Enjoy!
What's the worst book you've ever read?
I spent the last week or so reading Thomas Merton’s No Man is an Island. Surprisingly, this has been the first Christian theological work I have read in quite a long time. I think four-plus years of Christian education helped contribute to this much-deserved break. Now, I am well rested (in a Christian theological sense) and eager to dig right in to some good stuff. To appreciate Merton’s work, I had to understand the book was written in 1955. This means I had to realize both his male-centric writing (using the word man in place of humanity) and his negativity to other religions. Merton’s theological writing is Roman Catholic, though he does not write with a dogmatic style of a canon lawyer or apologetic theologian. This book reads more like religious philosophy than theology simply because of the questions and answers it raises. Here are some ideas I found interesting. ‘We must, therefore live by the commandments and the counsels and by the Sprit of Jesus. And in order to do this we much search the Scriptures and understand the Gospels, in order to find out what Jesus is like and what His commandments are” (59). This is Christ centered thinking, unlike the Pauline emphasis often found in Christian thought today. I believe this statement is the simple Christianity that can resurrect the faith today. “All men seek peace first of all with themselves. That is necessary, because we do not naturally find rest even in our own being. We have to learn to commune with ourselves before we can communicate with other men and with God. A man who is not at peace with himself necessarily projects his interior fighting into the society of those he lives with, and spreads a contagion of conflict all around him” (121). This means we can and should heal ourselves before even attempting to offer counsel to others. If we are hurt, how can we expect to heal others? By taking care of ourselves first, we can have enough energy and attention to devote to helping others without distraction. “The arguments of religious men are so often insincere, and their insincerity is proportionate to their anger. Why do we get angry about what we believe? Because we do not really believe it. Or else what we pretend to be defending as the “truth” is really our own self-esteem. A man of sincerity is less interested in defending the truth than in stating it clearly, for he thinks that if the truth be clearly seen it can very well take care of itself” (195). This is good reading for the fundamentalist evangelicals who push their brand of Christianity as absolute truth. Many of these same people will become notably angry when pressed about their beliefs. If one believes they know the truth, they can rest easy in confidence. If you know the truth, there is no need to defend it. “Anxiety is fatal to recollection because recollection depends ultimately on faith, and anxiety eats into the heart of faith. Anxiety usually comes from strain, and strain is caused by too complete a dependence on ourselves, on our own devices, our own plans, our own idea of what we are able to do” (224). Merton talked about recollection as a “change of spiritual focus and an attuning of our whole soul to what is beyond and above us.” It is like becoming awake and practicing mindfulness, which allows us to see things as they are. A thorough understanding of Jesus’ life and teachings gives us confidence to not only shed anxiety, it allows us the peace of mind to become awake & mindful. Christians become anxious when they doubt Jesus’ life and teachings and instead turn toward the abilities of human beings (Paul, other people, or themselves) to help them.
I like to start my workday (after the coffee & Ellen DeGeneres) by choosing a soundtrack the day. Oftentimes this is either listening to 89.3 The Current or just hitting shuffle. If I'm feeling extra procrastinatey I have to create a playlist for the day. These vary quite a bit. One playlist is just a mashup of Exile on Main Street with Exile in Guyville, alternating the Stones with Liz Phair. Speaking of Phair, she has another playlist dedicated to her. This one alternates the rejected Whitechocolatespaceegg demos with the released versions of the songs.
The latest playlist was quite fun to make and it's just called Duets. I seem unable to resist a duet. I blame this on listening to a lot of Kenny Rogers in my formative years (he loved the duet too). And since we're very nearly hitting the 12 days of Christmas, I thought I'd share four of the more unusual duets in my collection.
Rocket Man, Elton John & Ryan Adams
Even though everyone knows "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" is Elton's best song, I have a soft spot for "Rockt Man" because it brings up fond memories of spending a drunken night on the company dime in a swanky Canadian hotel, where some co-workers and I commandeered the piano in the hotel bar and this song was sung repeatedly with made up lyrics involving Software Man.
Come on! Does this really need any explanation? I didn't think so.
The fact that these two sing together and have formed a sort of mutual admiration society is enough to make my heart burst with joy. It's a little known fact that I bought the Tank Girl soundtrack not because of the name Paul Westerberg but because Joan Jett (and L7, I was going through quite an L7 thing at the time). My Joan Jett admiration predates my Westerfetish by quite a few years. Of course, I should admit a lot of my Joan Jett love was due to the fact that in my early-childhood brain I had decided she was also Leather Tuscadero from Happy Days. Oh well, serendipity I guess.
Changed the Lock, Elvis Costello & Lucinda Williams
I have nothing to say about this one. I just really fucking love the both of 'em.
This month has been positively shameful. I blame a lot of it on how Await Your Reply totally wrecked me, and made everything else seem boring and unimportant. I only finished two books in November and I didn't like one of them. How sad am I? But, well, this is my last week of class and now the time I've devoted to reading some 425+ student pages a month can be spent on other things.
BOOK ACQUIRED
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
Exit Ghost by Philip Roth
BOOKS READ
The Complete Essex County by Jeff Lemire: Sweeping and brilliant graphic novel about hockey, forgiveness, loneliness, and family in Canada.
Totally Killer by Greg Olear: Despite being a sort of homage to American Psycho, a bad choice in point of view ruins what could have been a pretty funny novel about murder, babyboomers, and 1991.
CURRENTLY READING
Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
I was tagged by arulba. She was tagged by tagged by Kay. Thanks! Summarize the Bible in five statements (fifteen words). The first statement – one word long, the second two, the third three, the fourth four and the last five words long. Or possibly you could do this in descending order. Tag five people. Comprehensive (The book is comprehensive in content and form. There are so many nooks and crannies full of meaning. Most of the literary forms are represented in the Bible.) Human made. (This cannot be emphasized enough. Despite what many have said about Divine inspiration, the Bible was written and assembled by humans, specifically men. Imperfect human beings make imperfect writings and books, and the Bible is no exception.) Remember the metaphor. (The Bible is an imperfect book written in many literary forms for many different audiences. To read it as literal truth is to ignore these realities, which is dishonest to both the book and to the person reading it. Metaphor can help us make the book relevant for our particular time, though this requires work and thought. And whenever one interprets a dream [think Revelation], metaphor is the best tool one can use to pull meaning.) Read the Gospels first. (This helps set one’s mind in a Christian sense, providing one is reading the book in that framework. Then, read the entire Old Testament straight through before reading the rest of the New Testament, starting with the book of Acts.) Paul writes letters to others. (What many Bible readers and believers should to realize is that Paul’s letters are written to a particular group of people in a particular time and place. It is important to not take these letters out of context. Many Christians believe Paul provides a practical application of the Gospel. However, Paul is actually providing his own interpretation and application of the Gospel for groups like the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, etc. One is actually reading a one-sided conversation. For a universal message, turn back to the Gospels. Jesus’ message is simple and universal enough for one to apply without clinging to Paul’s [or anyone else's] ancient interpretation.)
There are certain pieces of art -- music, books, movies, tv shows -- that click with you in ways that are hard to define. Oftentimes mere words cannot explain the feelings you have for certain things. The heart wants what it wants, right? Though I have tried, I still can't explain what it was about the Wakefield Twins of Sweet Valley that had me entranced for years on end. I can't adequately explain how the music of The Replacements exhilarates me and makes me feel understood and not alone all at the same time.
Nor can I explain why I love Dawson's Creek so much. It's a silly teen drama that I fell in love with when I was much too old to be in the show's target audience. I remember having a great time making fun of my parents who were early-fans of the Dawson's Creek/Felicity night on the WB. Little did I know, three short years later I would be the biggest fan of Dawson's Creek.
It caught me when I was at my weakest. I was working a crap job in Customer Service, living alone for the first time, and fighting a battle with pneumonia where the doctor made me choose between staying in my apartment for 10 days or going to the hospital to rest.
I opted for the home quarantine and it was then I caught my first episode. It was the one where Pacey kissed Joey. That's all it took and I was hooked. I watched the show religiously for the next two years. Then I proceeded to Netflix the hell out of the entire series so I could get the full Dawson's Creek experience.
It didn't end there. Once I moved into Supergenius HQ and had cable, I began to TiVO the show on any time it was shown. I'd watch it every night and it ruled. But then I got laid off in the winter of 08 and by that summer decided that I needed to slash my cable budget. I dropped down a level, saving myself a measly $13 a month (seriously Comcast, are you fucking kidding me?) and thus ended my Dawson's supply. There was much sadness throughout the land.
Over the years I've spent a lot of time debating the merits of purchasing each of the six seasons of Dawson's on DVD. But somehow I always held back, mostly because I am cheap. But then they released the Complete Series as a box set for only $81. I could not resist, and snapped it up immediately.
There was much rejoicing throughout the land when it landed on my doorstep. However, after making my way through 2.5 seasons I've discovered that one of the discs is flawed. It won't play the finale of season 3, which is a very important episode. It is here where Joey makes the decision to ditch whiny, crybaby Dawson and spend the summer sailing to Key West with Pacey.
So, what's a girl to do? I, of course, e-mail customer service at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment whereby I was told to pack up my entire Boxed Set send it to their giant conglomerate and then spend the next three to five weeks with my fingers crossed praying that they return a working set to me.
Perfect solution, huh?
I don't think so. While I am all for sending them a proof of purchase, and even sending back the defective disc for a new one, the idea of just sending something I paid hard-earned money for into the void doesn't sit well with me. And why does it take so long? Three to five weeks? It took Amazon 2-days to get the set to me, apparently it takes the makers of the boxed set a couple of fortnights to get a working product to me.
I call bullshit.
Do you have any idea how much my Thanksgiving was ruined? RUINED! It was ruined by the fact that I am hopelessly, utterly in love with a song that talks about pie in a positive light. I spent the entire holiday breaking singing about pie.
I am so ashamed.
I follow the Christian Post on Twitter because I like to keep up with the ideas and thinking of many Christians. Today they tweeted the following:
As most of you know, I've been keeping a blog on iwilldare.com for over nine years. It's a lot of content -- 7,193 posts (and that's not included the hundreds of posts I deleted, mostly about sandwiches and what a fuckwit my boss Shakey McDougal was) and 18,198 comments.
In the last year I've noticed a new trend, e-mails from people begging me to delete some asinine comment they made back in 2002. It seems all those annoying teenagers who had a lot to say about Donnie Darko and being bored in study hall have discovered the Internet has a long memory. Now, when they Google themselves (or their e-mail addresses) they're embarrassed to discover that something they said on a website five years ago is the #1 result.
Ha!
I'm of two minds when it comes to deleting the comments. Part of me thinks I should just delete them and be done with it. It doesn't take a lot of time, and most of the time the comment is not a great loss to the Internet. Of course, the other part of me is all, "Suck it up, loser. I refuse to edit my website because you were an obnoxious 15-year-old, let this be a lesson to you!"
What would you do?
