This post is part of the February Synchroblog “Cross Gender Friendships”. I will list the links to all the contributions at the end of this post as soon as they are available.
Several years ago I attended a three-week training conference in Georgia for my job. I was warned before I went down there that it was a very “sexualized” environment. The warning was an understatement. While there, it seemed that nearly everyone in my group “hooked up” with someone else. My roommate slept with at least two different girls, and in the morning on my way down for the continental breakfast at the hotel, it was not uncommon for me to see guys coming out of girls’ rooms where they had clearly spent the night.
Due to my position at work, there were certain elements of the training I was exempt from. There was also a female in our group who was similarly exempt, but for different reasons. But we weren’t allowed to just sit around and do anything we want while the rest of our group was out getting trained. No, we had to study together for some other exams which we would take at the end of the three weeks. The instructors put the two of us in a room together for hours on end to read our textbooks, do our research, and quiz each other about what could possibly be on the exams.
At one point during these study sessions, she said, “Do you think that cross-gender friendships are possible?”
Call it sexism, patriarchism, or whatever, but I immediately answered, “No. I do not think so. While they might be possible for women, they are not possible for men.”
As I look back over 2012, I want to thank all of you who read and comment on this blog.
My wife is the epitome of Christmas spirit. She is Santa Claus incarnate. She is Santa Clausette. We are near the tail end of a 
As we have been driving around Oregon, we have noticed many homeless people. They seem to be everywhere. Our friend, Sam, in California likes to give tarps, bottles of water, bags of chips, and socks to homeless people in his town, and when Wendy heard this, she decide to put together Christmas bags for the homeless people in our area. She bought a box of canvas bags, a box of blue tarps, several flats of water bottles, and along with the girls, put together “Christmas care packages” for the homeless.Each canvas bag gets filled with a tarp, bottles of water, snacks, food, and a candy cane or two.
Then last week, she found out about a lady near where we live who moved up here from California. She was married to an abusive husband, and was scared that he would start abusing their daughter, and so she took the brave step of moving to a place where she had no home, no job, and no friends. My wife is putting together boxes for this lady and her daughter, and in the coming week, we are going to take it all to her. The boxes are filled with food, candles, cookies, some of our favorite Christmas books, Christmas ornaments, and numerous other items which we hope will help this lady and her daughter have a slightly better Christmas, and to know that there are people around her who love her and want to help care for her.
I want to invite you to participate in this month’s Synchroblog. It is on the theme of Christmas, and invites you to write a post on your blog about a story that has to do with the spirit of Christmas, the advent of Jesus, and the wonderful spirit of love and generosity that is so prevalent this time of year.
