spilling hope...

Bethany Community Church (where I attend) is organizing a fundraising drive to help provide clean water (through digging/building wells) to Africa. The need for clean water is immense worldwide. If you get a chance, please read my pastor's blog entry below, and look at the links, and consider how you might get involved. There are quite a few reliable charities who are working to provide water to people who desperately need it. Thanks.

http://raincitypastor.blogspot.com/2009/04/thirsty-and-running-dry.html

http://www.spillinghope.org/

http://www.runningdry.org/learn.html

wow... serious questions for Americans to consider...

This article presents a challenge to American nationalist tendencies, to say the least...

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200711/wallace-safety

dating isn't easy...

... but everytime I feel like I'm totally clueless, along comes a priceless quote like this one, which makes me feel better (from an article on MSN about money and dating):

"My current boyfriend pays for everything and I think I make more $ than he does, but I like it that way because it feels romantic, caring and chivalrous. Dating a man without money is really tough because you end up paying for everything and that wears on you after awhile."

This, my friends, is an example of someone who is well-practiced in entirely missing the point. :-)

interesting quote from Zizek...

"...from the psychoanalytic standpoint... man is a hystericized animal, an animal who no longer knows what it wants, an animal who needs a Master figure of an Other to set [for] it the limits, to tell it what it wants, an animal caught in the game of provoking the Master, an animal in whom this provoking, this questioning of the Master's authority, is inextricably linked to the call for a new Master, and vice versa, in whom the desire for a Master is always accompanied by a hidden qualification: "...a Master whom I will be able to dominate/manipulate." (The Parallax View, p. 92)

It's amazing how much this sounds like a description of the sinful nature, even if it's coming from an atheist philosopher...

big ideas (in a shrinking world)

A song by Randy Stonehill, written over 25 years ago, that strangely seems more applicable now than ever... and perhaps most particularly for those of us in the "church"...


BIG IDEAS (IN THE SHRINKING WORLD)
Words and Music by Randy Stonehill

The economy is shrinking
Our money is a joke
We should go back to trading sea shells
And just admit that we're broke
And our food supply is shrinking
But we continue happily
Building condos on farm land
And dumping sewage in the sea

Someone's talking 'bout a big idea
Someone's talking 'bout a higher vision
Everybody's on the run
Lookin' out for number one
And your big ideas don't fit
Big ideas in the shrinking world
Big ideas in the shrinking world
Big ideas in the shrinking world
Well you make us real nervous with your big ideas

Our water is shrinking
All the pipes are in decay
But don't think of it as water
It's more like "soup of the day"
And our air supply is shrinking
The sky is turning brown
We're getting cancer of the cancer
Just from walking around

Someone's talking 'bout a big idea
Someone’s pointing to the Savior of the Ages
Everybody's busy just takin' care of business
And your big ideas don't fit
Big ideas in the shrinking world
Big ideas in the shrinking world
Big ideas in the shrinking world
Now we don't wanna hear about your big ideas

Our sanity is shrinking
From Argentina to Iran
It seems like everybody's itching
To get a nuclear tan
And our compassion is shrinking
It's the ultimate crime
'cause we could save the starving millions
But we can't seem to find the time

Someone's talking 'bout a big idea
Someone's pointing to a Light in the darkness
Everybody's trying to keep their heads above water
And your big ideas are rockin' the boat
Big ideas in the shrinking world
Big ideas in the shrinking world
Big ideas in the shrinking world
Well, you make us real angry with your big ideas
Now we don't wanna know about your big ideas
We're too busy to get cosmic with your big ideas

My life (a brief update)...

Well, obviously I haven't posted anything in a couple weeks, and that's partially due to the fact that I've been sick with various allergy/sinus-related bugs that have left me disinterested in just about everything except sleeping and eating... I've got some medicine now, and hopefully I'm on the mend. But enough about that.

In other news, I have officially decided to defer the offer from Claremont's PhD program, due to funding issues. I just don't think it would be wise to take on a huge amount of debt, move to CA in the midst of a recession, and try to find/work a full-time job while taking PhD courses. I'm very grateful to CGU for accepting me, and I'm bummed about having to wait another year before pursuing further studies, but I believe this is the right choice. So, the next year will be spent doing a lot of reading, writing, and research on my own, some of which will hopefully prove beneficial in the future.

Aside from that, I'm working on my paper for the upcoming AAR conference, and trying to discern what the next year holds for me... lots to think about, but overall, I feel pretty good about where I am. My existential angst... well, that's another story. :-)