Artists of the Day

Today's artists of the day are two Mexican Muralists from the early 20th century. They are Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco. In my opinion these are two fascinating artists so look them up and enjoy. A good book to start with is here. Here are some of their works. Enjoy!!

Hurricanes, Midnight Oil, and the GRE

My good ol' hometown of Searcy is now home to over 100 hurricane evacuees. Camp Wyldewood, just outside Searcy, is now home to over 70 of those people. My younger brother works part time at Wyldewood doing odd jobs and cleanup duties. This past week though he has been busy helping serve meals, taking people to the doctor, distributing clothing, and other things of that nature. I think it is safe to say that this whole experience will profoundly affect my 18 year old brother, maybe now at 18 it will endow him with a passion and compassion for people that will influence his religious, political, theological, and academic views for years to come. Yes, it is his job because he works at Wyldewood, but he is happy to be serving. I am very proud of my younger brother and I look up to him.

Everyone in Searcy is eager to do what they can in this situation. I work at Midnight Oil, that bastion of coffee talk and discussion for the hippy academic philosopher pseudo bohemians of Harding. My boss wanted to do something to help so today, Sunday, we opened our doors at one o'clock. Normally we are closed on Sundays, but today we were open, all of the employees worked for free and our boss is giving every dime, not just the profits, and all of our tips to Camp Wyldewood to help feed and house the evacuees. I have never worked a busier shift than the one this afternoon. The line was out the door for the whole time I was there and one woman put a five hundred dollar check in our tip jar. Once again my faith in Christians and people in general, the faith which is often very small, has been buffered and rebuilt.

I'm preparing to take the GRE soon, does anyone out there have any advice on how to study for it? Should I just treat it like all the standardized tests I took way back in high school and do nothing? I did extremely well on those, but this is of more importance to me because some scholarships to help with graduate school would be more than nice. So if anyone has any advice please share.

Who Has Been Seasoned Here?

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. – Matthew 5

This is just a short list I’ve been thinking about:

World ----------------Christians

Rock and Roll -------- Christian Rock and Roll
NetFlix.com --------- CleanFilms.com
Direct TV ------------ SkyAngel Satellite TV
Internet Provider ---- Christian Internet Service Provider
Poor quality fiction --- Poor Quality Christian Fiction
Art --------- "Christian" Art

I’m sure that you could think of many more. Since I live in the center of the Bible Belt, in a culture very much saturated with fad and pop Christian Culture I often am overly critical, but I don’t think I am this time. When did Christian culture start imitating the world? In Western Culture at least Christians paved the way for thousands of years, now it looks as if the pest we can do is a PG version of the R rated world. I am calling all Christians to stand up for themselves and their Creator, if we must engage with the world (and we must), let us set the standard. Let us be the flag bearers and the innovators, let us say no to sorry imitations of the world and make the world a better place. Let us season the world instead of being seasoned.

The Constant Gardener

Last year I saw the Portuguese film City of God, which was partially directed by Fernando Meirelles (I am one of those people who reads all the credits in every film I watch, so be warned if you ever to go to a movie with me), and I was very taken by the cinematographic style he used. It was a lot of handheld, quick cut shots, almost ADD at times, but the intensive style only helped magnify the emotional subject matter. When I discovered that Fernando Meireles was directing a British film, set in Africa, dealing with the corruption of African medical aid, also involving a conspiracy theory, and starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz, I decided that I must see The Constant Gardener. So Saturday night my girlfriend and I drove to Little Rock (because, as anyone familiar with Searcy knows, the Searcy cinema never shows anything good) in order to watch the film. I must say that this film was intense, the acting was superb, the ADD camera style of Meireles was utilized, and it was overtly political for something billed as thriller. I don't know if one ever enjoys films of this type, but I do know that one ruminates and thinks about them for a while. While I don't want to give away the movie to those who haven't seen it, I will say that the state of African Medical Aid occupies a large part of the film and I can't stop thinking about the state of affairs portrayed. I don't know whether things are as bad as the film implied, but if they are even half as bad then there is a huge problem. I am not one who accepts whatever I see or hear, especially from today's media, so I am currently investigating this on my own to see if there is any merit to the films claims. As far as the rest of the film goes, my opinion is that it is superbly done and that this is one of the most quality films I have seen in a long while (I always hesitate to label things good or bad, or best or worst, because those terms are fairly ambiguous, but when I saw quality I mean well made). This film is not for the faint of heart as it very much deserves its 'R' rating. There are at least 3 fairly disturbing images as well as a few brief bursts of strong language. There is also some nudity, although in my opinion it was fairly innocent and not of a strongly sexual type. If you just want to be entertained go see something else, but if you like to be engaged participant in the art form of film then I highly recommend The Constant Gardener.

P.S. Stay and read the credits as there is a very moving dedication of the film towards the end.

My First Post

Today is Sunday, the day of rest, the day of the Lord, the time for reflection and communing one with another. I must confess that today I took a nap, but for the rest of it I don't know. After my nap I went to work, so I didn't even rest that much. I went to church, that wonderful spectator sport of the south, I sat there and reflected a little while we "communed", but it isn't really one with another. I mean the celebration of the sacrament (some say there are no such things as sacraments) of the Eucharist should be one of the central rites of Christianity. The term comes from the word charis which means grace or gift and that is exactly what it is, we have been given grace and we are receiving the gift of Christ's blood and body, isn't that worth celebrating? But we sit there and listen to someone read from one of the epistles and then they pass the plates and everyone prays and reflects with himself and even though the person right next to you took his little piece of cracker and grape juice I don't think that counts as communing one with another. I know that we don't want it to become a huge meaningless rite, but lets face it, the way we deal with the Eucharist right now often comes across as a little meaningless rite rather than a celebration concerning the Son of God. OK, enough about that, on to other things.

Last night Supreme Court Chief Justice Rehnquist died leaving a second supreme court nomination for our President. The last time there were two open posts at the same time was 1971 and that was when Rehnquist was put into place. Rehnquist was never the hero of the liberal contingent of politics (of which faction I myself must claim) but in my own opinion he was fairly sound. So, now the new search begins, who will the president choose and will it cause another heyday like the nomination of John Roberts? I don't know, but I will say this: in general I disagree with George Bush's decisions, but I have faith in our country even still and I believe our governing leaders will make a good decision and the court will remain balanced and objective (as much so as is possible in a very subjective and unbalanced world).

I have still not been able to grasp the extent to which Hurricane Katrina ripped apart the south and as it slowly dawns on me my only reaction is one of shock and I just want to cry, and I hardly ever cry.

Today's artist of the day is Archibald J. Motley Jr. a Chicagoan who is also often associated with the Harlem Renaissance. You can read a little about him here and here. The following are two of my favorite paintings by him.

Nightlife


Blues

Adios