I’m not much into celebrities, other than guilty dentist-office peeks at HELLO! wedding coverage. The ongoing parade of semi-talented, under-clothed, over-hyped girls is not worth my time.
Thus, I really had no idea who Katy Perry was. Until two of the local lady-mags covered her back-to-back last year, and I read one of them at the dentist.
Fa, talented girl, raised in a Christian home by parents who came out of lifestyles much like my wild-child days, chucks her faith, morals and makes it big singing about kissing other girls. Not a bad article at all, in fact, nicely validated her parents testimony of life-change after Christ, and their unconditional love for their daughter without validating her lifestyle-changes in the other direction.
Another month, another dentist visit (four kids, one in braces, lots of time in teeth-care). Another cover article about Katy Perry.
This one, made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
It seemed as if the goal of the writer was to denigrate Christian parenting values, which, uh, pretty much parallel Muslim parenting values.
** Do Muslim parents generally monitor what their daughters watch and listen to? Check
** Do Muslim parents let their daughters go ‘on dates’ in their early teens? Check
** Do Muslim parents generally try to provide a home environment that nurtures faith and conservative behavior? Check
Wow, can you believe those uptight born-agains did that? How backward and cave-parentish of them!
It got worse.
When describing the parents, it was as if they still were drug-dealing, Hendrix groupies. No mention that this lifestyle was something they left when they came to faith.
** If the father had been an imam, don’t you think there would have been a clear distinction between his past and his present morality?
Worse yet, made them sound as if they were prudes for not totally embracing their daughters’ choice of lyrics.
** Would a Quran-teaching Muslimah be excited about her daughter singing about kissing girls?
I was curious about the parents after this article, so I googled around a little. I found the articles the second author quoted from, and decided to go straight to the source and googled Katy’s parents. Easy.
I sent her an email.
She wrote back. Very pleasant, very sad that lies are being reproduced in our part of the world. Very eager to let people know that they love their daughter very much, don’t love what she is doing at times, but that is the essence of Christian love – unconditional.
I asked the magazine if they would be interested in addressing the mischaracterizations. Reminded them that what is good for the Christian goose is also good for the Muslim goose, mish?
No thanks.
No surprise.
you emailed Kate Perry’s mom. . . And she emailed back?
Astounded by you!
Robin, lol, I am just incurably curious. Yup. Right away, and we had several exchanges. Turns out her pastor’s wife is Jordanian, too.
hahahaha kinzi you are awesome
Yalla, next is lady gaga’s mother x)
I just love how relentless and dedicated you are to your goals in life.
Oh, Mama Mia! You emailed who?
We read each others blog. You correspond with Katy Perry’s mom. I and Katy Perry have something in common now. Six degree of separation
Haitham, aw shucks
. This is the third time I have called out a Jordanian mag editor on the subtle slants against my faith…the second time I lost a free-lance job over it. BUT, I prayed, and got one of them back (yay!). This one, not sure I could with any degree of integrity.
(I’ll let the People For Ethical Treatment of Animals go after Lady Gaga, after that ‘dress’ she wore – which is all I know about her!)
Jaraad, too funny! You also have something in common with Mel Gibson now too. My former pastor (who won an Academy Award for creating the special effects for Independence Day) lived next door to him and prayed with him daily while he made The Passion (before he left his family and descended into his current pit). I guess Mel should’ve kept praying with Dave.
seriously? an arab magazine was denigrating NOT letting your daughter date as a pre-teen? had you wandered into the twilight zone without realising it..? have I……? :O
I detest most of the mags published in this city, especially if they proport family-orientedness. They are a far cry from entertaining. And I’m sorry, but as far as the quality of writing is concerned, (present party’s writing excluded, OF COURSE), it is dribble. As far as the content, also dribble. The topics are tired, recycled, and vacuous. They love to hone in on everything that is Western and ‘wrong’ but what they see as so right, then dress it up to look Middle Eastern, then bling it even more by throwing on the “we are a mostly Muslim country but we can sure dish out the secularism, albeit at its ugliest” slant. What we end up reading (at the dentist’s office, because I won’t waste my dinars) is a myriad of sloppy confusion coupled with gag-reflex-inducing capital B capital S.
So Kinz, keep the great, innovative stories coming. Raise the bar of journalism!
Very interesting and I love that you followed up with that!
I read that Katy Perry had moderated her new husband enfant terrible Russell Brand’s sniping at Christianity, and recalled her earlier Gospel background.
Re the offending article – hopefully most of the readers will have seen through the attempt to paint as odd what is in fact normal.
Loolt, you pegged it: a Twilight Zone moment. What happened later I cannot even blog about, but made me realize HOW VERY DEEP DE-NIAL FLOWS in Jordan.
UmmF, thanks for your sweet encouragement. Hopefully I’ll be part of keeping bar high at JO and GO in the future
“The topics are tired, recycled, and vacuous. They love to hone in on everything that is Western and ‘wrong’ but what they see as so right, then dress it up to look Middle Eastern, then bling it even more by throwing on the “we are a mostly Muslim country but we can sure dish out the secularism, albeit at its ugliest” slant. What we end up reading (at the dentist’s office, because I won’t waste my dinars) is a myriad of sloppy confusion coupled with gag-reflex-inducing capital B capital S.”
Agreed.
Samar, I have learned that going the extra mile is worth every step.
BWT, it is true. Her parents love Russell, (which, for me, would be a HUGE STRETCH of my ability) and imagine, they have a great relationship! Imagine, the enfant terrible with a pastor dad-in-law. Wish I could dish more.
Umm F, you go girl… I avoid most. Even the ones with half-decent content are so riddled with errors and grammatical issues that it requires patience my inherent-copy-editing bran can’t manage
. Oh well…
Ha, pure moxie!
I Still have touble accepting that a Christian pastor would particpate in a Hindu cerimony to give away his daughter in a wedding in northern India, where Christian’s are persecuted for their beliefs. They may feel the need to show support for their daughter, support for what she represents and the need to defend her. I am sure they don’t appreciate it when others says hateful things about her, trying to misrepresent her. But then they should understand why her critics feel the need to defend Christ and how he is potrayed when they see Katy Perry misrepresenting their God in an offensive way. I also hope that the parents ae not compromising their own beliefs and principles to provide comfort and support their daughters beliefs.
MommaBean, thanks for listening to me rant about this for weeks after it happened. You have an Awesome Ear!
Marvin, moxie, I love that word!!! Thanks
Jack, welcome to my blog! Well, I didn’t realize the wedding was in a place Christians were mistreated. That may be a stretch for me too.
I think that perhaps God has given her parents a grace in it that you and I don’t have. Remember that Corrie Ten Boom story about you don’t get on the train without a ticket? You get the grace when you need it.
They seem very very aware of people’s opinions and reasons for criticism. It is hard to watch one of the lambs of the fold trot off to another pasture and spit on the previous one. But that is where her parents are given the privilege to live and love Christ incarnationally, and they clearly love her well while yet not loving what she does.
If what BWT says is true, then it seems their love for her husband has softened his heart. That is a work of grace, is it not? Blessings to you today!
I love Katy Perry Beautiful and talented women… My son I think has to have the cutest little crush on her… his name is Treyton and he will be 4 on the 13th of march… He knows mostly all the words to her songs and gets all read when looking at a picture…. super super cute….
Amanda, thanks for visiting. Happy birthday to Treyton!
Honey, I am having a hard time imagining why Katy Perry is a part of your son’s world. I am a 50 year old mother of four, who has earned the right to say: appropriate songs for kids your sons age are from Thomas the Tank Engine, Dora the Explorer and Cars.
He may be getting red because he knows her stuff is not age-appropriate. Imagine who he’ll be having a crush on at 16.
Pingback: Katy Perry’s Mom Writing a Book | my treasure
Pingback: Tribute to Yemeni President via Katy Perry – Hot and Cold | my treasure
What a great read! Thanks for sharing about your findings and correspondence!
Susanne, thanks for visiting! I read recently that KP’s mom is writing a book. Now, when I see her mentioned in the news, I pray for her.
Pingback: Tribute to Yemeni President via Katy Perry – Hot & Cold (VIDEO) | Comedy, Creativity, Entertainment, Yemen | Arab Stands