OK, One Last Blog Entry Before I Go...
And it isn't even autobiographical! Check out this article relating consumerism (specifically, brand loyalty) to the more time-honored practices of religion and magic.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
I'm a-Gonna Be Gone for Awhile
Now that it's after midnight, I can say that today I am going to leave for a trip to New York City. We'll be pulling out around noon, heading through Canada to spend the night at Niagara Falls, then down to Syracuse University Friday morning for a band clinic with the university music department. Oh, maybe you don't know that the trip is one that I'm serving as a chaperone for Wyoming Park High School Marching Band, of which two of my sons are members.
I have to finish packing and get to bed, so this is going to be a short blog entry, considering all that I otherwise would like to say. Today was a loaded one for me - I was a lead trainer at work for LSCI and Handle With Care, and I think I did OK but by my own standards, I have a lot of polishing up to do. Then I went straight from Wedgwood to the Van Andel Arena to work the Kenny Chesney/Gretchen Wilson/Uncle Kracker concert. Wow. What an event. These are probably the least intriguing of the numerous concerts I've worked since I started doing this gig, but there was some interesting stuff that happened tonight, no doubt. Kenny Chesney is extraordinarily popular around here - he holds the record for the quickest sell-out of the VAA. He sold out 13,000 seats in 9 minutes for last year's show. This year, he sold out two consecutive nights in 45 minutes. Unbelievable - I just don't see where the appeal is, but he draws in a lot of young people. It was quite a boisterous crowd. I think they tap into his slightly smug, country-ish dude knockin' back a few cold ones and chillin' on the beach vibe. A lot of the audience members were rather attractive, well-nourished and fashionably dressed people, of both genders - urban cowgirls in low cut tops and tight jeans, Kenny-clones with their curled-brim straw hats, shirt sleeves rolled up to show off adequately buffed biceps, real cool dudes all in all. A fun crowd for people watching. We sold lots and lots of beer, all the way up until 10 pm, which is about half-an-hour later than usual. Then we sold lots of bottled water after that. Well, I don't have time to write all that I'd like to about Kenny and Gretchen and even Uncle Kracker - I can't say I especially dug the music but they are unique characters, even moderately intriguing cultural icons of a sort, that are worth further pondering IMO as to what they represent and have to say as reflections of contemporary American society. I'll save the rest of my comments until a later date.
So you have that to look forward to, as well as my observations and comments on what we are going to do over this long weekend in New York City. Yeah baby, I'm headin' to the Big Apple! Oh Yeah! Start spreadin' the news... :o)
I'll be back on April 5, so check back then and I'll fill you in on everything.
Now that it's after midnight, I can say that today I am going to leave for a trip to New York City. We'll be pulling out around noon, heading through Canada to spend the night at Niagara Falls, then down to Syracuse University Friday morning for a band clinic with the university music department. Oh, maybe you don't know that the trip is one that I'm serving as a chaperone for Wyoming Park High School Marching Band, of which two of my sons are members.
I have to finish packing and get to bed, so this is going to be a short blog entry, considering all that I otherwise would like to say. Today was a loaded one for me - I was a lead trainer at work for LSCI and Handle With Care, and I think I did OK but by my own standards, I have a lot of polishing up to do. Then I went straight from Wedgwood to the Van Andel Arena to work the Kenny Chesney/Gretchen Wilson/Uncle Kracker concert. Wow. What an event. These are probably the least intriguing of the numerous concerts I've worked since I started doing this gig, but there was some interesting stuff that happened tonight, no doubt. Kenny Chesney is extraordinarily popular around here - he holds the record for the quickest sell-out of the VAA. He sold out 13,000 seats in 9 minutes for last year's show. This year, he sold out two consecutive nights in 45 minutes. Unbelievable - I just don't see where the appeal is, but he draws in a lot of young people. It was quite a boisterous crowd. I think they tap into his slightly smug, country-ish dude knockin' back a few cold ones and chillin' on the beach vibe. A lot of the audience members were rather attractive, well-nourished and fashionably dressed people, of both genders - urban cowgirls in low cut tops and tight jeans, Kenny-clones with their curled-brim straw hats, shirt sleeves rolled up to show off adequately buffed biceps, real cool dudes all in all. A fun crowd for people watching. We sold lots and lots of beer, all the way up until 10 pm, which is about half-an-hour later than usual. Then we sold lots of bottled water after that. Well, I don't have time to write all that I'd like to about Kenny and Gretchen and even Uncle Kracker - I can't say I especially dug the music but they are unique characters, even moderately intriguing cultural icons of a sort, that are worth further pondering IMO as to what they represent and have to say as reflections of contemporary American society. I'll save the rest of my comments until a later date.
So you have that to look forward to, as well as my observations and comments on what we are going to do over this long weekend in New York City. Yeah baby, I'm headin' to the Big Apple! Oh Yeah! Start spreadin' the news... :o)
I'll be back on April 5, so check back then and I'll fill you in on everything.
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
The Breakfast Club
While channel surfing, I saw that this quintesssential 80's movie was on last night so we watched the last half of the film. My sons had never seen it, and found it pretty fascinating at various points along the way. I don't really feel much like reviewing it, but we had a big laugh at the ending, which if you forget is a freeze-frame of Bender (the stoner) pumping his fist in the air, after he'd just shared a kiss with Claire (the rich girl princess), with the cheezy synth pop music in the background and the credits rolling over it all. Curt noted that we'd just beheld a perfect example of "the 80's movie ending" and that triggered an hilarious avalanche of other cinematic cliches that we'd all absorbed over the past decade or two.
It's fun to see my children develop that jaded critical eye toward our pop culture.
While channel surfing, I saw that this quintesssential 80's movie was on last night so we watched the last half of the film. My sons had never seen it, and found it pretty fascinating at various points along the way. I don't really feel much like reviewing it, but we had a big laugh at the ending, which if you forget is a freeze-frame of Bender (the stoner) pumping his fist in the air, after he'd just shared a kiss with Claire (the rich girl princess), with the cheezy synth pop music in the background and the credits rolling over it all. Curt noted that we'd just beheld a perfect example of "the 80's movie ending" and that triggered an hilarious avalanche of other cinematic cliches that we'd all absorbed over the past decade or two.
It's fun to see my children develop that jaded critical eye toward our pop culture.
Monday, March 28, 2005
I often sat out under the shade of the trees with a 22-oz. bottle of beer and my journal for company. It was a wonderful place for me to reflect on what was happening in my life, or just tip my head back and let the sun soak in for awhile. Apparently there won't be much room for trees, at least not the tall stately ones that lined each side of the lot in such a grand, dignified manner.
I mean, look at this. What a mess. It's really pretty tragic, at least on a local level. Well, I suppose this must sound quite selfish on a day when Indonesia has been rocked by another huge earthquake, a mere three months from the devastation of the tsunami that hit right after Christmas 2004. With that in mind, I have nothing to complain about. But this is still a loss I'm dealing with, dammit. I have to document what's going on. I hope you can understand.
It appears that some kind of modern technological innovation has made it more feasible and profitable to develop this little plat of land. Too frickin' bad, as far as our neighborhood is concerned. No longer will we live on a cul-de-sac. And we're gonna have to listen to the sounds of destruction (of trees) and construction (of buildings) throughout the spring and summer. What a bummer.
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Easter Thoughts
(I posted a slightly different version of this on the PoMoXian email list - that was my first draft, this is my read-thru/clarification, with a few links mixed in...)
I haven't had much to post on this list lately, mostly due to busy-ness but also because I just don't have much to say that's on topic for the list. To put it briefly, the Palm Sunday and Easter holidays have mainly just come and gone for me this year without really drawing me in to reconsider the symbolism, the drama of the original events or to make some effort at applying "what it all means"
to my life here and now. I don't mean to disrespect the holy days, but I have done that exercise many times over the years and this time around I just didn't see many new angles that moved me to deeper
levels of reflection.
Not only that, the larger world has been more or less depressing in its effect on my spiritual imagination. What are the headlines right now?
The wrenching conflict over how to resolve the dilemma surrounding Terri Schiavo, which in my opinion has been upstaged by the flamboyant religious and political spectacle that various interest groups have created to further their own agendas.
Pope John Paul II is ailing and unable to speak. I think he should retire, though as a non-Catholic, it's not really much of my business or concern, I suppose.
There's the sadness of last week's shootings in Minnesota, a particularly harsh incident but only one of many that continually unfold in our nation, happening so fast that we soon either forget or ignore all but the most recent tragedies (the Milwaukee church shootings are already "old news.")
Bombs are going off in the Christian sector of Beirut, threatening to plunge that beleagured nation back into chaos. The hopeful developments between the Israelis and Palestinians have slowed down in a series of stalling actions, but I don't want to get too discouraged about that situation just yet. Lord knows it could be worse than it is.
The US Army is choosing to not prosecute soldiers that it acknowledges were involved in homicides of Iraqi detainees, because "the soldiers didn't understand the rules when applying force to prisoners." I guess that settles that?!?
There's an Ebola virus outbreak in Angola.
Kyrgyzstan is trying to decide which of two rival governments it wants to recognize.
"American Idol" got its phone numbers messed up which throws everything off! (I am just kidding, I could care less about that show, but I just thought I'd lighten up with some absurd humor...)
So in the face of this onslaught of miserable news, I turn to Christian faith for some good tidings, and what I am told is that the Resurrection changes everything. I've been listening to my tape of the
Marcus Borg/N.T. Wright conference on "The Meaning of Jesus" from a couple years ago this week and considering Wright's passionate defense of the significance of what Jesus really did when he really rose from the grave and defeated death. But I am still left wondering what all that was *really* about?
More precisely, while I am moved by the power of the testimony and the tradition about Jesus rising from the dead, there is this inescapable sense that the passage of time and the expansion of our universe makes it practically impossible for us to approximate what the original Christians understood, believed or experienced. Nowadays, Easter and so much of Christianity in general has taken on a wearisome, "compulsory" tone, like we are supposed to feel certain emotions or marvel over truths and teachings that have long been familiar, preached upon, explored and interpreted in about as many ways as one could ever imagine. To the exclusion of so much else that doesn't fit all that well in this model of how the world supposedly works. I find it strange and even kind of discouraging to think that a spirituality that was once new, radical, refreshing and even revolutionary has now become so strongly identified with rigid thinking, a stodgy status quo, and a fear of open inquiry and conversation about the bigger issues of life.
And I'm not the only one. Even though I don't want to settle into a complacent skepticism about all things supernatural, mysterious or out of the ordinary, and I think it is foolhardy to simply accept some tidy explanation or theory that rationalizes the resurrection of Jesus in sensible terms (whether it's conspiracy theory or something more sophisticated), I am equally resistant to drawing firm or absolute conclusions about what may or may not have "cosmically shifted" on that first Easter morning (whenever that was.)
There are just so many odd features to the story itself, the gospel texts that the story is based on, our distance from the original context, and the possibility that the whole thing rests on a shakier cultural foundation than any of us would really care to contemplate. Though I once had a full-fledged confidence that Easter represented the profound, unequivocal and decisive revelation of God to all humanity and for all time, now there are simply too many question marks, mental reservations and what-ifs surrounding the tradition for me to conclude all that much about its origins, its historicity or its genuine implications for life beyond the limits of culture and personal beliefs.
To me, Easter is an event that God expects us to make of what we will, based on some tentative but engrossing evidence (both the gospel texts and the manifold experiences that the holiday's observance has generated over the centuries) that we can never get behind, under or on top of. It just sits there in front of us, or percolates inside us, and we remain, in this life at least, on the outside of knowing just exactly what went on or exactly what we are supposed to do about it.
(I posted a slightly different version of this on the PoMoXian email list - that was my first draft, this is my read-thru/clarification, with a few links mixed in...)
I haven't had much to post on this list lately, mostly due to busy-ness but also because I just don't have much to say that's on topic for the list. To put it briefly, the Palm Sunday and Easter holidays have mainly just come and gone for me this year without really drawing me in to reconsider the symbolism, the drama of the original events or to make some effort at applying "what it all means"
to my life here and now. I don't mean to disrespect the holy days, but I have done that exercise many times over the years and this time around I just didn't see many new angles that moved me to deeper
levels of reflection.
Not only that, the larger world has been more or less depressing in its effect on my spiritual imagination. What are the headlines right now?
The wrenching conflict over how to resolve the dilemma surrounding Terri Schiavo, which in my opinion has been upstaged by the flamboyant religious and political spectacle that various interest groups have created to further their own agendas.
Pope John Paul II is ailing and unable to speak. I think he should retire, though as a non-Catholic, it's not really much of my business or concern, I suppose.
There's the sadness of last week's shootings in Minnesota, a particularly harsh incident but only one of many that continually unfold in our nation, happening so fast that we soon either forget or ignore all but the most recent tragedies (the Milwaukee church shootings are already "old news.")
Bombs are going off in the Christian sector of Beirut, threatening to plunge that beleagured nation back into chaos. The hopeful developments between the Israelis and Palestinians have slowed down in a series of stalling actions, but I don't want to get too discouraged about that situation just yet. Lord knows it could be worse than it is.
The US Army is choosing to not prosecute soldiers that it acknowledges were involved in homicides of Iraqi detainees, because "the soldiers didn't understand the rules when applying force to prisoners." I guess that settles that?!?
There's an Ebola virus outbreak in Angola.
Kyrgyzstan is trying to decide which of two rival governments it wants to recognize.
"American Idol" got its phone numbers messed up which throws everything off! (I am just kidding, I could care less about that show, but I just thought I'd lighten up with some absurd humor...)
So in the face of this onslaught of miserable news, I turn to Christian faith for some good tidings, and what I am told is that the Resurrection changes everything. I've been listening to my tape of the
Marcus Borg/N.T. Wright conference on "The Meaning of Jesus" from a couple years ago this week and considering Wright's passionate defense of the significance of what Jesus really did when he really rose from the grave and defeated death. But I am still left wondering what all that was *really* about?
More precisely, while I am moved by the power of the testimony and the tradition about Jesus rising from the dead, there is this inescapable sense that the passage of time and the expansion of our universe makes it practically impossible for us to approximate what the original Christians understood, believed or experienced. Nowadays, Easter and so much of Christianity in general has taken on a wearisome, "compulsory" tone, like we are supposed to feel certain emotions or marvel over truths and teachings that have long been familiar, preached upon, explored and interpreted in about as many ways as one could ever imagine. To the exclusion of so much else that doesn't fit all that well in this model of how the world supposedly works. I find it strange and even kind of discouraging to think that a spirituality that was once new, radical, refreshing and even revolutionary has now become so strongly identified with rigid thinking, a stodgy status quo, and a fear of open inquiry and conversation about the bigger issues of life.
And I'm not the only one. Even though I don't want to settle into a complacent skepticism about all things supernatural, mysterious or out of the ordinary, and I think it is foolhardy to simply accept some tidy explanation or theory that rationalizes the resurrection of Jesus in sensible terms (whether it's conspiracy theory or something more sophisticated), I am equally resistant to drawing firm or absolute conclusions about what may or may not have "cosmically shifted" on that first Easter morning (whenever that was.)
There are just so many odd features to the story itself, the gospel texts that the story is based on, our distance from the original context, and the possibility that the whole thing rests on a shakier cultural foundation than any of us would really care to contemplate. Though I once had a full-fledged confidence that Easter represented the profound, unequivocal and decisive revelation of God to all humanity and for all time, now there are simply too many question marks, mental reservations and what-ifs surrounding the tradition for me to conclude all that much about its origins, its historicity or its genuine implications for life beyond the limits of culture and personal beliefs.
To me, Easter is an event that God expects us to make of what we will, based on some tentative but engrossing evidence (both the gospel texts and the manifold experiences that the holiday's observance has generated over the centuries) that we can never get behind, under or on top of. It just sits there in front of us, or percolates inside us, and we remain, in this life at least, on the outside of knowing just exactly what went on or exactly what we are supposed to do about it.
Saturday, March 26, 2005
(no subject)
Today I don't really have anything that significant or profound to report, but I am conscious that I haven't been too consistent with the blog this week and I want to stay current. The week at work has been pretty busy - I did my first live Handle With Care training this past Tuesday (as the assistant trainer) which is a big step for me. I will be leading a couple of portions of the same training on Wednesday afternoon, as well as the entire LSCI bit in the morning. Getting the material into my casual frame of reference and remembering all the parts I need to include has kept my internal processors busy during much of my downtime throughout the week.
We had our annual Fantasy Baseball draft on Friday. I am Da Commish of the league, but this year, I really didn't do all that much preparation for selecting the players that will make up the Ralph Hurlers lineup for 2005. My main man, Barry Bonds, is all over the headlines due to allegations of steroid use, an ex-girlfriend who's blabbing to the media, recovery from knee surgery, his chase of Babe Ruth's home run mark, and some crabby comments he made about possibly not being able to play at all this season (which sound more like passive/aggressive digs at the media than an accurate reflection of his own ability to rehab and resume playing the game.) My number one pick on Friday was Ichiro Suzuki, who is about as cool as a baseball player gets in my book. He's been retained by his previous owner for the past several years, but he became available this spring, so I was happy to add him to my roster. I think he will have another great year (he set the all-time record for most base hits in a single season in 2004) so as we embark on another campaign, I do feel like I've got a solid team that should at least show respectably in the weekly contests that I'll wage with my co-workers.
The LEGO re-assembly project that I mentioned a couple weeks ago has continued with me and my boys. We have quite a few of our best spaceships back together again. Now the challenge is finding adequate display space. There are still some models we haven't completed, but today we finally got the bins out of our living room because enough was enough. We will continue to peck away at the task, but we'll be doing it in the basement from now on.
I have mixed feelings about admitting it, but I have not been particularly drawn into the observance of Palm Sunday and Easter this year. I had to miss church last week because the Grand Rapids Press was three hours late in delivering the front pages. So I let the boys go to church with their mom while I stayed back and finished up the deliveries that the four of us didn't have time to do before they had to leave. I did go to the Thursday night Maundy Thursday service, which is a Tenebrae ceremony where there's a fair amount of scripture reading, liturgy, music and this year, some dance that I appreciated as something different. As the service proceeds, candles are extinguished, with the gathering concluding in darkness and silence. This provides for a dramatic effect, but I get hung up on how "regulated" the presentation is, especially the theology behind it. While there were many beautiful esthetic touches, the unrelenting sense of absoluteness is, to me, a significant distraction which continues to make it impossible for me to continue worshipping in that setting. I just gotta have a little mental breathing room, and I simply don't find it in our "family" church (where I've been a member for many years, but not a regular participant since the late '90's.) So I am not really sure where I will go tomorrow morning for the Easter service.
I would have gone to the Good Friday service where I work, but I had to drive a client to meet her mom in Lansing instead. That was actually a nice process to be a part of - the girl hasn't been home in nearly four years! And she's got a busy weekend planned to celebrate her 17th birthday with upwards of 30 relatives that she hasn't seen in quite a long time. I imagine that this will be a memorable and dramatic Easter for her and her family. So it was a pleasure to facilitate this reunion.
The sun has been out consistently over the past few days, lending a much needed sense of vitality to this part of the world. March has really been a dismal month in Michigan - my complaints on this blog have been numerous, I know. We were able to open our windows for a few hours which is one of those simple pleasures that are so easy to take for granted until the privilege is denied you for several months of every year.
At this moment, my iTunes random shuffle just happens to be playing the track "Gethsemane" from Jesus Christ Superstar, which fits the Easter weekend context...
We'll be leaving for New York City on Thursday, which is very exciting to me and I will have a lot more to say about that after I get back on April 5. I'm starting to get stuff bought and packed this weekend, since I'll be busy at least three of the next four nights prior to departure. (Including a Kenny Chesney/Gretchen Wilson concert at the Van Andel on Wednesday night.)
If you are still with me, I'll just plug the new Moby album again. I really like it a lot! In fact, I'll have to listen to it another time or two, and then I'll give a more detailed review when I feel ready to do so.
Today I don't really have anything that significant or profound to report, but I am conscious that I haven't been too consistent with the blog this week and I want to stay current. The week at work has been pretty busy - I did my first live Handle With Care training this past Tuesday (as the assistant trainer) which is a big step for me. I will be leading a couple of portions of the same training on Wednesday afternoon, as well as the entire LSCI bit in the morning. Getting the material into my casual frame of reference and remembering all the parts I need to include has kept my internal processors busy during much of my downtime throughout the week.
We had our annual Fantasy Baseball draft on Friday. I am Da Commish of the league, but this year, I really didn't do all that much preparation for selecting the players that will make up the Ralph Hurlers lineup for 2005. My main man, Barry Bonds, is all over the headlines due to allegations of steroid use, an ex-girlfriend who's blabbing to the media, recovery from knee surgery, his chase of Babe Ruth's home run mark, and some crabby comments he made about possibly not being able to play at all this season (which sound more like passive/aggressive digs at the media than an accurate reflection of his own ability to rehab and resume playing the game.) My number one pick on Friday was Ichiro Suzuki, who is about as cool as a baseball player gets in my book. He's been retained by his previous owner for the past several years, but he became available this spring, so I was happy to add him to my roster. I think he will have another great year (he set the all-time record for most base hits in a single season in 2004) so as we embark on another campaign, I do feel like I've got a solid team that should at least show respectably in the weekly contests that I'll wage with my co-workers.
The LEGO re-assembly project that I mentioned a couple weeks ago has continued with me and my boys. We have quite a few of our best spaceships back together again. Now the challenge is finding adequate display space. There are still some models we haven't completed, but today we finally got the bins out of our living room because enough was enough. We will continue to peck away at the task, but we'll be doing it in the basement from now on.
I have mixed feelings about admitting it, but I have not been particularly drawn into the observance of Palm Sunday and Easter this year. I had to miss church last week because the Grand Rapids Press was three hours late in delivering the front pages. So I let the boys go to church with their mom while I stayed back and finished up the deliveries that the four of us didn't have time to do before they had to leave. I did go to the Thursday night Maundy Thursday service, which is a Tenebrae ceremony where there's a fair amount of scripture reading, liturgy, music and this year, some dance that I appreciated as something different. As the service proceeds, candles are extinguished, with the gathering concluding in darkness and silence. This provides for a dramatic effect, but I get hung up on how "regulated" the presentation is, especially the theology behind it. While there were many beautiful esthetic touches, the unrelenting sense of absoluteness is, to me, a significant distraction which continues to make it impossible for me to continue worshipping in that setting. I just gotta have a little mental breathing room, and I simply don't find it in our "family" church (where I've been a member for many years, but not a regular participant since the late '90's.) So I am not really sure where I will go tomorrow morning for the Easter service.
I would have gone to the Good Friday service where I work, but I had to drive a client to meet her mom in Lansing instead. That was actually a nice process to be a part of - the girl hasn't been home in nearly four years! And she's got a busy weekend planned to celebrate her 17th birthday with upwards of 30 relatives that she hasn't seen in quite a long time. I imagine that this will be a memorable and dramatic Easter for her and her family. So it was a pleasure to facilitate this reunion.
The sun has been out consistently over the past few days, lending a much needed sense of vitality to this part of the world. March has really been a dismal month in Michigan - my complaints on this blog have been numerous, I know. We were able to open our windows for a few hours which is one of those simple pleasures that are so easy to take for granted until the privilege is denied you for several months of every year.
At this moment, my iTunes random shuffle just happens to be playing the track "Gethsemane" from Jesus Christ Superstar, which fits the Easter weekend context...
We'll be leaving for New York City on Thursday, which is very exciting to me and I will have a lot more to say about that after I get back on April 5. I'm starting to get stuff bought and packed this weekend, since I'll be busy at least three of the next four nights prior to departure. (Including a Kenny Chesney/Gretchen Wilson concert at the Van Andel on Wednesday night.)
If you are still with me, I'll just plug the new Moby album again. I really like it a lot! In fact, I'll have to listen to it another time or two, and then I'll give a more detailed review when I feel ready to do so.
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
New Moby CD Released Today!
It's called Hotel and it's playing on my computer right now. So far, pretty cool. Moby isn't sampling on this album like he did on Play and to a lesser extent on 18. His vocals are pretty prominent - it sounds almost like he is attempting to compete as a mainstream pop star. And he does have the album sales to back up such aspirations, though his persona is kind of an oddball fit for what's popular these days. Or maybe not. He's not Eminem or 50 Cent, that's for sure.
I will have more to say once I listen to the complete package another time or two. There's a whole 2nd disc of Ambient tracks that I haven't had a chance to hear yet - maybe that will be the place where he gets all techno experimental and stuff.
It's called Hotel and it's playing on my computer right now. So far, pretty cool. Moby isn't sampling on this album like he did on Play and to a lesser extent on 18. His vocals are pretty prominent - it sounds almost like he is attempting to compete as a mainstream pop star. And he does have the album sales to back up such aspirations, though his persona is kind of an oddball fit for what's popular these days. Or maybe not. He's not Eminem or 50 Cent, that's for sure.
I will have more to say once I listen to the complete package another time or two. There's a whole 2nd disc of Ambient tracks that I haven't had a chance to hear yet - maybe that will be the place where he gets all techno experimental and stuff.
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Blah-grrr Update
I've been away from here for a few days... Been quite busy taking care of other, more urgent priorities. Just now I spent the last hour or so cleaning up the space around my computer. It had become a ghastly mess, totally non-conducive to writing or even thinking, which perhaps partly explains my quietness lately, I suppose. I share this area with my twin sons mainly, as well as my daughter when she's home from GVSU on the weekends and my youngest son, who's not down here (in the basement, where our computer lab is located) nearly as often, due to the fact that he doesn't have his own machine. So while my sons are away, at a "read-thru and discussion" session on Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" (with their AP English teacher and the rest of their classmates), I have a perfect opportunity to tidy up around the place. Which is now mostly done, so I can free myself up to describe what else I been up to this week.
Yesterday I had to present, single-handedly, a training at Wedgwood on "Avoiding Power Struggles." Every quarter we hold a Saturday Seminar for staff who want to get their training hours in without coming to our more traditional Tuesday and Thursday in-services. I got the assignment of presenting this material, which I think is pretty good in helping us to understand why people get into these stand-offs when disagreements occur. My supervisor and I had presented a version of this in-service back in December, that was geared more to our overnight staff, who have to deal with any number of wierd situations when kids get up in the middle of the night and go through their various dramas and odd behaviors. The training yesterday was aimed more at a general audience, and I had to pull it off solo, a bit more of a challenge, but overall I think it went fairly well. (Here's a sample of some of the material I presented: Link 1, Link 2.) I tend to be hard on myself, and there are several things I wish I had done differently, but some of the things I didn't like about how it went were beyond my control.
I had to present in our chapel sanctuary, which was too big for the audience I drew (about 20 people or so.) There were too many registered to fit into our classrooms, but 20 is a small group for a room that seats 150 or more. And the lighting in there seemed kind of dim. But the main reason that the energy seemed kind of low was that we are continuing to get grey snowy weather around here, and I'm just about beyond the point of tolerance for any more of that. Today is supposedly the first day of spring, but the only thing that confirms that rumor to me is that the temperature did at least get up to 33 degrees and I see evidence that snow was melting around the area. But yesterday, the flakes were falling steadily all through the day and we were all collectively bummed out and appalled at having to come in for a training in such dreary conditions.
Another challenge for me was that I had several of my team members and a couple others who know me fairly well in the audience. I had to work hard to get over my self-consciousness that these folks have heard my shtick before and could probably see through some of the generalizations and simplifications that I was tossing out to the audience. But really, one big challenge I'm going to have to overcome is to realize that not everyone is as analytical or preoccupied with this kind of material as I am, so when I am presenting what I consider to be basic, elementary stuff, I will need to remind myself that that is exactly what many in my audience need to hear, and that I have to be careful to not over-complicate things - or let my thoughts race ahead of what's already been established in the training itself.
But in any case, I worked through the subdued ambience and managed to get the group talking a bit about the topic at hand. I still have a fair amount of polishing up to do to be the dynamic trainer that I aspire to be, but with each time out, I can feel strides being made. I will get another chance on Tuesday, when I go live for the first time with my newly acquired "Handle With Care" certification and teach the method to staff at an annual re-certification session.
As much as I appreciated the opportunity to train and spend time with the group, my preference for how to spend the day was to be at the anti-war protest sponsored by the WMJPC here in Grand Rapids, marking the second anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. I got some pictures emailed to me today that feature a number of my friends. Made me wish I could have joined them, despite the cold weather. (Last year's event was sunny but windy.) We don't expect the protests to have much effect on US policy, of course, but I do find it grimly ironic that so many of our congressional representatives, as well as the president himself, are going to such great extremes to intervene on behalf of a comatose woman, when the actions they sponsored and continue to defend have caused the death of tens of thousands Iraqis. And no one in the mainstream (supposedly "liberal") media appears willing to point out the juxtaposition of priorities or the absurdity of the posturing that these politicos are engaged in as they try to show their base that they are truly concerned about the "sanctity of life." Honestly, my opinion of Congress and our federal government is continually sinking to new lows as I observe, against my better instincts, the pompous grandstanding that these poor deluded ego-maniacs thrust themselves into. Between the Terri Schiavo case, the corruption allegations swirling around Tom DeLay and the absurd "steroid hearings," I am convinced that the ruling class in this country is so ensnared in its own vanity that they can hardly avoid embarrassing themselves anymore.
Well this has gone on quite long enough, I think. Thanks for checking in.
I've been away from here for a few days... Been quite busy taking care of other, more urgent priorities. Just now I spent the last hour or so cleaning up the space around my computer. It had become a ghastly mess, totally non-conducive to writing or even thinking, which perhaps partly explains my quietness lately, I suppose. I share this area with my twin sons mainly, as well as my daughter when she's home from GVSU on the weekends and my youngest son, who's not down here (in the basement, where our computer lab is located) nearly as often, due to the fact that he doesn't have his own machine. So while my sons are away, at a "read-thru and discussion" session on Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" (with their AP English teacher and the rest of their classmates), I have a perfect opportunity to tidy up around the place. Which is now mostly done, so I can free myself up to describe what else I been up to this week.
Yesterday I had to present, single-handedly, a training at Wedgwood on "Avoiding Power Struggles." Every quarter we hold a Saturday Seminar for staff who want to get their training hours in without coming to our more traditional Tuesday and Thursday in-services. I got the assignment of presenting this material, which I think is pretty good in helping us to understand why people get into these stand-offs when disagreements occur. My supervisor and I had presented a version of this in-service back in December, that was geared more to our overnight staff, who have to deal with any number of wierd situations when kids get up in the middle of the night and go through their various dramas and odd behaviors. The training yesterday was aimed more at a general audience, and I had to pull it off solo, a bit more of a challenge, but overall I think it went fairly well. (Here's a sample of some of the material I presented: Link 1, Link 2.) I tend to be hard on myself, and there are several things I wish I had done differently, but some of the things I didn't like about how it went were beyond my control.
I had to present in our chapel sanctuary, which was too big for the audience I drew (about 20 people or so.) There were too many registered to fit into our classrooms, but 20 is a small group for a room that seats 150 or more. And the lighting in there seemed kind of dim. But the main reason that the energy seemed kind of low was that we are continuing to get grey snowy weather around here, and I'm just about beyond the point of tolerance for any more of that. Today is supposedly the first day of spring, but the only thing that confirms that rumor to me is that the temperature did at least get up to 33 degrees and I see evidence that snow was melting around the area. But yesterday, the flakes were falling steadily all through the day and we were all collectively bummed out and appalled at having to come in for a training in such dreary conditions.
Another challenge for me was that I had several of my team members and a couple others who know me fairly well in the audience. I had to work hard to get over my self-consciousness that these folks have heard my shtick before and could probably see through some of the generalizations and simplifications that I was tossing out to the audience. But really, one big challenge I'm going to have to overcome is to realize that not everyone is as analytical or preoccupied with this kind of material as I am, so when I am presenting what I consider to be basic, elementary stuff, I will need to remind myself that that is exactly what many in my audience need to hear, and that I have to be careful to not over-complicate things - or let my thoughts race ahead of what's already been established in the training itself.
But in any case, I worked through the subdued ambience and managed to get the group talking a bit about the topic at hand. I still have a fair amount of polishing up to do to be the dynamic trainer that I aspire to be, but with each time out, I can feel strides being made. I will get another chance on Tuesday, when I go live for the first time with my newly acquired "Handle With Care" certification and teach the method to staff at an annual re-certification session.
As much as I appreciated the opportunity to train and spend time with the group, my preference for how to spend the day was to be at the anti-war protest sponsored by the WMJPC here in Grand Rapids, marking the second anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. I got some pictures emailed to me today that feature a number of my friends. Made me wish I could have joined them, despite the cold weather. (Last year's event was sunny but windy.) We don't expect the protests to have much effect on US policy, of course, but I do find it grimly ironic that so many of our congressional representatives, as well as the president himself, are going to such great extremes to intervene on behalf of a comatose woman, when the actions they sponsored and continue to defend have caused the death of tens of thousands Iraqis. And no one in the mainstream (supposedly "liberal") media appears willing to point out the juxtaposition of priorities or the absurdity of the posturing that these politicos are engaged in as they try to show their base that they are truly concerned about the "sanctity of life." Honestly, my opinion of Congress and our federal government is continually sinking to new lows as I observe, against my better instincts, the pompous grandstanding that these poor deluded ego-maniacs thrust themselves into. Between the Terri Schiavo case, the corruption allegations swirling around Tom DeLay and the absurd "steroid hearings," I am convinced that the ruling class in this country is so ensnared in its own vanity that they can hardly avoid embarrassing themselves anymore.
Well this has gone on quite long enough, I think. Thanks for checking in.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
LOTR: The Musical
Here's another reason that it's relatively cool to live in the Great Lakes area: Toronto will host the world premier of a stage production of "Lord of the Rings: The Musical." This looks to be the most lavish stage production that I've ever heard of. Now that Peter Jackson has shown how to do it right on film, it will be very interesting to see what a different team will be able to do "in the flesh." Normally I'm not one to make a beeline to the big musicals - I've never seen "Phantom," "The Lion King," "Rent" or any of the mammoth stage productions of recent years, though I am scheduled to see "Beauty and the Beast" on Broadway when I go to NYC at the end of this month. But I have a hunch that our family will try to make it to this one. It sounds totally awesome!
Here's another reason that it's relatively cool to live in the Great Lakes area: Toronto will host the world premier of a stage production of "Lord of the Rings: The Musical." This looks to be the most lavish stage production that I've ever heard of. Now that Peter Jackson has shown how to do it right on film, it will be very interesting to see what a different team will be able to do "in the flesh." Normally I'm not one to make a beeline to the big musicals - I've never seen "Phantom," "The Lion King," "Rent" or any of the mammoth stage productions of recent years, though I am scheduled to see "Beauty and the Beast" on Broadway when I go to NYC at the end of this month. But I have a hunch that our family will try to make it to this one. It sounds totally awesome!
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Book Meme
I picked this "thought virus" (that's basically what a meme is) from Rick Stillwell's rambling adventures blog:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the fifth, sixth and seventh sentences on your blog, along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it. Just grab what is closest!
Here's my quote:
"For his (Jesus') disciples, there was no classroom but the field, the dirt road, the cottage, the mountainside: All of life was the classroom, full of vehicles for enlightenment. Christian monotheists like me, in fact, have a special reason to see a strong linkage between the creator and the creation; we believe that God actually did paint himself into the picture, thus honoring and ennobling the picture to an astounding degree, showing profound solidarity between creator and creation. Not everyone sees it this way, of course." (From Finding Faith by Brian McLaren.)
I picked this "thought virus" (that's basically what a meme is) from Rick Stillwell's rambling adventures blog:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the fifth, sixth and seventh sentences on your blog, along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it. Just grab what is closest!
Here's my quote:
"For his (Jesus') disciples, there was no classroom but the field, the dirt road, the cottage, the mountainside: All of life was the classroom, full of vehicles for enlightenment. Christian monotheists like me, in fact, have a special reason to see a strong linkage between the creator and the creation; we believe that God actually did paint himself into the picture, thus honoring and ennobling the picture to an astounding degree, showing profound solidarity between creator and creation. Not everyone sees it this way, of course." (From Finding Faith by Brian McLaren.)
A Whole Lotta Shootin' Goin' On...
The past few days, my mind has been on the strange intersecting paths of Christianity and brutal violence in American culture that we've seen recently. Here's what I'm talking about:
1) The long-sought "B.T.K." serial killer from Wichita KS turns out to be Dennis Rader, an otherwise scrupulous, respectable member of society: the president of a church council at a local Lutheran church, active in the Boy Scouts organization, gainfully employed by the city government as a "compliance officer" who was known for being a stickler for details. How does a guy capable of such brutal murders over a period of years keep it all together enough to blend in undetected even by those who know him the best?
2) Terry Ratzmann entered a worship service in Milwaukee WS on Saturday, shot the pastor who was preaching and his 17-year old son deliberately, then began firing at random into the congregation, eventually killing seven people and himself. Police found no motive or suicide note and have focused their attention on religious concerns that may have driven Ratzmann to his homicidal rampage.
3) Brian Nichols, on trial for rape, overpowered a deputy and used her gun to shoot her, a judge and three other people, all of which (other than the deputy) died from their wounds. After evading capture despite a massive manhunt, he accosted a woman, Ashley Smith, who read to him from Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life and spoke to him about faith and God, which apparently had a significant role in convincing him to turn himself in. Nichols was apparently a church-going man himself, who played organ for a worship music group.
The first two stories are pretty different than the last, in the role that Christianity played in each situation. And I really can't detect any common pattern that helps me make any sense of what happened. But it just kind of jumped out at me, these stories of angry violent men and their personal torments which, in one way or another involved deep struggles with God and their sense of what's important in life.
The past few days, my mind has been on the strange intersecting paths of Christianity and brutal violence in American culture that we've seen recently. Here's what I'm talking about:
1) The long-sought "B.T.K." serial killer from Wichita KS turns out to be Dennis Rader, an otherwise scrupulous, respectable member of society: the president of a church council at a local Lutheran church, active in the Boy Scouts organization, gainfully employed by the city government as a "compliance officer" who was known for being a stickler for details. How does a guy capable of such brutal murders over a period of years keep it all together enough to blend in undetected even by those who know him the best?
2) Terry Ratzmann entered a worship service in Milwaukee WS on Saturday, shot the pastor who was preaching and his 17-year old son deliberately, then began firing at random into the congregation, eventually killing seven people and himself. Police found no motive or suicide note and have focused their attention on religious concerns that may have driven Ratzmann to his homicidal rampage.
3) Brian Nichols, on trial for rape, overpowered a deputy and used her gun to shoot her, a judge and three other people, all of which (other than the deputy) died from their wounds. After evading capture despite a massive manhunt, he accosted a woman, Ashley Smith, who read to him from Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life and spoke to him about faith and God, which apparently had a significant role in convincing him to turn himself in. Nichols was apparently a church-going man himself, who played organ for a worship music group.
The first two stories are pretty different than the last, in the role that Christianity played in each situation. And I really can't detect any common pattern that helps me make any sense of what happened. But it just kind of jumped out at me, these stories of angry violent men and their personal torments which, in one way or another involved deep struggles with God and their sense of what's important in life.
Monday, March 14, 2005
Return of the LEGO!
After Curt, Derek and I saw "Robots" on Friday, our conversation turned to memories of putting together Lego robots of our own in years past, back when they were just li'l guys. (Well, up until they hit adolescence, which is the time of life when kids often put their toys away for awhile, you know.) One of my most cherished Christmas memories was back in '96 or '97, when I came upon a treasure trove of old LEGO models that had been donated to Wedgwood because of some damage that had been done to several boxes when crates of fruit spilled on to them. I'm talking about thirty or forty separate models, some pretty big ones, and some small, covering all the LEGO genres of the time (Castle, Space, Pirates, City and even an electric train set, plus maybe one or two that I'm forgetting.) I offered our supply warehouse manager $100 for the lot and she took me up on the deal. And wow, what a fabulous time I had, carrying out box after box of cool LEGO kits to my kids, who just kept freaking out at the abundance of bricks that had fallen into their laps.
That cemented what I think will continue to be a life-long fondness for the little plastic pieces. We still have big bins full of the bricks, but haven't done a whole lot with them in recent years. Derek, the youngest, was also the last to actively survey the new models and decide which ones he wanted to collect, but his interests have moved on as well.
But I was saying, the "Robots" movie got me thinking about my #1 favorite LEGO model, #6949, from the "Spyrius" line of Space kits, the magnificent "ROBO-GUARDIAN." I found this beauty hidden at the back of a shelf at Meijers one year, many months after that line of toys had been discontinued. Obviously, someone else had stashed it back there for a later purchase but hadn't sufficiently counted on the existence of another fanatic like me, one who was willing to fork over the $36.00 for this stout, sturdy mechanical marvel. Though I had purchased a number of cool LEGO packages for my kids, the ROBO-GUARDIAN was and is and always shall be mine.
Problem is, my ROBO-GUARDIAN was in pieces. My task, which I chose to accept, inspired as I said by the "Robots" movie and what I'm sure will soon be a fresh wave of robo-mania across the nation, was to find all the stray parts and put my ol' buddy back together again. So that's what I did through much of my Sunday afternoon yesterday. I hope you appreciate the effort it took fishing through all those bins to dig out just the exact right parts, all 360 of them. (Well, I do admit, I cheated a bit on a few small pieces, but I'll find the proper ones eventually! I just couldn't wait or search any longer!)
After Curt, Derek and I saw "Robots" on Friday, our conversation turned to memories of putting together Lego robots of our own in years past, back when they were just li'l guys. (Well, up until they hit adolescence, which is the time of life when kids often put their toys away for awhile, you know.) One of my most cherished Christmas memories was back in '96 or '97, when I came upon a treasure trove of old LEGO models that had been donated to Wedgwood because of some damage that had been done to several boxes when crates of fruit spilled on to them. I'm talking about thirty or forty separate models, some pretty big ones, and some small, covering all the LEGO genres of the time (Castle, Space, Pirates, City and even an electric train set, plus maybe one or two that I'm forgetting.) I offered our supply warehouse manager $100 for the lot and she took me up on the deal. And wow, what a fabulous time I had, carrying out box after box of cool LEGO kits to my kids, who just kept freaking out at the abundance of bricks that had fallen into their laps.
That cemented what I think will continue to be a life-long fondness for the little plastic pieces. We still have big bins full of the bricks, but haven't done a whole lot with them in recent years. Derek, the youngest, was also the last to actively survey the new models and decide which ones he wanted to collect, but his interests have moved on as well.
But I was saying, the "Robots" movie got me thinking about my #1 favorite LEGO model, #6949, from the "Spyrius" line of Space kits, the magnificent "ROBO-GUARDIAN." I found this beauty hidden at the back of a shelf at Meijers one year, many months after that line of toys had been discontinued. Obviously, someone else had stashed it back there for a later purchase but hadn't sufficiently counted on the existence of another fanatic like me, one who was willing to fork over the $36.00 for this stout, sturdy mechanical marvel. Though I had purchased a number of cool LEGO packages for my kids, the ROBO-GUARDIAN was and is and always shall be mine.
Problem is, my ROBO-GUARDIAN was in pieces. My task, which I chose to accept, inspired as I said by the "Robots" movie and what I'm sure will soon be a fresh wave of robo-mania across the nation, was to find all the stray parts and put my ol' buddy back together again. So that's what I did through much of my Sunday afternoon yesterday. I hope you appreciate the effort it took fishing through all those bins to dig out just the exact right parts, all 360 of them. (Well, I do admit, I cheated a bit on a few small pieces, but I'll find the proper ones eventually! I just couldn't wait or search any longer!)
iTunes Update
At last I have reached a milestone in my quest to listen at least once to every song on my computer. I'm now under the "10 days worth of material" mark! 9.8 days to be exact, 3206 songs left to go.
Here's a look at the next twenty tracks coming my way...
Going Out of My Head - Fatboy Slim (now playing)
I Know What I Like - Huey Lewis & The News
If 60's Was 90's - The Beautiful People (a great techno remix of Jimi Hendrix classics, authorized by the Hendrix estate!)
Vigilante Man - Bruce Springsteen (from the "Folkways" compilation, an old Woody Guthrie tune)
Total Eclipse of the Heart - Nicki French (80's pop)
Illegal Smile - The Blue Chieftains (a song about marijuana)
Veneer - The Verve Pipe (a band from West Michigan that earned "one hit wonder status" for their late 90's song "The Freshman")
Real Love - The Beatles
Wooden Heart - Elvis Presley (whoa, Beatles and Elvis back to back, on random shuffle!)
Let It Flow (live) - Spiritualized (a bootleg track I d'l'ed from somewhere...)
Waikiki Pachelbel - Liv & Let Liv (as the name implies, Pachelbel's "Canon" performed as surf music - the track is 13:48, and it's part of a full CD of such stuff)
You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch - Boris Karloff
Daughter - Pearl Jam (Live at State College, PA, 5-3-03)
So You Want To Be A Rock'n'Roll Star - The Byrds
O Ye Como Va - Santana
The District Sleeps Alone Tonight - The Postal Service (a favorite band of my son Curt)
It Ain't Me Babe - Bob Dylan
My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys - Willie Nelson
Story of My Life - Unrelated Segments (from the awesome "Nuggets" compilation of 60's garage bands)
Midwinter Night - Tangerine Dream (which seems like a perfectly acceptable title to play here in Michigan, even in the middle of March!)
I'll update this post with some pictures later but I have to go to work now.
At last I have reached a milestone in my quest to listen at least once to every song on my computer. I'm now under the "10 days worth of material" mark! 9.8 days to be exact, 3206 songs left to go.
Here's a look at the next twenty tracks coming my way...
Going Out of My Head - Fatboy Slim (now playing)
I Know What I Like - Huey Lewis & The News
If 60's Was 90's - The Beautiful People (a great techno remix of Jimi Hendrix classics, authorized by the Hendrix estate!)
Vigilante Man - Bruce Springsteen (from the "Folkways" compilation, an old Woody Guthrie tune)
Total Eclipse of the Heart - Nicki French (80's pop)
Illegal Smile - The Blue Chieftains (a song about marijuana)
Veneer - The Verve Pipe (a band from West Michigan that earned "one hit wonder status" for their late 90's song "The Freshman")
Real Love - The Beatles
Wooden Heart - Elvis Presley (whoa, Beatles and Elvis back to back, on random shuffle!)
Let It Flow (live) - Spiritualized (a bootleg track I d'l'ed from somewhere...)
Waikiki Pachelbel - Liv & Let Liv (as the name implies, Pachelbel's "Canon" performed as surf music - the track is 13:48, and it's part of a full CD of such stuff)
You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch - Boris Karloff
Daughter - Pearl Jam (Live at State College, PA, 5-3-03)
So You Want To Be A Rock'n'Roll Star - The Byrds
O Ye Como Va - Santana
The District Sleeps Alone Tonight - The Postal Service (a favorite band of my son Curt)
It Ain't Me Babe - Bob Dylan
My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys - Willie Nelson
Story of My Life - Unrelated Segments (from the awesome "Nuggets" compilation of 60's garage bands)
Midwinter Night - Tangerine Dream (which seems like a perfectly acceptable title to play here in Michigan, even in the middle of March!)
I'll update this post with some pictures later but I have to go to work now.
Sunday, March 13, 2005
WMJPC Convention
Yesterday marked the occasion for a gathering of grassroots peace and social justice activists based in Western Michigan. Member groups of the West Michigan Justice and Peace Coalition (WMJPC) met at the Wealthy Theater in Grand Rapids for the purpose of listening to presentations given by representatives of each group. I spoke on behalf of the Institute for Global Education (IGE), where I am a board member, actually one of the co-chairs.
It was a great occasion - we packed somewhere around 100 people in the room, along with a dozen or more tables filled with literature and other displays of what the various groups work for and do on behalf of a range of causes, from big international issues (war, human rights, nuclear proliferation) to more local concerns (environmental, food systems, labor rights.)
Each group was given 10 minutes to deliver its message. Most of the time was used by informal speakers who just gave an overview of the respective organizations, their angle on the issue at hand and how others can get involved if they want to support that cause. We also had some time to socialize, enjoy snacks, listen to classical guitar music and get re-energized about the work we do, which in recent years seems to fall on deaf ears when our message is presented to the most powerful among our political and corporate decision makers.
While I sincerely enjoyed each of the presentations, I was especially impressed with a few that I will link to here in the blog. The Women In Black and Peace Presence are two groups who do similar things - mounting vigils that protest war and oppression with quiet dignity. The West Michigan Environmental Action Council has been doing some excellent work lately in addressing an issue that we can all relate to, how to get the food we eat in an environmentally sound and economically just manner. The Kalamazoo Non-violent Opponents of War (KNOW) came up the freeway to join us and shared accounts of their local organizing and activism efforts. TibetMichigan featured a local professor, of Tibetan ancestry, born in India, who teaches at Grand Valley State. She gave us an informative look at some of the background of the Tibetans' struggle with China and some recent developments in that tragic situation. Don't Waste Michigan gave a slide show documenting some of the anti-nuclear protests they've mounted over the years. We also heard representatives from the local Green Party, the Industrial Workers of the World, Plymouth Congregational Church and the Fountain Street Church Social Action Committee. I even got some free coffee samples from a group called FAIR (Fair Trade Awareness Initiating Relationships) which is helping to connect us coffee drinkers with local producers in the bean-growing regions of the world so that they get a better return on the labor they put into its production.
Overall, as one of the people involved with the original formation of the WMJPC, I was very pleased with how the day went. It was a needed boost for all of us, I'd say, who continue to see our values and priorities routinely dismissed in the popular media and frankly speaking, treated with contempt by many of our elected representatives. I don't intend to go on a rant here, I'm just calling it as I see it. I'd like to see the peace and justice perspective go more mainstream, but for now it looks like we are going to have to build an alternative culture, maybe even an "underground" one, in the face of the greed and violence that seem to be more embraced and endorsed by our president and his ideological allies.
Yesterday marked the occasion for a gathering of grassroots peace and social justice activists based in Western Michigan. Member groups of the West Michigan Justice and Peace Coalition (WMJPC) met at the Wealthy Theater in Grand Rapids for the purpose of listening to presentations given by representatives of each group. I spoke on behalf of the Institute for Global Education (IGE), where I am a board member, actually one of the co-chairs.
It was a great occasion - we packed somewhere around 100 people in the room, along with a dozen or more tables filled with literature and other displays of what the various groups work for and do on behalf of a range of causes, from big international issues (war, human rights, nuclear proliferation) to more local concerns (environmental, food systems, labor rights.)
Each group was given 10 minutes to deliver its message. Most of the time was used by informal speakers who just gave an overview of the respective organizations, their angle on the issue at hand and how others can get involved if they want to support that cause. We also had some time to socialize, enjoy snacks, listen to classical guitar music and get re-energized about the work we do, which in recent years seems to fall on deaf ears when our message is presented to the most powerful among our political and corporate decision makers.
While I sincerely enjoyed each of the presentations, I was especially impressed with a few that I will link to here in the blog. The Women In Black and Peace Presence are two groups who do similar things - mounting vigils that protest war and oppression with quiet dignity. The West Michigan Environmental Action Council has been doing some excellent work lately in addressing an issue that we can all relate to, how to get the food we eat in an environmentally sound and economically just manner. The Kalamazoo Non-violent Opponents of War (KNOW) came up the freeway to join us and shared accounts of their local organizing and activism efforts. TibetMichigan featured a local professor, of Tibetan ancestry, born in India, who teaches at Grand Valley State. She gave us an informative look at some of the background of the Tibetans' struggle with China and some recent developments in that tragic situation. Don't Waste Michigan gave a slide show documenting some of the anti-nuclear protests they've mounted over the years. We also heard representatives from the local Green Party, the Industrial Workers of the World, Plymouth Congregational Church and the Fountain Street Church Social Action Committee. I even got some free coffee samples from a group called FAIR (Fair Trade Awareness Initiating Relationships) which is helping to connect us coffee drinkers with local producers in the bean-growing regions of the world so that they get a better return on the labor they put into its production.
Overall, as one of the people involved with the original formation of the WMJPC, I was very pleased with how the day went. It was a needed boost for all of us, I'd say, who continue to see our values and priorities routinely dismissed in the popular media and frankly speaking, treated with contempt by many of our elected representatives. I don't intend to go on a rant here, I'm just calling it as I see it. I'd like to see the peace and justice perspective go more mainstream, but for now it looks like we are going to have to build an alternative culture, maybe even an "underground" one, in the face of the greed and violence that seem to be more embraced and endorsed by our president and his ideological allies.
On Saturday, March 12, we had another winter storm that blanketed the area under five inches of fresh fluffy snow. The pictures came out kind of pretty but honestly I am just so tired of cold weather. I need to get outside and see stuff growing again. I heard on the radio this morning that the snow could continue on into April or even MAY, because the jet stream is blowing in more cold air than usual and the trend is expected to continue.
Saturday, March 12, 2005
Robots
Friday night was Julie's "Creative Memories" get-together, so it was time for me and the boys to get out of the house. We went over to my grandmothers to move her furniture back into place after new carpet had been installed, then split from there in a hurry to go out to the movies. Our choice for the evening's entertainment was the new CG-animated feature, "Robots" starring the voices of a host of fairly well-known actors. The only one that was really all that distinctive as a personality was Robin Williams, who I understand did his first voice-over since "Aladdin." I thought he was funny, but that's a matter of taste, obviously. Not everyone is equally amused by his shtick. Oh, I think I should also mention Mel Brooks as a distinctive voice. He wasn't as prominent as Williams, but when he came on, I definitey knew it was good ol' Mel. Along with the Three Stooges and Monty Python, Mel Brooks provided a lot of laughs when I was a kid. When I first saw "Blazing Saddles," I must have been about 12 or 13, I remember literally falling out of my chair at the theater I was laughing so hard. So I "heart" Mel Brooks.
We had a good time watching all the mechanical sight gags and marvelling at the technical advancements that continue to be made in this genre. The movie is really more of a visual feast than anything else, though it has an appealingly eclectic soundtrack as well. The story is more or less inconsequential - standard "be true to your dream and it'll all work out fine in the end" stuff which we should expect from this kind of "family entertainment." I have no problem with it, but it doesn't really leave much of an impression as far as meaning or intellectual engagement is concerned.
But that doesn't mean that there wasn't sufficient material to merit further pondering. The rendering of Robot City was quite marvelous if one pauses to think about all the math and imagination that went into its conception and execution. The big set pieces abound in complexity and depth of field. Even though we saw it on a conventional screen, I think the movie would bear a second viewing in the IMAX format, or on any screen capable of giving a good look at all of the detail going on. I will consider getting the DVD, or at least renting it, just for the enjoyment of freezing some frames and exploring all the little stuff that otherwise flashes past us so frantically.
And let's not lose sight of just what a marvel this kind of synthetic, hybrid, postmodern production really is as a cultural artifact. We see so many video games and digitally treated images around us on a daily basis that it's easy to take this stuff for granted, but I do think that we are moving further into a new era of imaginative depictions of our world and some alternate realities that will influence the future that we collectively move into. The anthropomorphization of mechanical objects depicted in "Robots" can serve as a kind of dazzling counterpoint to the mechanization of human life that takes place when we plug in the numbers in order to come up with more efficient, orderly ways of managing the ungainly mess that real people often present to those who make it their job to control and commercially exploit us poor, struggling, too-often confused survivors.
Friday night was Julie's "Creative Memories" get-together, so it was time for me and the boys to get out of the house. We went over to my grandmothers to move her furniture back into place after new carpet had been installed, then split from there in a hurry to go out to the movies. Our choice for the evening's entertainment was the new CG-animated feature, "Robots" starring the voices of a host of fairly well-known actors. The only one that was really all that distinctive as a personality was Robin Williams, who I understand did his first voice-over since "Aladdin." I thought he was funny, but that's a matter of taste, obviously. Not everyone is equally amused by his shtick. Oh, I think I should also mention Mel Brooks as a distinctive voice. He wasn't as prominent as Williams, but when he came on, I definitey knew it was good ol' Mel. Along with the Three Stooges and Monty Python, Mel Brooks provided a lot of laughs when I was a kid. When I first saw "Blazing Saddles," I must have been about 12 or 13, I remember literally falling out of my chair at the theater I was laughing so hard. So I "heart" Mel Brooks.
We had a good time watching all the mechanical sight gags and marvelling at the technical advancements that continue to be made in this genre. The movie is really more of a visual feast than anything else, though it has an appealingly eclectic soundtrack as well. The story is more or less inconsequential - standard "be true to your dream and it'll all work out fine in the end" stuff which we should expect from this kind of "family entertainment." I have no problem with it, but it doesn't really leave much of an impression as far as meaning or intellectual engagement is concerned.
But that doesn't mean that there wasn't sufficient material to merit further pondering. The rendering of Robot City was quite marvelous if one pauses to think about all the math and imagination that went into its conception and execution. The big set pieces abound in complexity and depth of field. Even though we saw it on a conventional screen, I think the movie would bear a second viewing in the IMAX format, or on any screen capable of giving a good look at all of the detail going on. I will consider getting the DVD, or at least renting it, just for the enjoyment of freezing some frames and exploring all the little stuff that otherwise flashes past us so frantically.
And let's not lose sight of just what a marvel this kind of synthetic, hybrid, postmodern production really is as a cultural artifact. We see so many video games and digitally treated images around us on a daily basis that it's easy to take this stuff for granted, but I do think that we are moving further into a new era of imaginative depictions of our world and some alternate realities that will influence the future that we collectively move into. The anthropomorphization of mechanical objects depicted in "Robots" can serve as a kind of dazzling counterpoint to the mechanization of human life that takes place when we plug in the numbers in order to come up with more efficient, orderly ways of managing the ungainly mess that real people often present to those who make it their job to control and commercially exploit us poor, struggling, too-often confused survivors.
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Et cetera
Tonight Julie and I went to a financial management class to get some good ideas on managing our budget - we will have three children enrolled in college this fall and we need to get a better handle on how our money is flowing in and out of our various accounts. The guy who led it is named Forest Wilson.
He says he travels around the midwest a lot teaching these classes to schools, universities, corporations, and so on, walking folks through some basic plans on how to reduce debt, monitor spending and set goals. The usual Dave Ramsey/Larry Burkett/Suze Orman/Stephen Covey/Tony Robbins kind of stuff. He actually endorsed each of those $$$ guru celebrities and did a pretty good job getting his point across to us. Julie loved it. She's happy, so I'm happy! :o)
After the class got out, around 9:30 pm, we had to head over to my grandma's apartment to move her furniture around for her, since the building managers have arranged for her to get new carpeting tomorrow. Basically we had to shove everything into her bedroom or into the main corridor outside her door (where all of her neighbors pass through to get to their apartments.) I'll have to head over tomorrow evening to help her put it all back together.
The reason that we didn't just send our boys out to do it is that we continue to have crappy weather - heavy, sticky snow came down all throughout the day, after a fairly decent weekend that melted a lot of the old snow away. It's not terribly deep - maybe just a couple of inches - but the roads are slick and we just didn't feel too comfortable sending them out into the night. So we were out almost until 11 pm at Grannie's moving furniture...
I was kind of grumpy about having to run such a late night errand even though I knew it was the right and necessary thing to do. My plans for the later part of the evening were more along the lines of heading home and mellowing out with a glass of red wine and my Handle With Care manual. I have HWC practice tomorrow. Kind of a big event - the first of three rehearsal sessions that we'll get to go through before we have to train the techniques fo' real. I had hoped to spend more time tonight going over the counts and routines, but I'll have to see what I can do in the morning.
Tonight Julie and I went to a financial management class to get some good ideas on managing our budget - we will have three children enrolled in college this fall and we need to get a better handle on how our money is flowing in and out of our various accounts. The guy who led it is named Forest Wilson.
He says he travels around the midwest a lot teaching these classes to schools, universities, corporations, and so on, walking folks through some basic plans on how to reduce debt, monitor spending and set goals. The usual Dave Ramsey/Larry Burkett/Suze Orman/Stephen Covey/Tony Robbins kind of stuff. He actually endorsed each of those $$$ guru celebrities and did a pretty good job getting his point across to us. Julie loved it. She's happy, so I'm happy! :o)After the class got out, around 9:30 pm, we had to head over to my grandma's apartment to move her furniture around for her, since the building managers have arranged for her to get new carpeting tomorrow. Basically we had to shove everything into her bedroom or into the main corridor outside her door (where all of her neighbors pass through to get to their apartments.) I'll have to head over tomorrow evening to help her put it all back together.
The reason that we didn't just send our boys out to do it is that we continue to have crappy weather - heavy, sticky snow came down all throughout the day, after a fairly decent weekend that melted a lot of the old snow away. It's not terribly deep - maybe just a couple of inches - but the roads are slick and we just didn't feel too comfortable sending them out into the night. So we were out almost until 11 pm at Grannie's moving furniture...
I was kind of grumpy about having to run such a late night errand even though I knew it was the right and necessary thing to do. My plans for the later part of the evening were more along the lines of heading home and mellowing out with a glass of red wine and my Handle With Care manual. I have HWC practice tomorrow. Kind of a big event - the first of three rehearsal sessions that we'll get to go through before we have to train the techniques fo' real. I had hoped to spend more time tonight going over the counts and routines, but I'll have to see what I can do in the morning.
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Bush, Blair Indicted for War Crimes
Here's a story that somehow didn't make it on to tonight's newscasts...
Here's a story that somehow didn't make it on to tonight's newscasts...
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Brian McLaren and the Kentucky Baptists
Here's a collection of stories on the web (updated since I originally posted) regarding the decision by a group of Baptist church officials to retract an invitation they'd extended to one of my favorite Christian writers, Brian McLaren. I've posted on this story on a couple of email lists. Here are some links if you want to track it any further.
A pre-conference publicity article describing the reasons McLaren was invited.
Conference program with McLaren's breakout session still listed.
Early blogger criticism of the KBC decision to invite McLaren, followed with comments.
The original report of his removal from the roster of speakers.
Another version of the same basic story.
The KBC account of McLaren's "withdrawal."
Southern Baptist Convention President Albert Mohler's denunciation of McLaren's latest book "A Generous Orthodoxy."
Letters to the Courier-Journal commenting on the KBC's decision.
Another mention of McLaren in a column pointing out how right-wing conservatism seems to have effectively assumed control of evangelical Christianity (where McLaren serves as the exception to the rule.)
I'm going to keep my eye on this story... McLaren is apparently going to come to Grand Rapids in September of this year and I will make every effort to be a part of that event. I think he is saying important things and I'd hate to see his voice pushed to the margins. But I wouldn't be surprised if that's what happens.
Here's a collection of stories on the web (updated since I originally posted) regarding the decision by a group of Baptist church officials to retract an invitation they'd extended to one of my favorite Christian writers, Brian McLaren. I've posted on this story on a couple of email lists. Here are some links if you want to track it any further.
A pre-conference publicity article describing the reasons McLaren was invited.
Conference program with McLaren's breakout session still listed.
Early blogger criticism of the KBC decision to invite McLaren, followed with comments.
The original report of his removal from the roster of speakers.
Another version of the same basic story.
The KBC account of McLaren's "withdrawal."
Southern Baptist Convention President Albert Mohler's denunciation of McLaren's latest book "A Generous Orthodoxy."
Letters to the Courier-Journal commenting on the KBC's decision.
Another mention of McLaren in a column pointing out how right-wing conservatism seems to have effectively assumed control of evangelical Christianity (where McLaren serves as the exception to the rule.)
I'm going to keep my eye on this story... McLaren is apparently going to come to Grand Rapids in September of this year and I will make every effort to be a part of that event. I think he is saying important things and I'd hate to see his voice pushed to the margins. But I wouldn't be surprised if that's what happens.
Big Ol' Pile-up
The weather this time of year in Michigan can be rather tricky and unpredictable. (Well, actually, that description always fits, so let me be more specific.) With so many of us eagerly anticipating a change of seasons, we often aren't quite as prepared for the sudden changes that can befall us, and that can lead to dire circumstances.
Such as what happened this morning, just a few miles north of town, when two lake-effect snow bands collided, created instant white-out conditions and led to a 90-vehicle mess that shut down our main north-south freeway.
The best link I could find to the story doesn't offer as much by way of photos, since they are rather small, but they give a sense of what a miserable predicament a lot of folks found themselves in this morning. So far, I don't know anyone who was personally involved in the crash.
(Actually, here's a better link yet, with bigger pictures. I just didn't feel like revising the above paragraph.)
I got to thinking about this when I viewed some lovely pictures of California over on Bilbo's blog... I'll get around to posting some "Michigan beauty" snapshots here eventually, but let's just say the local climate is still getting its act together before that can happen.
The weather this time of year in Michigan can be rather tricky and unpredictable. (Well, actually, that description always fits, so let me be more specific.) With so many of us eagerly anticipating a change of seasons, we often aren't quite as prepared for the sudden changes that can befall us, and that can lead to dire circumstances.
Such as what happened this morning, just a few miles north of town, when two lake-effect snow bands collided, created instant white-out conditions and led to a 90-vehicle mess that shut down our main north-south freeway.
The best link I could find to the story doesn't offer as much by way of photos, since they are rather small, but they give a sense of what a miserable predicament a lot of folks found themselves in this morning. So far, I don't know anyone who was personally involved in the crash.
(Actually, here's a better link yet, with bigger pictures. I just didn't feel like revising the above paragraph.)
I got to thinking about this when I viewed some lovely pictures of California over on Bilbo's blog... I'll get around to posting some "Michigan beauty" snapshots here eventually, but let's just say the local climate is still getting its act together before that can happen.
Monday, March 07, 2005
Star Wars Ep 3 Spoilers
An old friend of mine emailed me a link to a site full of still images that have been leaked from the new Star Wars movie due out later this summer. (The link has been shut down, I think. I was only able to log on once, where I dl'ed about 30 or 40 pics. When I went back, I got some 404 error messages denying me permission to enter.)
I won't get too deep into revealing the plot of the movie here, but the pictures I saw seem to walk the viewer all the way through the main turning points of the story, resulting in the finale, the unveiling of Darth Vader (above.) Which serves as the connecting link with "Episode 4," namely the original "Star Wars."
So the build up begins in earnest, I suppose. I'm not a Star Wars geek - still haven't seen much reason to go out and get the original trilogy on DVD, much less any of the two "prequels" - but I am fairly looking forward to seeing this saga's latest chapter, how it ties up the loose ends and so on.
I hope this didn't ruin your viewing pleasure or reveal any unexpected surprises!
Sunday, March 06, 2005
The Cereal Box Archive
On Julie Bogart's blog, she mentions her husband purchasing a product called "Kaboom" on QVC. That triggered a memory from childhood about a breakfast cereal that went by the same name, the box of which is pictured above. Which leads me to promote a website featuring so much more of this kind of material, the Cereal Box Archive! In case you just want to take a look at some packaging that you haven't seen in 30 or 40 years. Or ever...
On Julie Bogart's blog, she mentions her husband purchasing a product called "Kaboom" on QVC. That triggered a memory from childhood about a breakfast cereal that went by the same name, the box of which is pictured above. Which leads me to promote a website featuring so much more of this kind of material, the Cereal Box Archive! In case you just want to take a look at some packaging that you haven't seen in 30 or 40 years. Or ever...
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Phantom of the Sideways Opera
I saw two movies yesterday - "Sideways" in the afternoon, when I finished my HWC training earlier than scheduled, and "Phantom of the Opera" at night with my wife and daughter. They make for interesting comparisons. My take on them is that they each reveal deep insights into the distinctive ways that men and women view their relationships with the opposite sex. "Sideways" features two contemporary male archetypes, one the nervous, overly self-conscious, insecure nebbish who overthinks things to the point where he becomes paralyzed and incapable of moving in when the time is right, and the other who is all gung-ho and ready for the action but does so by under-thinking the situation and the implications of what he says and does. Both behaviors are highly self-defeating, though both offer immediate gratification of a sort. For Miles, the hesitant, analytical one, he finds stability in a "comfort zone" of self-recrimination and indulgence (in his case, mainly as a wine-connosieur.) For Jack, he gets the pleasures of the pursuit and the sexual conquest of young, uninhibited women, only to find his life enormously complicated when the fling is over and he has to account for his behavior.
I greatly enjoyed that movie, but since I'm in a hurry, I won't say much more about it other than I found it quite hilarious and entertaining. So true to human nature, so illustrative of where our society is at!
"The Phantom of the Opera" is a lush, opulently romantic and emotive "chick flick" musical extravaganza that to me seems mainly focused on depicting the tensions that young women go through in deciding whether they want to be virtuous and conventional (risking the traps of boredom and domestic servitude) or if they want to indulge their appetite for wilder and somewhat darker passions, the old "forbidden fruit" thing. Christine, the lead character, fluctuates between the allure of the Phantom, who has been deceiving and seducing her for years, taking advantage of her innocence, and the wooing of the Count, your more traditional dashing young man, Prince Charming type. In the end, she turns away from the darkness but not without a lot of voluptuous swooning, bosom heaving and angelic expressions of pity and compassion for the poor suffering Phantom.
Basically, POTO is one of those myths, along the lines of Beauty and the Beast and many others, that help young women sort out their choices in life and help guys understand a little bit better how the female heart and mind operates. At least, that's how it appears to me. The movie had a lot of beautiful and striking imagery, and the music frequently provokes shivers and goosebumps as it soars and crests through the theater. I can see why the stage production has produced so many devoted, fanatical admirers over the years.
My hunch is that the producers of these movies had different core audiences in mind (older guys for Sideways, younger women for Phantom,) but I kind of enjoy the juxtaposition and contrasts that were created by watching them on the same day. I give 'em both a thumbs up!
I saw two movies yesterday - "Sideways" in the afternoon, when I finished my HWC training earlier than scheduled, and "Phantom of the Opera" at night with my wife and daughter. They make for interesting comparisons. My take on them is that they each reveal deep insights into the distinctive ways that men and women view their relationships with the opposite sex. "Sideways" features two contemporary male archetypes, one the nervous, overly self-conscious, insecure nebbish who overthinks things to the point where he becomes paralyzed and incapable of moving in when the time is right, and the other who is all gung-ho and ready for the action but does so by under-thinking the situation and the implications of what he says and does. Both behaviors are highly self-defeating, though both offer immediate gratification of a sort. For Miles, the hesitant, analytical one, he finds stability in a "comfort zone" of self-recrimination and indulgence (in his case, mainly as a wine-connosieur.) For Jack, he gets the pleasures of the pursuit and the sexual conquest of young, uninhibited women, only to find his life enormously complicated when the fling is over and he has to account for his behavior.
I greatly enjoyed that movie, but since I'm in a hurry, I won't say much more about it other than I found it quite hilarious and entertaining. So true to human nature, so illustrative of where our society is at!
"The Phantom of the Opera" is a lush, opulently romantic and emotive "chick flick" musical extravaganza that to me seems mainly focused on depicting the tensions that young women go through in deciding whether they want to be virtuous and conventional (risking the traps of boredom and domestic servitude) or if they want to indulge their appetite for wilder and somewhat darker passions, the old "forbidden fruit" thing. Christine, the lead character, fluctuates between the allure of the Phantom, who has been deceiving and seducing her for years, taking advantage of her innocence, and the wooing of the Count, your more traditional dashing young man, Prince Charming type. In the end, she turns away from the darkness but not without a lot of voluptuous swooning, bosom heaving and angelic expressions of pity and compassion for the poor suffering Phantom.
Basically, POTO is one of those myths, along the lines of Beauty and the Beast and many others, that help young women sort out their choices in life and help guys understand a little bit better how the female heart and mind operates. At least, that's how it appears to me. The movie had a lot of beautiful and striking imagery, and the music frequently provokes shivers and goosebumps as it soars and crests through the theater. I can see why the stage production has produced so many devoted, fanatical admirers over the years.
My hunch is that the producers of these movies had different core audiences in mind (older guys for Sideways, younger women for Phantom,) but I kind of enjoy the juxtaposition and contrasts that were created by watching them on the same day. I give 'em both a thumbs up!
Friday, March 04, 2005
"Hobbit" Skull Unearthed
This one's for my friend Bilbo...
Perhaps Tolkien was really on to something in the dim mists of ancient history after all. Scientists recently announced the discovery of what appears to be a diminutive human ancestor, only the location of the find is Indonesia, which is neither England nor New Zealand.
This one's for my friend Bilbo...
Perhaps Tolkien was really on to something in the dim mists of ancient history after all. Scientists recently announced the discovery of what appears to be a diminutive human ancestor, only the location of the find is Indonesia, which is neither England nor New Zealand.
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Handle With Care
I spent the day today getting the first part of my training to become a certified Handle With Care instructor. The graphic above these words illustrates the main technique used to hold youth who are acting out aggressively. Of course, there's a lot more to the training than just getting them into that position, but that hold is the essence of HWC.
This technique has been in use where I work for the past few years now and my duties in the Staff Development Department will soon include teaching the method to new staff as well as recertifying veterans. I've personally used the skills dozens of times since I've learned them, after many years of using a "competing" intervention known as Non-Violent Physical Crisis Intervention (NVPCI.) It took me awhile to unlearn the old-style restraint, but I like HWC a lot better. NVPCI is a fine way to get the job done if people do it right, but it's easier for staff to "get wrong" (i.e. implement incorrectly) and lead to a free-for-all of sorts until the child is brought under control. NVPCI also tended to go all the way to the floor much more frequently, which is not the ideal place to wind up when placing hands on an acting-out child, though at times it is clearly necessary.
So the day's training went well, though it's a bit overwhelming. The trainer, Bruce Chapman, invented the technique himself specifically for the purpose of using it in treatment and detention settings. His personal mannerisms are pretty attention getting and even intense at times. He's a brash-talking New Yorker who peppers a fair amount of cussing throughout his presentation, which is not something I'm all that used to hearing from adults, as I work for a private Christian organization. (I hear all sorts of profanity from the kids, of course.) Using a snappy, well-polished patter of jokes, anecdotes and sound-bites, he succeeds at leaving a strong impression, although it's hard for me to imagine emulating his style all that much, he's so idiosyncratic in his delivery. But he has a thorough understanding of how the human body works and has all kinds of insights on small things that create advantages for the adult based on leverage, angles, pressure points and so on. The challenge with methods like this is that the staff aren't allowed to use full force that might result in injury, even if the client is acting with aggressive or even homicidal intent. Injuring a child in restraint could result in us losing our job, licensing violations and of course all sorts of problems in creating a therapeutic environment for the kids we care for. So he had to come up with holds and counter-moves that hold back on the infliction of pain as an incentive to get kids to back off or let go.
Which is why I like this technique. It gives us a solid, tested, reliable technique that keeps us all safe and reduces the amount of damage and drama an angry child can create when he or she is feeling like nothing matters or just wants to spread more pain. But teaching it to others is a big responsibility, and my brain is fairly loaded right now with all the information that Bruce threw at us. I am wondering just how I'm going to remember it all and make sure that I get it right when it's my turn to take a dozen or so staff through the process. Fortunately, we'll have several chances to practice in rehearsal before taking the show live, so to speak. I will need it!
I spent the day today getting the first part of my training to become a certified Handle With Care instructor. The graphic above these words illustrates the main technique used to hold youth who are acting out aggressively. Of course, there's a lot more to the training than just getting them into that position, but that hold is the essence of HWC.
This technique has been in use where I work for the past few years now and my duties in the Staff Development Department will soon include teaching the method to new staff as well as recertifying veterans. I've personally used the skills dozens of times since I've learned them, after many years of using a "competing" intervention known as Non-Violent Physical Crisis Intervention (NVPCI.) It took me awhile to unlearn the old-style restraint, but I like HWC a lot better. NVPCI is a fine way to get the job done if people do it right, but it's easier for staff to "get wrong" (i.e. implement incorrectly) and lead to a free-for-all of sorts until the child is brought under control. NVPCI also tended to go all the way to the floor much more frequently, which is not the ideal place to wind up when placing hands on an acting-out child, though at times it is clearly necessary.
So the day's training went well, though it's a bit overwhelming. The trainer, Bruce Chapman, invented the technique himself specifically for the purpose of using it in treatment and detention settings. His personal mannerisms are pretty attention getting and even intense at times. He's a brash-talking New Yorker who peppers a fair amount of cussing throughout his presentation, which is not something I'm all that used to hearing from adults, as I work for a private Christian organization. (I hear all sorts of profanity from the kids, of course.) Using a snappy, well-polished patter of jokes, anecdotes and sound-bites, he succeeds at leaving a strong impression, although it's hard for me to imagine emulating his style all that much, he's so idiosyncratic in his delivery. But he has a thorough understanding of how the human body works and has all kinds of insights on small things that create advantages for the adult based on leverage, angles, pressure points and so on. The challenge with methods like this is that the staff aren't allowed to use full force that might result in injury, even if the client is acting with aggressive or even homicidal intent. Injuring a child in restraint could result in us losing our job, licensing violations and of course all sorts of problems in creating a therapeutic environment for the kids we care for. So he had to come up with holds and counter-moves that hold back on the infliction of pain as an incentive to get kids to back off or let go.
Which is why I like this technique. It gives us a solid, tested, reliable technique that keeps us all safe and reduces the amount of damage and drama an angry child can create when he or she is feeling like nothing matters or just wants to spread more pain. But teaching it to others is a big responsibility, and my brain is fairly loaded right now with all the information that Bruce threw at us. I am wondering just how I'm going to remember it all and make sure that I get it right when it's my turn to take a dozen or so staff through the process. Fortunately, we'll have several chances to practice in rehearsal before taking the show live, so to speak. I will need it!
Josh Groban (Part 2)
(Josh sings "Mi Manchari" in Grand Rapids, MI on 3/1/05)
So we had ourselves a good time at the Josh concert. The crowd, while large and enthusiastic in their support for the star of the show, was for the most part, a sensible and thrifty one. Mostly women, probably a 65-35 ratio of females to males, which meant sales-wise we moved four bottled waters for every one beer that we sold. And once Josh hit the stage, it was deadsville at the concession stand. Like absolutely nothing happened - the audience sat entranced.
This provided an opportunity for Julie and I to take in a good portion of the show, after wrapping up our responsibilities behind the counter. And I will give it to young Mr. Groban (who just turned 24 sometime within the last week or two) - he is quite the polished professional, who manages to make it all look so free, easy and casual. His mix of passionate, emotive singing and playful self-effacing banter effectively guarantees him a loyal following of admirers who will no doubt serve as a solid fan base for what looks to be a long and lucrative career. I discovered that his album "Closer" was the third-largest selling CD of 2004, and it's fairly possible that even bigger things are to come for this guy. He is a complete package - well, he doesn't dance much, but he is energetic, running around the stage, hi-fiving fans, working the crowd to the upper deck and back of the arena. And he's versatile - he pulled off an impressive drum solo, showed some accomplishment on the keyboards and when it came time for him to hold the spotlight all by himself, he did it flawlessly - hit every note, connected through body language, made the song sound like a deep and genuine expression of his soul, and I would imagine to those (mostly) women in the audience who have absorbed his music into their deeper consciousness, provided more than a few moments of blissful communion as they basked in the glorious glow of having the songs sung live in their very presence.
Backing up the charismatic and obviously quite disciplined performer was a solid assembly of musical talent and a seamless technical backdrop of sound, lights, video, staging and pacing. He had a state of the art video display behind him lending visual atmosphere to the various tracks. When he sang "Remember" from the "Troy" soundtrack, clips from that would-be blockbuster rolled behind him. For a song titled "When It Rained," we had a convincing pseudo-downpour complete with little flickerings of "lightning" that flashed here and there over the crowd in the arena. His cover of Don McLean's "Vincent (Starry Starry Night)" concluded with a huge reproduction of Van Gogh's famous painting. And he even had subtitles for one of the numerous songs he sang in Italian! Plus of course, plenty of opportunities to see his expressions highly magnified with the live video feeds on either side of the stage.
His musical accompaniment was rich - two drum kits, the usual assortment of guitars and keyboards and a string section of somewhere around 15 instruments including cello and harp. He featured a young female violinist, Lucia Micarelli, who is now recording her own stuff. She did a violin-solo cover of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" that was very cool!
If you want to dig deeper, here's the GR Press review of the concert. And you can connect with the fan-girl message board to see what others had to say about the show as well.
Well I could go on, but you get the point. Josh Groban is not just a novelty act, he is already a significant pop music star and phenomenon and he looks to be a fixture in the music biz for a long time to come. Though the mood to listen to his music will not come over me nearly as frequently as I know it does for his core fans, I respect his achievements and the passionate sincerity that he puts into his performance. My wife thinks he is fabulous, so I will be tracking Josh's career from here on out regardless. I might as well learn to love it, right? Thankfully, it won't be so hard. Josh Groban is all right by me.
(Josh sings "Mi Manchari" in Grand Rapids, MI on 3/1/05)
So we had ourselves a good time at the Josh concert. The crowd, while large and enthusiastic in their support for the star of the show, was for the most part, a sensible and thrifty one. Mostly women, probably a 65-35 ratio of females to males, which meant sales-wise we moved four bottled waters for every one beer that we sold. And once Josh hit the stage, it was deadsville at the concession stand. Like absolutely nothing happened - the audience sat entranced.
This provided an opportunity for Julie and I to take in a good portion of the show, after wrapping up our responsibilities behind the counter. And I will give it to young Mr. Groban (who just turned 24 sometime within the last week or two) - he is quite the polished professional, who manages to make it all look so free, easy and casual. His mix of passionate, emotive singing and playful self-effacing banter effectively guarantees him a loyal following of admirers who will no doubt serve as a solid fan base for what looks to be a long and lucrative career. I discovered that his album "Closer" was the third-largest selling CD of 2004, and it's fairly possible that even bigger things are to come for this guy. He is a complete package - well, he doesn't dance much, but he is energetic, running around the stage, hi-fiving fans, working the crowd to the upper deck and back of the arena. And he's versatile - he pulled off an impressive drum solo, showed some accomplishment on the keyboards and when it came time for him to hold the spotlight all by himself, he did it flawlessly - hit every note, connected through body language, made the song sound like a deep and genuine expression of his soul, and I would imagine to those (mostly) women in the audience who have absorbed his music into their deeper consciousness, provided more than a few moments of blissful communion as they basked in the glorious glow of having the songs sung live in their very presence.
Backing up the charismatic and obviously quite disciplined performer was a solid assembly of musical talent and a seamless technical backdrop of sound, lights, video, staging and pacing. He had a state of the art video display behind him lending visual atmosphere to the various tracks. When he sang "Remember" from the "Troy" soundtrack, clips from that would-be blockbuster rolled behind him. For a song titled "When It Rained," we had a convincing pseudo-downpour complete with little flickerings of "lightning" that flashed here and there over the crowd in the arena. His cover of Don McLean's "Vincent (Starry Starry Night)" concluded with a huge reproduction of Van Gogh's famous painting. And he even had subtitles for one of the numerous songs he sang in Italian! Plus of course, plenty of opportunities to see his expressions highly magnified with the live video feeds on either side of the stage.
His musical accompaniment was rich - two drum kits, the usual assortment of guitars and keyboards and a string section of somewhere around 15 instruments including cello and harp. He featured a young female violinist, Lucia Micarelli, who is now recording her own stuff. She did a violin-solo cover of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" that was very cool!
If you want to dig deeper, here's the GR Press review of the concert. And you can connect with the fan-girl message board to see what others had to say about the show as well.
Well I could go on, but you get the point. Josh Groban is not just a novelty act, he is already a significant pop music star and phenomenon and he looks to be a fixture in the music biz for a long time to come. Though the mood to listen to his music will not come over me nearly as frequently as I know it does for his core fans, I respect his achievements and the passionate sincerity that he puts into his performance. My wife thinks he is fabulous, so I will be tracking Josh's career from here on out regardless. I might as well learn to love it, right? Thankfully, it won't be so hard. Josh Groban is all right by me.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Josh Groban (Pt. 1)
I'm going to work the Josh Groban concert tonight, but before I get around to posting my commentary on his performance, I want to link to a couple of articles in the GR Press that came out in the past two editions.
Here's one about a super-fan who lives right here in Grand Rapids. Tonight will mark the 64th time she's seen him in live performance!
And here's a brief interview with Josh himself where he discusses his fans, his image and a few other topics that Josh's dedicated listeners simply need to know!
Though Josh is a SoCal boy, he seems to have some significant connections to west Michigan. Tonight's show was a quick sell-out, and the excitement in the air at the VAA will be palpable, I'm sure!
I'm going to work the Josh Groban concert tonight, but before I get around to posting my commentary on his performance, I want to link to a couple of articles in the GR Press that came out in the past two editions.
Here's one about a super-fan who lives right here in Grand Rapids. Tonight will mark the 64th time she's seen him in live performance!
And here's a brief interview with Josh himself where he discusses his fans, his image and a few other topics that Josh's dedicated listeners simply need to know!
Though Josh is a SoCal boy, he seems to have some significant connections to west Michigan. Tonight's show was a quick sell-out, and the excitement in the air at the VAA will be palpable, I'm sure!
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