What would Jesus Talk About

This column was started with a mission, to talk about “sex, politics, and religion- not necessarily in that order…” and I might add, the kitchen sink too. The point being, this is somewhere were we’ll talk about more than work or the weather, not that those things aren’t vitally important.

Actually I’m not sure I ever have written about sex. Of course that’s why the phrase “sex, politics, and religion” was invented, to tell you what not to talk about in polite company. You can see why. Talk about sex and you might be embarrassed or else people will think you’re some kind of pervert. It’s an intensely personal and intimate issue, so it should just as well be private.

Religion is also an intensely personal and hopefully intimate thing too. I think it should be personal and intimate anyway, maybe you don’t believe that way. Because religious beliefs are held so intensely and deeply, it can be dangerous to talk about it without offending people. No one really wants to compromise on what they interpret to be sacred or even what they consider to be primary fundamental doctrine. “I’m always right and you’re always wrong,” is the perspective we assume when we become absolutist about our religious beliefs.

Don’t get me wrong, I certainly don’t mean to promote “relativism.” Certainly there are absolutes, there is truth, and if Jesus said that He is the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father but by Him, a whole lot of other people must be wrong. What they think is truth, must not be.

But the problem there is, I’m not God. I hope you’ll agree that you aren’t either. While they may imagine that they’re God’s personally appointed spokesmen on Earth all those televangelists, denominational leaders, and “faith-based” politicians aren’t God either. None of us has a monopoly on the God-breathed, inerrant truth. No one but Him.

Too often we decide not to talk about religion, not because we don’t want to offend someone else, not because we’re afraid they’ll judge, reject, or persecute us, but just because we know it’s likely to make things tense, maybe even lead to argument.

You know it’s true. One of the biggest complaints I hear from atheists is that all the wars have always been caused by religion. I tell them, no people cause wars. Jesus didn’t cause the crusades or the holocaust. Saint Mary and Martin Luther didn’t start the 100 year’s war. You can’t even really blame Muhammad for terrorist attacks or jihads. People go to war, people full of hate, fear, jealousy, greed, and anger. Religion is only their excuse, a convenient pretense.

Then there’s politics. It’s about control. You think my candidate is a liar and a philanderer, so you want to wrest control away from him. I think that your candidate is ill-equipped, ill-advised, has ill-conceived notions and at best made grave mistakes and at worse abuses his power- guess what, I won’t want him in control anymore than you wanted the other guy.

It gets even uglier if our politicians wrap themselves in the banner of faith. How may abused spouses stay in a bad marriage because they love their abuser. Do we sometimes defend politicians like someone enabling an addict because we think that they share our beliefs, and by God, we know our beliefs are absolutely right- so somehow no matter wrong they do, at least they’re right about a few things.

Here is a true story that involves all three- sex politics and religion:

Once there were two people. One was a white, middle-aged man. He taught Religion at a Christian school. The other was an Hispanic teenaged girl who attended that Christian School.

The man and his wife could not have children. They were staunchly pro-life. They boycotted companies that supported candidates or charities that condoned abortion. They marched for the right to life, admirable civic participation. But rather than a day or even a unit of one or two of his Religion classes, anti-abortion indoctrination dominated most of the time in most of his classes.

The girl lived with a single mom. She was interested in history and politics. She especially enjoyed learning about the civil rights movement and women’s rights. The girl grew more and more depressed as she attended the Religion teacher’s class. She became silent and sullen, she doubted her faith and God’s love for her. At one point later in college, she even thought about suicide.

The girl had been the victim of incest as a child. But of course she kept it a secret. There are some things you just don’t talk about.
__________________________________________________________________________________
A note just for blog visitors: I'm no more "pro-abortion" than I am actively "pro-life" I just want Christians to see that the "Religious Right" aren't as compassionate or as conservative as they claim to be. It's okay to vote for Democrats, it's not immoral and your eternal salvation is not put in danger. Likewise I want Democrats and Republicans both to be GENUINE and open about their own personal faith experiences and convictions, but not coercively impose their faith traditions on anyone.

The last few posts on this blog (bellow this column) have links to organizations that are BOTH Christian and progressive or liberal. If you're struggling with your faith because of the current political climate, you're not alone.

Jesus was a dirty, barefoot hippy, radical who was executed by an unjust political establishment because the entrenched institutional religious power brokers didn't want to hear about turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, loving your neighbor, and selling all you have and giving it to the poor!

Of course, He forgave them, for they knew not what they were doing.

And by the way, He loves you, no matter who you are.

'Eye' was just experimenting with Adobe Illustrator

What would Salvador Dali do to a cell phone? 

Stephanie Miller

Stephanie Miller
What a difference a generation can make. This Liberal Talk-Radio maven is a comedienne and daughter of former Republican U.S. Representative William Miller, Barry Goldwater’s running mate in the 1964 Presidential election.

You can listen to her online on a lot of Air America Radio stations.
Warning: it's an AM drive-time show so some of the humor is pretty crass.

Daddy, I'm tired...

Obviously Ellie got a little bored on our day trip to the wild life refuge to see the geese flying back last weekend. 

the pair

Just thought I'd throw another one of these geese ones up here since it's that time of year. I saw some iris buds peeking through the mud yeasterday, so it won't be long before I can take more pictures of flowers again. 

yikes

I wish I remembered the name of this surrealist photographer or the website where I ran accross his/her stuff. Wild isn't it? Creepy even. Definitely expressive! 

food for thought

Did I ever show you these? These are from last year- 2004 or 5 I think. I taught a 3-D/Sculpture class (as opposed to ceramics) and we used vegitables to make faces. 

Ever hear of the English artist Damian Hirst?
He suspends these animals in acrylic like you'd find a baby rattle snake or a scorpion in a paper weight in some campy gift shop at a tourist trap in the Southwest. Only they're large-scale livestock. He cuts cows in half so you can walk in between them. He's done huge sharks... all kinds of things. It's very macabre, but is it art? 

Here's to old friends

This cigar was my brand in college. Mmmm, spicy and bold. Went good with a Dos Exis Amber cervesa (that's a Mexican beer to you greengos).

I guess I have college on the mind lately. One dear friend recently gave a lecture at our alma mater on the false doctrines taught in the DaVinci Code. He's a English or Religion proffesor at some other college in Minnesota.

Another friend, who teaches at a Lutheran school in Wisconsin found out that his Guard Unit is set to head for Iraq this summer. He's not opposed to going, he just isn't looking forward to leaving his family for 6 months or more.

Ah, for the days when we would sit and smoke and talk about sex, politics and religion... and not hate each other, even when we disagreed or debated... Those were tha days. 

What's a moral issue?

"I think the Religious Right makes a mistake when it suggests that there are only two religious values issues: abortion and gay marriage. Many care about other things, but when it comes to politics, these are their primary political, public issues ... As an evangelical Christian, when I find 2,000 verses in my Bible about poor people, I insist fighting poverty is a moral values issue, too...After 2,300 Americans have been killed, 106 from Ohio, and so many Iraqis, we must say that when you go to war, whether you go to war, and whether you tell the truth about going to war is a moral values issue, too."

~Rev.Jim Wallis

living in the fly-way

Friday night on the way home from work, thre were MILLIONS of canadian geese stopping along their migration route. It was amazing. One more beautiful thing about living in rural Iowa.

"He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist."

~St. Francis of Assisi

quote

"He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist."

~St. Francis of Assisi

Books: A Contrarian's Christ - Newsweek Entertainment - MSNBC.com

Books: A Contrarian's Christ - Newsweek Entertainment - MSNBC.com

Garry Wills's latest book, "What Jesus Meant," should affront most of his fellow Christians—right from the foreword, which argues that Christ was not one of them. The megachurch set won't care to hear that "Jesus did not come to replace the Temple with other buildings, whether huts or rich cathedrals." The Christian left, committed to good works, won't care to hear that Jesus "does not work miracles from humanitarian motives." The Christian right, cozy with secular power, won't care to hear that "if they want the state to be politically Christian, they are not following Jesus."

A failure to communicate

Our girls were sitting in our van in front of the library. I was waiting with them to run into Denison while Bethany dropped some books off.

“I wish we could drive all around the whole world in our van!” declared Ellen, who is four.

“That would take HOURS,” observed her older sister Grace, who is six. “Vanna would get TIRED!”

(Grace decided a while back that our van needed a name, so she named it “Vanna.” I don’t know whether or not Vanna White would be flattered, but I thought it was appropriate. I named my first car in high school, “Nova,” after my Great-Aunt Nova. Of course it was a Chevy Nova, so that was appropriate too. I’ve heard a lot of people name their vehicles weirder names than “Vanna.”)

“Yeah, so we’d have to take lots of toys, maybe we could bring ALL our toys in the van,” said Ellen, I sat with a magazine in the front seat and rolled my eyes.

“There wouldn’t be enough roooom!” insisted Grace.

“And we’d have to live in a hotel,” noted Ellen. That must mean more than just a few hours, I thought. And an awful lot of gas. How would we drive over the ocean? That hadn’t even occurred to the girls.

“Then we could go swimming in the pool at the hotel!” said Grace.

“Daddy, can we drive around the whole world?” asked Ellen.

“Boy, would you settle for Pizza Hut?” I offered.

“Yeah Pizza Hunt! Pizza Hunt, Pizza Hunt!” They both started chanting… “Mommy?” They later asked, “What’s a HUNT?”

“Well, when your Uncle Mark and his friends come up and they take their guns and try to catch pheasants, they’re going hunting,” she explained quite reasonably.

“NO- like PIZZA HUNT! What’s a pizza hunt?” They asked again.

Ever try to clearly teach inflection to hyper and hungry little kids in a van listening to Sunday school or nursery rhyme tapes? “No honey, not huNt, just hhhUT. Can you say ‘pizza hhUT’?” we asked.

“Peessa hhhhuNt,” they both tried.

Sigh.

Their baby sister Annamarie is now reaching a point where she tries to converse as well,

“Jabber, jabber, prattle prattle, jab jab jab” she’ll explain, looking intently in your eyes and adding hand gestures and body language to drive home her point.

“Hmmm, uh huh, I think so too,” we usually tell her patronizingly.

She does know at least two words. “Da-da” is my favorite. Of course, Grandpa is “Da-da,” Mom is “Da-da,” Great-Grandma is “Da-da,” pretty much everybody is “Da-da,” so I can’t get too excited.

Grace and Ellen were thrilled to report to us Annamaries’ second word, “This.”

I’m not even sure if “this is a real word, you know? What I mean by that is, is “this” a noun? As in, “look at this.” Or is it a pronoun or is it an adjective? As in: “I have this problem…” Or is it an article” Like “A,” “An,” and “The?” You see what I’m getting at? Sure it’s a real word, but it’s not a very meaty word as far as meaning goes. It’s not like a powerful noun like “Momma” or “Da-da,” or “Sis-sis.” And it’s not a powerful verb like “Wuv” or “kiss.”

Bethany went to work right away trying to turn Annamarie’s “This” into “Kiss,” by repeating the word “kiss” and offering her cheek or puckering her lips, eventually kissing the little sweetie. But to no avail, Annamarie would continue carrying objects up to us, toys, clothes, sippy-cups, showing the things to us and telling us “This. This.”

I mean, what do you say to that? We just look at her and smile and nod and say, “Yep, that’s what that is alright, that’s ‘this.’”

Could be worse I suppose. I remember Ellen’s cousins had her chanting “mine, mine” all the time. And I never quite knew what to do with Grace when she was a tot and we’d taker her places and she’d keep repeating, “who’s-dat-guy? Who’s-dat-guy?”

So Now I just have fun with it. I’ll come home from work and see Annamarie and ask her, “Hey kiddo, what’s up?”

And of course, she’ll tell me, “this.”

Air America Radio Religion Show

State of Belief

State of Belief Hosted by the Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy
Sundays 5-6 PM
(Scroll down for a list of ways to hear us!)

State of Belief is based on the proposition that religion has a positive and healing role to play in the life of the nation. The show explains and explores that role by illustrating the vast diversity of beliefs in America – the most religiously diverse country in the world – while exposing and critiquing both the political manipulation of religion for partisan purposes and the religious manipulation of government for sectarian purposes.

Each week, the Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy offers listeners critical analysis of the news of religion and politics, and seeks to provide listeners with an understanding and appreciation of religious liberty. Rev. Gaddy tackles politics with the firm belief that the best way to secure freedom for religion in America is to secure freedom from religion. State of Belief illustrates how the Religious Right is wrong – wrong for America and bad for religion.

Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace

Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace

Sojourners, www.sojo.net, is a Christian ministry whose mission is to proclaim and practice the biblical call to integrate spiritual renewal and social justice.

In response to this call, we offer a vision for faith in public life by:

• publishing Sojourners magazine, SojoMail and other resources that address issues of faith, politics, and culture from a biblical perspective;
• preaching, teaching, organizing, and public witness;
• nurturing community by bringing together people from the various traditions and streams of the church;
• hosting an annual program of voluntary service for education, ministry, and discipleship.

In our lives and in our work, we seek to be guided by the biblical principles of justice, mercy, and humility.

Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace

Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace

Sojourners, www.sojo.net, is a Christian ministry whose mission is to proclaim and practice the biblical call to integrate spiritual renewal and social justice.

In response to this call, we offer a vision for faith in public life by:

• publishing Sojourners magazine, SojoMail and other resources that address issues of faith, politics, and culture from a biblical perspective;
• preaching, teaching, organizing, and public witness;
• nurturing community by bringing together people from the various traditions and streams of the church;
• hosting an annual program of voluntary service for education, ministry, and discipleship.

In our lives and in our work, we seek to be guided by the biblical principles of justice, mercy, and humility.

Call to Renewal: People of Faith Overcoming Poverty

Call to Renewal: People of Faith Overcoming Poverty

What is Call to Renewal?

Call to Renewal is a national network of churches, faith-based organizations, and individuals working to overcome poverty in America. Through local and national partnerships with groups from across the theological and political spectrum, we convene the broadest table of Christians focused on anti-poverty efforts. Together we work to influence local and national public policies and priorities, while growing and developing a movement of Christians committed to overcoming poverty.

Call to Renewal and Sojourners

Call to Renewal and Sojourners (an organization among many that helped start CTR in 1995; www.sojo.net) are now separate 501c3 organizations with different budgets, boards of directors and staffs. While Jim Wallis heads both organizations, each has a unique mission, program, and constituency. Views expressed by Jim Wallis are not necessarily held in common by both organizations

World Changing Faith, Dr. James A. Nelson

World Changing Faith, Dr. James A. Nelson
Rev. Jim Nelson is a Methodist pastor, a Vietnam Vet and a National Guardsman who is running for Congress in Georgia. What's so wierd about that?
Rev. Nelson is a Democrat.

Band of Brothers

Band of Brothers

A New Movement

We’ve heard about Iraq, terrorism, and security from every side. But there’s one group that we need to hear from the most, and in 2006 we will. All over America, veterans are running for Congress as Democrats. They’ve been there, they know the story, and it’s time to let them speak.

Band of Brothers is a new political organization formed to assist Democratic veterans running for elected office. We’ve already identified more than 50 fighting men and women who need our help to challenge the current administration on its failed policies at home and abroad.

They are all strong, principled citizens who have had enough of the current direction of our country, and are ready to fight — as Democrats have always fought — for solutions to the problems of security, health care, and corporate and political corruption. Some have served in the current war in Iraq, some have served our country at other times. But each candidate supported by Band of Brothers must in turn support Our Values.

Separately, each of these veterans offers hope in one district — but together they are a new movement. As veterans who have fought for America, they will fight for us in Congress.

Enjoy the Coffee

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor.

Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups -porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite
- telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said:

"If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each other's cups. Now if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and
position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change. Sometimes, by concentrating
only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

So, don't let the cups drive you... enjoy the coffee instead

luck of the Irish

SNL - Belushi: The Luck of the Irish
written by John Belushi

Jane Curtin: And now we come to St Patrick's Day and John Belushi is here to discuss the luck of the Irish.
John Belushi: Thank you, thank you very much. Well, it's come that time again, St. Patrick's Day has come and gone and well, the sons of Ireland are basking in the glow. When I think of Ireland I think a lot of colorful Irish expressions like, 'Top of the morning to ya,' 'Kiss the barney stone,' 'May the road rise to meet ya,' 'May you be in heaven an hour before the devil knows you're dead,' 'I'd like to smash you in the face with my shillelagh,' 'Danny-boy,' 'Begorra,' 'Wail of the banshee,' and 'Whiskey for the leprechauns, whisky for the leprechauns.' But the expression I think most people identify with the Irish, is, of course, the luck of the Irish.
The luck of the Irish. Sure. Let's say you're in a pub somewhere in Ireland, oh, anywhere in Ireland, some guy comes up to you and says, 'Hey is that a bomb on you I hear ticking?' And then BAM!!! Your small intestines are on the ceiling and your brains are on your car across the street. That's the luck of the Irish for ya, who's kidding who, okay?
Let's talk about the bad luck of the Irish, all right? How about this, POTATO FAMINE!! How about that? It scares them, doesn't it? Well, it should. That's why they came here in the first place. So they wouldn't have to work in the potato fields. That's why they became politicians, priests, and cops. Luck? Gimme a break.
(he gets more and more worked up as he continues)
I got a friend, his name is Dan Sullivan, he's Irish as they come. We used to drink together a lot. After two drinks, he would look like an Irish pirate. You know? You think he had luck? In one day he got his car stolen, and the stupid, he had no insurance, and no license, and he gets locked up for being drunk. And after that, he takes off for someplace like India or Nepal, or someplace like that. And his mother dies, ya know, so they wire him to tell him to come to the funeral. It's his mother's funeral, that's all. And he's in India or Nepal, sitting squat-legged listening to some sacred cow. So he comes back and he gets stopped at U.S. Customs for trafficking illegal drugs, not holding, he's trafficking. I mean, here's this guy Sullivan, his old lady kicks off, he gets popped at the border and he's sitting on fifty pounds of black Tibetan finger hash and two keys of slam. Now that's not bad luck, that's DUMB luck. I don't think luck has anything to do with it, I don't think he has any brains at all. First of all, he's drunk, then he's a junkie. I don't know what's worse! Don't ask me, ask Sullivan! And what happens?! He calls me up and says, 'Hey man, I got busted at the border. I need five grand bail.' I said, I said, 'Five grand man!? Hey man, I've never even seen five thousand dollars in my life, so don't ask me for it, man, why don't you ask your mother!!' (aside) Which was a dumb thing for me to say because his mother just died. (returns to his loud tirade) Right now, I got this drunken Irish junkie who wants to kill me because of what I said about his mother being in terminal dreamland! Oh pal. One thing! One thing!!! They love their mothers, boy, oh they love their mothers. It's momma this, momma that. (starts flailing his arms wildly in the way only John Belushi could) Oh my Irish mother! Ireland must be heaven, because my mother.. aauugghhh! Aaauugghhh!!! (as he flails he nearly slams his head on the desk and then falls off his chair, still screaming)
Jane Curtin: Well, that's the news. Good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow."

Be kind to those special guests

Any parent knows that kids have their own language. For example, when Ellen, our preschooler says “Why don’t you go to work? I want you to go now.”

What she means is, “I heard you tell me to put on socks and change clothes so that my shirt and pants actually match, but I don’t want to do those things so if you leave you won’t be bale to make me.”

Or when she says, “Can you go back downstairs? Why don’t you go back downstairs now, Daddy?”

She sure doesn’t mean, “I’m tired and you can trust me to crawl into bed and try to get to sleep, go unwind and spend some time alone or with Mom.” No, I’ve come to understand that what she REALLY means is, “I feel like staying up, wandering around, trying to get my big sister to play with me or rummaging through the drawer in your nightstand until I accidentally break something or wake up my baby sister and drive you all crazy.

And when she says “get out of the bathroom, close the door, I want to be alone” during bath time, you might think that that’s exactly what she wants, she is a girl, after all, but don’t be fooled. She’s not 10 or 12, she’s not even 7 or 8, she’s 4. She’s not being modest or guarding her privacy. Oh no, all “I want to be alone” means is “I feel like playing swimming-pool in the sink with my Barbies, maybe I’ll try putting on some of Mom’s makeup or add enough water that the tub starts to overflow, use an entire bottle of shampoo and see what other messes I can make.”

We really love Ellen, mischief and all. She has a love of life and a vitality that has really brought a lot of joy to our lives, not just anxiety. I’m pretty sure her older sister Grace loves her too.

The other night I was reading Grace a bedtime story. “The Christmas Guest” by Rich Melheim. I know it’s March, but what can I say, she chose it, I read it.

It’s a variation on an old story. I swear that it’s been both an email forward and probably an illustration in a lot of pastor’s sermons. It basically takes Matthew 25:40 “…whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me,” and makes you realize that God visits us all day long, sending us opportunity after opportunity to show kindness.

In Melheim’s version a Fern Fieldmouse finds a note promising that a special Christmas guest is on their way to have a grand celebration wither, so she should prepare. Fern freaks out. She shrilly turns away neighbors, friends, Christmas carolers, and even her local pastor because she is so worried about cleaning and decorating her house for the special guest.

The teacher in me wanted to make sure that Grace got the lesson.

“So who do you think the special guest was, Grace?”

“Jesus”

“Now, how did Fern she treat the carolers?”

“She was mean to them.”

“So what was that was that like?”

“Like she was being mean to Jesus.” Bingo, lesson learned. Let’s drive it home.

And how did she treat her family? Friends? People collecting for charity? I asked.

“And even Parson Possum, her own pastor!”

“That’s right. And how about the poor little homeless orphan beggar mouseling?”

“She was mean to him too. So that’s like being mean to Jesus.”

“And how does Jesus want us to treat people?”

“Kind and nice and be nice to them and be good to them and like you want to be treated back.”

“That’s awesome, honey, you are so smart. You know that means everyone we meet, even people we don’t know and people are different than us and people who aren’t nice to us, doesn’t it?”

“Uh huh, ‘cause it’s like being kind to Jesus and loving Jesus. We should be kind to everybody.” Yeah, what a wonderful, perfect, smart, moral child. Damn, I’m a good parent aren’t I? I mentally patted myself on the back for raising such a virtuous child, then the other shoe dropped.

“Only not my sistah Elwen, because she SO ANOYING all the time! All day long! Fo REAL!”

Day 1

Here is the start of a drawing of Crystal.

Russ Feingold For President - Home

Russ Feingold For President - Home

"Censuring the President is not something that should be taken lightly. But the President has BROKEN the law and there needs to be action and accountability."
~ Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold (D)

Russ 2008
Why Russ Feingold?
Because he's fighting for us!

1. Voted against the Patriot Act to protect our civil liberties
2. Returns his pay raise to the Treasury every year
3. Votes against unfair trade agreements (NAFTA, GATT, etc...)
4. Demands the citizens of the US have the same quality healthcare as he does
5. Has held open listening sessions in every county in Wisconsin for 12 years
6. He has a broad appeal and has received many votes from both parties
7. He has one of the best environmental records in the Senate
8. A strong commitment to our Veterans with a record to prove it
9. Works to cut wasteful spending and has received many endorsements to show it
10. He supports a woman's right to choose
11. He demands fairness in campaigning and fights to block 'corporate bribes'
12. He has consistently worked to end the death penalty
13. Works to helps Police Departments and was honored by the Nation Association of Police Organizations as the Senator of the year.
14. He opposed No Child Left Behind
15. Worked with students to increase Pell Grants
16. Voted against the Iraq War Resolution and in favor of funding to support our troops.

Ten things every dad should know about eating disorders

It’s Lent. Once again I’ve sworn to eat less and take better care of myself. I even switched to decaf at school. I don’t know anything harder than not snacking between meals. I love food. Sometimes I wonder if I am to food the way that an alcoholic is to beer.

My own perennial battle of the bulge has gotten me thinking about how high school students cope with body image and the pressure to be thin.

As many readers know, I teach at Boyer Valley high school in Dunlap and I’ve also coached cheerleading for more than 10 years. In all that time, there may have been girls who struggled with eating disorders, but I was unaware of it. This year several kids have joked, threatened, talked about as if it were a viable option, and even bragged about either starving themselves (anorexia) or making themselves throw-up (bulimia).

Fortunately, it’s often not genuine. Either it’s a plea for attention, a typically teenage penchant for melodrama, or a sad but not serious way to whine about their weight. When girls really do succumb to these disorders, there are hospitalization programs and counseling.

But as a father of three young girls, I became very concerned. What will it be like for them when they get to junior high and high school? So I did a little research and want to share ten things every dad should know about eating disorders. These are just as important for moms and grandparents too.

1. Did you realize that our body size is pretty much a given, just like our height or hair color? In spite of that, by junior high 30-50% of American girls say they feel too fat and 20-40% are already dieting before they’re even 10 years old. By high school, 40-60% of girls feel overweight and try to lose.

2. As someone who grew up under a fear that the Soviet Union would bomb us into nuclear winter, this one surprised me; many girls say that they are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of cancer, nuclear war, or even losing their parents.

3. The fashion models weigh 23% less than the average woman.

4. Most people who develop eating disorders, start during adolescence. While self-esteem for both girls and boys is strong as children and drops for both in adolescence, the drop is much steeper for girls, beginning around age of 12.

5. In a survey of working-class 5th to 12th grade suburban girls, nearly 70% percent reported that magazine pictures influence their idea of the perfect body; 47% reported wanting to lose weight because of magazine pictures.

6. Before puberty there’s no difference in depression rates between boys and girls. By age 15, girls are twice as likely to be depressed and 10 times as likely to develop an eating disorder than boys. Girls are more likely to attempt suicide than boys are, although boys are more likely to succeed.

7. Clinique Laboratories, Inc. surveyed 500 moms of teen daughters and found their number one New Year’s Resolutions was "lose weight/eat less". Yet 22% of these same mothers list the fear of their daughter developing an eating disorder among their top concerns. Only 16% of the 500 teens in the same survey worried about developing an eating disorder.

8. Anecdotal evidence suggests that comments from male family members trigger dieting, and teasing is associated with weight-control attempts in adolescence. I can’t imagine making fun of my girls for being fat or calling them names, but there are parents that do just that. Maybe they do it because they’re worried about them and hope to motivate them to eat less, but what it does is hurt them deeply.

9. According to data presented to the National Institutes of Health, 33-40% of adult women are trying to lose weight at any given time –fueled by a cultural perception of a feminine "ideal" that is actually much too thin for good health.

10. And finally, we dads are important. Statistics show that girls with dads who spend time with them and really try to be part of their lives are more ambitious, more successful in school, attend college more frequently, and are more likely to attain careers of their own. They also are less dependent, more self-protective, and less likely to date or marry abusive partners.

You can find out more from the International Eating Disorder Referral Organization. www.EDReferral.com

Reject the "Scandalous" Bush Budget...Again

I am ready to stipulate that abortion and homosexuality are not good things, but I BEG my conservative/traditional "family-values"/Midwestern friends, readers and family members to recognize that poverty and inequality and injustice are also moral issues and Spiritual issues that Christian voters need to consider.

Please think about this:

In budget debates, it's easy to get lost in the numbers. A billion in cuts for low-income families here, a billion in tax giveaways for millionaires there. So here's a sampling of what the Bush cuts would mean for real families if they are implemented:

• Hunger would increase: 300,000 people would lose their food stamps during the next five years. Moreover, 40,000 children would lose eligibility for the school lunch program.
• Working moms would pay the price: Roughly 400,000 children would be left without child care assistance during the next five years, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. This would be a crushing blow for families trying to work themselves out of poverty.
• Millionaires get richer: We have nothing against people who have worked hard and use their talents shrewdly. But cutting programs such as food stamps while offering $639 billion in tax cuts during the next 10 years to people who make more than $1 million - as the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports - is not only fiscally unsound, it's morally bankrupt.

You Might be an Artist If....

You Might be an Artist If....

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...you go to the kitchen to cook something up and the main ingredient is linseed oil.

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...your car is Cadmium Red.

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...at the PTA meeting they start talking about values ...and you talk about hue.

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...instead of getting your ear pierced...you consider cutting it off.

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...when your in the ladies room your friend asks to borrow your brush ...and you hand her a #3 round.

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...you see a beautiful sunset...you call your lover outside... and you ask him to hold the canvas.

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...your children are named Vincent,Titian, and Goya.

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...you go to Tahiti for a vacation...and you are surprised that the natives are not green.

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...when you visit a national park...you want to rearrange the trees to balance the composition.

review

Here are my students' drawings of Angie. Nobody REALLY captured Angie. What's wierd is that they all look like charcoal, they used charcoal, but their drawings look like pencil. Matt got the most realistic, but he didn't draw her face. Chelsey's looks like Chelsey.
Angie told me not to tell people who mine is of, because she thinks it makes her look ugly.
Oops, a little late, Ange. Sorry!

fin

I'm happy with it. I think it captures her trying not to smile (how Mona Lisa-esque is that?)
There's still a something that reminds me of my friend Cindy, maybe in the eyes or something.
The importatnt thing is that kids in Drawing 2 say that it no longer looks like Kevin Bacon. I guess I must have separated her from him by at least 6 degrees.

crazy

How about this crazy picture that Chelsey took of Angie during Yearbook? Totally captures her energetic spirit!

getting closer

I'd rather work from the model instead of a photo, but my Intro Drawing 2nd hr. were all working on a still life, so I made some more adjustments before Drawing 2 has Angie to model for us 4th hr. I don't know... now she 's kind of looking like my friend Cindy Murphy from college.
Eventually it will look like Angie.

London calling

Last week’s column created the most buzz among kids I know who have gone off to college at the far reaches of the solar system.

Here’s some of what that former student who’s now working on a Masters in London had to say:

“I went out tonight with a Chinese, a Hong Kongese, a Japanese and a Korean. (3 of 4 were college girls) The Korean turned out to be a Christian, so I'm inviting him to church next week (the Hong Kongese is a Christian too, who already goes to St. Martins in the Fields, a famous Church).”

Wow, naturally I was impressed. What fascinating conversations did they have? Naturally I like hearing about my friends adventures. I’ll admit, it’s allows me to live vicariously through him. But that is exactly what bothers him about living abroad and makes him want to come home.

“One of these days, I'll be living purely for myself and you guys will have
nothing interesting to live vicariously through me. I guess that is my life dream: to live
for myself. It's tough having what I estimate to be 1,000 people watching every move I make. I'm a sucker for pleasing everyone.”

“Write about that!” he told me. “There's a huge social push for the young to do what the not-so-
young felt they couldn't do; but those people just didn’t take the chances to put
themselves out on the line like they are pushing us to do.”

He said that he wants to ignite a new social movement of kids who want to live for themselves instead of trying to please us older folk. But he also told me that in spite of all the ill will toward the United States these days, and even with so much unrest and an unpopular war in Iraq, America still stands for what the rest of the world wants to be.

“I am continually amazed that people still regard 'America' as this great nation, as if it were still the new land to the West that it was back in the 18th century, when I know the hell it's in, just as many of the nations of the world are at the same time. The USA has the 'American' brand that it cannot shake, which is fun for a person preparing to work in image management. I only wish I could create something with such a strong image as 'America,' which is the strongest brand I've yet to find.”

Another of my former students is at art school in Long Beach, California. She writes:

“I read your little article ‘How are you gonna keep 'em on the farm once they've drank a Starbucks?’ I really liked it. I felt like I can relate to it. Even though I do want to see the world and do everything, eventually I want to settle down back in Soldier and raise my kids there.”

“Whenever I tell someone out here about my plans, they seem in shock. My teachers don't want me to ‘waste’ my talent by not living in London or LA or New York. The truth is, I do want to do all those things, and I will, while I'm still young, but when I'm finished with everything I will go back home to my roots, because that's just what feels right for me.”

“I like living in LA and I'm proud of myself for getting out of Iowa and living a life that my friends envy, but the truth is that I actually envy the ones who stayed back home. I envy the fact that they can go home on the weekends, that they can see high school friends whenever they want, and that they never have to deal with the pressure of letting everybody down who believed in them back home.”

This kid is majoring in graphic design and the plan is that she’ll be transferring to another college in London next year. Of course, what makes this third student different from the on in Washington D.C. or the one already in London, is that the one in L.A. had a different plan. She always wanted to work for the C.I.A.

That’s right. And I have no doubt that unless God or the Secretary of Defense get in her way, she’ll probably do it. She was headed for an elite language school before art college, but the Army turned her away because of health concerns. She is determined to get a double major in languages and graphic design, even if that means getting it through public universities instead of the military. She’s even researched enough to know that the CIA actually hires graphic designers to help analysts make presentations in Langley.

All that, but when she settles down, she doesn’t want to do it in the beltway or Europe. She wants to come home to the Loess Hills.

One more young person proving the benefits of small town values and small, rural schools. Also proving my contentions that L.A. is a great place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there again. And Iowa may or may not be much to visit, but it sure is a great place to call home.

A step

Well, maybe I can salvage it tomorrow when she models for us again. Meanwhile, here is a start towards making it look more like Angie and less like Kevin Bacon.

Corrections

So here are some of the corrections that I'll need to try to make to the Angie drawing.

Angie in charcoal

Only Day 1 of 2- so watch this place for a finished version. Unfortunately, I fear my inner-cartoonist's instincts took over on this one, exaggerating features like her chin & how far apart her eyes are. One student thought my drawing looked like Michael Jackson, Angie thought it reminded her of Kevin Bacon.
What do they say? Those who can't...teach?

Thoughtful Christian

Thoughtful Christian

What is TheThoughtfulChristian.com?

The Thoughtful Christian is a web-based resource center located at TheThoughtfulChristian.com. It is filled with studies ranging from one to four sessions each for adult groups and individuals. Each session is designed for forty-five minutes to one hour and comes with a three- to four-page Participant Handout and a two- to five-page Leader’s Guide with lesson plans and resources. The studies can be downloaded as Acrobat PDF files, printed out, and photocopied for use in classes or for personal study and devotion. In addition, leaders can e-mail the Participant Handout to students in advance of the next meeting. New studies, including rapid responses to current events, will be added to the site on a regular, ongoing basis.

More negative space

Every year I have Intro Drawing students use a viewfinder to draw the negative space around a chair. This year Dustin suggested that it would be easier for him to do it in photo-negative instead of just with pencil. I thought that was a great idea, so I broke out the scratch-board and let them have at it. Man, I'm glad I did. The paradox of drawing is that if you don't try to draw the chair, but concentrate on preceving the negative space around it instead, your viewers will see a more realistic chair than if you'd tried to draw it in the first place.

Negative Space

In chapter 7 of Dr. Betty Edwards' 'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain,' we learn about negative space and how it is effected by the format you choose. This is a great way for Introduction to Drawing students to begin building skills in composition.
Students take a pair of scissors and trace the same sized shape over and over again into different frames ("formats"). One of my hopes is that this exercise helps them know how to use a view-finder, and recognize their value too. Then they color in the negative space.
They may be abstract, but I think they produce really neat images.

NIce boot

Just some of the things kids in my ceramics class have done.
Not my forte', but the class is a perrenial favorite. Kids and mud, go figure.

A Dorm-mate & dear friend of mine

Alumni in the News

“Da Vinci Code Revealed” Dr. Steven Matthews, ’92 alumnus of Concordia and son of Dr. Larry Matthews ‘58, will be on campus March 19^th and 20^th to present a seminar on the Da Vinci Code and its historical and religious claims. Dr. Matthews, a specialist in the area of early Christianity and the intellectual movements of the Renaissance, provides an entertaining and through-provoking look at Christian history, the history of the occult and Renaissance art. Come and learn on Sunday March 19^th, 7-9 p.m. or Monday, March 20^th, 3:10-5 p.m. in the Thom Leadership Education Center Room 115.

Dr. Matthews received his B. A. from Concordia University, Nebraska, his M. A. in theology from Concordia Theological Seminary, and his Ph. D. in history from The University of Florida. He is currently at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Abstract step by step

Here are two examples of an assignment I give to 7th graders. I introduce the concept of abstraction. Before we go on to Picasso, cubism, multiple perspectives and such, we have to get simplify and stylize down. Students are explained the difference between abstract and non-objective. Then they are asked to find a picture and copy it three times. Realistically the first time and progressively more abstract each of the following times. I believe Matisse used to call this "deconstructionism."

Ted's Prayer Blog: On Ash Wednesday

Ted's Prayer Blog: On Ash Wednesday
I wanted to try to start writing on this blog more regularly, since it is Lent after all. A time for reflection and renewed devotion in gratitude for what the Lord has done for us.

I'd like to write reflections on the book of Ecclesiastes this Lenten season. I may not manage to write everyday, but it should be a good discipline for me, both to get into God's Word, and to write regularly.

Mallory's Milieu

Mallory's Milieu

I recently tried to clean up the sidebars on my blogs a little.
When I did I added a drop-down menu for easier access to all of my (too many, I know, I know, get a life) websites.

I may never have CNN or Newsweek talking about the buzz on my blogs and how much they effect the "blogosphere." It may be that no book publishers or column syndicators will ever stumble upon all these ramblings, but oh well, at least it's theraputic for me and I hope that it's an entertaining diversion for you- whoever you are.

Whether you're friend, family or former student have fun. But while you're at it, feel free to tell a friend or highlight, cut & paste, and forward. Maybe someone in your address book works at CNN.