Poem of the Day XII

from John Donne's Divine meditations

15
Wilt thou love God, as he thee? then digest,
My soul, this wholesome meditation,
How God the Spirit, by angels waited on
In heaven, doth make his temple in thy breast.
The Father having begot a Son most blessed,
And still begetting, (for he ne'er begun)
Hath deigned to choose thee by adoption,
Coheir to' his glory, 'and Sabbath's endless rest;
And as a robbed man, which by search doth find
His stol'n stuff sold, must lose or buy it again:
The Son of glory came down, and was slain,
Us whom he had made, and Satan stol'n, to unbind.
'Twas much, that man was made like God before,
But, that God should be made like man, much more.

~

"But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.'" ~Luke 2:10-11

"Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace to men on

whom his favor rests."

~

Merry Christmas!

Headline Leads Local Man to Blogging

I found an article on Yahoo! News about a study done on intelligence and vegetarianism with the following headline: “Kids with High IQ’s Grow up to be Vegetarians”. The headline bothered me immediately because it is such a blanket statement. So, all kids with high IQ’s become vegetarians? How about: “Kids with High IQ’s More Likely to be Vegetarians”? That would at least be less-misleading coming out of the gate.

Beyond the headline, though, the article itself has flaws. It assumes that the only cause of becoming a vegetarian is having a high IQ. It completely ignores any social factors that might have something to do with it. Perhaps it isn’t the IQ, but what the IQ provides, namely, income. If you have a high IQ you are more likely to go to college and get a good job. This gives you more money to spend on food. Being a vegetarian, and doing it right, is more expensive than eating meat, especially if you’re a vegan.

However, even if you don’t agree with my assessment above, the article itself goes on to say that there are many questions left unanswered by the study leading Lona Sandon, an assistant professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas to conclude that "we cannot draw any solid conclusions from this research.”

In that case, why is this even news? It wouldn’t be if it wasn’t for the headline. The study had to be spun so that it was seen as a direct link, otherwise all it says is, “some folks with high IQ’s are vegetarians.” Great.

Generally I think people understand to take headlines with a grain of salt, but this headline is just plain false. Editors are busy folks, but there should be more care taken when composing headlines.

Update

Today's Best of the Web had this to say regarding the article:

A new study shows that smart people are more likely to be vegetarians, reports HealthDay. But it turns out there's a catch:

"Children who scored higher on IQ tests at age 10 were more likely than those who got lower scores to report that they were vegetarian at the age of 30," Gale said.

The researchers found that 4.5 percent of participants were vegetarians. Of these, 2.5 percent were vegan, and 33.6 percent said they were vegetarian but also ate fish or chicken.

There was no difference in IQ score between strict vegetarians and those who said they were vegetarian but who said they ate fish or chicken, the researchers add.

Luckily for them, the definition of vegetarian wasn't on the test!

Continuing Education for Representatives

There’s an article over at CQ.com right now featuring snippets of an interview Jeff Stein had with Silvestre Reyes, the incoming chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. The results of the interview are a bit disturbing:

Al Qaeda is what, I asked, Sunni or Shia?

“Al Qaeda, they have both,” Reyes said. “You’re talking about predominately?”

“Sure,” I said, not knowing what else to say.

“Predominantly — probably Shiite,” he ventured.

Actually, Al Qaeda is only Sunni. As Mr. Stein puts it: “if a Shiite showed up at an al Qaeda club house, they’d slice off his head and use it for a soccer ball.” This is a key bit of information to know in order to understand the global battle with terrorism. In fact, as one small example, there was talk of reprisal from Al Qaeda after Hezbollah’s (Shiite) “success” in Lebanon. Why would there be a reprisal for actions that both groups would agree on? As Bernard Haykel wrote in his article “The Enemy of my Enemy is Still my Enemy”:

"[T]he rise of Hezbollah makes it all the more likely that Al Qaeda will soon seek to reassert itself through increased attacks on Shiites in Iraq and on Westerners all over the world — whatever it needs to do in order to regain the title of true defender of Islam."

I suppose these intricacies wouldn’t matter, though, because when asked about Hezbollah, Reyes replied:

“Hezbollah. Uh, Hezbollah...”

He laughed again, shifting in his seat.

I’m not writing this to claim superiority or to denigrate Representative Reyes. I’m sure there are many, many issues that Reyes is very familiar with, certainly more than me, and probably more than most of us, however if you are a Representative coming in as chairman of the Intelligence Committee, these are the types of things you should know. It’s a sad state of affairs that our representatives are so clueless on what is so often called the “defining issue of our time.” How can educated decisions be made about how to handle these global struggles without the proper information? Perhaps they should teach night classes over on Capitol Hill.

The Chinese Worker, the American Consumer, and the World Market

I read an interesting article from Business Week the other day. The article, titled “Secrets, Lies, and Sweatshops” details the practices used to try and prevent unethical and illegal treatment of workers in Chinese factories and the loopholes and tricks used to get around the system. All major American retailers have a system in place for inspecting, monitoring, and auditing factories for abuses to workers. In most cases, each supplier factory is required to undergo a yearly factory audit that checks on such things as underage workers, fair pay, and safety. If a factory fails, they must make changes to come up to code, much as a restaurant would have to do if it failed a health inspection, or face consequences. These changes can be very costly, and so of course factory owners find ways to cut corners. There are many practices used, such as having two sets of books, one with the actual employee’s age and time sheets, and one with false information, or coaching workers on how to respond to inspectors if questioned, or even good old fashioned bribery. None of this is new, but the article does mention one very interesting trend: a new industry has sprung up to help factories out. For a $5000 fee you can hire a consultant from Shanghai Corporate Responsibility Management & Consulting Co. to come to your factory and “solve” your audit problem. Of course, the consulting firms’ stance is that they only assist factories in making legitimate improvements to come up to code, but the Business Week article mentioned above interviewed a former worker, Tang Yinghong, at Ningbo Beifa Group, a factory which supplies various items to Wal-Mart:

Lai [Mingwei, the consultant] provided advice on how to create fake but authentic-looking records and suggested that Beifa hustle any workers with grievances out of the factory on the day of the audit, Tang recounts. […] After following much of Lai's advice, the Beifa factory in Ningbo passed the audit earlier this year, Tang says, even though the company didn't change any of its practices.

While American companies do make good faith efforts to try and stop unethical practices, and Chinese factory owners, for the most part, are willing to comply where reasonable, all too often ethical treatment is trumped by the almighty dollar. The American consumer wants low prices and every retailer’s number one strategy is to provide that. Time and time again, price is the determining factor in a consumer’s choice. You only have to look as far as declining customer service as an example of how that strategy didn’t work as well as 10% less cost did when trying to draw customers. For example, Home Depot built there business on customer service: “You Can Do It, We Can Help”, remember? However, having an ex-plumber or electrician work in your store costs a lot more than an 18 year kid working over the summer, so experience goes by the wayside and a few pennies less to Joe Consumer (and another point or two to the company’s margin) takes over.

This price pinch, of course, stretches to the suppliers as well. To pay their workers more and to implement certain safety practices costs money. Most Chinese suppliers make very low margin, the money is in the volume, so an extra 5-10% cost can be the difference between making money and breaking even. Every major retailer will fight tooth and nail to keep prices the same for products year after year, even if material prices go up. Every retailer knows that there are 100 other Chinese guys waiting to get the business if a current supplier can’t perform. If material prices are the same for everyone, and labor prices are supposed to be the same, where do those extra savings come from? All too often it’s from cutting corners. The retailers know this, but they have to show that they are trying to curb unethical practices. As long as Joe Consumer thinks that the store he shops at is cracking down on unethical practices, his conscience is clear to buy cheaper socks.

The problem, of course, is on both sides. American companies could agree to raise prices a bit to allow for more ethical practices, and implement even stricter audit regulations, but at the same time the deception would most likely still go on, and the factory owner would pocket the extra cash. Unfortunately, human nature is such that saving a few bucks trumps any altruistic good we wish on our fellow man. This is true no matter what country you’re in.

This being the case, the only thing that could possibly change the system would be to put some power into the worker’s hands. Of course, even now, the worker is not forced to work in the factories. He chooses it because it allows for a better life. It still may not be fair or ethical, and this certainly isn’t an argument for the rightness of unfair practices, but the worker does make the decision that the extra money is worth the long hours and low pay. However, there are changes in the air. Wages are increasing and hours are decreasing for factory workers. The main reason is there has been a massive shortage of workers over the past year.

Most years, Chinese New Year puts a dent in production schedules, especially for spring goods. The reason is that many workers do not return from vacation. They go back home, get comfortable, and decide time with their family is more important than venturing back to the city. However, last year after Chinese New Year, around 1.7 million workers didn’t return. The problem has only gotten worse for factories in southern China.

Why the shortage? One reason is that the Chinese government recently repealed many of the taxes they had on farms. With the extra money, more farmers can stay and work at home instead of seeking out work in the city. But the biggest reason is China’s “one-child” policy. Every couple is allowed only one child by law. This went into effect 18 years ago, so the current emerging work force comes from a generation where there are no brothers and sisters. This decline in the workforce combined with the fact that a family with only one child will put all of their resources into that one child has caused the migrant worker pool to dwindle (read more in this NYT article). Also, the large amount of business done in China has caused larger and larger factories to emerge, which can pay workers better and offer more benefits and with the rise in technology, workers from different factories can communicate easier on what they are making.

While there is a long way to go, the money we are pouring into China does seem to be improving the quality of life there. In fact, some companies are beginning to source in countries such as Bangladesh because labor rates are rising in China. While we should continue to monitor abuses, and should punish them when found, we also must hope that the market will allow for better conditions naturally. This isn’t to say we just sit back and wait, there is much that can be done to care for people well, and we should be active in it, but you can’t change human nature. As much as I hate to admit it, in many cases, market forces do a better job of policing us than we do.

Poem of the Day XI

Minnesota Thanksgiving
by John Berryman from Collected Poems: 1937 to 1971

For that free Grace bringing us past great risks
& thro' great griefs surviving to this feast
sober & still, with the children unborn and born,
among brave friends, Lord, we stand again in debt
and find ourselves in the glad position: Gratitude.

We praise our ancestors who delivered us here
within warm walls all safe, aware of music,
likely toward ample & attractive meat
with whatever accompaniment
Kate in her kind ingenuity has seen fit to devise,

and we hope--across the most strange year to come--
continually to do them and You not sufficient honour
but such as we become able to devise
out of decent or joyful conscience & thanksgiving.
Yippee!
Bless then, as Thou wilt, this wilderness board.

© 1989 Kate Donahue Berryman

Anne Frank's Tree

The chestnut tree that stands outside what was the only non-covered window in the attic where Anne Frank was in hiding for 25 months, is scheduled to be cut down. The tree has stood for 150 years, but has become the victim of a tree fungus, which has overtaken it.

As this article mentions, the tree made several appearances in the diary and served as a source of inspiration and beauty in what was a very limited existence. On February 23, 1944 she wrote:

"Nearly every morning I go to the attic to blow the stuffy air out of my lungs. From my favorite spot on the floor I look up at the blue sky and the bare chestnut tree, on whose branches little raindrops shine, appearing like silver, and at the seagulls and other birds as they glide on the wind...."

And on May 13, 1944 she wrote:

“Our chestnut tree is in full blossom. It is covered with leaves and is even more beautiful than last year...”

While it is sad the tree must be taken down, it will live on in memory and on the net. There is a memorial to the tree here and until it is removed you can catch one last glimpse at the live webcam they have focused on the tree here.

It’s amazing that this tree has become such a source of inspiration to others. I had my own “man on the train” kind of moment while reading about it. We can never understand truly what it meant to Anne, but I think we all can identify with the idea of having something that would appear ordinary and meaningless to someone else, but with which we associate so much. There’s an old saying about the little things making life worth living, and there is a lot of truth to that. Anne found solace in the peace and majesty of the tree outside her window. It served a great purpose there for her and I’m happy that it existed.

Paradise Now

Last night I attended a viewing of the movie Paradise Now at Georgia Tech, which is the story of two suicide bombers in Palestine. The movie was followed by a brief lecture and discussion. As you may recall, this movie was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards this past year. The movie was very well made. The acting was excellent, as was the writing, which is amazing considering the danger the crew faced while making the movie: the location manager was kidnapped during filming and six members of the crew quit after a missile destroyed a car yards away from where they were working. These real life difficulties give extra impact to what is happening on screen. You realize that this is not just another movie.

The director insisted that, "the film is simply meant to open a discussion. It does not condone the taking of lives." This hardly kept the controversy away, as you can imagine. However, I do feel that it is an important movie to be shown and a discussion worth having. The movie does humanize the suicide bombers, but the thing we forget is that they are human. The interesting story here, and the almost unbearable sadness, is what leads a man to this. Having an understanding doesn't make the action right, these bombings are still horrible atrocities almost beyond words, but it does lead insight into the problem, and perhaps allows for a path to a solution.

The main point of the discussion that followed the movie was that the narrative of the Palestinian is one that is absent from most American news and discussions, which is true. The entire region is labeled "terrorist" and cast aside. While there are many people and organizations in the region that are terrorists, that do take innocent life, there are many that just want a peaceful solution. The best way to reach this is for both sides to understand the story of the other. The speaker after the movie claimed that no resolution will be made until an Israeli Jew and a Palestinian Arab can reach out to each other in mutual understanding and good will. This sounds nice of course, but the reality is much more difficult. Most of the time it seems that all we can do is hope and pray for peace and stability in the region, for all people, but it should also be our responsibility to learn both sides and educate ourselves on an extremely complex situation.

Poem of the Day X

Dawn Revisted
by Rita Dove from On the Bus with Rosa Parks

Imagine you wake up
with a second chance: The blue jay
hawks his pretty wares
and the oak still stands, spreading
glorious shade. If you don't look back,

the future never happens.
How good to rise in sunlight,
in the prodigal smell of biscuits--
eggs and sausage on the grill.
The whole sky is yours

to write on, blown open
to a blank page. Come on,
shake a leg! You'll never know
who's down there, frying those eggs,
if you don't get up and see.

© 1999 by Rita Dove

Christianity and Politics

I just read an interesting article by former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson from this week’s Newsweek called “A New Social Gospel”. In it, he describes not a new type of Evangelical, but simply one that is often ignored by the mainstream media. The crux of the article can be summarized in this paragraph:

Often the media miss or ignore this kind of new evangelical leader. There is a tendency to elevate the most irresponsible and strident religious figures, mostly because it makes for better cable TV. This practice reflects a stereotype held by many media decision makers, who view every orthodox Christian as a fundamentalist, and every fundamentalist as a theocrat. The stereotype is unfair and uninteresting. Evangelicalism is both more diverse and more idealistic than its critics understand. And that should be welcome news for Americans, religious and secular alike.

One of many aspects in our current political climate that is negative is the tendency to lump all Evangelicals, really all Christians, into the Republican camp. This isn’t just making the assumption that Christians hold conservative values, this is saying that Christians have taken the Republican Party as their own. In many instances, this is true, but it is a fallacy, and a disservice to Christians, to assume this is natural. The Republican Party has formed its message to fit the conservative beliefs of many Americans and now it seems many Christians are forming their beliefs to fit the Republican message. As with any tide, it’s bound to recede. As Gerson points out, perhaps it is starting to happen (perhaps the “new Evangelical” he speaks of is not “new” in the sense of “never seen before”, but “new” in the sense that “it is a fresh perspective in the current political climate”). The issues that are important to Christians should go beyond Party lines and should be about individual platforms. There will probably never be the perfect candidate for Christians, and many of the candidates that are chosen by Christians may be Republican, but there should be a willingness to not be closed in. If the Democratic Party is smart, they will stop marginalizing this group. Gerson words it this way:

These changes in evangelicalism should be an opportunity for Democrats. But seizing it would require a philosophic shift. Modern liberalism has defined the belief in truth as the enemy of tolerance because absolute claims of right and wrong lead to coercion. And religious claims, in this view, are the most intolerant of all, and should be radically privatized so no one's morality gets "imposed" on another. It is difficult for liberals and Democrats to appeal to religious people while declaring their deepest motivations a threat to the republic. And it is difficult to imagine the history of the republic if this narrow view had prevailed. How does moral skepticism and privatized religion motivate decades of struggle against slavery, or lead men and women, step by step, toward the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma? If there is really no truth, why believe in, or sacrifice for, the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence?

There have been many progressive changes in this country because of the Christian influence. Gerson mentions several including Women’s Suffrage and Civil Rights. By toeing the Party line, Christians are playing into the segregating nature of politics today. Reasoned discourse has been sacrificed on the alter of ratings on cable news and in the editorial pages of most major newspapers. The nature of Christ was that of a revolutionary, and not in the sense we think of. Christianity cannot fit into a mould or an ideology and certainly not within the planks of a particular political party’s platform. By pursuing the Truth offered in the Gospels the outcome will be more progressive and at the same time conservative than either Party’s ideology could conjure up. Christians are limiting themselves by playing party politics. Be involved, engage in honest conversation and debate, research and read, but don’t play the game. Perhaps that’s the best advice for all of us.

News in Review I

Great News for Gourmands

Obese mice on a high-fat diet got the benefits of being thin — living healthier, longer lives — without the pain of dieting when they consumed huge doses of red wine extract, according to a landmark new study. -from 11/02/06 AP story

Great! So, now, as long as what works for mice will work for humans, we can gorge ourselves on fatty foods and cancel it out by washing it all down with some red wine! Don't worry about diet or excercise; revel in your Epicurean lifestyle! Man, if this is true, I'm eating Big Mac's with a bottle of Merlot every night.

Surprise!

Amanda Brisendine attributed the 30 pounds she gained in the past year to an abandoned smoking habit and rich food. So when she went to the hospital with sharp stomach pain, she wasn't expecting to leave with a newborn son. -from 11/01/06 AP story

Now, granted, I know very little about pregnancy, and I don't want to be one of those men that puts his foot in his mouth about something he will never truly understand, but, what!? How do you go 9 months and not know you're pregnant?

Woman: "Honey, good news! I found a great weight loss solution!"
Man:"Oh yea, what's that?"
Woman: "C-section! Meet your new son!"

Um...Why is this News?

Barb Dougherty, a 30-year Postal Service employee, said she was attacked and bitten Monday by a squirrel while delivering mail in Oil City, about 75 miles north of Pittsburgh. -from 11/02/06 AP story

I mean, sure, it's a bit odd, but c'mon. War, faminine, disease, and squirrel bites... At any rate, at least the mail was delivered...come rain, snow, or small furry animals!

Straight, No Chaser

Because I have nothing of importance to say right now, and nothing in the news will give me anything to bounce off of for a post, I decided to recycle an old post. This is from a blog I worked on with several other people a couple of years ago called Barnes Ignoble (you can check out the ruins here). The point of the blog was to discuss books. We made it through two, I believe, before it collapsed. At any rate, I was happy with this post on the book Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen, and have re-posted here for your reading pleasure:

Straight, No Chaser

The discussion that grew from the previous post was one that cut to the heart of Christianity. As I've mentioned before, it is essential to define our terms lest they become void of any real meaning. Christianity is a term that necessitates solid definition. Machen realized this and composed Christianity and Liberalism for this very purpose. We may not agree with everything he says, but we cannot deny its importance. To this end, and jumping off the previous post, I'd like to analyze, briefly, the person of Jesus and why it is important to solidify the essentials.

It doesn't take a scholar to notice the increase in attention that is being focused on religion in general in recent months and Christianity specifically. First it was The Da Vinci Code and the numerous television specials probing its claims. Next we had the election and the supposedly grand victory of "moral values", whatever that means. Also with the recent passing of the Pope, the mainstream media has brought religion to the forefront more than any time in recent memory. Machen saw a similar trend in his own time in response to the tumultuous time of war during the early 20th century. He had this to say: "such considerations [that previous solutions have not worked] have led to a renewed public interest in the subject of religion; religion is discovered after all to be a useful thing. But the trouble is that in being utilized religion is also being degraded and destroyed. Religion is being regarded more and more as a mere means to a higher end." (150) This is the crux of the problem. The more we look to religion as a means to an end the more we lose the importance of the message. We tend to water down Christianity in an attempt to derive from it what we want. Recently I read an article about a church in Arizona that has become a "Mega church" (the article has been taken off the site unless you want to pay for it, however if you'd like to read a copy let me know and I'll email you the text). The church was built to avoid looking like a traditional church at all costs. There is no iconography, however there are X-boxes and plasma TV's. Let me preface my next point with an old adage from Seinfeld: "not that there's anything wrong with that". I am not one to doubt that God can work through anything and if this church is bringing people in to hear the real message of Christ then more power to them, I certainly will not scream about the speck in my brother's eye lest I forget the plank in my own. However, there was one part of the article that disturbed me: "Almost half of each service is given over to live Christian rock with simple, repetitive lyrics in which Jesus is treated like a high-school crush: 'Jesus, you are my best friend, and you will always be. Nothing will ever change that.' Committing your life to Christ is as easy as checking a box on the communication cards that can be found on the back of every chair. (Last year, 1,055 people did so.)" Again, I will not deny that God can work through pop music and communication cards, but the message the church is putting across is one of a watered down Christ. Yes, Christ loves us, and yes nothing will ever change that, but to compare him to a high school crush not only demeans our Lord, but it demeans us for worshiping such a Lord. Machen says it this way...it is a long quote, but important:

"Yet such a God has at least one advantage over the comforting God of modern preaching--He is alive, He is sovereign, He is not bound by His creation or by His creatures, He can perform wonders. Could He even save us if He would? He has saved us--in that message the gospel consists. [...] It all seems so very local, so very particular, so very unphilosophical, so very unlike what might have been expected. Are not our own methods of salvation, men say, better than that? [...] Yet what if it were true? [...] God's own Son delivered up for us all, freedom from the world, sought by philosophers of all the ages, offered now freely to every simple soul, things hidden from the wise and prudent revealed unto babes, the long striving over, the impossible accomplished, sin conquered by mysterious grace, communion at length with the holy God, our Father which art in heaven! Surely this and this alone is joy." (134-135).

Okay, you say, so the love expressed in pop songs is not of this magnitude, but it is still love. True, I would respond, however you are also forgetting something else. Machen continues:

"But it is a joy that is akin to fear. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Were we not safer with a God of our own devising--love and only love, a Father and nothing else, one before whom we could stand in our own merit without fear? He who will may be satisfied with such a God. But we, God help us--sinful as we are, we would see Jehovah. Despairing, hoping, trembling, half-doubting and half-believing, trusting all to Jesus, we venture into the presence of the very God. And in His presence we live." (135).

When we water down Christianity we destroy its beauty, its truth, the very thing that makes it worth devoting a life to. We take God and make him manageable and make Him a thing not worth our worship. This is why Machen's book is important and why a constant reiteration, with discussion, with prayer, with thought, of Christianity is important. You may choose to believe or not to believe, this is not an argument to convince unbelievers, but if you choose to believe...believe. Do not make God manageable, let God manage you. If you choose to worship something make sure it is worth your worship.

Ars Poetica

The other night I read the introduction to the most recent book of poems edited by Garrison Keillor, Good Poems for Hard Times, which just recently came out in paperback. This is the follow up to Good Poems (which is an excellent place to start if you want a good collection of poetry). In the introduction for his new book, Keillor writes:

"A poem is not a puzzle that you the dutiful reader are obliged to solve. It is meant to poke you, get you to buck up, pay attention, rise and shine, look alive, get a grip, get the picture, pull up your socks, wake up and die right."

I think this description hits the nail on the head. Poetry has become to so many people that boring thing they had to study in school, or that thing they just don't get. It's true that a lot of poetry is lofty and inaccessible, and it has its place, but there is so much powerful, beautiful, heart breaking, fist pounding poetry that makes you yell, "Yes! That is how it is!" Does that phrase sound familiar? It should, it's in the quote at the top of my blog, which is precisely what Keillor is saying here. Poetry is one of the most pure forms of communication. Its beauty lies in the fact that a reader from another place and even another time can pick up a poem and read it and feel the connection of humanity. This is its purpose, and it's a shame that has gotten lost in academic speak and post-modern criticism. Don't worry, though, there is good stuff out there, you just have to find it.

Poem of the Day IX

Riveted
by Robyn Sarah from A Day's Grace

It is possible that things will not get better
than they are now, or have been known to be.
It is possible that we are past the middle now.
It is possible that we have crossed the great water
without knowing it, and stand now on the other side.
Yes: I think that we have crossed it. Now
we are being given tickets, and they are not
tickets to the show we had been thinking of,
but to a different show, clearly inferior.

Check again: it is our own name on the envelope.
The tickets are to that other show.

It is possible that we will walk out of the darkened hall
without waiting for the last act: people do.
Some people do. But it is probable
that we will stay seated in our narrow seats
all through the tedious dénouement
to the unsurprising end--riveted, as it were;
spellbound by our own imperfect lives
because they are lives,
and because they are ours.

© The Porcupine’s Quill, Inc

A Good Way to Kill Some Time

There's a really cool promotion going on right now for the new Treehouse of Horror Simpson's episode coming on in November. You edit together a promo clip for the show using existing video, audio, and whatever titles you want to add in. You can create your own here. After creating your clip you can submit it to win prizes, the grand prize being a trip to LA for the Simpson's 400th episode party.


If you want to see my entry, you can check it out here. I'm actually pretty proud of it. (Yes, I realize I'm a geek, no need to point it out.) Hope you enjoy!


(BTW, the line in the attached poster is one of my all time Homer favorites. Maybe someday I'll get around to doing a post on best Simpson's lines ever. More for me, than anyone else.)

The Future of Humanity: Coffee Colored Giants

Recently the television network Bravo commissioned Dr. Oliver Curry to predict the evolutionary changes in humanity over the next 1000, 10,000, and 100,000 years. You can read more about it here and here. After reading through his findings it makes me wonder, how do I get on the list to be commissioned for lame studies?

Anyway, it is kind of funny, so I’ll elaborate. In 1000 years time, according to Curry, we will all be taller, as tall as 7 feet on average, more attractive, and “coffee colored” as we will have lost all aspects of distinctive races through interbreeding. I guess the modeling industry will have no short supply of eligible candidates, but I do feel sorry for the beauty products industry because women will apparently all already have glossy hair and smooth skin.

By the year 12,000 we will all have lost almost all our ability to socialize or communicate well because of technology. Emotions such as love, sympathy, and trust will all cease to exist. This in turn will lead to the collapse of the greeting card industry, and the end to made up holidays. No wonder we don’t socialize anymore. Also the flower shops will suffer: “Sure, I’d have bought you flowers, honey, but the thing is, love doesn’t exist as an emotion anymore, so, sorry!” Oh, and we’ll also have receding chins because processed foods will require less chewing. Less chewing…I guess the future is looking brighter after all.

Finally, 100,000 years from now, we will have developed into two distinctly different sub species. According to the BBC article: “The descendants of the genetic upper class would be tall, slim, healthy, attractive, intelligent, and creative and a far cry from the ‘underclass’ humans who would have evolved into dim-witted, ugly, squat goblin-like creatures.” All I can say is that I’m looking forward to the movie about the goblin revolt in the year 104,562. I’m sure it will win Best Picture at the Intergalactic Academy Awards, unless the academy votes for the remake of “Titanic”. Man, wouldn’t that be a shame. The Goblin community could really use the boost.

North Korea at Night

This is an amazing photograph I stumbled across on this site. It was taken by a satellite in October of 2000. While Kim Jong Il is spending billions on his military and chemical and nuclear weapons (not to mention his affinity for lavish living, such as expensive wine) his country of 23 million people does not even have light at night. The website notes that the lights in the Sea of Japan are fishing vessels which use bright lights to lure squid. Yes, a satellite photo of Asia shows fishing vessels with more lights than the entire country of North Korea. It's hard to comprehend. Please pray for the people of North Korea.

Amish Faith Shines

There was an excellent article in the Dallas Morning News last Friday about the faith of the Amish after the tragedy that occurred there. There really isn't anything more I can say; the article speaks for itself.

Poem of the Day VIII

Autumn
by Rainer Maria Rilke from The Book of Images

The leaves are falling, falling as from far,
as though above were withering farthest gardens;
they fall with a denying attitude.

And night by night, down into solitude,
the heavy earth falls far from every star.

We are all falling. This hand's falling too--
all have this falling-sickness none withstands.

And yet there's One whose gently-holding hands
this universal falling can't fall through.

© 1977 by New Directions Publishing

North Korea Part II

The headline of this article on CNN caught my eye this morning: “N. Korea Sees US Pressure as an Act of War”. The official quote from North Korea’s Foreign Ministry:

"If the U.S. keeps pestering us and increases pressure, we will regard it as a declaration of war and will take a series of physical corresponding measures."

North Korea is not getting the reaction they wanted from their nuclear tests, so they’re upping the ante. They either want the US to make a dumb move and win some public approval, and then bargaining rights to get more free stuff, or they want to force the US into bilateral talks. North Korea is trying to force opinion against the US by saying things like, “the issue of future nuclear tests is linked to U.S. policy toward our country.” You can tell they don’t want war (though a North Korean diplomat did offer this gem, "we hope the situation will be resolved before an unfortunate incident of us firing a nuclear missile comes") they just want more leverage in bargaining. Also from the Foreign Ministry statement:

"Even though we conducted the nuclear test because of the U.S., we still remain committed to realizing the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through dialogue and negotiations."

It would almost be funny if it weren’t such a volatile situation to everyone in the region and the suffering North Koreans. I remain hopeful that the situation will be resolved without anything blowing up (there is still speculation that perhaps the test wasn’t a nuclear warhead at all, or a dud that shows they still are not quite there yet), but nothing changes the state of the North Korean people. They are being held hostage by a crazed dictator waving nuclear weapons in the world’s face. Kim Jong Il knows the world has sympathy for his people and he uses this to gain even more from the world. As I said before, I hope this is just a mind game, but also one that we can win, not just for our sake, but the sake of the Korean people.

Update: Monkey see, monkey do...Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said this regarding Iran's nuclear program during a televised speech Wednesday: "these three or four countries are bullying and have no right to interfere in these issues and the Security Council has no right to interfere." Guess he thought Kim Jong Il had a good angle.

North Korea

I just read a fascinating, albeit lengthy, article from the Atlantic Monthly about the situation with North Korea. Of course tensions have been high in Korea for over 50 years, but especially as of late with the recent nuclear tests. It seems to me that the Kim Jong Il is doing everything he can to get leverage in an increasingly failing state. This is the reason for the very public announcements of missile tests and nuclear tests. The more aid he can coerce out of the world, the more time he has as leader. How to deal with North Korea is the difficult question. No one wants war with a country that has a million-man army and an extensive stockpile of chemical and biological weapons, while at the same time economic sanctions that cause the country to collapse could create an enormous humanitarian crisis and a very dangerous security crisis with nuclear and chemical weapons up for grabs. Whatever we do, it needs to be well thought out. While Kim Jong Il may be crazy, he is more in line with “evil-genius” crazy. The article describes him thusly:

Expertly tutored by his father, Kim consolidated power and manipulated the Chinese, the Americans, and the South Koreans into subsidizing him throughout the 1990s. And Kim is hardly impulsive: he has the equivalent of think tanks studying how best to respond to potential attacks from the United States and South Korea—attacks that themselves would be reactions to crises cleverly instigated by the North Korean government in Pyongyang. “The regime constitutes an extremely rational bunch of killers,” [professor of history at South Korea’s Kookmin University Andrei] Lankov says.

Kim Jong Il is ready for the game, I just hope we are as well.

The Yankees Failure

I'm not normally one to revel in another's loss, unless, of course, that loss is by the New York Yankees. The Detroit Tigers beat the Yankees 3 games to 1 to win the divisional series and eliminate the Yankees from the playoffs. Below is Yankees owner George Steinbrenner's statement:

"I am deeply disappointed at our being eliminated so early in the playoffs. This result is absolutely not acceptable to me nor to our great and loyal Yankee fans. I want to congratulate the Detroit Tigers organization and wish them well. Rest assured, we will go back to work immediately and try to right this sad failure and provide a championship for the Yankees, as is our goal every year."

I guess $200 million just doesn't buy what it used to.

More on 9/11 Conspiracy Theories

I read an interesting article, by Edward Feser about the 9/11 conspiracy theories and why people are so inclined to believe them. The author's main point is that the tendency towards conspiracy theories comes from Enlightenment thinking that authority should inherently not be trusted (he does make the point that this comes from the faulty view that the middle ages was a dark and unlearned time, but that is another post for another day). His point is not that we should blindly follow authority, but that it is the foundation for any further thinking. The fallacy is that it is impossible to discount any previous authority and start fresh as you must start somewhere. He draws a parallel between this fallacy used by conspiracy theorists and one used by secularists to discount Christianity:

Even very radical shifts in worldview typically presuppose a deep level of continuity between the view that was abandoned and the one that comes to be adopted. Hence the Protestant who converts to Catholicism (or vice versa) does so on the basis of religious premises both traditions have in common. Hence the secularist who rejects Christianity as a whole typically does so on the basis of scientific and moral principles that developed out of the Christian tradition itself. (See here, here, and here.) And hence the conspiracy theorist who claims to believe that the government and the media are in thrall to some purportedly sinister force or other (the military-industrial complex, the Mossad, or whatever)invariably bases his theory precisely on materials drawn from these sources (such as newspaper accounts and television news broadcasts, and even the Warren Commission and 9/11 Commission reports, which JFK assassination buffs and 9/11 fantasists, respectively, comb for evidence to support their case).

So the conspiracy theorist cites evidence to his case from the very sources that he seeks to disqualify. The author goes on to cite a similar fallacy that the authority the conspiracy theorist questions is very often only the authority that disagrees with his point, while authorities that agree are cited without question. This is obviously faulty thinking, but an interesting side note would be to show the below video. Very often the end of 9/11 conspiracy theories is to show that the Bush administration was one of the main benefactors of 9/11 and so must have been involved in causing or at lease allowing it to happen. This is a very attractive view for those on the left that are blindly against the Bush administration (as an aside, I am in no way saying the Bush administration is without fault or has handled everything well. They have made many mistakes, but to say that they caused 9/11 or other such nonsense is only to deny your purpose because then honest criticism is often overlooked as more lunacy from the left). At any rate, perhaps the best argument would be to show the below statements by leftist darling Noam Chomsky. But then, I suppose he would be an authority and must be questioned, right?

Pervez Musharraf

The president of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, has been a name we have heard here for several years now. After 9/11, Musharraf pledged support for the US in the battle with terrorism, and specifically against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Recently, we have heard his name pop up with more frequency. He was here for the UN conference and also spent some time promoting his new book: In the Line of Fire. The majority of the rhetoric surrounding Musharraf has always been positive, and as this article notes, perhaps too positive for a man who seized control of his government in a coup and where there are questions about how "democratic" the elections have been to secure his control in the years since, but on the whole he has been seen to be a strong ally. The past week, I've been reading articles here and there relating to Musharraf, and the interesting idea I've stumbled across is that the seeming contradictions in Musharraf are really contradictions in many of the Muslim countries as a whole. What we see is a paradox of ideas: that of traditional Muslim ideology and values, and the ideology and values of the West that are being spread, directly and indirectly through them.

With all of the positive rhetoric we have heard, I always assumed Musharraf was pretty solid in our court. I suppose this was naive optimism, but during an interview with the president on The Daily Show, the fact that we are dealing with a man, running a nuclear country that could very easily change his mind about his support became clear. I'm not saying he's going to go against us, but the recent controversy surrounding whether former deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, told a key official in Pakistan after 9/11 that they had better support us or else we would bomb them into the stone age has shown some cracks of division. Armitage has claimed this statement was false, and I'm sure he would never use the phrase "bomb into the stone age", but I also don't doubt that he was surely a bit on the firm side in the conversation, and it does make you wonder how much support is due to goodwill and how much is due to force. At any rate, the interview is an interesting one to watch, so for your convenience see below:



And so the paradox I mention shown in Musharraf is really a reflection of the country he leads. My friend Christina was in Pakistan last April and two posts on her blog really capture this separateness, this paradox of Middle Eastern and Western ideas, very well. The first is about Islamabad, which is a thoroughly modern and westernized city. The second is about the trip taken to the earthquake zone. The picture with the entry says quite a bit by itself.

All of this is not to question our alliance with Musharraf and Pakistan, but to realize that situations are usually more complicated than they appear on the surface. Having an understanding of a culture like Pakistan's is essential to understanding the alliance, and the entire global situation.

Poem of the Day VII

Illumination
by R.T. Smith from Split the Lark

As if some monk bored
in the cold scriptorium
had let his quill

wander from the morning
Gospel, two tendrils
of wisteria

have scrolled
their green fervour
into the weave of a wicker

deck chair to whisper
with each spiral,
every sweet leaf

and dew sparkle,
Brother, come
with us, come home.

© RT Smith, 1999

Sufjan Stevens

Wednesday night, Sufjan Stevens performed at The Fox in Atlanta. The Fox is a beautiful venue and very well kept. This is kind of bittersweet for a concert in my opinion, because while it’s a cool room to see a show in, people tend to be more reserved. Everyone sat and took in the show as if it were a symphonic performance (though Sufjan did have a string section and a brass section) only with loud cheering after each song, instead of gentle applause. I suppose his style of music lends itself to this environment, but I still felt funny sitting at a “rock” concert.

We arrived early enough to get in, grab a way overpriced plastic cup of Sweetwater 420 (the only beer available, it was that or a $10 shot of Jager), and find our seats before the opening act, My Brightest Diamond came out. The show was sponsored by Paste Magazine and so there was a table in the lobby handing out free copies of Paste. I had a strange Hitchcock style moment before the show when I looked around the room and saw everyone sitting quietly in their seats flipping through their free copies of Paste; the gentle rustling of pages as the only sound. Okay, I’m exaggerating, but it was definitely a mini-surreal moment.

My Brightest Diamond came out, led by Shara Worden, who is also a part of Sufjan’s band, promptly at 8pm. This was the first I had heard of MBD and while they had an interesting sound, they were more the background music to everyone’s arrival. People filed in, conversed, grabbed drinks, and made trips to the bathroom, which made concentration difficult. She caught most of the audience’s attention with her last few songs, though, which were more up beat.

After a brief intermission Sufjan and his 14 piece back-up band came out. All were wearing large colorful butterfly wings. In addition to his usual group of guitarist, bassist, and drummer, he hired a string section and brass section to round it all out. Instead of traveling with this many people, though, he hired different musicians in each of the cities he’s playing in. The groups receive sheet music prior to each show and then rehearse briefly beforehand, but that's it. It didn’t show, however, as the music and arrangements all went very well.

The show began with “Sister” from the album Seven Swans. This was a perfect song to start the show with, because it is an instrumental build for about 5 minutes, then cuts out and leaves Sufjan to sing and play piano. I could tell we were in for a good show.

The only problem occurred during “The Transfiguration”. The band was in full swing, when suddenly an ear shattering high pitched feedback shriek rocked the room. All of the band members jumped and nearly dropped their instruments. Sufjan mumbled a quiet, “uh, sorry” and ran off the stage. No one knew quite what to do, so to fill the new awkward silence there were intermittent screams from the audience. Soon the problem was fixed and the show was back on.

During the middle of the show, Sufjan took it down a notch playing the quiet, yet powerful songs, “Casimir Pulaski Day” and “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” from Illinois. The songs truly show Sufjan’s lyrical genius. The former is a contemplation on a friend/girlfriend who is suffering from bone cancer. The characters in the song are young, probably high school, and when the girl finally passes away, the main character ponders the amazing Grace of the Lord, with the amazing pain we face in life:

All the glory that the Lord has made
And the complications when I see His face
In the morning in the window
All the glory when He took our place
But He took my shoulders, and He shook my face,
and He takes and He takes and He takes

The latter song mentioned above, “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” is a startling portrayal of the serial killer mentioned in the title. With careful phrasing, Sufjan mentions the evils of this man only to finish with: “And in my best behavior / I am really just like him / Look beneath the floor boards / For the secrets I have hid.”

If this section of the performance showcased Sufjan’s lyrics, the next showcased his music. “Jacksonville” is a beautifully arranged song that utilized the full band. Then, arguably my favorite Sufjan song came, “The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us!” He prefaced the song with a short story about how it came from a time when he was at summer camp and was chased by a giant “bird wasp”. It was a funny story, told in a somewhat nervous manner. Perhaps it was the size of the room, or perhaps it was just his personality. At any rate, the song didn’t disappoint.

The evening finished with the title track from Illinois followed by a two song encore. All in all it was an excellent show and well worth the money. I’m excited to see what Sufjan comes out with next.

The Pope and Controversy

Last week Pope Benedict XVI made some comments in Germany that inflamed the Muslim world once again. This of course is nothing new. It seems that with increasing regularity there are reports of uprisings because of comments someone somewhere made about Islam or Mohammed. An article on the recent uprising and a short summary of other such events are listed here. These include Salman Rushdie for the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses, which portray Mohammed in an unfavorable light. A Fatwa was placed on his head and he went into hiding for the next couple of decades. He escaped murder, but unfortunately his Japanese translator wasn’t so lucky. It also mentions the more recent event involving the Danish cartoons. Most remember this bit of chaos, so I’ll refrain from any further explanation. So, what did the Pope say that made so many, so angry?

"Without descending to details, such as the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the 'Book' and the 'infidels', [Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus] addresses his interlocutor with a startling brusqueness, a brusqueness which leaves us astounded, on the central question about the relationship between religion and violence in general, saying: 'Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached'. The emperor, after having expressed himself so forcefully, goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul. 'God', he says, 'is not pleased by blood - and not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats."

The offending point is, of course, the quote from Emperor Paleologus. Claiming that Islam has nothing new to offer except violence and evil is a bit over the top, but the Pope was not using it as his main point. It was simply an illustration of how violence should not be used to spread religion; instead it should be through reason and discourse. So, how did the offending parties respond? With a carefully worded rebuttal? Honest debate? No, they responded with this:

The Pope has since apologized for his remarks, which was perhaps the best course of action for a public leader to take, however, his point was made. The scary thing is that this violence is not just chaos, it has a goal in mind. The goal for the Islamofascist movement is an Islamic state where Sharia would be in place. One tenant of Sharia is that of Dhimmitude, which is a term used to allude to the conduct of non-muslims in a state ruled by Sharia. These inhabitants must submit and cede their individual rights such as free speech. We are not in an Islamic state, but the Islamofascist movement is winning on this point. While there is still criticism, many media outlets and public figures are afraid to say anything. After the Pope apologized, Iranian President Ahmadinejad said in an interview with Brian Williams of NBC: “I think that he actually takes back his statement. And there is no problem.” That’s precisely what’s scary: any criticism, any statement, anything at all not found favorable is unacceptable. Take it back, though, and there’s no problem. So much for reasoned discourse.

Senor Limpieza

I promise I'll post something more substantial soon, but I thought this was funny. Upon being asked if he did anything interesting yesterday, our warehouse manager replied, "nothing, just cleaned." This got me to thinking about the product "Mr. Clean" and how perhaps it's time for it to be a bit more ethnically diverse. A little boredom, a quick picture, and some photoshop work yielded this:
It would have been better, but the program crashed on me while making it and I had to start over from scratch. Oh well. Good way to kill some time.

Poem of the Day VI

Dostoevsky
by Charles Bukowski from Bone Palace Ballet: New Poems

against the wall, the firing squad ready.
then he got a reprieve.
suppose they had shot Dostoevsky?
before he wrote all that?
I suppose it woulnd't have
mattered
not directly.
there are billions of people who have
never read him and never
will.
but as a young man I know that he
got me through the factories,
past the whores,
lifted me high through the night
and put me down
in a better
place.
even while in the bar
drinking with the other
derelicts,
I was glad they gave Dostoevsky a
reprieve,
it gave me one,
allowed me to look directly at those
rancid faces
in my world,
death pointing its finger
I held fast,
an immaculate drunk
sharing the stinking dark with
my
brothers.

© 1997 by Linda Lee Bukowski

The End of an Era

The most impressive streak not just in baseball, but in all of professional sports, came to a quiet end just after midnight Wednesday. The New York Mets beat the Florida Marlins and mathematically eliminated the Braves from winning the division and the door closed on 14 straight Division Titles. Of course, everyone knew the Braves had no chance weeks ago, but the true fan always maintains that small glimmer of hope all the way to the bitter end. I’ve had a while to get used to the idea, so I’m not angry anymore. Now, I’m just taking the streak in. It’s been quite a ride and I couldn’t be prouder to have been a Braves fan through the whole thing.

What has made this extra special to anyone who has been in Atlanta long enough is the fact that the Braves were horrible until 1991 when this streak began. I remember going to Fulton County Stadium in the 80’s to a team that looked like the team from the movie Major League before they got good. Even the field itself was in disrepair since the Falcons also played there (and they weren’t much better back then). The games would barely draw enough fans to even make noise and any promotion that said: “First 10,000 fans receive a collectors Braves helmet” actually meant “Everyone Gets a Helmet Day”. You went to see Dale Murphy and Bob Horner and whoever the opposing team was. As bad as they were, though, I will always remember my first Braves game, my first baseball game, as a great day. That first moment of walking through the breezeway with baseball glove in hand and seeing the enormous field opening up before me was about the most beautiful site my young eyes had ever seen. Sunny day, baseball, hot dog…what could be better? From that moment on, for better or worse, I was a Braves fan.

Then 1991 came. The year before the Braves had finished in last place with the worst record in all of baseball. No one expected much this year either. At the All-Star Break the Braves were down 9 ½ games and it looked like more of the same. But they rallied and the season went down to the wire with the Braves clinching on October 5. Atlanta went crazy. I got to go to some playoff games and it was the most amazing magical experience. The stadium was packed and The Chant that would accompany the Tomahawk Chop would continue long after the drum rhythm on the PA would stop. The Braves went on to defeat the Pittsburg Pirates in 7 games in a very tense National League Championship Series (NLCS) and the unbelievable had happened: the Atlanta Braves were going to the World Series. The Braves lost a heartbreaker in the 7th game of the World Series to the Minnesota Twins, but in a way it didn’t matter. We weren’t losers anymore. The Braves got a ticker tape parade when they returned home and it was such a big deal we got to watch it on TV in school instead of doing our regular lessons.

Over the next 14 years winning was the name of the game. Season after season we came out on top of our division. There are many unforgettable moments: “The Catch” by Otis Nixon, Sid Bream lumbering around the bases for what seemed like an hour, all the Cy Young awards, the World Series win in 1995, watching Smoltz shut things down as a starter, then a closer, then a starter again. I could go on, and on.

It’s been such a long streak that people just began to assume the Braves would win. It was a given. Over this streak the Braves have had 272 players appear in at least one game. The only active Braves player to be there through it all is John Smoltz. The team has become a dynasty and credit is due in large part to Bobby Cox, the manager, and John Schuerholz, the GM. They have run an amazing team and done something never done before.

It may be over for this season, but there’s always next year. I think it’s about time to start a new streak. Congratulations on a great run, guys, and thanks for all the memories.

A World War

"On that day [September 11], we learned what we ought to have known already, which is that clerical fanaticism means to fight a war which can only have one victor. Afghans, Kurds, Kashmiris, Timorese and many others could have told us this from experience and for nothing (and did warn us, especially in the person of Ahmad Shah Massoud, leader of Afghanistan's Northern Alliance). Does anyone suppose that an ideology that slaughters and enslaves them will ever be amenable to 'us'?"

In this article, Christopher Hitchens nails the point that the war we are fighting is not just a war against “us” the United States, but a war against everyone who has suffered, been oppressed, or done battle with Islamic fundamentalism. I think that all too often we see this as “our” war and not the world war that it is. Of course it is right to mourn for our fallen, but there have been many fallen in many parts of the world at the hands of the same enemy. We should mourn together and find resolve and strength with our brothers and sisters in other oppressed regions.

You may not agree with the tactics that have been taken in this war or how it is being fought, but it is hard to disagree with the fact that there is a war. There have been many conspiracy theories that 9/11 was nothing more than a charade to allow consolidated power and a movement to a new world government by the elite. Personally, I think this enters tin foil hat territory, but I think it shows a certain naiveté in the population that people would be more willing to grasp onto a giant conspiracy theory to explain things instead of what is really happening. There is a real enemy that is not the stuff of graphic novels and pulp fiction.

The question is, how do we shake this image, and in some ways it is deserved, of the giant un-feeling hegemon? A hegemon we most certainly are, but this is a war that needs allies. In a battle such as this one even the smallest player has a role and we would be foolish to ignore any and all help that we can get.

Lost in Translation

I work for a company that manufactures and imports seasonal items that are then sold to retailers here in the US. We have an office in Taiwan and another office and a factory in China. We have daily email correspondence with both offices and while the English of the folks on the other end is very good, much better than I would ever do trying to communicate in Putonghua (yes, I realize how pretentious it is to use the official name instead of just “Chinese”); there are still some amusing translational missteps that occur.

Most of the time it is because of an alternate wording of a common phrase. One such incident occurred when it had come to the time of year when the customer was deciding what to buy for the next season. The factory obviously was becoming impatient when they sent over this line in the email: “please advise what color customer will decide finally on earth.” Sometimes, however, the final design of a product is left up to us, and we try many different options to decide which is the best to show the customer. During one of these design periods the factory inquired if they “could select and select till we are satisfactory?” It’s not all business, though, especially around holiday time warm pleasantries are exchanged. For example, last Christmas the email finished with a very nice salutation: “The Christmas is coming, Merry Christmas!”

Other times, humor comes not from the usage, but because an archaic term is used instead of a more standard one. I suppose their Chinese-to-English dictionary is a bit out of date since once they came up with: “please give us evincive information.” The usage here is actually correct, but evincive hasn’t been used much since the early 1900's.

Sometimes there isn’t any real logical reason for the misstep and what comes back is just funny. We asked the factory once to provide us with official scientific data on what would happen if a particular grill cover we were working on was left out in the sun. Product testing is a very common practice and all the retailers require it, so many times we like to do this ourselves in order to present the customer with results right from the start. Well, this time our scientific report came in and revealed the final result of the testing, nicely typed on official letterhead, of what would happen if the cover was left out in the sun. The page simply read: “it smell stink”.

My all time favorite example, however, came in an email one morning. We had been waiting on pricing information for an item and were expecting it that day. We knew we would have to wait a little longer, though, once we received this explanation: “the man who is in charge of quotation is overdrink this afternoon.” This is not only funny on several levels, but also gives some insight into Chinese linguistics. The word for “drunk” in Chinese is the character for “over” and the character for “drink”. More than this, though, I think the reason this is my favorite is because of how much I can identify with the guy. There have certainly been days where I (and I’m sure most of you who have worked in an office could agree) would have liked nothing more than to take off after lunch to go out and get good and overdrink. It’s nice to know that despite the language difference we still have a good bit in common with our friends in the Far East.

A Poem for September 11

For the Falling Man
by Annie Farnsworth from Bodies of Water, Bodies of Light

I see you again and again
tumbling out of the sky,
in your slate-grey suit and pressed white shirt.
At first I thought you were debris
from the explosion, maybe gray plaster wall
or fuselage but then I realized
that people were leaping.
I know who you are, I know
there's more to you than just this image
on the news, this ragdoll plummeting—
I know you were someone's lover, husband, daddy.
Last night you read stories
to your children, tucked them in, then curled into sleep
next to your wife. Perhaps there was small
sleepy talk of the future. Then,
before your morning coffee had cooled
you'd come to this; a choice between fire
or falling.
How feeble these words, billowing
in this aftermath, how ineffectual
this utterance of sorrow. We can see plainly
it's hopeless, even as the words trail from our mouths
—but we can't help ourselves—how I wish
we could trade them for something
that could really have caught you.

© Annie Farnsworth

Poem of the Day V

Happiness
by Raymond Carver from All of Us: the Collected Poems

So early it's still almost dark out.
I'm near the window with coffee,
and the usual early morning stuff
that passes for thought.
When I see the boy and his friend
walking up the road
to deliver the newspaper.
they wear caps and sweaters,
and one boy has a bag over his shoulder.
they are so happy
they aren't saying anything, these boys.
I think if they could, they would take
each other's arm.
It's early in the morning,
and they are doing this thing together.
They come on, slowly.
The sky is taking on light,
though the moon still hangs pale over the water.
Such beauty that for a minute
death and ambition, even love,
doesn't enter into this.
Happiness. It comes on
unexpectedly. And goes beyond, really,
any early morning talk about it.

© 1985 by Raymond Carver

What Baseball is all About

Today Anibal Sanchez, a 22 year old Venezuelan rookie threw a no-hitter against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He's pitching for a very young Marlins team, which has done surprisingly well this year despite their off-season fire sale of talented players. They are only 3 games out of the wildcard race and 4 games ahead of my beloved Braves in the division. Everyone predicted them to finish last this year (and the Braves first...sigh), but this is why we play the games. With the endless talk on sports radio and ESPN one would think the season is over before it begins, but there are always surprises, which is what makes it so much fun.

After he made the final out, his teammates flooded the field and hoisted him on their shoulders. His wife was in attendance and after the game he said: "She was there," his eyes wet with tears of joy. "I don't know, I can't say any more. I love her, I love my family." He'll remeber this for the rest of his life. What a moment for a young athlete. These are the things that make sports exciting. Plus it will take people's minds off the last no-hitter in MLB, Randy Johnson's perfect game against the Braves in 2004.

Congratulations Anibal, and here's to a long career for you.

Writer's Almanac

The short biography below was copied straight from today’s Writer’s Almanac (the Garrison Keillor radio program). You can also subscribe to it and receive a poem and literary notes in your inbox every morning, which is a great way to start the day. Anyway, I typically like to add some commentary to the direct quotations I publish here, but this stands on its own. It’s quite heartening to read of people who struggle and succeed. I love the quote by Sebold at the end of this. I hope it inspires you today:

It's the birthday of the novelist Alice Sebold born in Madison, Wisconsin (1963). She grew up wanting to be a writer, and went to Syracuse University, where some of the best writers in America were teaching, including Raymond Carver and Tobias Wolff. But one night during her freshman year of college, Sebold was walking home when she was attacked, dragged into an underground tunnel, and raped. She thought that she was going to be murdered. When she later talked to the police, they said that a girl had recently been murdered in that same tunnel, and so she should consider herself lucky for having survived.

A few weeks later, Sebold spotted the rapist on the street, and she went to the police. He was arrested, and Sebold testified against him at trial. She was subjected to a brutal cross-examination by the defense attorney, and police later said that she was one of the best rape witnesses they had ever seen on the stand. The rapist was convicted and received the maximum sentence.

Sebold thought that the end of the trial would put the experience behind her, but for the next fifteen years she struggled to have relationships with other people, and she struggled to write. She tried going to graduate school and dropped out. She moved to New York and started drinking a lot and dabbling in drugs.

She decided a change of scenery might help, so she moved to California, and got a job as a caretaker of an arts colony, where she lived in a cabin without electricity, reading and writing at night by propane light. In the back of her mind she'd always thought about what those policeman had said to her about that other girl who had been murdered in that same tunnel. One day, Sebold sat down at her desk and began writing a story in the voice of a teenage girl who has been murdered, and in one sitting she wrote the entire opening of what would become her novel The Lovely Bones, about a murdered fourteen-year-old girl looking down from heaven as her family tries to recover from the grief of her death.

Sebold's agent had a hard time selling the novel, since most publishers were wary about a book narrated by a dead girl. But it was eventually picked up by Little, Brown, and it became a word-of-mouth sensation among booksellers and critics before it was even published. It came out in June of 2002, a few months before Sebold's thirty-ninth birthday. It sold more than 2 million copies, becoming the best-selling book in 2002.

Sebold has said in interviews that she was as surprised by the book's success as anyone. She said, "It's very weird to succeed at thirty-nine years old and realize that in the midst of your failure, you were slowly building the life that you wanted anyway."

Good Beer

I guess my top living songwriters post got me in a list making mood, so here I've posted 5 beers that I've found to be especially good. I'm always willing to add more to my list, but I've enjoyed these for a while now, and they never disappoint. Also, I'll take this opportunity to put in a plug for the best bar in the world...if you live in the Atlanta area or are passing through, be sure to stop at The Brick Store in Decatur. It will be well worth your time. So, without further delay, bring on the beer:

1. St. Bernardus Abt 12: this dark ivory colored beer is brewed at the Trappistenweg 23 monastery in Watou Belgium. It has a rich fruity flavor, which is characteristic of the Belgian ales. It is very complex and very different from what most Americans think of as "beer", but it is well worth trying. Only problem is you'll be hooked. Be careful, though, at 10.5% ABV (Alcohol By Volume) it can hit you pretty quick.


2. Dogfish Head 90-minute IPA: after this you'll never drink another IPA. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find this in Georgia. I picked up a six-pack in North Carolina this summer, and while I'm glad I did, I am now ruined for any other IPA. Like most IPA's it is quite hoppy, but this one is at a level seldom tasted. If you run across this be sure to pick some up for yourself (and for me).


3. Rogue Mocha Porter: the Rogue Brewery in Portland has a great selection of beers. In fact, the Brick Store Pub, mentioned above, always keeps a Rogue on tap. Of all the Rogue brews I've tried, though, this one is my favorite. It has a rich bittersweet chocolate flavor. It goes great with a meal or by itself. While dark, it goes down smooth and is not a "meal" in and of itself.

4. Three Philosophers: this Belgian style ale brewed at the Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown, NY, which is also the location of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Good beer and baseball...what could be a better combination? Anyway, this beer has a rich fruity flavor and is the closest thing you'll come to a Belgian Abby ale outside Belgium. This also makes it easier to find. Most liquor stores will have Three Philosophers. You just have to hunt for it through all the Bud and Icehouse.


5. Samuel Adams Summer Ale: finally, I thought I'd finish off with a seasonal beer. Sam Adams is probably the best mainstream brewery around. You can find their beer at any grocery store or liquor store and they always have great seasonal brews. The Summer Ale is a wheat beer with a hint of lemon. It's a great tasting beer for a hot summer day. Be sure to pick up some quick, if there's any left, or else you'll be waiting for next season.

Poem of the Day IV

Things
Lisel Mueller from Alive Together: New and Selected Poems

What happened is, we grew lonely
living among the things,
so we gave the clock a face,
the chair a back,
the table four stout legs
which will never suffer fatigue.

We fitted our shoes with tongues
as smooth as our own
and hung tongues inside bells
so we could listen
to their emotional language,

and because we loved graceful profiles
the pitcher received a lip,
the bottle a long, slender neck.

Even what was beyond us
was recast in our image;
we gave the country a heart,
the storm and eye,
the cave a mouth
so we could pass into safety.

© Louisiana State University Press

Top Ten Living Songwriters

A few months ago Paste Magazine released an issue listing the 100 greatest living songwriters. Of course, this got me thinking, so here, for your reading pleasure, are my top 10 greatest living songwriters, right now (it’s always best to add the “right now” in there, because “best of” lists are always subject to change). Please feel free to add your own list, mention those I forgot, call me an idiot for including/excluding someone, or whatever else comes to your mind in the comments.

1. Bob Dylan
Favorite Album: Blood on the Tracks
Favorite Songs: “Tangled up in Blue”, “Shelter from the Storm”, “Visions of Johanna”
Comments: What is there to say? Dylan is the iconic songwriter. He has so many high points throughout this career it’s impossible to narrow it down. From the absurd to the poignant, his lyrics always make you think and his composition is always perfect. I had the chance to see him live a few years ago and it was an incredible experience. Listening to him play “Like a Rolling Stone” gave me an amazing feeling of connection with all the people over the years that have heard that song and identified with it. The man is a legend.

2. Paul McCartney (The Beatles, Wings, Solo)
Favorite Album: Let it Be
Favorite Songs: “Let it Be”, “In My Life”, “Norwegian Wood (This Bird has Flown)”
Comments: Again, how do you narrow down a career like McCartney’s? My focus with him is mostly on his time with The Beatles, but he has been a prolific songwriter since then as well. McCartney, as well as Dylan, is responsible for so much of our shared culture and our understanding of pop music. There couldn’t be a list like this without his inclusion.

3. Paul Simon (Simon & Garfunkel, Solo)
Favorite Album: Graceland
Favorite Songs: “Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes”, “American Tune”, “Slip Slidin’ Away”
Comments: While all of the songwriters on this list are unique and have constantly sought to expand their musical styles, none have delved into world music or sought connections with genres outside their own as much as Paul Simon. A perfectionist, his lyrics are always insightful, brimming with humor and heartache, and his music always manages to be complex and challenging and yet remain at its heart pop music.

4. John Prine
Favorite Album: Sweet Revenge
Favorite Songs: “Souvenirs”, “That’s the Way that the World Goes ‘Round”, “All the Best”
Comments: Picking a favorite album is hard with Prine. He’s the type that you really need a good best of CD to really understand. He’s been writing great music since the early ‘70’s. His wit and humor shed a new light on difficult times and laughter in better ones. The previous 3 mentioned on this list seem untouchable because they’re such celebrity, but Prine, even though he’s been recording great music for 30 years, is more down to earth. He’s the poet for the common man.

5. Jeff Tweedy (Uncle Tupelo, Wilco)
Favorite Album: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Favorite Songs: “Outtasite (Outta Mind)”, “Jesus, etc”, “The Late Greats”
Comments: Jeff Tweedy has become a golden boy of modern rock music. After his work in Uncle Tupelo, often considered the driving force behind the Alt-country movement, he formed the band Wilco and has evolved his musical style with each album. He has moved right near the top of the list of artists who can experiment with feedback and even noise and still turn it into great rock songs.

6. Tom Waits
Favorite Album: Rain Dogs
Favorite Songs: “Come on up to the House”, “Old Shoes (& Picture Postcards)”, “Time”
Comments: If you sat down and listened to everyone on this list you would probably come away saying that Tom Waits was the strangest, and you’d probably be right. No one else on this list has experimented the way that Waits has over his long career. His style ranges from folk to polka, from gospel to piano bar lounge music. His lyrics often tell sordid tales of people on the wrong side of the tracks. He is the musical equivalent to Charles Bukowski or straight whiskey. He is an acquired taste but one that is well worth the time.

7. Jay Farrar (Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, Solo)
Favorite Album: Straightaways
Favorite Songs: “Windfall”, “Caryatideasy”, “Gramophone”
Comments: The other big name from Uncle Tupelo, Jay Farrar has not reached the pinnacle his counterpart did. Most thought Farrar would be the golden boy to save rock music, and while I tend to identify with him more, Tweedy won the badge in the critic’s eyes. Ever since his Uncle Tupelo days as a teenager he has always sung and written as a man far older than his age. His songs sing of blue collar heartache and carry the feeling of sitting alone at closing time at the local bar. He captures this mood better than just about anyone.

8. Sufjan Stevens
Favorite Album: Illinois
Favorite Songs: “In the Devil’s Territory”, “The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is out to Get us”, “Decatur, or, Round of Applause for your Stepmother”
Comments: In a very short time Sufjan has released several albums. Among them are Michigan and Illinois, two releases in his plan to release one album for each of the 50 states. His musical style ranges from lush instrumentation to a simple banjo strum and voice. His lyrics touch on faith, loss, joy, and everything in between. He is one of the most talented musicians I’ve seen in a long time and I’m looking forward to what I hope is a long career.

9. Sam Beam (Iron & Wine)
Favorite Album: Our Endless Numbered Days
Favorite Songs: “Passing Afternoon”, “Muddy Hymnal”, “Naked as we Came”
Comments: Beam is a born songwriter. His first album, The Creek Drank the Cradle, was recorded on a 4-track in his home. It is a soft recording with hushed vocals accompanied by guitar, banjo, and mandolin, but it speaks volumes. This style continues on his later releases, but he turns it up a bit on a few songs and it creates a wonderful mix. His music is the type that fills the room you are playing it in and it is hard to do anything else but listen.

10. Ben Harper
Favorite Album: Fight for your Mind
Favorite Songs: “Pleasure and Pain”, “By my Side”, “Ground on Down”
Comments: While he can border on cliché at times, especially with his political themed songs, Ben Harper has a knack for writing accessible songs about everyday life and events. His music is dynamic, as shown especially on his newest album Both Sides of the Gun: one song is funk the next folk and the last all out rock. He may not be the headiest songwriter around, but he’s always one I enjoy listening to.

So, that’s that. I realize now that I’ve finished with the list that, aside from the length (sorry about that), there are no female artists on it. I thought of including Gillian Welch, Ani DiFranco, and Emmylou Harris, all of whom I’ve enjoyed in the past, but I don’t know enough about them to make an intelligent entry. So…please leave me some artists/albums that I should check out in the comments. Thanks and I hope you enjoyed the list.