Not the year in review.

Today happens to be December 31, 2005 but I don't have any intention here on my blog to do a summary look back on the events of the past 365 days. Just like I didn't contemplate the meaning of Christmas here or touch much on other major holidays over this past year. Others have done a much better job at that and I've been putting my creative energies into different efforts.

There are two projects that are most on my mind lately. One is a presentation I'm giving at IGE next Thursday on contemporary expressions of "protest music." Awhile back, I was listening to my #1 Billboard Hot 100 Hits collection when the song "War" by Edwin Starr came up. It's a famous antiwar song that reached the top position back in 1971 and has been something of a classic ever since. I thought the song was great when I was just a ten-year-old kid - about the funkiest, gutsiest music I'd ever heard at the time - and I still love hearing it today. I thought to myself, "what are the chances that a song like this would enjoy similar success in 2005?" We have a war going on, a controversial and costly conflict that the public is largely growing weary of. But there's not a lot of political consciousness present in the top hits of today.

So I gave the topic some further thought and figured I would do well to research and compile some of the protest songs that are being produced today but fall into other, less commercially prominent niches in the pop music spectrum. The notion was brought to fruition when I was asked to select a topic for our monthly "IGE Talks" meeting. We've generally covered topics that I'd describe as "heavier" (our last talk focused on the contemporary relevance of Rousseau's concept of "the social contract.") So I thought it could be fun to have a music-listening party, so to speak.

That's put me on a hunt for a generously eclectic sampling of what today's musicians and singers have to say. I'm still putting my playlist together, and I'm inviting others to bring their own favorites to the talk as well. Then we'll videotape the meeting and put it on local public access TV. I was down at the Community Media Center yesterday after I left work to tape a Public Service Announcement for the event, actually.

The other creative project I'm working on is a more advanced training in LSCI (Life Space Crisis Intervention.) I've been re-reading the textbook, watching videos and preparing some role play exercises for this in-service that will be held on January 17.

I'm beginning to get a real sense of "lightening burdens" and an energized enthusiasm for my upcoming change of roles at Wedgwood. I have a sense of adventure about my job again - even the unpredictability and still-unclear details of just how I will be spending each week or what my schedule will look like brings me a welcome thrill. Even though I'm well-known around the agency, I see this new position as a chance to reshape my persona at work and to bring forward some ideas and aspects to my personality that my previous role didn't allow. I think, though, that at least for awhile, the new job is going to have a controlling effect on my leisure time reading and computer habits, as I will often be steering my attention toward material that may have some relevance to the training tasks that I seek to master. I've already been reading a lot of psychologically-oriented books when I'm just looking to curl up on the couch. That will probably continue and that's OK. I will also keep tabs on other streams of thought since even the best clinical training has to be multi-disciplinary, but I am seriously interested in becoming more skilled and resourceful in this area of staff development.

So what else is going on... Well, I read a quote in the New York Times a couple of weeks ago when they ran an article on the return of countless thousands of students to their homes during the college semester breaks. A woman said "It is always very nice when they come home for the holidays. And it is always very nice when they go back to school." I laughed when I read that for I recognized the truth in both halves of her statement! I am ready to resume the semi-empty nest lifestyle that Julie, Derek, (sometimes) Brandon and I got into this past fall. Nothing against Curt and Lys personally, of course - it's just that the house seems cramped and overly busy when everyone's around. Mainly the basement computer area, which is a big mess, with stacks of CD's, DVD's, videos, papers, books, digicams, Creative Memories albums and supplies, cables running all across tables and floors and big office chairs blocking egress between the long tables set up to hold all four of the PCs we have networked into our broadband internet connection. It's all of our fault, we're kind of slobs who would rather spend time doing our various computer things than spend it cleaning up and organizing the chaos - if we just stare at the screen, we can fairly successfully block out the clutter from our peripheral vision. But when it's all four of us going, each with our respective soundtracks either playing at a muted level, or one person's prevailing after the others have grudgingly gone to silence, backed by the ever-present humming of computer fans... the effect can be unavoidably claustrophobic, which has a cramping effect on my own ability to creatively respond to the complex ideas and subtle sophistication that so often comes to me in the various emails I receive.

I look forward to having a little more mental space to work in after all this holiday stuff is really and truly over with.

Family Portrait!

Here it is, the Blakeslee Family Christmas Picture for 2005!

Resignation Letter

My upcoming job change is becoming more official by the moment. I just posted the following letter to a group of my co-workers. I got a little sentimental going through the agency address book, deciding who I would include in my list of "significant people" who would receive the note. I didn't want to just post an "Everybody" message...

December 26, 2005

Dear colleagues at Wedgwood,

As you may know or will soon discover, I am near the time when I will be resigning from my duties as the Supervisor of the Delta Home. My intention is to put more focus on my role in Wedgwood’s Staff Development Department, where I seek to continue enhancing the abilities of our employees and other professionals who provide treatment to youth. One important step that I will be taking in pursuit of this objective is to begin working in a collaborative role with team leaders, picking up shifts in different Wedgwood homes, maintaining a “trainer’s perspective” while also increasing my familiarity with the unique characteristics of our various programs and their clients.

I am very excited to begin this next step of my career at Wedgwood and deeply grateful to the administrators who have endorsed my vision for bringing training into the homes in a new way and giving me this chance to build stronger connections with staff by working alongside them with the kids. Currently, my plan is to phase out of the Delta Supervisor role by the end of January. In the next few weeks, I anticipate that I’ll be contacting PA’s, Home Supervisors and Assistant Supervisors to develop plans for me to pick up shifts and consult with them on various training or treatment needs where my experience can be of benefit to their programs. My hope is that this will be a creative and encouraging experience for us all, and I look forward to sharpening my own insights as to how we can better meet the needs of our clients and staff through effective training and putting good ideas into practice.

I also want to take this moment to express my thanks and appreciation to all of my current and former co-workers who have made my experience at Wedgwood such a fulfilling and positively challenging part of my life. The last twelve years that I’ve worked as the Delta (Parramore) supervisor in particular have left a deep impression upon me of just how richly God blesses this agency with gracious, dedicated and compassionate people who put God’s love into action. I’m glad to know that, Lord willing, I have many more positive experiences awaiting me as I move into a new kind of relationship with the wonderful people who have joined together at Wedgwood Christian Services!

With much affection, and in Christ’s service,

Dave Blakeslee

Big News (subjectively speaking.)

I have been preoccupied with a lot of activities and tasks lately. Hey, it's Christmas Eve, smack dab in that time of year when "being busy" is pretty much expected of everybody, so I don't think I have too much explaining to do. But I do have a little moment of calm here, without obligation, before things kick into high gear around the house, so let me take some time to talk about a change coming up in my life pretty soon.

Within the next month or so, I'm going to stop being the Supervisor of the Delta Home at Wedgwood Christian Services.

I'll still work for Wedgwood, and I'm going to stay in the role of Assistant Coordinator for Staff Development that I've been doing 20 hours per week for the past 15 months or so. The other hours will be spent working as a combination trainer/youth treatment specialist, directly in any of the 11 homes that Wedgwood operates, giving me a chance to work more closely alongside the staff in our other programs, allowing my voice to speak from a broader perspective when it comes to the work we do with our clients (abused and neglected children with a wide range of behavioral and mental health problems.)

This move has been on my mind for a few weeks now, and much longer than that conceptually. I've been the Delta Supervisor (Delta is a secure residential girls program) for over 12 years and each of those years have been filled with a lot of drama, emotional heaviness of various sorts and a lot of inspiring, gratifying and occasionally heroic dedication demonstrated by all of us who have chosen to commit a portion of our lives working with these needy kids. The experience has made a big impact on my life and how I see the world and the people who live in it. Throughout these years, I and my co-workers have worked very hard to address the needs and challenges of an inherently unstable situation (12 or 13 emotionally impaired girls living 24/7 under one roof, often against their will, with all the relational dysfunctions one could imagine thrown into the mix.) For the Supervisor of such a program, there's a certain ownership and "buck stops here" attitude that is consistently required to stay effective and respected by everyone who depends on the person in that role. I've spent over a dozen years in that position, and now it is almost time for me to step out for a bit of fresh air.

The good news (from my perspective at least) is that I'm not entirely leaving the task itself behind. I still believe that I have a lot to offer my agency and co-workers and the youth we have accepted into our care, and my hope is that stepping out of some of the supervisor's responsibilities will enable me to focus more of the coaching/skill building aspects of that job that I have always enjoyed the most. I am looking forward, with great anticipation, to this next phase of my career. It is nice to be able to think of 2006 as a year with newness and change already built into my appointment calendar!

The Wilhelm Scream

I just discovered this. It's both interesting and funny. There's a movie sound effect called "the Wilhelm Scream" that has been used in Hollywood movies for the past fifty years or so. It is heard in the new "King Kong" movie as well, which I'll be seeing tomorrow afternoon.

Here is a short QuickTime clip that compiles most if not all of the scream's uses over the years, not including the just-released Peter Jackson epic.

Aerosmith Rocks.

I have seen the band Aerosmith probably five or six times in my life. Up until this past weekend, all of those concerts had taken place in the late 1970's or early 80's, back when the band was in their prime. The first time I saw them was when they were touring in support of their classic "Toys in the Attic" album, when "Walk This Way" and "Sweet Emotion" were radio hits. Then it seems like I saw them just about every year after that for awhile, up until just before their "Night in the Ruts" album was released and the band went into a serious decline that didn't really end until they revived their fortunes in the early 1990's. At that time, it seemed almost surprising that Aerosmith had found a way to survive, but they've since gone on to become a rock institution, and can lay a pretty legitimate claim to being the most successful American hard rock band ever, in terms of endurance and high-profile output, commercial sales, etc. Probably not the most influential or inspirational, but major players in the industry and a durable, reliable road show all the same.

So it was with great anticipation and curiousity that I entered the Van Andel Arena this past Saturday to work my concession stand gig and oh, by the way, listen to and steal an occasional peek at the show. Most of us were pretty pumped up and happy to be there, and I would say in retrospect that this was one of the more memorable nights of many I've spent at the arena, mostly because of my own personal interest and memory associations with the band. With such a long career and an extensive catalog of hits bridging chunks of four decades now, I was fascinated to know just what songs the band would haul out for a show in Grand Rapids.

The big surprise for me was just how weighted their program was with cuts from their first four albums ("Aerosmith," "Get Your Wings," "Toys in the Attic" and "Rocks.") These four albums are the foundation upon which all their later success rests, and they are really good ones in the overall history of rock music. After that, their albums became much more hit or miss, though I am speaking from personal bias here of course. There are probably a lot of younger people who would have not enjoyed this show if they just came to hear songs like "Janie's Got a Gun," "Love in an Elevator" or "Pink," all hits within the last 10-12 years, none of which were performed that night. Instead, they relied a lot on the old classics, including some album cuts that I thought would have been relegated to after hours jam sesssions. If I mention tunes like "Seasons of Whither" or "Last Child," would you remember them? I know them quite well, of course, but I grew up on that stuff. I don't think they really got the airplay that their later, neglected hits got, but that's what the band chose to play. I don't even think they played "Angel," but I might have missed that one. They did play "Crying" and "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," the theme from the bombastic "Armageddon" movie that starred Bruce Willis and singer Steven Tyler's daughter Liv. But they were early-in-the-set numbers and didn't really soar to the extent that even I expected them to.

Their performance was what I would described as "polished raunch," something different than the truly sloppy and sometimes pathetic raunch that they brought on stage with them in the late 70's, when the band's drug and alcohol habits mirrored those of most of their audience. In those days, we (band and audience alike) were all so toasted at the time that it didn't make much difference how out of tune or off-tempo the band was. Though we didn't like having to wait for over an hour before the band finally got on stage to play, which was a more common occurrence it seemed, back in the day, than it is nowadays with a much more efficient, professional and sanitized showbiz operation that manages the details and gets everything rolling like clockwork.

Last Saturday was ample proof that Aerosmith has cleaned up their act just enough to get their graying, high paying fanbase home on time before they have to pay the babysitter overtime, but not so much that we don't get that invigorating thrill of waltzing in the gutter with some pleasingly sleazy fellas who know how to blast out a thunderous, rumbling mash-up of powerchords and full-throated yowls. They opened with a cover of the Beatles' "Helter Skelter" (It seems like Beatle covers are safe bets for big time rockers nowadays... U2 covered four of their songs, plus a John Lennon number at their recent concert in Cleveland! All part of Bono's "Man of the Year" award campaign, seems to me...) I got to see and hear them perform a great variety of hard rockin' tracks that made me smile and nod and occasionally stomp in appreciation of what their music meant to me in days gone by. Joe Perry even did a Jimmy Page imitation with a feedback-screeching freakout session on the theramin!

Still, I never really got the sense that they were careening into no-holds-barred, go for the gusto, seat of their pants risk-taking on stage. Now it all seems like just a big ol' business, but I still appreciate the band for hanging in there and keeping that train a-rollin' all night long for well over thirty years now.

Peace Team Action in Toledo OH

My friend Mark and some others from the Michigan Peace Team went to Toledo a couple weekends ago to defuse violence that was likely to be provoked by a group of white supremacists (Neo-Nazis) who held a rally in a primarily black neighborhood. A couple months earlier, the same group held a march where large riots broke out, leading to some injuries and property destruction. I was invited to be part of this Peace Team action but had personal obligations that prevented me from going there on that Saturday.

Here are links to a newspaper account and some photos of the event.

Driving, driving and then more driving.

I have been on the road a lot the past few days. On Thursday I drove to Spring Arbor to pick Curt up for his winter break. I like these road trips - for the chance to just cruise the highway listening to music on the way there, then for a nice time of 1:1 conversation with my son. The winter weather slowed things down a bit but not too bad really.

Yesterday I had to leave work in the middle of the day to get my daughter back to her dorm (she came home on Thursday night, actually, but had to go straight to her job so all of her stuff - clothes and computer, mainly - was still in her room.) She had no time to pack during the previous week, overwhelmed as she was by art projects and final exams, so I had to help her lump everything into plastic totes. While I was there, I encountered the sad dilemma of another student whose car got stuck in the snow. She had backed out of a driveway but somehow slid off the pavement, onto a lawn, and her tires were now spinning, with no traction. I asked her if she needed a shove to get out but I learned that this would not help her. A few things made it even worse. One, her keys were locked in the car. Two, her engine was running. Three, her car was in Drive, so that if her tires actually did get traction, the car would strike the building. I didn't ask her how she got into that predicament. But she was on the phone to some people who could help, so I left it at that.

Today I've been driving around town doing Christmas shopping. The mall rush. What a mess. I have nothing very original or enlightening to say about it - if you are an American suburbanite, or ever have been, you know the drill. But I got a few necessary purchases out of the way. Julie and I have agreed to take it very easy on each other as far as gifts are concerned. Like maybe only spending about $30 each. I really feel like I have what I need so I don't see the point of extravagant obligatory big ticket items. So that is fine with me.

Now I'm about to return to Van Andel Arena to work the Aerosmith/Lenny Kravitz concert. That will definitely get some prominent coverage here soon, but tomorrow looks to be a busy day with family Christmas party and such to attend. But I'll be back here soon enough, I'm sure.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

I am a couple of days late with this, but I did say I was going to post a review of some sort about the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Unfortunately, I simply don't really have a whole lot that I feel like saying about it. I would suggest that if you are interested in learning more about TSO, visit their website or purchase one of their recordings. I only got to see some snippets of the actual performance - I could have stopped to watch more because they shut down our concession stand pretty early (the band was going to come out and sign autographs after the performance and they chose to set up the tables directly in front of our counter, so we got to pack up earlier than everyone else!)

But to be honest, I had already gotten the gist of what they do and it had been a long day (I worked both shows) so I passed up the chance to see a killer light show and hear some rockin' out versions of classic Christmas tunes. There you have it! Here are a few more comments that I will copy'n'paste from an email I wrote to my sister when she asked me how I liked it (she's a fan, not a fanatic, but she figured I would dig this kind of thing...):

"I thought the TSO was pretty cool - I wasn't 'awestruck' but then I didn't get to watch the whole program without interruption. I saw a bit of the lasers but mostly what I saw was just the conventional (though still quite impressive) lighting rig. And it was always from off to the side, not straight on so I didn't get the full effect.

What they do, they do extremely well. The musicianship and showmanship are very professional, it's all well-paced... It sounds like there's a narrative story that runs throughout the program which I couldn't listen to closely enough to follow. Having seen TSO "for free," I'm not sure that I'd spend the big bucks for tickets now but all in all, I think I understand what makes them so popular. They are Christmas-y without being cliche' or overly traditional. There's a bit of that rockin' edge to their music to keep things lively and fresh for a lot of the audience, without going to extremes either (they slow it down and remember the spiritual message of Christmas as well.)

So those are a few of my thoughts on TSO!"

A few Christmas Tree pics.

Last night our family put up our Christmas tree - just four of us since Brandon was at work and Curt is away at college. Here are a few snapshots of the event.


We always start off with a little egg nog toast.


Alyssa and Julie going at it. I like that we have a big "Peace" star at the top and front of the tree.


The (partial) family portrait.

That's about all I have time for - soon I'll be off to work two shows of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra at theVan Andel Arena - it will make for a long day, but should be pretty cool. Review to be posted tonight or tomorrow!

The Narnia movie.

About an hour ago, I got back from seeing "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." It was a benefit/sneak preview for the film which opens nationwide tomorrow night.

I don't have anything exceptionally brilliant to say about the movie, but I did enjoy it. I knew the story fairly well, having read it out loud to my kids years ago as well as watching the BBC production on video a couple of times or more. So I went there primarily to soak up the spectacle, gauge how many alterations they made to the original story in order to create a safe-bet commercial blockbuster, and get a sense of just how much of a cultural impact the film is likely to make as it tries to appeal to both the fervent Christian base of support (stemming from the story's origin in the writings of C.S. Lewis and the obvious allegorical parallels to the gospel story of Jesus) and the broader audience of fantasy film fans who just like high-quality escapist fare with awesome special effects, cool battle scenes and immersive imaginary worlds to explore.

Overall, I think the film succeeds quite well in its main objectives - it is faithful to the original book, overall, with some key adjustments for today's audience; Christians in the audience will appreciate the themes of sacrifice, redemption and resurrection that are delivered in unmistakable illustrations; and the visuals and unfolding story line provide movie watchers with a steadily developing stream of fascinating images, set pieces, characters, action sequences, all mixed with an appealing blend of humor, jump scenes and well-paced transitions that keep things moving and sufficiently satisfy our curiosity as to what the various corners of Narnia look and feel like. There aren't any major liberties or appalling deletions that I picked up on, though I am aware of some significant streamlining of the plot lines and simplification of the characters, especially Edmund, who is not quite as complex or pernicious in the movie as I remember him being in the book. The innovation most likely to bother Lewis purists is the humungous battle scene at the end of the movie, an obvious ploy to appeal to the numerous Lord of the Rings fans who thrilled at the more elaborate (and gritty) sequences that were staged in The Two Towers and Return of the King. In the book, the whole battle was over and done with in roughly a page, but that would never do in 2005! So for those who dig that sort of thing, and I do, we get to see the whole sword-brandishing, battle-crying ("For Narnia... and for ASLAAAANNN!!!" - you get the drift), stampede-clashing, hacking, slicing, crashing and battering frenzy. Still, it's hard not to see these scenes as a bit derivative and even dependent on the LOTR precedent.

But there are some differences. I especially enjoyed the classic mythological bestiary that ran throughout the film. Lewis populated his world with most of the great European and pagan critters - fauns, centaurs, minotaurs, griffins, cyclopes, giants and many many others, and they are all featured quite clearly in various scenes, all mingling together in a colorful panoply that makes one wish that there really was a world where such fantastic creatures could run free and do the things we see them do in this film.

The acting and characterizations were pretty much stock and predictable, which is not a bad thing, but don't go in expecting to see some seriously engaging or emotive performances from any of the players. The kids do a fine enough job with each of their assigned archetypes, and the same could be said of the adult supporting cast as well as the Narnian creatures. The talking animals work, more or less, to my satisfaction at least. But that depends on the viewer just setting aside whatever objections he or she might have about animals' jaws simply not being able to move the way we see on screen.

What to make of the story I'll leave up to the viewer - to me, there wasn't a lot of drama or surprise or pathos - I knew Aslan's and everyone else's fate from the get-go so there was a bit of stepping through the motions involved with getting us through the plot. There's not much of the "go for broke" sensation that comes from watching the more audacious and therefore memorable movies I've seen over the years. This is a Disney production after all, which these days implies a certain formulaic quality that simply has to be recognized as their preferred way of doing business with the movie-going public.

Having said that, I thought the whole thing was pretty well executed and I'd say that most of us left feeling satisfied, but not necessarily overwhelmed or astonished. And I'm OK with that - I don't think that the Narnia series has anywhere near the reach of films like LOTR or even the Matrix or Star Wars, to name a few other epics. And since I've never seen any of the Harry Potter movies, I can't really compare this to that. So for tonight, this is what I have to say about the Narnia film: Go check it out, it's definitely worthwhile if you are intrigued by fantasy epics, Christian allegories or well-wrought depictions of classical mythological ideas and images.

Now off to IMDB to see what others had to say!

Google Talk

Now that I have a microphone attached to my computer, I went and installed the GoogleTalk software that my Gmail account has been pitching at me for the past several days or so, maybe longer but I just noticed. (I am pretty successful at tuning out the Google ads that sidebar my emails and it does make me wonder just how Google makes so much money - besides selling shares of stock at $400 per... but then again I don't really fathom how big bucks flow so freely in any case, humble social worker armchair philosopher type dude that I am.)

So no sooner had I installed it than I found out that my cyberpal David R. Block was on-line. He and I had a nice chat, where he was telling me about a big ice storm they're having in Texas and how it's messing up their freeways and he described this huge five-decker freeway overpass conglomeration just to the northeast of downtown Dallas, near where he lives, and from there it was on to the HighFive webcam but it was dark and rainy so I couldn't see much of the aforementioned overpass, which led us to get on to GoogleMaps where he navigated me to a satellite photo of his neighborhood in the northern suburb of Carrollton, which was pretty cool.
Unfortunately my own neighborhood does not show up in very high res on GoogleMaps which makes no sense to me because it's not like I'm in this remote uncivilized outback. Nor do I live in some high-risk security zone where there's a good reason to forbid would-be terrorists or invaders a clear blueprint for how to do damage to nearby structures. I don't know what's up with that.

But anyway, I like how GoogleTalk works, it was fun listening to David's Texas accent and feeling a bit of connection with him in real time. If anyone else is interested in chatting with me over the computer, download the software and look me up. My Google ID is easy:

blakeslee@gmail.com

More late nite bloggin'

I'm honestly trying to be more consistent with my on-line journaling, so here I am, up after midnite, pecking out my thoughts for a few people (and myself) who read this thing from time to time. It was a busy day for me, what do you expect? I won't get into work stuff except to say that I was sitting in my office wrapping up my duties for the day when suddenly a chair got tossed into it by a very angry girl who really had no reason to be angry at me yet she was. I just happened to walk on to the unit after dealing with some other heavy business with my supervisor and another colleague at the very moment that aforementioned angry girl was having an emotional meltdown triggered by some dispute with her therapist that I still don't really have any idea what it's all about. But anyway, there I am sitting with my door open and I hear the girl say something about wanting to throw a chair at me so at least I was somewhat prepared but then a minute or so passed without any follow through on her threat so I begin to let myself relax a bit, but not too much, and then crash clatter clang in comes the chair, a plastic and metal one, lightweight and stackable as chairs go, capable of doing damage but it never came within a few feet of me. So I spring up and ask her just what is the problem (this is several minutes after I had already tried to explain to her that I really had no idea of what was upsetting and she verbally blew up at me and told me not to talk to her so I realized she was not in a place to listen to me so I let other staff deal with her which was fine with me because I really didn't have any particular need to get into this matter with her at the moment anyway) but her only response to my question re: "what's the problem" was that throwing the chair made her feel better and then she went into a semi-coherent rant about some implied insults toward her family and boyfriend that she read into some comments made by her therapist.

So I checked in with the other staff on duty and we were all in agreement that it would be fine for me to go home for the day and let them sort it out.

My home life tonight was basically preoccupied with two activities - one, attending Derek's Christmas band concert, a program that we've been attending for like seven years in a row now, ever since Curt got into Band in 6th grade. It was a nice show, I especially like listening to Derek's work with the jazz band which has a little more swing and zip to it than the full concert orchestra (though they are pretty good too, don't get me wrong.) I had to miss the IGE board meeting tonight which I hate having to do but family comes first and Derek more than deserves my support, you know?

Then after doing a little visiting with our relatives who came for the show, I got on the computer and put together a video (slide show really) for my sister's church Christmas program this Sunday where she took a bunch of pictures of young people re-enacting the birth of Jesus stories from Luke and Matthew and I did the voice over narration of the relevant passages (using Eugene Peterson's "The Message" version of the Bible) and cued the photos to match the audio. Pretty basic but cool, my first project with Windows Movie Maker which is bundled into the XP software. I bought a microphone for the project and now I am intrigued by the idea of doing some audio blogging or maybe even podcasting - the PoMoXian podcast, now there's something that might be fun to play with! We'll see if I can find some time to follow up on that notion! But Debbie says that I'll get paid a hundred dollars for putting this video together, which is plenty good motivation for me!

I'm reading Jaroslav Pelikan's Jesus Through the Centuries lately, as well as Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics. Pelikan's book is a historical survey of how Jesus has been interpreted in various ways over the course of Christian history and he seems to have a good, tidy grasp on things. I just finished the chapter on Jesus as "Light of the Gentiles" which describes how ancient Greek apologists found foreshadowings of Christ in the works of Plato, Homer and the Sybilline Oracle. This was not news to me but it is still fascinating to observe the hermeneutical mind at work as it seeks to find evidence to confirm previously held beliefs...

Now it's off to slumber-bye land as we settle into another cold December night here in Michigan.

Pathetic attempt to catch up, too little, definitely too late (at night, that is.)

I let the whole weekend go by without updating this blog. Inexcusable. I just wasn't feeling like writing after a very busy Saturday and a kind-of-dreary Sunday. Today was a tough day at work, dealing with the aftermath of a crappy crisis situation that didn't "have" to happen but it did. Read Juanito's blog (scroll down to entry 338) for the grim details.

But anyway, I did want to say that the Iraq teach-in was a success, a partial success anyway. The turnout was lower than we had hoped but we had some good discussions and I was glad to see some new faces outside of the already-established "peace and social justice" community come to join us. We really wanted more ideological diversity (incl. pro-war voices) but despite numerous invitations, it was mostly academics and us peacenik activist types.

I will post some more links to resources on Iraq once I get ahold of the program that we published. I left my copy at the meeting because I had to leave on short notice to pick up my daughter from work.

OK, it's bedtime, there's plenty more for me to say on a few different topics but that's all for now...

Friday night drive-by blogging

Real quick now. My feedback on the Bullies 2 Buddies conference is that I liked it a lot and I think it gave me something useful to bring back to Wedgwood. Izzy Kalman is the guy who put this material together and his solution to the bullying problem is to help victims of bullying respond in ways that make the bullies less likely to persist in their social aggression. Basically, don't whine or tattle or take what the bully does/says so personally, treat them like a friend rather than an enemy and watch basic principles of human nature go to work. We had a lot of role plays and I got to be a bully who accused Izzy of being gay. It was wierd for me to be in front of this crowd dragging out all the mockery and slurs I could recall (well, not *all* of them!) and watch his response. He's really good but I don't think his techniques are complicated. I know our staff could get it, and I think most of our kids can catch on as well. Best of all, it's based on moral, basic principles like the Golden Rule - actually, there's a lot of "Sermon on the Mount" thinking in what Izzy taught us. So I'll be putting together some trainings based on his material - he gave me express permission to do that when I asked him about it yesterday after the conference ended.

Last night I went to an IGE Talks event built on the idea of Rousseau's "Social Contract." I'm familiar with the phrase but never read what he actually wrote. The format was basically a circle chat with me and four other people. We videotaped the talk and it will air on public access TV later this month. The IGE website has the times if you are a local resident and want to check it out.

Today I went to a chili cook-off fundraiser for lunch at work. Tonight I went to an "Advent Adventure" activity night at church where we had dinner and made a variety of Christmas crafts. Now I'm home and about to go prepare for tomorrow's event, which is a Teach-In on Iraq that will be held at Calvin College. I'm a facilitator and one of the people who planned the event. I think we'll get a good turnout and I will certainly have a lot more to say here about how it went. But now I have to go look over the day's agenda and relax a little, so that's where I'm off to!

Derek's Birthday

Might as well catch up on recent events. I didn't ever get around to recapping the rest of my Thanksgiving weekend, but there wasn't much to report. It was pleasant enough, let me just say that.

Monday, my youngest son Derek turned 16. It was strange having a little family birthday party without any of his siblings around. Two were away at college and one was working at his new job at Steak n' Shake.

Derek is a wonderful son, the kind that would make any parent seriously and sincerely proud. He's a straight A student, he's nice to his peers, he plays saxophone and just got started playing the baritone sax a month ago so that he could help his jazz band. That requires him to be at school at 6:30 am every morning and since the bari sax is so big and heavy, it means Julie and I take turns driving him there. He also just passed some kind of advanced mathematics test and was the ONLY student in the entire school that was able to do so! Next week he will take another test to see just how advanced his skills in that subject really are. Sounds like it's getting out there a bit in the realm of highly abstract math, but he describes it as just making sense to him... We'll see where that leads! But all in all, it is really a blessing and a pleasure to be Derek's dad!

Here are a couple of pictures of the event...

Aunt Debbie cutting off the price tag on Derek's new leather jacket.


Surrounded by his relatives.


With Mom and Dad

Bullies to Buddies

Bullying

I'm going to a conference today on the topic of bullying. It's work related, of course. I'm sponsored by Wedgwood and will consider incorporating some ideas into an in-service that I'd lead for our staff and others interested in the topic.

I'll have a report later today on how it all goes!