Confessions of an Errant Mind

I just came across a news story that fits that description in two different ways. One, it's about the main grocery store where I shop: Cub Foods on beleagered West Broadway. It opened about three years ago, I think--I was there within an hour of its opening. Apparently it has yet to turn a profit. It certainly doesn't lack for business, but it sounds like it's a matter of what people are buying. Interesting that a store in this neighborhood sells so much meat, which is generally a higher priced source of calories. Certainly, the checkout lines don't want for chicken and beef, though they're usually tempered with chips, sweets, and multi-colored sugar drinks.

But on the other end, the faculty member mentioned here (Bernadette Longo) is part of my new department--the freshly birthed Department of Writing Studies. Looking over her CV, it appears that she's done several projects in my neighborhood. I'll have to look her up!

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That's the slogan of Vision 20/20, an online service (using technology called a Mashup) that offers online map-related services. Most notably this includes a geographical search for registered sex offenders in your immediate area. I tried this with our address, just to see how it worked. Not well. The Minnesota Dept. of Corrections (slogan: "Contributing to a Safer Minnesota") lists six Level 3 Offenders in our zip code, including one a block from our house. Vision 20/20 listed five offenders, but none actually in our zip code. There was no overlap between the two lists, so I don't know where they're getting they're information from if not from the DOC. It's certainly not as impressive as ChicagoCrime.org, where you can sign up for a feed of crimes happening near any city address--it's linked to a publicly available police database.

With our house languishing on the market the last few months, I've been thinking about maps like these. I posted a few weeks ago about the foreclosure, or crime maps that Minneapolis has on its city website. There's some value to these--particularly for citizens seeking information about crime patterns in the city. Yet, as Vision 20/20s slogan suggests, they also allow people to steer clear of potentially dangerous people--giving us "peace of mind" about our neighborhood so we can be truly "prosperous." And so, while we live in a great house on a relatively quiet section of a poor neighborhood, people are scared to live here because bad things do occasionally happen around us.

As a Christian, though, my reading of the gospels shows another mindset. Jesus didn't look at the maps to find the safest place to live. He chose the "dangerous" neighborhood. He didn't avoid "dangerous" characters--he sought them out. When all these maps do is instill fear and create segregated communities, they run counter to the purpose of the church: reconciliation and peace-making.

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It was 14 years ago this week that I wandered over to the front of Clapp Recital Hall on the University of Iowa campus for the start of hell week--five days of drum corps like training for the Hawkeye Marching Band. I never liked marching band. The sensation of twisting my body, pulling a metal mouthpiece tight against my lips to keep it from slipping around, all while unable to breathe naturally is not pleasant. For hell week, we did it a lot--8-10 hours a day in 90+ degree heat and humidity. But it was fun in its own sadistic way--good to be part of a team and fun eventually to perform (to a half interested audience, but a large one).

The Iowa City Press Citizen posted an audio slide show of this year's hell week group, which is what drummed up these memories. I was only in the HMB one year, but several of these drills still sound as familiar as yesterday. "Tweeeeeet...tweet, tweet...'And let's go hawks!'"

Fall isn't far away.

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Andrew Sullivan had a link to this video on his blog. While I admire the production value (and its obvious reference to military recruiting commercials), as a Christian myself it's quite disturbing. The verse at the beginning poses Jesus as some kind of cosmic crusader, when the context might accurately be describing the church as on the defense than the offense. The church in the first century saw the sword, but it wasn't in their hands. Yes--the Bible uses warfare as an image of God's work in the world. I've even found quite a bit of solace recently in Greg Boyd's take on the spiritual conflict that is present in the world. But the same Jesus also said that those who live by the sword will die by it, and his model of warfare was not taking up a weapon, but sacrificing himself for those he loved. Noticeably absent from this video also is any enemy--who is it that these people are all prepared to fight? With a literal sword? If this video featured Arabic speaking Muslims, how would Americans feel?

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One tension I sometimes feel as a socially conscious person of faith is where the solution for social problems comes from. As an evangelical kid, I know the right answer is "Jesus." But it's not always that easy. Do people in my neighborhood of north Minneapolis need the transforming power of the Holy Spirit? Sure. But that's not just an abstract spiritual experience. Faith needs hands and feet, too, as James says. The work of community transformation and healing can be immensely practical.

But then the question becomes the relative roles of church and state in that process. Conservatives would say church--see W.'s insistence on faith-based solutions to hunger and poverty. Liberals see government as a more helpful solution. I'm not sure Scripture comes down on either side of that debate. The Old Testament has several programs that scream welfare state--forgiving all debts every 50 years? Having all tithes go to the poor? Allowing for gleaning the fields? Yet the early church practiced the work of justice without the help of government. People sold fields and gave out of the proceeds for the sake of others they'd never even met. In theory, the New Testament model has it's attractions--particularly because I'm kind of an Anabaptist at heart.

It's with this tension in mind that I read a story in the latest Christianity Today about World Vision's "big box" store to be used for community development. For the conservative answer to work, in my estimation, there need to be more, many more stories such as this. It can be convincing that justice needs to be the work of church and private individuals--that only faith and personal investment can cure what ails us. Yet such language, to me, is often used to simply justify larger inaction. We give our $20 to the non-profit of our choice and all go out to Appleby's. Using the tools of commerce and the market not just to get financial security, but to enrich society as a whole--I'd love to see a Republican running on that platform. Democrats don't talk about it as much as they used to, but at least some (such as Edwards or Obama) have that call to community responsibility that I think is the core ethic here. In any case, when you have a minute, look at the piece above. It's an interesting project.

Image source

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Again, apologies to any actual regular readers I have out there. Between setting up a new computer and a family vacation, there hasn't been much time for blogging.

One of the entertainment blogs I started reading during the last season of The Sopranos has an interesting feature this month--"31 Days of Spielberg." These are some nice, in-depth reflections on the director's movies. Today's entry, for example, was The Temple of Doom. I remember being pretty scared of this film--particularly the heart removal scene--when I saw in theaters as a 10 year old. This reviewer talks about that dark tone at length, particularly making a connection with George Lucas's divorce at the time. In any case, movie buffs might find this interesting to check out.

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I received word this week that I've had my first article conditionally accepted. Yay! It's at a journal called Academic Exchange Quarterly, a general education journal. Basically, I outline some of the difficulties I encountered in my service learning project last spring. The catch is that I need to add a significant number of outside sources to my piece in order for them to publish it. Because that will entail some more time from an editorial standpoint, they're charging me a "redactory fee" of about $130. I've asked some other faculty friends for input on this, and it sounds like a high number. On the other hand, with a grad school and fellowship applications coming up this fall, a peer-reviewed publication sure would look good. So I'm adding this to my to do list and trying to remain grateful for the chance to see my name in print.

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There was a BIG jump in my viewership this week--from about 60-70 a week to almost 500. I'm not sure yet exactly what happened, but most people seem to be looking at a picture from Ratatouille a few weeks back. Maybe Thomas Keller's recipe is sweeping the nation? In any case, welcome, new guests!

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I've been falling off on the blogging this week. My summer course is done, so I have five weeks break, which is part of it. Plus I built a new PC for us (yay, me!) this week, which meant limited Internet access at home. In any case, things will pick up again soon, but it's nice to check out on the world for awhile. That is, aside from a national disaster less than a mile from my office...

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I've had a couple of chances to go by the I-35 bridge in the last few days. While it's hard to get an actual view of the bridge, at least casually, my main impression was of the difference of scale. This bridge was big. The gap that's opened up by it is major. It's also odd to be the focus of national news--to see Tim Dolan (whose cell phone number we had back when we lived close to a major drug corner) on CNN is somewhat surreal. The pictures on TV and the web do a better job of getting the details, but the whole scope of this event is much more striking at the actual site--the satellite trucks, signage, and onlookers give context to the site.

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