While growing up, I wasn't a comic book nerd, but I always appreciated the cartoon. I also saw the first Batman movies, Batman and Batman Returns, that our lovely Tim Burton worked on. The other two movies? I saw parts of Batman and Robin and didn't get to see Batman Forever, but I've heard enough to never want to pay to see it. Ever. These latter movies really are disgraceful (although I did hear that Jim Carey did an excellent job with the Riddler... a shame it was in such a stink of a movie).
But, with the newer movies out by Christopher Nolan, I think it's safe to say that Batman is really being redeemed. Batman Begins was excellent and dark - the way I hear some strand of Batman comics really is. Good job there.
I just saw The Dark Knight with Scott on Friday, and we both left the theater speechless (besides the occasional "wow" or "holy crap"). I can't really write reviews, but an aquaintance friend of mine did an excellent job here. Even if you hadn't followed the comics or the TV show, or don't know a thing about Batman, it's still an excellent movie. Heath Ledger did an amazing job with the Joker that made my skin crawl, and it was great to see him in role that was not 'the hot lead' but rather quite a repulsive blood-thirsty psychopath. He was awesome and really nailed the character. May he rest in peace.
Overall, the interaction of the characters and the people around them brings up questions of inherent goodness, a subject worth discussing. I think it also sheds some light on what people are capable of - both good and bad. Batman is no superhero, but a normal man who wrestles with good and evil, and who has to make difficult decisions in his fight to eliminate suffering in Gotham city. The Joker is the extreme antagonist, evidently bent on making others suffer and psychologically beyond anything most of us can comprehend; and yet, there are people out there who are much like this. I think what's great about this movie is that it represents a fairly diverse spectrum of humanity without the supernatural influences of inhuman powers. The technology Batman has is a little out of this world, but that's okay. You have to have your glitz somewhere, especially when your main character is a millionaire that can afford any toys and technologies he wants.
It is worth noting, as well, that there isn't a great deal of gore in the movie. While a lot of flicks like this have excessive blood and gore, I actually don't recall seeing that much at all, but rather the suggestion of bloody, violent (and as Rob notes, creative) deaths. Perhaps this is why the last 30 minutes of the movie catches you off guard and makes you cringe. You'll see what I mean when you go see it. But regardless, the lack of gore is refreshing and reminds me a little of Hitchcock. Nolan shares enough for your mind to put it together psychologically and not showing you directly. I believe that pulling this off takes an incredible amount of talent and skill.
Bravo.
Now go see the movie.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Bits from the Ivy Jungle
Ivy Jungle brings you trends in student ministry, culture, and higher education. Woo. I found these bits particularly interesting... When I get more down time I WILL actually post pictures from New Hampshire.
Drinking Problems: The Associated Press recently released an analysis of more than 150 college age deaths related to alcohol poisoning from 1999-2005. Among their findings were that such drinking deaths hit a peak of 35 in the final year of that period. Students who drank themselves to death had an average blood alcohol content of .40 - five times the legal limit for driving. Deaths spiked on weekends and after winter finals when students spend more time partying. Of the 18 freshmen who died, 11 did so in the first semester. Overall drinking rates in college are not significantly higher than those of the general population, however drinking until passing out is far more common and has researchers and college officials concerned by the number of alcohol poisoning deaths. (Chicago Tribune July 8, 2008)
Diversity Not as Common as the Catalogue: A recent study of college view books by a sociologist at Amherst has found that promotional photos often over represent diversity on campus. None were as embarrassing as the University of Wisconsin and the University of Idaho incidents where the schools admitted photoshopping the catalogue to add non-white faces to photos of all white student groups. However, they did show that more than 75% of colleges over represent black students in their view books. While black students made up just under 8% of the student populations in the hundreds of schools in the study, they made up over 12% in the photos. Asian students were also over-represented, showing up as 5.1% of students pictured, but only 3.3% in reality on campus. Latinos appeared underrepresented in the photos but the methodology only counted those students clearly racially identifiable in the pictures. Timothy Pippert, who led the study, believes that schools want to show a more diverse community in order to draw more minority students to their schools. However the fear is that students may find the school very different in reality from the image promoted. The researchers also noted that promotional materials generally feature attractive students. One student who helped with the research summarized their findings saying that the photos primarily consist of "hot chicks and minorities." (Inside Higher Ed July 2, 2008)
Drinking Problems: The Associated Press recently released an analysis of more than 150 college age deaths related to alcohol poisoning from 1999-2005. Among their findings were that such drinking deaths hit a peak of 35 in the final year of that period. Students who drank themselves to death had an average blood alcohol content of .40 - five times the legal limit for driving. Deaths spiked on weekends and after winter finals when students spend more time partying. Of the 18 freshmen who died, 11 did so in the first semester. Overall drinking rates in college are not significantly higher than those of the general population, however drinking until passing out is far more common and has researchers and college officials concerned by the number of alcohol poisoning deaths. (Chicago Tribune July 8, 2008)
Diversity Not as Common as the Catalogue: A recent study of college view books by a sociologist at Amherst has found that promotional photos often over represent diversity on campus. None were as embarrassing as the University of Wisconsin and the University of Idaho incidents where the schools admitted photoshopping the catalogue to add non-white faces to photos of all white student groups. However, they did show that more than 75% of colleges over represent black students in their view books. While black students made up just under 8% of the student populations in the hundreds of schools in the study, they made up over 12% in the photos. Asian students were also over-represented, showing up as 5.1% of students pictured, but only 3.3% in reality on campus. Latinos appeared underrepresented in the photos but the methodology only counted those students clearly racially identifiable in the pictures. Timothy Pippert, who led the study, believes that schools want to show a more diverse community in order to draw more minority students to their schools. However the fear is that students may find the school very different in reality from the image promoted. The researchers also noted that promotional materials generally feature attractive students. One student who helped with the research summarized their findings saying that the photos primarily consist of "hot chicks and minorities." (Inside Higher Ed July 2, 2008)
Inconsistent Religion: Although the US is one of the most religious nations in the world, a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life shows many believe things which contradict their stated faith. 70% of those who claim religious affiliation believe multiple religions can lead to salvation and 68% believe in multiple interpretations of their own religion. 57% of self-identified evangelicals believe multiple religions can lead to salvation. 21% of self-identified atheists believe that some kind of God exists. 80% of respondents believe in moral standards of right and wrong, but only 29% claim their religious teachings help them determine those standards. A copy of the report can be read at www.pewforum.com (SFGate.com June 23, 2008)
Emerging Adulthood: Sociologists have remarked that being 35 today is much like being 35 in previous generations: career, family, marriage are part of most lives. However, being 25 today has changed significantly. In 1970 only 21% of 25 year olds had never been married. In 2005, that was true of 60% of 25 year olds. When asked what marked entering "adulthood," 96% of young adults identified having a full-time job. Less than half said being married. Jeffery Arnett, author of Emerging Adulthood: The Winding Road from Late Teens through Twenties has remarked on the very amorphous definition of entering adulthood. For most it meant "accepting responsibility for the consequences of one's actions." Often, parents are discouraging their young adult children from getting married to soon. Rather they encourage establishing a career and finishing graduate school before taking such a "destabilizing" step. Young adulthoods often enter a path of serial monogamy, living with partner after partner before marriage. 65% of young adults cohabitated at least once prior to marriage. However, research shows that those living with a boyfriend or girlfriend live lives much more similar to singles than to married couples. (UnMarried, Still Children in Touchstone June 2008 p. 15-18)
Millennial Views on Family Values: Millennials (now in their 20's) have fairly strong traditional values. In a survey by one advertising group they found that 94% respect monogamy and parenthood. 84% revere marriage. 88% say they respect the US Constitution and 84% respect the military. (Touchstone June 2008)
Christianity in China: 2.8% of the Chinese population claimed to be Christian in a survey of Religious Experience in Contemporary China. However 5% had attended a Christian service in the last year. After Buddhists, the study found that "Christians, overwhelmingly Protestant, are the largest group to lay claim to a religious faith." Nearly 75% of those who said they are Christians were women. (Touchstone June 2008)
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Aquiring a name and navigating married life
I can't find anything on the origins of Boudreaux other than it probably originated with French Acadians who lived around Bordeaux but were deported (wouldn't accept English rule) and settled in Louisiana. Figures.
Valenza-
habitational name for someone from the Spanish city of València (see Valencia) or from the Italian town of Valenza in Alessandria province.
Valencia-
Catalan (València) and Spanish: habitational name from any of various places called València or Valencia, principally the major city in eastern Spain, which was formerly the capital of an independent Moorish kingdom of the same name, until it was reconquered in 1239 by James I, king of the Catalan dynasty, and became part of the Crown of Aragon together with the Principality of Catalonia and the Kingdom of Aragon. The city was apparently named from an honorary title derived from Latin valens ‘brave.’
I'll take it.
Photos of NH still pending... they'd be posted with this entry except I have to hustle to a meeting!
Valenza-
habitational name for someone from the Spanish city of València (see Valencia) or from the Italian town of Valenza in Alessandria province.
Valencia-
Catalan (València) and Spanish: habitational name from any of various places called València or Valencia, principally the major city in eastern Spain, which was formerly the capital of an independent Moorish kingdom of the same name, until it was reconquered in 1239 by James I, king of the Catalan dynasty, and became part of the Crown of Aragon together with the Principality of Catalonia and the Kingdom of Aragon. The city was apparently named from an honorary title derived from Latin valens ‘brave.’
I'll take it.
Photos of NH still pending... they'd be posted with this entry except I have to hustle to a meeting!
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Tru Blood Nourishment Drink?
Updates about marriage (rather, mostly photos from the wedding and New Hampshire) will come. But there was something that had intrigued -- that is, troubled me over the past week that I felt that I must find out more information about it.
This past week when commuting via bus in the city, I'd noticed a few posters about a supposed product called Tru Blood claiming to be a synthetic blood nourishment drink. That's a little shocking, right? Why in the world would anyone in their sane mind make something like that? While I understand that there are individuals out there who believe they are real vampires (I used to believe I was a dragon, so the self-deception is understandable) but even then I was very confused why something like that would be put on the market.
So tonight I decided to utilize the wonders of Google to find out what all this business was all about. Turns out that the product advertisements are actually a very clever marketing scheme for a new series coming to HBO. I have to give them credit, because they are pulling it off very well and even have a faux product website: http://trubeverage.com/ ... the tip off is that not only is the website copyright to Home Box Office, but they also do not have any drink products in their shop section, and the merchandise is sold through HBO's store. With more investigation, the "Yokonomo Bottling Company" from which the product is supposed to come doesn't even exist. This puts me more at ease.
Plus, in searching for this supposed drink, most of what I could find were articles about HBO coming out with a show called True Blood, a series based off of novels by Charlaine Harris and produced by the same folks who did Six Feet Under. I had to double check to see if there was actually a drink product, however-- which means they just got that much more hits on their website. The novels are based in post-Katrina Louisiana in a small town where vampires and humans have managed to co-exist because of a synthetic blood product (Tru Blood) from Japan. Cleverly, the blood product is marketed the same way beer is... which is taken straight out of the novels with the advertisement for the movie. Creative!
HBO even went so far as to set up BloodCopy, a blog that "chronicles the amazing days we live in as vampires attempt to integrate with humans." Is this from the novels? Maybe; I don't know. BloodCopy is linked off of the Trubeverage.com website and apparently is a part of an audience-participation game. My critique is that the photo-shopping of the photos (billboard photos, newspaper articles) is more than obvious, so hopefully no one takes this site to be a real-deal thing. Note: I tend to pick on photo-shopping skills not because I'm good at it myself but because I like to pick out photo-fakes.
The concern that I have with all of this is that there are folks out there taking it seriously - or appear to be taking it seriously. Most of the comments on the BloodCopy blog make me cringe. Not only is the grammar, spelling, and nearly illegible (and extremely defensive, wrought with cursing), the comments are probably also from 14 year olds. Here's a little logic for you: if vampires are supposed to be the fantastic, ancient, knowledgeable creatures myth claims them to be, I'd think they would take a little more time in defending themselves and write a legible sentence. But any rate, the danger with this kind of thing is that people end up taking it way too far... like H.P. Lovecraft's novel series and Cthuhlu. Scary how cults form around books like this, or movies for that matter. No wonder there are Christians that freak out about this kind of thing. Personally, I don't have a problem with fictional books of this nature because it is the responsibility of the community (parents, friends, whoever) to make sure people know it's fiction and it stays in the realm of fiction.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see what happens. In the end I still give credit to HBO's very clever and creative marketing. They sure sucked me in to investigate what all this stuff was about and earned hits on their websites. Kudos to you. Just be careful who you rope in
** Note that I just found... Turns out that this whole deal also includes a buzz about viral marketing... didn't even know what that was. Thanks HBO for expanding my knowledge of advert schemes that I can continue to avoid... or really, thank you Wikipedia for answering my question. Problem that I have here is that I just fell into the structure of viral marketing by telling you all about True Blood. I shake my fist at the advertising giants that be. Love to Wikipedia. **
This past week when commuting via bus in the city, I'd noticed a few posters about a supposed product called Tru Blood claiming to be a synthetic blood nourishment drink. That's a little shocking, right? Why in the world would anyone in their sane mind make something like that? While I understand that there are individuals out there who believe they are real vampires (I used to believe I was a dragon, so the self-deception is understandable) but even then I was very confused why something like that would be put on the market.
So tonight I decided to utilize the wonders of Google to find out what all this business was all about. Turns out that the product advertisements are actually a very clever marketing scheme for a new series coming to HBO. I have to give them credit, because they are pulling it off very well and even have a faux product website: http://trubeverage.com/ ... the tip off is that not only is the website copyright to Home Box Office, but they also do not have any drink products in their shop section, and the merchandise is sold through HBO's store. With more investigation, the "Yokonomo Bottling Company" from which the product is supposed to come doesn't even exist. This puts me more at ease.
Plus, in searching for this supposed drink, most of what I could find were articles about HBO coming out with a show called True Blood, a series based off of novels by Charlaine Harris and produced by the same folks who did Six Feet Under. I had to double check to see if there was actually a drink product, however-- which means they just got that much more hits on their website. The novels are based in post-Katrina Louisiana in a small town where vampires and humans have managed to co-exist because of a synthetic blood product (Tru Blood) from Japan. Cleverly, the blood product is marketed the same way beer is... which is taken straight out of the novels with the advertisement for the movie. Creative!
HBO even went so far as to set up BloodCopy, a blog that "chronicles the amazing days we live in as vampires attempt to integrate with humans." Is this from the novels? Maybe; I don't know. BloodCopy is linked off of the Trubeverage.com website and apparently is a part of an audience-participation game. My critique is that the photo-shopping of the photos (billboard photos, newspaper articles) is more than obvious, so hopefully no one takes this site to be a real-deal thing. Note: I tend to pick on photo-shopping skills not because I'm good at it myself but because I like to pick out photo-fakes.
The concern that I have with all of this is that there are folks out there taking it seriously - or appear to be taking it seriously. Most of the comments on the BloodCopy blog make me cringe. Not only is the grammar, spelling, and nearly illegible (and extremely defensive, wrought with cursing), the comments are probably also from 14 year olds. Here's a little logic for you: if vampires are supposed to be the fantastic, ancient, knowledgeable creatures myth claims them to be, I'd think they would take a little more time in defending themselves and write a legible sentence. But any rate, the danger with this kind of thing is that people end up taking it way too far... like H.P. Lovecraft's novel series and Cthuhlu. Scary how cults form around books like this, or movies for that matter. No wonder there are Christians that freak out about this kind of thing. Personally, I don't have a problem with fictional books of this nature because it is the responsibility of the community (parents, friends, whoever) to make sure people know it's fiction and it stays in the realm of fiction.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see what happens. In the end I still give credit to HBO's very clever and creative marketing. They sure sucked me in to investigate what all this stuff was about and earned hits on their websites. Kudos to you. Just be careful who you rope in
** Note that I just found... Turns out that this whole deal also includes a buzz about viral marketing... didn't even know what that was. Thanks HBO for expanding my knowledge of advert schemes that I can continue to avoid... or really, thank you Wikipedia for answering my question. Problem that I have here is that I just fell into the structure of viral marketing by telling you all about True Blood. I shake my fist at the advertising giants that be. Love to Wikipedia. **
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Delayed update.
Hey everyone-
There will eventually be a post about getting married, photos from New Hampshire, and all of that. At the moment, I would appreciate any prayers for my family: my step-mother's dad died this morning. I don't have details yet but Cheryl is hoping to make it from NV to OH somehow, and if it's at all possible I'd like to get there myself.
Pray for comfort and peace for that side of the family -- Dan did believe in Jesus so I'm comforted knowing that he's gone home. It's kind of surreal to me though because I just talked to him two or three days ago, and he was talking about trusting the Lord to take care of him. It wasn't sudden per se, he was looking towards getting another heart surgery (probably like his sixth) soon due to an aortic valve causing problems.
Thanks.
There will eventually be a post about getting married, photos from New Hampshire, and all of that. At the moment, I would appreciate any prayers for my family: my step-mother's dad died this morning. I don't have details yet but Cheryl is hoping to make it from NV to OH somehow, and if it's at all possible I'd like to get there myself.
Pray for comfort and peace for that side of the family -- Dan did believe in Jesus so I'm comforted knowing that he's gone home. It's kind of surreal to me though because I just talked to him two or three days ago, and he was talking about trusting the Lord to take care of him. It wasn't sudden per se, he was looking towards getting another heart surgery (probably like his sixth) soon due to an aortic valve causing problems.
Thanks.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Confessions from a Bride-to-Be
Sunday: 6 days left
A week from today, I will be a Mrs. In some ways, this seems like the craziest thing in the world, and yet at the same time it seems to be the most natural. Many people have asked me if I'm nervous or anxious, which I suppose is an appropriate question, and I suppose there are some things I am nervous and/or anxious about. But overall, the blanketing sense is not anxiety for May 31, 2008 -- or even beyond. I'm not asking myself questions like, "Will I be a good wife?" I'll mess up and do stupid things, and so will he; right now all I can say is to take it in stride. However, I do wonder what it will be like to learn how to love and be loved in a very real and raw way -- to put down self-interest -- beyond anything I have yet experienced.
I've been a sore critic of myself lately and have taken note that I've felt somewhat jaded. If I search within myself I find it hard to say that I am a very compassionate person; I feel areas of my life slightly hardened... Internally, I bark and bite. I blame Philadelphia but I can't put all that much credit to the place I live, although I feel like I was getting more "spiritual progress" when I lived in the suburbs. I'm tired of stamping around cement streets and having only chance opportunities to feel the texture of leaves or grass between my fingertips. I'm also very frustrated and at a loss over a friend who sinned and broke my heart, because she's unrepentant. Geographically, I am far away from her. The go-go-go pace of the city is only feeding into my do-do-do problem (that is to say, I really don't have a clue how to REST), and for all the world I find it hard to turn off the noise in my head to pray. I feel like I'm losing my sensitivity to the Spirit and God's voice, if ever it was developed in the first place. I hunger to have Scott here, for the sake of having ready opportunities to put my heart and my tears and my frustrations received, heard, and processed-- to be put back out to me in consolation, rebuke, encouragement, and accountability.
All the while I know I could use some deeper, healthy female friendships for the same reason. I miss friends from back home.
God is in control, completely and totally, and working His Holy Spirit into my frustrated heart. Philippians 1:6 is often where I ground myself in times like this. A rough translation: he who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it. I know He will work these things out if I give Him the chance. This past week I went to a ministry training event (it lasted all week) and while it was very restorative (praise God!), it was also very revealing about these kinds of things. Especially the resting and prayer part. I went to a class that was about Ignatian Spirituality, and monastic prayer; it was very insightful and I can't help but think that the opportunity to look at Scripture and Prayer in a different way was from God.
All of these things flounder around my joy in preparing to be the wife of a wonderful, loving man. There are many, many others but these are the kind of things that are saved for private knowledge, not public knowledge, as Blogs tend to be more public than I think anyone ever really *wants* them to be.
6 days. Ever since I met Scott, life hasn't been the same; God has done quite a bit of stretching in me for the past year and a half. But in 6 days, 144 (actually, less than that), one of the biggest transitions will be made in my adult life will happen. Life as I know it will never be the same; where there is two, there will be one... Two lives coming together under one roof, thinking about the other for all kinds of things (groceries, laundry, etc). That is what makes it crazy. The natural part is that I couldn't imagine having it any other way.
And that's okay with me.
A week from today, I will be a Mrs. In some ways, this seems like the craziest thing in the world, and yet at the same time it seems to be the most natural. Many people have asked me if I'm nervous or anxious, which I suppose is an appropriate question, and I suppose there are some things I am nervous and/or anxious about. But overall, the blanketing sense is not anxiety for May 31, 2008 -- or even beyond. I'm not asking myself questions like, "Will I be a good wife?" I'll mess up and do stupid things, and so will he; right now all I can say is to take it in stride. However, I do wonder what it will be like to learn how to love and be loved in a very real and raw way -- to put down self-interest -- beyond anything I have yet experienced.
I've been a sore critic of myself lately and have taken note that I've felt somewhat jaded. If I search within myself I find it hard to say that I am a very compassionate person; I feel areas of my life slightly hardened... Internally, I bark and bite. I blame Philadelphia but I can't put all that much credit to the place I live, although I feel like I was getting more "spiritual progress" when I lived in the suburbs. I'm tired of stamping around cement streets and having only chance opportunities to feel the texture of leaves or grass between my fingertips. I'm also very frustrated and at a loss over a friend who sinned and broke my heart, because she's unrepentant. Geographically, I am far away from her. The go-go-go pace of the city is only feeding into my do-do-do problem (that is to say, I really don't have a clue how to REST), and for all the world I find it hard to turn off the noise in my head to pray. I feel like I'm losing my sensitivity to the Spirit and God's voice, if ever it was developed in the first place. I hunger to have Scott here, for the sake of having ready opportunities to put my heart and my tears and my frustrations received, heard, and processed-- to be put back out to me in consolation, rebuke, encouragement, and accountability.
All the while I know I could use some deeper, healthy female friendships for the same reason. I miss friends from back home.
God is in control, completely and totally, and working His Holy Spirit into my frustrated heart. Philippians 1:6 is often where I ground myself in times like this. A rough translation: he who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it. I know He will work these things out if I give Him the chance. This past week I went to a ministry training event (it lasted all week) and while it was very restorative (praise God!), it was also very revealing about these kinds of things. Especially the resting and prayer part. I went to a class that was about Ignatian Spirituality, and monastic prayer; it was very insightful and I can't help but think that the opportunity to look at Scripture and Prayer in a different way was from God.
All of these things flounder around my joy in preparing to be the wife of a wonderful, loving man. There are many, many others but these are the kind of things that are saved for private knowledge, not public knowledge, as Blogs tend to be more public than I think anyone ever really *wants* them to be.
6 days. Ever since I met Scott, life hasn't been the same; God has done quite a bit of stretching in me for the past year and a half. But in 6 days, 144 (actually, less than that), one of the biggest transitions will be made in my adult life will happen. Life as I know it will never be the same; where there is two, there will be one... Two lives coming together under one roof, thinking about the other for all kinds of things (groceries, laundry, etc). That is what makes it crazy. The natural part is that I couldn't imagine having it any other way.
And that's okay with me.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
17 Days
17 days.
Last night Scott and I met up with our pastor friend (John Studenroth) who is going to marry us, to go over ceremony order and vows for the first time.
Tomorrow we're aiming to pick up our marriage license at City Hall.
Wow.
17 days!!
Last night Scott and I met up with our pastor friend (John Studenroth) who is going to marry us, to go over ceremony order and vows for the first time.
Tomorrow we're aiming to pick up our marriage license at City Hall.
Wow.
17 days!!
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Puritanism
As I'm slowly reading through my church history book, I *finally* got to the reformation several weeks ago and have moved on since Luther, Calvin, Mennonites, and all that. Currently, they're talking about the Puritans. Here's an excerpt from Church History in Plain Language, pg 192
Points I agree with here: 1. spiritual conversion crucial to Christianity, 2. the reception of God's grace and the experience with God is beyond the church's control. There's more, but that's what I've got so far.
P.S. 21 days to go!
Chapter 30: The Rule of the Saints
Puritanism: New Life and New World
… In modern times, marked by zeal for individual rights and sexual freedom, “puritan” has come to mean “holy Joe,” a religious snob, filled with fears of sex, who does his best to keep people from having fun. This view of the “puritan” as a moss-backed moralist captured popular thinking in the backlash of Victorian stuffiness. Early in the twentieth century American journalist H.L. Mencken summed up the popular image in his quip that Puritanism was “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy.”
But is that fair? What was Puritanism originally? Whatever it was, it was not straight-laced. It stood for change and a new day in England. The first Puritans had little confidence in traditional religion. Their plans for a new England arose from a deep conviction that spiritual conversion was crucial to Christianity. This rebirth separated the Puritan from the mass of mankind and endowed him with privileges and the duties of the elect of God. The church may prepare a man for this experience, and, after it, the church may guide him, but the heart of the experience, the reception of the grace of God, is beyond the church’s control.
Points I agree with here: 1. spiritual conversion crucial to Christianity, 2. the reception of God's grace and the experience with God is beyond the church's control. There's more, but that's what I've got so far.
P.S. 21 days to go!
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
24 days
Just keeping you up to speed...
Finally have a pastor. Praise the Lord! Now time to work out all the details...
Finally have a pastor. Praise the Lord! Now time to work out all the details...
Saturday, May 03, 2008
28 Days
Since I'm taking some time to procrastinate, I may as well write up a blog entry.
Wedding planning has not necessarily been a stressful adventure for me. Actually, it's probably been the kind of adventure that is very typical of me: meandering and changing. We'd been set to marry August 9th outside of Philadelphia with a lot of frills. Then we decided to change the format of the "frills" and make it less because let's face it: I'm not into frills. While we were trying to figure out how to change that, the date was bumped up to May 31st, and then the location changed to California to be closer to my parents. Then not long after that change, the location changed back to outside of Philadelphia. Thankfully, the date has not changed again! *whew!* Quite a run around, right? The major things are taken care of, so it's just a matter of details.
So, this means I'm getting married in 28 days.
28 Days.
I've been counting down consistently over the past week or more. 28 days after today, I will be a wife; I will have a husband; I'll be one with another; I'll be learning how to live with a man that's not my father or my brother. I'll be learning in a very solid way what it means to love, submit, compromise, sacrifice, and more. I'll be able to see Scott nearly every day.
You know, sometimes it seems really surreal. Like today, for example. In about three hours I have a bridal shower. What? Me? Bridal shower?? This is not a bad thing... there's so much joy and gratitude towards God for what's happening. It's almost too good to be really happening. If I'm like this 28 days before, imagine what I'll be like 5 days before! Will it seem surreal the next day? the week following? Will I be caught off guard in a disarming, pleasant way when I wake up in the morning with Scott by my side?
I don't write too many entries like this, but I'm allowed to now and then. I'm not saying all things will be rosey and dreamy... I'm sure there are things that will be really hard and complicated that we have to sort out. That's kind of a given. But you learn through it and you work at it; that's what a relationship and commitment is about. You don't just throw up your arms and say "I give up!" and let the problem settle deep. Through bad times and good times, through very dark times and very light times... you work through it. You pray for mercy, compassion, honesty, humility. All the same, I hope I never cease to wonder over and delight in Scott like I do when I get to see him after not seeing him for a week or more.
Okay. I'm done. :)
Wedding planning has not necessarily been a stressful adventure for me. Actually, it's probably been the kind of adventure that is very typical of me: meandering and changing. We'd been set to marry August 9th outside of Philadelphia with a lot of frills. Then we decided to change the format of the "frills" and make it less because let's face it: I'm not into frills. While we were trying to figure out how to change that, the date was bumped up to May 31st, and then the location changed to California to be closer to my parents. Then not long after that change, the location changed back to outside of Philadelphia. Thankfully, the date has not changed again! *whew!* Quite a run around, right? The major things are taken care of, so it's just a matter of details.
So, this means I'm getting married in 28 days.
28 Days.
I've been counting down consistently over the past week or more. 28 days after today, I will be a wife; I will have a husband; I'll be one with another; I'll be learning how to live with a man that's not my father or my brother. I'll be learning in a very solid way what it means to love, submit, compromise, sacrifice, and more. I'll be able to see Scott nearly every day.
You know, sometimes it seems really surreal. Like today, for example. In about three hours I have a bridal shower. What? Me? Bridal shower?? This is not a bad thing... there's so much joy and gratitude towards God for what's happening. It's almost too good to be really happening. If I'm like this 28 days before, imagine what I'll be like 5 days before! Will it seem surreal the next day? the week following? Will I be caught off guard in a disarming, pleasant way when I wake up in the morning with Scott by my side?
I don't write too many entries like this, but I'm allowed to now and then. I'm not saying all things will be rosey and dreamy... I'm sure there are things that will be really hard and complicated that we have to sort out. That's kind of a given. But you learn through it and you work at it; that's what a relationship and commitment is about. You don't just throw up your arms and say "I give up!" and let the problem settle deep. Through bad times and good times, through very dark times and very light times... you work through it. You pray for mercy, compassion, honesty, humility. All the same, I hope I never cease to wonder over and delight in Scott like I do when I get to see him after not seeing him for a week or more.
Okay. I'm done. :)
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Progress...
Before I had a camera-phone, I figured I would never use it. Since getting one a year ago, I can't imagine not using it. Especially to get quick shots in the studio.
Repetition
So there's this self-portrait that I'm working on, and I'm figuring out what to do with it next. As I sit in the studio right now, I'm going to proceed in-part with the computer sketch you see below. But, in addition to that I thought I would share some images that came out while I was messing around on my computer. Don't mind the brain-dump that will ensue afterward.
These last two images are very unlike what I typically do. I'm not really into simplification and certainly not repeated simplification... But there was something about the shapes of the birds (left) and the pattern they created when put in a circle (right) that really intrigues me and I can't quite put my finger on why. Birds: I use birds frequently not because I like birds and they're my favorite animal... as terrible as it may sound, I enjoy birds as an object.
In analyzing or studying literature, repetition is taken note of. Repeated words stick out and the author usually intends to communicate something by that repetition... The problem that I face here is that I'm not completely sure what I want to communicate. That and visual repetition isn't "read" the same way as literary repetition. Perhaps this is something I should look into more because birds come up again, and again, and again in my work. I know why I use birds, but does anyone else get it?
Are they supposed to?
Which reminds me of a previous entry, which I won't get into, but it had stuff about mystery in it.
All of that aside I'm going to tackle that painting now. Brain-dump end.
Monday, February 18, 2008
From another blog.
valuing the arts
posted by luke on Friday, February 15, 2008 at 12:02 AM
The arts are an integral part of urban/cultural renewal. The arts are an integral part of the redemption of the whole person.
A dichotamy between the arts and academics is not only invalid, but pagan. It posits (and stems from) a gnostic-like dualism between body and soul.
The arts do justice to the fact that we are human beings, enfleshed spirits. The arts--music, dance, theater, painting, drawing, sculpture, jewlery, ceramics, printmaking, graphic design, fashion design, interior design, industrial design, etc...-- do justice to the incarnation and the resurrection of the body. The arts posit the importance of the physical world, an emphasis that is desperately needed in a church that is focused on an ethereal eternity, having forgotten the coming resurrection of the righteous.
This is, of course, not to mention a number of other benefits one gains from studying the arts and how those benefits affect the rest of one's education and worldview.
The arts teach us how to think spatially. The arts teach us how to look at the world--to ponder, to meditate, to listen, and to engage before we talk; before we form opinions or make judgments. The arts teach us to appreciate beauty, skill, hardwork, perseverance, and discipline. The arts teach us to appreciate life and enjoy God's good world. The arts teach us that actions speak louder than words, or (if that's too cliche') that our message needs an appropriate and corresponding vehicle.
And I am here only talking about the medium or form of the arts, not to mention the content or the message of any given piece and what that might have to say.
The arts, you see, are essential to the Christian worldview. To say, as a Christian, that the arts are unimportant or that what is learned in an art class is unimportant? That is to give mere lip-service to the Christian worldview without understanding it
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
New arts in progress
Finally finished this painting... Sorry that the photo isn't as good as it could be, but I can't re-take the shot because it now is in the hands of its owner. This was a painting that was commissioned with the
directions to "do whatever you want."
Other things I'd kinda been working on. It's been hard to pull in some time in the studio lately, which is incredibly frustrating.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
One word can change everything
Fiancee:
noun
a woman who is engaged to be married.
1853, from Fr. fianceé, fem. of fiancé, pp. of fiancer "betrothed," from O.Fr. fiancer, from fiance "a promise, trust," from fier "to trust."
If you aren't sure what one looks like, all you need to do is find me.
noun
a woman who is engaged to be married.
1853, from Fr. fianceé, fem. of fiancé, pp. of fiancer "betrothed," from O.Fr. fiancer, from fiance "a promise, trust," from fier "to trust."
If you aren't sure what one looks like, all you need to do is find me.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
This is Christmas
Right now I am sitting in my parent's living room on the other side of the United States, with Cheryl falling asleep, Dad checking out the space book he got, and Derek incompacitated on the floor.
The area that my parents live in Nevada is very beautiful... even just flying over this area on the plane was breathtaking because I'd never seen anything like it in my life. The rolling hills with dried brush colored with yellows and browns surrounding the little spot is just awesome. Very cold at 4,600 feet above sea level.
Yesterday we went to Lake Tahoe and although it was very cold and the wind was strong and biting, it was gorgeous out there. Lake Tahoe is completely different than here, with ever green trees and blanketed in about two feet of snow. It's nice to get away from the Pennsylvania weather. The Pennsylvania terrain. I needed to see something new and different, and in some ways parts of this area reminds me a little bit of Texas. I'm eager to do more exploring and picture taking with my family for the rest of this week... I'll post pictures later.
It's been a while since I'd posted anything on the art front. I'm actually coming into a season of re-evaluating what I want to do with my work and where I want it to go. I need to be ingesting more art than spitting it out, letting what I see settle down inside to be thought over. I want to see new things and get to know my contemporaries.... as much as part of me doesn't want to do it because it's going to take work. But if I'm really going to continue using certain types of imagery - intentionally or not - then I'm going to have to feed on those ideas and images. As Rubens had put it, perhaps I should become somewhat obsessed with the images I keep using or wanting to use.
Birds
Wings
Bones
Blood / organs
Human figure
Hands
Now I just need to think of where to start... Where shall my feast begin? And HOW? I'm hoping that sometime during the winter break I'll be able to figure out where to start. Because I've been using the image of the bird (and wings), I feel like this is a good launching point. After getting a library card, I'm thinking about popping into the Free Library for a few hours and seeing what I can find out about birds in art and birds as a symbol. Wish me luck!
Back to Christmas in Nevada.
The area that my parents live in Nevada is very beautiful... even just flying over this area on the plane was breathtaking because I'd never seen anything like it in my life. The rolling hills with dried brush colored with yellows and browns surrounding the little spot is just awesome. Very cold at 4,600 feet above sea level.
Yesterday we went to Lake Tahoe and although it was very cold and the wind was strong and biting, it was gorgeous out there. Lake Tahoe is completely different than here, with ever green trees and blanketed in about two feet of snow. It's nice to get away from the Pennsylvania weather. The Pennsylvania terrain. I needed to see something new and different, and in some ways parts of this area reminds me a little bit of Texas. I'm eager to do more exploring and picture taking with my family for the rest of this week... I'll post pictures later.
It's been a while since I'd posted anything on the art front. I'm actually coming into a season of re-evaluating what I want to do with my work and where I want it to go. I need to be ingesting more art than spitting it out, letting what I see settle down inside to be thought over. I want to see new things and get to know my contemporaries.... as much as part of me doesn't want to do it because it's going to take work. But if I'm really going to continue using certain types of imagery - intentionally or not - then I'm going to have to feed on those ideas and images. As Rubens had put it, perhaps I should become somewhat obsessed with the images I keep using or wanting to use.
Birds
Wings
Bones
Blood / organs
Human figure
Hands
Now I just need to think of where to start... Where shall my feast begin? And HOW? I'm hoping that sometime during the winter break I'll be able to figure out where to start. Because I've been using the image of the bird (and wings), I feel like this is a good launching point. After getting a library card, I'm thinking about popping into the Free Library for a few hours and seeing what I can find out about birds in art and birds as a symbol. Wish me luck!
Back to Christmas in Nevada.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Everybody wants to go to heaven...
Last time I posted, I posted over a month ago and I was all eager to come up with some profound entry about my experience with being a girlfriend for a year. I wanted to rant about the lack of art making. There was a lot I wanted to write about. But a lot of OTHER things happen as a month suddenly passes.
Like getting into a fender-bender that's left me car-less. I learned a few important things from this experience:
1. Scott's protection and defense on my behalf is fierce. I'm glad I have a man like this in my corner.
2. Losing your car feels like a rock sitting on your chest for a day or two afterward.
3. A Dodge Shadow is no match for an Acura SUV.
4. Asking for rides is humbling in more ways than one.
Besides this I had recently finished David Crowder and Mike Hogan's book, Everybody Wants to go to Heaven, but Nobody Wants to Die (or the eschatology of bluegrass). I needed a book like this. Some of what David and Mike share is tongue-in-cheek or makes me laugh out loud, some makes me comtemplative, and other things is somber. There are a few points at which I could feel the weight that David and Mike felt when recounting their grief over the passing of their pastor; I can totally relate to what it feels like.
It's a book about Bluegrass, the Soul, and Death. (I can't say I have gained a particular invested interest in bluegrass or the history thereof, but it was interesting in a passer-by sort of way)
Finishing the book came at an interest time because I heard a lot about a lot of deaths at the time. Whether family of friends, or crime-related circumstances, it would seem that the subject of death was hard to escape. ... Perhaps I was more aware, and continue to be more aware, because of reading the book. Whatever the case, the point of the book was not to drag you down into this dark hole of mortality. It was uplifting, which suited the authors' point: death is not the end. Death does not win.
I need to hear this and be reminded of it once in a while. Reading a book without first having a clear idea of what it is going to be about can be dangerous. Scandalous, perhaps, because you have no idea what you're investing yourself into. But it's quickly revealed that the book is about death, and it was approached in such a way that I was hooked like a fish. Why do I say it can be dangerous? The risk over reading a book about death -- for me -- means that I have to face some waters I've avoided for a very, very long time.
My mother died when I was 17. I can remember with distinction the sound of my father coming up the steps and towards the door of my bedroom. I was seized with having a feeling I knew what was going to be told to me. As though bracing for the blow. Certainly, the blow came as my dad came near my bedside and told me that mom had died. It felt like I had a ball of curdled milk in my stomach. I don't recall how I cried, I just remember my face buried into my father's chest for a long time. I don't remember stopping. I don't remember my dad leaving but I know he did shortly afterward. I don't remember falling asleep... somehow I did. I woke up that morning and didn't want to move.
I'd been avoiding my mother's death for a very long time. I don't mean to say that I never talked about it. I also don't mean to say that I hadn't been torn up inside every time someone would talk about their mom and growing up ... this was the case for several years, and the notion didn't pass until halfway through college. What I mean is that we were sent her ashes some years ago.
I still have them. If I could avoid touching the box, I would. It weirded me out, to look at a box and think "That's my mom in there."
When Cheryl and dad moved out to Nevada, I had to take the box with me. I felt like I needed to do something with the ashes, like WE needed to do something with the ashes, but I was assured that I shouldn't do anything about it until I'm OK with the ashes when it wouldn't weird me out. During the same week I decided that I wanted to spread her ashes in Paulo Duro Canyon, about an hour outside of where we used to live in Texas. I don't know when we'll get to do this. I just wish the weight of what should be done with the ashes was passed off of my brother and father and onto me.
The box had been sitting in my bedroom in the open for a while since the move. Every time I would look at it, I would think, "There's mom....................."
Then something extraordinary happened.
In the Crowder and Hogan book, they recount their experience of going to the funeral. Going to the viewing. In talking about the deceased's body, it is proclaimed that although it might have a resemblance of their friend, it wasn't. It was something else.
I glanced up from the page and looked over at the box with my mother's ashes. I realized something... those ashes? that's not mom. Technically all the physical components were, but it wasn't mom. Mom was more than flesh and blood, but spirit and personality. There was more to her than anything that could be shoved into a box. Recently, I'd been going through some boxes and trying to clear some clutter in my bedroom and I came to the ashes. I held the box in my lap a while, a white mailing box with our address back in Allentown. For perhaps the second time ever, I actually opened the mailing box to expose the sleek plastic box it held. The first time I did this was several years ago and it felt like caterpillars were eating my stomach. This time, the caterpillars weren't there. I was still ill at ease, but in the sense that you're unsure of what to expect of yourself as you follow through with a discovery.
The rest is between me, the box, and God. Now the ashes are back in the mailing box and sitting in a storage space in my room. I still want to take it to Paulo Duro Canyon. I still miss mom... but it's good to know that I've made peace with something I was afraid of.
Like getting into a fender-bender that's left me car-less. I learned a few important things from this experience:
1. Scott's protection and defense on my behalf is fierce. I'm glad I have a man like this in my corner.
2. Losing your car feels like a rock sitting on your chest for a day or two afterward.
3. A Dodge Shadow is no match for an Acura SUV.
4. Asking for rides is humbling in more ways than one.
Besides this I had recently finished David Crowder and Mike Hogan's book, Everybody Wants to go to Heaven, but Nobody Wants to Die (or the eschatology of bluegrass). I needed a book like this. Some of what David and Mike share is tongue-in-cheek or makes me laugh out loud, some makes me comtemplative, and other things is somber. There are a few points at which I could feel the weight that David and Mike felt when recounting their grief over the passing of their pastor; I can totally relate to what it feels like.
It's a book about Bluegrass, the Soul, and Death. (I can't say I have gained a particular invested interest in bluegrass or the history thereof, but it was interesting in a passer-by sort of way)
Finishing the book came at an interest time because I heard a lot about a lot of deaths at the time. Whether family of friends, or crime-related circumstances, it would seem that the subject of death was hard to escape. ... Perhaps I was more aware, and continue to be more aware, because of reading the book. Whatever the case, the point of the book was not to drag you down into this dark hole of mortality. It was uplifting, which suited the authors' point: death is not the end. Death does not win.
I need to hear this and be reminded of it once in a while. Reading a book without first having a clear idea of what it is going to be about can be dangerous. Scandalous, perhaps, because you have no idea what you're investing yourself into. But it's quickly revealed that the book is about death, and it was approached in such a way that I was hooked like a fish. Why do I say it can be dangerous? The risk over reading a book about death -- for me -- means that I have to face some waters I've avoided for a very, very long time.
My mother died when I was 17. I can remember with distinction the sound of my father coming up the steps and towards the door of my bedroom. I was seized with having a feeling I knew what was going to be told to me. As though bracing for the blow. Certainly, the blow came as my dad came near my bedside and told me that mom had died. It felt like I had a ball of curdled milk in my stomach. I don't recall how I cried, I just remember my face buried into my father's chest for a long time. I don't remember stopping. I don't remember my dad leaving but I know he did shortly afterward. I don't remember falling asleep... somehow I did. I woke up that morning and didn't want to move.
I'd been avoiding my mother's death for a very long time. I don't mean to say that I never talked about it. I also don't mean to say that I hadn't been torn up inside every time someone would talk about their mom and growing up ... this was the case for several years, and the notion didn't pass until halfway through college. What I mean is that we were sent her ashes some years ago.
I still have them. If I could avoid touching the box, I would. It weirded me out, to look at a box and think "That's my mom in there."
When Cheryl and dad moved out to Nevada, I had to take the box with me. I felt like I needed to do something with the ashes, like WE needed to do something with the ashes, but I was assured that I shouldn't do anything about it until I'm OK with the ashes when it wouldn't weird me out. During the same week I decided that I wanted to spread her ashes in Paulo Duro Canyon, about an hour outside of where we used to live in Texas. I don't know when we'll get to do this. I just wish the weight of what should be done with the ashes was passed off of my brother and father and onto me.
The box had been sitting in my bedroom in the open for a while since the move. Every time I would look at it, I would think, "There's mom....................."
Then something extraordinary happened.
In the Crowder and Hogan book, they recount their experience of going to the funeral. Going to the viewing. In talking about the deceased's body, it is proclaimed that although it might have a resemblance of their friend, it wasn't. It was something else.
I glanced up from the page and looked over at the box with my mother's ashes. I realized something... those ashes? that's not mom. Technically all the physical components were, but it wasn't mom. Mom was more than flesh and blood, but spirit and personality. There was more to her than anything that could be shoved into a box. Recently, I'd been going through some boxes and trying to clear some clutter in my bedroom and I came to the ashes. I held the box in my lap a while, a white mailing box with our address back in Allentown. For perhaps the second time ever, I actually opened the mailing box to expose the sleek plastic box it held. The first time I did this was several years ago and it felt like caterpillars were eating my stomach. This time, the caterpillars weren't there. I was still ill at ease, but in the sense that you're unsure of what to expect of yourself as you follow through with a discovery.
The rest is between me, the box, and God. Now the ashes are back in the mailing box and sitting in a storage space in my room. I still want to take it to Paulo Duro Canyon. I still miss mom... but it's good to know that I've made peace with something I was afraid of.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
So, okay...
There's a lot to share: from my frustrations with art making (see: lack thereof) to the delights of having celebrated my very first, first year anniversary as a girlfriend a week ago. And everything in between - like using my credit card for the first time, and cringing all the while.
Much to be had, I assure you. However, I do not have the time to delve into it all right now! (blast!) But one of these days coming up, I'm going to hunker down in one of the local coffee shops to smell like coffee and get it all out of my system.
Much to be had, I assure you. However, I do not have the time to delve into it all right now! (blast!) But one of these days coming up, I'm going to hunker down in one of the local coffee shops to smell like coffee and get it all out of my system.
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