These are writings that changed me or influenced the way I see the world (for better or worse, I suppose). I am probably missing a few, no doubt. Many of the titles below you can find fully online.
They are placed in roughly the chronological order in which they were written:
The Epic of Gilgamesh (special attention to what Siduri says to Gilgamesh)
Plato’s
Allegory of the Cave (short section in The
Republic)
Dao De Jing
Book of Genesis, Psalm 23, Book of Daniel
Zhuangzi’s
parable of a butterfly (short allegory)
Gospel of Luke (in particular the parables
of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son)
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (Paul on Love)
1,001 Nights
12 Years a Slave – Solomon Northup
Frederick
Douglass’ Autobiography
“An
Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” - Ambrose Bierce (short story)
Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
“The
War Prayer” – Mark Twain (short story)
The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
The
Myth of Sisyphus – Camus (essay)
The Trail - Kafka
Man’s Search for Meaning – Frankl
Slaughter-House Five – Kurt Vonnegut
1984 & Animal Farm – George Orwell
MLK’s
Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“The Library of Babel” – Borges (short story)
The Amazing Spider-Man #33 - "The Final Chapter" - Lee & Ditko
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to
the Galaxy –
Adams
The Sunflower - Simon Wiesenthal
The Tao of Pooh – Benjamin Hoff
Walking with the Wind – John Lewis
Meeting Jesus Again for the
First Time –
Marcus Borg
Come As You Are - Azzerrad
The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book - Waterson
“They’re Made of Meat” – Terry Bison (short story)
Back to reading The Lord of the Rings once again. I've read this book at least twelve times, more than any other book....and yet when I started to read it earlier this week, I still got a little excited.
Usually when I start reading The Lord of the Ring (LOR), it's usually the fall or winter. After all, it's a cold weather book. At least it feels that way to me. In the last decade or so, I usually wait about 2-3 years between readings after another decade or so of usually reading it once a year. I like to wait until the first real cold front of the season to begin. Most of the book is read late at night, next to a warm lamp, covered up cozily in bed. I usually read as long as I can until I drift off to sleep, sometimes with the book on my chest.
Just typing those words makes me happy.
With each re-read I deliberately read slowly, taking my time with the Tolkien's (at times) overly descriptive text. It's a slow book and I love it that way. I especially adore the beginning of the book and by the end of the book (yes, of course the appendix, too) I'll be glum at the thought of being finished. Usually what this means is that I will re-read a whole host of other Tolkien stuff, of course, The Hobbit, Unfinished Tales, sometimes referencing back to the something in the appendix of LOR and last time around I re-read The Children of Hurin and then, almost sputtering out of Tolkien overload, I usually break down somewhere in The Silmarillion and stop. Now you know why I do this only every 2-3 years...it becomes all engrossing.
The first time I read LOR, it was the late summer of 2001. I had heard the the movie was coming out that winter and I felt like I ought to see what all the hype was about. I heard it was boring, but it didn't deter me. I picked up The Hobbit first, not knowing what to expect. I was charmed after reading the first page. It felt like you were taken right into the fairy tale world and it just felt, safe, safe and homely.
After a few more weeks, I purchased a paperback version of LOR and while I was on the edge of my seat reading about the Black Riders, after Rivendell, the narrative seemed to slow down and I was a little frustrated. Then, I had a huge car accident that I was lucky to survive. My copy of LOR had been in my truck and it tumbled and flipped across the road just as much as my truck did. It was destroyed.
I was happy to be alive and being in graduate school, I was also extremely busy, so I did not immediately pick up a new copy. However, my best friend's mom was a huge Tolkien fan and she had found out that my copy had been destroyed in the accident and bought me another copy as a gift. It inspired me to finish it before the first movie came out. I still have this paperback version today and although some of the appendix is falling out, I feel like this little edition and I have a long history together. One day, it may fall apart on me, but until then, we're sticking together.
For me, The Lord of the Rings isn't just about the way it makes me feel, but the way it brings you into an almost fully formed world. An alien world that is just out of reach, and yet fully touchable. At times the narrative gets unwieldy, but it doesn't let you go. Some characters feel flat and fairy tale like, but others real and grounded. A mix of the a fantasy and at times not quite a real world (or maybe as the world should be). It's philosophical and a bit dry, other times it reads as a history narrative and other times, it's downright funny while other parts of the book are pure adventure...but it is always thoughtful and always detailed. Don't get me wrong, it has its flaws.
The most important flaw being Tolkien's use of race and 20th century "race theory" in the book. It's used to describe the differences between the "races" (elves, hobbits, humans, etc.) and even more disturbingly between the human cultures. It's sad and enraging and yet, it doesn't make me stop reading the book. Tolkien was a man of his times, he was ignorant but not quite a bigot. It reminds me the way I feel about Carl Barks. I'm conflicted and yet drawn to their art. Maybe I'm letting them both off the hook too easily but this is a debate for another time....
This fall or winter we may be moving and so I felt a strong need to be grounded and closer to a feeling of "home" more than ever. I'm glad I'm back once again for the ride.
Update from 2020: I ended up reading the Annotated The Hobbit, which is great but all my other Tolkien stuff is stuck at work because of the Pandemic (it's at work because of the move). To be honest, I have my Tolkien fill and I'll be ready for more in a couple of years.
This is the second of four posts on my high school year. I have dubbed it "The Wonder Years" series. Here is the first post.
Most people get a chance to grow up and get into high school, for some it's a great time for others it's horrible. Personally, my sophomore year was my high school year of purgatory. Here are the fragments to prove it.
The Nightmare of Lunch
If I could sum up my sophomore year of high school in one word it would be: lunch. Yeah, lunch. As I detailed in the first "Wonder Years" post, I had ONE friend to eat lunch with my freshman year. Of course, going into my sophomore year, I was hoping and praying my sophomore year would be different.
It turned it it was different. My sophomore year I had ZERO friends in my lunch. Now, it wasn't like my social life was teeming with friends, but this was a bad case of bad luck. All possible 7-8 people I could have had lunch with had the other three lunch periods.
My first day, I scanned around the cafeteria, my head on a swivel. I didn't see anyone I knew. Not even a pal. Not even a good acquaintance. I spun around and headed back outside (our campus was open and the buildings connected by covered walkways). I milled around, trying to look busy. God forbid that it looked like I DIDN'T HAVE ANY FRIENDS.
Not really but my sophomore year really could be summed yup pretty well with Awkward Penguin.
That was my whole school year, lunch by myself. I was ashamed to even tell my friends or family about it. Eventually, I had a whole routine for the Loser Lunch Half Hour.
When the bell rung, I would walk as fast as I could to the cafeteria without looking crazy. Once in cafeteria, if the line wasn't too long, I would head for the "fast food/snack line". I would usually grab a chicken sandwich or hamburger (sandwiches were conveniently wrapped). If the traffic on the way to the cafeteria had been crazy and the line was too long, I would go the the snack machines and buy a pack of Lance Cracker Sandwiches (which I am still a fan of). I would then walk straight outside and covertly hide my food in my backpack. Then I would head into one of the academic buildings.
At this point, I would walk around in circles in the biggest academic building. I walked in a random pattern because, duh, I didn't want anyone to know I was a loser. I would stop in the men's room just to waste time and stop circling. If someone came in, I would have to pretend I was washing my hands and head out to my next stop. At some point, the most humiliating part would come because I was so hungry. I would find an empty and somewhat clean bathroom (usually near the science wing) and eat my food in a stall. If it stunk like poo, I couldn't do it.
This isn't my high school but it captures the feeling. Just picture it more dingy, dark and depressing - as my high school was older and less well-lit. Just seeing this takes me back, to those icky, awkward days.
Sometimes, out of sheer boredom, I would walk around in our other buildings. Occasionally a teacher would ask for a pass and I would have to confess I didn't have one and head back outside. Most of the time, they didn't even ask because I was a nerdy looking white kid, OF COURSE HE HAS A PASS. This did teach me an important life lesson though: if you look like you belong or know what you're doing, people will let you get away with a lot. White privilege plays a big role in that as well.
When I got home, I would eat way too much snack food to make up for the fact that I wasn't eating much at school. Sometimes, I would pack something from the house and eat it before lunch or in my class after lunch, as that class was out of control and the teacher didn't care.
It was basically terrible, but after awhile, I got used to it. Every so often we would have testing or something else would mess with the typical schedule and I would have lunch with my friends. What a heavenly joy that was!
Academically, my sophomore year mirrored my freshman year. I was beyond underwhelming and it was likely my low point in my sub standard academic life. I would make a mix of B's, C's and D's with an occasional A or F from time to time per grading period.
Back Row Blues
My first period English class was the most eventful and memorable of classes. Our teacher was a first or second year teacher and she was hot. She was a blonde beauty that had been a UT cheerleader. It didn't get any better than that (still didn't make up for lunch though). She was a pretty okay teacher and while I loved reading, I just couldn't get into most of the class.
I sat on the back row with a old buddy from middle school band, Marcus (saxophone), a stoner named Mike (I think that was his name), and a gang member, Fernando. We were a motley crew but we shared a love of slacking off, joking around, otherwise, being stupid. I am sure if I had sat elsewhere in the classroom, I would have done much better. I have no idea why she never moved us. I remember really hating poetry and Haiku in particular. I think I wrote a really stupid Haiku just to make a point.
At the end of one grading period, our teacher was calling us up to her desk to show us our grade for the term. I was excited because I might get to look down her blouse (and I did). I figured I had a D. This was no big deal to me - it was still passing! However, I was more shocked to find I had a 58. "There's gotta be a mistake!" I said. "You honestly should have been even lower than this - you have six zeros!" the teacher said softly so that the class couldn't hear. "Oh...." I said and stumbled back to my desk. My parents were furious about the 58, I had failed before, but never this bad. The last grading term, however, I would have a turnaround and have one of my few high school victories (more on this later).
The Hopeless Romantic, Hopeless
My love life pretty much mirrored everything you've seen above. It was non-existent. I had crushes on 10 different girls but didn't talk to many of them and most of them probably didn't know who I was or if I liked them. There were no leads in my classes, just losers and students who didn't much care.
My biggest crush of the year was ironically, Stacey's friend, Marissa. This is ironic because all of my freshman romantic interest had been centered on Stacey. However, she was taken and I became quite taken with her friend (clever, eh?). She was very cute but the most I did was make awkward small talk with her. I'm pretty sure she didn't have a clue I was interested in her. What made the crush less likely to go anywhere is that she went to a different school, so if I was going to see her, it had to be at a youth event for church. It didn't stop me from putting her on a pedestal and dreaming about her constantly.
Although our church probably had over 500 members, the youth group was pretty small. There were four older girls that I wasn't much interested in and a few more our age that were also not interesting or exceptionally pretty. Then there was Stacey, who, again, was off the market at this point. My friend Doug and I were so bummed. We dreamed about a new girl showing up some random Sunday. When we would go to city wide events, we would stare at the pretty girls but were much too shy to actually talk with any of these girls.
The Fight
Meanwhile, back at school in PE, we played basketball almost every day. Six different hoops surrounded the court and we would divide into 12 teams of 3 on 3 or 4 on 4. There was no instruction in class and no supervision. The coaches would just call roll, open up the bins with the balls and the coaches would head back to their office. Needless to say, the coaches were stereotypical douche bags. However, I loved basketball so this set up was fine with me.
We settled into some familiar teams. Of course this would lead to serious, epic basketball games. One guy in particular I remember banging with in the post nearly every day. He was bigger than me and a little taller, but I somehow I was one of the taller guys that could play in the post. Holy cow, those were some battles. Think Celtics-Pistons 86-90 or Bulls-Pistons of 87-91.
In high school, I wanted to play like Charles Barkley. In reality, I was more like Bill Laimbeer without the height or shooting touch. Although when I got hot, my good buddy Eric would call me "Larry Legend" (but that's just because I am really white).
One day it got real heated and as everyone else was headed back to the showers. We squared off as we insulted each other. I didn't want to fight him as he was bigger than me. I knew would likely lose but what was I to do? He came towards me and I kicked him as hard as I could in the groin. It was a direct hit. I remember one of our teammates say something like, "Woah!". Most of the class and even the coaches hadn't seen anything. I waited for him to respond but the guy was hunched over in serious pain. My battle was over. I jogged back into the locker room, got dressed quickly and within seconds the bell rang. While I am not an advocate for violence, he never challenged me again to an actual fight. We even teamed up a few times, and usually, when we played together, we would win.
The Trouble with Notebooks
Just like in English, I sat in the back row in history class (with another crappy teacher), I really hammed it up with this Puerto Rican kid. He was tough and kinda gangsta cool so, I kinda admired him. One day I found a way to impress him. Some poor sap had left his notebook in my desk from earlier in the day. He was in ROTC and I hated ROTC guys, because well, I was just wired that way. I took his notebook and wrote all sorts of obscene things on it. I mean, really, really bad, weird stuff. Things that didn't make any sense just to laugh it up with this cool kid that sat next to me. My plan was to leave this folder in another desk or somewhere else, but I was stupid and forgot all about it. I ended up leaving it right in my desk.
The next day, our teacher began class and she said, "N, does this look familiar?" "Huh?" "Did you do this?" My cool friend laughed out loud. I couldn't deny it and I was sent straight to the office. One of the VP's took me in and looked at the notebook. "Do you know him?" "No." "Why did you do it?" "I don't know." "Well, you're going to call your mother and tell her what you did right now. Then you are going to replace this notebook and bring me a new one tomorrow." I called my Mom at work to tell her and she was upset. Like the quiet shocked upset. The kind that makes you feel really bad because you let your mom down. Ouch.
I was pretty mad at myself. I thought about what my Mom and Dad would do when they would see this crazy, curse word-filled notebook.. I mean, the F word was scrawled all over it. THE F WORD. I don't think I had ever cursed in front of them at that point in my life. This was going to kill them. What's a boy to do?
Then, waiting for the bus after school, it struck me like lighting. I started drawing over the worst of it. I remember making weird ugly faces out of the words and drawing sharks and crazy monsters that covered over the curse words. Of course, I kept some of it, but I had saved myself serious trouble. No one ever found out about that one. Until NOW. (Lost "Boom" sound effect).
The Try- Out
Another big event happened early in the fall when I tried out for the basketball team. My freshmen year, they only allowed the kids that signed up for the special Basketball class try out (my 8th grade coach was an asshole (I don't use that word lightly either) and refused to sign me into that class, because I wasn't in "athletics" period of 8th grade). Anyway, it was me and maybe 6-10 other guys.We were invited in to a JV practice one Saturday morning. I knew my chances were slim, even though there were clearly guys on the JV team that were only on the team because they played football or because they were big. There were even a few short players and I knew I could take some of them one on one. Even still, I knew my only shot was to play up a particular role.
So, I went balls to the wall playing the hustle/crazy-defense-white-guy-that-will-likely-never-play-in-the-games-unless-they-are-blowouts. I had to guard a very good player and I made his life a living hell, I was draped all over him and I am sure I probably fouled him quite a bit. I think I got the ball twice, and the one time I got it, of COURSE I shot it, and missed. I got a few boards, played good D (my man scored once on a tough shot in 20 minutes) and you can guess what happened.
(I didn't make it, in case you couldn't figure it out).
The Shame
Some time during the year, probably when I was in some dark place I started listening to country music. I still look back in shame. You have to understand that country music in San Antonio in 1992 was HUGE. To my credit, I did like some credible stuff like Dwight Yoakam. Look, don't hold it against me, I was young and stupid. I grew out of it by the summer before my senior year.
Actually, this is a pretty solid song. I would listen to this one on my Walkman, over and over and over.
Still with all my defeats, my life wasn't all bad. I was reasonably happy. I had friends. We had fun. I have a ton of memories of spending the night at friend's houses and renting a NES, Genesis or SNES game and staying up really late. We played a lot of street basketball after school and my YMCA basketball season was fun. I was involved in our church youth group and we had a lot of good times. My family life was mainly good (except when my report card would come in).
The Victory of '93
Even though I didn't act like it, I really did like English class. I loved Animal Farm, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and Julius Caesar, but I just wasn't consistent in my efforts. I was stupid (Exhibit A: the fact I was a fan of country music). A few years ago, I spotted my sophomore report card at my parent's house. My grades for each term in English were something like this: 82, 73, 91, 71, 58, 84. I am sure I was a perplexing student for my teacher.
Anyway, at the end of the year I finally found a project I could get into. The assignment was to present a novel to the class as one of it's characters. We would basically summarize the plot, characters, etc. and have the class ask questions about our story. I had just read Micheal Crichton's Eaters of the Dead (which, I recently re-read this past May and discovered that over 20 years later - it just isn't that good). So, I went with the lead of the book. I also borrowed a costume from my dad that he had made for a church VBS production (he was David in his prime). Because the main character is from the Middle East, I began practicing my Arabic accent, although looking back it probably sounded more Indian. I spent hours getting my facts down straight about the novel and practicing my accent. I figured everyone was going to do that sort of thing.
Boy, was I wrong. Most everyone held their note cards in their hand and just read off their report in first-person. It was boring. I think one other student dressed up, but I was the only one to give it in an accent as an actual character. Looking back I am proud I wasn't afraid to perform. I guess I knew I did a hell of a job and wanted to show off. The students in class looked shocked when I came into the room to present (I had stepped out to change in the restroom). They were even more shocked when I started talking. After all, I was pretty quiet in class and didn't answer too many questions. No doubt about it, I did great and it felt good. I ended up getting 110 for dressing up and a nice note from my teacher on my score sheet. I kept that sheet for a long time. It was a small victory but small victories in purgatory sure do mean a lot.
Welcome to my second post of Confucius Didn't Say That! My first post is here, so be polite and read that one first. Please keep in mind, this is my way of deconstructing these quotes. One can simply look up if Confucius said any of this garbage in the Analects, The Great Learning or The Doctrine of the Mean but that would make for a short blog post, wouldn't it? Ya know, I like to read and because I am a nerd, I prefer non-fiction. I just love learning for the sake of learning. So, when I saw this "non-quote" on good ol' "Brainy Quote" and I decided it was time to tackle it on the blog:
This quote is everywhere on the web and not just Brainy Quote, so let's explore why Confucius didn't say it!
Look, I know it's pretty low-hanging fruit if you know a little bit about history.
I'm going to be a bit of a nitpick. In the first place, paper wasn't even invented to the 2nd century AD, so "books" as we know it, weren't invented until well after that date, and even by then Confucius had been dead for about 600 years. I know you might be thinking I'm a stickler here because in the Analects, Confucius does refer to books. In fact, he often refers to one of the Five Classics, The Book of Odes. He encourages his disciples to read, recite and act upon its principles: [13:5] The Master said: “You can recite the 300 poems from the Book of Odes, but when you try to use them in administration, they are not effective, and in handling the outerlying regions, you cannot apply them, then even though you know a lot, what good is it?”
So, of course there were "books" in Confucius' time but they were likely on bamboo. And this brings me to the second point about how we know this quote is not from Confucius' time. The larger and more important point should be made about "reading culture" or "book culture". It simply didn't exist in the ancient world. Even if a printing press was transported via time machine into the ancient world, the percent of people that could have read (and maybe more importantly, understand these books) was infinitesimally small. Even today, some estimate that only half the population of China are functionally literate. In the 5th century BCE, in China, I would guesstimate that around 5% of the general population would be literate. Maybe even upwards of 10% if you're feeling generous. I would also wager there would be an additional amount of people who could read some or a little for business purposes but the masses would be illiterate. The idea that a majority of people in a nation could be literate, reading any number of books would have been astounding to Confucius! In ancient times, even if you could read, you likely didn't own any (or many) books at all because they would be so expensive! Besides the technicality difficulties with the quote, the entire tone doesn't jibe with Confucius' beliefs or life. The purpose is to inspire or encourage people to read. Confucius did not intend his teachings to be for a general audience, in fact, he had no idea any of his ideas would be recorded at all! All of the work attributed to him was written by Confucian philosophers, likely over a hundred years after his death.
I also think Confucius' ideas of what would be appropriate for people to read would be very restrictive to say the least (The Book of Odeswill never be on the New York Times Best Seller List). I don't think Confucius would think one could read, The Hunger Games and learn anything useful for one's character. Confucius's main audience was (or at least his aim and hope) was to reach government leaders or at least those that would one day hold a government position. His hope was that in doing so, he would help the leaders bring about a new "Golden Era" based on the learning and ethics from the past. According to Confucius, all the answers were in the past, waited to be remembered and implemented. At worst, his expected audience would be other scholars and educated men of the day.
One might imagine the quote isn't supposed to be for a general audience but I find that doubtful. Confucius's sayings were hardly so basic or "on the nose" as this proverb is. Confucius didn't say this fake quote but there are a few quotes about learning that might suffice to substitute for its general theme. I found two somewhat similar quotes. The first is edited for length, while the second reveals his disgust for a lack of reading. All quotes in this post are from the Analects. [8:13] The Master said: “Be of unwavering good faith and love learning..." [11:23] Zi Lu got Zi Gao installed as Prefect of Bi. The Master said: “You are damaging someone's son.” Zi Lu said: “There are people and there are national altars (to be administered). Why should it be necessary to read books to be regarded as learned.” The Master said: “This is why I don't like glib people.” It's also important to note that Confucius wasn't all about "learning for the sake of learning". For Confucian philosophers, there should be no separation between learning from self-cultivation. He was always one of those the "world's going to hell in a hand basket" type of guys, here we have a grumpy Confucius moment:
[14:24] The Master said: “The ancient scholars studied for their own improvement. Modern scholars study to impress others.”
While many would emphasize actions over that of study or knowledge, in the next quote, Confucius reverses that expectation. Confucius believed that without study (and of course, by "studying" he meant studying the books he deemed worthy of study) our actions will suffer accordingly.
[17:6] The Master said: “You, have you heard the six phrases about the six distortions?” You answered that he hadn't. “Then stay a moment,” Confucius said, “and I will tell you.”
If you love being kind to others, but don't like to study, then your kindness will be distorted into simplicity.
If you love wisdom, but don't like to study, then your wisdom will be distorted into aimlessness.
If you love trustworthiness, but don't like to study, then your trust will be distorted into harm.
If you love candor, but don't like to study, your candor will be distorted into rudeness.
If you love boldness, but don't like to study, your boldness will be distorted into unruliness.
If you love persistence, but don't like to study, your persistence will be distorted into rashness.
So, there you have it, for Confucius, books were important but never for their own sake and always in the service of cultivating wisdom and morality.
If Confucius didn't say it, then where's it from? Well, that's a good question. The first 5-7 pages of Google attributed the quote to Confucius. After more poking around I finally found some folks stating it is an "Irish proverb". Later, after even more digging, I also found others attributing the quote as a "Chinese Proverb". This book (published in 1898) has it recorded as a Chinese proverb this is also mentioned by several other books published in the 20th century . So, someone, somewhere likely associated it with the Chinese but mistakenlyattributed it to Confucius. This is as far down the rabbit hole as I need to go. If you care to dig further, be my guest!
Honestly, this proverb isn't very good, no matter who said it.
Although it might make for a great quote for your local schools' "Summer Reading Program" handout, I find the quote rings false. People read all the time and don't learn a thing! Many students in my classes read the class materials and some refuse to learn. You know, one trite proverb deserves another, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink." Finally, and more importantly, Confucius would remind us that we might "know" lots of things but it's useless if we don't "use" it to cultivate righteousness in ourselves and others.
I loved text book covers. They would hand these out for us to "protect" our books but I loved just drawing all over my covers. Any excuse to doodle, I take it (even today).
This was from my Algebra II class. I actually ended up failing it for the entire year by 2 points. What can I say? I was a really, really terrible student in high school. It also hurt that I was lazy and didn't care all that much.
That kinda makes excelling at school difficult.
"Do You Fear the Wind?" was a song we sang for the men's chorus.
Spring Break was nice. It felt like a long break. That's rare.
Last week I went to the grocery store around 10 PM. As I headed back to my car with the cart, as with most times, I got a running start and began riding the cart back to my car. The day I stop doing that, I will know I will be officially, an old man.
We went out of town to visit my aunt and went to a local restaurant and I saw some of the best bathroom graffiti I have ever seen. Scrawled below a "KKK" (which was already marked out) was "Took My Baby Away". That made me smile. If you don't know what that's referencing, look it up.
Also, this whole documentary about the Ramones is up on Youtube. Great movie, check it out if you have the inclination.
I am tired of FB again. I am tired of the fear of chemicals in food. I mean, we should be careful, yada yada, yada but the fear mongering is out of control with some of my friends.
The Best and Worst Sesame Street Characters
The Best
1) Ernie 2) Big Bird 3) Oscar 4) Slimey the Worm (totally underutilized now) 5) TIE: Bert & Grover
The Worst
1) Elmo 2) Abbey Cadabe 3) Murray 4) The Teddy Bear One - all of them are annoying. It's sad that most of the new characters they create are terrible and all have grating voices that make me want to smash things. They are one-dimensional and boring. Jim Henson, you are missed!!
Great Pic - what's crazy is the guy died at 53. When I was a kid, I knew he died unexpectedly and that it was sad but I was like, "he's an old man". But Crap, that's just around the bend for me. Also, is that a Jim Henson muppet to the left of Henson himself? Does Henson do Henson's voice? If so, does he just talk normal or did he create a "special Muppet" voice for the Muppet of himself?
Books Read Thus Far in 2014
Come As You Are (Nirvana book) by Azerrad (re-read) - a necessity for Nirvana fans and so well done. I hadn't read it all the way through since college. Cobain seems more child-like and immature to me now, but that's because he was basically a kid and now I'm an old man. It got me on a Nirvana listening kick again and it always makes me sad thinking what Kurt could have done with this life and (most importantly) how sad that his daughter only knows him through his music, photos, articles and his family's memories of him. Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
Wow. Great novel. I hadn't read one of those for fun that wasn't fantasy based in so long. Highly recommend for Gen-X'ers and people who love video games. You will finish this in less than a week if you have a pulse.
Narina Books - The Boy and His Horse and now on Prince Caspian (re-reads) - good stories but CS Lewis is a racist and a xenophobe. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt but damn, I won't read the Boy and his Horse to my kids.
Currently reading: Pascal's Pensees (about 3/4 finished) and Flannery O Connor's complete short stories (just a few stories read).
Selections from various comic books, sections from The Case for God (Armstrong) (got it free but very disappointed in it thus far) and Barclay's commentary on Mark (always solid).
I had jury duty the other day and it was quite wonderful. Sat there and graded for an hour or two, listened to music, sketched some ideas for a project, hung out, got a two hour lunch and walked downtown most of the time on a beautiful day. Simply wonderful. Got back, sat down for another hour and a half and went home. I wish I had one day like this every week.
That's all for now, hang loose, be cool and most of all, never let 'em see ya sweat.
My wife is judging a music event tonight, our two daughters are spending the night at a friend's house so I am home alone with only one child. I am spending the time on the internet.What else ya gonna do?
I was thinking tonight about why there aren't more dinosaur themed sport mascots. I know there are the Raptors in Toronto but they don't help matters because they have sucked for 90% of their existence. I think it comes down to the dinosaur names - they don't translate real well for team names; triceratops, pterosaurs or stegoceas....(maybe Talons would work okay)....
Stegoceas is my ALL TIME FAVORITE dinosaur. Yes, because I had to do a report on them in school in 11th grade. The report included my amazing free-hand picture of a stegoceas.
Places I would like to visit before I die: Peru (ha ha), India & Nepal, The Holy Land, Athens, Egypt (the Pyramids), Most places in Africa besides the whole Gobi desert section, Most of Europe, Most of South America, New Zealand, Japan, Easter Island, and back to China again...basically, everywhere as much as I would like (well, when in wish-land, why not?)
Tonight, after dropping the girls off, the baby boy and I decided to grab a six-pack of beer at the grocery store. That's it, just a little beer run on a Friday night. I was headed back to the check-out when I saw my parents going into the 10 items or less line (the very line I was headed for). They live like 5 minutes away, so we run into them at the grocery store a few times a year. I turned back around to hide. My parents never drank when I was growing up and basically made me so paranoid of drinking, I only had a few sips of alcohol until my 21st birthday. While I am certain they have seen the beer and wine in our fridge, I just couldn't deal with the fact that I came to the store JUST FOR THE BEER. I know I am an adult and all that jazz but I was in no mood for feelin' the JUDGEMENT from my Mom's eyes.
My reading has been way off this year due to real life interfering. Here's where it's at, most of the stuff I never even finished, please don't make me feel bad about that, I have three kids, ya know.
Ha Jin - Under the Red Flag (short stories from the Cultural Revolution) - all but two stories. Excellent but sad stuff.
Klaus Klostermaier - Hinduism - Beginning Guide - read as a warm up to my church class, not much I didn't already know. Good refresher though...most of the stuff I had read was from practicing Hindus, so a Western perspective was interesting.
Fawn Brodie - No Man Knows My History (Joseph Smith Biography) - Mind blowingly good. Highly recommended if you're interested in Mormonism or American history for that matter.
Lonely Planet - Peru (sections only) - almost finished a general "introductory" Peru book from the school library too.
How to Break a Terrorist (only the first 40 pages - I will have to come back to this at some point, because it was excellent that far in)
Re-read Evans' Philosophy of Religion - excellent Christian perspective but really that's all it is - an upfront perspective that's open minded. Good stuff.
Sections of Bloomberg's Jesus and the Gospels (sections) - Bloomberg is a little too much of an apologist but he is fair-minded. Nice review of stuff I have learned in the past but good to reference again.
Mallory's Experiencing World Religions (about 6-7 chapters of a college introductory textbook) - again, nice to review this stuff, so much I had forgotten about.
Lots and lots of old Marvel comics, especially lately as I like light reading before bed instead of the heavy stuff I read all day.
Klosterman' Sex, Drugs and Coco Puffs - disappointing. kinda sucked.
Currently: Gandhi: An Autobiography (eh) and Dirty Wars (Scahill) - good stuff
Lots of research online for Peru, my world religions class at church in the summer and now for my Eastern Cultures class at school this fall. That keep me a busy boy.
Pretty sure I am forgetting a book in there. Oh vell.
Here's an awesome little ditty to make you feel good about life.
That's all for now, stay safe, buckle your safety belts and don't forget to call your mom on her birthday!
Happy New Year to ya. These are the books I read though this year...off the top of my head...I may be missing something....lots of comics this year!
The Qur'an - I had about a third of this finished for years but could never get motivated. This time, I started at the end and worked my way back. It worked!
The Rebel - Camus -Tough go of it, and honestly I skipped the whole section on Russia. Too many Russian names. :)
Persepolis - Satrapi (Graphic Novel) - Wonderful. Will have to read the sequel at some point.
The Four Encounters - Tezuka (Graphic Novel)
Marvel Essential Man Thing (Vol. 1) (Graphic Novel) - weird, odd, interesting...and totally under-rated. Enjoyed it. Look forward to Vol. 2 someday.
Planet Hulk (Graphic Novel) - Nicely done....Would recommend to any sci-fi fan.
Tons of 1980's era Marvel's (newly bought and otherwise)
Strength to Love - MLK (should finish this week)
Sermons from MLK. Powerful stuff. I love it.
In Search of Zarathursta (well done but a little stale towards the end)
Jesus and the Gospels - Bloomberg (sections)
Conservative scholar but well done and very fair minded. Will be digging into this as a resource often.
The Gospel of John - F.F. Bruce (commentary only sections I was teaching)
Taught at our church on John - loved this commentary would like to finish this at some point.
Synopsis of the Four Gospels (Aland Edition) - Started 2011 by reading through the gospels like this. Nice way to read them. Always wanted one of these and finally got it. Have referenced it many times.
An Ordinary Man - Paul Russesabagina -Paul was going to visit our campus but he was ill and had to cancel. Great but sad book.
Poverty and Morality (ed. Galston & Hoffenberg)
One of my faves. I actually lost this in the fall so I have two chapters left! :) I can't recommend it enough if you are a fan of world religions or interested in poverty. Great overview of many of the dominant belief systems (written by a scholar in that particular field and often an adherent of that system) and their views on poverty (religious and secular world views). I have a feeling I might have this on one of my class reading list one day...love it.
The Essentials of Hinduism - Swami Bhaskarananda - Hands down the best introduction to Hinduism I have read. Easy to understand and many great examples and illustrations I use in class.
The Toon Treasury (ed. Spiegelman) (should finish this week) - simply wonderful. If you love old cartoons - get this book!!!
Finally, I re-read Frankel's Man's Search for Meaning. One of the best books ever!!!
Wow...read through more than I thought. Here's to another great round of books in 2012!
My youngest daughter loves the movie, Horton Hears a Who.
If you are going to sit through a kid's movie over a hundred times, it holds up pretty well and believe me, there are much worse things to sit through than this film. One afternoon on the 132nd viewing, the film's theme of being a minuscule person in a giant, unfathomable universe struck a nerve.
Please note 132 is a vague estimate, there was a period of time during nebulizer treatments that we watched portions of "Orton and Jojo" at least three times a day. My two year old loves Jojo, the misanthropic, non-speaking,Who most of all. Totally fits her personality....
The film deals with the heroism of Horton, who trusts in his big ears and the fact that "a person's a person no matter how small". However, another strand of the film is how the Mayor of Whoville accepts his infinite smallness in the universe. This is much more fleshed out than in the book, "fleshed out", as in the character doesn't exist in the book. I could only think of the great scene from Carl Sagan's "Cosmos". It's amazing, so, you know, watch it.
If you're too lazy to watch (shame on you) let me briefly summarize. Looking back on earth from a satellite thousands of miles away, the earth is only a pale blue dot. That's it. All that we've believed in, accomplished and fought and died for happened on a fraction of a pixel in the universe. The pale blue dot is about accepting the earth's rightful place in the universe - a tiny, unknown planet. It should humble us all and remind us that for all our pomp, we are really a primitive and disconnected race. It should in, Sagan's words, inspire us to "deal with each other more kindly and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot".
The fact is, we are the Whos.
We live in denial of this, almost as well as the Whos do - when Horton flaps his ears over Whoville, over and over again, the Whos just take their sunglasses on and off to adjust to the insanity.
"Nothing ever bad happened in Whoville, never has, and never will" -- as the lead on the Whoville city council says. We take our sunglasses on and off - we tell ourselves the narratives until they fit us like warm comfortable sweaters. Most of all these narratives (nationalist and consumer identities, religions, etc.) tell us we are important. We are the center of the universe.
yeah, i know it's only the world revolving around "me" but it's late and i'm tired...just go with it.
Let me stop here. For long-time readers (ha ha ha ha), you may or may not know that I consider my self a Christian. So these words you might find confusing, troubling, or crazy.
One day I might find the willpower or time to outline my exact theology, but until that unlikely day, just take my word on it - it's complicated. For now, it will be suffice to say I believe God created a universe that is (from my limited human viewpoint) ultimately unknowable. As far as the human mind can conceptualize, the universe is bordering on eternal. If God made the universe, then, we must be small.
In Douglas Adam's excellent The Restaurant at the End of the Universe a torture device called the Total Perspective Vortex, "annihilates you by showing you just how infinitesimally small you are compared to the Universe".
Books 1 and 2 are outstanding and then the series just kinda goes down from there with each successive book. I don't think I finished the last one. Although if I taught an absurdist, existential literature course, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy would be on the reading list.
I don't think this smallness is necessarily inherently good or bad. In fact, the recognition that we are small is critical to letting go of our self-inflated importance and seeking a more authentic existence. Have you ever looked up at the stars at night and had the feeling of being inconsequential? The universe has created awe in theists and non-theists alike although with the size of the universe provoking (of course) different response and conclusions.
"What could define God [is a conception of divinity] as the embodiment of the laws of nature. However, this is not what most people would think of that God," Hawking told Sawyer. "They made a human-like being with whom one can have a personal relationship. When you look at the vast size of the universe and how insignificant an accidental human life is in it, that seems most impossible." - Stephen Hawking (in a recent interview)
Because I do believe, I think our smallness shows us how special we are. At worst, we find ourselves alone in a vast, cold, life-less universe. Even in the best-case scenario, the universe is populated with islands of life surrounded by an almost unimaginable, life-less ocean. There is no doubt about it, humanity does seem to have a special place in the universe by virtue of being alive.
Ok, as you can tell I am not one of those "the universe is teeming with life' people. I could be wrong - but even if there is intelligent life, even lots of it - we still are millions, trillions of light years apart. It would be like telling you that you have a long lost sibling somewhere in the world but we don't know anything about that sibling. So, great you have a sibling but no way of knowing or communicating with he or she nor any idea where they might be in the world....So, so what?
Anyway, back to the film. At first, the mayor lives in denial of the entire possibility (thinking himself mentally unstable).... but eventually, he does accept his insignificance in the universe. He begins to trust a giant elephant in the sky for Whoville's very salvation. Don't confuse the mayor as one of Kierkegaard's "knights of faith" - his faith is based on verifiable evidence. Nonetheless, accepting his place in the universe means he must trust something above himself. Eventually, we all have to let go of something, and ultimately, I think it all ends up being about control.
Once we have accepted our role, and relinquished our ideas of self-importance we can move on to figuring out how best life should be lived. Now that I know I am no longer the center of the universe, what is my role? I answer that question by embracing the smallness - trying to integrate my role as a servant in my life. I struggle with this - but as I continue to surrender self to God every day a little more, I know my role must be one of helping and putting others first.
As the movie crescendo's the Whos must rally together and make enough noise so others hear them (and not get dropped into a boiling pot of oil). They shout "We are Here!" over and over - until they are heard. I imagine that's what we are all trying to do on a metaphoric level every day.
I started cleaning out my bookshelf the other night and realized that many of the books on my shelves tell a story about my life the last few years. Here are a few random ones (not in any particular order):
Beowulf - I have this one from my graduate literature class I enrolled in for promotion at work. Out of all the books I could have chosen, I chose this. I thought a mythic, legendary tale would be fun. Boy, was I wrong. The book is boring. Not just boring, though, it's a disappointing, mind-numbing, "how is this a classic book?" boring. The type of boring that you think will eventually end (I mean, I knew the general outline of the book, I was just waiting for stuff to happen). I actually never finished it, even though I wrote a ten page paper on it.
Totally cool, right? What you don't know is the action scenes amount to a paragraph and the boasting and summarizing goes on for pages.
The Book of Mormon - About four years ago two Mormon girls came to my door to convert me. My wife and kids weren't home so I was game. After having some fun, I still wanted "The Book" being that I didn't have it and was interested (but not in the way they wanted me to be "interested"). I was supposed to promise to pray to God to reveal to me if it was true. I told them I would pray but not that prayer. I told them I wanted it because I was interested in all religions - Buddhism, Islam, etc. Also very boring...no disrespect, but the whole thing is also, well, silly.
The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang - A true story that is powerful, sad, violent, and insane. It shows the dark side of humanity at its very worst. I read this in preparation for a World Literature/World Cultures class a colleague and I were planning to teach. We were excited as the class would be partially focused on food. I even made a kick-ass poster. Guess how many students enrolled in the class? One. Just one lousy student. Well, the class never happened and my colleague shortly left the college. Needless to say, The Rape of Nanking is an amazing read (and very depressing).
Moon (travel) Handbook: Nepal - In the winter of 2007 I planned a trip to Nepal. I was even accepted into a program to help in an orphanage in Kathmandu for a week in June of 2008. I started an ambitious plan to save money and I was pumped. In the meantime, we got pregnant, my best friend got engaged (and promptly asked us to attend the wedding, which was out of state). I decided I shouldn't/couldn't go to Nepal. I was sad but afterwards a weight was lifted off my chest. One day, I'd like to go.
I still look at this and sigh.....maybe some day.
Marvel Essential: Marvel Universe Volumes 1 & 2 - I love comic books. However reading encyclopedic entries of comic book heroes and villains is kinda stupid. Like trying to figure out how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. It makes for a great comfort read though. Perfect for a late night before bed when you have a lot on your mind or when you'll be awhile on the toilet.
The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne - I first discovered Shane Claiborne browsing at a Christian bookstore and found his amazing Jesus for President (I let a friend borrow it who lives in London two years ago and never got it back). After reading Jesus for President, I shortly bought this one. Both books just make you want to quit your job and do something crazy. I can't recommend it enough for anyone. You'll be inspired to live an authentically Christian life that has everything to do with helping the poor, resisting nationalism and war, and transforming lives. Wonderful stuff. I am currently reading another book of his now, Follow me to Freedom.
The Jewish Study Bible (Oxford University Press) - So I started a free online class about the Hebrew Bible (taught by a Harvard professor). This was completely for my own education and enjoyment. I took copious notes during the lectures and read all my required reading. This particular Bible is awesome. The footnotes are what killed me. I couldn't stop reading them, even when I knew I should stop. I would have 20 chapters to read and it would take me weeks to get through it. I got about 8 weeks in (which took me 4 months to get through). I aced the mid-term although I declined writing the essay portion. I started reading again (somewhere in Leviticus) and just lost my own will to continue. It's not that I didn't enjoy it, it just the footnotes did me in. That, and the fact that I starting reading other stuff in the middle of the class. It's still a great resource though.
Finally, and most importantly our growing library on Ethiopia and adoption...that is a unfinished story but of course, ongoing.
And with that, good night. Happy Holidays, to whomever is out there!
