Amen!!
No, I haven't heard on any grad school fellowships yet. But some sermons do make you want to jump up and shout more than others...
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February 19, 2008
February 15, 2008
Seeing poverty
I've been reading David Kuo's blog on and off the last few months. He was the initial director of Bush's fath-based initiative program, but ended up leaving when he felt it wasn't being funded as promised. In any case, he's currently taking a trip to Uganda and writing about his experience there. This post today was pretty striking to me--it's an issue I think about regularly living in north Minneapolis.
February 13, 2008
Caring for the youngin's
Domestic abuse is not uncommon, but to hear the story this week of Demond Reed is pretty heartbreaking. The four year old was beat to death in a duplex about five or six blocks from our home after soiling his pants. As I rode the 5 bus home yesterday afternoon, a man next to me was recounting on his phone the various "whoopins" he had as a kid, which involved belts and hoses. It just reconfirms to me how important it is to focus on youth in our neighborhood. We're not the family with kids over every night, but it's something we need to be involved with, even more as Micah enters kindergarten around here next year and gets neighborhood friends.
Fish or manna?
Back last summer, when things weren't going so well, Sarah and I kept talking about which Biblical narrative we were involved in. To me, that's theology at it's most fundamental form--making sense of our own situation through the stories of the past. I've been thinking about that again more recently as I've been waiting on decisions regrading my graduate school application. At this point, I do feel like this is the next step for me. It fits my own understanding of my vocation and what others have told me. Yet financially, there's some big hurdles--possibly a six-figure student loan debt if there's no more assistance than assistantships. In situations like this, I feel like the underlying sentiment is if this is of God, God will provide.
But how? That's the question that I've been puzzling over. On the one hand, there's narratives in Scripture like the one where Jesus gives his disciples a boat overflowing with fish--a promise of extravagant provision. On the other hand, there's also stories like the manna in the wilderness, where God only provides enough for each day, calling for faith to trust for more tomorrow. Concretely, I'll probably get a decent one year fellowship offer from the U, but what about the other 2-3 years? Do I make the choice and trust God to provide as I go? Or do I look for the net full of fish--one of the multi-year fellowships I applied for--as confirmation? I'm not sure how to read the tea leaves, to use an unBiblical metaphor.
February 11, 2008
Hillary rocks out!
Hillary's new ad targeting youth. It's clever in a self-conscious "my mom's trying to relate to my generation" kind of way.
Like hope, but different
Funny take on Obama's "Yes, We Can" music video with McCain as the subject. Enjoy...
February 08, 2008
The meaning of "is"
You know, I was against the impeachment saga back when it was happening. I genuinely liked Bill and saw it as just a Republican ploy to attack his political legitimacy. And I don't think that's wholly wrong. But when I read articles like this, it makes me think. Commenting on his much cited criticsms of Obama, the former president says:
"I think the mistake that I made is to think that I was a spouse like any other spouse who could defend his candidate."
Um, Bill? Reality check here. You're a former president. Claiming the rights of "any other spouse" doesn't fly. By saying stuff like this, though, the Clintons can claim the "victim" mantle that served them so well in the 90s. Poor Bill. Furthermore, he comments that while everything he said was "factually accurate," reporting was "factually inaccurate." That's mostly true--he didn't really lie. Jesse Jackson did in fact win South Caroline in 1988. But why bring that up in reference to Obama? It's an obvious reference to race, and while there's some truth to it (look at the margins among black voters), it's certainly also attempt to make Obama into the "black" candidate.
One last quote: "I think whenever I defend her, I, A, risk being misquoted, and, B, risk being the story. I don't want to be the story." Bill Clinton doesn't want the limelight? Note that he's making this statement in a context that is all about his story--him talking about his role in the campaign. There's a certain irony there.
In any case, I'm glad that things have gotten toned down a bit in the last couple of weeks. I've actually warmed to Hillary a bit. I certainly appreciate the expertise she would bring to the office. At the same time, the political drama that would accompany the Clintons' return simply outweighs those positives.
Grading hell
I have to say that grading isn't as bad as it used to be, but I still resonate with this comic:
February 04, 2008
Representing numbers-Super Tuesday edition
I'm taking a research methods class this semester and found this graph of polling data for tomorrow interesting.
There's a lot here--you easily see the condition of the race in multiple states, and the shaded dots give you the sense of motion. It's relatively easy to interpret as well. Cool.
Credit: Pollster
February 03, 2008
Yes, we can--remix
Found this on the Daily Kos--doesn't do anything to answer those who think Obama's campaign is just rhetoric, but I think it captures the power of those words well:
Left out in the cold
Tried to go see Obama at the Target Center yesterday. The doors were supposed to open at 1:30 and I got there right about that time. Had to get off a stop early because the line was probably about a mile long. After not even moving for 45 minutes, I decided that it would be a LONG time before he would start speaking and hopped the bus home. Here's a pic that gets the general idea--Target Center is the white topped building on the right:
In the end, there was about 20,000 people there according to news reports.
On a side note, one of the African-American men on my bus home had this to say about the crowd: "Man, Obama's a Muslim. He doesn't even believe in Jesus."
February 01, 2008
People with too much time and money on their hands
Found this link on Andrew Sullivan's blog--10 quite extravagant home theaters. Even in the last ten years, it seems like home entertainment has become a massive industry. It's the theater experience at home. I can't help but wonder, though, if the novelty wears off when it's your house. Part of the appeal of an extravagant setting like this is the uniqueness of it. It's all feasting and no fasting, so to speak, which makes the feast less feast-like. Still, while the movie was mediocre in my opinion, I like the Titanic theme here...