Sunday, September 30, 2007 | by nathan

Roughing It

This weekend had been planned for at least a month. Bri and I were going to pack up on Friday night and leave with our friends Jayson and Laurie to drive to Robbers Cave, a neat little state park in Oklahoma. We were going to find a campsite, pitch some tents, open a cooler of beer, and chillax in the wilderness until Sunday afternoon. We packed up all our camping gear, got the dog psyched out for his first long trip, bought beer.

We set off along I-40, Sam being his perfect angelic self in the backseat of the car, perfectly content to be confined to the backseat for long stretches of time. Then, somewhere near Wewoka, Oklahoma, Jaye and Laurie’s car died. We managed to get it into the parking lot of a filling station off the interstate, but only barely. The alternator was out.

So. We loaded up everything we could in my truck, four people and two dogs and everything even remotely valuable we had with us, and headed back to the city. Brian and Jaye went back the next day to fix the car while Laurie and I watched the very, very disappointing Oklahoma football game. We’ve been camped out in my living room ever since. We’ve taken the dogs to the dog park twice, and shopped for Halloween decorations at Super Target, and eaten at Qdoba. We took a field trip to Norman last night to play miniature golf and skee-ball.

It’s been rough, but we’ve managed. Seriously though, it’s funny how a little bit of bad luck can lead to one of the coolest weekends ever.

Saturday, September 29, 2007 | by nathan

Of Bees and Poet Laureates

Springtime in Winston-Salem is really glorious; I fell in love with the Piedmont Triad in April. The smell of tobacco is thick in the spring; you wade through it as you walk. The magnolias would bloom on campus and the flowering trees around the Quad would shake in every gentle breeze, showering you with petals. Also, there were gigantic bees, killer bees the size of dinner rolls, with stingers like machetes, and they were mean-spirited; they’d chase you.

One of the reasons my life has gone the direction it has is that, when I was 12 years old, my cousin Robert gave me a book of poetry; "Here," he said, presenting it to me like I was an adult just like him, "I think you’ll like this woman." It was Maya Angelou. My decision to attend college where I did was influenced in no small part by the fact that she was a professor at Wake Forest. In the spring of my junior year I was lucky enough to get to take her class, titled World Poetry in Dramatic Performance.

It was kind of everything you’d think; she’s intimidating, but she puts you at ease quickly. She has a way of being in a room – in the world – that makes you want to be polite, and well-spoken, to think before you speak, and think well. The class was only 3 and a half weeks long, but in a lot of ways it changed my outlook. It made me see the importance of good manners and of laughing at oneself. I’ll always be deeply grateful for the experience.

One day, my friend Brianna and I were walking to Dr. Angelou’s class, and as we approached the Fine Arts Center where the class was held, Dr. Angelou’s car pulled up. Her personal assistant, who we’d met and come to like, got out and opened the door for the professor, and the two of them began schlepping these big bags toward the building. Brianna and I walked up and said, "Professor, may we help you carry your things?" Trying to be all nice, you know.

Dr. Angelou and her assistant handed us the bags with a thanks, and the four of us began walking toward the building. As we approached the door, a large bee flew directly into the professor’s face, and she swatted it away a few times before it finally left her alone. We all kind of stood there, frozen, for a moment, and then Maya Angelou said, in that unforgettable voice, very softly:

"That bee came to me and said, ‘I want to become one with you.’" 

Thursday, September 27, 2007 | by nathan

O! Winston-Salem!

Hey North Carolinians! Guess what!

I’m coming to Winston-Salem. November 29 through December 3. I spoke to my friend Woody on the phone today and he said we should go to the Moravian Love Feast they have every year in Wait Chapel. I thought it such a good idea that I checked my SkyMiles balance and $70 later, I’m headed to North Carolina.

So. Who’s gonna let me & Brian crash for a few days? 

Thursday, September 27, 2007 | by nathan

“River: The Joni Letters” by Herbie Hancock et al.

From my junior year of high school on I overloaded myself with school work. I was trying to get into a great college, and I have never been under the mistaken impression that getting what you want involves anything but hard work. To that end I enrolled in a bunch of really tough classes and took on a whole, whole lot of extracurriculars. It all added up to a whole lot of nights that I was up until the wee hours of morning.

That’s when I discovered jazz. My radio in my room tuned in most clearly to the local National Public Radio affiliate, and I’d sit up all those hours, late into the night, listening to Jazz with Bob Parlocha. The music warmed my heart, and kept me sane in a lot of ways. My first jazz CD was The Essential Stan Getz, selections of which I’d heard the first night I listened. I rushed out the next day and bought one of his records. Miles Davis, Coleman Hawkins, Stephane Grappelli, Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday, Cannonball Adderly; these were my friends all those long, worried nights.

It was also around this time I was introduced to Joni Mitchell. Her album Blue has been with me for years, and every single time I listen to it I feel like I’m hearing it for the first time. It’s one of two albums that I listen to when I need to cry.

That same year, a friend at the time recommended I read Jack Kerouac’s On the Road; it’s jazz in literary form, to me; my education had begun.

Now, over ten years later, I am introduced to this: River: The Joni Letters, by Herbie Hancock. First off, it’s Joni, interpreted by Herbie, one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time. Second, it features three of my favorite non-jazz vocalists: Tina Turner, Norah Jones, and Corinne Bailey Rae, each sounding completely new and in best form, plus some incredible musicians including Wayne Shorter of Weather Report, and Joni herself on the track "The Tea Leaf Prophecy."

Some records are like heaven. This one, especially. I think this will be my soundtrack to this fall and winter.  

Wednesday, September 26, 2007 | by nathan

Wrestling Aloud

My friend Eric is a campus minister at Miami University in Ohio. It’s a new position for him, and he’s kind of building the thing from the ground up. It’s fascinating to watch, even if I’m just "watching" via blogs.

He’s started keeping an online journal of daily thoughts and theological questions; he’s yet another in a wonderful bunch of people in my life who are constantly wondering aloud where the rubber meets the road, theologically speaking (I’m looking at you, Jon W.) I’d highly recommend you all check it out. Today’s entry is particularly fascinating:

I am totally on board with the idea that God loves his creation (not just people, but all of the created world), and that since it has value in His sight, then it should have value in ours as well. But at the same time, I know my own laziness, selfishness, and greed. I know the darkness in my own heart, and I know the voice that says “Don’t worry about it…it’s not your fault….it’s someone else’s problem…you’re not that bad…” and so on.

So how do we deal with this? I guess the root question that I am asking is not really how do we take care of the earth, but rather how do we address this selfishness in practical, significant, and lasting ways?

For me I think the answer is this: the selfishness and greed will pretty much always be there. The only thing I know to do is to not let it rule me. Simply speaking, we go ahead and take care of the earth anyway. We go ahead and call that person with whom we’re deeply angry and invite them to dinner anyway. We hold off on buying something we know we don’t need and do something really worthwhile with the money. We do it all in spite of that darkness within us, and we keep our eyes open, and the lamps lit. My tendency is to get wrapped up in my own mind, thinking too much about those root causes, and letting the things they’ve wrought run free. Sometimes it’s helpful to work backward.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007 | by nathan

Fall Music: A Little Farther From The Sun

Fall is here, officially, if not quite weather-wise, yet. Fall is the time of possibility, for me; it’s the beginning of holiday celebrations, of harvests, of leaf changes and cool weather that lets us finally, finally relax and enjoy the things we’ve wrought all year, instead of planning, working, planning, working, planning. Fall is a time of mellowness for me, so I’ve constructed a new playlist for the joyous-yet-downbeat mood I’m always in during autumn.

I take a lot of walks once the weather gets cool. In fall sometimes the rain falls and it’s cloudy and I’m pensive. Other times, the sun is shining and it’s cold, and that’s my favorite type of weather. Fall is the time for walking, thinking, reflecting, processing, enjoying. This music helps me to do that:

Amos Lee’s latest album is the perfect walking album. It’s melodic, thoughtful, and a bit quirky. Amos is a brilliant songwriter and artist, and his genius is put to absolute use on this record. It’s simple but intelligent, which, to me, is the perfect thing for music to be; defying genres, Lee creates something that’s at once humble and iconic. It always reminds me of a cold day, with my coat-collar up, kicking piles of leaves as they blow across my path. Favorite tracks include the first, "Shout Out Loud," "Long Line of Pain," and "Skipping Stone."

Pardon me while I give my friend David a plug. Seriously, though? Amazing album, which I’ve been listening to a lot lately, especially when it rains. Perhaps the title, "Gardening in a Tornado," is what is inspiring this Pants-ness, but whatever it is, I gotta send David a fruit basket for making this CD. Favorite tracks include "The Gift," "Baby Don’t Cry," "Shine Through Me" and "Gardening in a Tornado." If you click on that image up there you can purchase the album from CD Baby, where you can also sample tracks.

I’ve probably had this on a playlist recently, but I effing gawl-darn love it. Ever since Brian and I caught Brandi Carlile at the Fillmore with the Indigo Girls in June, I’ve been playing this album over and over, mostly in my head, because music like this doesn’t really go with hot weather. Now that autumn is arriving I’m reveling in the mellow sadness in her voice, that delicate wail on songs like "Cannonball" and sweet, sweet harmonies on "Josephine."

There’s something seriously wrong with you if you don’t like Lucinda Williams, at least in theory. The album is titled "West," which is exactly what it sounds like: all those miles and years driving around Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle with my family as a child. My favorites right now are "Mama You Sweet," "Learning to Live" and "Fancy Funeral," but it changes daily. I’m not sure I could love this album more if I wanted to.

Okay, confession time: I’ve never been a big fan of Wilco. I’d say that I appreciate Wilco in the same way I appreciate Seinfeld – I understand that a lot of people enjoy it, but every time I came to it, I felt like, "I don’t get it." That changed with Sky Blue Sky, which I’m absolutely loving the hell out of. It’s exactly what I’ve been needing, and I’m thinking maybe I’ll sit up tonight and catch an episode of Seinfeld on TBS. You can call this album what you want, but it’s basically just country; it’s a worthier successor to Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard’s legacies than Toby Keith.

That’s the new stuff. EVERY autumn I pull out three CDs that almost never leave rotation: Ten Thousand Days by Bebo Norman, Give Up by the Postal Service and Running On Ice by Vertical Horizon. I won’t link images or post reviews because I’ve done so before, but if you don’t have those albums I’d recommend you get them.

Monday, September 24, 2007 | by nathan

Ti(th)e

During my sophomore year of college I took a wonderful history course that was all about the history of what is known today as the "Third World" or the "Developing World." It was taught by an oddball professor from Somalia, and while I never really got his weird teaching style, I learned a ton from the course about how the developing world was created and sustained through imperialism.

One day we were discussing a pair of books we’d read about the role of Christian missionaries in the process of imperialism. The class immediately found something they could seize upon: "See? All this is the fault of the Christians! It’s the Christians who are to blame!"

And, to be fair, they had a point, though you kinda have to squint to see it. After all, I knew (and still know) a whole, whole bunch of Christians who are deeply concerned for the poor, who work diligently, even risking their own lives, to bring about an end to poverty. The fact is, many people of faith are the ones taking care of AIDS orphans in Africa, and I’m not. I thought it a little unfair to leap on the Christians when we’d spent the whole semester learning about the colonial business interests exploiting these countries, turning them into banana republics, narrowing their economic output to one product and leaving them crippled to this day.

It drove me nuts, and immediately I raised my hand. "Okay, it’s great that we’ve found someone to blame," I said, "but are any of us willing to do something with this anger? Is anyone in this room going to sell their Suburban and send the money to the poor? Or are any of us going to skip that semester in Italy and go to Sudan instead?"

The class turned on me like a pack of wild dogs. "One person can’t make a difference!" one girl spat, angrily. "You can’t just go over there and expect to change everything by yourself!" someone else said. The professor calmed us all down and I sat there, sulking mightily, like Richard Nixon on an acid trip.

Now, here’s the part where I come clean: I drive an SUV (though, to be fair, I’ve had the same car for 8 years, it’s paid off, and I literally drive 20 miles a week, if that), and I spent a semester living in Italy. I’ve never been to Sudan. I’m terrified of bugs.

So, why did that little rant drive me crazy? Because I can’t stand when people are incredibly angry, over-the-top pissed off about poverty and social injustice, but then all they do is go to the bar, order a pint, and sit there and rant about it. I hate it when they blame everyone else but never actually do anything. I’m not going to sell my car, but I have come up with a few things, and I’d like you to join me if you’re able.

1) I’d like as many of you as possible to pledge to give to a charity this month. Take a bit out of your paycheck; say, the amount you might spend on iTunes this cycle (two weeks if you’re paid that often), and give it to a charity. Try to find one that doesn’t have a lot of overhead or administrative costs; this website is a good place to start. I’ve decided to start donating bi-weekly to Development in Gardening, because after reading their site and communicating with them I’ve come to think that what they’re doing is truly amazing and revolutionary. If you don’t have time to search for one, they’d be great to contribute to, and they need every penny; if $10 is what you can give, then give it. (p.s., I’ve started saving a lot of money since I switched from shopping at Wal-Mart to Buy For Less).

2) Do something. Okay, I totally dropped the ball on the AIDS Walk, but my good friend Paul asked me if I’d like to run the Oklahoma Brain Tumor Foundation Race for the Rainbow of Hope 5K race on November 10th in Oklahoma City. They also have a 1 mile fun run and a dog jog. I’d like it if as many people as possible would do this with me. Early November is always a glorious time of year in Oklahoma, and I can’t think of a better way for us to get some sunshine, do some good and maybe even challenge ourselves to get in shape. Who’s in? If you want to run the 5K with me and Paul, I’ll totally train with ya! (The best part is you don’t have to rely on me to get you the race form; it’s online here and here.) Also, if any of you volunteer with worthy and wonderful organizations, please let me know if I can help, and I’ll pass it on via this blog.

3) Support a political candidate you really believe in, and vote often. Even small municipal elections matter, and I’m making it a resolution of mine from now on to vote as often as possible. I just sent Barack Obama a paltry little sum. Democracy’s a wonderful thing, people; let’s support it. 

4) Be grateful. Give thanks. I don’t know if you believe in a higher power or not; I do, and I think that often helps me put my tiny little frustrations into perspective. I’d love to say I’m the kind of person who wakes up every morning and gives thanks; I’m not. Usually I wake up and wish I was filthy, rotten rich so I could sleep in until 10 and play Super Metroid until 3, then write for five hours and drink myself to sleep. That’s not my life, and it probably never will be; but I’m grateful that I have as much as I do, including – if I lay off iTunes and Threadless – enough money to give at least something to those who have literally nothing.

So here’s where I make a big challenge, especially to my fellow bloggers. I want to organize some kind of "Christmas gift" to a charity, and I’d like to get a bunch of website owners together to make a plea to our readers to take a little money as the holidays get started (don’t accuse me of jumping the gun; Target already has Christmas stuff out). I think we could raise a nice chunk of change for those in need. After all, blogs shouldn’t just be us whining about how much we hate it when people go through the self-check-out line at the grocery store with a basket full of $300 worth of groceries, should it?*

*though seriously, people, stop doing that. 

Saturday, September 22, 2007 | by nathan

Not-Notre-Dame #1 vs. Not-Notre-Dame #2

I’m glad to see someone else was as pissed about the press coverage by ESPN2 of the Oklahoma-Tulsa game as I was last night.

Could we please, like, um, call the game we’re watching, instead of spending ten minutes talking to Lou Holtz about Notre Dame, blocking the entire screen off with Notre Dame’s schedule, and letting at least 3 penalties go unexplained because we’re too busy talking about Notre Fucking Dame?

The press coverage of Oklahoma has always been biased; during the Miami game two weeks ago they stopped calling the game to take five minutes to talk in detail about each of the Miami players and their relationship with their coach. Last night was far, far worse, however. Anybody else want to throw their beer through the TV, and only didn’t because – how sterotypically Oklahoman would that be? We don’t need another incident like this one. 

Saturday, September 22, 2007 | by nathan

335 – M.

Your spiritual guidance the first four years of my faith journey was completely priceless. I am sorry there were things I wasn’t ready to confide to you.

Friday, September 21, 2007 | by nathan

334 – Old French Whore

Do you remember that skit from Saturday Night Live? There was a woman at the gay bar in New Haven who looked exactly like that, but real.