Wednesday, August 13, 2003

 

Politicians are ruining blogs

The New York Times' petty columnist Maureen Dowd, who has a verb named after her ("Dowdify," meaning to edit a quote in a misleading way), finally says something useful instead of her typical unfunny ruminations on politicians:

In a lame attempt to be hip, pols are posting soggy, foggy, bloggy musings on the Internet. Inspired by Howard Dean's success in fund-raising and mobilizing on the Web, candidates are crowding into the blogosphere — spewing out canned meanderings in a genre invented by unstructured exhibitionists. ...

Bob Graham dubs himself "the original blogger" because he has filled more than 4,000 color-coded, laconic notebooks over the last 30 years with a running diary of his every move, from ingestion of morning cereal to debarkation from a plane. (A typical Graham entry: "3:20 p.m. — Take bus to hotel.")

His blog doesn't pick up the tempo. He offers the rhyming motto: "Hate the war? Miss your job? Don't just sit there, vote for Bob!" The Aug. 7 Des Moines posting, Another Day in the Heartland, reported, "We have had quite a full day, starting at the state fair where I saw the butter cow and butter hog (which is actually a Harley Davidson). At the pavilion I saw Holstein cows, a breed with which I have a very special relationship."

As Sean Connery would say to Alex Trebek on SNL's "Celebrity Jeopardy" sketch, I have a very special relationship with your mutha!

The idea of politicians blogging never excited the blog "leaders" that much in the first place, so low disappointment from low expectations. I think outsider candidates - let's say, rolling pornographer Larry Flynt in the California governor's race - would be excellent bloggers, because they know they won't win, but they can have disproportionate influence in the race by being the "sassy" and "straight talking" candidate. Think of Ross Perot's pie charts on a blog, except without, well, pie charts and Ross Perot. That's a relief, isn't it?
posted by Greg 12:44 AM

Friday, September 20, 2002

 

Thought of the Day

"In fairness to the imam, the average Christian minister hasn't had much good to say about American society either for at least 40 years."

This is what Daniel Henninger of the Wall Street Journal wrote today in a column about the ridiculous lengths that we have gone to recognize ethnic differences among Americans, with hyphenations abounding: African-American, Arab-American, Irish-American, and so on. He connects this to a decline of appreciation for America's history and the deplorable state of education in imbuing the democratic ideals of the American founding in youth, especially lack of civics education. But the above quote really stood out. Sure, Muslim clergy have been railing against America for years and probably increased after 9/11, taking advantage of all the "don't blame ordinary Muslims" sentiment floating around. Many Christian clergy, however, have acted only slightly less outrageous in condemning America, and it's not a new thing. How much do these people, with the greatest religious freedom in the world, appreciate their own country? They might disagree with individual policies -- I sure do -- but to unilaterally assail the freest, most prosperous country in the world and its ideals ... they need to stick their head outside the church occasionally and get a dose of reality.

posted by Greg 5:04 PM

Wednesday, September 18, 2002

 

Seattle Greg's valley vacation

My summer vacation finally took place last week. And did I pick anywhere creative to go? No, my creativity rests on the ability to rearrange previous choices I've made. So of course I go back to Salem, Oregon, where I lived in the same house for 18 years until I left for the big city at SPU. I lived in the house again for about a week, but got out a bit.

Saw my old friend Emily from my home church, Dayspring Fellowship in nearby Keizer (also known as "Salem Jr." to Salem snobs like me). We went hiking at Silver Falls about 45 minutes outside Salem, and she scolded me in a good-natured way for pushing her to hike around for several miles more once we hit a fork between the return path and more scenery. I'm kicking myself for forgetting to bring my camera that day, because I could've posted some beautiful pictures of unusual forest squirrels, giant bugs and pristine waterfalls. There was this ugly, screechy bird there with a voice more grating than even Barbra Streisand, and it wouldn't leave us alone, so I threw an apple core at it.

I also went to the beach at Lincoln City, about an hour west of Salem. But no one had time to go with me! It was still a nice couple hours, with me actually bringing the camera this time and snapping on the 300mm telephoto lens to catch some intimate shots from far away. I wish I had designated those two rolls for a picture CD too when I dropped off the film, but for all I know, the pictures turned out terrible (I kept putting the camera on the "still" setting by accident for "action" shots).

There was more -- I saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding, also with Emily, at the Salem Cinema in Pringle Park, and the theater had these cool bending red lamps that I'd like to get to decorate the new apartment -- but in all it was a restful vacation. Got to spend Sept. 11 not thinking about anything related to Sept. 11, see my family and a few friends, and spend some time in my beloved hometown. As cynical as I usually am, I have to put it away sometimes and enjoy the gifts that God stubbornly continues to give me.
posted by Greg 1:29 AM

Thursday, August 15, 2002

 

Quote of the ... well, lifetime (for SPU anyway)

"Problems arise when we begin engaging the culture and end up marrying it."

This is from an unusual book called Open Embrace: A Protestant Couple Rethinks Contraception. Unusual, first, because it's Catholics who typically rail against the contraception-friendly culture (and fewer Catholics than ever, it seems). Also unusual because Christianity Today gave the book prominent play, saying that the "natural family planning" option advocated by the book is "a persistent minority view and one that has a strong internal coherence" that should be recognized as a "plausible option." CT is more conservative than it used to be, but it's still a departure for them. For the record, I don't mind contraception even for Christian couples, partially because I think extrapolating the "one flesh" principle in Scripture to a ban on anything that might be present in that one flesh, like a condom, is not warranted. I found this book review in National Review Online recently.

But of course, for anyone who's spent five minutes at SPU, the phrase "engaging the culture" is something of an 11th Commandment, although more loved and hated than other commandments. It means that we reach out to a population that is spiritually thirsty but cannot understand our Christian-speak, so we need to speak to it through its cultural references and understanding its nature. But as anyone who has found a stray puppy as a child can attest, our desire to "save" that which we care about can exceed our common sense and good moral judgment. As the apostle Paul reminds us (I don't want to get terribly theological here, last reference), a married person has a distraction from God in his or her spouse, although it's an acceptable (and utterly necessary for most of us) distraction.

In the same way, SPU's mantra of "engaging the culture" has the tendency to distract it from keeping a consistent moral line and not acting like a drunken ass. Hence the environmental obsession, with an entire month devoted to "God's Green Earth" and pseudo-Gaia worship. Or the "covenant" relationship proposal with the Free Methodist Church, which resembles a moving-in-together and thoroughly short-lived relationship between a man and woman. Add your own examples.

Some advice to SPU: Ask for a pre-nup before you get into it.

posted by Greg 4:32 AM

Tuesday, August 13, 2002

 

Phil Eaton's legacy

So I hear today from an undisclosed source that a current professor at SPU, who formerly served high in the administrative ladder, had this to say about SPU's president this morning: "Phil Eaton's legacy will be an $85 million debt and trying to separate SPU from the Free Methodist Church." You can imagine that this statement was made in less than an admiring tone.

Of course, the second part of the diss is well known, reported in The Falcon here and here, and Eaton has since backed off amid alumni and church uproar.

But the first part of the professor's disdainful remark, while not kept under lock and key, is barely known among the university community or furiously rationalized by the administration's defenders. I never knew about the debt until another irritated professor let me in on the little-known factoid.

Why isn't anyone talking about this enormous debt publicly? Why do SPU students, faculty and staff hear nothing but the good things that will happen from building Rome in a day, as SPU is attempting right now, and none of the substantial drawbacks? SPU will likely have to join the ranks of other private schools in raising tuition to Everest-like heights over the next several years to pay for these projects in the absence of Dubya-level fundraising.

Will President Eaton ever face up to his legacy in a transparent and spin-free moment with the "university community"? Bet you $85 million he won't.
posted by Greg 1:00 AM

Monday, August 05, 2002

 

Something's coming...

That's why I haven't posted anything in nearly three months. For one thing, it's summer and school is out, but something big will happen in the fall. I may have alluded to it in a much earlier post, then wised up and stopped blabbing. So anyway, no one is reading this blog yet but probably will in the future. Watch for the fall.

Semi-serious discussion happening in the Falcon Forums online on Britney Spears' new restaurant in New York called NYLA, with a focus on Louisiana cuisine. How she hopes to make this work in a city so diametrically opposed to anything from Louisiana is the question on everyone's lips. Well, I started the discussion -- one regular forum participant has admitted his Britney fetish -- and now it's getting to the point of a shouting match. It's nice to have something trivial (supposedly) to argue about as opposed to the necessary but emotionally draining debates about when (if) to attack Iraq, should we be doing wholesale regime change in multiple conflicts, should the Catholic Church join the 21st century in its sexuality, etc. So enjoy the discussion.

And keep your eyes on the first few days of school this fall. You'll know what I'm talking about then. -- GP
posted by Greg 2:07 AM

Sunday, May 12, 2002

 

Say my name

"The Real Seattle Pacific University" just wasn't cutting it. Sounds too contrived, like I'm writing a conspiracy-theory novel on Phil Eaton's Mafia connections (anyone know if he really has any?). So this site, for the moment and hopefully long-term with the same domain name, is now officially "SPUndercover." That doesn't have too much of a "Law & Order" sound, does it? I'd hate to copycat a string of NBC spin-offs, considering I never watch NBC. So if anyone is reading this site yet, let me know if the new name falls flat. -- GP
posted by Greg 4:31 PM