March 20, 2006
Low Visibility: Rainy Day Playlist
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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. |
Ready for the Rain Blue Rain After the Rain Rain All Day Rain A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall Sit Down, Stand Up Rain Chief Sitting in the Rain Bluer Feel the Rain Strange Rain Mudfootball Foggy Day The Gloaming. Feels Like Rain |
Dime Store Prophets Dawn Kinnard John Coltrane Fleming & John Patty Griffin Bob Dylan Radiohead Dryve Yo Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Mark O'Conner Over the Rhine My Friend Stephanie Common Children Jack Johnson Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong Radiohead Dime Store Prophets |
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March 10, 2006
Reading a Theology of Art
I spent most of today sitting out on my trampoline, chomping away at my new pile of books-to-read-for-personal-and-professional-development. Noel and I are planning on going to the Wheaton Theology Conference (The Beauty of God: Theology and the Arts)* in a few weeks, and, in preparation, I asked one of Covenant's Bible professors to suggest some pre-conference reading material.
He responded with a roughly three page bibliography.**
My trimmed -- and hopefully manageable -- list now contains:
Theology and Culture
Begbie, Jeremy. Beholding the Glory : Incarnation through the Arts. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000.
Dyrness, William A. Visual Faith : Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue, Engaging Culture. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2001.
Holness, Lyn. Theology in Dialogue: The Impact of the Arts, Humanities, and Science on Contemporary Religious Thought. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman's Publishing, 2002.
The Trinity
Augustine. The Trinity. Translated by Edmund Hill, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century. Brooklyn, N.Y.: New City Press, 1991.
Vanhoozer, Kevin J. The Trinity in a Pluralistic Age. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman's Publishing, 1997.
Christology
Greene, Colin J. D. Christology in Cultural Perspective: Marking out the Horizons. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2004.
Hughes, Philip Edgcumbe. The True Image: The Origin and Destiny of Man in Christ. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1989.
The idea, should you be wondering, is to think about framing a broader and more theologically rich view of the visual arts. Ever since I took Historiography and read "Traditional Christianity and the Possibility of Historical Knowledge" by Mark Noll, I've been fascinated by the idea that the key doctrine for understanding and participating in culture may be the Incarnation -- not just "God as Creator" or the cultural mandate, as Reformed folk often suggest.
So far today I've finished off the Begbie book and have waded a couple of chapters into Dyrness. Oh, graduate school. Could you really offer such cerebral pleasures on a daily basis?***
--- Footnotes ---
* If you would like to help us fund this endeavor, feel free to buy this fabulous pressure cooker that we have up for sale! Just in time for all those summer weddings you have to lug a gift to!
** Christology and Trinitarian theology are, after all, two of his primary areas of interest.
*** Well, not the theology side. But I could be paid to read all day, and that would be awesome.
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February 13, 2006
Kaleo Conference on Gender and the Chuch: Gender and the Arts
The "faculty forum" on Gender and the Arts brought together art professors Jeff Morton and Kaybe Carpenter with English professors Pat Ralston, Gwen Macallister, Clif Foreman, and Jim Wildeman. Each gave a brief (okay, so Morty's wasn't that brief) statement and then the panel entertained questions from the audience.
Morton began by giving a brief visual history of 20th century feminist art. During a time when "pure form," minimalism, and literalism was all the rage, women artists reintroduced the body and the personal to art. Feminism, Morton argued, "can teach us something about how the Word became flesh." We have a God who is both God and human, and there is something significant in how that affirms the body. There is something about being human and exploring our differences.
Wildeman barked, "Imagine a life that you can live." When pressed to expand on this idea, he explained his fascination with Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre and how, in his view, it allows young women to imagine a life that they could live, a life where the heroine turns down two different men, once for moral reasons and once because her suitor "could not love her as she deserved to be loved." Reading such things, Wildeman argued, allows a young woman to say, "I can choose a path that is unpopular in my circles, but the important thing in the end is my integrity."
Ralston related some of her experiences in teaching Medieval and Renaissance Writers for the first time. Students, male and female, were amazed and skeptical that there were actually enough quality female authors during this time period to merit an entire course on their work. Through the course of the semester, Ralston was encouraged, however, by her students willingness to open the canon and to explore and champion these "hidden" writers. Too many students, Ralston said, think that feminism began in the 1960s and that it is a four letter word. The reality, though, is that many women throughout history have championed the cause of free speech and expression and development for women. We can all be taught by and find delight in these writings. The common notion is that we read in order to join the human race. If we want a clearer picture of the human race and hope to understand it in its wholeness, we need to be listening to the voices of men and women from the past and encouraging the publishing of women's voices from the past.
Carpenter began by framing the value of art. We know things by our experience, she said, and writers and artists give us a picture of experiences that we ourselves may never have. Thus, we need to hear (or see) women speak because it gives us a fuller picture of the human experience. Furthermore, the images that artists are creating affect what we expect of ourselves as men and women. The arts, whether we realize it or not, affects our views of gender and identity.
Macallister echoed Ralston and Carpenter, relating her own story of teaching 20th Century American literature and having a male student complain over how "many" female authors he had been required to read. (Four). She emphasized, too, the significance of reconsidering the canon.
Foreman mused on the strange contradiction that appears when we consider male and female writers: if women are generally considered to have superior verbal skills to men, then why have there been so many great male writers, given the fact that they are handicapped? He answered his own question. "Mainly because of a longstanding affirmative action program. We men engineered it so that we men got a better education than the women had... But, as we all know, affirmative action really doesn't work well." There have been a number of women writers that have snuck through and established themselves at being important in the American tradition (Anne Bradstreet, Phyllis Wheatly, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Emily Dickinson, etc.) So what do men do with the fact that some women have slipped through? They redefine literature so that writing by women can no longer considered "literary." For example, sentimentalism was painted as a cardinal sin of true literature. Women were essentially defined-out of the American canon. Foreman also made an interesting connection between our American "frontier culture" and American writer's inordinate fondness for writing about men. Thus, you have the likes of Washington Irving, Herman Melville, and Mark Twain, among others. Nathaniel Hawthore is an exception to this tendency, but his female characters were still tightly contained within the traditions of the "pure white maiden" or the "evil temptress." Not until Edith Wharton and Willa Cather did we begin to get great female characters. These characters are important because of what they teach us about ourselves as humans.
Though only a few of the questions that followed these statements were directly related to questions of the arts, one did stand out. A young woman asked, "How would you advise young women who are hoping to engage or become successful in the arts?" Carpenter answered, frankly, that sacrifice will be demanded. It's necessary, then, to define what success means to you. Is it being shown at the Whitney or balancing a productive career with motherhood? Most of the women at the top of the arts are either divorced or single and they rarely have children. Dr. Kapic, from the audience, made the helpful point here that men who are at the top of their disciplines often also sacrifice (or ignore) a family life. The issue of sacrificing marriage and family for the sake of career is not a question only for women. It is complicated, however, by the fact that motherhood is tied so closely to womanhood, while fatherhood is not considered a major component of masculinity. (I have more thoughts on this that will likely develop in a later post...)
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Kaleo Conference on Gender and the Chuch: Keynote 2
Kaleo Conference on Gender and the Church
Covenant College
February 11, 2006
Frank James gave the second keynote address, unpacking the history of gender and the church. The "more serious the discussion and the debate," he prefaced, "the more important it is to have some sense of historical context." To this end, he began by reading a series of quotes about women from the early, medieval, and reformation church fathers. These were not inspiring words.
The Early Church on Women:
Origin: "Women are worse than animals because they are continually full of lust."
Tertullian: "You are the devil's gateway, you are the first deserter of the divine law, you destroyed so easily God's image: man." And also, "Mankind, not woman, is made in the image of God.
Augustine: "I don't see what sort of help woman was created to provide man, if one excludes procreation. If the woman is not given to man to bear children, for what help could she be? To till the earth? If man needed help for that, man would have been a better help for man. The same goes for comfort and solitude. How much better for two men to live together..." And also, "For woman is not the image of God. Man alone is the image of God."
At a regional theological conference in France, Catholic bishops and laymen came together to decide this question: "Are women human?" In the end, they voted, 32-31, in favor of the fact that women were human.
The Medevial Church on Women
Aquinas: "A woman cannot be trusted... prudent men, therefore, tell their wives as little as possible about their plans. A woman is a botched male and by comparison with him she possesses a defective nature. In short, one should be on guard against any woman as against a poisonous snake."
Otto of Clooney: "To embrace a woman is to embrace a sack of manure."
James paused here to make a caveat: there are always good men out there who do love their wives, but this is a discussion of the trends. And, as we entered the Reformation period, three major trends were evident:
1) women were routinely viewed as seductresses -- dangerous
2) women were inferior by nature
3) women are not made in the image of God
The Reformation Fathers on Women
Luther: "Although Eve was a most extraordinary creature, similar to Adam so far as the image of God is concerned, that is, in justice, wisdom, and happinesss, she was nevertheless a woman. For as the sun is more excellent than the moon (although the moon, too, is a very excellent body), so the woman, although she was a most beautiful work of God, nevertheless was not the equal of the male in glory and prestige.
Calvin: "Woman was created in the image of God but in a second degree."
At this point, the audience was reeling. Yet, as James pointed out, as Christians we are morally obligated to tell the truth even when the truth hurts. In this discussion, we will not be able to make progress unless we tell ourselves the truth. From these quotes, James drew several helpful observations.
First, history reminds us that all our heroes are flawed. The history of the church is full of examples of heroes with feet of clay. The Bible is profoundly honest about the frailty of the heroes of the faith. In the end, there is but one hero: the Lord Jesus Christ
Secondly, history reminds us that we have come a long way on the question of gender. At least we think women are image bearers now! Even better, we are no longer debating whether women are human. Given the history of the church, this is a big deal.
Third, history reminds us that Christian practice is often better than the principles that have been espoused. For example, although Augustine did not believe that women are not made in the image of God and saw her main role as a procreator, his autobiographical Confessions tell a seemingly contradictory story. It is a woman, his mother Monica, who played the central role in his life as a witness and spiritual warrior. Augustine specifically relates a time when he and his mother were praying together and had an extraordinary spiritual experience together, something that he always cherished. Martin Luther, too, said many harsh things about women. But, he loved his wife, Katie, dearly. Luther's whole conception of what marriage was changed the world. In fact, James suggested, "the reformation Luther wrought in the concept of marriage may have actually been greater than the revolution in doctrine." Luther stablished a new, non economic, reason for getting married: love. Furthermore, in his will, Luther makes Katie his executor, even though the practice of the time was to leave one's possessions to the nearest male relative. These men were often better in practice than principle.
Fourth, history reminds us that debate and controversy are not always bad. No one enjoys controversy, but God, in his mystery and wisdom has a way of using controversy to bring about advances for the kingdom. "God has made a practice in history of bringing light out of the darkness of controversy and debate."
Fifth, historically it seems that healthy debate enables us to ask more helpful questions For example, in the American church, the "racial" question has evolved radically over the last three centuries. It went from "Are African Americans property?" in the 1800's, to "Do they have the same civil rights as a white person?" in the 1960's, to "Can we blend our worship services and have African Americans and whites worshipping side by side in the same church?" Similarly, in the PCA, James said, our questions of gender have started to change: from "what are the limitations we place upon women in the local church?" to "What can women do?"
Sixth, and finally, history reminds us who the real enemy is. At this point, James may have been getting a little wired, because relating a post-Reformation controversy over the Lord's Supper he said, and I faithfully quote, "John Calvin got on his horsey," rode to Switzerland, and sat down with his counterpart in Zurich and came to an agreement, putting together a document that both could agree on. What motivated Calvin was the thought of how much he and this other man had in common versus the relatively small amount of differences. They also shared the same enemy.
James concluded, "In this discussion about gender, the enemy is not the complementarians or egalitarians, the ultimate enemy is the devil himself." We must not forget this in the midst of a serious debate that a spiritual battle is raging.
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February 10, 2006
Kaleo Conference on Gender and the Church: Chapel Address
The Kaleo Conference on Gender and the Church is going on this weekend at Covenant College, with Frank and Carolyn James as the featured speakers. I have notes.
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"Masculinity"
Chapel Address by Frank James, President, RTS Orlando
Covenant College
Friday, February 10, 2006
Speaking from the perspective of an elder in a reformed church, Frank James explored the idea of Christian masculinity. (He also mentioned that he considered himself capable of speaking on the topic of masculinity since he is, in fact, a Texan.) Numerous lives, he said, have been ruined by a false understanding of what it means to be a Christian man.
In his early years as an elder, six couples in his relatively small church came in for counseling and, eventually, got divorced. The most painful and telling experience involved a former elder who claimed that his wife was "not submissive" while she argued that he was "a tyrant." Eventually, through the tearful testimony of the couple's daughter, the elder board realized that they all, James included, had been functioning on the assumption that the husband was right. They realized, James said, that as elders they had some unrealized gender issues.
In his years of counseling, James has seen a pattern: it was always the wife who initiated the counseling or divorce proceedings, always the husband that opposed or saw "no reason" to do so, and always the wife that pushed forward. Gender, James says, is very often at the center of how men and women relate in marriage. "Gender is not a theoretical question. It touches us where we live everyday." In many cases, it is rooted in a misconception of masculinity. Men seem to think that, as men, they need not take their wives' feelings or ideas seriously. In many counseling sessions, the common refrain from the husbands is, "I don't know what the fuss is about."
James explained that after reading many books on Christianity and gender and pouring over the Scripture passages generally associated with gender, he found an unexpected passage that jumped out at him: Galatians 5:22, 23. The Fruit of the Spirit. This, he says, is what the Christian man should be like. He should show love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. The Fruit of the Spirit must inform our Christian understanding of masculinity and femininity. The call of Christ precedes the call as a male (or female). Thus, "who you are as a Christian must inform how you act as a male or female." The Fruit of the Spirit are not "feminine" qualities. When men read this passage, they often skim past traits such as "kindness" and "gentleness," but, James challenged, "you are not less of a man if you are kind and gentle."
James then focused on a view of Christian masculinity with which he disagrees but sees as gaining steam in the reformed community. An "unnamed" pastor wrote an "unnamed" book that purports: "the evangelical church has been feminized." The corrective to this "feminization" is a recovery of "the hardness of masculinity." Men are called to assert their authority and never before and enforce their will on their wives. James argued, however, that such a view is incompatible with Paul's list in Galatians 5. "I do not think 'hardness' is a Christian virtue."
He ended with charges to the young men and young women. He encouraged the men -- who are, at this time in their lives fixing their self-identity --
to embrace the virtues of Galatians 5:22, 23. He reminded the women that their own conceptions of masculinity has "huge implications on the kind of men you will marry" and challenged them to shape their expectations according to Galatians 5:22, 23. He concluded: "marriage may be where gender matters most."
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February 09, 2006
Serrano's Challenge: What Christians Can Learn From "Piss Christ"
While I think that John Piper makes a helpful theological observation in his February 8th article, I wonder if his application is a bit too simplistic. Piper says:
The work of Muhammad is based on being honored and the work of Christ is based on being insulted. This produces two very different reactions to mockery.
After summarizing the divergent Muslim and Christian views of Christ and emphasizing the theological necessity of a humiliated Savior, Piper gives several modern examples of how the (expected) mockery of Christ continues to this day. I haven't watched or read enough to comment on two of his examples, but his mention of Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ" is a misapplied criticism.
In 1989, the exhibition of "Piss Christ," a nuanced and richly hued photograph described succinctly by conservatives as "a crucifix submerged in the artist's urine," caused an uproar. Piper fails to mention the evangelical response -- in America and abroad -- to "Piss Christ," a reaction that was far from humble, loving, or winsome. Senator Jesse Helms's diatribe on the Senate floor is well known. The Senator declared that Serrano was "not an artist, he [was] a jerk," and railed, "Do not dishonor our Lord. I resent it and I think the vast majority of the American people do too." Large, not always peaceful, protests were staged, museums that exhibited the piece received numerous bomb threats, and the artist himself received violent warnings. The picture was called a disgrace, irreverent, and profane. But, especially now, we Christians prefer not to think about all that.
We also tend to ignore Serrano's own explanation of his artwork. In an open letter to the NEA, Serrano wrote:
The photograph, and the title itself, are ambiguously provocative but certainly not blasphemous. Over the years, I have addressed religion regularly in my art. My Catholic upbringing informs this work which helps me to redefine and personalize my relationship with God. My use of such bodily fluids as blood and urine in this context is parallel to Catholicism's obsession with "the body and blood of Christ." It is precisely in the exploration and juxtaposition of the symbols from which Christianity draws it strength.
Perhaps in our hurry to be "afflicted" and "insulted," we Christians thoughtlessly assumed that "piss" and "Christ" could not be juxtaposed in a meaningful or reverential fashion. Do we really believe that God became man and participated in all the disgusting, filthy, and thoroughly human stuff that makes up our daily existence? If so, if we do believe in a humiliated Christ, then Serrano's work can actually become convicting... even devotional. God Incarnate means God wallowing in our waste. What if this image was not an attack on our faith, but a challenge to those who claim it? What if we failed? What if we, too, have a history of refusing an insulted Savior?
So, yes, Christians have good theological reasons to react differently than Muslims in the face of humiliation. The reality, though, is that our doctrine often does not inform our actions. We, too, have wrongly tried to preserve a shell of honor, even when true grace springs from ignominy.
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January 30, 2006
The Asian Invasion Begins
If you were a 23 year old performer who had been performing to sellout crowds across Asia after promising your dying mother that you would become the best singer in the world, you may be tempted to rest on your laurels. Go on an exotic vacation to Bali. Take some time off on a yacht in the Mediterranean. Maybe, if you wanted to feel particularly productive, you could have someone ghostwrite your personal Cinderella tale.
Or, you could decide to conquer the American music market and spend your days studying English, Japanese, and Chinese, practicing your singing and dancing incessantly, jumping rope 2000 times a day, reading up on American history and culture, and finishing your university degree in postmodern music via correspondence. You have more time to do all this, of course, because you don't party, smoke, or drink.
And, even after all this, you could still brace yourself for failure:
"In the case that my music is not loved by the American people, I will work very hard to fix things and hope to please them the next time."
Rain, the twenty-three year old South Korean pop star, is doing just that. His first English-language album is projected for release in October when, according to his producer, he is will have achieved basic English fluency and be ready to incite palpitations in thousands of American female hearts.
Is America ready for a self-flagellating, disciplined, and eager-to-please Asian superstar? This is, after all, a whole lot of culture to cross.
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January 17, 2006
Race Without Food
Yesterday's remarks by New Orleans' Mayor, Ray Nagin, got me thinking.
I love food. I love cooking it, I love eating it, I love discussing it, and I love writing about it. But I'm wondering if, after all, there is one area where food should just stay out of the discussion: race metaphors.
There is practically an entire genre of esculent imagery for racial identity. An "oreo" is someone who is black on the outside but "acts white." "Bananas" are those who appear Asian, but act white. "Eggs" are the opposite: white folk who act "yellow." A Native American who has lost touch with his or her ethnic identity is an "apple." Red and yellow black and white...
It's not that all food-inspired, race-related terms are necessarily pejorative. Caucasians may refer to themselves as having a "whitebread" upbringing or value set. Blacks may call themselves "chocolate." Sometimes, the edible analogies are intended to create a helpful picture of racial harmony. America may be called the "melting pot," a big vat of fondue that has mixed cheeses, wine, and spices into a smooth, rich mixture of indistinguishable parts. Sometimes, our country is instead termed a "mixed salad," where distinct ingredients are tossed together to form a single dish. Some, dissatisfied even with this, dream of an "ethnic stew," where ingredients maintain particularities while contributing to the greater, complex flavor of the whole.
It's strange how food plays a hugely important role in creating cultural and ethnic identity, and yet it fails so miserably when applied analogically to race relations. In the case of oreos, eggs, bananas, and apples, the metaphors mash the intricate, multi-layered tapestries of personality, upbringing, and other influences into a single, flat tone. Certain interests, actions, and preferences are equated with a color which, in turn, supposedly represents a racial or ethnic group. Such sweeping generalizations and simplistic renderings of what it means to "be Asian" or to "be black," color coded like a paint-by-numbers worksheet, can hardly be helpful when unpacking something so historically and emotionally charged. It is a telling irony that though invisible flavors are the primary distinguishing characteristic of different foods, it is color that gets the attention in our culinary, racial imagery.
Even those well-meaning metaphors, meant to assist in teaching multiculturalism, reveal deep set ideas about race relations. The "melting pot" image seems to spring from idealist, post-Enlightenment beliefs in the harmonizing power of democracy. It has been criticized for merely emphasizing cultural integration into the dominant group, expecting those from radically different cultures to be absorbed into the mainstream. The "toss salad" concept, on the other hand, perhaps places too much of an emphasis on the distinctives. In the analogy's own terms, one may ask, "Who gets to make the dressing to keep it all together?" Even the "ethnic stew," a new favorite among multiculturalists, breaks down relatively quickly. After all, not all ingredients meld well together.
Imagery can be a powerful, helpful tool for explaining difficult concepts. It makes the abstract concrete and provides a familiar context for uncovering new ideas. I do wonder, then, why our attempts to relate race, ethnicity, and cultural heritage to food have proven at best one-dimensional and at worst actually hurtful. Perhaps part of the problem lies in insistence on limiting our explanations to visual observations. I don't have a solution, but perhaps we would do well to start tasting.
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December 19, 2005
If I were a Personal Friend of Colin Meloy, I would...
The Christmas cover album seems to be some sort of weird rite of passage in the recording industry: release at least two full length albums on a major record, then pause for a quick Christmas album. Most of my favorite arists and groups, however, seemed to have missed this, and, really, that's okay.
But, if I were to have a slew of them at my creative disposal, I would have, in short order:
A Nickel Creek cover of "Tennessee Christmas"
U2 singing "Angels We Have Heard on High," just to hear what Bono would do with the "glo---rias."
A Darkness cover of "O Holy Night."
Joss Stone singing "Baby, It's Cold Outside"...with whoever she wanted to.
Innocence Mission covering "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear."
Out of peverse curiousity, I would have Radiohead try their hand at "What Child is This?"
Jack Johnson would, of course, give me a local twist on "I'll Be Home for Christmas."
Sufjan... oh wait, he already did three volumes.
And, of course, a fifteen-minute The Decemberists ballad recounting the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future.
It would be fabulous.
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December 06, 2005
If I was a Japanese Male, I Would Wear...
There have probably been some late nights where you paced the floors restlessly, wondering what your Japanese fashion style was. Now, Non-no, a Japanese fashion magazine, is happy to help.
I ended up with some tight jeans, a gray knit cap, a layered combo of grey and white shirts, and a red, shiny, and quilted cropped jacket.
Let the Engrish be your guide.
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November 18, 2005
Childhood Throwback: Kaguyahime
As I drove up the mountain this morning, the full moon still hung in the sky, white and perfectly round. It reminded me of a favorite childhood story, Kaguyahime, a Japanese folktale.
(As I finished writing this I think I realized for the first time just how sad this story is. As a little girl, I think I just got caught up in the unutterable coolness of being a moon princess.)
Continue reading "Childhood Throwback: Kaguyahime"
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October 31, 2005
Ich bin Deustche nicht, but this ad campaign makes me wish otherwise
Since I'm studying German this semester, my ears perked when I heard this NPR story on a new ad campaign to lift Germany's national morale. The ads depict famous actors, athletes, and other German notables, along with the uplifting slogan: "Du bist ____" ("You are __insert famous person's name__").
Digression: I chuckled at the NPR reporter's use of the word "glum." People should use it more often.
The ad copy itself is an exquisite use of rhetorical hyperbole. My German is still too limited to fairly assess the tone, but Google translator and I came up with this:
Resistance and chances are nearly always equal in the balance of life. But you can decide which side wins. Passion weighs more than resistance, and dreams are heavier than stupid prejudices. If you throw everything into the scale, then nobody can stop you.You are Germany.
Even beyond the literary aesthetics of the ads, I'm strangely fascinated. Regardless of whether or not the campaign has any effect, it takes a certain kind of national history and consciousness to even attempt to motivate an entire nation solely on the virtue of their communal heritage. I have a hard time imagining a "You are George Washington" campaign ever getting funded in the United States. Perhaps it's because, as a nation, we are perpetually the younger sibling, wishing that mom and dad wouldn't remind us that our big sister France has contributed far more to the intellectual canon of western society. An individualistic mindset is hardly receptive to the idea that one should perk up simply because of shared ancestry with Albrecht Durer.
But, hey. Deutschland, viel Glueck!
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September 29, 2005
Facebook: the site that keeps you clicking
So the bright young things have a new way to be virtually connected: facebook. Part yearbook, part xanga profile, facebook is a fascinating combination of narcissism, voyeurism, and serendipitous discovery. The magic key is a school-related e-mail address. If yours doesn't end with the domain of a registered college, you're out of luck.
Intrigued by the hubbaloo, Noel and I set up profiles; we've been clicking amusedly through ever since. The lure of the facebook experience is difficult to completely unpack. There's the selfish joy of self-disclosure without the upkeep demanded by a blog. (You can fill out as many or as few of the profile questions as you wish.) You can search for and reconnect (however superficially) with old high school buddies who went to school in California while you stayed in Tennessee. You can create "groups," mini-communities of other facebookers who share your interests, however obscure they may be. After all, every school needs a "People Who Like Norse Mythology Way Too Much" club. And, I admit, it's nice to find out that there are, indeed, two other people who listen to the Decemberists.
But there's also the weird, junior-high-inspired experience of "Jane says your her friend. Confirm or reject?" (Though, unlike junior high, she never has to know if you say "no.") Couple that with the inevitable pressure -- and occasionally unofficial contest -- to see who has the most "friends" and you may just experience freshman year flashbacks.
As interesting as the current social implications are, I'm even more intrigued by what could be the next generation of facebook. This "online community" could -- and likely soon will -- integrate other "personal stuff aggregators" like Flickr and Last Fm. The fun comes when you realize that those services remove some degree of user control. If your facebook profile was to randomly rotate every Flickr photo you have tagged with "me," it would be harder to make sure that the cute boy in your literature class only sees that sultry prom pic you like so much. And even though you claim to be the biggest Wilco or Arcade Fire fan, everyone -- thanks to Last Fm -- will be able to see that you just spent the last two hours listening to Dave Matthews Band.
Ooh.
Posted by elissa at 08:16 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 12, 2005
In Which My Attempt to Appear Hip Falls Flat (or) Decemberists, Come Quickly!
Towards the end of our discussion of Melville's short story "Bartleby the Scrivener," this happened:
Don't you all think that "Bartleby the Scrivener" would make a great name for a Decemberists' album? (I am met with blank stares.) Wait, does anyone even listen to the Decemberists?
Two students saved me from utter despair and total face-loss by raising their hands. I ordered the rest of the class to look up the band as part of their homework. Maybe today I will recommend that they download this and cement myself in their minds as the substitute prof that listened to "weird things."
Oh yes, believe your ears. That's the Decemberists doing a cover of Bjork's "Human Behavior."
(Thanks to Casselculture for the tip)
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August 23, 2005
Fall Fashion (or) How to Wear Your Sleeping Bag
CHATTY -- The blouse -- feminine, flowing, and fluttery -- is back for fall. But if you thought that The Blouse need always be sweetly ladylike, Viktor & Rolf would like to prove you wrong.
Subtlty is an art that need not be mastered. Pair this lavishly ruffled blouse with slim pants for balance and try to stay away from industrial fans, small, homeless birds, and folks with colds.
If a softly tied bow at the neck is too demure for your imperious personality, then channel Queen Elizabeth I with a boxy, bedclothesy, stiffly trimmed collar. There's no need to carry a purse with this fantastic number; any necessities can be gently cradled in a pillowy home along your neckline. There's also enough room for a puppy or a small infant.
Of course, the modern girl's primary fashion demand is that the outfit be "comfortable." And what could possibly be more comfortable than your bed? A brilliant idea, and far more classy than wearing pajama bottoms to class.
The best thing, ladies? These are all part of V&R's ready-to-wear collection, available for purchase by you, the common consumer.
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August 15, 2005
The Internet Spoke, and It Said That Christopher Walken is Running for President.
The internet tells me that Christopher Walken is running for president in 2008. According to a press release on the"official" Christopher Walken for President 2008 campaign website, the actor announced his intentions at a private conference last week. Because of current filming obligations, the campaign will keep a relatively low profile, possibly until early 2007. Walken's agent says that there are no plans for "going national" with the news in "the immediate future."
Okay, so, actually it's part of an elaborate prank by an online forum (or so says a Christopher Walken Fan Club!). But, let's be honest. Questions of authenticity aside, this is fun!
First, you have the initial reaction. How do you feel about a man renowned for playing psychologically troubled characters sitting in the Oval Office?
Then, there's the sweet recursive nature of the acceptance-and-suspicion of both traditional and online media. At least on some level, this hoax perpetuated its aura of believability because of bloggers' recent success in one-upping newspapers and television news. The pranksters used this blog-as-a-news-source explosion to their definite advantage. As I write this, "Christopher Walken" is the number two search on Technorati. Still, even with over 5,000 blogs (both believing and disbelieving) posting about our newest presidential candidate, my reflex was to Google the news, looking to find affirmation or denial of the claims from a traditionally-accepted source.
And, finally, there's the stylistic delight of campaign writing. I love good political copy:
Choice quotes include Walken's agent, Toni Howard:
Mr. Walken has greatly admired the celebrities who have entered politics and he wants to be able to give a good name and reputation to the acting community as well as the political community."
As well as from the brief online bio:
Having residences both in rural Connecticut and upper-west Manhattan, he sees that all walks of life are becoming disgruntled and apathetic towards the American government, and feels a duty, as a child of the American public, to restore the peace, prosperity, and greatness of the United States.
And the man himself, explaining why he wants to be a politician:
That is what I love to be, a man of respect and love
The lesson to be gleaned from this fiasco is clear: having your high school civics class create fake presidential campaign websites would be a fantastic group writing project.
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August 05, 2005
For Josiah and Aaron
Remember my earlier fascination with boom trikes?
Well, in a recent conversation with The Husband, Josiah, April, and Aaron, we concocted a cunning plan to obtain a spot on a local tv channel and bring "Pimp My Bike" to St. Elmo. It would be the best feel-good show ever.
Apparently, however, the Germans are ahead of us. Really, the Europeans (and MTV) have this thing down to an art.
Still, don't let the dream die, Mesh. I think Stelmo would have a completely different aesthetic and the need for much, much bigger speakers.
Posted by elissa at 09:32 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
August 01, 2005
Opinion Anorexia: The Lure of a Low-Calorie Intake of Alternate Perspectives
If you've been keeping up with The Husband's blog, you've probably read his response to Doug Phillip's essay "Harry Potter and the Lavender Brigade." You may also have read the responses that Doug himself received. And if you did all that, then you probably, gentle reader, noticed the paucityof disagreement from his readers. The choir answered in soaring tones with resounding "amens."
Not that it comes as much of a surprise.
After all, you sign up for e-mail newsletters from people that you trust; you subscribe to magazines that interest you; you buy cd's of lectures from people you respect. When it comes to our money and our time, we often (and I might say understandably so) equate "stewardship" with a strict information-consumption diet of conservative media and a few carefully-chosen Christian commentators. But even within the Christian sphere of cultural-analysis there are a slew of choices, ranging, perhaps, from Doug Phillips-like folk on the vanilla end, World Magazine and friends in the strawberry section, and Relevant Magazine holding down the chocolate. So I like chocolate. I buy chocolate. I don't buy vanilla. Makes sense, right?
It makes so much sense, actually, that I'm fairly confident in suggesting that your run-of-the-mill evangelical is not the only or prime culprit. Opinion anorexia affects all political, religious, and moral persuasions. It's in our nature to desire affirmation. With the constant spray of information shot at us each day, it's simply easier to read people that you feel like you can wholeheartedly trust. There's even, as Richard Posner recently posited in a New York Times essay, economic reasons for the growing movement away from the middle and towards the ends of the political continuum.
Of course, our prediliction for a certain course of action hardly makes it right.
The point of all of this reading should be to fufill at least a three-fold calling:
- a calling to be humble; to recognize my own blindness and the vanity of ever believing that I have attained whole truth
- a calling to be a culture-maker; "subduing the earth" can only happen if we engage the earth
- a calling to be a student of theology; that means reading the Bible itself, not just what other people say about the Bible
And that leaves me with a bundle of questions. I read the New York Times, Salon, and Relevant and listen to NPR; does active humility mean thoughtfully reading Vision Forum as well? (Yech. It's easier to read to my left than to my right.) If I believe that multiple perspectives are an invaluable resource, then how do I encourage other friends and family to consume a multi-course media meal? How do you write and speak with conviction, while encouraging your audience to sift you with the Word of God? How do we consume a hearty, ranging diet of opinions and analysis that strengthens instead of bloats us?
I don't know. But I don't think a skinny mind will do.
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