things Bethany wrote

Check out my Student's Work

2011-11-05T16:55:00.003-04:00

This semester I'm teaching a class on Rhetoric and Digital Media. I'm asking for students to immerse themselves in some kind of online content community for their project and work on self-made goals (such as traffic, followers, consistent posting). I gave them the option for me to share a link with my networks, so here are a sample of projects from my students who are doing blogs:

Cookies Cupcakes and Cooper (cooking and baking)
Dare to Love (social justice and faith)
DIY Design by Alexis
Bulled Predictions (financial advice)
Katie's Dance YouTube Channel
Lauren (Ball_Hog) on Sports on Twitter

Here's a sample linkedin profile:

Beverly Evans

There are other elements to this project, and I'd be happy to fill you in if you're interested. I'm sure they'd appreciate your visiting and commenting!

Still Alive

2011-06-11T11:49:00.003-04:00

So this blog still exists. I thought I'd revive it and post links to my writing that can be found elsewhere and maybe also do a little updating on our family life and reviewing various things. For today, I thought I'd link to some of my most recent posts at Think Christian:

Paul Revere, Sarah Palin and our Habit of Rewriting History

The Encouraging Poverty of a Recent Pew Study

with the very smart Rebecca Kuehl Don't Throw Out Three Cups of Tea with Greg Mortenson

Also, you totally want to buy my quotation marks book if you haven't already. Affiliate links found here.

Favorite Music of 2009

2010-01-15T15:51:00.001-05:00

Since I’m so late with my best music of 2009 post, I’m going to make it a top 11. They are listed with my most favoritest first, but in some cases the order is so close it’s rather arbitrary. Like last year, this list is unabashedly based on my personal taste and experience. Other albums with greater artistry no doubt were produced this year. I didn’t listen to them as much as these.

Oohs and Aahs by Say Hi

Say Hi (formerly Say Hi to your Mom) is Justin’s favorite band, and he doesn’t think this is their best album, but this one came out in early 2009 and never got knocked off my ipod playlist. It’s a kind of slow-burn traditional rock, which is not particularly fashionable right now but is always in style with me. Sometimes the chord changes match the content, and I love that. I think “Elouise” is a really great song and “oh oh oh oh oh oh oh” has a great dancey beat.

Ladyluck by Maria Taylor

I just discovered Maria Taylor this year and we got two of her albums which both feature pretty arrangements of nicely crafted songs. Taylor’s voice is comforting, her melodies are a good combination of listenable and surprising. Listen to “Cartoons and Forever Plans”

Curse these Branches by David Bazan

I liked Bazan’s work in Pedro the Lion before I even entered college. His lyris and delivery are often startling and depressing and meaningful. This is Bazan’s first album produced under his own name, and there has been some interesting discussion among critics because Bazan describes it as about his move from faith toward agnosticism. Some commentators, notably David Dark who I admire quite a bit, consider this to be a very faithful album. Its beauty is certainly stark and sad, but nonetheless it’s a very good album. Listen to “Curse Your Branches”

Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear

This album is decidedly derivative of some great bands in the 60s and 70s. This is both its weakness and its strength. I love the high-energy guitar breaks and Beach Boys background vocals. On the other hand, something that really makes me love an album is when it sounds fresh and different. To be fair, this does have a fresh take on these familiar sounds. “Two Weeks” is a great example, and an indisputably great song.

God Help the Girl

This is the soundtrack for a fictional film made of Belle and Sebastian songs re-recorded. It’s fun to hear these songs with a different singer, and they hang together well. Sometimes I like pretending my ipod is the soundtrack for the movie scene I’m in (my life seems to feature a lot of bus-riding scenes…) and this is exceptionally good for my hipster movie. Listen to “Funny Little Frog.”

Masters of the Burial by Amy Millan

This is a lovely, delicate album from one member of the supergroup Stars. Though Millan’s last album was more twangy than I prefer, I think this is a great example of soft country-pop that finds its way easily into my most-played list. One definite highlight is the countrified cover of Deathcab’s “I Will Follow You Into the Dark.” Another good song to try is “Towers”

The Life of the World to Come by The Mountain Goats

Every track on this album is named for a bible verse, but you have to figure out what it has to do with the story on the track, which is often contemporary and confessional. I know, sounds like my idea of a good time. I finally gave it my undivided attention when I was doing this post, and it moved up in my estimation from the experience. It doesn’t jump out in shuffle, but when I finally payed attention it just bowled me over. I had to keep changing the song suggestion because every single song was so good, and in some cases looking up the story made it a lot cooler, like in “Genesis 30:3.” I also suggest listening to “Hebrews 11:40.”

No Line on the Horizon by U2

I really like when this list makes people want to listen to things they haven’t heard of, so I hesitated to include this album at all, but it’s pretty good. Typical U2: complex lyrics which work on more than one level, catchy hooks, dramatic rock posturing that somehow doesn’t make me want to puke when it is coming from Bono.

Crazy Ever After by The Rescues

Justin doesn’t like this one very much, but it got a lot of plays for me this summer. It’s poppy and fun and has some great harmonies. Perfect for car singing. Or house singing. Aren’t you excited to live with me, Justin? I know I’m not the only one who finds this album incredibly catchy though, I’ve heard it all over tv. Try “Crazy Ever After.”

We Were Promised Jetpacks selftitled

So first of all, this band gets like 100 points for having an awesome name. They are labelmates of the Scottish band that got my best album of the year last year, Frightened Rabbit, which also helps. Like Frightened Rabbit, the frontman of this band sings in his charming Scottish accent, and they have dramatic arrangements that build the emotional intensity in their songs, making them compelling and exciting. Perhaps not the magnum opus that was Midnight Organ Fight, but still well worth a listen. “This is my House, This is my Home” is a great example.

Still Night, Still Light by Au Revior Simone

Au Revoir Simone is an all-girl, all-keyboard band. As if that wasn’t enough, their songs are delicate and inventive, their lyrics are surprising and often joyful. Like most of the albums on this list, you will probably find it excellent or annoying. Try the song “Shadows.”

Personal is Political: Ring edition

2009-08-23T16:06:00.007-04:00

I thought I’d share some of the decisions Justin and I made in our engagement that we hope reflect our sensibilities and our beliefs about gender and relationships. I hope for this to be the beginning of a series on this blog about a variety of life choices that I see as political in some small way.

When Justin and I started talking about engagement, and looking at rings online we had fun looking at a wide range of things. I felt strongly about wanting a conflict-free gemstone, and about not spending too much money. We quickly learned that I couldn’t have both those things and also have a diamond. More shopping and some serendipity led us to a sapphire in a beautiful filigree setting that was already just my size, which I love.

The more we shopped for women’s rings, the more I wanted one. But one day Justin brought up how him giving me an engagement ring didn’t seem to represent our relationship very well. I agreed that the engagement ring tradition seems linked to traditions of status and marking ownership of a woman that doesn’t sit well with the way we see our relationship. But we were having so much fun shopping!

So we started looking for men’s rings. We wanted something that didn’t necessarily look like a wedding band, but that was still elegant and manly. We were excited when we found a designer on etsy who lives in Athens, GA whose work we loved, and I got Justin a ring in silver that we might replace with gold or platinum for our wedding bands.

Like a lot of the choices we are facing in our relationship, I’m happy with both of us having rings because it honors some of the elements of the tradition that I like: signifying our commitment in a way other people will be able to see and understand, honoring each other with a pretty gift. But it avoids some of the problems: irresponsible spending, unequal giving.

When I lay it out this way, it feels like a silly thing to spend so many pixels on. But I like that we made a few small unusual choices, and that they are weird enough that they sometimes bring up questions, which allows us to talk about our values.

identity, advocacy and relationship statuses

2009-07-23T11:59:00.000-04:00

It’s funny how some things become a part of your identity that you feel awkward when they change. I didn’t realize that being single and independent was one of those things until my recent engagement has forced me to rethink it.

In college I slowly let go of the idea that I’d get married soon after graduation. I had a few dates and several crushes, but nothing that would make me change my facebook status to “in a relationship” if we had had facebook in those days. In that maturing process, I realized that temporary or long-term singleness was not a terrible sentence, but one situation in which one can live well. I especially was aided in this realization when I considered some single women who were professors at my school. They were smart, fun, successful people who I wanted to emulate. If I could be single like them, then that wouldn’t just be okay, it would be great.

This attitude cemented itself as I moved to Georgia alone and discovered that academia is full of successful people in a variety of life situations, and 22 wasn’t very old to “still” be single. Living alone, I became proud of my independence. I killed my own bugs, assembled my own cheap furniture, made my own decisions about food and time and money (with advice and support from parents and friends, of course). I felt like this time as a single adult made me a stronger person, and forced me to rely on and appreciate community.

I began to feel so strongly about this perspective, that I started to get frustrated with the ways single adults were treated in church and spoken to and about in Christian literature. These were issues I finally wrote about on this blog and in an article for The Banner. I was surprised after the Banner article hit print that a lot of people contacted me about how much they appreciated the article. Maybe, I thought, this is an important project God has for me: help the church find new ways to love and include singles. I started to see myself as Bethany Keeley: singles advocate.

Then Justin went and asked me to marry him. Of course I said yes, I love Justin and am excited to commit to him. And of course, I can still be married and smart and independent, and I can still be invested in community. I can still stand up for single people in the church, but I realize my new life situation makes me a little bit less credible on the topic. This is a perennial problem in identity politics: do you have to be in a certain identity group to write about it? I think the personal experience helps, but I also think attentiveness to the issue and passion is the most important. And all along my writing about singles has been less about me and more about a set of experiences, mine and those of friends. I don’t need to share someone else’s experience to help represent it.

I’m writing this post in part to clarify for myself why I’m worried about this, and in part to announce that this issue is still important to me even if it has become less personal. So, single friends, if something happens to you that makes you say “this is what is so hard about being single in the church,” please, tell me the story. I need anecdotes.

Only in a College Town

2009-05-15T21:56:00.003-04:00

So I just got back from seeing Angels and Demons with some friends at the theater here in Athens. The movie was good, not exceptional, but fine. A bit too much with the rotating camera for my poor stomach (a bit much with the gruesome for my stomach as well, actually) but I'm not a film reviewer. What I do want to comment on is what I experienced in the theater which I expect you would not find in a place that didn't have a large segment of researchers in the population.

First, the joke that got the biggest laugh was when Professor Langdon says "I could have finished my book if I had this! It would have sold dozens of copies!"

MINOR SPOILER
Second, soon after that, the woman he is with tears a page out of this only copy of a Gallileo book that has their code in it (instead of copying because there's no time). The entire audience gasped. gasped loudly. All the gruesome deaths in the movie? Less reaction than destroying the archive.

If I had any question whether this town was dominated by the university before, I do not any longer.

Church Transitions

2009-04-13T10:39:00.001-04:00

The worship service I have been helping to lead for nearly 4 years now made a big transition this week. We moved out of the Morton Theatre and into the fellowship hall of our church building. This is a good transition for us for many reasons. The new space enables a lot of community activities that the theatre space inhibited. It seriously cuts down on our set-up and tear-down time, and it saves the church money. I have long felt uncomfortable with the way leading church from a proscenium stage makes worship seem too much like a concert or show.

Nevertheless, transitions lead one to reflect on all the good things we are leaving behind. I’ve been thinking about other transitions from my life, and thought I should perhaps reflect on this closing era for me.

I remember vividly my first day at the Morton. I was adjusting to my new life in Athens, after living here for maybe a month. I was frustrated because I missed Centrepointe quite a bit, and hadn’t felt especially welcomed or at home in any of the churches I visited, though I did see places I could perhaps use the gifts I had developed in college, which was important to me. The only reason I went to the Morton at all was that a friend suggested it. I didn’t see myself in such a large congregation or such a rock-toned service. Within a week, though, I knew that God had prepared a place for me here. For one thing, it was the last week of the band’s violin player, Andre. I talked to Julie after church about playing and singing, and I got an email a few days later asking me to participate in an offertory. Even though I arrived alone and sat toward the edge, several people were very welcoming to me. I know that this hasn’t been everyone’s experience in this service, but it was a clear signal to me that this was my place.

Since then I’ve rarely missed a Sunday playing with some of the best musicians I have ever been around. I’ve learned a lot about the Christian life from the people I’ve met at the morton. A lot of those things have surprised me. I know that none of these things are changing in our new space, but the old theatre was special because it was the site of these important relationships that helped me acclimate to my current stage of life in the south.

Our first service in our new space had a feeling of excitement and community. I could see the people, and there was space for us all to hang around afterwards. I have really missed feeling like that fellowship time was encouraged. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us in the upcoming years. God has really shown me through this church, and through my previous church homes that there will always be a place for me wherever I move. None of these places are perfect, but they are all beautiful.

Thinking Christian

2009-03-16T12:46:00.003-04:00

I'm doing some blogging for Think Christian now, and my first post showed up today. I don't know if I will still use this blog. Definitely if I have things to say that aren't specifically about Christianity. Stay tuned.

In the Banner

2009-01-23T08:06:00.002-05:00

Check out this article I wrote for The Banner last summer. I'm so pleased it's finally published.

Manly Calvinism?

2009-01-10T17:25:00.002-05:00

This weekends NY Times Magazine has an article about Mark Driscoll, a popular minister in Seattle. I wanted to bring it up on my blog to start a discussion with my calvinist friends about how to parse his (offensive to me) message given our background. I should mention first that I think the writer does a great job, although I wish she would have consulted other mainstream calvinists with some of her discussion of the impact of calvinism.

My primary question is about the way Driscoll's understanding of masculinity and authority are tied up in his understanding of calvinism. A few illuminating quotations:

Driscoll is adamantly not the “weepy worship dude” he associates with liberal and mainstream evangelical churches, “singing prom songs to a Jesus who is presented as a wuss who took a beating and spent a lot of time putting product in his long hair.”

The mainstream church, Driscoll has written, has transformed Jesus into “a Richard Simmons, hippie, queer Christ,” a “neutered and limp-wristed popular Sky Fairy of pop culture that . . . would never talk about sin or send anyone to hell.”

“They are sinning through questioning,” Driscoll preached. John Calvin couldn’t have said it better himself.

Now, I think I heard that John Calvin himself was kind of an authoritarian jerk and sexist (it was the 16th century after all, who wasn't?). However, I don't think that Calvin's theology, or the other theology in that tradition necessarily implicates these attitudes. In fact, I found Molly Worthen's conclusion quite satisfying:

At one suburban campus that I visited, a huge yellow cross dominated center stage — until the projection screen unfurled and Driscoll’s face blocked the cross from view. Driscoll’s New Calvinism underscores a curious fact: the doctrine of total human depravity has always had a funny way of emboldening, rather than humbling, its adherents.

So here's my question for participation: DOES Calvinism lead to this kind of arrogance and machoism?

Here's another: why does Driscoll reject most evangelical's distrust of alcohol, tattoos, cursing and violence, but stand resolutely behind traditional gender roles and sexual mores? (My suspicion: he likes power and to be "tough" and feminism takes away power from men like Driscoll.)

Also, I think it's incorrect to associate warm fuzzy Jesus who doesn't challenge anyone or deal well with bad things that happen with liberalism. This might be my bias, but I think liberal theology does the opposite: acknowledges the wages of sin in the world and calls for justice. Also, are tattoos and spiky hair still a mark of hipness? Just saying.

Best Music of 2008

2008-12-21T17:06:00.003-05:00

I’ve been thinking for the last month or so about how I was going to do my best of 2008 list. I have read other lists with fascination, both professional (Paste, Pitchfork, Emusic) and personal (Dad, Blake). Mine is certainly personal, so it’s really a measure of what I liked, which is a mix between raw awesomeness quotient and my personal taste. Explanations to follow, and the ordering here is approximate. I also included one song which I consider the best.

1. Frightened Rabbit - Midnight Organ Fight
Morgan suggested I listen to this album this summer, and he was so right. It rocks. Like Blake, I’m a big sucker for a Scottish accent. Besides appealing to anglophiles, this has a lot going for it. The music has a kinetic quality to it – it has a lot of energy but still is controlled. Lyrically it is surprising and interesting without being overly clever. And excellent breakup music. It’s emotional, it employs interesting metaphors, and all this delivered with a Scottish accent. I couldn’t get enough of it. I still can’t. Best Song: The Modern Leper.

2. The Submarines – Honeysuckle Weeks
I know this is a great album because the song “You, Me, and the Bourgoisie” is on all those iphone ads and I still don’t hate it. It sounds like fun and summer. The arrangements are full of things I like, like strings and twinkly sounds and vocal harmony. The lyrics have good sound play to them so it’s fun to sing along. Best Song: Swimming Pool.

3. Sandra McCracken – Red Balloon
I’ve been a fan of Sandra’s for a long time, and I was concerned when I learned she was pregnant that I’d see less from her as a musician. So far, the opposite has been the case. This year she released not only the lovely Red Balloon, but also a really fantastic EP with her husband, Derek Webb. Red Balloon is a great example of why I love Sandra—strong songwriting and strong singing, interesting, primarily acoustic arrangements. Best Song: Storehouse.

4. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
This band has a really distinctive sound, primarily because of the falsetto lead in a number of the songs. Jangly rhythm guitar makes a big difference too. It’s restrained, moody and quietly intense. Best Song: Lump Sum.

5. Jenny Lewis – Acid Tongue
I got a hold of this album recently, but it has really grown on me with each listen. I’ve been a fan of Jenny Lewis for a while, this album is great. It’s gritty and exciting. Lewis has a wide range of vocal styles, as this demonstrates. “Carpetbagger” the duet with Elvis Costello, is really fun. I love Costello duets of course. The other songs are singable and fun as well. Best Song: Bad Man’s World.

6. The Mountain Goats – Heretic Pride
The sound of the Mountain Goats may be an acquired taste, the singer has a distinctive voice and the instrumentation sounds a bit prickly. However, once you get used to the sound, it is emotional, quirky, arresting. Many of the songs are written about fictional characters. I’m still trying to figure out what it means that there’s bits of a psalm in “Sept 15, 1983.” Best Song: San Berardino.

7. Sigur Ros – með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
This is a great album for reading and writing. Especially since most of it is in Icelandic or Hopelandic, so I can’t understand it. Like other Sigur Ros albums, it is epic and ethereal. It comes in swells. No best song here, because I can’t differentiate the tracks really and I like it that way.

8. The Weepies – Hideaway
I loved the first weepies album. Alert readers will note the prevalence of male-female duet bands on this list, and it’s no coincidence. I like that stuff. Hideaway has a gentleness to it that some of these others do not have. It’s quiet and comfortable, kind of like the a snow day. Best Song: Antarctica.

9. Mates of State – Re-Arrange Us
Another husband-wife team, the Mates of State kind of remind me of these other ones that I love, which is just fine. Theirs is a bit slicker than Submarines, Weepies or Derek and Sandra, and maybe a bit swingier. Best Song: The Re-arranger.

10. Elvis Costello – Momufuku
This album has much in common with perhaps my alltime favorite Costello album, All This Useless Beauty. For instance, it has a nice mix of the Costello ballad and the Costello rocker. This album feels particularly high energy because it was recorded with very little rehearsal, which must be what gives it so much immediacy. I like the part in “Flutter and Wow,” for example, when he shouts “to the bridge!” In fact, Best Song: Flutter and Wow.

Regrettable Omissions:
Stars – Sad Robots
Sandra McCracken and Derek Webb – Ampersand
Greg Laswell - Three Flights from Alto Nido
Anathallo - Canopy Glow
She & Him – Volume One
The Firemen – Electric Arguments
Common Shiner – EPs Never Have Titles

New to me in ‘08
Ingrid Michaelson – Girls and Boys
Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova – The Swell Season

I was late to the party on these albums, but if you haven’t heard them, they are really fantastic. They might show up later as a desert island pick, in fact.

Review: EPs Never Have Titles

2008-12-11T20:53:00.004-05:00

Earlier this week, I downloaded Common Shiner’s new EP EPs Never Have Titles for free from saynotobadpop.com. Let me tell you, you should download it too. And if you live in Chicago, you should go see them live, because they are truly dynamic performers.

For this review I tried to listen to the EP without thinking about my significant affection for the band’s members (they are friends of mine) and I still think it’s a strong album. Like in their earlier recordings, this one features clever, relatable lyrics with the occasional element of surprise.

Musically, the band gets tighter and more precise every time I hear them. Instrumentally and vocally, these four songs demonstrate their strength as musicians. The production sounds crisp and really benefits the rhythmic feel in many of the songs.

All in all, it’s fun, smart pop. And I would say that even if I didn't already love them.

Hope

2008-11-07T14:04:00.002-05:00

I know it's been ages since I posted on this blog. It's been a tough semester and I haven't had the time and energy for additional commentary. However, I couldn't let this go by without comment.

I voted in my second ever presidential election this week. And I voted for somebody I respect and trust. And I feel hopeful about what our country could do in the next four years.

Perhaps I have a biased sample, since so many in my circles are outspoken liberals, but I detect I distinctive lightness the last few days. A cautious optimism. A sense that maybe things aren't so bad. The Op-Eds in Yesterday's New York Times felt almost giddy.

The system works, at least a little bit. Voter turn out was the highest, by sheer numbers, it has ever been. I hope that our President Elect and his administration can work with others and really change things. He has my prayers.

"Kingdom"* Gender Politics

2008-07-30T23:01:00.002-04:00

I’ve been reading a chapter from my friend Kristy’s book-in-progress recently (I’ve been taking forever, sorry, Kristy), and ran into a footnote (among other things of course) that made me think. She was discussing a book that talks about "kingdom questions" as opposed to earthly ones, and "kingdom thinking". Here's the footnote:

Given my feminist politics, I have serious reservations about using the term “kingdom.” Not only does it imply a male god, it also hearkens back to an antiquated form of patriarchy, where a male sovereign monarch ruled over powerless subjects. That is hardly a system of government I find promising, so it is certainly not an analogy to the divine I find meaningful. Because this term is so common in the contemporary debate over Christianity and civic engagement, however, I use it out of convenience and simplicity in this chapter. I also fear that avoiding the term “kingdom” would only obscure the sexism that haunts Christian thought.

This objection had never occurred to me before; I’m glad I have smart friends to point these things out to me. I find Kristy’s argument compelling – why do we rely so heavily on the authoritarian male terms for God and the people, animals and things that follow God? While the kingdom of God is a term used in the Bible, it made sense in the context of that culture and it’s first English translation. Today doesn’t the “city of God” and “new earth” language in revelation make more sense for our understanding of how God’s care and plan for the earth and its inhabitants works? Is patriarchal culture so woven into the bible and Christian thought that we have no choice but to take the negative consequences of that language with the good ones?

These are the questions I am most interested in discussion about: are there alternative ways to talk about God and God’s way of thinking, and what are the benefits and costs to Christians of using that language instead?

* These quotation marks are necessary, because they are drawing attention to the term. Ok? Ok.

Thoughts on Satire

2008-07-19T00:08:00.001-04:00

In February This American Life aired an episode that included a fascinating peek into the writers room for The Onion (it can be streamed for free or downloaded for a buck here). The way they parse the jokes made me so geekily jealous. I do a fair amount of joke-parsing myself, and sometimes get it wrong when I post regularly on the “blog”. I even started a twitter account because I wanted to see how often I could be clever in less than 140 characters (hit and miss).

Meanwhile, I can’t stop writing mediocre papers for classes about satire and irony. Is satire persuasive? Is irony always cruel? Bakhtin on laughter has been really helpful in this regard, I think I’ll come back to it later, but these questions fascinate me.

Since I’m in love with serious talk about hilarity, I’m both crazy about and perplexed by the recent discussion about humor in the presidential campaign. The controversial New Yorker cover spurned quite a bit of discussion about what kinds of jokes, if any, are acceptable to make about Obama. My favorite is Andy Borowitz’s list of acceptable jokes, including this one: “A horse walks into a bar. The bartender says, ‘Why the long face?’ Barack Obama replies, ‘His jockey just lost his health insurance, which should be the right of all Americans.’”

There also has been some discussion with differing levels of condescending about whether everyone will get the joke. And, indeed, a recent pew survey found that 12% of Americans do think Obama is a muslim – they lack the shared sense of reality that is necessary to get the joke.

This leads me to my complaint about satire as a way to make arguments. If your audience does not already agree with you, not only is satire unpersuasive, it goes right over the audience’s head. Making fun of people is not the best way to make them come around to your side. It is a good way to move undecided’s or energize those who agree with you, but that’s it.

Of course, this isn’t quite that clean and easy (see Larknews or A Prairie Home Companion for a good example of people laughing at their own foibles) but I think it’s something we should be careful of. Also, Cara Finnegan makes a good point that in the case of the New Yorker cover, the subject of the satire isn’t included in the image itself. Moreover, the image bothers me because it helps keep these kinds of imaginings about the Obamas in circulation, adding to the general feeling of otherness that is being attached to them, which will affect undecided voters who go with their gut feeling on election day.

In other words, I love a good satire, but I didn’t think this was a particularly well-executed joke. But the excessive coverage of it (my own blog now is complicit in this I suppose) is way more damaging than the cover image itself.

Faith and Suffering

2008-07-07T14:07:00.001-04:00

As part of my grant research I’m looking for ways to frame an analysis of talk about religious practices and health/illness. This morning I read the introduction to Faith in the Great Physician by historian Heather Curtis (reviewed in Books and Culture by Lauren Winner here).

Reading the intro to this book (and Winner’s review of it) brought to my attention the possibility that there might be more than one view of the role of God and faith in illness. In the interviews I analyze (conducted in 2006) we asked the participants if they thought religious practices like prayer or healing services could help prevent or heal an illness like heart disease, diabetes or depression. The answers ranged, but I don’t recall anyone suggesting that illness was a special gift or test and that suffering was in any way spiritual. Neither do I believe that this is a common conception in the contemporary church. However, Curtis describes the culture of the mid-19^th century in America where this idea was dominant, especially for women.

Winner summarizes, “Sick people, in particular female invalids, believed that their sickness was God's will, and the most faithful response was humble submission. Women who patiently bore illness that kept them confined to bed for decades were understood as "spiritual virtuosos," who were often blessed by God with special visions that would sustain them through their trials. Their very bodies, passively propped up on pillows, were tokens of faith in the sufficiency of God's grace.”

Perhaps it is my 21^st century sensibility that finds this perspective troublesome, and clearly tied up in sexist understandings of female virtue. I wouldn’t suggest we go back to this view, especially in light of the abilities of modern medicine to relieve suffering. However, the very availability of another possibility leads us to evaluate the problems of the current religious attitude toward illness.

Curtis writes at the end of her introduction, “divine healing had a dark side too: in addition to enabling individuals to overcome debilitating diseases, faith cure suggested that sick persons were somehow responsible for their condition and therefore suspect. Rather than risk God’s reputation or their own, many chose to suffer their pain silently or hide it all together.”

This reaction – that those who aren’t healed might not have enough faith – seems especially prominent in discussion of mental illness like depression. In Jane Kenyon’s poem cycle about depression, “Having it Out With Melancholy,” the most haunting poem is titled “suggestion from a friend” and simply says “You wouldn’t be so depressed/ if you really believed in God.” This attitude is clearly the danger that our Christian culture struggles with when we over-emphasize divine healing.

Knowing that the cultural attitude toward faith and suffering changed so dramatically in the 19^th century, though, gives us hope for the future. Perhaps another view of the relationship between our faith and our bodies and the problems of our bodies is possible. Perhaps we can develop a way to think about the body, mental illness, and God’s power to heal that avoids punishing those who already suffer, but still looks for healing.

Desert Island Discs: Eveningland

2008-06-10T16:58:00.004-04:00

I guess it was about 2 summers ago that my friend Leslie and I went to see Over the Rhine in Altanta. I’ve seen Over the Rhine live quite a few times, and they were fabulous that night, as usual. But I was really blown away by the band they were co-headlining with: Hem. I bought one of their albums, Eveningland, that night. It was a hard choice even then between Eveningland and Rabbit Songs, since both have such lovely interesting songs on them. I’ve since acquired all their records, but I think I made the right choice that night – Eveningland just barely edges out Rabbit Songs and Funnel Cloud for the distinct honor of my next Desert Island Selection.

All the elements of Hem’s aesthetic fit together well. Sally Ellison’s warm voice (and the lovely vocal harmony they use frequently), the delicate orchestration (heavy on strings and piano) and the evocative heart-wrenching lyrics. You might recognize them without knowing it, since their songs “Half-Acre” and “The Part Where You Let Go” have been featured on commercials for Liberty Mutual. When I saw them, their instrumentation was: piano, guitar, string bass, pedal steel. I know. I fell in love immediately.

I think “Lucky” is one of the prettiest love songs I’ve encountered (and I’ve heard a lot of love songs). Read this chorus:

If I should lose
I’ll wake up feeling lucky
if I should take a fall
or throw it all away
I wouldn’t mind lying beside you
the rest of my days.

I love the way “Redwing” sounds like it’s soaring, and I love the line “circling like sparrows”. I believe “Pacific Street” is a song about when the members of the band met each other, but to me it’s about old friends, and remembering good times even if things have changed, “because leaving things is just too hard for me.” It about wrecks me every time.

And they have this great slow cover of “Jackson” on this album too. Which means that not only is it a fabulous album in its own right, but also includes another of my favorite things: covers that are significantly different from the original.

Most of their songs have that sense of affection and longing. And have I mentioned the gorgeous arrangements? Because they are gorgeous. It’s a great album for a quiet morning or evening (maybe more evening, hence the name) with tea or a glass of wine and a book. Or if you’re me and will listen to gentle, slow-tempo stuff anytime, then anytime.

Past Reviews:

1000 Kisses
Sixpence None the Richer
Transatlanticism
Neon Bible
Details
Why Should the Fire Die
Achtung Baby
Ohio

Elitism and Popularity

2008-05-30T15:59:00.003-04:00

I was interested in this New York Times article that mentions some of my concerns about the latest rash of anti-intellectualism in the public sphere.

Writer Susan Jacoby asks why “elitist” and “elite opinion” have become such negative terms in today’s political scene. At its most absurd, Senator Hillary Clinton suggested that the unanimous opinion of economists was not to be trusted because it was “elite”. I agree with Jacoby that there is a difference between populism that respects the abilities of all people and a rejection of expertise of achievement. Indeed, the populism that I would encourage wants an educated population, where everyone can have an informed opinion about matters that affect us all. Instead, it appears, “elitism” is any suggestion that people as citizens or as leaders should be expected to do or know more.

One interesting note, it seems that the opposite attitude is at work when it comes to issues of national security. While it is “elitist” to trust economists on the subject of the economy, in the case of the war, we are expected to trust the judgment of the president and General Petraeus without question. They are the experts; they have all the information. Perhaps this attitude is deployed so effectively (at least until recently) by the Bush administration because the president is portrayed as so everyday in other situations.

The cries against elitism are not necessarily a rejection of special knowledge, then, but against a certain segment of society – educated progressives who may have behaved too condescendingly throughout history, creating a negative reaction among others. Perhaps to fix this problem, elites need better PR to consistently present themselves as relatable and trustworthy, instead of snobby and condescending. I wonder if Al Gore’s public image today compared to in the run-up to the 2000 election might be instructive in this respect.

In Defense of The Girls Next Door

2008-05-28T23:27:00.002-04:00

Jim makes fun of me for loving The Girls Next Door. Actually, everyone does. But I don’t mind, I’m a bit embarrassed about my love for the show, in fact. But I’m going to explain why I love it. I recently read this Elle article that has a similar perspective.

Allow me to explain. First of all, I understand that Playboy is all about women as sex objects, and celebrates a particular kind of beauty (blonde, huge fake boobs, tiny waist, etc – so Barbie). The male gaze is how plaboy makes its money – a male fantasy of these idealized women who are always available. That’s what the mansion and the clubs are all about. But here’s the thing: in the show, the men never show up. Hef is so old and, well, relational that you don’t feel that these women are objects to him. You don’t even think of their relationship with him as sexual even though it likely is (although maybe not, the guy is OLD).

Instead, the world we see on the show is pure escapism. It has so little to do with my real life, and that’s why I like to watch it. I watch tv to escape. Holly, Bridget and Kendra live this ridiculous life where they hang out with each other and with other women, they have little projects and trips and adventures, and they never worry about things like money or responsibilities. It’s like girl’s night out, except it’s their whole life, and everyone is beautiful. But you aren’t really invited to evaluate the women so much as it’s just taken for granted that everyone is that specific kind of beautiful. Sure, now that I think about it, it’s troubling, but my point is it’s never foregrounded. And isn’t all tv that way anyway?

There’s also some kind of old-femininity power in Holly – she gets her way by scheming and batting her eyes, but she does it in an unapologetic but also self-aware way. It’s kind of endearing. And they way that Bridget is always upbeat and happy and finds ways to advance her future entertainment career is quite savvy. Not that I’m claiming it’s a feminist show, of course it isn’t. But it’s good fun for some girls trying to unwind after a long day of thinking hard. And I like it. And now you know why.

Bakhtin for Worship Leaders: Ideological Becoming

2008-05-18T22:17:00.001-04:00

I recently posted about Bakhtin’s idea of the living word as a useful concept for worship leaders. Another concept that I think is helpful for understanding the Bible as both flexible and unchanging is Ideological becoming.

The idea of ideological becoming has to do with the ways a person combines available discourses to determine the ideologies they identify with. Bakhtin is similar to other theorists, who assume that individuals assemble pieces of various discourses to construct their own identity. To help understand this concept, Bakhtin talks about two different kinds of discourses: authoritative and internally persuasive.

Authoritative discourse refers to reified texts that carry with them the weight of history and authority. “The authoritative word is located in a distanced zone, organically connected with a past that is felt to be hierarchically higher. It is, so to speak, the word of the fathers” (Discourses p. 342). This is especially applicable to religious texts like the Bible, whose authority is especially unquestioned in the context of the church. While this authority gives a text advantages, it also creates a desire for rebellion. Authoritative texts feel distant and irrelevant, or heavy-handed. This poses a significant challenge for those hoping to breathe life into authoritative texts.

Internally persuasive discourse is one that an individual accepts into the play of their own identity and with other texts; they become a part of the becoming of a person. Bakhtin writes, “Its creativity and productiveness consist precisely in the fact that such a word awakens new and independent words, that it organizes masses of our words from within, and does not remain in an isolated and static condition” (Discourses p. 345). This kind of engagement might release a biblical text or old liturgy from interaction with it as a stagnant, static authoritative text. What makes a text internally persuasive is its ability to invoke a response (“new and independent words”) and engage with other words.

This is where it becomes important that Bakhtin doesn’t think of these categories as mutually exclusive. “Both the authority and the internal persuasiveness of discourse may be united in a single word – one that is simultaneously authoritative and internally persuasive” (Discourses, p. 342). How do we make our worship one that is simultaneously authoritative and internally persuasive?

I think one way is by offering an opportunity for individuals to produce “independent words” in response to the older, authoritative words that might be presented. For example, churches offer opportunities for congregation members to present their own art or writing in church, or to create art or writing during the service itself. These active responses allow the words of scripture to become part of us, in dialogue with our own words, and becoming our own words. As part of our ideological becoming.

Bakhtin for Worship Leaders: The Living Word

2008-05-14T23:12:00.002-04:00

This semester I took a course in the language theory of Mikhail Bakhtin. It was a great class, and there were several points in the class when I thought the things I was reading would work beautifully with theology. Of course, Bakhtin was living in Soviet Russia, so he rarely references Christianity explicitly, except to talk about the authoritative voice or about “mythical Adam”. However, I find his theory of language really compelling, and useful for thinking about the ways we interact with the biblical text as an utterance or set of utterances.

I didn’t have time in the semester to reflect on this blog, but now that I have a little space, I want to start articulating and sharing some of those ideas. So this first post is about Bakhtin’s concept of the Word as a Living thing.

I find this concept especially easy to translate, since we are already accustomed to talking about the Bible as the Living Word of God. Reading the term in Bakhtin, though, forced me to think about what it gets us to think about a word as alive.

First, for Bakhtin, a living word has its own character and history. In his words, language cannot be understood as unitary unless it is isolated “from the uninterrupted process of historical becoming that is a characteristic of all living language” (The Dialogic Imagination, p. 288). This means not only that the meaning of language changes over time, but also that the history of a word matters for its meaning today – that the meanings it has had in the past colors its present meaning.

When this concept is applied to the words at work in the church, it seems especially relevant, as the biblical text is thousands of years old, and many liturgical elements have been used for hundreds of years or more. The historical and geographical reach of these texts means that there are a wide range of meanings that the stories and words have gathered over those various contexts. These words carry a weight of meanings that give them richness, but also threaten to hold us down.

Second, a living word is not just a conduit in communication, but an actor. Words impose their own meanings, histories and intents on a situation. Bakhtin writes “the strong point of any concrete listener becomes a self-sufficient focus of attention, and one that interferes with the word’s creative work on its referent” (The Dialogic Imagination, p. 282). In this passage not only does the word do work, but that work is interfered with on the part of a listener – the word is an interloper between speaker and listener, imposing it’s own will on meaning (or referent) that must be compensated for by a strong listener. This then requires extra vigilance on the part of a reader, both to read a text with good intentions, and to listen to others with a spirit of cooperation.

What does it mean if we take the idea of the biblical text as a Living Word seriously? If we assume that it has actions and intentions separate from and sometimes at odds with those of a writer or reader. Should we be concerned with the desires of the Word, or of its divine inspirer? What would it mean to see our reading of the bible as the Word’s creative work? How is our understanding constrained and enhanced by the history of the words in our translations?

movie families

2008-05-11T22:14:00.002-04:00

Sometimes to unwind, Jamie and I watch of movies of varying quality. Don't judge; most of them are on TV, so we don't pay for them. However, we have observed some disturbing trends. The following movies that we have seen recently contain a family game of touch/tackle football:

Dan in Real Life

The Wedding Crashers

Just Married

The following movies that we have seen recently contain a scene where a family bursts into spontaneous song with piano accompaniment:

Must Love Dogs

Dan in Real Life

And more we can’t remember.

Ok, Jamie’s family is athletic, and they never play family football. They occasionally go sledding and take walks. My family is musical, but we do not hold spontaneous sing-alongs. Sure, people burst into song frequently, but we don’t ALL join in. Occasionally a rehearsal for a church song will end with a jam session.

So the question at hand is this: whose families do these things, and why are they always in movies? The football thing mostly seems to be a useful plot device to play out sexual tension or a character’s unathleticism. The music thing is a good chance to demonstrate how good of singers the cast are. But seriously. Who does these things?

Also, readers are encouraged to beef up these lists to improve the "trend" argument.

Inequity in Michigan

2008-05-08T10:48:00.004-04:00

I was really upset when Jim alerted me to a recent ruling by the Michigan Supreme Court. The ruling interpreted the gay marriage ban that passed in 2004 (which I voted against) to also mean that benefits for gay partners in state-run institutions is also illegal. This is especially hurtful to state universities, who will likely lose top scholars who can get partner benefits in other states.

Regardless of how you feel about the sin-status of gay sex, I think we can all agree that humans deserve to be treated as such. It would be absurd if we ostracized and financially punished individuals in our society for other activites that are prohibited more explicitly and strongly in the Bible. But instead we often have usurers, gluttons and adulterers in civic and religious leadership roles. This is a clear case of discrimination that in the future we will see as repugnant as Jim Crow.

This is an issue of human rights and fairness, and it's embarrassing that in 2008 our society is moving backward instead of toward equality. I urge readers of this blog who still reside in Michigan to take a stand against this injustice.

edit: more discussion on feministing.

Desert Island Discs: 1000 Kisses

2008-05-06T20:44:00.001-04:00

I’m done writing for the semester, and just in time. The Desert Island thing is coming back into style. Matt just posted a bunch all at once, and Blake has been talking a big game like he’s going to join in. (Speaking of people who talk a big game, I think Morgan should post another one soon too.)

I came a little late to the Patty Griffin party. Some of my friends were totally pumped to see her play Calvin my first year (I was pumped for the opener: Over the Rhine) but she blew me away, and I bought her then new album 1000 Kisses. It’s ten tracks of beautiful, kids. I’ve been variously obsessed with “Mil Besos,” “Tomorrow Night,” “Rain” and “Making Pies” but to be honest, whenever any of the tracks comes up in Party Shuffle I’m likely to go “I love this song!” And it will be true

Here are some reasons why Patty, and this album, are awesome: Patty’s voice is wrenching, warm and honest. The instrumentation is rootsy, warm and spacious. The writing is lovely – emotional and evocative, but broad enough that you can feel like you relate to it in a variety of situations. For example, “I'm not looking for the rest of your life/ I just want another chance to live” or “I wish you could see the way I see me in my dreams/ the way I laugh there way up high/ the way I look when I fly/ the way I laugh the way I fly.” Other songs, like “Chief” and “Makin’ Pies” draw us into a character with a story. I didn’t know until recently that “Tomorrow Night” was a cover, and had been recorded by Elvis (I know, that’s probably heretical) but I just listened to Elvis’ version on YouTube and Patty’s is better.

This is a good album for a rainstorm, a car trip or an afternoon of reading. Or any other time, really. You should listen to it.

Past Reviews:

Sixpence None the Richer
Transatlanticism
Neon Bible
Details
Why Should the Fire Die
Achtung Baby
Ohio

bragging rights

2008-05-01T09:05:00.002-04:00

This morning I was reading this New York Times article about Steve and Barry's. My favorite part is this quotation from Sarah Jessica Parker:

“What has changed,” Ms. Parker said, “is that now people have bragging rights about what they paid. I admired a woman’s pair of pants at a party recently and she said, ‘Fourteen dollars! H & M!’ It really is, among the people I know, part of what they do now.”

NOW? She obviously doesn't know any dutch people. I've been doing that... always.

40 years later

2008-04-04T17:53:00.003-04:00

(I wrote this yesterday and then never posted it because of internet issues. Here it is anyway)

I wish that I was less sick and overwhelmed, so I could make a post about the 40th anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.'s death. Conveniently, I'm working on some copy edits on my recently accepted article about King's last speech. I think that now is a good time to remember Dr King, as some of the same discussions he raised are coming up again - about issues of Justice, race and religion.

I think it's also important for us to remember that 40 years is both a long time ago, and not so long ago. I think some people take a message of reconciliation and hope to mean that the history of inequality and hurt doesn't matter anymore, but that's a history that many people lived and that still affects the opportunities available to people today. I recently had a conversation with my colleague Marcus about some of the discrimination he has experienced in the last few years that made me realize that we still have a long way to go as a society before that history is truly past. Make no mistake: we've come a long way when everyone has at least formal access if not actual access to the best schools and jobs in the nations, and when a black man and a woman are competing for nomination for the highest office in the land. But we also have a long way to go before those people are not derided for those very characteristics, and until technical access means truly equal opportunity.

Desert Island Discs: Sixpence None the Richer

2008-03-14T13:52:00.003-04:00

A big turning point for me in musical taste happened when I was in high school. Through some weird connection, my dad got a pre-release version of Sixpence None the Richer’s selftitled album. I fell in love with it. The band quickly replaced my previous favorite musical group: Point of Grace (for the uninitiated, this is your typical CCM highly-produced soccermom pop. You know – with the synth strings and the modulation for the last chorus).

Loving Sixpence opened my musical world to all kinds of new, cool, artsy-folk-pop like my next (and continuing) favorite: Over the Rhine. I also got to see the band a few times in cool venues, like the Calvin FAC and Dimnet Chapel at Hope College before they hit it big with their uncharacteristic pop song, “Kiss Me.” I still wonder what would have happened if they followed up with one of the moodier songs from the album instead of the fluffy cover of “There She Goes” which got added to later editions of the album. In fact, in college I was annoyed that my copy had “There She Goes” tacked on to the end instead of letting the album close with strings and the lyrics “I will not let them ruin me again.”

Anyway, all that was to say that I would love this album forever because of what it got me as a fan of music – expanding my tastes to new and interesting music. But as an album, I think it holds together as quality regardless of my history with it. The combination of Leigh Nash’s sweet soprano vocals with minor chords and driving guitar and string riffs creates a pleasant rockiness, and unexpected moments of beauty and intensity. (Come to think of it, the heavy use of strings probably influenced my love of this album).

Most of the lyrical content on the album is about artistic frustration – it reflects the frustration the band had (and continued to have after their success) with record companies. Although as a teenager I couldn’t relate to the pressures of the CCM market, I could get angst, and some of the songs (“Easy to Ignore” for example) even have romantic angst. I mean, I was 15 when this album came out. The images and musical intensity of these songs still resonate with my older, somewhat less angsty ears.

The album isn’t just a big angst-fest, though, it features complex theological questions (like “The Waiting Room”) and an occasional journey into the fanciful (like “Kiss Me” and “I Can’t Catch You”). It reflects influence from central American poets, not only in “Puedo Escribir” – directly influenced by a Pablo Neruda poem, but also in other lyrical moments and references to the body, like “The Lines of My Earth.” Matt Slocum’s writing about an “artistic womb” and “Flames of knowing kissing me” weirdly resonates with some of the chicana literature I’m reading for class this week, actually. Regardless, the lyrics are rich and complex, with surprising images and pleasing rhythms. All things I still appreciate in a good song. I’m glad this album that mattered so much to me has held up over time.

Past Reviews:

Transatlanticism
Neon Bible
Details
Why Should the Fire Die
Achtung Baby
Ohio

More Than Watchmen Wait for Morning

2008-03-09T14:09:00.004-04:00

Today’s church service was filled with more lament than a usual fifth Sunday in lent. This week the state of Georgia was touched by the murder of two college women, one at UNC, and one at Auburn. The father of one of these women is a member of my church. While I have never met Eve Carson, others in our congregation knew her, and were especially yearning for the resurrection of the dead today. It is amazing the ways that God prepares for our needs before we even know them. The lectionary readings were all about God bringing life when there isn’t any hope – Ezekiel and the dry bones, the resurrection of Lazarus, a Romans passage that ends “he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.”

I have my public speaking students report on the news in every class. I forgot to do it in my later class this Friday, so we put it at the end of class instead, and as my student listed these killings among death and war elsewhere in the world, we all felt stunned and saddened, even though our eagerness for spring break made the class open with a sense of excitement. We generally have time for discussion after the news report, and a student remarked that she feels guilty for the way she reacts to these tragedies briefly, and then returns almost immediately to her life – homework, friends, etc. We talked about that difficulty – we all want to be compassionate, sincere people, but if you truly felt every tragedy in the news, you would be paralyzed with sadness. I wish that I could have told them about the gifts of the Christian tradition – that it gives us a way to respond. We lament and hope. We cry out from the depths, like the Psalm 130 writer, but we also say, with him, “My soul waits for the Lord, in his word I hope. My soul waits more than watchmen wait for the morning.” This pattern of tears, prayers and hope are built into the life of the church. Lent is when we wait and pray. But sadness is always around us, demanding that we remember to wait for the Lord.

rhetoric is news

2008-02-15T16:16:00.003-05:00

It's unusual for humanities scholarship to make it into the mainstream media, but check out this Slate article about a Rhetoric and Public Affairs piece on Obama's rhetoric.

Coins and God in the US

2008-02-04T20:30:00.001-05:00

Last semester I wrote a paper about newspaper coverage of congressional bills adding “under God” to the pledge, declaring “In God We Trust” the national motto and putting it on currency. I noticed that they were carefully vague about the theological meaning of these moves, and embraced any monotheism, and that it was also set up as a clear way to differentiate our Christian Democracy from Atheist Communists. I argued that it was an interesting case of 1950s civil religion, and shed light on how those changes came to be and the relationship of religiosity and patriotism in the mid-50s, and that it offered interesting insights into lay-theories of the rhetoric of material objects.

Today, I read that congress is still worried about the words on coins. In some ways the arguments are the same – our identity as Christian is important, it should show up on material elements of our national culture. The argument now lacks the boogeyman of communist atheists, however, and instead accuses a vague enemy (even the mint itself) of trying to remove or forget God, given the motto’s less prominent position on these new coins. The whole thing still seems a bit silly, and I wonder what drives law-makers to worry about the design of coins instead of, say, people who are sick and can’t afford treatment. There are a couple of possible sources: first the paranoia of the Christian right – anything that feeds into their persecution narrative helps them get attention and money. Also, the presidential race has seen much less attention to typical religious conservative issues. Squabbles like this are an easy way for congressmen like Brownback to get a symbolic victory and pacify their restless constituencies.

Still, it’s weird that this same issue is coming up now, when in the past it appeared after WWII and after the Civil War. What does it mean that these kinds of national identity issues are coming up in the midst of an unpopular foreign war? Are we in some ways imagining ourselves into peace-time by behaving as though the war is already won?

Hat tip: I got this story from Pandagon.

Sympo '08: what I will remember

2008-01-27T11:14:00.000-05:00

While I expected to post a few intellectual chewing points, I must admit that the things I’ve been pondering from this year’s symposium have been more visceral. While I certainly have had some interesting and useful intellectual moments, I am sitting in the airport now thinking about what it means to come back to a place that was home, and the ways intense experiences make you feel close to people.

After emailing for months, trying to plan an alternative, interactive, multisensory worship service with others in Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, and Glasgow, we finally met together for a stirring music rehearsal, and hours of final decisions and details to transform a lecture hall into a place of worship. It was odd and wonderful to find myself joking around while tying yarn on dowels with these new friends. At one point, everyone busted out their favorite Stanley Hauerwas story. Only at a worship conference. After our service on Friday, we had a panel discussion on Saturday afternoon in the same space, and Doug mentioned that you don’t think of a room in the same way after you’ve made it into a place for worship. I don’t know when I will visit the commons lecture hall again, but I think I will remember standing in a dim corner, watching images light up a sheet hung from the ceiling, leading singing.

I also spent most of the first day in Grand Rapids in a strange time warp, visiting places and seeing people who had been my everyday life, but aren't anymore, and have changed, just as I have. It was beautiful to realize that I was welcomed and loved, and to also see how we all grow and change. I was proud to be able to bring back some of the things I’ve learned in grad school, and to offer something back to the community that helped me grow so much when I was in college.

I hope to also comment on some of my intellectual thoughts, but I must admit that I’m a bit behind preparing for class. It was worth it, but I need to get back to real life eventually.

Obama at Ebenezer Baptist

2008-01-21T21:23:00.000-05:00

I'm breaking my own rule and posting twice on one day to suggest that you all read or watch Barack Obama's speech at Ebenezer Baptist in Atlanta yesterday. It's a great bit of oratory, and a good example of why I am so excited about Obama for president. Here's an excerpt:

For most of this country's history, we in the African-American community have been at the receiving end of man's inhumanity to man. And all of us understand intimately the insidious role that race still sometimes plays - on the job, in the schools, in our health care system, and in our criminal justice system.

And yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that none of our hands are entirely clean. If we're honest with ourselves, we'll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to King's vision of a beloved community.

We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them. The scourge of anti-Semitism has, at times, revealed itself in our community. For too long, some of us have seen immigrants as competitors for jobs instead of companions in the fight for opportunity.

In the whole speech, Obama underscores themes of communal action for justice using the examples of the Civil Rights movement and Jericho (he has drawn on Joshua before, in Selma). He talks about compassion, conviction and the need for all of us to work together - as a community - to make a better life for everyone. He calls all of us to expand moments of personal compassion and connection into social action. Inspiring.

Desert Island Discs: Transatlanticism

2008-01-21T09:53:00.001-05:00

I’m taking another break from reading, because it’s been ages since I posted a desert island pick, and Morgan just did one, which reminded me.

I was thinking “what do I love that I haven’t covered?” and then I remembered Transatlanticism. I’m a big fan of Ben Gibbard’s songwriting and voice. Some people that I know say they like his songs better in cover versions, because they don’t find his voice appealing. I disagree. While I do have a deep love for the Iron and Wine version of “Such Great Heights,” I love the Postal Service too. In fact, I thought for a bit about choosing a Postal Service album instead, but I’m not always in the mood for all the beeps and boops. Transatlanticism, on the other hand, I love most of the time. I love the way the instrumentation makes the songs seem stark and alien. I love the way Gibbard’s lyrics take you by surprise sometimes, like “the glove compartment is inaccurately named/ and everybody knows it” or “do they collide?/ I ask and you smile./ With my feet on the dash/ The world doesn't matter.” I think his delivery has just the right amount of emotional weight.

Sometimes the words in combination with the stark arrangements do make the songs achingly sad. I remember when I first got into this album it was a Christmas break and I was reading a sad novel, Hey Nostradamus. Fortunately, I was emotionally stable at the time, because sometimes the repetition of “I need you so much closer” can make me feel really sad. But artistic sad, a kind of sad that is beautiful, so I don't mind. And the whole song “Passenger Seat” makes me feel so wistful, especially the last stanza, and the solo piano ending.

All this intense emotion can push Death Cab songs over the edge into overwrought. Sometimes “Tiny Vessels” strikes me that way. I’m willing to take the occasional overstep, though, if it produces one “Passenger Seat” every once in a while. That song is emotional perfection.

Past Reviews:

Neon Bible
Details
Why Should the Fire Die
Achtung Baby
Ohio

Blogging Sympo '08: Preview

2008-01-20T14:28:00.000-05:00

I’m getting really excited about attending (and presenting at) worship symposium next weekend. I’m part of a panel about media in postmodern/emerging worship. I think it has a few more buzzwords in the title. Anyway, the other people on the panel are pretty great, so that will be a good time. I’ve also been involved in planning a worship service long distance, which has been a challenge, but I can’t wait to help lead the service on Friday.

As part of my preparation (and to avoid school work) I read through my blog posts from the last time I was at Symposium, three years ago. I usually think that I’ve come so far in the last 3 years as an adult and as a thinker, but reading these posts reminds me how the stuff I thought about my last year at Calvin are in many ways trajectories I’m still thinking about and developing. Here are the posts:

Creeds and Prayers

Sabbath-Keeping

All of Life

It’s my plan (for now anyway) to try to steal a few moments to blog while I’m in Grand Rapids this time, too. Promising posts is always dangerous, so I won’t, but those are my intentions.

thoughts from the first week of class

2008-01-13T17:26:00.000-05:00

Our first day of class with Dr Condit last Thursday was inspirational in a lot of ways. A lot of the ideas we talked about in class (and will this semester) have serious significance for a religious perspective. This week Dr Condit explained her general purpose/framework for the class, and we discussed part of Walter Ong’s The Presence of the Word. Celeste was explaining the way the entire intellectual tradition (Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Derrida etc) is obsessed with figuring out the meaning of things. What if our central question was not “what do words mean” (especially now that Derrida has demonstrated that meaning is never static)? What if instead, we asked “What do words do” and “How do they relate us to each other?”

This change of orientation, I think, would also transform the way we approach Christianity, the Bible, and worship. Instead of interrogating the Bible for rules, we would ask how it relates us to God and its characters and each other. Instead of expecting to “get something out” of a church service, we would arrive expecting to DO something, to enact a relationship. If Christianity was presented not as a set of propositions we assent to for salvation, but instead as a set of relationships that we appreciate, and try to fulfill, how would it change the way we live? How would it change the way we talked to others about faith?

Public Scholarship, Celebrity Politics

2008-01-07T18:10:00.001-05:00

My friend and colleague Becky Kuehl recently did a tv interview about celebrity endorsements in politics. You can watch it here. I'm posting this partly to brag about how cool my friends are, but also to add to the discussion I've been doing here about the primary. I think Becky is right that people are quick to dismiss endorsements by Oprah or Chuck Norris, but I think what they do is create novelty in a media environment where attention is at a premium. They give voters who are overwhelmed by the amount of information about candidates a way to remember one, and a suggestion for who to examine more closely. Although nobody would say "I'll vote for whoever Oprah says" the fact remains that most people are underinformed and apathetic. If a celebrity they trust endorses someone, perhaps it will motivate them to learn more.

Anyway, Becky said some smart stuff on tv. Way to go, Becky!

The Year In Review

2007-12-26T16:30:00.001-05:00

I’m not real big on Christmas cards, but I am big on reflecting on the year and updating friends on what’s new in my life. Consider this my Christmas (ok, epiphany) letter. And my year-end blog post. 2007 has been a pretty exciting year in my life. Here are some of the things I did:

I suppose the biggest accomplishment of 2007 was my master’s degree. I finished my 90-some page thesis and defended it in May. I participated in the graduation ceremony in August wearing not-quite-right borrowed regalia, but I was pleased to watch some friends receive their doctoral hoods, which was pretty cool. I also started my PhD studies at UGA this year, and completed ¼ of my coursework.

Also in August, I moved from my one-bedroom apartment across town into a townhouse that I now share with my colleague Jamie. She’s a great roommate, and we get along well. It’s nice to have someone around even when we’re just reading. In fact, some of our classmates make fun of us because we often begin comments in class with “when Jamie and I were talking about this article earlier…” It makes us seem like pretty big dorks, but we are, so that’s ok. I think graduate school was the right choice for me, even though it can be stressful, lonely and high-pressure sometimes. I love the new place too, it’s a great location where we can walk to the campus bus, so we don’t have to drive as much or pay for campus parking.

August was a big month for me; it’s also when I adopted Zeus, who was then only 5 months old. He’s very playful and makes a lot of noise for a cat – he purrs constantly and meows quite a bit. He also has some strange dog-like behaviors, such as playing fetch, drinking out of the toilet and following people around the house. I love him. Another thing that happened then was that I officially joined Athens First United Methodist Church, where I had been attending and leading worship for about 2 years.

I got to visit a lot of places this year. I visited family in West Michigan in the spring and for Christmas. It was nice both times, but somewhat less exciting this winter, as I spent several days laid up after my wisdom teeth surgery. My family also visited me in Georgia, which was pretty cool. We even got to play some music at my new church! I went to LA twice, when I came for my birthday, Jim and I hiked to some natural hotsprings one day and saw some of Joshua Tree National Park on the next. It was a great trip. I also visited Jim this fall in Washington DC, which was a lot of fun. In July, I went with my friends Kristy and Katie to the Hostel in the Forest in Brunswick, GA. While we were there we visited St Simons, Jekyll Island and Savannah. Some of our touring included the Wesley sites, preparing me for my impending Methodism. The hostel was an experience in itself, ask me about it sometime.

My quotation marks blog took off like gangbusters, and I figured out how to make money off of it. I’m hoping the money thing will work out for me some more in 2008.

This is getting long, I feel like I have more stuff to say. I got my first Revise and Resubmit from a Journal this year, I discovered my love of karaoke, I went kayaking for the first time. Jim and I dated all year. I am still rather in love with him. Thinking about this year has really reminded me how fun and supportive and wonderful my family is, and my friends are. Thanks, y’all, for a great 2007! If 2008 is close to as exciting, I'll be a happy lady.

Google Reader

2007-12-20T13:24:00.001-05:00

I recently started using Google Reader for my RSS feeds. If you want to see what I'm sharing, it's here. I wish google would enable me to share these things with a few comments about why I think they're interesting, but for now you'll have to refer to the Bethany in your head. Or ask the real me.

more on Huckabee

2007-12-18T12:02:00.000-05:00

Jim sent me this Huckabee campaign ad last night and we talked about why it's such a good piece of candidate marketing:

It's a gorgeous pander to the family-values, war-on-christmas, stop-being-so-negative crowd, while being perfectly innocuous. It's often challenging to wink to some voters without offending at least a few savvy others. Where was the staffer that came up with this one when Huckabee said all those terrifying things about women being submissive and quarantining AIDS patients?

Regardless, this ad functions quite well for him. It makes him seem serious and sincere, when his jokester ways could cause problems. It makes him seem wholesome and positive in the midst of attack politics - many aiming for him given his recent rise.

I still don't think he has a chance in the general because of aforementioned terrifying statements, but this ad is a good bit of politics.

Religion in the Presidential Primary

2007-12-17T20:40:00.000-05:00

The internet and media are suddenly abuzz about the role of religion in the presidential primary. The discussion centers primarily on Romney and Huckabee. Romney’s Religion Speech a few weeks ago brought the topic to the fore (fascinating commentary by Comm Scholar Josh Gunn here. Fair warning for my non-academic readers: cites Levinas.), and Huckabee’s rise also solicits a lot of discussion about the role of religion, given his background as a Baptist Minister. Frank Rich wrote a really interesting piece in the Times this week about the kind of religious perspectives both of these people espouse (and how they are hostile to non-religious or secularists, which is pretty terrifying for democracy even if you think religion is important).

There also has been some discussion about whether or not questioning political candidates if they believe the bible qualifies as a religious test. Christopher Hitchens reminds us that the constitution is not talking about how individuals should decide who to vote for, but about official rules for who can take office.

I tend to side with Frank Rich – I’m quite nervous when anyone makes statements that are hostile to any people, regardless of their faith OR the lack thereof. While the US has a long history of being vaguely Christian (In the 1950s, for example, a lot of vague God-talk was used to unite American Christians and Jews and to differentiate theistic Americans from atheistic communists) as globalization continues, democracy must learn to include those who do not believe. Deliberative Democracy advocates suggest that religious people must translate their values into arguments that appeal to those outside of their belief system. Barack Obama’s 2006 Faith and Politics speech forwards this view. While my faith is important to me, I think in a democracy it’s important that we speak from a position that includes everyone, and does not start out excluding some people’s assumptions before their positions on the issue at hand are even voiced. Rhetoric from candidates that is hostile to some members of our nation should be unacceptable to all of us. But it seems that to some, it’s appealing. What does this mean for our democracy?

Advent and Material Rhetoric

2007-12-09T16:30:00.001-05:00

I was explaining to my roommate Jamie the other day why I love advent so much. There are lots of reasons, really, that I love advent. I’ve always loved advent. I love the color purple, I love twinkling lights and candles, I love hymns in minor keys. In Michigan, anyway, Advent is often the season of the first snow, and it’s crisp and sparkling and still exciting. The dominant mood in advent is waiting and longing. This is probably the theological mood that I could comprehend best as a child. Everyone understands what it is to wait.

Advent is also a time when we reflect on one of my favorite doctrines: the incarnation. In the Christmas story, God becomes a person. Not any person, a first century Jewish baby in a stable. He gets born. The word becomes flesh. God announces to us in a dramatic, private, angel-heralded event that bodies matter. Bodies matter so much that God needed to become embodied to show us how to live, and to save us. Jesus’ body mattered, Mary’s body mattered. If bodies mattered enough for God to decide they were a crucial part of his salvation story, then they must matter for us in our lives too.

The piece I realized when I was talking to Jamie is how much my love of this doctrine affects the way I think. It’s this commitment to the idea that bodies matter – that our physical needs and location and actions are important – that has a big influence on my scholarly commitments. These material concerns have been largely overlooked, especially by those who study the making of meaning and argument. But through the incarnation I realize that the most profound meanings are made with bodies and buildings and objects, including the person of Jesus.

Bono on Wave of Sorrow

2007-12-04T22:09:00.000-05:00

This video is a really interesting text that offers a unique glimpse into songwriting. It's rare that you see a songwriter listening to his own song and interrupting to explain the allusions. But I also wonder if you would get this kind of self-reflexive insight into a writer's thoughts about a song's meaning without the kind of long-term process that this song took. That is, it was written 20 years ago and finished recently. Bono presents a kind of self-importance that few other people can get away with, but I'm willing to take it from him.

Desert Island Discs: Neon Bible

2007-11-20T20:31:00.000-05:00

I’m avoiding work by writing another desert island post. Another album that I haven’t been able to get enough of since it came out is Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible. I love it so much, I get excited when I hear it on the radio in the video store. It’s like I have a personal investment in other people liking Neon Bible because that’s how much I like it. As though I might benefit from others liking it, like I know the band or something (I don’t.)

But I think I figured out at least some of the reasons why I love Neon Bible. Mostly, it’s very complex. It’s complex sonically – it doesn’t sound like anything else I know of. It even sounds kind of different from the first Arcade Fire album. Maybe just a bit more epic (hard to imagine). It’s not only that it’s distinctive, though, it’s also that all the layers and compositional eccentricities leave me new things to hear even after several times through. Really, that’s also why I like the album lyrically. The lyrics are dense and interesting. Their meaning isn’t abundantly clear or static, but they aren’t so abstract that one can assume they lack meaning (like, say, the lyrics of Coldplay). If I listen carefully, I might hear something new there too. Also, as the title indicates, there’s an overarching theme of religion in culture. That’s kind of something I’m interested in. You know, a little.

As though I haven’t raved enough, there are also just some moments that I really love. I love the opening of “Keep the Car Running,” and the string part throughout because it’s innovative and it reminds me of my orchestra days. I like trying to figure out what “Intervention” is about, I like the anger of “(Antichrist Television Blues)” and the wistfulness of “No Cars Go.”

To summarize, this album isn’t like anything else. You should listen to it. Seriously. At least 3 times before you decide you don’t like it.

Here are some other desert island reviews:

Details

Why Should the Fire Die
Achtung Baby
Ohio

In Praise of Podcasts

2007-11-07T19:25:00.000-05:00

I spend a fair amount of time on buses. Since I moved to my new place, I live mere blocks from a campus bus stop. I get a short walk, and then a free ride to school – something more and more valuable with the price of gas these days. The ride takes a while, maybe 20 minutes, since I often ride the entire route, south campus to north. This doesn’t seem long enough to try to read – plus the movement and crowds make this challenging. Instead I listen to my ipod, and have quite a satisfying podcast routine. I love podcasts. They help me keep up with and understand important news, they keep me entertained engaged, sometimes moved. They keep me company. Here are the ones I look forward to every week:

Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me: the NPR News Quiz

This show is hilarious, while still being high brow. Everything you could ask for from NPR. They often have fascinating guests, and they don’t take themselves too seriously. The Stephen Colbert episode was particularly good.

Slate Political Gabfest

When I listen to this podcast, I feel like it’s the same thing as sitting in a room with some smart journalist/commentators and catching up on the week’s news. They include just the right amount of goofing off with each other that I really feel like I’m in the in group. Except I never get to participate. But it’s still another way to make sure I caught everything important in the week’s news, and understand what’s important about it.

This American Life

This one is a bit dangerous for bus riding, because if I’m caught in the right mood, I can be moved to laughter or near tears. And the other bus riders probably think I’m some kind of crazy, but I don’t even care, because that’s how good it is. This show introduced me to Sarah Vowell, for which I am eternally grateful. I desperately want like to write like she does – funny, smart, self-deprecating. Anyway, the whole show is good and beautiful and fascinating. I love it.

I encourage my readers to spice up their travels with a little bit of these Podcasts. They are a nice way to structure my week – in bus rides, walks and listens.

GodTube: what's the deal?

2007-10-22T11:07:00.000-04:00

Jamie sent me this recent LA times article about GodTube. It's interesting for a lot of reasons, but it brings to light some issues that have come up in my religion and media class recently, besides the questions I wrote about on this blog back in March.

The article says, "As far as what the site considers appropriate, Wyatt has said 'if we wouldn't want an 8-year-old girl to see it, then we won't allow it.'" This is a question that has come up in my class recently: why does something have to be appropriate for children to be labelled "Christian". Do all Christians need to avoid the ugliness, complexity and seriousness we would keep from our little girls (note, it's a little GIRL that is our ideal audience as well). Are Christians and Children the same thing, from a media standpoint? I should hope not. I know that Jesus asks us to have faith like a child, but Paul also said when I became an adult I put childish ways behind me.

Another interesting segment from the article:

What can you get on your laptop that you can't get from the pew? The answer, according to [Professor Heidi] Campbell, is more sustained and satisfying personal interaction. That includes matters like in-depth theological discussion, prayer support, opportunities for confession and the like.

Is this really the case? Do people get more sustained, personal, human interaction online than in their local churches? If this is the case, church members need to seriously rethink the ways their church functions. As I argued in another class when we were reading Robert Putnam, I'm all in favor of human relationships through technology and across distances, but when you get sick, or have a family member die, nobody from the internet is going to show up on your doorstep with casserole.

It seems, in this case, that christian branding on the internet is working the same as in other media. I wonder if the editorial rules and ideological community will lead to more bickering than more open communities on the internet, or lead to an online site that is perceived as "safe" and even a good locale for evangelism...

camoflage

2007-10-20T11:11:00.001-04:00

ok, I'm totally in love with the idea of a skirt that turns into a vending-machine disguise. I want one, so I can pretend to be a cartoon character, ninja, or international spy. Japanese designers are so great.

Reformed Worship article online

2007-10-16T21:11:00.001-04:00

I've written before about the short article I published in Reformed Worship recently. Now it is available in full text on their website. It's based on a post from this blog that is several months old, so it might sound familiar.

Sorry for the lack of posts here, been distracted by the quotes blog craziness and grad school.

thoughts on media and circulation

2007-09-24T21:52:00.000-04:00

Some of you have probably heard me talk ad nauseum about my recent publicity surrounding my quotation marks blog. The whole business of that blog’s growing popularity and it’s coverage in other media has led me to think some things about circulation, new media, and how content does and doesn’t cross to a new medium. I decided to use my (less popular) blog to think through some of these issues. Sorry so rambly.

So the first thing that is interesting about my blog experience is the nature of circulation – the way website visits spike when popular blogs or websites link to it, for example. Interestingly, when Yahoo picks linked to my blog as the pick of the day my spike in visits was only average – about the same as any blog with a large readership. However, promotion in a more mainstream internet source (that is, yahoo picks gets more mainstream attention than I Blame the Patriarchy, to give one example of a website that led to a similar spike) gets the attention of a different audience. I do not believe that it is coincidental that my promotion by Yahoo was followed a few days later by contact from an Associated Press reporter.

At this point, it is interesting to discuss the way media translate. While I don’t view my website as peevology, others certainly have included it as such. The AP article, and other subsequent coverage, tended to emphasize the tone as “annoyed” even “blasting”. Many of my interviews focused on what was annoying about certain uses of language. What seemed to be lost in translation between my approach and the reception of these members of the media was my sense of playfulness. It’s my suspicion that a playful snark is the primary mode for many writers in the internet medium. Traditional journalism employs that tone less often, perhaps because of the broader audience who might misunderstand. It’s also true that by seeing this perception mediated over and over and over, it became more salient to me, and my rejection of it became more important to me.

Another distinction between old and new media came through in the types of emails I received on friday when the story was mostly on web sources and saturday when it hit print. My saturday emails seemed far less aware of the conventions of the internet. On Saturday I got far more emails that didn't seem to require a response, and were not incredibly interesting (I got some interesting ones too) several of which were paranoid that I would repost their message with their email address (for the record, I never post other people's email addresses on the internet). I was left to wonder what made them go to the trouble to email me at all. Internet people, on the other hand, were more likely to be hostile. For example, on Friday someone emailed me whose entire text was "much ado about nothing" and someone else started an entire blog to talk about how I annoyed him called "people with to much time on there hands" (I'm not even kidding, with that spelling). I assign all this to jealousy.

Being the subject of this kind of coverage also leads me to think seriously about the ways individuals are mediated in one-dimensional ways. For obvious reasons, nobody cares about the parts of my life that are unrelated to quotation marks; that is to say, most of it. This is obviously also the case with other people in the news media. I find my name invoked in comparison (positive comparison, fortunately for me) to other people named only for single events in their lives.

Not that any of this is really news, but it strikes one differently when it happens on an individual level, when you know what is being selected and what isn’t.

Nothing like a video game crusade...

2007-09-17T10:58:00.000-04:00

I followed links to this article in the Nation which reports that a pentagon-approved group is giving soldiers care packages which include the Left Behind video game. Daily Kos and Gameology explain some of the reasons that this is objectionable.

I think as responsible peace-loving Christians, it is important to speak out about how troubling this is. Even fictional stories that portray a violent Christian Crusade against those of other faiths are offensive and dangerous. Giving those materials to American soldiers in a nation populated by muslims invites comparison to other religiously motivated slaughters across history, and it is not flattering for the US or for Christians. I believe all elements of the Left Behind universe are damaging to the civil-religious psyche because of the disturbing masculinist, rambo'd up version of Christianity that they portray. What ever happened to "blessed are the meek?"

(for a more carefully thought out viewpoint about the potential cultural impact of Left Behind, see my friend Kristy Maddux's dissertation.)

Tribute to Madeleine L'Engle

2007-09-08T18:00:00.000-04:00

When I was a kid I read a lot. I moved from The Babysitter's Club to other children's paperbacks, including the kind published by Christian publishing houses. Even at a young age, those christian young adult books bothered me, they felt contrived and generally badly written. I had always had an ambition to be a writer - in fact, I can't remember a time when I wasn't working on a writing project. I used to use my parent's Apple II computer to write stories on my own personal floppy disc. I had an unarticulated fear that writers who were Christian were not very good, and since I was Christian, I also would be obligated to write this kind of fiction. When I began to read L'Engle's novels and found out she was a Christian, I was relieved. I also had a new ambition: to become a writer of her caliber.
As I grew older, I moved away from wanting to write fiction, but the beauty and conviction of writers like L'Engle still inspire me. I was encouraged when I was reading her obituary today that her most beloved books were written in her 40s and 50s. While my primary ambition is no longer to write in her genre, if I can someday inspire a little girl the way L'Engle inspired me, I will be very pleased with my life indeed.

Desert Island Discs: Details

2007-09-03T12:57:00.001-04:00

I’m discovering as I write these Desert Island picks that all my favorite albums are really inextricably connected to parts of my life. They become sentimental to me because I love them so much that I listen to them a lot, and eventually my love for them comes not only from their objective awesomeness, but because they remind me of other parts of my life. A great example of this phenomenon is Frou Frou’s Details.

My last year in college, this album easily got the most play in the WAffice – it held the top “most played spots” on our itunes except for a few other songs that got obsessively replayed. I think other WA groups also discovered the tendency of that shared office culture toward obsessive song repeating. Hearing those opening sounds of “Let Go” brings me back to those days of hanging out and working and “working” and making heretical jokes with some people who mean a lot to me, even though we are no longer so close. That was a great year.

The reason we went so crazy for Details, though, is because it’s just a great album. These past few years I’ve moved from my love for confessional mid-tempo folk toward music that doesn’t sound like anything else I know. Frou Frou is definitely that – Imogen Heap’s unique voice combined with electronic accompaniment is distinctive, and really the Postal Service is the only other artist I know of that combines interesting lyrics and melodies with this kind of electronic sounds. Additionally, Heap tends to use unexpected intervals in her melodies – have you ever tried to sing along with her? I have. It’s hard. The lyrics are somehow both strange and mundane (example: if love is surrender/then whose war is it anyway?/do just what I tell you/and no one will get hurt), and this ads to the sense of newness. Even though I basically have the entire album memorized it still sounds new and different to me. I love that.

previous picks:
Why Should the Fire Die
Achtung Baby
Ohio

Other Players:
Dad
Jim
Matt

leaving the CRC

2007-08-29T19:53:00.000-04:00

About a month ago, I officially joined Athens First United Methodist Church - the church I've been attending and leading worship in for about 2 years now. While being a sign of my commitment to my local church community, it was also the bureaucratic and official point at which I left the Christian Reformed Church - the denomination of my membership since my baptism 24 years ago. My perspective on Christianity is rather ecumenical, so this is not really a change in theology so much as a change in location. There's a lot of methodists here, and the church where I made a home is methodist. Also, I like the methodist's social justice focus.
I was recently directed to this article in The Banner (for those outside CRC heritage, the denominational magazine of the Christian Reformed church). It asks some interesting questions, but in my opinion, answers them weakly. I want to take a few small issues with the article:

1. The article talks about how often when young adults get married and have kids they come back to the "family-oriented" church. Let me make something clear. Family-oriented alienates single twenty-somethings. I'm fairly happy with my life. I have a fulfilling career and social life. I don't think I will get married for at least four more years. And I don't need "family-oriented" making me feel like my current life moment is unacceptable. If a church focuses a lot on parenting, marriage, and kids, is it really a surprise that single people in their twenties don't think it's for them?

2. The article mentions divisions and infighting. Sure, that's part of it, but from my perspective it's foot-dragging. I believe the church should be ahead of society on justice issues like women in leadership and gay rights. Instead I find that even this year, when great strides were taken, synod allows classes to still hold women back from participating in denominational governance. On gay rights issues, the CRC is frustratingly ambiguous.

3. I find the very idea that young people joining churches in other denominations is a "problem" a bit offensive. The CRC has been a part of an insular dutch community for generations, and young people find that ethnic identity less important, and a spirit of eccumenicism appealing. So what?

Desert Island Discs: Why Should the Fire Die

2007-08-17T14:28:00.000-04:00

Ok, it’s been a while since I posted a desert island disc. I moved, school started. I’ve been busy. But I’ve picked another album to write about: Why Should the Fire Die by Nickelcreek. It’s no big surprise that I’m a nickelcreek fan. I really love anything with a good fiddle player and come to think of it I don’t recall anybody ever disliking this band. They’re often praised for their musicianship, songwriting and showmanship. I’ve seen them live and they are engaging, high-energy performers, each a bluegrass virtuoso in their own instrument. All their music also features elegant vocal harmonies and arrangements.

Many fans of the band were disappointed with their third album, Why Should the Fire Die, because it is less straight-ahead bluegrass. It has a bit of a sharper edge to it, and blends into other genres. I, on the other hand, love genre-blending, and found this album innovative and engaging. I have had it on my ipod nano since I purchased the gadget in December, and I’m still not sick of it. Pretty much everything else in my collection has gotten cycled in and out of my “ipod favs” playlist, but I just can’t get enough of this album.

Really each song on this album has had a moment of being my favorite, I think they are all strong for different reasons. I particularly love the haunting melody of the title track, and I often find myself singing “Doubting Thomas” to myself. I love the sarcastic edge that some of these songs have, like “When in Rome,” “Someone More Like You” and “Anthony.” But like I said, in my opinion, this album has no losers.

previous picks:
Achtung Baby
Ohio

Other Players:
Dad
Jim
Matt

unpacking thoughts

2007-07-31T11:34:00.000-04:00

Today I have occupied my morning with opening boxes (or boxen if you’re Jim) and finding homes for the things inside them. I have had several questions running through my head as I unpack books:

- is this really a reasonable number of books for a person to have?

- Are there some I can get rid of?

- What is the cat doing on the bookshelf?

- I wonder what these authors would say to each other if they had to have a conversation with the author they are shelved next to.

It’s that last question that made me think I should make a blog post about. I’ve mostly been shelving by book height instead of topic, so there are some curious juxtapositions. For example: what would Clark Pinnock and Guy Debord find to say to each other? I would actually love to sit in on a conversation that would take place among Neil Postman, N. T. Wright, and Danielle Allen. I would REALLY like to hear what Simone Weil has to say to Debbie Maken. I like to think it would be a thing or two (note: I only own the Debbie Maken book because I found it used and cheap and I might need it for critical reasons).

Anyway, these are my thoughts. I should be actually doing the unpacking instead of writing about it.

Book Reccomendation

2007-07-25T22:41:00.000-04:00

This book is all kinds of great. I mean, I'm biased, because my dad wrote it....

you can be another tool...

2007-07-20T17:24:00.000-04:00

Those close to me know that my very favorite episode of Sports Night, Aaron Sorkin's first tv dramedy, is The Cut Man Cometh (the full script of which can be found online, but really you should watch it). In that episode (about a third in if the written script is to be believed) there's a discussion of nicknames, and why you can't give yourself one. Hammerin' Hank Aaron comes up a lot recently, which means that I keep thinking about why Isaac would like to be called the hammer but can't because you can't give yourself a nickname, and that one's taken.

Anyway, beyond THAT whole discussion of nicknames, I discovered this recent one in Newsweek. The author suggests that, as americans, we've gotten pedestrian at handing out nicknames. And we can't blame the whole thing on Dubya and Brownie, either. They can't take the blame for Brangelina or Bennifer (although I do love when Stephen Colbert includes Filliam H Muffman), J-lo or A-Rod. And don't even get me started on evolving names of rappers. In fact, you may be able to blame them for some of this mess. Anyway, you can't give yourself a nickname, but I agree with this writer, that we as a community should start handing out more interesting ones to our public figures.

Desert Island Discs: Achtung Baby

2007-07-14T11:57:00.000-04:00

Well, I figure it’s about time I post another Desert Island pick. I was thinking that when I was on the island I wouldn’t just want the mid-tempo potentially depressing stuff that I generally chose as my alltime favorites. Sometimes you want something else. Maybe a classic. Well, Achtung Baby is the best of both worlds for me. It has the tunefulness and artistry that I consistently like and the rocker sense that U2 always maintains.

My dad, who is crazy, has a fondness for Atomic Bomb, but I prefer Achtung. I pretty much love every song on the album, and I especially can’t get enough of the haunting tone of “Love is Blindness.” I like the wry, complex tone of all U2’s writing (and performance) in the ‘90s. I even like Pop, which is everybody’s least favorite U2 album.

I was sort of late coming to the U2 fanbase. While Achtung Baby was released when I was eight years old, I really got into it in college, over 10 years later. In fact, everybody at my college was into U2. It was more popular than a Calvin sweatshirt or floor dating. “Beautiful Day” was the song of choice to blast out of your dormroom window. And while I am sometimes loathe to follow the crowd, there are some things that everybody likes because they are undeniably good.

Previous Picks:
Ohio

Other Players:
Dad
Jim
Matt

scandal accessibility

2007-06-30T11:40:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Slate posted an article by Us Weekly editor Janice Min about her decision to not run any Paris Hilton coverage this week. The interesting insight in this article, however, has little to do with Paris and a lot to do with the lack of outrage and impeachment hearings over the various Bush administration scandals. I wish I could remember the source - I think it was NPR - but I heard recently that Americans in a recent survey did not support Bush impeachment, but did wish they could magically wake up in January 2009. There is a sense that Americans are weary of these stories, and unlike the Monica scandal, the misdeeds of the Bush oval office involves avoiding oversight, bureaucratic bylaws, and the constitution. Missing emails are not quite as fascinating or accessible as a semen-stained gap dress, and so they don't get as much attention. It's always more difficult to comprehend things that don't appear in our own daily existence, but perhaps in the end those crimes are more damaging.

** added later: related video on youtube of a frustrated MSNBC newscaster about to loose it on the air, being goaded by her colleagues. She agrees with me and others that the Paris Hilton story shouldn't lead.

Desert Island Discs - Ohio

2007-06-29T11:56:00.000-04:00

My dad challenged his readers to join him in a series of “desert island” reviews – the most essential, can’t-live-without-‘em, albums in your collection. This is a personal list, not a best-of list. If I’m stuck on this island with other people who I would share music with, I might change my answers a bit. So, I don’t know how many of these posts I’ll do, but I’ll start today.

Over the Rhine has been my favorite band since I was about 18. I’ve seen then live probably 6 or 7 times. All their music has gotten so much play in my life the last 6 years that I really couldn’t live without at least one. But which to choose? Good Dog Bad Dog was my very first OTR album, and has a special place in my heart, but I decided instead to go with Ohio. Ohio has some of the delicate, intimate style of GDBD, but also has a few full-band rockers in there too. And, bonus, it’s a double album; I get two for the price of one (of course, we’re not limited to a top 5 or whatever here, but still). Anyway, what’s so great about Ohio?

I remember waiting anxiously for my pre-ordered copy of this cd to arrive in the mail. When it finally came I was immediately in love – every song was stunning in its own way. It covers a range of content – from love songs (Lifelong Fling) to political statements (Remind Us) to songs that defy categorization (most of the rest of them). I have always loved Karin and Linford’s lyrics, and their music for that matter. And this album really showcases everything that I love about them.

Elizabeth Edwards calls up Ann Coulter

2007-06-26T20:54:00.001-04:00

In a nice bit of television today Elizabeth Edwards called in to hardball to politely ask Ann Coulter to stop making personal attacks against candidates. It reminded me of John Stewart's Crossfire appearance where he too asked that commentators raise the level of political dialogue.

Now, I'm not sure if these requests really do anything to improve the level of political discussion or not, but it definitely draws attention to the theatrical quality of some of this political entertainment (in case there is anyone left who doesn't think Ann Coulter is theatrical, I suppose). Perhaps pointing out how unproductive personal attacks are is fruitful in itself. If nothing else, it helps politicians separate themselves from entertainers by emphasizing their own seriousness.

Barack Obama is still my candidate, but I'm growing more and more fond of Ms Edwards.

boring speeches

2007-06-19T13:28:00.001-04:00

This slate article discusses the overuse of cliche and meaningless language in political speech. A sample:

The truth, of course, is that political campaigns get interesting only when the candidates stop speaking in ringing generalities and infuriating phrases, which doesn't mean that they therefore become successful or even good for the country. Sen. John McCain's 2000 campaign appealed precisely because he eschewed pre-prepared gobbledygook—though that wasn't enough even to win the Republican nomination.

While I am quick to point out the art of political speech, I think the writer has a point here. Indeed, my memorable introduction to the difference between the art of rhetoric and the art of poetry came when I attempted to analyze a political speech for the beauty of the language. While some speeches certainly have a beauty of rhythm and image, the training I had from English Department New Critics (the irony of calling this method new criticism is that to me it is the oldest) did not suffice. While truly great political speeches create new paradigms, inspire, and persuade, the vast majority, perhaps, aim simply to not alienate anyone. Especially in a media environment that searches for a good clip, repeating phrases that are generally agreeable seem to be in a candidates interest.

Is this sad or just the way of things? Is there a way to train the public to wade through the tired cliches and discover policy differences? Can politicians find a way to grab attention without ruining their ethos?

God of Hope for Captives

2007-06-11T17:45:00.000-04:00

I’m working on a Revise and Resubmit on a paper about Martin Luther King, Jr. this week. And as part of my research for this revision I’ve done a lot of reading about African-American Christianity. My reading in Black Theology and history has left me stunned that African-Americans adopted Christianity at all. After all, their only contact with Christianity was that it was being fed to them by their oppressors – often as a strategy for creating a moral obligation of slaves to masters and thereby ensure better work. In spite of this clearly oppressive spin on the gospel of freedom, though, illiterate slaves were able to learn and understand the story of the Exodus and of the God who sets captives free and looks after the oppressed. And in spite of their oppression they held on to a radical hope found in the Gospel story. And while the social, individual, and economic problems that resulted from decades of slavery continue to create injustices in our society, that hope remains alive.

Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. explains the importance of rehearsing these stories toward hope and political activism: “Put simply, liturgies always entail an ethics: they presuppose a certain way of being in the world and seek to impart that to participants and their activity… Liturgies and other rituals – just as explicit forms of racial activism – articulated early conceptions of the moral community among northern blacks as well as southern” (Exodus! P 31).

I wonder if those of us who have more social power can also see these stories – and the enactment of them in liturgy – as an impetus for action and activism. How can the Biblical God of freedom speak into our time and bring about hope for justice, just as the same God did to American slaves?

real wicked stepmother gets 44 months

2007-06-09T13:17:00.000-04:00

In Kansas the stepmother who fed her own children while starving her husband's daughters is sentenced to only 44 months in prison.

Somehow this story seems less... cool when it's real. But I sure do hope those daughters get some kind of outrageous comeuppance. Not neccessarily marrying a prince, since, um, we don't live in a monarchy. What's some kind of modern feminist equivalent? Elected Governor?

google street stalker?

2007-06-02T20:54:00.001-04:00

The new google street view feature has sparked some concern about privacy. I’m still thinking it through. On the one hand, it’s really cool to take a virtual walk around the neighborhood in some cool cities. On the other hand, I think a little bit of suspicion about the availability of this kind of technology is appropriate. After all, I am often reminded of the book 1984 lately and in that book the government has tvs in every home that are also cameras, so they can tell if you’re doing your required exercise and if you’re thinking and writing the right things. I mean, this is a long way from that, but the technology now exists to make it happen. And I have to say, it makes me a little bit nervous.

The biggest irony of this whole thing, however, is that the woman who raised this question managed to get her photo and the cat that google captured in a much clearer image in the New York Times. Of course, her point is not that photos of her cat are available on the internet (heaven knows enough people post pictures of their cats on the internet). Her point is that that kind of detail might lead into realms we don’t really want. Is this the fun part of people watching or the creepy part?

All I know is that I have had plenty of moments in my life when I lose my balance in an ungraceful way or need to take care of a wedgie when I look around and say "oh, good, I don't think anyone saw that." Ubiquitous cameras might make this moment a little bit more paranoid.

language and new media

2007-05-17T12:25:00.000-04:00

As an Obama supporter, I have seen this button availible to add to your own website or whatever:

Here's what bugs me about it: you don't join a profile. You can join myspace, you can join the Obama campaign, you can join my.barackobama.com. When you add someone else's myspace profile to your friends list, the appropriate verb is "add as friend." It would barely make sense if I decided I needed more myspace friends and begged everyone who reads this blog to "join my myspace profile!" You could even say "join my friends list." I think the button should say "friend the official myspace profile" but some quarters criticize my use of "friend" as a verb. However, I really do think that's how people talk about myspace actions. Perhaps as a happy medium, they could say, "join the barack obama campaign on myspace."

So, basically, I think this wording makes the Obama campaign seem un-savvy. Perhaps it's not the savvy audience they're reaching out to, but seeing as it has to do with myspace, I don't find that a satisfactory conclusion.

Irony

2007-05-15T14:31:00.000-04:00

If you’ve spoken to me in person recently I’ve probably bragged to you about my recent publication in Reformed Worship magazine (alas, the online version is subscription only). I’m really pleased with my first paid publication, and that it’s alongside so many people I respect from my Calvin days, including Kent and Cindy.

As many of you know, one of my hobbies is running the “blog” of “unnecessary” quotation marks. As some of my readers who teach English know, those who throw stones should be careful not to accidentally make a glass house, as it were. So, as a result of being a quotation mark pedant, I am very careful to only use quotation marks when they are absolutely necessary, so as to not need to discuss the appropriateness or inappropriateness of my choice.

Well, apparently the editors of RW didn’t know this, and added some (grammatically appropriate but not required) clarifying quotation marks to my writing. I read the printed article and noticed right away that they were added, because I’m so careful about quotation marks now. If only they knew! Of course, I’m glad they messed with my punctuation and left more important decisions the way I had them!

Top Ten Reasons Men Should not be Ordained

2007-05-07T17:37:00.000-04:00

there's been more buzz in my corner of the internet lately about gender in church than usual. Mostly because the CRC Synod is approaching and some members are organizing a protest about the seven year morotorium on even discussing gender equity, and the continued exclusion of women as synod delegates. I've made my position on this issue clear in the past.

People have been reposting this list, which, as far as I can tell, comes from transforming seminarian.

Top Ten Reasons Why Men Should Not Be Ordained (think David Letterman)

10. A man's place is in the army.
9. For men who have children, their duties might distract them from the responsibilities of being a parent.
8. Their physical build indicates that men are more suited to tasks such as chopping down trees and wrestling mountain lions. It would be "unnatural" for them to do other forms of work.
7. Man was created before woman. It is therefore obvious that man was a prototype. Thus, they represent an experiment, rather than the crowning achievement of creation.
6. Men are too emotional to be priests or pastors. This is easily demonstrated by their conduct at football games and watching basketball tournaments.
5. Some men are handsome; they will distract women worshipers.
4. To be ordained pastor is to nurture the congregation. But this is not a traditional male role. Rather, throughout history, women have been considered to be not only more skilled than men at nurturing, but also more frequently attracted to it. This makes them the obvious choice for ordination.
3. Men are overly prone to violence. No really manly man wants to settle disputes by any means other than by fighting about it. Thus, they would be poor role models, as well as being dangerously unstable in positions of leadership.
2. Men can still be involved in church activities, even without being ordained. They can sweep paths, repair the church roof, and maybe even lead the singing on Father's Day. By confining themselves to such traditional male roles, they can still be vitally important in the life of the Church.
1. In the New Testament account, the person who betrayed Jesus was a man. Thus, his lack of faith and ensuing punishment stands as a symbol of the subordinated position that all men should take.

proud of my alma mater

2007-04-25T10:08:00.000-04:00

Some of you may have already read about the equality riders - a group of glbtq persons and supporters who are traveling around to christian colleges. Apparently they have had some interesting experiences, including being arrested at Cornerstone University, just down the road from Calvin (note, this is the school that just decided to stop offering tenured faculty positions. They are not my favorite). Anyway, they visited Calvin this week, and appear to have been overwhelmed by the loving attitude they encountered there.

I think this indicates an openness that I didn't observe when I was a Calvin student, only a few years ago. Although it seems they are still having serious debates about a religious understanding of gender and sexuality, they also seem to be focusing more on the primary calling of christians - to love others.

As I've mentioned before, I think that the way the church in the US has shown hate instead of love toward so many people is horrifying, and I seriously hope that a few decades of hindsight will leave us as ashamed of this time in our history as we are of slavery and Jim Crow. I'm glad to see that Calvin College is taking steps in the right direction.

Something about Virginia Tech

2007-04-17T17:13:00.000-04:00

I can't imagine what it must be like to be a student or faculty at Virginia Tech this week. I saw a professor talking on CNN about one of the professors who died. He said what a great person and colleague he was, and that they both had daughters the same age. Sometimes I think that's all we know to do when confronted with tragedy - realize how similar the victims are to us. That person is so much like me, except they were touched by this unspeakable tragedy and I was not. It makes life seem random and unfair. It reminds us how much we all share. Maybe it brings us closer to real community, where we feel each other's pain and joy.

I wonder, too, how close we are to the perpetrator? What, before yesterday, made Cho Seung Hui different from any of us? What could possibly drive someone to do something so horrible? Is it possible that you or I could be driven to that point as well?

ADDENDUM: since I wrote this post, I've been thinking about the Sufjan Stevens song "John Wayne Gacy Jr." which makes a similar point, but more subtly. "And in my best behavior I am really just like him/look underneath the floorboards for the secrets I have hid."

weird covers

2007-04-04T10:20:00.000-04:00

I'm sure many of you are aware of my deep love for weird covers. Let me direct you today to Lore Sjoberg's blog (he's a columnist for Wired) which features several that are new to me and even more in the comments. How exciting!

see also the dinosaur comic that expresses my love.

US torture issue blog

2007-03-31T22:28:00.000-04:00

One of my colleagues is teaching a course on the rhetoric of torture this semester, and her class has a blog that publicizes some of the information they're learning and the discussions they are having in that class.
I reccomend it to most of my readers because it offers straightforward, brief posts about an important contemporary issue. A few of you may also be interested in it because it demonstrates a cool pedagogical strategy as well.

(weird note: I had trouble coming up with an eye-catching title for this post - "torture blog" just gives the wrong impression!)

GodTube

2007-03-20T22:59:00.001-04:00

A friend of mine directed me to GodTube a few weeks ago and it got some coverage in this week’s Newsweek, so I feel compelled to comment. Although I find the content and the concept of this site less disturbing than Conservapedia (I’m sure if you are familiar with this blog you can imagine my snarks if you start looking around that site…), I still think GodTube is kind of… dumb.

Like Christian Rock music before it (and Christian Tea and Mints and… well… you know....) GodTube makes me wonder why. Why start a site for “Christian” videos with specifically religious content separate from the video site that everyone else watches? Indeed, I have seen that banana video on YouTube months ago. Do Christians need to be protected from the dangerous world of YouTube? Are they persecuted or excluded there? Why is it necessary to make a sectioned off website for christians, inviting those who are talented to put their art with religious content there instead of in a place where it might actually reach more people. Where it might even make someone think differently about religion, or justice, or humanity.

Does this strike anyone else as completely unnecessary?

march madness

2007-03-15T12:14:00.000-04:00

those who enjoy laughing at my sports ignorance (and I know there are several who read this blog) can visit Morgan's website to see my bracket. Even though I used ESPN to construct the bracket, I didn't taint my ignorance by reading the information provided and trying to make educated guesses. No, no, I went with the same strategy I used last year: random guessing. Sometimes I selected schools I am not mad at to beat schools I am mad at, but not in any systematic way. So basically there is little/no pride on the line for me. That's the way I like it.

today's rock star

2007-03-08T11:28:00.000-05:00

I found this blog strangely compelling. It chronicles who is referred to in the news as a "rock star" each day. The blogger says Barack Obama and Al Gore are tied for "biggest rock stars" currently. Notably absent: actual rock stars.

2007-02-13T22:13:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentines Day, friends and blog readers. I potato you.

you know, and I appreciate your reading.

Obama Campaign and Web 2.0

2007-02-10T13:40:00.000-05:00

Barack Obama's website launched social networking software today, as a way to organize and mobilize supporters. Really. I already have a profile, in case you want to be my friend (I'm not even kidding. you can make friends and I really do have a profile. there is no place to put your relationship status, though, so I don't suggest using my.barackobama.com to find a politically active date).

I think it's a great idea to harness the power of web 2.0 toward politics. I think that Obama supporters are the most likely to go for it. At least, if I'm any indication. He also is using U2's "city of blinding lights" for a campaign song, so pretty much he's got me pegged. Too bad I don't have any money.

These developments raise some interesting questions, though, about the power of internet culture in politics. Many will argue that political blogs have had a huge impact in the '06 election, and others before, but '06 did not see the kind of assault on web media forms we are seeing already now. It will be interesting to see how other candidates use this technology and what effect it has on the election, especially given the narrow demographic of those who spend a lot of time on the internet.

We Are the Medium

2007-01-26T10:22:00.000-05:00

I am reading The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture by Shane Hipps. Hipps is a pastor (and graduate of Fuller Sem - evidently Jim knows him) who before seminary worked in advertising. His advertising background gave him a handle on media theory, which he uses in this book. On the whole I was pleased to find a book from a Christian publishing house engaging with the meaning of media theory for the Christian church. As a Communication scholar I found Hipps’ explanations of McLuhan’s media theory a bit simplistic, but the choice makes sense given his audience. I found his explanation of the impact that modern/print culture has had on the church one of the more cogent I have read, and his explanation of changes brought by image culture also helpful. He ultimately suggests that we need to consider the ways this technology changes us through the eyes of our theology, and work within the maelstrom (in McLuhan’s terms) to celebrate the new possibilities but also not ignore what is made obsolete that might be valuable. He examines in particular the way these changes impact our understanding and experience of community, leadership, and worship. For example, he points to the good ways electronic media combat the individualistic impulse of print, but often lead to superficial community, and suggests ways to cultivate deeper relationships within contemporary culture. In general, I think he does good work.

I have a few minor quibbles with the way Hipps presents his case. His bias is clearly protestant evangelical, as is his audience, but he doesn’t seem to acknowledge this at all. As a result, he considers a renewed focus on eucharist instead of sermons a change in the church, without acknowledging that many Christians have worshipped this way since before the reformation. I also think the term “Hidden” in the title and elsewhere is deceptive. It is not as though the effect that media has on us is creeping in the corners of our lives, it is more like slight of hand – we are distracted by other things and don’t notice it. The implication that we are “uncovering” something that was “hidden” indicates Hipps own modern bias and suggests that the impact of electronic culture is necessarily negative and sneaky. And perhaps it is, but Hipps’ actual view is more measured than his title might lead us to believe. But I suppose it does make a provocative title.

Perhaps the most useful conceptual move that Hipps makes is by positioning the church as God’s chosen media for his message of redemption. He writes “the way we live and practice our faith together is evangelistic, missional activity that communicates our distinct identity. Our identity is the message” (85). The church as media, like the church as reading (an idea I got from Milbank) suggests that Christian practice is itself a powerful rhetoric for communicating the grace of God. An idea that is important for my thesis. He points out earlier the way media impact our preferred form of thinking – analytic or wholistic, for example – and applies this to Eastern Orthodox thinking compared to western protestant. He says we “become what we behold” and I wish he would, at this point, stretch this idea to sacrament. If we become what we behold, and we are constantly exposed to the sacrament – enacting God’s grace and our gratitude – perhaps then the logic of God’s grace can become our working mode of thought.

slippery slopes etc.

2007-01-24T11:42:00.000-05:00

A friend sent me this book review from Books and Culture, complimented my intelligence, and suggested I blog about it. For future reference, that’s always a good strategy to get people to do things. But I really decided to write about it because I found her argument so perplexing. Bauer, the writer, finds herself in the position Christianity Today is often in: too liberal for conservatives and too conservative for, well, me anyway. Bauer points to the extreme reactions she got for recommending a book called Finally Feminist on her blog, and raises the question: why do people hold so strongly to their views of gender?

She continues in a review of Stackhouse’s argument in the book which she calls (and I agree, from her summary) “extremely convincing to all those who are already egalitarians.” She defends the egalitarian view of gender, I’m quietly nodding along. She returns to the suggestion that the tight hold evangelicals have on their view of gender is curious:

“As a defense of the Bible, this is very peculiar. If allowing women to be ordained will destroy the authority of Scripture, why doesn't the slippery slope argument go, "Ordain women, and Christ's bodily resurrection will be the next thing to go," or, "Ordain women, and we may have to relinquish our belief in the communion of saints, the forgiveness of the sins, and the life everlasting"?”

Right on! Why is the negative result from respecting women as equals also respecting homosexuals as equals? How did evangelicals become so dogmatic about their views about sexuality that even questioning them – questioning an issue related to them – is heresy? Bauer goes the other direction with this argument, however, suggesting that perhaps this is a slope that is not so slippery. Just because gay rights are closely linked with women’s rights in secular politics doesn’t mean it has to be in Christianity.

“To those who argue that, in some denominations, the ordination of women has led to the open acceptance of homosexuality, I would agree that this is indeed a real phenomenon. It has occurred because, in those denominations, the church has completely lost sight of the fact that it is supposed to be the gathered people of God, a counterculture which lives apart from the power-structures of the world.”

This baffles me. I don’t understand how her questioning of the protection of gender norms does not lead also to questioning of evangelical terror over “deviant” sexualities. Why doesn't the reading of the bible that leads to an egalitarian view of gender necessarily lead us to re-read the bible with an eye toward accepting those of other sexual orientations? The passages that reference that are even more difficult than those about women. Bauer also points out that “The theologians who insist that the commands restricting women are obvious and universal—and if you don't think so, that's your problem—have to do some fancy footwork if they're going to assert that the equally "clear" passages on slavery suddenly became no longer applicable sometime in the 19th century.” I find it curious that she is willing to take a step toward gender equality, based on this reasoning, and not continue this reasoning to include our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters. Her earlier suggestion that questions why accepting gay and lesbian persons is such a horrible outcome, I believe, is a saner way.

On Centrepointe

2007-01-20T00:30:00.001-05:00

Centrepointe Church had their last service this month. I’m a little sad and reminiscy, even though I don’t go there anymore, as I live in Georgia now. Jim and I went there during Christmas break and I was greeted with a litany of hugs. And that was representative of that community – lots of hugging and love and appreciating each other. That was why I knew it was a good place for me when I first went there. Not that anyone hugged me then, that would be weird, but I sensed the way the people there cared about each other. After hanging at the edges for a while, I soon experienced that care myself.

I got involved with a college etc. bible study, I started playing in the praise band, I started going out for lunch with people after church most Sundays. By the time I graduated college, Centrepointe was a huge part of my life. I loved it because it was a place where I met some wonderful people, and was able to grow as a Christian and member of a community, and also use some of my gifts in leading worship.

The potlucks before communion services made the meaning of that sacrament so much richer and more embodied for me. It was the body of Christ hovering over fruit salad AND later saying to me “the blood of Christ, shed for you.” The whole event was communion.

Another thing about the people at Centrepointe is that they are so fun, interesting, and smart. Our bible study often featured complex discussions of theological and practical issues. It also included close readings of obscure texts (some of which were too bizarre for us to make much sense out of – see some of the minor prophets). The meeting I remember the most vividly is when we cancelled our plans and instead watched a thunderstorm come in through the storefront windows. It was beautiful and exciting and exactly the right thing to do.

I wish I could recount all the wonderful moments, great memories and inside jokes (those are never as funny when you weren’t there anyway, and some of these need to be sung). But Centrepointe was the first church I chose for myself, although I’m beginning to believe that churches choose us. It was where I learned to be a member of a community as something like an adult – to bring things to potlucks and join committees. I know this change was what needed to happen now, but I didn’t want to see it pass without remembering what that church body meant to me. It meant quite a bit – more than I can express in a blog post. Thanks be to God.

obama announces

2007-01-16T21:55:00.000-05:00

Pretty much I'm just going to make this post so we can all acknowledge how excited I am. Even though I have to change my paper.

video

performing worship

2007-01-15T13:25:00.000-05:00

The church I lead worship in here is relatively performance-based worship. It’s in an old theatre, and the band has several professional musicians in it (and they let me play too, oddly…). This means that the band rocks, and enables us to have high-quality worship and do some cool things with a public-ish space, but it also means it’s hard for worship to not feel like a concert or performance. It’s one of the things I accepted when I started being involved here because no church will ever be perfect.

Having some experience as a worship leader, I know it is important to act as an example – to lead through the way you use your facial expression and body to show the congregation that it’s ok for them to participate too. I often make an effort to model the emotions present in the song we are singing, to reinforce the meaning for the congregation, and because it is more meaningful to me if I put that kind of thought into it. People have told me before that they appreciate this, which makes me feel good, of course. One person phrased it this way to me this Sunday “she is so spiritual. More spiritual than me.” I haven’t been able to stop thinking about that. Because the truth is, I’m probably NOT more spiritual. I’m sincere, and I’m reliable, and I’m gentle, but I don’t think of myself as spiritual. I forget to pray, I don’t listen very well, and sometimes when I’m leading worship I’m thinking about hitting the right note or when does the harmony come in. And I’m ok with that, but I don’t want other people to think that I am somehow superior to them. I’m a worship leader because I am talented and passionate, but not because I’m spiritually superior.

Perhaps this particularly bothered me this Sunday because I was performing more than I usually do. We sang “My Glorious” which any former WA knows* has some lyrical/theological problems. For one thing, it’s hard to pin down any kind of meaning to it. But I’m particularly bothered by “the world we’ll leave” because this kind of language makes it seem like the New Jerusalem is someplace else – this earth is temporary and evil. It leads to a flippant attitude toward the material trials of others and toward caring for the earth, and I find this deeply problematic. Anyway, I don’t like this song, one part I disagree with. So I faked it. Which was, I think, the right decision in the context. But now I wonder if my inauthenticity is problematic, because others see me as an example, and because they believe better than the truth about me.

I know that in many ways all of life we perform the person that we want to be – identity is constructed, so if you behave a certain way regularly you become that way. I believe in a sacramental view of worship that says participation in the prayers of the people matters no matter how you feel about it in that moment. But I also don’t want to deceive the people of God. I know there are other worship leaders and pastors who read this blog. Is this tension a problem for you? What do you do about it?

* as many of you know, I spent a year as a student worship apprentice at Calvin College. Problematic worship songs - and this one in particular - was one of the things we discussed in our training.

because who doesn't like ramen?

2007-01-06T18:05:00.000-05:00

The inventor of Ramen Noodles died yesterday. The news story reminded me of those college days hovering over an electric hotpot poking at a brick of ramen noodles as they boil, and sitting in the hallway at high school with a cup of noodles and a spork. Ramen Noodles (chicken flavor) tastes like nostalgia. And, given the years of grad school ahead of me, I doubt I've tasted my last oversalted cup.

Good job, Momofuku Ando. Good job inventing a food that has a very long shelf life and costs hardly any money. A service to college students everywhere.

Year in Review

2007-01-02T12:12:00.000-05:00

Jim said I should make a year in review post, so here it is. Some things that happened in 2006:

I did about half of my MA.

I visited the following places: Holland, Grand Rapids, Brighton, Ann Arbor and Lansing MI; Atlanta GA and areas in and around Athens, Columbia and Charleston SC, Sioux Falls SD, San Antonio TX, Los Angeles CA

I started dating Jim. Generally considered a good decision.

I started to be involved in worship planning at my church. A fulfilling and exciting activity.

I had mono, and spent about a month teaching for an hour a day and watching videos.

I learned how to cook a lot of new things (thanks Jim)

Those are a few of the major events, anyway. I also met some great new people, deepened friendships with old ones. 2006 was the first entire year I spent in my own apartment and not living with my parents (I did visit them though). It also featured the most air travel of my entire life thus far. I turned 23, that was cool. I fell in love with Barak Obama, just like everyone else. I got excited that democrats regained the house. I read a lot of NYtimes, and sometimes I commented on this blog.

Some of my friends got engaged and some got married. One of my cousins got married.

All in all, 2006 was a good year. I only hope 2007 is equally good, as I look ahead to new challenges and joys. I’m writing this post from Jim’s apartment in LA, who knows where I will be a year from now. Hopefully working on my PhD somewhere.

I hope all of you, dear readers, also had a good and fulfilling 2006 and I wish you an even better 2007.

maybe if we keep them separate but equal...

2006-12-05T08:55:00.000-05:00

My recent post responding to the comment about Debbie Maken brought me on a brief internet safari (I looked at what else came up in the technorati search that lead to my site). I found a blog post on a site that is labeled "A Website of Focus on the Family." The post is one of the more blatant examples of heterosexism I have seen in a while. The post remarks on the story of a landscaping business that chose not to work with a gay couple and sent them an email explaining why with this email text:

I am appreciative of your time on the phone today and glad you contacted us. I need to tell you that we cannot meet with you because we choose not to work with homosexuals.

Best of luck in finding someone else to fill your landscaping needs.

All my best,
Sabrina.

And it gets worse. The post then suggest that "However you feel about the decision they made, it's hard to criticize the way they handled it." I disagree. It is easy to criticize the way they handled it. What is wrong with this country when someone can express blatant discrimination without any reason besides "we choose not to work with homosexuals" and then be commended for their bravery? We used to do this to black people, but last I heard anyone who still behaves that way knows better than to do it so publicly for fear of backlash. I would be (slightly) more forgiving if the landscapers had expressed concern for their young sheltered laborers, or if the couple had been presenting their sexuality in a way that was offensive, but even then, there is no excuse for treating a person as inhuman. And encouragement of this behavior from organizations that claim to be christian makes me sick to my stomach.

more ranty on singleness

2006-12-04T17:29:00.000-05:00

I wanted to draw attention to a comment I just received from the proprietor of a blog against singleness about my review of a Debbie Maken article a few months ago.

Here's the text of the comment, for context:

"Actually, the problem is not so much "singleness" per se, as protracted singleness.
If we continue down the road we are going, with so much faulty teaching about the ridiculous contemporary idea of a "gift" of singleness, then you may feel differently in - what? - 10 years time? 20 years time? Maybe if you end up facing the future as a single woman who has passed her child-bearing years, you may wish you hadn't disrespected Maken, but actually took her common sense, Biblical approach far more seriously.
God's will is not just a rubber stamp on our collective actions, meaning that all who experience lifelong singleness have been "gifted" for it, when quite plainly our faulty teaching is causing it."

Now, maybe this whole discourse is railing against another small discourse that says it is best for christians to all be unmarried, but I still find it intensely problematic. As though being 43 and childless would make me so miserable I would change my mind about the problems with gender essentialism and valorizing marriage to young people who then enter unwise marriages in their rush to couple-up and procreate because they so fear spinsterhood.

Why can't the church be the one place you don't feel bad about being single?

On a related but tangential note, I've been considering this hypothesis lately: all of Focus on the Family's cultural and political positions are based in gender essentialism.

delurk!

2006-11-22T14:48:00.000-05:00

Other blogs have posted this graphic and suggested that it is delurking week. Presumably as Turkey and Lurkey rhyme. As we all know, I really am a slave to trends, and I am often curious when I compulsively check my sitemeter and see unfamiliar locales pop up.

So I figure now is as good a time as any. I've been posting here for just over 2 years now. There are probably some people who read me from time to time that I don't know about. So, if you read my blog (even only occasionally), make yourself known! Who are you? where are you? don't you have anything better to do with your time? It will be fun!

letters to the president

2006-11-07T19:26:00.000-05:00

my friend Claire teaches middle school in Roma TX, and writes fantastic blog posts all the time. Recently, she posted some letters her students wrote about Bush's plan to build a big fence. They are adorable and interesting, and I think you should read them too.

This might lead us to some interesting discussions about civic participation and voicelessness or, uh, immigration issues.

writing and waiting

2006-11-03T13:46:00.000-05:00

As I was surfing the internet today (to stave off writing, ironically) I encountered this lovely blog post by my acquaintance Jessie on writing. Jessie is working on her dissertation right now, so writing is more central to her academic life than mine, but some of her thoughts resonated with me. At first I was thinking about writing and future in the sense that writing now guides my future – gets me into PhD programs, gets me jobs, gets me recognition. Also, especially if I publish the things I write now, I am committing to defend those ideas in the future, or at least continue to speak knowledgeably in that subject area.

Jessie’s reference to Habakkuk is really nice, though, and not just because it’s my favorite minor prophet. I was thinking about her suggestion that “writing and waiting have so much in common.” Jessie talks about active waiting, but I was thinking too about hope and trust. The upcoming season of Advent reminds us that we are in a constant state of waiting and hoping for the second coming and the new Jerusalem, but smaller bits of waiting also include hope and trust. Writing, for me, is often an exercise in hope and trust. I write in the hope that things I write will be useful and enlightening to me and others in the future. That my articulation of ideas will provide insight and possibility to others. Perhaps high hopes for an academic essay or a Friday afternoon blog post, and of course I don’t expect every word that crosses my keyboard to be brilliance for the future. I do, however, write in the hope that what I am writing is good and useful and will be good and useful in the future.

And I trust that God’s revelation will work through my academic muddling and make its way to me and others through me and my work. That is, I suppose, an outcome worth waiting for.

"popular" online slang

2006-10-24T14:41:00.000-04:00

I was pleased to see that Nathan did some work looking into the real popularity of those internet abbreviations often listed in publications on the subject. It has often been my experience that half of the slang terms, abbreviations, and emoticons listed in glossaries of the same have been terms I had never seen before reading the glossary and never saw after. I imagine some poor hapless reader of a feature on internet slang going into a chat room and looking foolish rather than savvy by reading terms from a list. I think many of these list-makers miss the important fact that internet culture is not monolithic - different slang, abbreviations and inside jokes exist in different communities. groups based on being fans of certain bands or tv-shows have slang or abbreviations for pertinent characters or albums. some straightforward symbols are common - :), lol, brb, ttyl. But most slang terms are so community-specific any purported guide to all the internets will be, well, misguiding.

They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Teetotaling

2006-10-21T14:31:00.000-04:00

This recent NYtimes article is troubling for many reasons besides those which appear to trouble Evangelical leaders. Evidently a poll suggests that only 4 percent of current young people will grow up to be “bible-believing christians” given a very restrictive definition. And even those Christian groups who suggest their numbers are larger present strange definitions of Christianity. (also interesting how they compare their audience to Paul McCartney’s – you know, he’s so popular with the kiddies these days…)

Apparently, these Christian teens feel the things that are keeping them from a godly life include Gilmore Girls, Ryan Seacrest, and Harry Potter. Although I understand that these things are not inherent goods, I suspect the one thing that needs to be excised from the lives of American teenagers to make them more godly is not Rory Gilmore. They express the belief that the markers of Christian living are “avoiding casual sex, risqué music and videos, Internet pornography, alcohol and drugs.”

Of course, I don’t believe that any of these ideas are bad, I’m obviously not going to encourage my 15-year-old sister (or anyone for that matter) to start doing any of those things. But is it a surprise that few people want to be part of this club? Their Christianity isn’t about love, grace, forgiveness or service. Their biblical values appear in the bible only by abstraction and certainly less than calls for social justice. If evangelical Christianity is about conservative social values, of COURSE it’s not popular among teenagers and of course they don’t want to talk about it. There’s no way to spin Puritanism as cool, no matter how much you brand it. But what really bothers me is the way they diminish the radical nature of Christianity to a set of conservative cultural values. How can “bible-believing” Christians fixate on such a small percentage of the actual biblical text?

quirk meme

2006-10-09T16:16:00.000-04:00

I gave up my moratorium on memes to do the book one, and now I've been tagged by Shelly to talk about my quirks. Since Shelly constitutes a fair percentage of my small audience and I like talking about how quirky I am, here I go with 5 quirks:

1) I finally gave up on trying to learn to flip my pen like a debater this year after 7 years of trying intermittently.

2) I like to buy my stamps at the post office counter so that I can get the limited edition designs. Right now I have superheroes. I hope the recipients of my bills and letters notice.

3) Half of the time I'm looking at Facebook and Myspace I'm trying to figure out what other people do for hours on there.

4) I wanted to be a writer since I was 4 or 5 years old and started working on my first novel by typing on my parents' apple II. I never finished it.

5) When I was in High School my friends and I played a game called "word of the week" which was a contest to see who could use the designated word the most during the week. Some of those words showed up on the GRE, and I felt smug.

I'm sure my friends could think of quirkier things that I forgot are quirky, but there's some.

Capitalism's War?

2006-10-03T19:42:00.000-04:00

Daniel linked to this propaganda video from world war II. I was floored by how much our wartime messages have changed in 60 years. Why are we being told the opposite now? What if we had war propaganda that said "every dollar you spend on something you don't need is a dollar helping the taliban"? What if more of us thought of the soldiers in Iraq as "our boys"?

for more on interesting wartime propoganda check out Dr Stahl's documentary.

new word

2006-09-24T08:53:00.000-04:00

inheranoid: the condition of being worried about extra about something because that person's parent does. (dirivitive: inheranoia)

examples: did we lock that? are you sure? can we just go back and check? Sorry, I'm inheranoid.
let's just throw it out, I have some inheranoia about food poisoning.

** Jim made up this word by accident, we worked together on the definition **

God and (non) dialogue

2006-08-21T21:53:00.000-04:00

I’ve been reading Speaking into the Air by John Durham Peters, as it is assigned for my class this week. It’s interesting on a number of levels. Peters traces the history of the idea of communication, beginning (as many do) with Plato and Jesus. He challenges the assumption that dialogue is superior to dissemination, and suggests that both have advantages. He uses Plato’s Socrates in the Phaedrus as the advocate of dialogue. Socrates suggests that the ultimate love is the love of two souls connecting in dialogue (this is where we get the term Platonic love from). He is suspicious of writing, then, as a type of communication without a specific lover in mind – promiscuity of the soul.

Jesus, particularly in the parable of the sower, presents a different image of loving communication. Jesus message is nonspecific – he intentionally broadcasts it far and wide, and leaves the responsibility of interpretation to the listener, if he has ears to hear. God’s communication puts the responsibility of understanding on the receiver rather than the sender. As I thought about this standpoint, I realized this is not the only part of the bible where God seems disinterested in playing by the rules of dialogue. Jesus often answers questions in obscure ways, such as parables or bizarre turns. In the old testament, too, when God responds to human questions, the response is not what we expect. In Job and Habakkuk, for two salient examples, God responds, but does not answer their questions.

What are we to make of a God who does not engage in dialogue? How are we to understand a relationship with a God who does not create relationships in this primary mode? Peters seems to believe that dialogue isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, that the indifferent dissemination of grace is a great blessing. Perhaps. And perhaps a God whose logic goes beyond tit-for-tat is indeed required, when we cannot meet expectations. After all, the great joy of grace is that God gives when it is not deserved - God responds to us in a way that is entirely unexpected and over-abundant. The God of excess shows this part of divine nature even in the non-specific manner of communication. I am also reminded of Socrates’ own example of dialogue, which is perhaps more manipulative than a message disseminated. I have long been frustrated by God’s dodginess in the biblical text, but also inspired to wonder. It is unfair to characterize God as unwilling to interact entirely; after all, God emptied himself and became human, embodied, to show us love in a concrete and personal way. But even that embodied God confuses our social rules and rarely responds directly. How are we to understand the mysterious ways our God communicates?

Book Meme

2006-08-06T22:10:00.000-04:00

Kristen tagged me and I couldn't resist:

1: One book that changed your life: Changed in what way? Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott. It's a book that is your friend, and it will always tell you you aren't crazy. Or Madeline L'engle Walking on Water, because it helped me develop my views on christians and culture as an adolescent.

2: One book you have read more than once: Traveling Mercies. Or most things we used a lot in Jazz Vespers.

3: One book you would want on a desert island: Something with lots of new material (like Kristen said). Maybe an anthology of contemporary liturature, or the complete works of shakespeare.

4: One book that made you laugh: Eats Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss. Sometimes in public. It was embarrassing but I didn't care.

5: One book you wish you had written: Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner. Because we're the same kind of nerd. Or Anything by Anne Lamott because she's incredible.

6: One book you wish had never had been written: I'm going to agree with Kristen and go with anything by Anne Coulter.

7: One book that made you cry: The Brothers K by David James Duncan

8: One book you are currently reading: Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglass Coupland

9: One book you have been meaning to read: everything. well, my pile has David Dark's The Gospel According to American and some Stanley Hauerwas. I don't know what is taking me so long with the rest of the Coupland catalogue.

10. One book you wish everyone would read, and why: Brave New World or 1984 (or any dystopia really) so you know what we're trying to avoid.

Now tag five people.

Jim
my dad
kristin (who is an english teacher)
kent
matt(both because thorubos definately deserves the shoutout here.)
or whoever.

Belonging

2006-08-04T18:49:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was my first anniversary of living in Athens.  I moved here exactly a year ago.  As I am a big nostalgia-pot, this has got me thinking about the year, and my life here in Athens.  I also realized that a number of recent events have led me to reflect on how I have become at home in this place.

I got into a habit when Jim was here of meeting him after teaching my class in a coffee shop near my office.  After a few weeks of spending the late morning reading and caffeinating there we started to know the regulars, who shared the place with us most mornings.  We had friendly exchanges, mainly over plugging and unplugging laptops or looking after a person’s things when he put change in the meter.  One day the barrista predicted my small coffee order before I placed it.  This was an important moment – I had become a regular.  Even if it was only conspicuous consumption, I felt like I belonged.

Yesterday I got my hair cut and dyed at the local cosmetology school (photos on my xanga).  My stylist and I hit it off, I intend to visit the bar where she works so we can talk some more, that’s how much I like her.  I guess we were kind of noisy at the hair place too, because a man who was there yesterday saw me in Barnes and Noble today and asked if I still liked my new haircut.  It was strange but also oddly comforting.  It felt like the town was a community, not just a city.

I think, too, of the close friendships I’ve developed after only a year.  The friends in my department who I feel I can tell almost anything, who one year ago I was concerned about impressing and befriending.  I don’t think I could have expected then the conversations I’ve had over pizza or a drink or some untouched grading about a wide range of subjects.  These people make me smarter and more well-informed.  I can talk to them about news or frustrations or career or relationships.

Just driving around Athens seems so familiar and normal, when I remember a year ago going anywhere was a trial.  And in many ways Athens will be a special place to me because it’s the first place that I made my home all by myself, without my family or other people owning it first and bringing me in.  In fact, Athens could be the only place where I establish myself by myself.  I became an adult here in ways I didn’t in Grand Rapids because it was just too easy – too familiar and too automatic.

I’ve learned quite a bit over the last year, about myself, about others, about academics and life.  I learned that the seeds of community are everywhere, although in some places it is easier than others to find and nurture that community.  I learned to be more comfortable with solitude and silence (hours alone with your books will do that for you).  It’s been a good year.  Thanks be to God.

why The Messengers wouldn't get good grades in my class

2006-07-31T13:07:00.000-04:00

Last night I watched the second episode of TLC’s The Messengers after reading about it in the NY Times.  I was intrigued, it’s like American Idol or Last Comic Standing, except it’s public speaking.  I teach that!

I told my students this morning that they do better than these contestants.  Or at least, by my standards; and this is why: the show focuses almost entirely on delivery.  We watched the contestants spend a long day working in fields and talking to immigrants about hard work.  They then each delivered impassioned, vacuous, generic two-minute speeches on the assigned topic of “struggles.”  I suppose they are trying to be “inspirational speakers” and that is what they tend to do – say a lot of stuff that sounds good, and makes people feel good, but doesn’t do much else.  But I was dying for someone to say something profound, or political, or at least something that wasn’t cliché.  Most of them didn’t even draw in the experience from the earlier portion of the show.  Many of them drew on their own struggles in a way that seemed self-righteous and lame.

My other complaint is that the panelists on the show delivered warm-fuzzy feedback for the most part (they really need a Simon Cowell.  I’m sure there are a few seasoned rhetoric professors who could do the trick) and focused almost exclusively on delivery or figurative language.  As a teacher, I know these things are important, but saying nothing really well is still saying nothing.

Will this show improve the interest in the art of oratory?  Maybe, but it also will continue the misconception that good oratory is good delivery and charisma.  Although that’s part of it, it is certainly not all.

blogger survey

2006-07-25T15:57:00.000-04:00

Today I encountered a recent report from the Pew foundation on a phone survey of over 200 American bloggers. It provided statistics that support the necessity of my types of blogs schema. According to their survey, the majority of bloggers do so in the diary or Christmas card style. 52% of bloggers blog “for themselves” and an additional 14% said they blog for both themselves and an audience. In addition, only 35% of bloggers believe their readership is mostly people they don’t know, meaning most bloggers believe that their primary audience is people they know, or a mixture of the two. Most blogs have a small audience, with 90% claiming to receive less than 100 hits a day (I would be among that 90%, incidentally).

The study puts my previous contention into stark relief: the political and popular blogs that get the most media and scholarly attention are a small percentage of the blogosphere; the majority of bloggers are kids and twenty-somethings talking about their lives on their livejournal. What does this mean for the Public Sphere, and the ability of blogs to be a tool for citizen journalism and discussion? For one thing, I think it points to the desire in our culture (and perhaps any) to assert the importance of the everyday and the personal. I think it also underscores our cultural obsession with therapeutic forms – the confessional mode of diary blogs, reality tv, and art like postsecret seem to point to a desire to excise our interior lives, and to find others like us (or unlike us) to make us all feel better about ourselves. This, perhaps, is also a function of blogs as public space that those who focus on news and political blogs overlook.

About My Grandfather

2006-07-22T20:26:00.000-04:00

My Grandpa VanderKooy passed away early Friday morning. I can't be home for the memorial service, so instead I am posting a poem on my blog.

About my Grandfather
(1921-2006)

In his last days he was like an Egyptian ruin.
We viewed him as archeologists
reconstructing what he was with our expert knowledge.

The playful jokes, winking catchphrases, stern opinions,
cigarettes and butter toffees had faded and rubbed away
leaving a few words and some nods.

I want to remember reading books on his lap
(he would say the words wrong on purpose)
and answering Bible questions right for a nickel
(not as lucrative as answering “who do you look like?”
with “my handsome grandpa” for a quarter).

There’s a more recent memory, sharper in my mind
from a day when his mind was only beginning to blur.
He asked my grandma to write a list
of his grandchildren’s names
that he studied before we arrived.
He called us by our names as we walked in the door
and I learned the story later.
I haven’t forgotten that small act:
Fiercely gripping his drifting memory
and quietly proving what was important to him.

Bringing God's Kingdom through Language

2006-07-17T13:43:00.000-04:00

Today I finished the Grenz and Franke book I’ve been going on about, and have one more provocative idea to discuss.  I know I’ve been theology-heavy lately.  Deal with it.  Grenz and Franke follow the contention of Peter Berger and others that we construct our realities culturally and linguistically.  This is not to say that divine reality does not exist in some universal and ultimate way, but that human reality is interpreted through the lens of human discourse.  This brings them to this quotation, in the section on eschatological theology.

“As God’s image bearers we have a divinely given mandate to participate in God’s work of constructing a world in the present that reflects God’s own eschatological will for creation.  Because of the role of language in the world-constructing task, this mandate has a strongly linguistic dimension.  We participate with God, for through the constructive power of language we inhabit a present linguistic world that sees all reality from the perspective of the future, real world that God is bringing to pass.”  (Grenz and Franke, 272)

I agree with Grenz and Franke that it is our job as people of God to construct discourse that reflects the reality that God wants – a reality that looks forward to the eschaton when all things are made new.  They assign theologians the task of constructing this language for the church, but it leaves me wondering in what ways and in what spheres this should be accomplished?  I think that it is, first, a job for liturgy.  I’m reminded here of Lauren Winner’s discussion in her memoir of how the words of liturgy not only frame our worship, but give us words for our lives.  It also reminds me of my own work on Sabbath (which I am thinking I could also expand to sacrament and liturgy) that suggests that Christian practice can be a form of social action.  But I also think it should influence our creative work that is not inherently churchy, and I think this is where David Dark’s idea of apocalyptic art is particularly useful (he even uses the eschaton to speak of it).  Finally, I think this kind of discourse-construction needs to happen in our political rhetoric.  Here I think many Christian activists have the right idea (Jubilee 2000 is one salient example of framing our efforts toward justice in the language of God’s transforming the world).  This seems a bigger task than only for theologians.  I think Grenz and Franke present an important challenge, and I think they minimize it and hide it at the end of a book without much discussion.