Saturday, July 08, 2006
Law and Gospel fill in the blanks
Three names 1_____________ 2_____________ 3________(f)___
Three colors 4___________ 5_____________ 11_________
One something that makes a noise 6____________
One shape 8___________
One name of a ranch 9 ___________
One material 10___________
There was once a young cowboy named 1. He was the son of 2, the owner of 9 ranch. 9 was a dry place, treeless and filled with browned sagebrush and scraggly tuffs of buffalo grass. So in a lot of ways it was a place the total opposite of Essex.
Now 2 was an eccentric man. He wore a tall sloping 4 hat and he wore oversized clown-like cowboy boots made of 10. On them were spurs that jangled and sounded like 6 when he walked. And his pride and joy was 3, the buckingist, orneriest, mare that side of the Colorado. The horse was 5 with a distinctive 11 8 patch of fur between her eyes.
Now 1, impetuous young man that he was, wanted to be like his father. And 1 schemed and schemed and made a decision. He would take his father’s 10 boots, his spurs that jungled like the sound of, 6 and his tall 4 cowboy hat and head south to Texas.
And so 1 did just that. He got up well before the sun and snuck into his father’s room and took the 10 boots, 6 sounding spurs, and 4 hat. And then he went into the stables and took 3.
He put on his father’s clothing, saddled 3 and was off before the first fingers of sunrise had reached across the plains and touched 9 ranch.
Things went well for 1, at least at first. He had made it several dozen miles. Riding 3 was good fun and making her gallop with the spurs that jangled like 6s when he prodded at 3’s flanks was something 2 would never let him do.
By noon 3 was tired and 1 sore. They both were thirsty. 1, for all his planning, had forgotten to bring a canteen. And soon his father’s large 10 boots were hurting his feet. But he was ambitious and foolish, and continued on. And soon enough one of the boots fell from his foot, and when it clanged loudly, sounding like a giant 6 3 was spooked. She began to buck, and kick, and snort, and whinney into the air. 1 was thrown from the horse and his glasses flew from his face, smashing on a rock. Without them 1 was blind as a bat.
3 stopped and let her small rider back onto her back. They continued forward, their collective throats parched. They continued on like that for a whole day until 3 said, "We need to drink something or we’ll die."
1 was puzzled, "horses can’t talk," he said.
"I know," 3 replied, "you are just delirious from lack of water.
And 1 nodded and looked out hoping for help. All he could see with his blurred vision was a strange two headed monster. One head was 4, the other 5 with a strange 11 blot on it.
3 continued toward it.
"Don’t go that way. There’s a horrible monster there." 1 said. Yet 3 kept going.
Again 1 protested, "It’s horrible, and dangerous!" Yet 3 kept going.
And a third time 1 said, "It’s horrible and dangerous, and down right evil. We must stay away from it." And 3, with the last of her strength, broke out into a gallop toward the monster. And she nudged 1 off her back. And 1 saw that the monster was a reflection of himself in a cool still pond, which he drank deeply from and was saved.
Three colors 4___________ 5_____________ 11_________
One something that makes a noise 6____________
One shape 8___________
One name of a ranch 9 ___________
One material 10___________
There was once a young cowboy named 1. He was the son of 2, the owner of 9 ranch. 9 was a dry place, treeless and filled with browned sagebrush and scraggly tuffs of buffalo grass. So in a lot of ways it was a place the total opposite of Essex.
Now 2 was an eccentric man. He wore a tall sloping 4 hat and he wore oversized clown-like cowboy boots made of 10. On them were spurs that jangled and sounded like 6 when he walked. And his pride and joy was 3, the buckingist, orneriest, mare that side of the Colorado. The horse was 5 with a distinctive 11 8 patch of fur between her eyes.
Now 1, impetuous young man that he was, wanted to be like his father. And 1 schemed and schemed and made a decision. He would take his father’s 10 boots, his spurs that jungled like the sound of, 6 and his tall 4 cowboy hat and head south to Texas.
And so 1 did just that. He got up well before the sun and snuck into his father’s room and took the 10 boots, 6 sounding spurs, and 4 hat. And then he went into the stables and took 3.
He put on his father’s clothing, saddled 3 and was off before the first fingers of sunrise had reached across the plains and touched 9 ranch.
Things went well for 1, at least at first. He had made it several dozen miles. Riding 3 was good fun and making her gallop with the spurs that jangled like 6s when he prodded at 3’s flanks was something 2 would never let him do.
By noon 3 was tired and 1 sore. They both were thirsty. 1, for all his planning, had forgotten to bring a canteen. And soon his father’s large 10 boots were hurting his feet. But he was ambitious and foolish, and continued on. And soon enough one of the boots fell from his foot, and when it clanged loudly, sounding like a giant 6 3 was spooked. She began to buck, and kick, and snort, and whinney into the air. 1 was thrown from the horse and his glasses flew from his face, smashing on a rock. Without them 1 was blind as a bat.
3 stopped and let her small rider back onto her back. They continued forward, their collective throats parched. They continued on like that for a whole day until 3 said, "We need to drink something or we’ll die."
1 was puzzled, "horses can’t talk," he said.
"I know," 3 replied, "you are just delirious from lack of water.
And 1 nodded and looked out hoping for help. All he could see with his blurred vision was a strange two headed monster. One head was 4, the other 5 with a strange 11 blot on it.
3 continued toward it.
"Don’t go that way. There’s a horrible monster there." 1 said. Yet 3 kept going.
Again 1 protested, "It’s horrible, and dangerous!" Yet 3 kept going.
And a third time 1 said, "It’s horrible and dangerous, and down right evil. We must stay away from it." And 3, with the last of her strength, broke out into a gallop toward the monster. And she nudged 1 off her back. And 1 saw that the monster was a reflection of himself in a cool still pond, which he drank deeply from and was saved.
Apparently Presiding Bishop Schori is a Beaver!
The new Presiding Bishop of the Episcipalian Church graduated from Oregon State University.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
The July Edition of The Foundation is up
This month I've tried something differant. I've written out a speech Bush could give to the UN to explain the end goals of the War on Terror. Here is the start of the speech, for the rest of it click on the link.
"Two score and three years ago, a great American, to whom this nation owes a great debt, told America about a dream he had. This dream came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of African Americans who had been separated from the bright promises this nation has to offer and trapped in the darkness of humiliating, squalorious, conditions, that man was not made to live in. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of calamity. But forty-three years later, we must face the tragic fact that we have stopped there.
Forty-three years later, the lives of colored people all around the globe are still sadly crippled by the manacles of tyranny and the chains of oppression. Forty-three years later, the West lives on a lonely island of material prosperity, political justice, and individual freedom in the midst of a vast ocean of poverty, injustice, and cruelty. Forty-three years later, the majority of the world languishes under absolutists, theocrats, and poverty...."
"Two score and three years ago, a great American, to whom this nation owes a great debt, told America about a dream he had. This dream came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of African Americans who had been separated from the bright promises this nation has to offer and trapped in the darkness of humiliating, squalorious, conditions, that man was not made to live in. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of calamity. But forty-three years later, we must face the tragic fact that we have stopped there.
Forty-three years later, the lives of colored people all around the globe are still sadly crippled by the manacles of tyranny and the chains of oppression. Forty-three years later, the West lives on a lonely island of material prosperity, political justice, and individual freedom in the midst of a vast ocean of poverty, injustice, and cruelty. Forty-three years later, the majority of the world languishes under absolutists, theocrats, and poverty...."
Thursday, June 29, 2006
More on the soccer articles
Remember a while back when I posted two articles by TWS? Well here is The New Republic's response.
Peace,
Chris
Peace,
Chris
God willing this man will be president
Here are a few good quotes from Barack Obama's Key Note Addres to "Call to Renewal":
"And even if we did have only Christians within our borders, who's Christianity would we teach in the schools? James Dobson's, or Al Sharpton's? Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Levitacus, which suggests slavery is ok and that eating shellfish is abomination? How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount - a passage so radical that it's doubtful that our Defense Department would survive its application?"
"We all know the story of Abraham and Isaac. Abraham is ordered by God to offer up his only son, and without argument, he takes Isaac to the mountaintop, binds him to an altar, and raises his knife, prepared to act as God has commanded.
Of course, in the end God sends down an angel to intercede at the very last minute, and Abraham passes God's test of devotion.
But it's fair to say that if any of us saw a twenty-first century Abraham raising the knife on the roof of his apartment building, we would, at the very least, call the police and expect the Department of Children and Family Services to take Isaac away from Abraham. We would do so because we do not hear what Abraham hears, do not see what Abraham sees, true as those experiences may be. So the best we can do is act in accordance with those things that are possible for all of us to know, be it common laws or basic reason. "
"And even if we did have only Christians within our borders, who's Christianity would we teach in the schools? James Dobson's, or Al Sharpton's? Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Levitacus, which suggests slavery is ok and that eating shellfish is abomination? How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount - a passage so radical that it's doubtful that our Defense Department would survive its application?"
"We all know the story of Abraham and Isaac. Abraham is ordered by God to offer up his only son, and without argument, he takes Isaac to the mountaintop, binds him to an altar, and raises his knife, prepared to act as God has commanded.
Of course, in the end God sends down an angel to intercede at the very last minute, and Abraham passes God's test of devotion.
But it's fair to say that if any of us saw a twenty-first century Abraham raising the knife on the roof of his apartment building, we would, at the very least, call the police and expect the Department of Children and Family Services to take Isaac away from Abraham. We would do so because we do not hear what Abraham hears, do not see what Abraham sees, true as those experiences may be. So the best we can do is act in accordance with those things that are possible for all of us to know, be it common laws or basic reason. "
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
The start of Chapter 8 of "Days in the Cold" is up!
Slowly but surely Days in the Cold my online novel over at Universal Bones is edging closer to completion. Enjoy.
Peace,
Chris
Peace,
Chris
Sunday, June 25, 2006
And who is arming the murders in Darfur? China
As people know I'm a little bit of an anti-China kind of guy. It's not because I'm all "Weee, American Hegemony!" but instead because China is all "Let's support evil people if we can make a buck!"
Peace,
Chris
Peace,
Chris
June Newsletter
Chris at St. Mark’s
The wonderful program that has made this whole thing possible: Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM)
http://www.elca.org/globalserve/youngadults/
Cambridge
One of the things that I was told at the missionary conference was that they don’t want us to stay in our host country for ever, instead they want us to get back to the states after our year of service to start serving the ELCA. Now it wasn’t that I don’t pay attention, anyone who’s ever lectured me know better than that. In fact in my many pages of notes from the conference I specifically wrote this point down.
I say all this as a preface to a really exciting announcement! I have received and accepted a conditional offer to pursue a Master of Philosophy in Divinity at the University of Cambridge. The M. Phil. program is a very intense 24-week Masters Degree program. I intend to write my thesis (actually I’d like to end up with a book when I’m done with it, but that might be aiming a bit big) on the Akedah (The Binding of Isaac, Genesis Chapter 22).
Cards
What do you do when the only time your URC youth group isn’t being rotten to one another is when they play Yu-Gi-Oh!, a collectable card game? You make a Bible centric card game, that’s what you do!
This nearly completed project has taken up a lot of my time this past month. First I had to figure out rules for the game and invent cards. Then I not only had to illustrate them (with the much appreciated help of Yan), but figure out how the heck to actually make them into cards (after a few different ideas lamination was the simplest). When all done I’ll have created 100 cards (I should finish tomorrow). Then I’ll get to test them out on the Pilots.
Here are a few examples of cards:
Love (1) Event
Return target Character card from your discard pile to the top of your deck.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22)
The Flood (6) Event
All Characters are put from play into the discard pile. Noah is unaffected by this event.
The Flood continued forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. (Genesis 7:17)
Zebulun Character (2) 2/2
If Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, Dan, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, Gad, Judah, Benjamin, and Levi are all in play you win the game.
If Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, Dan, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, Gad, Judah, Benjamin, or Levi are in play Zebulun get’s +1/+0
Ruth Character (3) 2/2
If Naomi is in play Ruth gets +2/+2
But Ruth said, "Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. (Ruth 1:16)
Korean Night
Melody, a TFG volunteer over in Cambridge who is from South Korea, recently held a Korean night at the URC church she is placed at. It was a wonderful event where I was able to sample Korean food, play Korean games, and watch a presentation put on by Melody and some members of the local Korean church. It was great fun. The international aspect of this year has been an almost overwhelmingly positive part of this year of mission. I have gotten to know people of faith from all over the globe, and that makes me kind of giddy!
Trinity College
Professor Falk, my favorite Professor from back at University (and the only professor that reads my newsletters) recommend that on Trinity Sunday I should go to Trinity College and see the festivities. I’m glad I did. Everyone lounges on the bank of the Cam and listens to the choir serenade them with love songs. As dusk falls Chinese lanterns are lit. It was pretty. It was serene. It was magical. It was Cambridge!
The Archer
The children are jittery. They always are. The Archer sees the Warden in the distance giving his shpeel. "These activities can be dangerous, so pay attention to what your instructors say," and so on. Then he numbers them off 1, 2, 1, 2. Further down the line he can see some of the children counting to see if they are next to the pretty girl. Some switch places with one another to ensure that they are in the same group as their friends.
The Warden has seen this before. He’s onto their scheme like paprika on Slovakian scrambled eggs. He switches things up. There were two twos, then two ones. The schemes of men can not withstand the will of the Warden.
The two groups are split up. The younger ones run with a carefree abandon to their cite of instruction. The older ones strut or swagger like they are on a catwalk somewhere in Paris.
The little ones are almost passed the rope on the ground that looks like orange flavored liquorice, when the Archer takes one fe-fi-fo-fum giant sized step to the line. He raises his hands like a hipster traffic cop and says, in a very American accent, "Line up behind the waiting line," and then with a strangely elegant flourish of his hand he indicates the rope.
He wears green cut-offs stained with grass, grease, and even a little blood for good measure. His white T-shirt has on it the words "Peace, Love, Luther," with a peace sign, a heart, and some strange flower with a cross inside it underneath the words. He must be one of those American Fundamentalists BBC Three always talks about, the children think. He wears wrap around sunglasses and a blond gottee that is so long that it had to be either ironic or post-modern. His short hair is topped off with a backwards raggedy military-style green cap.
The kids realize he’s not only a Yank, but a Damn Yank, cocky and brash, emblazoning his American-ness upon his chest. If Tolkien’s Orks were a warped and devolved version of Elves the Archer was, in their eyes, proof positive the Americans played the same role in relation to the British.
By that time the straggling teens, trying very hard to out disinterest one another, show up he has already asked, "Are you guys ready for some Archery?"
"Yeah." They say with words as bland as the three servings of potatoes each day they’ve grown up on.
"I said," he says his tinted and unseen eyes scanning the line, "are you guys ready for some archery?"
"Yeah," again they say, some of the younger ones picking up the enthusiasm in his voice.
"Is that it? I’ve heard Liberal Dem MP’s with more fire in their belly," he says, smiling at his own wit, "Are you ready for some Archery?"
"Yeah!"
"Now. I can see that you’re all very excited," one of the older boys chuckles before he can help himself, "but we first need to go over a few rules, just to keep us safe. After all," he says, looking to the boy who had chuckled previously, "no matter how exciting archery is we do have to remember we are dealing with sharp metal bits flying around at fast speeds."
"Lucky for us you guys are already following rule number one, which is when you aren’t shooting stay behind the waiting line."
He pauses, walking down the line of kids, like some self-important Banana Republic General.
"Now what is rule number one?"
They don’t answer.
"What wasn’t a rhetorical question!" he says, with a smirk that reminds them of his president’s face.
"Don’t-mumble mumble- the waiting line."
"And," he says, pacing back down the line, "the second rule is if I, or any of you, see something dangerous out there," he makes a general gesture toward the two archery busses, "shout Stop!" and boy does he shout stop, "everyone should put down their bows and stop shooting."
He pauses. Stopping in front of the middle of the line of children, he says, "Dangerous things could include… Amber, the College’s dog," he makes a ridiculous motion of a dog bounding along by swaying his body back and forth and moving his hands up and down, "wandering out into the middle of the range. After all," he again looks at the boy who made the mistake of chucking, "after all shooting the Warden’s dog tends not to help relations with the boss-man… So what’s rule number two."
"Don’t shoot the dog," one young boy shouts, while the rest mumble, "stop if you hear stop."
"Correct, stop if you are told to stop. The remaining two rules are kind of corollaries of one another," they are also a little authoritarian, but never mind that, the Archer thinks to himself, "Rule number three is ‘Don’t shoot unless I tell you to.’ What’s rule number three?"
"Don’t shoot unless you tell us to."
"And rule number four is ‘don’t cross the shooting line unless I tell you to.’ Otherwise you might end up plunking your neighbor in the head. And I don’t want to remove any arrows from anyone. So what’s rule four?"
"Don’t cross that line unless you tell us too."
"Excellent," then he proceeds to explain to them how to shoot, describing the stance as similar to a golfing stance, demonstrating this fact by wielding a bow briefly as a club. He describes the proper fingering of the string as being "like the boy scout salute," and tells the kids that when retrieving an arrow from the target they have to do, "the live long and prosper sign from Star trek." A few of the younger kids do the sign unconsciously as he demonstrates it. In short he uses more similes and metaphors than are used in pulp noir.
Then the Archer comes to his favorite part. The demonstration shot.
"Okay. I’m going to let you break rule number one," what a benevolent dictator he is, "come on up so you can see what I’m doing. Stay to this side of me… like in a quarter circle. 45 degrees of a circle guys. A circle, yeah? Circle, yeah? Yeah, circle?" He says that last bit with a mock British accent.
Then he goes through all the steps he showed them thus far, from making sure the odd colored fletching points up when loading the arrow to pulling back the string to the side of the mouth. He looses an arrow. It finds its mark just inside the yellow. The children let out oo’s, and ahh’s. The Archer allows himself a momentary smile and then gets back to business.
The wonderful program that has made this whole thing possible: Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM)
http://www.elca.org/globalserve/youngadults/
Cambridge
One of the things that I was told at the missionary conference was that they don’t want us to stay in our host country for ever, instead they want us to get back to the states after our year of service to start serving the ELCA. Now it wasn’t that I don’t pay attention, anyone who’s ever lectured me know better than that. In fact in my many pages of notes from the conference I specifically wrote this point down.
I say all this as a preface to a really exciting announcement! I have received and accepted a conditional offer to pursue a Master of Philosophy in Divinity at the University of Cambridge. The M. Phil. program is a very intense 24-week Masters Degree program. I intend to write my thesis (actually I’d like to end up with a book when I’m done with it, but that might be aiming a bit big) on the Akedah (The Binding of Isaac, Genesis Chapter 22).
Cards
What do you do when the only time your URC youth group isn’t being rotten to one another is when they play Yu-Gi-Oh!, a collectable card game? You make a Bible centric card game, that’s what you do!
This nearly completed project has taken up a lot of my time this past month. First I had to figure out rules for the game and invent cards. Then I not only had to illustrate them (with the much appreciated help of Yan), but figure out how the heck to actually make them into cards (after a few different ideas lamination was the simplest). When all done I’ll have created 100 cards (I should finish tomorrow). Then I’ll get to test them out on the Pilots.
Here are a few examples of cards:
Love (1) Event
Return target Character card from your discard pile to the top of your deck.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22)
The Flood (6) Event
All Characters are put from play into the discard pile. Noah is unaffected by this event.
The Flood continued forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. (Genesis 7:17)
Zebulun Character (2) 2/2
If Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, Dan, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, Gad, Judah, Benjamin, and Levi are all in play you win the game.
If Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, Dan, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, Gad, Judah, Benjamin, or Levi are in play Zebulun get’s +1/+0
Ruth Character (3) 2/2
If Naomi is in play Ruth gets +2/+2
But Ruth said, "Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. (Ruth 1:16)
Korean Night
Melody, a TFG volunteer over in Cambridge who is from South Korea, recently held a Korean night at the URC church she is placed at. It was a wonderful event where I was able to sample Korean food, play Korean games, and watch a presentation put on by Melody and some members of the local Korean church. It was great fun. The international aspect of this year has been an almost overwhelmingly positive part of this year of mission. I have gotten to know people of faith from all over the globe, and that makes me kind of giddy!
Trinity College
Professor Falk, my favorite Professor from back at University (and the only professor that reads my newsletters) recommend that on Trinity Sunday I should go to Trinity College and see the festivities. I’m glad I did. Everyone lounges on the bank of the Cam and listens to the choir serenade them with love songs. As dusk falls Chinese lanterns are lit. It was pretty. It was serene. It was magical. It was Cambridge!
The Archer
The children are jittery. They always are. The Archer sees the Warden in the distance giving his shpeel. "These activities can be dangerous, so pay attention to what your instructors say," and so on. Then he numbers them off 1, 2, 1, 2. Further down the line he can see some of the children counting to see if they are next to the pretty girl. Some switch places with one another to ensure that they are in the same group as their friends.
The Warden has seen this before. He’s onto their scheme like paprika on Slovakian scrambled eggs. He switches things up. There were two twos, then two ones. The schemes of men can not withstand the will of the Warden.
The two groups are split up. The younger ones run with a carefree abandon to their cite of instruction. The older ones strut or swagger like they are on a catwalk somewhere in Paris.
The little ones are almost passed the rope on the ground that looks like orange flavored liquorice, when the Archer takes one fe-fi-fo-fum giant sized step to the line. He raises his hands like a hipster traffic cop and says, in a very American accent, "Line up behind the waiting line," and then with a strangely elegant flourish of his hand he indicates the rope.
He wears green cut-offs stained with grass, grease, and even a little blood for good measure. His white T-shirt has on it the words "Peace, Love, Luther," with a peace sign, a heart, and some strange flower with a cross inside it underneath the words. He must be one of those American Fundamentalists BBC Three always talks about, the children think. He wears wrap around sunglasses and a blond gottee that is so long that it had to be either ironic or post-modern. His short hair is topped off with a backwards raggedy military-style green cap.
The kids realize he’s not only a Yank, but a Damn Yank, cocky and brash, emblazoning his American-ness upon his chest. If Tolkien’s Orks were a warped and devolved version of Elves the Archer was, in their eyes, proof positive the Americans played the same role in relation to the British.
By that time the straggling teens, trying very hard to out disinterest one another, show up he has already asked, "Are you guys ready for some Archery?"
"Yeah." They say with words as bland as the three servings of potatoes each day they’ve grown up on.
"I said," he says his tinted and unseen eyes scanning the line, "are you guys ready for some archery?"
"Yeah," again they say, some of the younger ones picking up the enthusiasm in his voice.
"Is that it? I’ve heard Liberal Dem MP’s with more fire in their belly," he says, smiling at his own wit, "Are you ready for some Archery?"
"Yeah!"
"Now. I can see that you’re all very excited," one of the older boys chuckles before he can help himself, "but we first need to go over a few rules, just to keep us safe. After all," he says, looking to the boy who had chuckled previously, "no matter how exciting archery is we do have to remember we are dealing with sharp metal bits flying around at fast speeds."
"Lucky for us you guys are already following rule number one, which is when you aren’t shooting stay behind the waiting line."
He pauses, walking down the line of kids, like some self-important Banana Republic General.
"Now what is rule number one?"
They don’t answer.
"What wasn’t a rhetorical question!" he says, with a smirk that reminds them of his president’s face.
"Don’t-mumble mumble- the waiting line."
"And," he says, pacing back down the line, "the second rule is if I, or any of you, see something dangerous out there," he makes a general gesture toward the two archery busses, "shout Stop!" and boy does he shout stop, "everyone should put down their bows and stop shooting."
He pauses. Stopping in front of the middle of the line of children, he says, "Dangerous things could include… Amber, the College’s dog," he makes a ridiculous motion of a dog bounding along by swaying his body back and forth and moving his hands up and down, "wandering out into the middle of the range. After all," he again looks at the boy who made the mistake of chucking, "after all shooting the Warden’s dog tends not to help relations with the boss-man… So what’s rule number two."
"Don’t shoot the dog," one young boy shouts, while the rest mumble, "stop if you hear stop."
"Correct, stop if you are told to stop. The remaining two rules are kind of corollaries of one another," they are also a little authoritarian, but never mind that, the Archer thinks to himself, "Rule number three is ‘Don’t shoot unless I tell you to.’ What’s rule number three?"
"Don’t shoot unless you tell us to."
"And rule number four is ‘don’t cross the shooting line unless I tell you to.’ Otherwise you might end up plunking your neighbor in the head. And I don’t want to remove any arrows from anyone. So what’s rule four?"
"Don’t cross that line unless you tell us too."
"Excellent," then he proceeds to explain to them how to shoot, describing the stance as similar to a golfing stance, demonstrating this fact by wielding a bow briefly as a club. He describes the proper fingering of the string as being "like the boy scout salute," and tells the kids that when retrieving an arrow from the target they have to do, "the live long and prosper sign from Star trek." A few of the younger kids do the sign unconsciously as he demonstrates it. In short he uses more similes and metaphors than are used in pulp noir.
Then the Archer comes to his favorite part. The demonstration shot.
"Okay. I’m going to let you break rule number one," what a benevolent dictator he is, "come on up so you can see what I’m doing. Stay to this side of me… like in a quarter circle. 45 degrees of a circle guys. A circle, yeah? Circle, yeah? Yeah, circle?" He says that last bit with a mock British accent.
Then he goes through all the steps he showed them thus far, from making sure the odd colored fletching points up when loading the arrow to pulling back the string to the side of the mouth. He looses an arrow. It finds its mark just inside the yellow. The children let out oo’s, and ahh’s. The Archer allows himself a momentary smile and then gets back to business.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Cambridge
It'll be in my newsletter tomorrow, but I thought I'd announce it now. I've accepted a conditional offer to do an M. Phil. in Divinity at Cambridge next year!
Peace,
Chris
Peace,
Chris
Friday, June 23, 2006
And it turns out Americans aren't supposed to like Football (soccer)
Another Orwell quote
Samizdata provides us with a great quote of the day.
"I have little direct evidence about the atrocities in the Spanish civil war. I know that some were committed by the Republicans, and far more (they are still continuing) by the Fascists. But what impressed me then, and has impressed me ever since, is that atrocities are believed in or disbelieved in solely on grounds of political predilection. Everyone believes in the atrocities of the enemy and disbelieves in those of his own side, without ever bothering to examine the evidence."
- George Orwell
Peace,
Chris
"I have little direct evidence about the atrocities in the Spanish civil war. I know that some were committed by the Republicans, and far more (they are still continuing) by the Fascists. But what impressed me then, and has impressed me ever since, is that atrocities are believed in or disbelieved in solely on grounds of political predilection. Everyone believes in the atrocities of the enemy and disbelieves in those of his own side, without ever bothering to examine the evidence."
- George Orwell
Peace,
Chris
An old friend is going into politics!
Thom Bradley was my Anthro. teacher back in High School. He's got a R beside his name, but none the less I think he'd be great for our states.
Peace,
Chris
Peace,
Chris
Monday, June 19, 2006
A brief but good discussion of The Trinity
It happens rather often. I am enjoying a comfortable dinner or lunch, or maybe even a happy party, when someone turns to me and asks, “I hope you don’t mind my asking. What do Catholics mean when they say ‘the Trinity.’ What do you picture? What goes through your head? I just don’t get it.”
Dinesh D’Souza first pointed out this phenomenon to me. At a Washington dinner party, he was once asked, during the dessert, when Catholics are going to get over their medieval prohibitions on fornication, gay sex, and the rest. Dinesh is a very clever and quick-witted man, so he answered with a straight face. “I’m with you. I think the Catholic church should give up its whole sexual code, permit bestiality, pornography, auto-stimulation, the whole bit.”
And it goes on from there... Worth reading, nothing ground breaking but the scene is set rather well.
Peace,
Chris
Dinesh D’Souza first pointed out this phenomenon to me. At a Washington dinner party, he was once asked, during the dessert, when Catholics are going to get over their medieval prohibitions on fornication, gay sex, and the rest. Dinesh is a very clever and quick-witted man, so he answered with a straight face. “I’m with you. I think the Catholic church should give up its whole sexual code, permit bestiality, pornography, auto-stimulation, the whole bit.”
And it goes on from there... Worth reading, nothing ground breaking but the scene is set rather well.
Peace,
Chris
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