partsofspeaking

Oh, My, that last post was mean and awful. I don't repent of its essence but of its spirit. I have a cynical bent which really adds nothing to anyone's life. Sorry. Now it's time for people to stop being shocked over MJ's death and start making money, I suppose. If his life was symbolic of all that was wrong in our culture, his death will be even more so. My son went to see Transformers last night. Said it was too long and that Megan Fox looks like she has an Adam's Apple. That's a little scarey. It's miserably hot and dry here. I don't want to go out; it's hard to breathe the air.

Why do we act like we know people like Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, and Ed McMahon? Why do we act like their lives and deaths matter to us? Or are we just gawkers and rubberneckers? Why doesn't the media report something that matters? Michael Jackson's death now nullifies the importance of Iran and North Korea as far as the news media is concerned. Shame on Fox News especially. Michael Jackson symbolized everything that was wrong with this country. On the other hand, I suppose it makes us (some of us) aware of our aging and soon-to-come mortality. Our youth, when we paid atention to pop stars and movie stars, is gone.

I always use Yeats' Poem "The Second Coming" to introduce the 20 th century in my humanities class. It is haunting, and the students get it. For quite a while I have wanted to read Chinua Achebe's which uses the key phrase from that poem, "Things fall apart, the centre does not hold" in its title. I finally checked it out and read it over the weekend. It's an amazing book. My comments can't do it justice, and I appreciate that it was short enough to read in one sitting yet I will come back to it time and again. Somehow he has combined a Western art form, the novel, with African literary forms. Somehow he makes us understand the Africans in a new way, to see that they had a true culture and were not primitive, even if they did practice what we would consider some pretty "uncivilized" and disturbing customs, such as abandoning twins to the elements and drinking out of the skulls of enemies. (the sad irony of the infanticide is that t...

I think Pres. Obama is within the right not to respond too quickly to the Iranian situation. It's a gamble either way. Yes, the Iranian people want to know the rest of the world is behind them; who in their situation wouldn't? And there is the argument that doing the right thing is more important than not making the mullahs mad so that they reciprocate tenfold. On the other hand, there is a little irony to me that the country that held our citizens hostage thirty years ago wants our support now. Maybe it wasn't the same people in the protests who took over the embassy. Maybe it was. Now that they have lived under Islamic rule, maybe they have had a change of heart. It's complex, so I don't think he's wrong to be circumspect. But I respect the arguments on the other side. On another matter, he admitted today that he still occasionally smokes and that's why it was important to pass that sweeping nanny/mommy state legislation yesterday--he knows how add...

Just finished Jean Twenge's Generation Me and hope by the end of the summer to read her new book on narcissism, if I can find a copy. I'm not buying books anymore--I pay taxes for libraries, and that's what they are for. I would recommend the book to anyone who deals with people under the age of 35, which of course is most of us, and all teachers of any education level. She does an excellent job of describing the problem and a pretty good job of diagnosing the cause; I'm less enthusiastic about some of her solutions, although a few were pretty sound from my point of view. Her advice to employers about dealing with Generation Me is the normal idealistic counsel of an academic who has never run a business or had to deal with a payroll. But she doesn't idealize the people caught up in this generation (not everyone of that age group fits the bill, but I have seen it plenty). She is honest that the self-esteem movement, especially, has pushed many of them to bord...

I's not what you believe that counts. It's what you believe enough to do. Provocative quote (not attributed). As for the title above, here they are: 1. She's prolife. 2. She's prolife and believes it enough to do something about it. 3. She's prolife and still got to be the governor of a state; she didn't have to abort her child to do so. 4. She's prolife even when it means giving birth to a disabled child. 5. She's not ashamed of her children even when they don't measure up. 6. She is not from the elitest places and schools on the coasts. 7. She is a good speaker and people in the heartland like her. 8. She got to be governor of a state without any family connections; let's be real, most liberal women had dads or husbands in politics (or very wealthy,like Pelosi) and didn't do it on their own. 9. As one blog states, she is a man's woman--pretty but not sexy and silly, willing to get out there and hunt and fish, willing to play by...

I just finished the short book, The Servant. It was recommended by my students because another teacher requires it. I suppose for a younger person dedicated to making money and who has not spiritual background, it is earth-shattering. To me it was cliched, and a little dishonest. I read it thinking this was a real experience, but the planned-ness of the dialogue was manipulative.

Odd, perhaps, that I would write about a man I viscerally respond to as a little pervert, but there's more there. TCM played a documentary/interview with him the other night and it was haunting. Most of his movies are just silly, but a few were brilliant: Interiors, Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Crimes and Misdemeanors. Others were grotesque; Manhattan particularly hits me that way in light of his future indiscretions, as does Deconstructing Harry (shows what he thinks of women, which isn't much.) However, my point is what he said in the interview. While professing atheism, he kept saying "salvation." Salvation from what, one must ask? If there is no God, there is no eternal moral standard, therefore no sin, therefore no need for salvation. I think he meant salvation from .... meaninglessness? being forgotten? especially as an artist? He said many things in the interview that showed that even though he rejected God, he couldn't reject the re...

This marks the passing of a supremely gracious man, James Rufus Faulkner. J.R. Faulkner married my husband and me on August 8, 1981, so that is sufficient enough for him to hold a special place in my heart. It was a crazy day with embarassing family members, but he was very kind about the whole thing. Dr. Faulkner was the pastor or president, on and off, of Highland Park Baptist Church and Tennessee Temple. He was many more things, of course, just like everyone he was not definable by a job, but in J.R. Faulkner's case, it was more true. He was a golfer, poet, artist, mentor, songleader, husband and father of five sons who were all a credit to him. He was a humane person, which means much more to me than that he was a preacher. I don't hold preachers in high esteem if that's all they have going for them. There is a wonderful youtube video of him and his wife in the nursing home; it's accessible by typing his name in the search engine there. I think he would have...

I have heard people say they feel sorry for President Obama because of the situation he inherited. How silly. Inherited means it comes to you whether you want it or not. He wanted to be president and campaigned very hard and well, of course, for it. He is to be congratulated, not pitied, right? He kept his eyes on the prize and won it. But he keeps saying he inherited the economy, the mess, etc. This serves several purposes: it creates a crisis mode so he can do more than a president should be allowed to do, it keeps pointing at the Bush administration instead of his own responsibilities, and it makes us think things are worse than they could ever be. If I hear this is the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression again, I'll puke. The Carter administration was much worse. I would argue that the president should be slow to tinker with the economy anyway. But it occured to me this morning that maybe Obama simply didn't expect this. Prior to the tanking of Wall S...

There was a bumper sticker I saw occasionally during the Bush administration: "Are you appalled yet?" or something to that effect. I would usually just roll my eyes, although the person had a point. There is, and has been, much to be appalled by in this world, and if we aren't appalled by it, something is wrong. In terms of bumper stickers, I've noticed they have come back into vogue. It seemed that they went away for a while; my husband says it was because of the popularity of leased cars, which more or less prohibited bumper stickers. And maybe the new generation styles itself as a new type of hippie, and bumper stickers were really the thing in the 70s. So they are back to entertain, challenge, anger, and make those eyes roll. I also notice that I see many more Obama/ Biden stickers than I did before the election; I think many people got them after he won, not willing to commit before then. I even have to wonder how many who didn't vote for him, and wouldn...

Fifteen years ago I gladly moved away from downtown Chattanooga, but not so far that I can't go there within fifteen or twenty minutes. And the powers that be have revitalized the city into a place residents can be proud of. I spent most of my day there. After church (I imagine I'll always go to church in Chattanooga, because of the clientele!) I went to the Chattanooga market. It was a different bunch of vendors today, somewhat. More produce, organic and local farmers. I bought some strawberries, met two colleagues and their partners, ate a sandwich and read to kill time before meeting students at the Hunter. I am happy to say that within a week I will be eating tomatoes, squash, lettuce, and peppers from my own garden and won't need the local produce so much. I require my Humanities students to visit the Hunter because it is too wonderful a museum not to go to, and I always plan to meet them there at least once. The first Sunday of the month is free, so this was a ...

In January I was introduced to Beth Moore Bible studies. I had heard of her for quite a while, but as I am not a trend follower (you can tell from my hairdo), I had not paid much attention. But I decided to try her out for the study of Esther. At the end, I doubted I would take one again. Although I admired the depth of her studies, I didn't care for the large amount of time talking about herself, her family, her marriage, her hair, and generally just being funny. The programs were an hour long and could have been much shorter to allow for more discussion. However, I needed a break this summer so my class agreed to listen to another one. We are doing the one about the life of Paul. I watch the tapes ahead of time for preparation, and I'm amazed. Whoever that person was (maybe ten years ago?) I like her much better. She is reverent, serious, and on point. I am seriously considering writing her and suggesting she go back to her old personality. She is too great a stud...

Last night I got home from my night class, dead tired (not sure why) and feeling like a cold was coming on, so I plopped in front of the TV and watched most of Bergman's "The Seventh Seal" and all of "Wild Strawberries." Reading subtitles for three hours didn't make my head feel any better when it was over with, but I'm glad for the experience, having never watched any Bergman films before but often thinking I should. "The Seventh Seal" is still a mystery to me (I assume it's about trying to escape death and its inevitability, but obviously there is more to it), so I'll comment on the second. It's a very moving film not because of any sentimentality but because of its humanity; unlike many movies, I didn't have any trouble believing in the existence of this old man, even in what he dreamed. It is full of visual metaphors that would take several viewings to get; my favorite was the clocks with no hands. What does it mean? No...

What must it be like to attend church with someone who has killed 60,000 unborn children? And we Baptists worry over church discipline on someone who cheated on his/her spouse.