Tasty Quotes for Finals Week

"There's no way of going through a day in this life neutrally... everything we do forms us."
-Lauren Winner, in "Lies the Church Tells About Sex," Fuller Seminary Chapel, 2006.

Songs of Experience

It's finals week for the Winter quarter here at Fuller and people are stressed and sleep deprived and the campus cold is taking hold.
I'm not as busy as I have been previous quarters. I'm working on a paper for John Goldingay pointing out some parallels between the competing voices and perspectives in the old testament writings and in William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience. In my re-reading of the songs I discovered this exquisite poem. I've always like Blake --something I can relate to in a guy who doesn't want to separate image from the writen word.

The Voice of the Ancient Bard
From Songs of Experience

Youth of delight! come hither
And see the opening morn,
Image of Truth new-born.
Doubt is fled, and clouds of reason,
Dark disputes and artful teazing.
Folly is an endless maze;
Tangled roots perplex her ways;
How many have fallen there!
They stumble all night
over bones of the dead;
And feel--they know not what but care;
And wish to lead others, when they should be led.

Connect to everything you love in life... with Blackberry.

After reading Amy Laura Hall's book, reviewed below, I have a renewed desire not to let the lies and crazy values propagated by advertisers go unchallenged (not least in the presence of my children). Some require a bit of effort to unmask. Others are such blatant lies or half-truths as to make me laugh out loud.

"Connect to everything you love in life... with Blackberry."

I don't remember where I first heard of the practice of some Christian parents who talk back to their TV's and radios when they are saying things they disagree with, but I think it can be a very helpful practice of re-orientation for those of us who live with constant current tugging at us in the media-stream. After I recovered from my laughter at the absurdity of this claim that came from my computer, I simply said, "No."

Conceiving Parenthood

Below are some of the more interesting bits from my review one of the best books I've read since coming to Fuller:

Amy Laura Hall. Conceiving Parenthood: American Protestantism and the Spirit of Reproduction.

"Riffing on Max Weber's "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism," Amy Laura Hall brings her own brand of penetrating sociological analysis to bear on important shifts in cultural authority during the last century. Using image exegesis of cultural artifacts as varied as advertising and women's magazines, Hall argues that the ascendancy of scientific authority in the domain of pro-creation (or "reproduction") brought with it a whole new narrative of justification for the old evils of racism, elitism, and the exploitation of the weak and vulnerable by the strong."

"Hall's evidence for this subtle manipulation of public perception seems at first to be slight, even at times, overly imaginative or interpretive. The advertisements from last century over which she labors are, after all, from a "simpler era." Is it fair to impose upon them an interpretive agenda from today when they were only trying to sell their products? And yet as she stacks up example after example of at times humorous, at times deeply disturbing images, we begin to accept her point. While the intent of the ad-men may have been to move units of 7-up (to be mixed with milk for baby's bottle) or Lysol brand disinfectant (for the maintenance of "intimate daintiness dependent on effective douching") they are harnessing strong currents within the culture and in so doing, shaping and reinforcing public perception. A culture's ads, it seems, are an effective barometer for its values."

"It is in the breadth of materials she takes in and the insight she applies to them that Hall truly distinguishes herself. Rather than restricting herself to researching academic analyses of the era, she digs into the primary documents with an eye that sees through the surface to the large arcs of social pressure that lie behind both turn of the century soap ads as well as eerily subversive pharmaceutical ads. Both are animated by the creation of a story in which there is a desirable "normal" the consumer may achieve by means of Ivory or Ritalin in contrast to the shameful, abnormal child that is dirty, messy and less than expected."

"It might seem strange that such a book could help a beleaguered parent struggling to balance the demands of family, work, school and church but Amy Laura Hall's book has helped me to re-orient my own perspective of my role as a Christian parent. First Hall's book has reminded me that embrace of children is embrace of chaos. In contrast to the "normalcy" promoted by the ads she profiles, children are by nature, untidy, disorderly, weak and needy. And yet in that chaos there is also joy, love, creativity, and new life: pro-creation. The impact of this in my relationship with my three and a half year old daughter, Eleanor, is that I am reminded that her need for play, my attention, affirmation, patience and kindness are not simply an inconvenience, detracting from my worthwhile goals and pursuits. Instead they are an opportunity to receive her as a gift from God; to collaborate with God in the creation of this new being as she unfolds in all her vibrant life."

If you're intrigued you can read more of my review or better yet, the book!

Coke

 

I started getting these smaller 8oz cokes to trick myself into drinking slightly less sugar-water.   These are drawn with a Waterman fountain pen in water soluble ink and shaded a bit with a Niji waterbrush.  Very fun, very mobile setup for sketches.

John the Baptizer

Thanks to Michael Crosby for the inspiring lesson from Matthew 3 (and for not minding me drawing while you were talking).

Nebuchadnezzar