I've had the big thrill of reliving my high school days via Havalina Railroad Co. One of the big bands in the LBC scene in the 90s, Havalina put up their greatest hits free on their site. You can find it here.
It takes me back: Jason and I did a few shows with them, as well as them playing Youth Convention and all the A/G mucks getting mad because all the kids were parading around the stage during "This Train." Them, the Halo Friendlies, the Merbabies, Boy Wonder (would become Off the Record), All Day Long and the Bunkshooters were great bands and it brings back great memories.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
Do women love these fierce invalids home from hot climates?
FINALLY. I finished Tom Robbins' book. It took forever, largely because I read it on and off while I was doing research, writing a thesis, plotting my escape East and whatever random chaos showed up. Finished it tonight. Super good. Once I finish off my current book pile, I want to read another Robbins manifesto. Anyone got any good recommendations?
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
More context is needed...
Four Stories for FourStory
Shameless plug, but I am located in a few other places as well, one of those being Four Story. Four Story is a webzine dedicated to issues of affordable housing and development, but with a perspective slightly devoid of facts and figures and more concerned with facts and profanity. I've written a bit for them and the latest bit is found here.
Word up.
Word up.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
The Lord has risen...
He is risen indeed!
Today is Easter. It snuck up on a lot of people (myself included) because it was so early in the liturgical calendar.
I read this article in the NYT about Easter sermons and Obama's speech on race. Great article, you can check it out here.
Yet, there was one quote that really irked me.
To me, this encapsulates my problem with my old Pastor recycling his Easter sermon (in fact, he recycled all his sermons) and the disconnect of the churches I grew up in. Easter is about new life, both in this life and in whatever is to come. Why can't we be both? We can't we celebrate a living God and a risen Christ as well as bring light to the darkness of humanity, without the covert missions to "get them saved?" Isn't Easter about the power of one-ness over sameness? The power to confront those things that cause death to us (such as racism) and yet belief that new life is looming?
Anyways. I pray that today, we celebrate the chance of new life, the ability for all things to become new.
I pray that today, our cries over lost dreams, betrayal and disappointments will be replaced by tears of wonder and delight.
I pray that today, as we celebrate the Risen Prince of Peace, that we have peace. The awareness that everything needed to thrive in life is within our grasps.
He has Risen and continues to bring resurrection power to those who yearn for it.
Today is Easter. It snuck up on a lot of people (myself included) because it was so early in the liturgical calendar.
I read this article in the NYT about Easter sermons and Obama's speech on race. Great article, you can check it out here.
Yet, there was one quote that really irked me.
The Rev. Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals and lead pastor of Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minn., said he would not be preaching about the racial issues raised by Mr. Obama’s speech and expected few other evangelical pastors to, either.
“Easter is about Easter and the Resurrection of Jesus, and it’s pretty unlikely that any other topic would eclipse that,” Mr. Anderson said. “That’s not to say those other topics aren’t important, but this is the most important.”
Most evangelical churches, he said, “are Bible-driven, not current-events-driven."
To me, this encapsulates my problem with my old Pastor recycling his Easter sermon (in fact, he recycled all his sermons) and the disconnect of the churches I grew up in. Easter is about new life, both in this life and in whatever is to come. Why can't we be both? We can't we celebrate a living God and a risen Christ as well as bring light to the darkness of humanity, without the covert missions to "get them saved?" Isn't Easter about the power of one-ness over sameness? The power to confront those things that cause death to us (such as racism) and yet belief that new life is looming?
Anyways. I pray that today, we celebrate the chance of new life, the ability for all things to become new.
I pray that today, our cries over lost dreams, betrayal and disappointments will be replaced by tears of wonder and delight.
I pray that today, as we celebrate the Risen Prince of Peace, that we have peace. The awareness that everything needed to thrive in life is within our grasps.
He has Risen and continues to bring resurrection power to those who yearn for it.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Well, my questions are answered...
Now, if only R.E.M. could use this new-found clarity to actually make a good record post-Monster.
Friday, March 21, 2008
A message for Good Friday...
Taken from Andrew Sullivan.
"Any authenticity that we are going to have as persons of faith and any authority that we are going to have as witnesses to the gospel of Jesus Christ will come because of our exposure to bruises and scars. There is no other way to authenticity. There is a certain counterfeit pose that one may maintain, but as to an entrance into the full, the true authority, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, that comes by exposure and by wounds. There is no other way. If one looks back at those who have deeply affected their generation, the discovery will be made that almost without exception they did it against some minus, some ache, some pain in their own lives ...
At some time, who can say when, there will be a crown of thorns pressed down upon your head. It may be some private anguish. It may be some profoundly disturbing condition in your own family. One cannot detail the direction whence the affliction will come, but when it does, you will have every right to rail against it and to cry out against that kind of providence, even to argue with God, to withstand him to the face ...
But do one other thing. Take it. Accept. For was it not our Lord's word that the cup he looked into, the awful agony which waited for him, did not come from unfriendly hands: "The cup which my Father hath given, shall I not drink of it?"
I promise you this, if you can take whatever deep hurt that occurs in your life and hold it up before God and say to him, even in bitterness, of this which you despise and this which you hate, "If there is anything you can do with it, take, and use it."
I promise you, you will be utterly amazed at what will occur," - Gardner C. Taylor, sermon delivered February 1, 1978.
"Any authenticity that we are going to have as persons of faith and any authority that we are going to have as witnesses to the gospel of Jesus Christ will come because of our exposure to bruises and scars. There is no other way to authenticity. There is a certain counterfeit pose that one may maintain, but as to an entrance into the full, the true authority, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, that comes by exposure and by wounds. There is no other way. If one looks back at those who have deeply affected their generation, the discovery will be made that almost without exception they did it against some minus, some ache, some pain in their own lives ...
At some time, who can say when, there will be a crown of thorns pressed down upon your head. It may be some private anguish. It may be some profoundly disturbing condition in your own family. One cannot detail the direction whence the affliction will come, but when it does, you will have every right to rail against it and to cry out against that kind of providence, even to argue with God, to withstand him to the face ...
But do one other thing. Take it. Accept. For was it not our Lord's word that the cup he looked into, the awful agony which waited for him, did not come from unfriendly hands: "The cup which my Father hath given, shall I not drink of it?"
I promise you this, if you can take whatever deep hurt that occurs in your life and hold it up before God and say to him, even in bitterness, of this which you despise and this which you hate, "If there is anything you can do with it, take, and use it."
I promise you, you will be utterly amazed at what will occur," - Gardner C. Taylor, sermon delivered February 1, 1978.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
"Maybe this is how the concerto ends..."
The Band's Visit is a beautifully nuanced and subtle film. From Israel, it would have been nominated for Best Foreign Film but because of dumb Academy rules regarding language (the film features Arabic, Hebrew and English), it didn't. Too bad.
It's short but incredibly sweet. I highly recommend it.
It's short but incredibly sweet. I highly recommend it.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
D.C. from the lens...
I have an old-school camera, so it's going to take a bit to get these photos on here. I'll get a Flickr account soon. In the meantime...
...by the way, how does one put frames on these things? (Ed. note: Never mind. Just saw it in final version.)
A real speech that is rooted in reality...
I urge you to watch this. Not because I want to vote for Obama (even though that would be nice if you're in Pennsylvania right now!) but because a real debate on race is so, so important.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Calling all M.A.Y.A. cooks!
I am in need of some recipes!
I left my cookbook at home and I can scrouge through Food Network's site, but I don't want to. So, I'm inviting any and all calls for good recipes out there. If your recipe is picked, it will be featured on this blog. FYI: I'm not a big fan of fish, but I'll give it a shot if it sounds good and vegetarian dishes are also welcome.
The Management thanks you.
I left my cookbook at home and I can scrouge through Food Network's site, but I don't want to. So, I'm inviting any and all calls for good recipes out there. If your recipe is picked, it will be featured on this blog. FYI: I'm not a big fan of fish, but I'll give it a shot if it sounds good and vegetarian dishes are also welcome.
The Management thanks you.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Getting our stories straight....
(NOTE: I had written this for a possible publication, but I honestly forgot about it until I saw it tonight. So, this is the official publication. Comments always welcome.)
We need to get our story straight.
At the New Hampshire primary debate, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards asserted that approximately 20-30 million jobs would be lost in the next two decades. Those greatly affected will be college graduates. There wasn’t any rejection of that argument, instead an eerie acknowledgment loomed on the debate stage. Articles speak to the looming student loan crisis, while other research recommends that potential college-bound students consider blue-collar work. In short, the future isn’t so bright for the educated and more so, the over-educated.
That’s not what I was taught in junior high school. On the cusp of adolescence, teachers and parents told this tale: Do well in high school, take Advanced Placement classes and work really hard to be admitted into a good college. Go to college, work really hard, pick a good major and graduate. Upon graduation, there will be great jobs to select. If you want even more success, go for the graduate degree.
The moral of the tale told to most American students is simple, education breeds success. No doubt, this is a true statement. However, it’s lacking the hidden emphasis that drives the point home, education breeds economic success. The more educated one is, the better off economically one will be.
Because of this, record numbers go to college and record numbers are now in graduate schools. Record numbers have taken on six-figure student loan debt and record numbers are striving for professional jobs in the economy.
Yet, observers are pointing to a downward slide, due to globalization and the changing times. A different narrative is being told; a story of opportunities going overseas, of instability and corporate needs over worker needs. It’s business. It’s the future.
Which story is right? With all due respect to Senator Clinton, words do matter. It is narrative that is the mechanism to find meaning and the American narrative is one of opportunity and fulfillment. The narrative told today to young adults beginning careers and struggling to find fulfilling work is the antithesis of the narrative told yesterday to students overextended in homework, school and service clubs and athletics in order to gain entry into the right college. When those question the accuracy of the story, they are given the afterword: Go get more education, take out more loans, and go further into debt and confusion. To be sure, many post-graduate students take on additional education for the right reasons, yet much of the predominate story uses graduate education as a delay into the changing work force.
What we have are dueling narratives. One story promises security if all the instructions are followed correctly, while another story promises uncertainty in a transitioning economy and world turning on variability. In both cases, twentysomethings and thirtysomethings are left with questions complex and simple: What is the story that I want to follow? What is the narrative to which I need to listen?
If the American Dream is a dream of opportunity and the American narrative is a story of fulfillment, then we must make sure the stories line up to reality.
We need to get our story straight.
At the New Hampshire primary debate, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards asserted that approximately 20-30 million jobs would be lost in the next two decades. Those greatly affected will be college graduates. There wasn’t any rejection of that argument, instead an eerie acknowledgment loomed on the debate stage. Articles speak to the looming student loan crisis, while other research recommends that potential college-bound students consider blue-collar work. In short, the future isn’t so bright for the educated and more so, the over-educated.
That’s not what I was taught in junior high school. On the cusp of adolescence, teachers and parents told this tale: Do well in high school, take Advanced Placement classes and work really hard to be admitted into a good college. Go to college, work really hard, pick a good major and graduate. Upon graduation, there will be great jobs to select. If you want even more success, go for the graduate degree.
The moral of the tale told to most American students is simple, education breeds success. No doubt, this is a true statement. However, it’s lacking the hidden emphasis that drives the point home, education breeds economic success. The more educated one is, the better off economically one will be.
Because of this, record numbers go to college and record numbers are now in graduate schools. Record numbers have taken on six-figure student loan debt and record numbers are striving for professional jobs in the economy.
Yet, observers are pointing to a downward slide, due to globalization and the changing times. A different narrative is being told; a story of opportunities going overseas, of instability and corporate needs over worker needs. It’s business. It’s the future.
Which story is right? With all due respect to Senator Clinton, words do matter. It is narrative that is the mechanism to find meaning and the American narrative is one of opportunity and fulfillment. The narrative told today to young adults beginning careers and struggling to find fulfilling work is the antithesis of the narrative told yesterday to students overextended in homework, school and service clubs and athletics in order to gain entry into the right college. When those question the accuracy of the story, they are given the afterword: Go get more education, take out more loans, and go further into debt and confusion. To be sure, many post-graduate students take on additional education for the right reasons, yet much of the predominate story uses graduate education as a delay into the changing work force.
What we have are dueling narratives. One story promises security if all the instructions are followed correctly, while another story promises uncertainty in a transitioning economy and world turning on variability. In both cases, twentysomethings and thirtysomethings are left with questions complex and simple: What is the story that I want to follow? What is the narrative to which I need to listen?
If the American Dream is a dream of opportunity and the American narrative is a story of fulfillment, then we must make sure the stories line up to reality.
Monday, March 10, 2008
I now know why Monks like the quiet...
There is nothing worse that sitting next to a screaming child when trying to write about religion.
More so, it’s precarious sitting in a busy coffeehouse, complete with the wi-fi flickering, the internet radio playing bad songs that need to remain in the ‘70s and still having the screaming child bellow her woes right in your ear.
Perhaps it is the notion of monastic solitude one hopes for when trying to concentrate on writing about faith, straining to hear the voice of God. Of course, that’s because God is only prone to speaking in a whisper, at least in the post-Acts sense.
I’ve been trying to write about a new study by the Pew Center of Religion and Public Life that studied the new religious landscape of Americans. In the study (which you can find here if you're interested), researchers discovered some very interesting shifts and changes in thinking of religion and identity.
Yet, the screaming children are driving me nuts.My friend Jennifer told me that in the first two years of a child’s life, parents teach a child to walk and talk. For the remaining time, parents teach the child to sit down and shut up.
I try not to sermonize everything, but I find it so hard to imagine Christ actually engaging screaming children. This is the kingdom of God? The shrieks of “He breathed on me!” are the keys to Heaven?
Nevertheless, the children have calmed down a bit and my nerves are a little less frayed. The kids are cute, well, all kids are cute. Supposedly.
It makes me wonder how I’ll be as a father. That’s assuming of course that I can get my act together and get a girl to love me. Or is it the other way around: she has to convince me to love her? Eh, I’m in my late 20s and I still don’t know. Maybe that’s the beauty of it.
More so, it’s precarious sitting in a busy coffeehouse, complete with the wi-fi flickering, the internet radio playing bad songs that need to remain in the ‘70s and still having the screaming child bellow her woes right in your ear.
Perhaps it is the notion of monastic solitude one hopes for when trying to concentrate on writing about faith, straining to hear the voice of God. Of course, that’s because God is only prone to speaking in a whisper, at least in the post-Acts sense.
I’ve been trying to write about a new study by the Pew Center of Religion and Public Life that studied the new religious landscape of Americans. In the study (which you can find here if you're interested), researchers discovered some very interesting shifts and changes in thinking of religion and identity.
Yet, the screaming children are driving me nuts.My friend Jennifer told me that in the first two years of a child’s life, parents teach a child to walk and talk. For the remaining time, parents teach the child to sit down and shut up.
I try not to sermonize everything, but I find it so hard to imagine Christ actually engaging screaming children. This is the kingdom of God? The shrieks of “He breathed on me!” are the keys to Heaven?
Nevertheless, the children have calmed down a bit and my nerves are a little less frayed. The kids are cute, well, all kids are cute. Supposedly.
It makes me wonder how I’ll be as a father. That’s assuming of course that I can get my act together and get a girl to love me. Or is it the other way around: she has to convince me to love her? Eh, I’m in my late 20s and I still don’t know. Maybe that’s the beauty of it.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Friday, March 07, 2008
Blessed are those who make peace...
Today, the Christian Peace Witnesses for Iraq held worship services in D.C. and across the country to continue the protest against the War and the Occupation in many parts of the world where we have no business being there. There was also a rally near the Capitol, but it was rainy and the singers were pretty cheesy. That said, the worship service was really nice.
During the Eucharist at Christ Church, I found myself singing a song in my head that I haven't thought about in a very long time.
He is our Peace
Who has broken down every wall
He is our Peace
He is our Peace
I can remember Mom singing that in choir and all the old folks at Glad Tidings singing in pseudo-unison. Here, it echoed a call to end to war in Iraq and create a new shift in thinking and being. The homily, given by an Episcopal priest from L.A., highlighted the passage in Scripture where James and John asked Christ if they could sit at each side of him in Heaven. In response, Christ told them that they didn't know what they were talking about and most likely, they didn't want to know either.
I imagine Christ saying to them with eyebrows raised: Do you really want that power? More so, do you really want the responsibility of sitting next to me? You know that everyone is going to be looking to you for everything. It's gonna take more than zeal and mastery of thin theology to really make the good stuff happen.
The service reminded me again of what the representative from the Desmond Tutu Foundation said at one ICUJP meeting. Peace is awareness and the knowledge of awareness. The awareness that a person has everything s/he needs to live life. All the necessities and the abilities to get what they need and want. Clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, viable shelter, a job with a living wage, an education if it is so desired, and ultimately, the awareness to have and share love.
It strikes a stronger chord for me when I think about peace and peacemaking that way.
Peace is not the warm fuzzy brought on by a warm blanket and a hearty dinner nor is peace the wanton sense of naivete when acting as an ignorant fool.
Peace is active, conscious, intentional. Peace guides the steps toward meaningfulness.
That peace. Do I have it in my own life and in my own heart? Am I truly aware that I have everything I need to live life and live it well? All the necessities and the opportunities to make it so?
In many ways, yes, I do. As a Christian, I believe that Christ is the center of my peace and his teachings and his essence have given me the ability to have peace. But that isn't just my gateway to Heaven (assuming Heaven as a real place exists) or is it my leverage against those wild and crazy "non-believers."
Truly, if I can make peace for myself, then I must make peace for others. I have to do everything in my power to ensure that others can have the awareness to live life well. That isn't just simple (read: easy, lazy, dumb, insensitive and ludicrous) shouting many call modern evangelism, but truly being a peace maker. What can I do to make sure people have access to clean water? What can I do to help others get a micro-loan to start a business? What can I do to fight for a living wage for work and health care for all? What can I do to be truly for life and for choice, more than judging personal decisions for the sake of hollow politics? Any of the multiplicity of causes and issues that are taken up are worth evaluating and thinking about; that is making peace.
Blessed are those who are truly aware.
Standing in the rain, listening to some weird musician sing about how the economy is affected by ecology, gathering with activists that come out to these rallies to get arrested in hopes to making a point to someone with voter clout, hearing the statistics again: 4,000 troops dead, almost one million Iraqis killed, nearly 4 million are displaced, a $3 trillion dollar war, a President who intends to spend his last year in office making sure everyone knows he's in charge and "has a lot to do," I heard my Mom and the congregation singing.
He is my Peace
Who has broken down every wall
He is my Peace
He is my Peace.
(Ed. note: Photo added.)
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Politics and math
Again, this isn't a partisan blog and I usually don't read Daily Kos, but they have a great post on the math involved in delegate counts. You can read it here for yourself.
Mathematically, it'll take a whole lot for Clinton to win. Chances are, she won't. There are many folks that want her to drop out. I don't for two reasons: the continued debate and vetting process is good for our country (as I am convinced that either one of them will defeat McCain in the general) and this process is important because we as a nation need to make sure that every vote counts and what one person does on the ballot does in fact matter.
In America, politics isn't about leading, it's about winning. Sadly, that will continue as long as we have vested interests that dominate the discussion for the few (read: rich and corporate) and a media that continually exhibiting traits of a cutter.
Mathematically, it'll take a whole lot for Clinton to win. Chances are, she won't. There are many folks that want her to drop out. I don't for two reasons: the continued debate and vetting process is good for our country (as I am convinced that either one of them will defeat McCain in the general) and this process is important because we as a nation need to make sure that every vote counts and what one person does on the ballot does in fact matter.
In America, politics isn't about leading, it's about winning. Sadly, that will continue as long as we have vested interests that dominate the discussion for the few (read: rich and corporate) and a media that continually exhibiting traits of a cutter.
Monday, March 03, 2008
And the word of this journey is....
My friend Kirsten sent me a copy of a proposal she's working on and she used the word rhizomatous.
Hmmmm, never heard that word before, so on www.dictionary.com, it says:
producing or processing or resembling rhizomes.
A rhizome is:
A horizontal, usually underground stem that often sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Also called rootstalk, rootstock.
From the Greek, to cause to take root.
I've sorta settled in my home for at least the next few months. I say sorta settled because I stuffed two suitcases full of clothing, shoes and other little things and came on in. Right now, I'm sleeping on the floor. Hopefully, I'll steal Paul's mattress as he leaves for the Bay Area tomorrow.
Plus, I've never been one for settling. In deference to Pastor Glenn, there are two kinds of settling: the kind that you're always striving for something better and the kind where you stay in one place and take root. In a sense, I'm unsettled in both areas.
Already, I've made some contacts and gotten some leads. It's fantastic, but I'm striving to make sure that I don't give off the impression that I want to meet people for the exclusive purpose of getting a job. I want a job, for sure, but I also want to meet people just to meet people.
It's funny how my mind has been trying to process the initial stages of moving here. Part of it is so adventurous and so there is a greater sense of flexibility that occurs. All the things that go wrong are all part of the fun and part of the story that gets told with beer in the aftermath.
Yet, I'm trying to figure out where to set boundaries. After all, if I'm giving this at least an Administration, the Administration has to know where I stand. I walk around the District and see how people dress and how everyone talks and drinks their Starbucks and talks on the phone. Points of reference, I suppose. I have vowed with every fiber within me not to become a "suit" and that's still on. I think I can figure out a way to wear the costumes and not become the part.
It figures that there must be a psychological element to rhizomes. According to Carl Jung:
"Life has always seemed to me like a plant that lives on its rhizome. Its true life is invisible, hidden in the rhizome. The part that appears above the ground lasts only a single summer. Then it withers away—an ephemeral apparition. When we think of the unending growth and decay of life and civilizations, we cannot escape the impression of absolute nullity. Yet I have never lost the sense of something that lives and endures beneath the eternal flux. What we see is blossom, which passes. The rhizome remains. (Prologue from "Memories, Dreams, Reflections")
Amen, Carl.
Hmmmm, never heard that word before, so on www.dictionary.com, it says:
producing or processing or resembling rhizomes.
A rhizome is:
A horizontal, usually underground stem that often sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Also called rootstalk, rootstock.
From the Greek, to cause to take root.
I've sorta settled in my home for at least the next few months. I say sorta settled because I stuffed two suitcases full of clothing, shoes and other little things and came on in. Right now, I'm sleeping on the floor. Hopefully, I'll steal Paul's mattress as he leaves for the Bay Area tomorrow.
Plus, I've never been one for settling. In deference to Pastor Glenn, there are two kinds of settling: the kind that you're always striving for something better and the kind where you stay in one place and take root. In a sense, I'm unsettled in both areas.
Already, I've made some contacts and gotten some leads. It's fantastic, but I'm striving to make sure that I don't give off the impression that I want to meet people for the exclusive purpose of getting a job. I want a job, for sure, but I also want to meet people just to meet people.
It's funny how my mind has been trying to process the initial stages of moving here. Part of it is so adventurous and so there is a greater sense of flexibility that occurs. All the things that go wrong are all part of the fun and part of the story that gets told with beer in the aftermath.
Yet, I'm trying to figure out where to set boundaries. After all, if I'm giving this at least an Administration, the Administration has to know where I stand. I walk around the District and see how people dress and how everyone talks and drinks their Starbucks and talks on the phone. Points of reference, I suppose. I have vowed with every fiber within me not to become a "suit" and that's still on. I think I can figure out a way to wear the costumes and not become the part.
It figures that there must be a psychological element to rhizomes. According to Carl Jung:
"Life has always seemed to me like a plant that lives on its rhizome. Its true life is invisible, hidden in the rhizome. The part that appears above the ground lasts only a single summer. Then it withers away—an ephemeral apparition. When we think of the unending growth and decay of life and civilizations, we cannot escape the impression of absolute nullity. Yet I have never lost the sense of something that lives and endures beneath the eternal flux. What we see is blossom, which passes. The rhizome remains. (Prologue from "Memories, Dreams, Reflections")
Amen, Carl.
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