It's an epic battle against good and evil... It's a foe that sees all and hears all... It's a tiny band of unknowing, guileless little flip-flopping people walking out of Bag-End....
It's the hobbits!
Apparently it's us.
"You are," my dad's colleague said about our plans to move with our baby to D.C., "Frodo to the Extreme."
Excuse me? Whether Mr. D was referring to D.C. as Mordor or to me as a hobbit-looking Little Person is debatable. The fact is that we look rather small wandering out of the mid-mountain-west with earnest naivety.
The fact is, Mr. D. told us, we're heading into an adventure.
An adventure?
According to Don Everts, a campus pastor at CU, "An adventure happens when during at least one point you wish you were not in the middle of it."
Not reassuring words, but truthful nonetheless.
Frodo and Sam had many moments of deep longing for the Shire.
But it takes a first step to see what comes next, and as Gandalf told Frodo about Bilbo's journey: "I merely nudged him out the front door."
For Mr. D., our path to (Mordor?) this summer to navigate (D.C.'s roaming trolls and orcs?) will be one of epic proportions.
I'm sure it will.
But still, I'm not sure how I feel about being likened to a hobbit.
Couldn't I be Galadriel?
EC
Monday, January 15, 2007
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Manitoba, anyone?
Hypothetical 2008 Presidential election scenario:
Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton squares off against darkhorse Republican Tom Tancredo.
And EC and BC start looking at property in Canada.
Discuss.
Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton squares off against darkhorse Republican Tom Tancredo.
And EC and BC start looking at property in Canada.
Discuss.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
In Light of Dr. King's Day
Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. day. In his honor, a quote from Dr. King:
"I have the encouraging news that there has ben some recent dialogue between Roman Catholics and Protestants. I am told that several Protestant churchmen from your nation accepted Pope John's invitation to be observers at a recent ecumenical council in Rome. This is both a significant and healthy sign. I hope it is the beginning of a development that will bring all Christians closer together."
-"Paul's Letter to American Christians." 1956.
"I have the encouraging news that there has ben some recent dialogue between Roman Catholics and Protestants. I am told that several Protestant churchmen from your nation accepted Pope John's invitation to be observers at a recent ecumenical council in Rome. This is both a significant and healthy sign. I hope it is the beginning of a development that will bring all Christians closer together."
-"Paul's Letter to American Christians." 1956.
High-Quality Christmas
Before the Christmas season gets too far behind me, I have to comment on some high-quality items I received. Now, I received many other high-quality items beyond the following list-- but it really is more difficult to blog about cool ties and coats than books and DVDs. Without further ado, the top-notch list includes:
1) The Road, by Cormac McCarthy: The author of Blood Meridian drops another 500-pound bomb of a novel. He's the best American fiction writer alive today. Most of his work reads like a potent mix of the Old Testament, Homer, Dante, and William Faulkner.
2) In the Bedroom: If there's one thing I hate about some movies, it's when a director tries to get too philosophical at the expense of telling a good story. In the Bedroom starts with telling a good story, which proceeds naturally into big picture questions of Justice, Law, Forgiveness and Revenge, without getting pretentious. (Spoiler alert: do not expect a happy ending to this one).
3) The Great Omission, by Dallas Willard: Willard is a professor of philosophy at USC, who happens to be a powerful Christian teacher as well. Nothing but simple, straightforward explication of the words of Jesus himself. This book (in addition to his earlier Divine Conspiracy) will challenge recently entrenched notions about what it means to be a "Christian". Willard is the like the scribe Jesus mentions who receives the Holy Spirit, drawing out what is old and new.
4) The Histories, by Herodotus: For those of us who believe in the maxim, "Multiculturalism begins at home." Or, to paraphrase Chaim Potok, you have to learn your own history and culture before you can learn someone else's (this may seem an odd conclusion for many who know my lifelong interest in other cultures). Herodotus is next in line in a reading series we're in the middle of on the Great Books of Western Civilization, following the historical line of literature produced by Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, London, and now the sovereign citizens of the United States of America. And yes, given the pace of life these days, it will take years to complete this list. Year one is already in the bag.
BC
1) The Road, by Cormac McCarthy: The author of Blood Meridian drops another 500-pound bomb of a novel. He's the best American fiction writer alive today. Most of his work reads like a potent mix of the Old Testament, Homer, Dante, and William Faulkner.
2) In the Bedroom: If there's one thing I hate about some movies, it's when a director tries to get too philosophical at the expense of telling a good story. In the Bedroom starts with telling a good story, which proceeds naturally into big picture questions of Justice, Law, Forgiveness and Revenge, without getting pretentious. (Spoiler alert: do not expect a happy ending to this one).
3) The Great Omission, by Dallas Willard: Willard is a professor of philosophy at USC, who happens to be a powerful Christian teacher as well. Nothing but simple, straightforward explication of the words of Jesus himself. This book (in addition to his earlier Divine Conspiracy) will challenge recently entrenched notions about what it means to be a "Christian". Willard is the like the scribe Jesus mentions who receives the Holy Spirit, drawing out what is old and new.
4) The Histories, by Herodotus: For those of us who believe in the maxim, "Multiculturalism begins at home." Or, to paraphrase Chaim Potok, you have to learn your own history and culture before you can learn someone else's (this may seem an odd conclusion for many who know my lifelong interest in other cultures). Herodotus is next in line in a reading series we're in the middle of on the Great Books of Western Civilization, following the historical line of literature produced by Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, London, and now the sovereign citizens of the United States of America. And yes, given the pace of life these days, it will take years to complete this list. Year one is already in the bag.
BC
Friday, January 12, 2007
Preferred Sites Added
Please note the addition of "Preferred Sites" on the right side. These are sites I return to on a regular basis.
BC (and presumabley at some point, EC)
BC (and presumabley at some point, EC)
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Confucious Says...
A wise, experienced political professional (who will remain anonymous) said to me today at the State Capitol:
"There are some ultra-liberals in the General Assembly. There are also some ultra-conservatives in the General Assembly. Do not drink the kool-aid of either."
Ah, yes...the wisdom of the wise is wise indeed....
BC
"There are some ultra-liberals in the General Assembly. There are also some ultra-conservatives in the General Assembly. Do not drink the kool-aid of either."
Ah, yes...the wisdom of the wise is wise indeed....
BC
Monday, January 1, 2007
Beef Rendering Made Hip
For many cities, the prospect of a beef processing plant coming to town would cause nothing but a collective shrug (except in Boulder, where unkempt college students wearing "COWS ARE PEOPLE TOO" t-shirts would chain themselves to the backs of cattle trailers).
A friend of mine (also a native Northeast South Dakotan) and I were recently talking about a large beef processing plant that's coming to Aberdeen, South Dakota. Aberdeen's population has hovered in the neighborhood of 25,000 for about the last 50 years. This is all about to change however, as new workers (read: immigrant families with last names you can't pronounce) will fill newly vacant jobs. (Other upcoming new jobs in Aberdeen include a few hundred openings in banking and finance - though that doesn't garner quite the same headlines).
Check out these unbelievable t-shirts created by local magazine A-List, to promote the beef plant. (Caution -- these guys brew their irony and sarcasm strong). This has been framed as an economic development issue - possibly a trend-setting one. If beef processing is symbolic for broader economic growth in Aberdeen, I'm all for it. Onward!
BC
A friend of mine (also a native Northeast South Dakotan) and I were recently talking about a large beef processing plant that's coming to Aberdeen, South Dakota. Aberdeen's population has hovered in the neighborhood of 25,000 for about the last 50 years. This is all about to change however, as new workers (read: immigrant families with last names you can't pronounce) will fill newly vacant jobs. (Other upcoming new jobs in Aberdeen include a few hundred openings in banking and finance - though that doesn't garner quite the same headlines).
Check out these unbelievable t-shirts created by local magazine A-List, to promote the beef plant. (Caution -- these guys brew their irony and sarcasm strong). This has been framed as an economic development issue - possibly a trend-setting one. If beef processing is symbolic for broader economic growth in Aberdeen, I'm all for it. Onward!
BC
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)