Results are In

The question: Do you like poetry?
The answer:
Something tells me these results are incredibly statistically valid. A total of 7 people isn't a very large sample size, especially when one person voted 'sometimes' twice. And I suppose polling "people who read Nate Shorb's blog" is far from being a random sample.

The complete absence of the 'No' demographic implies that my readership, apparently either very low in general and/or consisting mostly of family members, relatives and good friends, are choosing to inflate their opinion of poetry for my sake or are choosing not to participate if they would have to vote 'no' in order to avoid any hurt feelings.

But who cares about accuracy? There you have it! Studies show that 100% of people like poetry at least some of the time! Wow!

Movement, Movement, Movement (and repose)

I'm working on studying the book of Acts. I'm helping to teach it in the coming months, and I start tomorrow with chapter 1.

This helpful book says the theme of Acts, Luke's primary interest and purpose, is that of movement. Movement from Jewish setting in Jerusalem with Peter as its leader to a Gentile church with Paul as its leader in the capital Rome. Things are in transition, constantly going forward.

"The key to understanding Acts seems to be in Luke's interest in this movement of the gospel, orchestrated by the Holy Spirit, from its Jerusalem based, Judaism-oriented beginnings to its becoming a worldwide, Gentile-predominant phenomenon...By the very way God has moved [Luke] to structure and narrate this history it seems probabaly that we are to view this triumphant, joyful, forward-moving expansion of the gospel into the Gentile world, empowered byt he Holy Spirit and resulting in changed lives and local communities, as God's intent for the continuing church. And precisely because this is God's intent for the church, nothing can hinder it, neither Sanhedrin nor synagogue, dissension nor narrow-mindedness, prison nor plot."

I like this idea quite a bit, and it's a very helpful way to think about the book of Acts.

So, in thinking of movement, I got really excited while listening to one of my favorite bands in the car last night, and at one point all of a sudden I sang (screamed, really) along with them,

"If they ask you for the sign of the Father tell them it's movement, movement, movement (and repose)!"

(that song--Paper Hanger--can be heard at the moment on the above linked page.)

A complex idea that while the Christian life is one of movement, involving a great deal of change, God remains unchanging and there is a certain standing firm that is required of us as we "hold unswervingly to the hope we profess." Really, it's that determined resolve that drives the movement. And also that, while the Christian life is one of movement, it is also one of repose, rest, stillness, and quietness. It's this repose that allows the Spirit to drive the movement rather than our own plans and ideas.

Another example of the great paradox, balance, tension involved in the Christian faith.

Ashes to Ashes

It wasn't until high school that I discovered what Ash Wednesday was.

The choir was on a field trip to see a musical in New York City. I saw a whole bunch of people with gray spots on their head. I had no idea what was going on until I overheard someone else talking about it. I was reminded the year after when I showed up to gym class and my teacher had his gray cross, too.

The same probably goes for Lent, which I didn't figure out until all my Catholic high school friends were complaining about what they had half-heartedly decided to give up. Funny, my Mennonite elementary and middle school with plenty of German heritage always celebrated Fasnacht Day, but never Ash Wednesday or Lent.

It probably wasn't until college that I learned more about the meaning behind it all.

Since then, I've grown increasingly disappointed over the years that we good Evangelical Protestants chose to distance ourselves so much from the Catholic church that we miss out on this little ritual. Sure, I wouldn't be too crazy about a gray cross on my forehead all day, but I think we could all use the meaningful reminder within.

A minister spoke in chapel today about the meaning of Ash Wednesday. In somewhat of a tangent, I was one of four teachers who got volunteered to play Ring-Around-the-Rosie in front of the student body. "Ashes, ashes," he reminded us, "We all fall down."

The minister was incredibly dynamic, and I was very moved by his simple message. The kids, on the other hand, were still busy giggling about their teachers playing Ring-Around-the-Rosie that I don't think they realized when he was trying to be serious.

"Ashes to ashes," he reminded us. "We were created, and someday we'll die. We're not like God." Then he mentioned the ashes used for mourning, repenting for falling down, falling short of God's plan for us and our lives.

I tried to have a conversation about this with my students when we returned to the classroom. They were reluctant to put it mildly. I chose not to push it.

But for me, it was the most meaningful chapel service I can remember in my year-and-a-half tenure.

"Even now," declares the LORD,
"return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning."

Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.

Joel 2:12-13

Am I up for the challenge?

I talked an awful lot about my teaching of poetry a year ago. It was by far the highlight of my teaching career, and the biggest (only?) success story thus far.

It's time to give it another go this year. So today I gave the students a survey. They had to complete these sentences:

"I like poetry because..."
"I don't like poetry because..."

Most students left the first one blank. The second one was filled in with answers like the following:
"It can be hard and boring."
"It is boring to listen to except for Dr. Seuss."
"It does not hold my attention."
"It's weird."
"Sometimes it really bores me, and I get tired."

Some students were at least polite about it:
"Well, I never thought poetry was important because it's not something you have to learn like math or science. Also it's not something I find interesting so I don't really care for poetry."

And then two boys were quite the opposite, making me laugh out loud:
"It's boring, slow and pointless. It's also lame."
"It is pointless mind mush. It is extremely boring."

I can't wait to turn that last kid around. He used a great metaphor, alliteration, and two descriptive adjectives in his answer! A diamond in the rough!

And now that I think about it...why don't YOU take the survey? I'll share the answers with my kids. Here you go:

Rodent Reformation, or, My Landlord Thinks He's Martin Luther

We came home yesterday to find a yellow piece of notebook paper with a handwritten note nailed--yes, nailed--to the front door of our apartment building.

"DON'T FEED THE SQUIRRELS."

Whether someone in our building is actually dumb enough to be feeding the thousands of squirrels living nearby, I don't know. And I appreciate the mandate, as we have had squirrels enter our apartment in the past.

But nailing a piece of notebook paper to the building like it's the 95 theses?!? Really??

Looking for a place to learn French?

If you are looking for a great little language school in which to learn French, we have a recommendation for you.

Langue Onze is in the heart of Paris. It's a wonderful little community where you can drop in and take as many classes as you please in the midst of your travels. They are very laid back and welcoming to all types of people. The teaching is creative and fun, and you'll get plenty of conversational experience and practice.

Erica and I took classes there for about three weeks. We were complete beginners, and the amount we picked up in those short three weeks was impressive. It was both challenging and helpful.

We were in a class with people from around the world: Spain, Germany, Italy, Russia, Nigeria, Australia, Kenya, and more, each with their own unique story. Some are passing through in a crazy lifestyle of travel, others intend to stay for a while and are learning for work or studies. Besides learning French, you get to interact with some very interesting people.

There are opportunities to interact outside of the classroom through extra activities or tours of certain areas in Paris, most of which are free of charge. The cost, considering all that you receive, is quite reasonable, and this is kept low because there are not required textbooks or other extra materials to buy.

The reason I write this? We received an email saying they are in danger of closing for financial reasons. They have three months left to prove themselves: March, April, and May. If you're traveling to Paris soon and want to pick up some of the language, check out Langue Onze!

http://www.langueonzeparis.com

Tax and Tip

Today's math lesson led us into the wonderful world of calculating tax and tip.

Teaching percent is a lot of fun because there's a lot of practical application. The kids are catching on quickly, which helps.

Despite my typical frugality, I always try my best to be a decent tipper, so I always enjoy teaching kids about tipping. When you ask them what a tip is, the answer is usually, "It's extra money you give to your server when he does a good job." When you ask them why it's important to leave a tip, the answer is usually, "So he knows he did a good job." These are life lessons, folks. I have a hunch that fifth graders aren't the only one who could use the lesson.

So they're usually stunned to find out that the tip is actually the main source of income, as they get paid below minimum wage by the restaurant itself.

To prove this point, I spontaneously called my friend Dan, who, even though he swore off serving jobs a long, long time ago, seems to have become a professional server. We put him on speaker phone. The kids were beside themselves with excitement.

They were all very familiar with the neighborhood restaurant at which he serves, which only increased their excitement. They were astonished to find that he only gets paid $2.83 an hour. "That's not very much at all," one girl said as she wrinkled her nose and furrowed her brow. They learned that the average server expects a tip between 18% and 20%. When we asked if we should still tip if the server isn't very good, he said it's a nice idea, but 10% at the most is appropriate.

I allowed some other questions, and of course the first one was, "What's the biggest tip you ever got?" That felt inappropriate, so I changed the question to, "Did you ever get a 100 dollar bill?" The answer was yes, and they all cheered.

Before hanging up they all yelled, "Goodbye!" And for the next 10 minutes before leaving for lunch, they kept saying, "He was so cool!" and "That was awesome!"

You would have thought we had called the president or something.

Nope, just a real live waiter.

Grammy

I wouldn't normally be interested in watching the Grammys. (Erica and I discussed this last night--shouldn't you "change the y to an i and add an es?") But when the three most legitimate and influential rock bands are coming together to play on the same night, I'm interested. U2? Coldplay? Radiohead? Count me in.

U2 was OK. Coldplay was good, but the Jay-Z thing was just weird and Viva La Vida seemed a bit fake and underwhelming. Then, I fell asleep long before Radiohead played. This will have to suffice:

Not the best audio on that clip, unfortunately.

I watched this morning, dreaming of still playing percussion in a marching band that just so happened to be called on by Radiohead. Whew. What a privilege.

Hey, look! Speaking of Mr. Bird...

You can see some of Andrew Bird's live performance at Lehigh that I once told you about right over here. (You just have to do a little bit of clicking after following that link.)

On Epiphanies

I had a flashback while washing dishes this morning.

I was telling the story of the development of my faith to a group of relative strangers at World Team's candidacy school. Once I finished, I took questions as instructed, and the nice old grandpa of a man who was somewhat in charge asked the following,

"Martin Luther was a man who struggled for some time to understand God's grace. The story is told that he experienced something of an epiphany, an awakening, when reading the verse 'The righteous shall live by faith.' Did you have a moment of epiphany?"

An interesting question, one I had never been asked. I thought for a quick moment and knew almost immediately.

Yes. It was page 181 in Brennan Manning's The Ragamuffin Gospel. My heart was so hard that I couldn't swallow it the first time I read the book, and even in the second reading I didn't catch it in the previous two passages where he mentioned the idea.

But when it was finally stated so boldly and bluntly, I could no longer ignore it. Three words, now with a heavy underline in my copy, were my epiphany:

"Forgiveness precedes repentance."

I can vividly remember pausing, weeping, my soul stirred, eyes opened, heart broken, sighing with relief as a heavy burden was lifted, a light and easy and joyous yoke placed on my shoulders.

God's idea of forgiveness, love, and grace is so completely opposite from our own. Our experience of forgiveness is giving the cold shoulder and waiting for someone to finally come and beg and beg, explaining exactly why they know what they did was wrong, acknowledging fully and profusely their wrongdoing, begging some more, and then we finally forgive them with our lips while actually still holding a grudge in our hearts. God does not work this way. Not at all.

It's the father running to meet his prodigal son, kissing him and throwing him a party, completely cutting him off before the son even has a chance to begin his prepared and well-rehearsed speech.

It's Paul, confronted on the road to Damascus while he was still breathing murderous threats against Christ's disciples.

It's Christ, while we were still sinners, laying down his life for us.

This is no human, conditional, superficial, halfway "love" or "forgiveness." This is so totally and completely different. That's what Isaiah was really writing about when he said God's thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways. In human understanding, God's love is truly radical and scandalous.

In years following, I've realized there are some theological disclaimers to add to this thought that so grabbed my attention. But I'm afraid we often feel the need to add those disclaimers a little too quickly mostly because we refuse to accept this extravagant, irrational, unconditional love. And when we add those disclaimers too soon, we strip away the truth of this love, attempting to make it measurable, rather than basking in its width and length and height and depth. How do we expect someone to marvel at limitless love when we're constantly putting our own limits on it?

Yes, thank you for asking, I said. That was my moment of epiphany.

What a $50 iTunes card bought me, and how I feel about it after the first few listens.

Andrew Bird - Weather Systems
...an older album...slower and more subdued...with two songs that are repeated on Armchair Apocrypha...good but not great...


Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production of Eggs
...predecessor to Armchair Apocrypha if I'm not mistaken...much more poppy, upbeat, fun, and sometimes funky at moments...and the subdued moments are more interesting than Weather System's...I like it....


Do Make Say Think - Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn
...blown away by the first song Fredericio...bored by most of the rest...save yourself 9 dollars and just spend the 99 cents on track 1...see & Yet & Yet or You, You're a History in Rust for much better, more developed, cohesive albums...


Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes/Sun Giant
...I did it, bit the bullet on the most raved about release from last year...like it more than I thought I would...surprised that the harmonies are just as unpolished as their live performances I've watched (surprisingly, this is less of an issue on the EP)...but there's some real gems on these records...


Man on Wire - Soundtrack
...the music of this movie was just one of the many strong reasons it was so wonderful, so I took a chance on the soundtrack...some great moments, but mostly a little too dense and busy in one sitting, without the beautiful imagery laid overtop...some moments like The Disposition of Linen into Chasing Sheep, with it's incessant banter on repeat, are the most nerve-grating tracks of music I've heard since Death Cab's Narrow Stairs...but the heart-melting intervals on the theme set forth in the opener Fish Beach are the reason I bought the album...so, like Do Make Say Think, spend your 99 cents on Track 1 and save the rest...


I have another $25 gift card. Any suggestions that are any better?

If iTunes really wants to be an alternative to illegal downloading, they need to offer a return policy. I need more than a 30 second preview, don't you?

Technokids

I don't know what we're calling this new generation. One guy my school pays attention to classifies them as Digital Natives. But here's a telling anecdote:

Got a new electric pencil sharpener.

Looks a little like this one.

The little slot towards the back simply holds some extra pencils.

But at least five students -- at the very least -- individually and separately saw that slot and asked me if you could plug your iPod into it.

Yes. The answer is yes, kids. Listen to music while sharpening your pencil. Of course!

After the fifth or so, I couldn't help but laugh really hard at this notion.