Warmth and Bite

The Blind Swimmer: Early Selected Poems 1970 - 1975 by Thomas Lux
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Clearly Mr. Lux has been writing surprising and thought-provoking verse for many years. This little collection demonstrates the strange combination of charm and shocking imagery that would become even more pronounced in his later poems.

It is difficult to compare Thomas Lux to anyone because his work is so unique, but it is not uniqueness for its own sake. There is warmth and bite here, like the cat that purrs and scratches, and leaves you to figure out how the motivation for both is the same.

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Not Holding Fast

Paul warns the Colossians against people who are “puffed up without reason by his mind, not holding fast to the Head.” I see this in those who have stolen the language of religion to create a formula, an equation for hate in no way in line with the Gospel of Christ or the Scripture they claim to live by. These would create burdens for others they would not lift themselves.

But before I judge them, let me check myself that I do not allow the devil to create in me merely a member of an opposite faction, weaponizing the Holy Word for my own gain.

The reference to Jesus as our “Head” ends this way: “from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.” May we all find our nourishment in Him. May we allow Him to put us together before we stumble out to do battle against our own bodies.

Making Useful Connections

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In my writing classes, I often have to tell my students that cause and effect connections are difficult to prove. I may have to encourage them soon to read this book to help them learn the sort of critical thinking required to look at problems and come up with and communicate viable solutions.

At first glance it may seem that Gladwell's connections are silly or oversimplified. But they not only work, and not merely as some intellectual exercise. He demonstrates the complicated relationships between actions and events. The book also illuminates the potential humans have for problem solving. This is a book that should be required reading, particularly for managers and administrators. It certainly can be a boon to those who wish to improve critical thinking skills.

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Augustine's Confessions

Confessions by Augustine of Hippo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a magnificent book. Well, parts of it. Augustine's actual account of his life is beautiful and stirring. I was particularly struck by his love of his mother and his friends.

But when he gets into his ruminations about time and all that, I kept thinking, "What does this have to do with his conversion or his spiritual and intellectual growth? Shouldn't this be in another book?" Maybe that is modern impatience creeping in on my part.

Yet it is all worth it to see not only his devotion, but honesty. More Christian writers, especially memoirists, would do well to read this before thinking their journey is all that special. And even those who are not Christian could benefit from Augustine's story and reasoning. His faith comes not from backwoods ignorance, but from careful thought and an open search for the truth.

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Parents and Breaking the Bonds of the Law

Paul wrote to the church in Galatia: “the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.” Perhaps a good living metaphor for this is the relationship we have with right and wrong (not thinking of sin--that's another matter) when we live at home and when we move away from our parents. Mothers and fathers teach us what they believe is right and wrong behavior (and sometimes right and wrong thinking, attitudes, beliefs), and when we are very young we obey them not because we have recognized that their guidance is true, but because they are stronger than we are and also because we know nothing else. We also may love them and wish to please them.

As we get older, we see in the world around other ways of acting, and we may want to do that instead. Sometimes we succeed, but most often we are still bound in different ways to our parents’ way of living. We usually rebel, but only when we are completely free of our parents can we completely “try out” what is different. By then, our parents hope we are rational and mature enough to choose what is truly right, even if that choice means some actions they would not have sanctioned or approved of.

Most often, the rules our parents raise us with are not bad, but it does not take us living long for us to realize that life by rules is not freedom. Freedom is choosing the right rules. Freedom is faithful living in parameters, parameters which may change as we grow.

But Jesus had to make a sacrifice for this difference to come about. Just as we cannot keep all the rules our parents make for us – any child, even a good one, can tell us this – we cannot keep the whole of the law, and so we fall short. Just as good parents love their children when they fall short, so God still loves us. Jesus, our brother, had to sacrifice himself in order for the bonds to be broken. Our parents, if they were good, made sacrifices when we broke the rules, but we could not understand them until we became mature.

When we love Him, the law of God is kept. When we do not love Him, we have only the laws of man, bondage to which makes for failure.

Honoring Companionship

Dog Songs by Mary Oliver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reading Dog Songs, I get the impression Mary Oliver is not just a dog lover, but a person who loves life with dogs as companions. This volume, many of the poems of which were culled from previous collections, is not only a fine tribute to lives of dogs, but is a wonderful portrait of a person who has learned to live well with them.

Oliver writes accessible poems which do not have to rely on cliché or the ordinary. These poems honor not only the dogs she has lived with, but also the wonder of a life lived in the tension between solitude and companionship.

I would like to rate this book a little higher. But there are some pieces with lines that in need polish or pruning. However I think this is likely to bother very few people other than myself. Dog Songs is an otherwise a earthy and enjoyable read.

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Contemplative Fellowship

I have been listening to Jeff Johnson's music for many years, always delighted by his compositions and sensitive playing. His collaborations with Brian Dunning (of Nightnoise fame) have almost always been nothing short of stunning. So I am not surprised to find this project, with violinist Wendy Goodwin to be remarkable and quite edifying.

All of the songs here are arranged to give each player plenty of room to shine without blotting out the contributions of the others. This is music that adds beauty to just about any environment, whether that be your personal quiet time, reading a book with a quiet beverage, or conversations with friends. In fact, this music feels like a contemplative conversation where few words need to be shared, but fellowship is deepened.

More information about this brilliant album can be found here.

  

Beautiful and moving, but short

A Prayer Journal by Flannery O'Connor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I should not complain about how little there is here in terms of what this journal covers, especially since what is here in terms of content is so wonderful. But I cannot help feeling there is and should be more.

Written during O'Connor's time at Yaddo, her journal does cover an important time in her writing life (and thus in American literary history), but also her development as a spiritual person, the part many modern readers would like to do without. But we see raw emotion and desire for God as it is not seen in her other writings (including her brilliant letters). We also see a Keats-like passion to be a significant writer and for that writing to do something good in the world.

A Prayer Journal is beautifully written and moving.

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No grade: You're fired

If Donald Trump really wanted to do some good in the world, he'd quit running around after conspiracy fantasies and putting his worthless mug on television. Instead, he'd take some time to really show college students how their actions while earning an education really affect their future work life. I don't expect him to do it, because he has demonstrated that the only education he cares about are his phony entrepreneurial seminars. That is, he doesn't really care what YOU learn, as long he gets paid for failing to teach it.

To be honest, there are times when I wish I didn't have to put grades on papers and tests. I wish I could, once in a semester, take an assignment a student has had two weeks to complete, and instead of noting problems with clarity, development, and grammar, just give a short message like they will receive in the "real" world. Something like, "You're fired."

Perhaps, when a student fails several reading quizzes, I could write, "Advancement here is unlikely until you have mastered skills you have not spent your time here working to acquire."

When as student writes a paper that is clearly nowhere near what the assignment requires and justifies it with arguments like, "I'm not interested in that subject" or "I couldn't find anything in Bing on that topic" or "I only write on subjects I'm passionate about," I could perhaps respond with, "I wish you well with your future company" or "You have spent too much college time on personal matters. I am forced to go in another direction."

What about the student who plagiarizes and essay or cheats on a test? I'd love to write, "At this school, we value integrity, and your recent actions compromise that integrity. Therefore, we have decided to let you go as we consider possibly legal action."

Maybe these notes should be on school letterhead and printed pink paper.

Wouldn't it be nice to send chronically late students to a time management seminar? Am I

the only professor who wants require a workshop on interpersonal communication to students who blow off group work and then complain about the grades attached to their non-performance?

And while I'm ranting a little, if we have to keep learning the same dang thing in sexual harassment classes, why can't a few students learn about teacher harassment? I don't know an instructor who doesn't have to deal with a barrage of emails and conferences containing personal attacks, character assassinations, and threats every semester. Where is the re-education for these bullies?

In the supposed "real" world, much of education is still controlled by a bunch of mostly wealthy jerks who know next to nothing about how humans learn or what is actually good for students at any level. (I'm looking at you, Texas Legislature. Yes, I'm talking about you, boards of trustees pretty much everywhere.) These same jokers complain that colleges are filled with elitists who are brainwashing children and failing to teach them "real world" skills.

It is hard to convince students and voters and fans of reality t.v. that these people do violence to the very system they claim to serve. (Need help with that word, violence? Look it up!)  And the students who are just want to get through the class and get their credits? They need to ask themselves if they think their future employers (they are likely to have more than one) will accept the same attitude toward their businesses. They should ask if, should they reach a position of authority, how long they will tolerate such lethargy with those under them.

I am not at all saying that they need to be mindless robots who just obey orders without questioning anything. But why be the robot of a system or spirit of apathy? Why do they treat education like a cheeseburger, a quickly consumed and forgotten meal whose parts (like tomatoes or algebra) they can just toss away if they haven't acquired a taste for them?

Since when did I become, instead of a trained instructor, a line server, doling out unwanted vegetables to groups of people who would rather eat elsewhere, and are waiting for their parents to pick them up?

Maybe, instead of "You're fired," I should just say, "Grow up." But doing so might just get out of a job.

When Texting Dogs Go Wild

This little book is filled with hilarious fun from the dog and "master" that first surfaced on the Facebook. Just accept the premise that an English bulldog spends his day making his master sorry for teaching the animal how to text. Join as the dog tells about his attempts to alleviate boredom, such as using curtain as a cape and playing Batdog or arguing about the superiority of humans by asking questions like "Was Hitler a chihuahua?" And just like real texting, you can read this while driving, or you'll end up laughing yourself into a ditch.

People at my house keep borrowing my iPad to read Texts From Dog over and over. It is not for everyone as some of the humor and language might be deemed offensive, but oh what wicked humor!

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Not Your Barista

I posted the following for students in my face to face classes this morning, but felt that it needed to be shared all around. Your thoughts on the subject are most welcome.

I really do like my classroom to be comfortable, and for learning to be enjoyable. English is hard enough for all of us, right?

But there are limits. There are a handful of people who have treated our classroom, for lack of a better word, like a coffee shop. They drop in five, ten, or more minutes late and saunter to a spot as if just meeting friends. They text during class. They visit extensively while work is to be done. They check email and web sites that have nothing to do with the class.

The classroom is not a coffee shop, and I'm not a barista. It is a place of learning. It is also a place where we can practice being professional. How do you think an employer will handle chronic tardiness or texting during meetings?

So. Wear comfortable clothes. Feel free to check Facebook before class. You can even bring a latte. Just don't be late because of the line at Starbucks. Don't text during lecture. Don't check your fantasy team when you are supposed to be writing.

And expect greatness from yourself. I know I do.

Meditation XXXIII -- Obsession

He said to David, "You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil." In the world, we often see obsessions as evidence of sickness. The classic example of Ahab and Moby Dick has reached so far into our lexicon that many use the expression "white whale" without knowing the whole story. Saul was obsessed with killing David, though David had done nothing but good to him. There was the prophecy that Saul's line would not keep the kingdom, and only Saul seemed unable to accept this truth. Even Saul's heirs knew that David was God's choice. Saul's whole focus was not even the kingdom he had been anointed and charged to protect and serve, but the title itself.

Saul's vision away from God was not turned when David entered his life. No, he lost the kingdom when he disobeyed God by making the sacrifice without Samuel (1 Samuel 13). And why did he do that? Because he was afraid the people would run away from him before he could get them battle. That seems like a reasonable fear, but he was expected to trust God first, not the fears of those who followed him. His impulsiveness cost him the kingdom, and though he knew it was lost to him, he continued to act as if it was his to lose, not God's to give.

David, though anointed, did not pursue the worldly gain of being king, but only the heart of God. He had reason to fear and perhaps some might say that he had reason to doubt the Lord because he was hounded by a man who was, for all intents and purposes, crazy. But he continued to trust in God, and even when he had the opportunity to kill Saul, he didn't.

David could have seized power as the world does, by killing the leader and taking over. But he chose obedience instead, refusing to strike "the Lord's anointed." He would not lead God's people the world's way. He would wait on the Lord, and when God put him on the throne, he would keep in promises, even to wicked, crazy Saul.

Lord of all power, God of strength in our weakness, grant us hearts that pursue you before everything. Kindle in us the fire of your love and presence, that our only obsession is You. Amen.