Luci Shaw at Elliot Bay Books

A few of you asked for details of Luci Shaw's book reading/signing on December 8th. Looks like she will be at Elliot Bay Book Company at 7PM on December 8th. This is for the launch of Image Magazine's Bearing the Mystery (A "best writing of the past twenty years" book).

Should be a very interesting evening!

-Chelle

Happy Thanksgiving

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!
~Author Unknown


Topics of Conversation at My Cousin's House on Any Given Holiday

By Jason Rohrbacker, courtesy of McSweeney's (where you'll find a cornucopia of hilarious Thanksgiving lists).
Whose house this is and how you'll act in it

Who put a roof over your head and how you'll behave as long as you're under it

Who is not here to win any popularity contests

Who is just plain ignorant

When this conversation is over

What is an argument and what is just a discussion

Whether Democrats or Republicans are closeted child-molesting homosexual Communists

Who is in charge here

How school is going

Who has had more than enough to drink

The weather

Kirklees Unity: Pope Gives Audience to Croatian Fascist Musician

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Pope Benedict XVI has received Marko Perkovic "Thompson", a far-right Croatian singer.

Thompson, whose performances use symbols of Croatia's pro-Nazi government during the Second World War, is not allowed to go to Switzerland because of his inflammatory use of UstaÅiexcl;a regalia, and a concert in Austria also had to be cancelled after protests.


Amongst protests from numerous Jewish organisations, they have grounded bans from the Netherlands due to suspected fascism within their music. They possess also drawn accusations of Neo Nazism, with their performances being constantly protested.

In response, PerkoviÄ#8225; said, "I own aught against the Jews, but neither did Jesus Christ, yet nevertheless they crucified Him". This statement caused an outcry in the Croatian media.




Thompson became popular with their 1991 hit song "Bojna Ä#338;avoglave", which was released during the Croatian War of Independence.The song depicts a conflict involving a multitude of Croat soldiers from the Dalmatian rural hinterland. The song includes the "Za dom - Spremni!" slogan which was exploited by the UstaÅiexcl;e in World War II.

For Perkovic, it is a bit constituent of his performance: He shouts "Za dom - Spremni!"and his fans respond with the Nazi salute.

Photographs from their concerts show youths wearing the black caps of the Nazi-backed Ustasha regime that ruled Croatia, and which was responsible for sending tens of thousands of Serbs, gypsies and Jews to their deaths in concentration camps.

PerkoviÄ#8225; has on numerous occasions expressed sympathies to the UstaÅiexcl;a movement , which ruled the Axis controlled Independent State of Croatia from 1941 to 1945.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center posted a missive to Croatian President Stipe MesiÄ#8225; in June 2007 and expressed "its smell of rape and disgust in the heat of a monumental display of fascist salutes, symbols and uniforms at Thompson`s concerts.
"They simply don't appear to get it," said Efraim Zuroff, the Israel Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, who called on the chair to ban future concerts and help outlaw the use of extremist symbols and slogans.

Some press have accused PerkoviÄ#8225; for publicly expressing controversial pro-UstaÅiexcl;e beliefs:

In 2002 he told the Jutarnji list newspaper

"There is nothing wrong with my voicing right-wing, UstaÅiexcl;e, beliefs."

And in 2004 he told the same newspaper

"Displaying UstaÅiexcl;e symbols in public should not be illegal."

Perkovic's public affairs manager, Albino Ursic has a big poster entitled "Final Result" that adorns the rampart of his office.

Pope Benedict XVI caused controversy in January 2009for the rehabilitatation of British bishop Richard Williamson who denies that millions of Jews died in Nazi gas chambers.




Creative Project Rubric

Here is the link to the Creative Project Rubric. Keep in mind the language is around the MDiv Integrative project (integrating "text.soul.culture"). Your goal is to communicate a theological idea or question, so read the rubric in that light.

Blessings as you work,
Chelle

Pat Metheny Group London 1985


Pat Metheny Group Hammersmith Odeon
London, United Kingdom 1985-05-02

Setlist

Forward March
Phase Dance
Naked Moon
Tell It All
Daulton Lee
James
First Circle
Scrap Metal
Farmer's Trust
Goodbye
Straight On Red
Are You Going With Me
The Fields The Sky
Chet's Call
This Is Not America
Letter From Home
Yolanda You Learn

Lineup

Pat Metheny - guitars, guitar synthesizer, electric sitar
Lyle Mays - piano, synthesizers, organ,
Steve Rodby - acoustic bass, electric bass
Paul Wertico - drums, percussion
Pedro Aznar - vocals, guitar, percussion

Source: SDB 119 min Bitrate 320

Pat Metheny Jazz Baltica Project 2003


Pat Metheny Jazz Baltica Project 2003

Lineup

Pat Metheny: Guitar
Ulf Wakenius: Guitar
Michael Brecker: Tenor
Nils Landgren: Trombone-Vocals
Karl-Martin Almqvist: Saxophone
Till Brönner: Trumpet
Esbjörn Svensson: Piano
Leszek Mozdzer: Piano
Lars Danielsson: Bass
Wolfgang Haffner: Drums

Track Listing

01. Bright Size Life
02. Falling Grace
03. What Do You Want
04. Angel Eyes
05. Do It Tomorrow
06. Giant Steps
07. Fly, Fly
08. Falling Down
09. Diavolo
10. This Masquerade
11. Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight
12. Fragile
13. Impressions

Research Papers

Hello All,

I just thought that I would give some thoughts on your process of writing.

First, the research papers are due no later than 4:30 on Monday November 23rd. This due date includes the papers for the creative projects. I will be in my office most of that day, so you can give them to me or to Molly at the front desk. If you are mailing in your projects, please talk to Jordan about where you should mail your papers. Officially, the creative portions are due the following Monday, the 30th, though you can turn your creative projects into me on Monday the 23rd.

Now, a little inspiration for all you writers, from Henri Nouwen's Theological Ideas in Education:

Most students...feel that they must first have something to say before they can put it down on paper. For them writing is little more than recording a preexistent thought. But...writing is a process in which we discover what lives in us. The writing itself reveals what is alive.

In another place he writes:

The deepest satisfaction of writing is precisely that it opens up new spaces within us of which we were not aware before we started to write. To write is to embark on a journey whose final destination we do not know....Writing is like giving away the few loaves and fishes one has, in trust that they will multiply in the giving. Once we dare to "give away" on paper the few thoughts that come to us, we start discovering how much is hidden underneath...and gradually come in touch with our own riches.

So, as you write, I pray that you will "come in touch with" your "own riches."

Grace and peace in the hard task of writing and analyzing crazy theology!!

Peace,
Chelle

Luci Shaw

This next Wednesday, November 18th, Luci Shaw, Christian poet and personal hero, will be honoring us with her presence. She will be talking about the Incarnation/Advent and reading some of her poems. She came to Theology I last year and everyone was drawn in by her soft-spoken wisdom. We are in for an amazing treat!

See you next Wednesday!

Chelle

"Like all art, poems are only hints and guesses
that draw our attention to something larger."

Luci Shaw

Rachelle Ferrell Lugano Switzerland 2008


Rachelle Ferrell
Estival Jazz
Piazza Della Riforma
Lugano, Switzerland
July 5, 2008

Setlist

01. Satisfied
02. Sista
03. I Forgive You
04. My Funny Valentine
05. Autumn Leaves
06. Bye Bye Blackbird
07. Thank You, Lord

Personnel

Rachelle Ferrell - vocals, keyboards
Morris Pleasure - keyboards
Billy Oldum - guitar
Dwayne "Smitty" Smith - bass
Rick Jordan - drums

Total Disc Time: 51:57.40

Soundboard Bitrate 320

Living with War

The more we sweat in peace the less we bleed in war.
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit (1900-1990), diplomat and politician

Dear Veterans: I truly wish there was no need for your efforts. Sadly, too frequently, that is not the case, so thank you with much admiration.

Pub Quiz!!


I hope you are all ready for the Pub Quiz tomorrow morning: "Name that Heresy!!"

(Oh no! Look out!! It is Arius over there. What's he doing here? I wonder if he'll show up on the quiz?)

Come prepared to share some food, work together, have some fun and maybe even learn something.

Peace,
Chelle

Michel Petrucciani Berlin Germany 1995


Michel Petrucciani Berlin Germany 1995

Setlist

1. Medley of my Favourite Songs 45:54
Maiden Voyage
My Funny Valentine
In A Sentimental Mood
Lush Life
In A Sentimental Mood
Autumn Leaves
Take The "A" Train
2. Romantic But Not Blue 14:50
3. Looking Up / 'Round Midnight 8:03
4. Caravan 8:53
5. Love Letter 8:50
6. These Foolish Things 6:10

Total Time: 92:40

TT: 92:48

Lineage FM Bitrate 320

The Corner of Salvation and Damnation

At least two thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity, idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religious or political idols.
Aldous Huxley (1894 –1963), writer

I was invited to attend a Christian Fellowship church that occupied a prime one-block piece of real estate on Centinela Avenue and Venice Boulevard. It also doubles as a coffee shop. I wonder if those profits are taxed? I normally would have politely declined, but there was some policeman from Fort Apache in the Bronx speaking and wife being from the Bronx knows the area well, so what the heck. Besides, attending a church for something other than a funeral mass would be nice. Afterward we’d go to Santa Monica and walk around.

I am a cynic, what can I say. I looked around the church and saw what I would describe as pious hypocrites and lonely people looking to belong. Good for them, I wish them all well.

Eventually the Christian band finished their set, the preacher starting talking and shoehorning every topic into something about or from God. He mentioned that Friday night was a special couples marriage discussion, I wonder if that includes married gay couples?

The cop was introduced and started his sermon with a story about his little lost soul as a kid and how he was rescued from his tough neighborhood and how eventually he saved someone. Most every sentence was punctuated with an amen at the end. It was all well and good, until the end when the converted cop said something about Jesus coming and saving people unlike Muslims or Hindus. Huh? Hold everything, did I just hear this ambassador of fellowship and Christ show his prejudice? Yes, I did.

I mentioned this to my friend; he had picked up on it too. But, it’s his church and he’ll just forgive the speaker.

Wife and I eventually headed toward Santa Monica, but I kept thinking that rather than add more of a financial burden on the backs of working stiffs (California just instituted a mandatory 10.23 percent state income tax), this country needs to start taxing the churches for income and property taxes, if they are going to preach their politics and prejudices. I have no doubt that the additional tax income will close some of the budget gaps around the country. Amen!

Thesis Generator and Radom Thoughts about the Short Papers

Here is a link to the Thesis Generator that Alex mentioned in class.

Also, here is a link to a guide to writing short papers that I wrote a number of years ago. It is a bit goofy, but it may help to focus your writing a bit.

One more thought about these short papers. Keep in mind, even if you are doing a more creative "conversation in a cafe" approach, that you need three specific things in these papers.
  1. A clear statement at the beginning and end of your paper about your argument. This helps with the readability of your short paper. (Always think about ease of reading!)
  2. An articulation of the assigned and suggested readings from the class. This doesn't have to be lengthy, but it should show that you have listened well to the opinions of others. In other words, have you read enough so that you understand some of the key issues surrounding this doctrine? If not, perhaps you should read another article, or go and talk with friends about the subject.
  3. Some kind of statement about your own understanding of the doctrine. Hopefully your reading will help you land somewhere. You may be stuck between opinions but that is OK as long as you articulate that.
Remember, clear writing covers a multitude of sins. Read back through your paper. Are you convinced? Or do you just sound confused? Ease of reading and flow of argument in your writing are transferable skills! They are not just useful in theology. ;)

Peace,
Chelle

Worst Christmas Card Ever:Three Wise Camels

It features camels, singing a rewritten version of the Black Eyed Peas song, "My Humps" -- in tribute to Jesus. Please go see it here.

And consider this my early wishes to our Christian friends for a Merry Christmas.

Lecture Today: November 4, 2009

Here is the link to today's material:


Peace,
Chelle