Throwback Tursday #4 July 31, 2008
Posted by Matt in Throwback Thursday.Tags: diversity, kids, parenting, questions, race
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I think we can all agree that recycling is a good thing. With that in mind, many of us make a strong effort to do so with aluminum cans and paper and plastics. What better way is there for this blog to show its support of recycling than by reusing older blog entries from the past 2.5 years that some of you might have missed the first time around? Without further ado, welcome to our semi-regular feature: Throwback Thursday.
Originally posted 5/29/2007
Diversity 101
My older daughter, Rachel, is a very inquisitive child, always question about this or that in her relentless pursuit of knowledge of this world we live in. This morning, her brow furrowed in deep scrutinizing thought, she looked at me and asked, rather matter-of-factly, “Daddy why are people different colors? Some are white and some are brown and some are black, why?”
So, I sat for a moment and pondered over her innocent search for knowledge, how exactly do you answer that question from a five year old? Do you talk about adaptability in the context of human evolution? Do you talk about the biologic polymer melanin and the effects of generations of sun exposure? Do you curtly answer, “Because God made them that way, ” and expect her to accept your solution?
No, the biology lesson is probably a bit complex for a four year old (even one as precocious as Rachel) and she’s too smart to receive the simplest answer without further questioning. So, rather than regaling her with a dermatological lesson or undermining her intelligence with a short response meant to quiet her, I turned the answer into an object lesson in tolerance and diversity.
“Honey,” I asked,” Is there anybody in the world exactly like you?”
She cocked her little head and gazed up at me quizzically, “No.”
“That’s right, you are the only Rachel who looks and acts and thinks like you do.” She hesitantly nodded her head in agreement, so I pressed on, “It’s the differences between us that make us and everybody else special. It wouldn’t be very fun if everybody was exactly like you, would it?”
She cracked a small smile and let out a little girl giggle, “No.”
“Of course it wouldn’t be any good if we were all the same! So we were each made to be different – we talk different, we act different, we think different, and we look different – some of us are even different colors. Even though we are different, we still talk to each other and play together and love each other.”
Nodding up and down and wide eyed with wonder at her newfound bit of knowledge, she replied with a simple, “Oh.”
When we arrived at the day care this morning, Rachel promptly ran into her classroom and her friends, of all different races and backgrounds, met her with a warm deluge of, “Hi, Rachel!” In no time at all, she was hard at play with her preschool playmates, all of them – the black, the white, and the hispanic – with no regard to their ethnicity or background.
There’s an awful lot you can learn from children and today, though I instructed her with my words, she taught me even more with her actions. Let’s all be good to each other – whether we are poor or rich, or black or white. Whether we speak English well or not. Whether we live in the right neighborhood or drive the right car or wear the right clothes or not. Whether we deeply love someone of the opposite or the same sex. Whether we go to a different church or belong to another faith or perhaps hold nothing as holy truth.
Thank you for teaching me so much today, Rachel.
A Long Day July 31, 2008
Posted by Matt in random.Tags: boredom, work
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My floor is nearly empty, it’s the end of the month, there isn’t much work to be done, and I don’t really have anything to say. I have a four day weekend (Saturday-Tuesday), a Willie Nelson/Dave Matthews concert, and a two night getaway ahead and its only Thursday afternoon…
Dave’s Not Here….Still July 30, 2008
Posted by Matt in politics.Tags: Barney Frank, Congress, legalization, marijuana, prison, War on Drugs
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In a news conference today, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) announced a new proposal in which the U.S. would stop prosecuting “responsible marijuana users,” This proposal would end federal penalties for Americans carrying fewer than 100 grams (nearly 1/4 lb) of the drug.
With prisons filled to capacity and law enforcement stretched thin, something has to give. As the statistics most certainly show, marijuana arrests have been trending up in recent years, culminating with the highest number ever in 2006 (829,627), outdoing violent crime arrests by over 200,000. Showing again that all the so-called “War on Drugs” has done is create more criminals while solving nothing.
Many see this as evidence that our nation’s police forces are expending too much of their energy on minor drug offenses, when they perhaps should be focusing on violent crimes. Some point to the statistics and, using a bit of logic, deduce that many violent criminals are going free as our prisons continue to packed full of minor drug offendors.
Now, despite most of the music I enjoy, I am certainly no proponent of drug use, nor do I use any sort of illegal substances (thank you, but my brain is damaged enough). Nor am I one of those who are blind to the discoveries of health science and who proclaim this drug as harmless. But, I fail to see the big difference between the use of marijuana and that of alcohol. Why do we allow one and not the other? Are they not both damaging to the user’s health? Do they not both impair a person’s judgment? Is marijuana proportionately that much more damaging?
Legalize it!
Ten For Tuesday: The Music of Saint Willie July 29, 2008
Posted by Matt in concert, top ten.Tags: songs, top ten, Willie Nelson
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I’ve decided to take a week off from my fantasy football posts and instead take a few moments to laud praise and adoration upon one of my favorite artists of all time – Willie Nelson. The man is an iconic piece of Americana, his distinct vocals, incredible songwriting ability, and mere presence among us mere mortals transcends this rather mundane reality. And it is this transcendent quality that raises his stature above the mere caricature of an old, hard-drinking, marijuana-smoking, bandana-wearing, offbeat-singing, tax-evader, and to a level of immortality that few have achieved, a plane of existence in which only the greatest of artists reside. This Saturday I will again have to opportunity to bear witness to this man, this legend, as he again straps on his old guitar with the hole worn into its wooden body and regales us with of love and woe and death and life. It will be my fourth (I think?) time to again partake his greatness and I couldn’t be more excited. Oh yeah, and Dave Matthews will be playing, too.
So, I decided to dedicate this blog to ten (Ok, 11) of my favorite Willie songs. Let me know what you think.
10. (tie) City of New Orleans – I had to include this Steve Goodman-penned gem (though it is not the perfect country-western song) because it mentions Memphis, which nearly guarantees that Willie will play it on Saturday…if he can remember what city he’s in.
10. (tie) That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day) – This cover, from his The Sound In Your Mind album, has been one of my favorites ever since I first heard it. Hearing his voice strain out those notes – “Lord, up above, can you hear me cryin’? / Tears fall in my eyes. / Send down that cloud with the silver lining. / Lift me to Paradise” – is a heart-wrenching experience.
9. Sad Songs and Waltzes – It’s not one of his big hits, but this great cut from Shotgun Willie (probably my favorite Willie album, by the way) is a telling lament of the record industry. Lines like, “It’s a good thing that I’m not a star. / You don’t know how lucky you are. / Though my record may say it. / No one will play it / ‘Cause sad songs and waltzes aren’t selling this year, are just as relevant today as they were 30+ years ago.
8. Pancho and Lefty – Though the song was written by the late, great Townes Van Zandt, Willie’s version with Merle Haggard is probably the most definitive one. The story of outlaws, death, betrayal, and regret is a definite classic.
7. Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys – Come on, how do you not include this one? One of many duets with the late Waylon Jennings, this is perhaps the best parenting advice you will ever receive from Willie. But I have to say I’ve always been a little confounded by the lyric that cowboys like, “little warm puppies.” Also, it’s cool when he performs this one live and changes the lyrics to, “Mama’s don’t let your cowboys grow up to be babies.”
6. My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys – Another great cowboy song from the pig-tailed wonder, this lament to aging and the loss of youthful ideals is truly one of the greats. I love the sorrowful chorus, “My heroes have always been cowboys / and they still are, it seems. / Sadly in search of, but one step in back of / Themselves and their slow-movin’ dreams.
5. Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground – Few can grieve a lost love like Willie and this tune is a prime example. His longing words ring out above the sparse guitar, “So leave me if you need to. / I still remember / Angel flying to close to the ground.”
4. Shotgun Willie – Why is this song so awesome? Just check out the first lines: “Shotgun Willie sits around in his underwear. / Bitin’ on a bullet / Pullin’ out all of his hair / Shotgun Willie got all of his family there.” Wow.
3. Help Me Make it Through the Night – Sure, Kris Kristofferson wrote this and recorded it, but Willie’s version is unbelievable. The only problem, though, is that every time I listen to these words, “I don’t care what’s right or wrong / I won’t try and understand. / Let the devil take tomorrow / cause tonight I need a friend,” I remember my friend Andy switching the word “friend” with “man.” Believe me, it was really funny at the time.
2. Whiskey River – While I like the sped-up live version of this song, the truly great one is the slower interpretation on Shotgun Willie. When Willie seems stumble into the line “I’m drowning in the whiskey river,” you really believe him…and probably for good reason.
1. Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain – Another elegy to a lost love, when Willie’s regret-filled, straining vocals begin, “In the twilight glow I see / Blue eyes crying in the rain. / When we kissed goodbye and parted / I knew we’d never meet again,” you can’t help but feel it deep down in your very soul. “Love is like a dying ember / and only memories remain,” can touch even the stoniest of hearts.
And as a bonus, another great old school duet from Waylon and Willie, “Good Hearted Woman”
Due Apologies July 29, 2008
Posted by Matt in politics.Tags: apology, Congress, Jim Crow, slavery
6 comments
I promise to have another top ten fantasy football post soon. Today has been very hectic, as you can probably tell from the tardiness of this post, but I wanted to get your reaction on the acting of our Congress today.
Today the House is debating and is poised to pass a resolution, introduced by Memphis’ own Steve Cohen, that apologizes for the past evils of slavery and Jim Crow. This resolution will mark the first time that the federal government has apologized for this terrible institution of our past.
But, this will not be the first time that the federal government has apologized to an ethnic group for past actions – In April, the Senate passed a resolution sponsored by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, that apologized to Native Americans for past mistreatment. In 1988, Congress and passed and president Reagan signed a law apologizing to the 120,000 Japanese-Americans held in detention camps during World War II. And, in 1993, the Senate passed a resolution apologizing for the “illegal overthrow” of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893.
While many are praising the act of Congress as another step toward race reconciliation, others take a more cynical route and see this as mere political pandering. What do you think?
Matt’s Meandering Mind on Monday – 7/28/08 July 28, 2008
Posted by Matt in Matt's Meandering Mind on Monday.Tags: anniversary, Batman, church, community garden, concert, family news, friends, getaway, homeless ministry
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The community garden giveaway went fairly well this weekend despite the fact that many of our church members had other commitments. The weather has been very hot and dry for the past week or so and it has taken a real toll on production, but hopefully we’ll be able to recover and have better output for the last few weeks of the season.
I am also going to be involved in a newly developed homeless ministry through our church that we are hoping to get underway in the next few weeks. Yesterday evening, the three of us who have emerged as the contacts for this ministry met with our church elders to discuss our ideas and get the proverbial ball rolling. I’ll keep you posted on how things progress.
Diana and I will be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary over the weekend and into the beginning of next week. We were joined together in holy matrimony on August 1, 1998, but D will be gone on the actual night of our anniversary. On Saturday, Aug 2, I’ll be going to the big Dave Matthews/Willie Nelson concert here in Memphis with my brother Jeff. So, Sunday, August 3, we will actually begin the anniversary festivities. We’ll be going down to Greenwood, MS, for two nights as a relaxing getaway and, with the schedules we’ve been keeping lately, it will be needed.
Rachel starts school next week, on Thursday, August 7, and I can’t help but marvel at how early the academic year is beginning nowadays. Maybe, though, this is a sign of things to come and eventually we’ll move to year-round school, which I would be heartily in favor of.
I think we are about the only people in America who have yet to catch the $300M+ cinematic juggernaut, The Dark Knight, but I am really looking forward to when we finally are able to see it. We watched Batman Begins last weekend and I was again reminded of how good a movie it was, despite the overlong Jedi/ninja training that Batman endures with ninja master Qui-Gon Jinn.
Over the weekend I looked up my old college buddy, Bill, (thank God for Google) and had the chance to talk to him for the first time since I graduated back in 2000. He invited our family to come out and visit them in Colorado sometime. I have to say, it’s nice to have friends around the country.
The Times are A-Changin’ July 28, 2008
Posted by Matt in Christian Beliefs, church.Tags: change, church of christ, Pharisees
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I’m weary of the Pharisaical parsing of scripture that permeates our denomination (though it happens much less at our current church than any I’ve attended prior), punctuating statements with a period that ought not to exist. Should we really be waste time and manpower on debating and discussing supposed issues when people in our community or, heck, people in our entire world don’t have enough food to eat? It angers me, it frustrates me, and it makes me want to throw up my hands and walk out.
I long for a day when we will no longer squander our ever-shortening time in endless discussions about instrumental music and other pointless exercises. I yearn for the day when we will become as concerned with the well being of those in this world rather than whether or not they’ve been dunked in the correct molecular combination of hydrogen and oxygen atoms.
My desire is for my daughters to someday not be treated as second-class citizens within our denominational walls. My hope is for a fall of the patriarchy and the rise of a new congregational society stressing equality, and not relegating our women to childcare. I long for a time when their God-given gifts will not be squandered nor undermined by the outdated theology of men. I hope to someday not have to hear my daughter ask again, “Daddy, why are there only boys up there?”
The time of referring to ourselves as “the church” is ending. The walls we have constructed all about ourselves must fall like those of Jericho. No more will we look in disdain at those of other names. Never again will we worry about their perceived specks while ignoring the theological logs that blind us. No longer will we embrace the way of the scribes and Pharisees.
The hunger for the end of the old and the birth of the new will not abate. Change is coming. It must come.
Obama Quest July 25, 2008
Posted by Matt in Obama, President 2008.Tags: Daily Show, Jon Stewart, Obama, quest
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If you haven’t been watching the “Obama Quest” on the Daily Show this week, you’ve been missing out. Here is a video from earlier in the week (It also includes an accompanying McCain campaign video):
Looking for Wisdom 7/25/08 July 25, 2008
Posted by Matt in Looking for Wisdom.Tags: blog, search
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One of the really cool things about blogging on WordPress is the ability to see the search terms that lead other people to my blog – some of them tend to be rather strange. Here are just a few of them from the last week
when will I die Bible code
White trash hood mama
Jesus army of darkness
little girl poem crystal meth
Communist humor
Sound of a Generation – pt.5 July 25, 2008
Posted by Matt in Sound of a Generation.Tags: Generation X, music, Nine Inch Nails, video
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You can see parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 here.
As we have seen from the past few weeks, the dawn of the 90’s was a revolutionary time in the music world, but these changes were not just occurring in the murky mist of the Pacific northwest or in the long-neglected inner cities, suddenly movements seemed to appear across the country, taking sounds into new and different directions than they had previously been and turning a youthful multitude on its ear.
While the idea of hopelessness may be one that pervaded much of the music of the time, the response to the realization of the futility of life varied greatly. Nirvana and much of the Seattle scene reacted with anger, the angst of a generation realizing the world wasn’t all the great after all, the music aimed toward black America seemed to diverge into two directions: either crying out for justice or reveling in rampant materialism. Though, at this time, one person went another way, delving deep into the pit of despair and wallowing in the darkness.
Industrial music had existed for some time prior to 1989, but it was Trent Reznor who pulled the shadowy genre into the mainstream with his band (which was really just him), Nine Inch Nails. Employing a mix of synthesizers, percussion, and crunching guitars, Reznor’s nihilistic tales of gloom and woe found its niche with much of America’s disaffected youth. And it was this song, Head Like a Hole, that began his trek to the top.
