The Day After Tomorrow

This was surprisingly not so bad. I must say the highlight of the film for me was when all the Southern Americans (it was too late to rescue those in the north) had to flee into Mexico or risk being frozen to death in the second Ice Age. When they reached the gate, the Mexicans closed the borders, so the Americans had to break down the fences and swim across the Rio Grande. It was a Non Sequitor strip in real flesh and blood.

I also gained a whole new appreciation for Noah and the Arc while watching waters spill over New York City and destroying everything humanity had made. I thought the film raised a lot of good questions that my fellow viewers seemed to miss in their reaction against the films “liberal” agenda. Some of the themes beyond the obvious one of environmental responsibility were that the poor have something to teach the rich, we shouldn’t put our hopes in things that can be destroyed, and the proud will be humbled.

Still, it was great to see the Third World save humanity. I love to see things turned on their heads.

Week O'Discoveries

• I can throw an American football with finesse. I even shocked my dad.
  
• Bruce Springstein is a good songwriter.
  
• Patty Griffin uses a DADDAD tuning quite often.
  

I’ll Get You My Pretty & Your Little Dog Too

IT people will be the death of me. In every other office I worked have worked in, when an IT person wanted to work on your computer

1. They would ask if the could use your computer.
   
2. They would wait until you finished your current task so you could come to a stopping place.
   
3. They would give you an estimate of time so you knew when to return.
   
4. The would sit down to fix & update whatever they had to fix & update.

Here it’s all different.

1. They ask if they can get on your computer.
   
2. You say wait two minutes and it’s all yours.
   
3. They agree.
   
4. You come to a stopping point and sign off on your computer.
   
5. They begin to sign in.
   
6. You ask for a time estimate.
   
7. They say no more than 30 minutes.
   
8. You go for a thirty-plus minute break and then walk back to the office.
   
9. They haven’t started on your computer.
   
10. You tell them it’s too late, they missed their chance, go away and come back tomorrow (when this will all be repeated.)

Is it just me or is this a little unreasonable?

Children, Obey Your Parents in Everything…

…for this pleases the Lord – and it might prevent you from becoming trapped under a double bed. Please, let me elaborate.

I have a bug infestation in my room, so I took off early from work yesterday so that I could move all the furniture around to vacuum and spray the baseboards with Raid. When I tried to move the bed, it kept falling off of the stilts it sits on. We have no closets in our house, so underneath the bed is the only storage space there is. We had even glued wooden blocks to the stilts so that everything would fit – only the glue wasn’t holding things together. This was the real problem

My mother, being a good mother, came to help me put things back together again since one cannot lift a bed frame and glue stilts to wooden blocks all at the same time. Because it was 10:00 and because my bed was now in the middle of the room, I wanted to move it back to its assigned corner. A reasonable desire, I would say. My mother informed me that this was impossible. I came up with a plan: she could slide the bed and I would push the stilts from underneath. My mother said this was a terrible idea, but went along with it anyway because I was quite persuasive.

As it turns out, wet glue is quite slippery so the bed went flying off the stilts leaving me pinned underneath and my mother laughing so hard that she was unable to assist me in any possible way except to command me to get out from under the bed. (I later informed her that she was not like Jesus in that a command gave me the ability to perform the commanded action.)

To conclude, after my adrenaline came down, I remember that the other side of the bed was higher so I scooted that way to free myself. I escaped unharmed except for a small welt on my forehead and a big one on my pride. To the day I die, any idea I propose will now be answered with “Do you not remember what happened when we tried to move the bed?”

And people think ordinary life is boring.

Weekly Run-Down

• Mike, Kristen, and Baby Stewart are back online as of last night! (And there was great rejoicing.)
  
• My brother-in-law's graduation shin-dig was a success and I think he really enjoyed it. All the surrounding areas received thunderstorms except our little Piedmont township. We had clear skies and 93 degree weather. I can also report that my family is still quite nutty, but they make me laugh. (And now we have a fridge full of BBQ and a freezer full of ice-cream.)
  

Ahem. My coffee is ready. The lazy Sunday has begun.

Blue on Red

I just wanted you, dear reader, to know that I just discovered that one of my L'Abri buddies has a photo on the Massachusetts L'Abri website of a painting she completed during our term. Heather and I bonded quickly because she loved Rosie Thomas as much as I did. She was quiet and sincere and amazingly talented. I forget sometimes, but I do miss her. (Why is it so hard to remember these things?)

This is a portrait of her youngest brother. You should take a minute to check it out.

Encyclopedia Brown Would Know...

For the past week, the highlight of my evening has going to check on my one precocious raspberry. Today, I was filled with expectation because it was almost ripe when I went to check on it yesterday. I walked across the yard, slipped cautiously past the cow grazing in the field, rambled past the flower beds we planted Wednesday, scrambled behind the strawberry patch. I was at the raspberry bushes! I lifted the branch and peek at the...only my raspberry was gone! I checked carefully underneath the bush, but there was no sign of glowing red. I inspected the naked stem - it was clean - so there was no way it was a bird. Someone nicked my prize raspberry! What sort of person steals a woman's raspberry - even if she is a bit quirky, eh? I've been waiting two years for this moment! Too much passion. Now, I'll never be a Jedi.

[.sretniap eht saw ti kniht I]

If Only

I wanted to tell Kristen that her suggestion of Yahoo radio was a good one. I wanted to tell Kristen that it has made my long hours at work a bit more bearable. I want to tell Kristen that it's amazing to hear a radio station play Patty Griffin, Mahalia Jackson, The Go-Go's, followed by the Smiths. However, Kristen is still MIA.

Alas. I also wanted to tell Kristen that she could check out my station at anotherway_nc.

Oh No!

Mike?

Kristen?

Baby Stewart?

You guys out there?

Hello?


(I do believe This Classical Life is missing today!)

All Come to Look for America

I don't use the interstate regularly in my day-to-day life since it's usually quicker (and always more beautiful) to take country highways. Now that the interstate has become a novelty I am having trouble getting off at the correct exit. It's not that I phase out, but that I know if I keep driving that I will end up somewhere new, somewhere not routine. I think this is partly motivated by the fact that I have not left this area at all since Thanksgiving, excepting one day trip to Danville, VA. I need an escape plan - however, I don't think I'm going to get much further than Asheville this summer. Asheville is sort of exciting, that is in a nostalgic, already-in-my-blood sort of way.

There's always South Africa in the September. I should remember to recall this. Perhaps I will paste pictures on my dashboard to replace my sun-faded endangered species pictures. Now South Africa is definitely exciting, especially in an I-even-get-to-change-seasons sort of way. I've never been anywhere close to South Africa before. Thanks goodness people still have weddings these days - and far from where I live.

Sometimes you just need a good dose of something different. Perhaps I'll finally get to play cricket.

Recommendations

First, I would like to highlight Richard of Danger Blog for posting the Nickelback link. Basically, someone took two Nickelback hits and stuck one in the right speaker and the other in the left and they line up perfectly. They are even in the same key. Fascinating. I'm truly quite mesmerized.

Next up is Katie of Hints & Guesses who emailed the following quote to me yesterday. It's a bit long, but definitely worthy of a close read. Lewis is just sometimes able to caputure the most fleeting of thoughts to give them form and breath. All of a sudden you feel as if you are dealing with something solid. Anyway, without further ado, read on:

You may have noticed that the books you really love are bound together by a secret thread. You know very well what is the common quality that makes you love them, though you cannot put it into words: but most of your friends do not see it at all, and often wonder why, liking this, you should also like that. Again, you have stood before some landscape, which seems to embody what you have been looking for all your life; and then turned to the friend at your side who appears to be seeing what you saw — but at the first words a gulf yawns between you, and you realize that this landscape means something totally different to him, that he is pursuing an alien vision and cares nothing for the ineffable suggestion by which you are transported. Even in your hobbies, has there not always been some secret attraction which the others are curiously ignorant of — something, not to be identified with, but always on the verge of breaking through, the smell of cut wood in the workshop or the clap-clap of water against the boat's side? Are not all lifelong friendships born at the moment when at last you meet another human being who has some inkling (but faint and uncertain even in the best) of that something which you were born desiring, and which, beneath the flux of other desires and in all the momentary silences between the louder passions, night and day, year by year, from childhood to old age, you are looking for, watching for, listening for? You have never had it. All the things that have ever deeply possessed your soul have been but hints of it — tantalizing glimpses, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear. But if it should really become manifest — if there ever came an echo that did not die away but swelled into the sound itself — you would know it. Beyond all possibility of doubt you would say "Here at last is the thing I was made for". We cannot tell each other about it. It is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want, the thing we desired before we met our wives or made our friends or chose our work, and which we shall still desire on our deathbeds, when the mind no longer knows wife or friend or work. While we are, this is. If we lose this, we lose all.
- C.S. Lewis

Good Night Bears Sitting on Chairs

Last night, I went over to my pastor’s house for dinner. His son (who is going on three) was informed that once we finished our cake it would be bedtime. The cake was eaten while he ran about the room. Once we had all finished, he was asked, “Who do you want to put you to bed: Mommy or Daddy?”

The boy answered promptly, “Jamie!”

...But Do Not Have Love...

At church, we have this recurrent theme of loving those around us and loving our community. How do we do this? We disadvantage ourselves for another's benefit.

Love seems like a simple thing - we even tend to mock people who claim that all we need is love. I'm starting to believe the Beatles were more profound than they realized - if we can define love according to Paul's famous chapter. I believe this sort of love would be world changing. However, though it is not too much to ask that I love in this manner, I know that I cannot truly do so.

It is easy to forgo buying a new CD so that I have money to buy socks for a homeless man. It is easy to leave work early so I can pick someone up from the airport. It is unimaginably difficult to truly sacrifice my own desires and longings for another's benefit and it seems like the closer the individual is to my heart, the more difficult I find this task. It even seems to become more difficult in direct proportion to the awareness I have of what keeps me from loving - mainly my selfishness and my fears.

Maybe all we can do is to resolve to love as we ought, all the while understanding that we will come up short. When we fail at the task, we attempt to rid ourselves of selfishness, fear, & pride. Then we climb back up and try again as we resolve to repeat this reattempt the next time we stumble. It's not what I desire, it smells a bit like Sisyphus, but the resolve and reattempt is all I can be sure of.

"But when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away."

Can It Be?



On Sale Now!

Something Borrowed, Something Blue

I received this link in my inbox this morning. Please remember that it is parody, only parody. However, it does reveal the illogic some use when debating whether women should be ordained – or, more broadly, why women should be prohibited from many roles. Again, this is only parody…

Ten Reasons According To The Natural Order Of The World, Social
Custom, And Theology Why Men Should Not Be Ordained

1. The male physical build indicates that men are more suited to tasks such as picking turnips or de-horning cattle. It would be "unnatural" for them to do other forms of work. How can we argue with nature?
   
   
2. For men who have children, their duties as ministers might detract from their responsibilities as parents. Instead of teaching their children important life skills like how to make a wiener-roasting stick, they would be off at some committee meeting or preparing a sermon. Thus these unfortunate children of ordained men would almost certainly receive less attention from their male parent.
   
   
3. According to the Genesis account, men were created before women, presumably as a prototype. It is thus obvious that men represent an experiment, rather than the crowning achievement of creation.
   
   
4. Men are overly prone to violence. They are responsible for the vast majority of crime in our country, especially violent crime. Thus they would be poor role models, as well as being dangerously unstable in positions of leadership.
   
   
5. In the New Testament account, the person who betrayed Jesus was a man. His lack of faith and ensuing punishment stands as a symbol of the subordinate position that all men should take. It is expected that even ordained men would be unable to withstand the natural male tendency to buckle under pressure.
   
   
6. Jesus didn't ordain men. He didn't ordain any women either, but two wrongs don't make a right.
   
   
7. Men are simply too emotional to be ordained. Their conduct at football matches, in the army, at political conventions and especially at Promise Keepers Rallies amply demonstrates this tendency.
   
   
8. Many men are simply too handsome to lead public worship. They could prove to be a distraction to the women in the congregation!
   
   
9. To be an ordained pastor is to nurture and strengthen a whole congregation. But these are not traditional male roles. Throughout the history of Christianity, women have been considered to be not only more skilled than men at nurturing, but also more fervently attracted to it. If men try to fit into this nurturing role, our young people might grow up with severe gender role confusion.
   
   
10. If the Church is the Bride of Christ, then it goes without saying that all ordained leaders should be female. It just makes theological sense!

It's True.

And I'm stunned. Jell-O Pudding Pops have returned. Is there anything else to say?

(I've eaten three this evening.)

To Complicate Matters

It is strange to me that I keep hearing that the release of the Abu Ghraib photos are complicating matters in Iraq. To me it seems clear that the complication does not arrive from the photos, but from the abuse itself. Besides, this is the role of a free press within democratic societies – this is part of the system of checks and balances.

I also hold a deep belief that evil will eventually be brought to light and shown for what it is.

Do You Believe in Fairies?

Tonight is the first night that I have really noticed that the fireflies have made their summer return. The cedar trees out here attract a sort of self-illuminating bug that I had never before noticed until my family moved into the country. In the suburbs, we had lightening bugs who wore one golden bulb that they would flash lazily in dark heavy strokes, lazily like a middle aged women window shopping in August. Our country fireflies burn their lamp with such intensity that it seems to burst and fade before the first flicker appears. These quickly burning insects settle into the trees outlining the Piedmont fields as if stars had nestled into their branches and flash so rapidly and patternlessly that you begin to feel as though you are watching a storm - even if the air is still.

I am beginning to question my doubts regarding the existence of fairies.

A Wrinkle in Time

Last night, I watched the Canadian TV movie, A Wrinkle in Time. I am always a little wary when books are translated to the screen, but they really did do a good job at capturing L'Engle's book. Of course, a film can never contain all the depth a novel might - still they did not alter the main flow of the plot.

I must say that this is one of my favorite stories ever - and I do not mean "book," I really do mean "story." An awkward, self-despising teenager, Meg, sets off with her brilliant five-year-old brother, Charles Wallace, and the most popular kid in her school, Calvin, to save her missing father. In their journey, they are guided by three mysterious beings who are good, faulty, and awe-inspiration, but cannot intervene in the outcome. Throughout the story, Meg must face her fear of the unknown, fear of loss, fear of others' approval, and fear of suffering - not to mention coming face-to-face with evil. What makes this story so glorious is that such a fearful, unsure heroine is able to defeat such a solid & powerful evil. He has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. [189]

My one complaint is, similar to Harry Potter and the Return of the King, the screenwriters did not allow evil to be truly evil, or perhaps they allowed Meg to be too powerful. In L'Engle's book, Meg is able to free Charles Wallace from the clutches of IT by calling him to herself in love. Through this process, she does realize that she could destroy IT if she could somehow bring herself to love IT, but the narrator informs us that, though this may be true, Meg is too weak to love such a thing as IT. Perhaps it was not too much to ask of her, but she could not do it. [195] However, in the film, Meg is able to destroy IT and ultimately frees the citizens of Camazotz by loving her brother - not by loving her enemy.

Even stranger, she is later informed that she will be a great help in battling the darkness on Earth, but that even she is not strong enough to defeat it. However, this just doesn't make sense since Camazotz is a dark planet (or a planet completely overtaken by darkness) where Earth is a planet that is in shadow, but is battling the darkness. However, though Meg's weakness in Earth's battle may not logically follow, I still believe that it might have been the saving grace for the movie's end. Meg is a paradox of importance yet feebleness when it comes to battling darkness. She cannot make all right, but she is left with hope - hope that, though the battle may be long and dark, that victory will be tasted and our efforts will not be wasted in the effort.

Rumsfeld

Rumsfeld did apologize and I must say it’s more than I hoped for. Of course, it doesn’t fit all my ideals, but they are not often all satisfied. Though this is a very evil situation – and I do think evil is the right word – I’m left feeling a little unnerved about myself. I think I have forgotten that, as frustrated as I get with politicians, they are still people as faulty and frail as I myself am. Rumsfeld is the politician I have the most issues with currently. I don’t like the way he conducts himself and I don’t appreciate his confidence because I interpret it as arrogance. However, today I feel great compassion for him, even pity. I must say I commend his speech even if it is not perfect. It is hard enough to admit to wrong – how much more to an international audience? This took guts and I do think it was heartfelt. We may disagree on a whole plethora of principles, but today I must commend him.

All Apologies

Bush did finally apologize for the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison. I am glad that he finally apologized, but I am still left wanting.

I think I want us to take responsibility for our actions as a nation. It just isn’t enough to say “I’m sorry for your loss.” However, I am glad for a strong call for justice. Actually, I think this is what bothers me: though justice may bring a certain satisfaction to the abused, it cannot cover all the wrong that has been done. The evil is out of our hands and the taint will remain. I think we have not officially recognized this yet.

Rumsfeld is expected to apologize today. I’m sure there will be more remarks later.

Foreign Countries & Destitute Parts of the Church

Andy beat me to it. He is much more organized than I am (and he has his own computer) so it was bound to happen.

My hometown of Carrboro, NC has officially been deemed a "destitute part of the Church" by the Presbyterian Church in America - well, perhaps officially is unfair; indirectly would be a better word. However, I'll let Andy explain (since he did beat me to the punch.)

Follow the white rabbit.

Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

I finished this morning on the bus ride to work leaving a big empty space to reflect between Weaver Street and my stop. I must say I liked it as a whole. I would consider it to be a memoir of one man's struggle to define Christianity in terms of his experience instead of his Southern Baptist upbringing. In this, he focused on his hostility toward religious people, his difficulties in loving others, how he sometimes feels more loved by non-Christians, and his slow process of change.

I thought the writing was a bit choppy, like reading a book composed on Hotmail. However, the stories were so engrossing that I tended to forget this fact - or to even enjoy it, I must admit. Anyway, here are a few memorable quotes....

---

I was even more amazed when I realized that I preferred, in fact, the company of hippies to the company of Christians. It isn’t that I didn’t love my Christian friend or that they didn’t love me, it was just that there was something different about my hippie friends; something, I don’t know, more real, more true. I realize that this is a provocative statement, but I only felt like I could be myself around them and I could not be myself around my Christian friends. My Christian communities had always had little unwritten social ethics like don’t cuss and don’t support Democrats and don’t ask tough questions about the Bible.

I stayed in the woods a month. I wanted to stay longer, but I had secured a job in Colorado at a Christian camp and needed to honor that agreement. [p.210]

---

(On running a confession booth during a campus festival where Christians could repent of their sins to non-Christians.)

“What are you confessing?” He asked.

I shook my head and looked at the ground. “Everything,” I told him.

“Explain,” he said.

“There is a lot. I will keep it short,” I started. “Jesus said to feed the poor and to heal the sick. I have never done very much about that. Jesus said to love those who persecute me. I tend to lash out, especially if I feel threatened, you know, if my ego gets threatened. Jesus did not mix his spirituality with politics. I grew up doing that. I got in the way of the central message of Christ. I know that was wrong, and I know that a lot of people will not listen to the words of Christ because people like me, you know, carry our own agendas into the conversation rather than just relaying the message that Christ wanted to get across. There’s a lot more, you know.”

“That’s alright, man, “Jake said, very tenderly. His eyes were starting to water.

“Well,” I said, clearing my throat, “I am sorry for all that.”

“I forgive you,” Jake said. And he meant it. [p. 122]

I Am Not The Only One

"Asked if it would be appropriate for him to apologize to the Iraqi people on behalf of Americans, Bush said he would await a briefing Wednesday by Rumsfeld on the investigations 'and then I'll take the appropriate response after that,' according to an account in Wednesday's Columbus Dispatch. "

"Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld did not directly apologize for the abuses in a Wednesday appearance on ABC's Good Morning America, but said, 'Any American who sees the photographs that we've seen has to be feel apologetic to the Iraqi people who have been abused and recognize that that is something that is unacceptable.' "

[ Article ]

Linguistic Updates

I realized this past week how extremely helpful it would be to speak Spanish, so I broke down and bought Berlitz tapes - Berlitz because it will be 100% Spanish instead of having English translations dispersed between Spanish dialogue. This will make it easier to actually think in Spanish instead of constantly translating.

I tried the Berlitz tape method once with German and didn't get very far, but I hoping Spanish will be easier to pursue since there are so many similarities to the French I already speak. There are also more people in my life who speak Spanish which hopefully means I can quickly bring it into my day-to-day life. I did so much want to learn Portuguese as my next Romance language, but some dreams should be deferred. (Langston Hughes might disagree, but I still believe this is true at times.)

Abu Ghraib

Why is it that the United States currently has an administration that sets itself up as being committed to what’s right, true, and just but cannot admit when wrong has been done in its name? How can one be committed to what is right, true, and just unless one takes great pains to point out what is wrong, false, and warped? How can one point out what is wrong, false, and warped unless one is willing to point out this twisting in one's own heart or organization?

Even more disturbing, we have a president that goes to great pains to show that he is Christian and, even more, an Evangelical. I believe that the main crux of the gospel is repentance – that, if we repent of our sins, we can then be reconciled to God, as well as to humanity. Instead of trying to pass off the image of being a good person, we are to be open about the fact that we are faulty, that we are broken, that we do not do as we ought.

According to NPR, the Army completed their report on US soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib in February. February! Why can we only admit that we were wrong when our misdeeds are leaked to the media? Why must we always say that we are disgusted, but not to worry, that only a minority participated in these deeds, that most US soldiers are not like this? When are we going to realize that we are conducting operations in a land broken, bruised, and torn asunder by both the West and the Christian church? When are we going to realize that the deeds of a few can reflect on the whole? There is a reason that this story is on the front page of every international newspaper.

But we could have been the ones who broke the story. We could have said that it has come to our attention that some of our military personnel were treating Iraqi prisoners in an unthinkable manner when of purpose was to bring this people liberty, peace, and prosperity. We could have then informed the world that we were grieved and brokenhearted by the actions of these soldiers, that we don’t believe that most soldiers act in this manner, but that these soldiers were still representing America and that we, America, must ask the Iraqis for forgiveness. We could have even shed honest tears over this.

This would have been profound two months ago because our only motivation would have been the ideals of right, truth, and justice - now we only look like we are trying to attempt damage control, like we are only trying hold to our status as good people. Of course, we should deal with our misdeeds when they come to light, but how much better if we have no external reason to do so.

Myers-Brigg

In a discussion regarding Myers-Brigg types (an ongoing obsession for many bloggers), a friend remarked, "So, you're absolutely sure you're an introvert?" I asked him why he asked only to receive the response "You talk more than any introvert I know!" As I often do, I tried to make up a valid answer, but didn't succeed. However, it hit me on the way home: Yes, I'm sure that I'm an introvert, but I'm also a verbal processor. Thus I can out-talk the best of them once you get me going (if we are not in a crowd.)

There you have it, folks.