would I have thought this day would arrive. What a graceful moment to come full circle and return to a campus where once I was a stranger in a strange land, an unwelcome alien, and a proverbial thorn in the side of this august institution.\u00a0I am grateful not only to be welcomed and given a voice but I am also grateful (and astounded!) to see the course \u00a0‘Ministry With LGBTQIA Youth’ offered.<\/p>\n

But to be completely honest, the other thing I am feeling is anger. Now we all know that anger is often a ‘leading emotion’ that conceals or protects us from the underlying and original emotion. So if I follow that thread I must confess that my anger is trying to \u00a0protect me from hurt. So there you have it. The hurt is old. It is the hurt of being silenced and demeaned. It is the hurt of being dismissed. Hated. Feared. It is the hurt of being wide open and vulnerable to Godde and having those in power abusing that vulnerability.<\/p>\n

I met a few weeks ago with a wonderful woman from Columbia who invited me to be a part of this event. She is ordained. And a lesbian. And open. All in the Presbyterian Church (USA). After a long, truthful, and profoundly intimate conversation she asked me what I would like from Columbia. It surprised me when I teared up and said \u00a0“I just want someone to say ‘I’m sorry’. ” Funny that.<\/p>\n

This Wednesday I am invited to be a part of worship and to share my story. To talk about my journey at the institution I both love and hate. I have come to believe that giving me a voice may be the most profound apology I could be offered.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who woulda’ thunk it? Thirty-two years after after I graduated from Columbia I have been invited back to read from my memoir and talk about my experiences there. I have mixed feelings about it. The strongest feeling I have is gratitude. Never would I have thought this day would arrive. What a graceful moment to … Continue reading Returning to the Scene<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,39,7,13,22,17,8,21,25,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1050"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1050"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1054,"href":"https:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1050\/revisions\/1054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}