Wise Words

"We can't get wise all by ourselves"

David Dark

In case it wasn't obvious...

I got married and it's beautiful and I love my [new] wife and we love that we have the summer to spend together in a nice place.

Slowin' Down

I added the following post to a little blog I created for the student leaders I work with. Have fun and happy summer.

The ideas of rest, of slowing down, of timelessness.

They aren’t new thoughts. Actually, just about everyone I talk to here in Upland comments on them. The nice-ness of summer. How it slows down and there really is time to just be. A few nights ago, Jorjette and I grabbed a couple books, walked over to those criminally underused tables between the Union and Metcalf, and read with a quiet and soft breeze surrounding us. The ability to get lost in a book, in the beauty of my new wife, in the evening cool of mid-June Indiana – not bad.

This didn’t make the reading list (I’m not sure why…) but Sheldon Vanauken (1980), in his book, A Severe Mercy, talks about how he and his wife “…longed for unpressured time – time-free existence – for thus we should find joy” (p. 207). Our enjoyment of timeless moments suggests that we may not always be “purely temporal creatures” (p. 203). So when I have moments like I described in the last paragraph, I like to think that I’m getting just a little taste of eternity.

Eugene Peterson, in his devotional-ish book, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction(2000, another book not on the list… I promise I’m reading the reader, too) challenges the reader (me) to continue following Christ, even when there’s not a whole lot of excitement or hoopla involved. We are called to be disciples and pilgrims, “apprenticed to our master” and “going to God,” respectfully.

I like to think that the time-less moments that keep popping up this summer (which hint at something of the eternal) set me up nicely to continue in my feeble attempts to be a disciple and a pilgrim. I think, in a way, these two thoughts are connected.

I thank God for times like these and, while time-less moments and my roles of disciple and pilgrim do not end with the accompanying end of summer, it’s just a little easier to recognize when those moments happen and it’s just a little easier to assess how I’m doing in my various roles. Here’s to another month and a half of living slowly.

-Josiah

Peterson, E. H. (2000). A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Vanauken, S. (1980). A Severe Mercy. New York, NY: HarperOne.

An Embarrassing Love Letter to Community/NBC

Thursday nights on NBC. In the 90's, Seinfeld, Friends, ER, and Frasier once made it "Must See TV" until all of those eventually died out. The last five years saw a revitalization with 30 Rock, The Office, Parks & Rec, and, most recently, Community. (I'm going to intentionally leave out Outsourced and a few other short lived duds.) The Office was certainly a favorite of mine early on - before it got all ridiculous. And 30 Rock may have some of the best dialogue and one-liners but rarely do I finish an episode completely satisfied. Parks & Rec may be my current favorite due to the incredible characters they've created (hilarious and I care about them) and some pretty stellar plot lines.

That leaves us with Community. I was skeptical at first. Yet once they found their footing, Community certainly discovered what they were good at. That is, they consistently have the best conceptualized and effective half hour of sitcom-ness on Thursday night. They revel in their spoofs on anything and everything from pop culture (Pulp Fiction, D&D, Claymation ... you name it) while maintaining likeable characters that form a sense of connectedness between each episode. Also, it seems like they work really hard.

Case in point: this past week's episode, "Paradigms of Human Memory" was a "recap" episode that pieced together clips from previous episodes - or so I thought! Recap episodes are, in my opinion, the laziest, cheesiest form of television. I'm annoyed with them being on the DVD extras. They provide no new content and only play to super-fans of shows that unhealthily revel in all the "memories" they've created with a television show. So Community did what it does best and made a recap show that had all new content yet successfully cited a ton of their past episodes while simultaneously integrating it all into a fantastic plotline. This taking of a specific genre, episode type, subject, etc and totally playing with it until it's some sort of 2.0 version of whatever it is is pretty fantastic.

Calvin - Festival of Faith and Music

Headed up to Calvin for their Festival of Faith and Music conference later today. Goes through Saturday. Artists such as Matisyahu, My Brightest Diamond, Jon Foreman, and the Civil Wars will all be there. There will also be some fantastic workshop and keynote addresses. Probably most excited to spend the weekend with my IFC cabinet. If all goes as planned, should be a fantastic weekend.

Why I Do What I Do

While grad school includes long papers, group presentations, and a general malaise brought on by a variety of other stressful situations, there are reasons why I do what I do.

One important reason I do what I do is that I get to work with the Integration of Faith and Culture (IFC) cabinet. And IFC brings in bands like, Stepdad. And our media&marketing crew make posters like this one:

And, as you can see on the poster, the concert is a "masquerade extravaganza". And IFC is totally geeked about this show. And all this makes me love what I do.

And you should probably watch Stepdad's music vid:

AROUND THE WORLD wide web: PART THREE

Again, a mega-tweet of links worth checking out:

• The student cabinet that I advise has a website that's pretty legit. It'll be getting consistent updates here on out.
• You definitely need to print out these Arrested Development paper dolls.
• Please read this Taylor student's blog. His matter of fact posts are fantastic. (ps. I have zero connection to this student besides him once attending Taylor.)
• Loved to see Arcade Fire win the best album Grammy. Might love this "hate blog" even more.
• And everyone should listen to James Blake.

Class time!

Helpful Reminders

I began reading Madeleine l'Engle's Walking on Water. The book contains her thoughts on Christianity and art. While not a new subject to me, it serves as a helpful reminder that we are all artists (to one extent or another) and that adding to the culture of this world is something deeply Christian.

I learn that my feelings about art and my feelings about the Creator of the Universe are inseparable. To try to talk about art and about Christianity is for me one and the same thing, and it means attempting to share the meaning of my life, what gives it, for me, its tragedy and its glory. -Madeleine L'Engle

the proposal

I've been engaged for a month now. It's beautiful, difficult, annoying, and fantastic. When it comes to issues that I care about (my future wife), I don't necessarily like blogging about such things as I would prefer sharing in person. Yet I was filling in some of our "theknot" information (you know you're really planning a wedding when you actively seek out wedding websites) and just entered in our "engagement story". So for those of you I have yet to share with, here's my written account of the proposal:

Well, after purchasing an engagement ring on Etsy (per Jorjette's request) and receiving it on Friday, December 10th, I waited a total of one day to propose.

So, Friday evening (Silent Night for all you Taylor people), I dropped some flowers and a postcard (my preferred "note" medium) off at Jorjette's apartment, asking if she would spend the following day with me. She accepted.

Next, I picked Jorjette up and we headed down to Indy for the day. We began at Patachou, Jorjette's favorite diner spot in Indy. Lunch included French toast for Jorje and an omelette for myself. Despite being seated next to a group of late-20s aged women who enjoyed talking about babies rolling over and hair getting caught in vacuums, lunch was just perfect as we got to spend it together in one of our favorite spots.

After this, we took a little trip to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. We visited the Lily House first, enjoyed its Christmas decorations, avoided the tour groups, and talked to Jorje's middle school teacher who works the front desk. We then proceeded to the museum.

Now I must confess that I had little planned besides taking Jorjette to the museum and proposing. So in just about every room of the museum, I considered getting down on one knee and proposing ... only to awkwardly linger and wait for the perfect moment. The moment did not present itself very well. I decided that I would have to make the moment happen on my own.While exiting the museum, I detoured us around the fountain out front (amidst the ever increasing rain), told Jorjette I loved her about 4 times, said I was just going to "cut to the chase", got down on one knee, and proposed.

After Jorjette responded with an "of course" and I stated how much of a fool I am for botching up important things like proposals, we decided the proposal was just as awkward as we are and thus fit rather well.

The rest of the day was spent with Jorje's family, calling people on the ride back to Taylor, and spending the night with friends.

I am now engaged to marry the love of my life. Nothing could make me happier.

That's my version of the story...

What makes good television?

There's a show coming out on MTV called Skins (trailer below). It's been running for 3 or 4 years now in England so, obviously, the US has to try to improve upon it. From what I can tell, the show is about teenagers. And it's supposed to be edgy, gritty, real - drawing upon real, live teenagers for inspiration.

The New Yorker has a short piece about it here and Paste Magazine lists it as one of their ten TV premieres they're looking forward to this month.

My question is: what constitutes quality television? The moral effect shows like this have on the viewer aside, is being "true to life" enough to make a show "good"? The assumption seems to be that as long as it stems from true-life stories of teenage craziness, it should be good... or at least interesting. Or perhaps it is the moral boundaries that it will be pushing that's garnering the attention.