Audio slide show: Waiting for Death
Edwin Shneidman is not afraid of death. He has studied it all his life.
From latimes.com
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
What Would Jesus Sell?
LA Times, July 21, 2006|Stephanie Simon, Times Staff Writer:
Click here for article.
"Christian perfume's not your thing? Try golf balls. Or candy. This booming market has piles of products and a single message."
___________________________________________________________________
DENVER — The fake rose petals strewn across the tablecloth gave Milton Hobbs' booth a romantic aura. He stacked crystal-cut perfume flasks in a pyramid and set out pink candles tied with ribbon. The effect was almost sexy -- at least compared with the other booths at the International Christian Retail Show.
Hobbs liked it. He needed a striking display to call attention to his most unusual product.
"Christian perfume," he said. "It's a really, really new genre. We're the first!"
Virtuous Woman perfume comes packaged with a passage from Proverbs. But what makes the floral fragrance distinctly Christian, Hobbs said, is that it's supposed to be a tool for evangelism.
"It should be enticing enough to provoke questions: 'What's that you're wearing?' " Hobbs said. "Then you take that opportunity to speak of your faith. They've opened the door, and now they're going to get it."
More than 400 vendors packed the Colorado Convention Center last week to showcase the latest accessories for the Christian lifestyle. There were acres of the predictable: books, CDs, greeting cards, inspirational artwork, stuffed animals wearing "Jesus Loves You" T-shirts. Many of the newest items, however, put a religious twist on unexpected products -- marketed as a means to reach the unsuspecting and unsaved.
Christian Outdoorsman was taking orders for a camouflage baseball cap with a red cross. In Booth 235, Revelation Products of St. Louis was pitching golf balls and flip-flops. Follow the Son flip-flops have patterned soles that leave the message "Follow Jesus" in the sand.
Gospel Golf Balls are touted as "a great golf ball with a greater purpose." Manufactured by Top-Flite, the golf balls are printed with well-known verses from the Bible, such as John 3:16 ("For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.... "). Dave Kruse, president of Revelation, said they were meant as "conversation starters," to help men share their faith while teeing up.
An added bonus: Duffers need no longer feel bad about losing a ball in the rough. "If you're playing great, good," Kruse said. "If you're spraying the ball, well ... lose a golf ball, share the gospel."
After years of steady growth, the Christian retail market notched $4.3 billion in sales in 2004, the latest year for which figures are available. Sales of Christian books, in particular, are booming, outpacing most sectors of the publishing industry.
But except for a handful of top-selling books and albums, Christian merchandise is marketed almost exclusively by believers for believers, through Christian stores, trade shows and websites.
There are Christian health clubs, Christian insurance agencies and Christian tree trimmers (who advertise in Christian business directories). There are Christian alternatives for the most unlikely mainstream products: gangsta rap, shoot-'em-up video games, sweatbands, playing cards, scrapbook supplies, children's pajamas.
Even the popular American Girl doll collection -- long a favorite of Christian families because it's so wholesome -- has inspired an overtly Christian knockoff.
A Life of Faith, like American Girl, publishes historical novels featuring spunky girl characters, then turns the heroines into $100 dolls with lavish wardrobes. In the Christian version, the dolls come clutching Bibles; their stories, sprinkled with Scripture, describe how the girls find sustenance in their faith.
"It looks like a bunch of pretty, frilly stuff, but ... it will get those Biblical values deep into the girls' hearts. Our culture is a river of mud, and we don't want girls to be swept up in it," said Sandi Shelton, president of Mission City Press in Franklin, Tenn., which produces the Life of Faith line.
The effect of such products, according to political scientist Alan Wolfe, is to create almost a parallel universe, one that allows Christians to withdraw from the world instead of engaging it as Christ commanded.
"It's as if they're saying the task of bringing people to Jesus is too hard, so let's retreat into a fortress," said Wolfe, who directs the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College.
"Evangelism is about reaching out and converting the unsaved," Wolfe said. "This is about putting a fence around people who are already saved. It strikes me as if they're giving up."
Over at Booth 266, Michael McCarron has no time to contemplate capitulation.
Wearing a Stars-and-Stripes shirt and a harried look, the owner of Scripture Candy rushed about one afternoon last week filling plates with samples of Christian chocolate for the 9,000 vendors and retailers who visited the five-day trade show. His company, based in Birmingham, Ala., sells an extensive line of candy packaged in little bags printed with Bible verses.
The candy is all top-quality, he said: "You can't put the word of God on something that someone will taste and go 'Blech!' and throw away."
McCarron absolutely believes his sweets can and do save souls. He once received a letter from a man who came across a Bible verse on a packet of candy corn while going through his son's trick-or-treat loot. "The verse touched him, and he decided right there to stop drinking and go back to Christ," McCarron said.
Most merchandise missionaries say they don't expect such miracles. They hope instead that their products will light a spark. When a co-worker helps herself to a fish-shaped mint, maybe she'll remember she hasn't been to church in years. When a hunter sees the crucifix on his buddy's cap, perhaps he'll feel comfortable asking about Jesus.
"It's about picking people up at their level of interest," said Bill Anderson, president of CBA, a national trade organization representing more than 2,000 Christian stores.
The retail show offered Christians plenty of ways to provoke such discussions.
Skintight scoop-neck T-shirts for teenage girls bore slogans that practically begged those not in the know to ask questions. "Wood & nails -- a powerful partnership," one read. On another: "Life without you is not an option."
Would-be evangelists can carry little plastic key chains printed with the slogan "Got Christ?" They can serve their child's birthday cake on a paper tablecloth bearing the message "May God Bless You Today and Always." And for rebels with a cause, Good Newz Temporary Tattooz lets kids stamp their love for "JC" on their arms -- and rub it off the next time they shower.
"I know where you're coming from if you think it looks like we're merchandising or trivializing Christ, but this is a way to connect," said David Lingner, who developed the Christian Outdoorsman line, including a camouflage-print Bible cover.
From his center at Boston College, Wolfe views such products with bemusement. Waiting for someone to remark on your golf ball or perfume, he said, is hardly a forceful way to fulfill the Great Commission, the Biblical command for Christians to spread their faith and anoint disciples. "I think they're fooling themselves," he said.
Sociologist Charles M. Brown is less harsh. "I doubt very seriously whether you have a lot of people converting" after they're exposed to Christian products, "but it is a way of opening doors," said Brown, who teaches at Albright College in Reading, Pa.
In recent years, Brown has interviewed dozens of Christian vendors and retailers; he's concluded that many are motivated not by profit but by a genuine sense of calling. "They really do see what they're doing as a form of ministry," he said.
Though she doesn't doubt the vendors' sincerity, Ellie Cupps was taken aback to see booth after booth of Christian kitsch. She and her husband, Don, had come to the trade show seeking handcrafted gift items for their two Catholic bookstores in Albuquerque, N.M. They had to search for them amid Queen Esther action figures, Christian pirate decals, David and Goliath balloons, Armor of God pajamas and Bible-based cartoon greeting cards.
"It's getting a little bit overboard," Cupps said. "It's faddish. If you can slap Jesus on it, it will sell."
"Or they think it will sell," her husband broke in, shaking his head. "A lot of it is just flash in the pan."
Cupps lingered over an item she found more appropriate: Abaca Angels, made by women in the Philippines from the leaves of a tropical plant. She examined the delicate craftsmanship, then looked up.
"The Scripture Candy," she said, "was kind of neat."
Click here for article.
"Christian perfume's not your thing? Try golf balls. Or candy. This booming market has piles of products and a single message."
___________________________________________________________________
DENVER — The fake rose petals strewn across the tablecloth gave Milton Hobbs' booth a romantic aura. He stacked crystal-cut perfume flasks in a pyramid and set out pink candles tied with ribbon. The effect was almost sexy -- at least compared with the other booths at the International Christian Retail Show.
Hobbs liked it. He needed a striking display to call attention to his most unusual product.
"Christian perfume," he said. "It's a really, really new genre. We're the first!"
Virtuous Woman perfume comes packaged with a passage from Proverbs. But what makes the floral fragrance distinctly Christian, Hobbs said, is that it's supposed to be a tool for evangelism.
"It should be enticing enough to provoke questions: 'What's that you're wearing?' " Hobbs said. "Then you take that opportunity to speak of your faith. They've opened the door, and now they're going to get it."
More than 400 vendors packed the Colorado Convention Center last week to showcase the latest accessories for the Christian lifestyle. There were acres of the predictable: books, CDs, greeting cards, inspirational artwork, stuffed animals wearing "Jesus Loves You" T-shirts. Many of the newest items, however, put a religious twist on unexpected products -- marketed as a means to reach the unsuspecting and unsaved.
Christian Outdoorsman was taking orders for a camouflage baseball cap with a red cross. In Booth 235, Revelation Products of St. Louis was pitching golf balls and flip-flops. Follow the Son flip-flops have patterned soles that leave the message "Follow Jesus" in the sand.
Gospel Golf Balls are touted as "a great golf ball with a greater purpose." Manufactured by Top-Flite, the golf balls are printed with well-known verses from the Bible, such as John 3:16 ("For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.... "). Dave Kruse, president of Revelation, said they were meant as "conversation starters," to help men share their faith while teeing up.
An added bonus: Duffers need no longer feel bad about losing a ball in the rough. "If you're playing great, good," Kruse said. "If you're spraying the ball, well ... lose a golf ball, share the gospel."
After years of steady growth, the Christian retail market notched $4.3 billion in sales in 2004, the latest year for which figures are available. Sales of Christian books, in particular, are booming, outpacing most sectors of the publishing industry.
But except for a handful of top-selling books and albums, Christian merchandise is marketed almost exclusively by believers for believers, through Christian stores, trade shows and websites.
There are Christian health clubs, Christian insurance agencies and Christian tree trimmers (who advertise in Christian business directories). There are Christian alternatives for the most unlikely mainstream products: gangsta rap, shoot-'em-up video games, sweatbands, playing cards, scrapbook supplies, children's pajamas.
Even the popular American Girl doll collection -- long a favorite of Christian families because it's so wholesome -- has inspired an overtly Christian knockoff.
A Life of Faith, like American Girl, publishes historical novels featuring spunky girl characters, then turns the heroines into $100 dolls with lavish wardrobes. In the Christian version, the dolls come clutching Bibles; their stories, sprinkled with Scripture, describe how the girls find sustenance in their faith.
"It looks like a bunch of pretty, frilly stuff, but ... it will get those Biblical values deep into the girls' hearts. Our culture is a river of mud, and we don't want girls to be swept up in it," said Sandi Shelton, president of Mission City Press in Franklin, Tenn., which produces the Life of Faith line.
The effect of such products, according to political scientist Alan Wolfe, is to create almost a parallel universe, one that allows Christians to withdraw from the world instead of engaging it as Christ commanded.
"It's as if they're saying the task of bringing people to Jesus is too hard, so let's retreat into a fortress," said Wolfe, who directs the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College.
"Evangelism is about reaching out and converting the unsaved," Wolfe said. "This is about putting a fence around people who are already saved. It strikes me as if they're giving up."
Over at Booth 266, Michael McCarron has no time to contemplate capitulation.
Wearing a Stars-and-Stripes shirt and a harried look, the owner of Scripture Candy rushed about one afternoon last week filling plates with samples of Christian chocolate for the 9,000 vendors and retailers who visited the five-day trade show. His company, based in Birmingham, Ala., sells an extensive line of candy packaged in little bags printed with Bible verses.
The candy is all top-quality, he said: "You can't put the word of God on something that someone will taste and go 'Blech!' and throw away."
McCarron absolutely believes his sweets can and do save souls. He once received a letter from a man who came across a Bible verse on a packet of candy corn while going through his son's trick-or-treat loot. "The verse touched him, and he decided right there to stop drinking and go back to Christ," McCarron said.
Most merchandise missionaries say they don't expect such miracles. They hope instead that their products will light a spark. When a co-worker helps herself to a fish-shaped mint, maybe she'll remember she hasn't been to church in years. When a hunter sees the crucifix on his buddy's cap, perhaps he'll feel comfortable asking about Jesus.
"It's about picking people up at their level of interest," said Bill Anderson, president of CBA, a national trade organization representing more than 2,000 Christian stores.
The retail show offered Christians plenty of ways to provoke such discussions.
Skintight scoop-neck T-shirts for teenage girls bore slogans that practically begged those not in the know to ask questions. "Wood & nails -- a powerful partnership," one read. On another: "Life without you is not an option."
Would-be evangelists can carry little plastic key chains printed with the slogan "Got Christ?" They can serve their child's birthday cake on a paper tablecloth bearing the message "May God Bless You Today and Always." And for rebels with a cause, Good Newz Temporary Tattooz lets kids stamp their love for "JC" on their arms -- and rub it off the next time they shower.
"I know where you're coming from if you think it looks like we're merchandising or trivializing Christ, but this is a way to connect," said David Lingner, who developed the Christian Outdoorsman line, including a camouflage-print Bible cover.
From his center at Boston College, Wolfe views such products with bemusement. Waiting for someone to remark on your golf ball or perfume, he said, is hardly a forceful way to fulfill the Great Commission, the Biblical command for Christians to spread their faith and anoint disciples. "I think they're fooling themselves," he said.
Sociologist Charles M. Brown is less harsh. "I doubt very seriously whether you have a lot of people converting" after they're exposed to Christian products, "but it is a way of opening doors," said Brown, who teaches at Albright College in Reading, Pa.
In recent years, Brown has interviewed dozens of Christian vendors and retailers; he's concluded that many are motivated not by profit but by a genuine sense of calling. "They really do see what they're doing as a form of ministry," he said.
Though she doesn't doubt the vendors' sincerity, Ellie Cupps was taken aback to see booth after booth of Christian kitsch. She and her husband, Don, had come to the trade show seeking handcrafted gift items for their two Catholic bookstores in Albuquerque, N.M. They had to search for them amid Queen Esther action figures, Christian pirate decals, David and Goliath balloons, Armor of God pajamas and Bible-based cartoon greeting cards.
"It's getting a little bit overboard," Cupps said. "It's faddish. If you can slap Jesus on it, it will sell."
"Or they think it will sell," her husband broke in, shaking his head. "A lot of it is just flash in the pan."
Cupps lingered over an item she found more appropriate: Abaca Angels, made by women in the Philippines from the leaves of a tropical plant. She examined the delicate craftsmanship, then looked up.
"The Scripture Candy," she said, "was kind of neat."
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
My Life is Average
Stories that made me laugh so hard. Or inspired me.
Today I was on the computer in the school media lab and discovered that someone had created a file called "Once". Curious, I opened it, only to find another file titled "Upon". I opened this to find one titled "A" and then another titled "Time". This went on for about 50 files and actually told a story. At parts it would have multiple files to pick from, like a choose your own adventure story. This was by far the best thing to happen to me all day, and I'm determined to hunt down the mystery creator and thank them. MLIA
Today, my step brother followed me around the house with his acoustic guitar giving me personalized theme music. I adore my new family. MLIA.
Today, I was in line at Target, wearing my new Hogwarts hoodie, when the elderly woman behind me whispered into my ear, "Do you think the ministry approves of Dumbledore letting muggles wear those?" She smiled at me and then proceeded with putting her items on the belt. Old lady, you made my day. MLIA.
Today my friend showed me the late slip that he turned in. His excuse was that he had been "stuck at Platform 9 and 3/4". It was approved as a valid excuse. It made my day. MLIA.
Today, I was looking at Halloween costumes on the Toys 'R Us website. Under the category of "Occupations", there was a bowling ball costume. I now know what I want to be when I grow up. MLIA
Today, I stepped out of the shower and put my glasses on, but noticed that I could see perfectly fine without them! I spent almost 5 minutes thinking about my exciting new life as spiderman before I realized I had my contacts in. MLIA.
Today, my parents went to open house night at my school. While listening to one teacher, my mom took notes. My dad drew airplanes attacking a stick figure version of my teacher. MLIA.
Today at my school, we had a lock down drill to prepare for any intruders. We had to lock the door and sit quietly in the corner for ten minutes. About half way through, the door bursts open and my principal dressed in a Darth Vader suit shouts, "Fools, I have a spare key!" and runs out. It was the single most frightening yet thrilling experience of my life. MLIA
Today, I realized that the two main characters in the Veggie Tales, the tomato and the cucumber, are actually fruits. Now I don't know what to believe. MLIA
Today, while my bio teacher was lecturing, his phone went off. He looked at it, then out the window, gasped, said, "Hold that thought," and ran out of the room. He came back two minutes later holding an ice cream sandwich, and said, "Sorry, the ice cream truck was here." This year may be better than I thought it would. MLIA.
Today, I was cleaning out stuff from my past and stumbled upon a paper from first grade. A question on it was, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I wrote, "A marshmallow." I'm glad I set my standards high. MLIA.
Today, I saw a middle school teacher herding his class down the halls with a pointer-stick and shouting "Feeding time, you animals!" The entire class was making animal sounds. MLIA.
Today, I handed out Raptor Attack Plans to my teachers. Everyone of the teachers laminated them and hung them close to the door. I'm glad to see my school is taking this threat seriously. MLIA
Today, I had to take a test in my AP Biology class. The second to last test question was "Make a barnyard animal noise. You have 10 seconds to comply." I looked up, confused, and saw my teacher staring intently at me. He mouthed the word "Go" and tapped his watch. I mooed. The rest of the testing period was completely silent, except for the occasional clucking, neighing, and mooing. MLIA.
Today, I was in the bathroom at a popular coffee chain. Someone wrote "What would Jesus do?" on the wall. Another person wrote directly underneath that "Wash His hands." And a third wrote "And your feet." I smiled. MLIA
Today, I realized that a lot of people on MLIA talk about their favorite parents. I decided to figure it out. Later, my mom thought our family should go say hi to the new neighbors. My dad and I were sitting in the kitchen as she began making brownies to bring to them. My dad said to me "How much pot do you think we should add to say Welcome?". I think I figured it out. MLIA
Today, I was driving home from work when a huge bird came flying down across the road in front of me. Instead of stepping on the brakes...I ducked. MLIA
Today, I was looking at my statistics book and the first part is called Getting to Know Statistics. On the footnote it stated, "we were going to call this section the Introduction, but nobody reads the Introduction. we feel safe putting this in the footnote, as no one reads footnotes either." Best textbook ever. MLIA
Today, I saw a giant bottle of hand sanitizer in the computer lab that had a label reading "DO NOT MOVE!" I moved it, and a rock hit the window right next to me. I put it back. MLIA
Today, my dad told me that when he was in the army his friend legally changed his last name to "Sir" so the drill sargeants would have to scream "SIR!" to their inferior. Way to beat the system. MLIA.
Today, I went to McDonalds and saw a vacuum cleaner chained to the bike rack. Never have I had so many questions. MLIA
Today in Maths, my teacher noticed a kid who was daydreaming. He walked over to her and asked what she was thinking about. The girl sighed and said "waffles..." Satisfied, my teacher nodded and went back to the board. MLIA
Today I plugged my iPhone into my car speakers and started to use iGun. I turned up the volume, rolled down the windows and started shooting at a girl walking by me. She proceeded to act out the most dramatic death I've ever seen. We're having coffee next weekend. MLIA.
Today, I saw a FedEx and UPS truck racing. This made my life. MLIA
Today, I learned that my history teacher will try to counter-doodle any doodles on handed in work. I plan on stepping up my doodles in that class now to see what I get back. MLIA.
Today, the book I ordered on Ebay arrived. On the front cover, there was a post-it that read: "Stroke the spine before opening. Say hi to Hagrid for me." I'm in love. MLIA
Today, I turned on my laptop and went to connect to a wireless network. One of the options that showed up was a security-enabled network named "NARNIA". I connected by typing in "wardrobe". It made my week. MLIA.
Today I was on the computer in the school media lab and discovered that someone had created a file called "Once". Curious, I opened it, only to find another file titled "Upon". I opened this to find one titled "A" and then another titled "Time". This went on for about 50 files and actually told a story. At parts it would have multiple files to pick from, like a choose your own adventure story. This was by far the best thing to happen to me all day, and I'm determined to hunt down the mystery creator and thank them. MLIA
Today, my step brother followed me around the house with his acoustic guitar giving me personalized theme music. I adore my new family. MLIA.
Today, I was in line at Target, wearing my new Hogwarts hoodie, when the elderly woman behind me whispered into my ear, "Do you think the ministry approves of Dumbledore letting muggles wear those?" She smiled at me and then proceeded with putting her items on the belt. Old lady, you made my day. MLIA.
Today my friend showed me the late slip that he turned in. His excuse was that he had been "stuck at Platform 9 and 3/4". It was approved as a valid excuse. It made my day. MLIA.
Today, I was looking at Halloween costumes on the Toys 'R Us website. Under the category of "Occupations", there was a bowling ball costume. I now know what I want to be when I grow up. MLIA
Today, I stepped out of the shower and put my glasses on, but noticed that I could see perfectly fine without them! I spent almost 5 minutes thinking about my exciting new life as spiderman before I realized I had my contacts in. MLIA.
Today, my parents went to open house night at my school. While listening to one teacher, my mom took notes. My dad drew airplanes attacking a stick figure version of my teacher. MLIA.
Today at my school, we had a lock down drill to prepare for any intruders. We had to lock the door and sit quietly in the corner for ten minutes. About half way through, the door bursts open and my principal dressed in a Darth Vader suit shouts, "Fools, I have a spare key!" and runs out. It was the single most frightening yet thrilling experience of my life. MLIA
Today, I realized that the two main characters in the Veggie Tales, the tomato and the cucumber, are actually fruits. Now I don't know what to believe. MLIA
Today, while my bio teacher was lecturing, his phone went off. He looked at it, then out the window, gasped, said, "Hold that thought," and ran out of the room. He came back two minutes later holding an ice cream sandwich, and said, "Sorry, the ice cream truck was here." This year may be better than I thought it would. MLIA.
Today, I was cleaning out stuff from my past and stumbled upon a paper from first grade. A question on it was, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I wrote, "A marshmallow." I'm glad I set my standards high. MLIA.
Today, I saw a middle school teacher herding his class down the halls with a pointer-stick and shouting "Feeding time, you animals!" The entire class was making animal sounds. MLIA.
Today, I handed out Raptor Attack Plans to my teachers. Everyone of the teachers laminated them and hung them close to the door. I'm glad to see my school is taking this threat seriously. MLIA
Today, I had to take a test in my AP Biology class. The second to last test question was "Make a barnyard animal noise. You have 10 seconds to comply." I looked up, confused, and saw my teacher staring intently at me. He mouthed the word "Go" and tapped his watch. I mooed. The rest of the testing period was completely silent, except for the occasional clucking, neighing, and mooing. MLIA.
Today, I was in the bathroom at a popular coffee chain. Someone wrote "What would Jesus do?" on the wall. Another person wrote directly underneath that "Wash His hands." And a third wrote "And your feet." I smiled. MLIA
Today, I realized that a lot of people on MLIA talk about their favorite parents. I decided to figure it out. Later, my mom thought our family should go say hi to the new neighbors. My dad and I were sitting in the kitchen as she began making brownies to bring to them. My dad said to me "How much pot do you think we should add to say Welcome?". I think I figured it out. MLIA
Today, I was driving home from work when a huge bird came flying down across the road in front of me. Instead of stepping on the brakes...I ducked. MLIA
Today, I was looking at my statistics book and the first part is called Getting to Know Statistics. On the footnote it stated, "we were going to call this section the Introduction, but nobody reads the Introduction. we feel safe putting this in the footnote, as no one reads footnotes either." Best textbook ever. MLIA
Today, I saw a giant bottle of hand sanitizer in the computer lab that had a label reading "DO NOT MOVE!" I moved it, and a rock hit the window right next to me. I put it back. MLIA
Today, my dad told me that when he was in the army his friend legally changed his last name to "Sir" so the drill sargeants would have to scream "SIR!" to their inferior. Way to beat the system. MLIA.
Today, I went to McDonalds and saw a vacuum cleaner chained to the bike rack. Never have I had so many questions. MLIA
Today in Maths, my teacher noticed a kid who was daydreaming. He walked over to her and asked what she was thinking about. The girl sighed and said "waffles..." Satisfied, my teacher nodded and went back to the board. MLIA
Today I plugged my iPhone into my car speakers and started to use iGun. I turned up the volume, rolled down the windows and started shooting at a girl walking by me. She proceeded to act out the most dramatic death I've ever seen. We're having coffee next weekend. MLIA.
Today, I saw a FedEx and UPS truck racing. This made my life. MLIA
Today, I learned that my history teacher will try to counter-doodle any doodles on handed in work. I plan on stepping up my doodles in that class now to see what I get back. MLIA.
Today, the book I ordered on Ebay arrived. On the front cover, there was a post-it that read: "Stroke the spine before opening. Say hi to Hagrid for me." I'm in love. MLIA
Today, I turned on my laptop and went to connect to a wireless network. One of the options that showed up was a security-enabled network named "NARNIA". I connected by typing in "wardrobe". It made my week. MLIA.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
"Doubt is Their Co-Pilot"
A religion of uncertainty.
By Stephanie Simon, Times Staff Writer
November 16, 2005
(http://articles.latimes.com/2005/nov/16/nation/na-newreligion16)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — It takes a certain amount of audacity to found a religion.
Ford Vox does not look audacious.
A tall, slightly stooped medical student, Vox speaks in a mumble and rarely lifts his eyes. But if he lacks confidence, that only makes him all the more qualified to lead his flock because Vox, 28, has created a religion for people who know only that they know nothing.
Universists might believe in God, or might not. (Personally, Vox thinks he does.)
The only dogma they must accept is uncertainty.
Relinquishing any hope of cosmic truth, Universists worship by wondering how we got here, and why, and what lies ahead.
From his base here in the Bible Belt, Vox has built an online congregation of more than 8,000 in the last two years. They meet in cafes and living rooms across the nation; they join online chats with scientists and theologians; they find profundity in admitting their confusion.
"We want to rework religion from within," Vox said.
It is a surprisingly common impulse these days.
In vast numbers, Americans are turning away from traditional religions. They're not giving up on God, but they are casting aside the rituals and labels they grew up with.
Conventional churches still have enormous pull. There are more than 300,000 Protestant congregations in the United States, and mega-churches can easily attract 8,000 worshipers on any given Sunday.
But the number of Americans who claim no religion has more than doubled in a decade. More than 27 million adults -- nearly one in seven -- reject all religious labels, according to the City University of New York's respected American Religious Identification Survey.
Even among committed Christians, restlessness is growing. Pollster George Barna, who works for Christian ministries, estimates that 20 million Christians have largely forsaken their local church in favor of discussion groups with friends, Bible study with colleagues or spiritual questing online.
"They want less of a programmed process and more of a genuine relationship with God," said Barna, who describes the shift in his new book "Revolution."
Vox hopes to offer one possible path in Universism.
Instead of hierarchy and ritual, his religion offers rambling chats about the meaning of life. Instead of a holy text, members put their faith in the world around them, trying to figure out the universe by studying it.
The go-it-your-own-way philosophy at the heart of Universism troubles Douglas E. Cowan, an expert in emerging religions at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. As he put it: "One guy worshipping a potato in a hotel room in New Jersey is not a religion."
True religion, Cowan said, gives structure and meaning to people's lives and elevates them above the humdrum of their daily chores.
He can't quite see how uncertainty does the trick.
Universists respond that he's missing the point. They're trying to build a religion that lets people find their own structure and meaning. Universists know they're on their own in the great journey of life -- but they take comfort in meeting every few weeks to talk through what they've discovered along the way.
"We need a social structure that doesn't involve other people telling us what to believe," said E. Frank Smith Jr., 61, an early convert.
Vox has felt that way since he was 14 and a camper at a Christian summer program.
One of his counselors specialized in picking out -- and raging against -- the sins alluded to in Top 40 songs. Vox found himself wondering why he should listen to the church when he really preferred listening to Chris Isaak.
That disillusionment grew, and by college Vox had turned away from the Presbyterian church his family attended in Tuscaloosa, Ala. But he wasn't ready to abandon religion altogether.
Vox believes that humans are hard-wired for faith, as some genetic and neurological research suggests.
Also, he was lonely.
Vox missed the sense of community he found in church -- and the feeling of spiritual uplift. He could have joined a book club. But in his senior year of college, he had an epiphany. Hobbled by back pain so severe he sometimes lost the will to live, Vox vowed to give his existence meaning by founding what he dubbed "the world's first rational religion."
Vox spent the next two years exchanging e-mails with other lost souls who helped him sketch the outlines of Universism.
"What if there were a religion that does not presume to declare universal religious truths?" Vox wrote in an online manifesto. "What if there were a religion that demands no blind faith in prophets or their writings?"
Vox wrote tens of thousands of words about this new faith for the faithless. For a guy devoted to doubt, he sounded pretty sure of himself:
"Universism seeks to solve a problem that has riddled mankind throughout history: the endless string of people who claim that they know the Truth and the Way." His religion, he wrote, would "dispel the illusion of certainty that divides humanity into warring camps." It would unite the world.
"It wasn't arrogance," Vox said. "I'm not a guru. I just feel that a lot of the things people believe in, they should be a lot less certain about."
Skeptics point out that Vox demands certainty about his own concept of truth -- namely, that it doesn't exist. Russell D. Moore, dean at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, dismisses Universism as a bleak "parody of a church."
He adds: "It's very hard to create a sense of community around a nonbelief."
Universism also faces competition in recruiting the faithless, as several secular groups have stepped up their public profiles this year.
The American Humanist Assn., which has 7,500 members, is running a national ad campaign to persuade the public that atheists can be ethical, even patriotic. The Secular Coalition for America hired its first lobbyist to promote the separation of church and state. The Brights, an atheist civil rights group, has signed up 18,000 members.
Vox supports those efforts, but he doubts atheists will ever win the masses. They're too political. They don't inspire wonder. And in much of America, they're viewed as vaguely disreputable.
That's where Universism has an edge, nonbeliever James Underdown said with a hint of envy.
"You can tell someone you're a Universist and they won't know what the heck that is, but at least you're not a dirty atheist," said Underdown, who directs the Center for Inquiry-West, a Los Angeles institute for freethinkers
Now in his final year at the University of Alabama Medical School, Vox became too busy to continue leading his movement. This fall, he turned Universism -- and its $2,200 bank account -- to his friend Todd Stricker, an office manager who until recently would have described his religion as "nothing."
"I make no claims to be a spiritual leader," said Stricker, 25. "I'm just good at organizing."
Stricker met Vox at a political rally two years ago, when he was new to Alabama and seeking a support system. After long discussions, he decided to try Universism. He now spends much of his free time at his computer, helping people start chapters.
There are Universist groups in San Diego and in Denton, Texas, in Salem, Ore., Columbus, Ohio, and Rochester, N.Y. The Los Angeles-Orange County group is holding a bonfire and "big questions" discussion on a Corona del Mar beach this Sunday.
"The process of ordination is just having a nice chat with me," Stricker said. Worship itself is just as informal.
Because Vox and Stricker disdain religious authority, they're reluctant to set rules, aside from a few meek suggestions that meetings start with a reading of a thought-provoking text ("or maybe a guitar version of 'Kumbaya,' " Stricker said).
On a recent evening, 22 members of the Birmingham congregation gathered in a lounge at the Safari Cup coffee shop with little agenda but to talk.
John Earwood, a 60-year-old architect, worked the crowd, trying to promote a word he had coined: "afideist," meaning without faith.
Buster George, 52, a nuclear engineer, introduced his teenage daughter Rachel. "It ought to be illegal to take anyone to church until they turn 18 and can think for themselves," she said by way of explaining her interest in Universism. Her dad beamed.
The room crackled with intense orations on God, creation and eternal life. But it's a bit hard for Universists to sustain a good debate. Defending your own view, after all, makes you sound as though you're sure you're right. And in a religion dedicated to uncertainty, no one wants to be accused of that.
So meetings can devolve into a series of provocative statements without retort.
After Vox called the group to order, the conversation swung from abstinence to Woody Allen, from existentialism to Terri Schiavo and then to the poverty exposed by Hurricane Katrina.
"People are poor because they don't want to work," one woman asserted.
There was an uncomfortable silence.
"Well, sometimes," a young man said, diplomatically. The conversation veered into the war on drugs.
After a meandering hour, Stricker redirected the group by reading a passage from a Tom Robbins novel that struck him as hilariously insightful. No one had much comment, so they settled down to a guest lecture on Albert Schweitzer, the missionary physician who rejected much of his church's dogma but promoted an ethic of love he said came straight from Jesus.
Kathleen White sat on the edge of her seat, her face rapt. An accountant in Huntsville, Ala., White, 36, came across Universism while trolling online.
Though she still believes in God the creator, White rejects much of her church's teachings: "A lot of what I was taught doesn't have proof to back it up, like life after death and heaven and hell," she said. "I don't want to take that all on faith."
She drove two hours to commune with strangers she figured would understand her struggle. But as she listened to an inconclusive discussion of morality, the downside of Universism struck her.
"Do y'all have any firm beliefs about anything at all?" she asked.
"Our only firm belief is that we're uncertain about everything," Earwood replied.
White looked unsettled.
"I don't think it will be enough to keep me coming back," she said. "It's kind of frustrating."
By Stephanie Simon, Times Staff Writer
November 16, 2005
(http://articles.latimes.com/2005/nov/16/nation/na-newreligion16)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — It takes a certain amount of audacity to found a religion.
Ford Vox does not look audacious.
A tall, slightly stooped medical student, Vox speaks in a mumble and rarely lifts his eyes. But if he lacks confidence, that only makes him all the more qualified to lead his flock because Vox, 28, has created a religion for people who know only that they know nothing.
Universists might believe in God, or might not. (Personally, Vox thinks he does.)
The only dogma they must accept is uncertainty.
Relinquishing any hope of cosmic truth, Universists worship by wondering how we got here, and why, and what lies ahead.
From his base here in the Bible Belt, Vox has built an online congregation of more than 8,000 in the last two years. They meet in cafes and living rooms across the nation; they join online chats with scientists and theologians; they find profundity in admitting their confusion.
"We want to rework religion from within," Vox said.
It is a surprisingly common impulse these days.
In vast numbers, Americans are turning away from traditional religions. They're not giving up on God, but they are casting aside the rituals and labels they grew up with.
Conventional churches still have enormous pull. There are more than 300,000 Protestant congregations in the United States, and mega-churches can easily attract 8,000 worshipers on any given Sunday.
But the number of Americans who claim no religion has more than doubled in a decade. More than 27 million adults -- nearly one in seven -- reject all religious labels, according to the City University of New York's respected American Religious Identification Survey.
Even among committed Christians, restlessness is growing. Pollster George Barna, who works for Christian ministries, estimates that 20 million Christians have largely forsaken their local church in favor of discussion groups with friends, Bible study with colleagues or spiritual questing online.
"They want less of a programmed process and more of a genuine relationship with God," said Barna, who describes the shift in his new book "Revolution."
Vox hopes to offer one possible path in Universism.
Instead of hierarchy and ritual, his religion offers rambling chats about the meaning of life. Instead of a holy text, members put their faith in the world around them, trying to figure out the universe by studying it.
The go-it-your-own-way philosophy at the heart of Universism troubles Douglas E. Cowan, an expert in emerging religions at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. As he put it: "One guy worshipping a potato in a hotel room in New Jersey is not a religion."
True religion, Cowan said, gives structure and meaning to people's lives and elevates them above the humdrum of their daily chores.
He can't quite see how uncertainty does the trick.
Universists respond that he's missing the point. They're trying to build a religion that lets people find their own structure and meaning. Universists know they're on their own in the great journey of life -- but they take comfort in meeting every few weeks to talk through what they've discovered along the way.
"We need a social structure that doesn't involve other people telling us what to believe," said E. Frank Smith Jr., 61, an early convert.
Vox has felt that way since he was 14 and a camper at a Christian summer program.
One of his counselors specialized in picking out -- and raging against -- the sins alluded to in Top 40 songs. Vox found himself wondering why he should listen to the church when he really preferred listening to Chris Isaak.
That disillusionment grew, and by college Vox had turned away from the Presbyterian church his family attended in Tuscaloosa, Ala. But he wasn't ready to abandon religion altogether.
Vox believes that humans are hard-wired for faith, as some genetic and neurological research suggests.
Also, he was lonely.
Vox missed the sense of community he found in church -- and the feeling of spiritual uplift. He could have joined a book club. But in his senior year of college, he had an epiphany. Hobbled by back pain so severe he sometimes lost the will to live, Vox vowed to give his existence meaning by founding what he dubbed "the world's first rational religion."
Vox spent the next two years exchanging e-mails with other lost souls who helped him sketch the outlines of Universism.
"What if there were a religion that does not presume to declare universal religious truths?" Vox wrote in an online manifesto. "What if there were a religion that demands no blind faith in prophets or their writings?"
Vox wrote tens of thousands of words about this new faith for the faithless. For a guy devoted to doubt, he sounded pretty sure of himself:
"Universism seeks to solve a problem that has riddled mankind throughout history: the endless string of people who claim that they know the Truth and the Way." His religion, he wrote, would "dispel the illusion of certainty that divides humanity into warring camps." It would unite the world.
"It wasn't arrogance," Vox said. "I'm not a guru. I just feel that a lot of the things people believe in, they should be a lot less certain about."
Skeptics point out that Vox demands certainty about his own concept of truth -- namely, that it doesn't exist. Russell D. Moore, dean at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, dismisses Universism as a bleak "parody of a church."
He adds: "It's very hard to create a sense of community around a nonbelief."
Universism also faces competition in recruiting the faithless, as several secular groups have stepped up their public profiles this year.
The American Humanist Assn., which has 7,500 members, is running a national ad campaign to persuade the public that atheists can be ethical, even patriotic. The Secular Coalition for America hired its first lobbyist to promote the separation of church and state. The Brights, an atheist civil rights group, has signed up 18,000 members.
Vox supports those efforts, but he doubts atheists will ever win the masses. They're too political. They don't inspire wonder. And in much of America, they're viewed as vaguely disreputable.
That's where Universism has an edge, nonbeliever James Underdown said with a hint of envy.
"You can tell someone you're a Universist and they won't know what the heck that is, but at least you're not a dirty atheist," said Underdown, who directs the Center for Inquiry-West, a Los Angeles institute for freethinkers
Now in his final year at the University of Alabama Medical School, Vox became too busy to continue leading his movement. This fall, he turned Universism -- and its $2,200 bank account -- to his friend Todd Stricker, an office manager who until recently would have described his religion as "nothing."
"I make no claims to be a spiritual leader," said Stricker, 25. "I'm just good at organizing."
Stricker met Vox at a political rally two years ago, when he was new to Alabama and seeking a support system. After long discussions, he decided to try Universism. He now spends much of his free time at his computer, helping people start chapters.
There are Universist groups in San Diego and in Denton, Texas, in Salem, Ore., Columbus, Ohio, and Rochester, N.Y. The Los Angeles-Orange County group is holding a bonfire and "big questions" discussion on a Corona del Mar beach this Sunday.
"The process of ordination is just having a nice chat with me," Stricker said. Worship itself is just as informal.
Because Vox and Stricker disdain religious authority, they're reluctant to set rules, aside from a few meek suggestions that meetings start with a reading of a thought-provoking text ("or maybe a guitar version of 'Kumbaya,' " Stricker said).
On a recent evening, 22 members of the Birmingham congregation gathered in a lounge at the Safari Cup coffee shop with little agenda but to talk.
John Earwood, a 60-year-old architect, worked the crowd, trying to promote a word he had coined: "afideist," meaning without faith.
Buster George, 52, a nuclear engineer, introduced his teenage daughter Rachel. "It ought to be illegal to take anyone to church until they turn 18 and can think for themselves," she said by way of explaining her interest in Universism. Her dad beamed.
The room crackled with intense orations on God, creation and eternal life. But it's a bit hard for Universists to sustain a good debate. Defending your own view, after all, makes you sound as though you're sure you're right. And in a religion dedicated to uncertainty, no one wants to be accused of that.
So meetings can devolve into a series of provocative statements without retort.
After Vox called the group to order, the conversation swung from abstinence to Woody Allen, from existentialism to Terri Schiavo and then to the poverty exposed by Hurricane Katrina.
"People are poor because they don't want to work," one woman asserted.
There was an uncomfortable silence.
"Well, sometimes," a young man said, diplomatically. The conversation veered into the war on drugs.
After a meandering hour, Stricker redirected the group by reading a passage from a Tom Robbins novel that struck him as hilariously insightful. No one had much comment, so they settled down to a guest lecture on Albert Schweitzer, the missionary physician who rejected much of his church's dogma but promoted an ethic of love he said came straight from Jesus.
Kathleen White sat on the edge of her seat, her face rapt. An accountant in Huntsville, Ala., White, 36, came across Universism while trolling online.
Though she still believes in God the creator, White rejects much of her church's teachings: "A lot of what I was taught doesn't have proof to back it up, like life after death and heaven and hell," she said. "I don't want to take that all on faith."
She drove two hours to commune with strangers she figured would understand her struggle. But as she listened to an inconclusive discussion of morality, the downside of Universism struck her.
"Do y'all have any firm beliefs about anything at all?" she asked.
"Our only firm belief is that we're uncertain about everything," Earwood replied.
White looked unsettled.
"I don't think it will be enough to keep me coming back," she said. "It's kind of frustrating."
Sunday, July 12, 2009
My Life is G
Website here
MyLifeIsG is a place to share your everyday successes. It is a place to post the good things in your life, and read about what makes life rock for other people.
We believe that for every fail story, there is an equally good success story. So tell the world what makes your life G. Anyone can submit a story.
Submitted stories are voted on by other MyLifeIsG users, and the best ones get published to the front page. You can vote on submitted stories by clicking "Moderate The Submissions".
MyLifeIsG is a place to share your everyday successes. It is a place to post the good things in your life, and read about what makes life rock for other people.
We believe that for every fail story, there is an equally good success story. So tell the world what makes your life G. Anyone can submit a story.
Submitted stories are voted on by other MyLifeIsG users, and the best ones get published to the front page. You can vote on submitted stories by clicking "Moderate The Submissions".
Friday, April 10, 2009
Jonathan Harris on Internet Projects to Unite a Global Community
An Exploration of the world's emotions. http://www.wefeelfine.org/
Universe: http://universe.daylife.com/
Dave Eggers: Creativity in Tutoring Children in Reading and Writing
A really great idea. : )
http://onceuponaschool.org/
Sunday, February 15, 2009
2008-09 Eng.: Censorship: Concerning Huckleberry Finn's Racist Content
Jessica Beebe
Mr. Littlefield
English 11, Period 1H
1 February 2009
Mr. Littlefield
English 11, Period 1H
1 February 2009
The Truest Slavery
Albert Einstein is synonymous with genius. And yet he is quoted as saying that “it is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry” (qtd. in “Wisdom Quotes”). Harsh words for our educational system! But is he in the wrong? Has the teaching of our society become entangled with restrictions? Do journalists and professors fear retribution for what they write and teach? Sadly, the response is yes. We may have freedom of the press, but our right to read these works is threatened. This is demonstrated in the practice of banning books from our institutions and is more specifically addressed in the controversy over The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Though it cited as the modern “Great American Novel” (DeForest 1865) by such literary giants as Ernest Hemmingway, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, and T.S. Elliot; it is countered as racist trash and declared unfit for school curriculums. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be taught on the high school level because of the amount of dignity bequeathed to the African American characters, because a society cannot allow fear to dictate what is taught, and because censorship should be avoided on principle.
Albert Einstein is synonymous with genius. And yet he is quoted as saying that “it is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry” (qtd. in “Wisdom Quotes”). Harsh words for our educational system! But is he in the wrong? Has the teaching of our society become entangled with restrictions? Do journalists and professors fear retribution for what they write and teach? Sadly, the response is yes. We may have freedom of the press, but our right to read these works is threatened. This is demonstrated in the practice of banning books from our institutions and is more specifically addressed in the controversy over The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Though it cited as the modern “Great American Novel” (DeForest 1865) by such literary giants as Ernest Hemmingway, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, and T.S. Elliot; it is countered as racist trash and declared unfit for school curriculums. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be taught on the high school level because of the amount of dignity bequeathed to the African American characters, because a society cannot allow fear to dictate what is taught, and because censorship should be avoided on principle.
In an interview on National Public Radio, Dr. Shelley Fisher Fishkin, director of American studies and professor of English at Stanford University, explained that
In many ways, Jim is a hero of Huck Finn. It is the voice of a very compelling, appealing, and complicated character for whom Twain had enormous admiration and who he wants the reader to admire. He is mature, sensitive, sharp, self-aware.
Mark Twain’s treatment of his character Jim is deserving of accolades. Twain portrays Jim as a good father figure and friend to Huck. Jim is “white inside” (Twain 596) with “an uncommon level head” that was “most always right” (369). Twain was both a man of his times and a forward thinker. In one particular example, Twain desired to help pay for one of Yale’s first black law students, explaining in 1885 that “we [Caucasians] have ground the manhood out of them and the shame is ours, not theirs, and we should pay for it.” Twain’s portrayal of the African American was a conscious step towards granting them their due freedom.
As for the two hundred plus racial slurs included in the novel, the usage of the word “n*****” was both “common speech in South” the historical time period and a racial slur, Dr. Fishkin explains. It became increasingly viewed as a racial slur as time went on and as America very slowly progressed in recognizing the equality of the African American among Caucasians. When one looks at the peer literature at the time—from both white and black writers--“n*****” was used often. What becomes important is the context from which the slur arises—time period or not. To say that Huck Finn is “the most grotesque example of racist trash ever given our children to read. . . . [and that any] teacher caught trying to use that piece of trash with our children should be fired on the spot, for he or she is either racist, insensitive, nave, incompetent or all of the above" (Wallace “Huck Finn is Racist Trash”), is the result of fear and lack of good, literary scholarship. Context and an education in irony are necessary in understanding the novel and, if mastered, lends to profound humor and clever insights that shall continue to charm generations.
Lastly, censorship of any book should be avoided on principle. There must either be enforced awareness or enforced ignorance and silence. So much better the former because,
Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. The source of better ideas is wisdom. The surest path to wisdom is a liberal education (Griswold qtd. in “Forbidden Library: Banned and Challenged Books”).
Ignorance leads to a cyclical path of trial and error, with human lives as casualties along the way. Racism is defeated not by blindness, but by active condemnation. As one man pointed out, “The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself” (Camus qtd. in “Forbidden Library: Banned and Challenged Books”). Twain joins the ranks of true writers by suspiciously prodding at societal assumptions. This testing ground of ideas acts as a counterbalance for what becomes the collective norm. The truth of the matter is that “if we’d eradicated the problem of racism in our society, Huckleberry Finn would be the easiest book in the world to teach” (Bradley qtd. in Mark Twain). This, however, is not the case. Racism is still alive and well. It is the fear of influencing young adults in a negative fashion that causes educators to shrink back from lecturing on the novel. But "what [then] is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist" (Rushdie qtd. in “Forbidden Library: Banned and Challenged Books”). An ability to reason and to interpret what is right and what is wrong must be forever married to the freedom to speak and to hear.
John F. Kennedy once boasted that "we are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people" (qtd. in “Forbidden Library: Banned and Challenged Books”). It would seem that our society has indeed become afraid of its own people and particularly, its youth. One cannot hope for the younger generation to become strong advocates of the weak and oppressed if they themselves are weakened by their censored education and oppressed by silence. The past—and the racism that stains it—cannot be erased simply because it is unpleasant. And indeed, "books and ideas are the most effective weapons against intolerance and ignorance” (Johnson qtd. in “Forbidden Library: Banned and Challenged Books”). The coming generation must not be left unarmed. And "fear of corrupting the mind of the younger generation is the loftiest form of cowardice" (Jackson qtd. in “Forbidden Library: Banned and Challenged Books”). The truest slavery is to cage a man’s thoughts in his mind.
Works Cited
Clemens, Samuel. "Do you know him?" Letter to Francis Wayland. 24 Dec. 1885. Mark Twain Project. UC Press. 1 Feb. 2009.
DeForest, John W. "The Great American Novel." The Nation (1868). Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities. Electronic Text Center. Charlottesville. 1 Feb. 2009
Einstein, Albert. "Curiosity Quotes." Comp. Jone J. Lewis. 1995-2009. Wisdom Quotes. 1 Feb. 2009
Fishkin, Shelley. "Was Jim of 'Huckleberry Finn' a Hero?" Interview with Farai Chideya. National Public Radio. NPR. 30 Jan. 2008.
"Forbidden Library: Banned and Challenged Books." Http://quotes.forbiddenlibrary.com. Ed. Janet Y. Elkins. 1998-2008. 03 Feb. 2009
Leonard, James S. Making Mark Twain Work in the Classroom. New York: Duke UP, 1999.
McArthur, Debra. Mark Twain. New York: Benchmark Books, 2005. Bradley, 2000
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Bantam Classics, 1992.
Wallace, John. Huck Finn is Racist Trash. 2 Feb. 2009.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
2008-09 Eng.: Analysis of Arthur Dimmsdale in The Scarlet Letter
Jessica Beebe
Mr. Littlefield
English 11
9 October 2008
If one must describe “sin” with a singular utterance, then it must be the word “twisted”. It is the nature of sin to be subtle, but frighteningly damaging: perverting what seems to be good into something abominable. In the case of the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, the distortion of his soul is one that takes place where no adoring layperson has the ability to look. Under the guise of angelic perfection, Dimmesdale’s sin is given time to take root in his heart, girded by stubbornness and fastened by the iron grip of his weakness. In the end, it becomes too engrained into his being to be extracted without fatal consequences--consequences that affect not only himself, but also the members of his church.
Mr. Littlefield
English 11
9 October 2008
A Portrait of Sin in Saint Dimmesdale
If one must describe “sin” with a singular utterance, then it must be the word “twisted”. It is the nature of sin to be subtle, but frighteningly damaging: perverting what seems to be good into something abominable. In the case of the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, the distortion of his soul is one that takes place where no adoring layperson has the ability to look. Under the guise of angelic perfection, Dimmesdale’s sin is given time to take root in his heart, girded by stubbornness and fastened by the iron grip of his weakness. In the end, it becomes too engrained into his being to be extracted without fatal consequences--consequences that affect not only himself, but also the members of his church.
The Reverend Dimmesdale is “the very asphodel of spiritual perfection, refined till he is almost translucent and glassy” (Lawrence 246). Even Dimmesdale’s personal torturer, Chillingworth, first observes the minister’s “high aspirations for the welfare of his race, warm love of souls, pure sentiments, natural piety, strengthened by thought and study, and illuminated by revelation“ (141). Dimmesdale affects the whole of his congregation with “the speech of an angel” (76) and is viewed as the epitome of saintliness. He is gripping, spiritually compelling, and a source of great comfort and near worship. Yet in Hawthorne’s tale of sanctity and pecado, Dimmesdale is found to be infected by the “poison of that sin [that] had been thus rapidly diffused throughout his moral system. It…stupefied all blessed impulses, and awakened into vivid life the whole brother hood of bad ones” (237). Dimmesdale’s hypocrisy taxes him furiously, preying upon his unusually active conscience, and draining him of health and vitality.
Dimmesdale is introspective to the point of being egotistical—as oft the case with depressed men. But as also the case with depressed men, all logic and helpful introspection is thrown to Satan’s devils. As the narrator of the tale recounts, “Sad, indeed, that an introspection so profound and acute as this poor minister’s should be so miserably deceived!” (230-31). How ironic! For example, Dimmesdale attempts to shame Chillingworth for urging him to confess when he cries out “But who are thou, that meddlest in this matter?--that dares thrust himself between the sufferer and his God?’” (147).Truth be told, Dimmesdale’s soul-mutilating compromises are more than enough to come between God and himself. He attempts to reason himself out of his guilt, to momentarily numb the pain in wake of his hyperactive conscience. The unconfessed sin warps the very doctrine he was called to preserve. He callously bends Scripture when he explains to Chillingworth that
‘There can be, if I forebode aright, no power, short of Divine mercy, to disclose, whether by uttered words, or by type or emblem, the secrets that my be buried with a human heart…Nor have I so read or interpreted Holy Write, as to understand that the disclosure of human thought as and deeds, then to be made is intended as a part of the retribution’ (143).
Dimmesdale goes even further to say that to stay silent is to delay gratification of confessing sins on the Judgment Day. When his arguments do hold up to the light of truth, he has “a ready faculty, indeed, [for] escaping from any topic that [agitates] his too sensitive and nervous temperament” (145).
Arthur Dimmesdale attempts to bring a sort of twisted good from his deadly sin. But as with most sins, the ensuing consequence does not fall to Dimmesdale alone, but also to church. Commentator Carol Bensick cites the damage done to Dimmesdale’s congregation when she explains that thenarrator implies that the hypocrite minister has created a hypocrite congregation. They think they love God: but they only love Arthur. All these conversions chalked to his credit are false. Believing they are saved, they have in fact fallen into a sin deadlier than adultery. Not aware of it, they cannot even repent it. Instead of helping his parishioners to heaven, Dimmesdale has put them on the path to hell.
In failing to obey God, Dimmesdale brought upon his beloved parish an even more fertile field for Satan’s subtle seeds of idolatry to be sown. Though this is all obvious to the reader, the theological justification for this heretical worship was “to make his congregation fall in love with Christ… [to act as] Christ for his parish, with the intention that they [would] ultimately shift their love to the divine bridegroom.” Dimmesdale’s attempt to not do ill to others by his confession has ultimately lead to great harm.
Though one quickly jumps to the sin of adultery as the main focus of the novel, is it not true that Satan works best in subtly? How clever of Hawthorne, to place his audience in the place of the sheep-like congregation in their perspective of the esteemed reverend, Arthur Dimmesdale! In the conclusion of the novel, it may be tempting to respond as the blind townsfolk did and paint Arthur as a tragic hero. Readers often believe that Arthur’s grievous sin is singularly sown into the flourished threads of the scarlet letter upon Hester’s chest. Sin, however, is no single-headed monster. Rather, it is a lethal virus, bringing the whole of a being’s soul to its knees with a single blow. The inherent, fallen nature of man, not to be outdone by this attack, responds with rebellion towards the Creator. In The Scarlet Letter’s tale of passion, hypocrisy, sin, and holiness; the hand of the Creator’s wrath is heavily upon the wretched minister. The Reverend Dimmesdale’s judgment is the wreckage of his frail life and the uprooting of truth from the Boston.
Works Cited
Bensick, Carol M. "Dimmesdale and his bachelorhood: 'priestly celibacy' in 'The Scarlet Letter.'" Studies in American Fiction (1993). BNet. 1993. BNET Business Network. 10 Nov. 2008.
Melville, Herman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Mark Twain. Four Great American Classics. New York: Bantam Classics, 1992.
Worthen, John, Lindeth Vasey, and Ezra Greenspan, eds. Studies in Classic American Literature. New York: Cambridge UP, 2002. Google Books. Google. 10 Nov. 2008.
Bensick, Carol M. "Dimmesdale and his bachelorhood: 'priestly celibacy' in 'The Scarlet Letter.'" Studies in American Fiction (1993). BNet. 1993. BNET Business Network. 10 Nov. 2008
Melville, Herman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Mark Twain. Four Great American Classics. New York: Bantam Classics, 1992.
Worthen, John, Lindeth Vasey, and Ezra Greenspan, eds. Studies in Classic American Literature. New York: Cambridge UP, 2002. Google Books. Google. 10 Nov. 2008
Introduction
It is a rather odd interest for a teenage girl, but I enjoy Latin. Hence, the incomprehensible url add res: "a mens suscitatio", which means "a mind awake". The title was derived from the book A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C.S. Lewis, I found the title appropriate for my aims and I am enamoured with all things associated with Lewis.
I intend to use this blog as a sort of scholarly journal for my own personal use (a kind of "adequatio intellectus et rei" [that is, correspondence between the mind and reality]): a storage of ideas that I wish to capture and organize with good knowledge, research, and writing. I may also use it as a database of articles that interest me.
To those who stumble across this blog, welcome.
I intend to use this blog as a sort of scholarly journal for my own personal use (a kind of "adequatio intellectus et rei" [that is, correspondence between the mind and reality]): a storage of ideas that I wish to capture and organize with good knowledge, research, and writing. I may also use it as a database of articles that interest me.
To those who stumble across this blog, welcome.
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