question re: faculty meeting

why do faculty meetings and meetings of this sort, have to go on forever? mind you, i don't mind faculty meetings...they not only are necessary, they are essential to the smooth running of a department or centers or interest groups; yet, when run by people who either try to give too much information (because they do not know how to prioritize) or by people who give too little information (because they have power/control issues) or, worst of all, a mixture of the two, they are exercises in futility and frustration.

posted by Jeremy at 2:43 PM

What denomination should you be in?

Feeling left behind by the raptured? Want to confirm your place with the right saints? Then take the What's the Best Denomination for You?" Quiz! I find I am decidedly mainline Protestant: 1) Episcopal/Anglican church, 2) Methodist.

And so you know, I agree with Pope Benedict when he says, "[R]eligion constructed on a ?do-it-yourself basis cannot ultimately help us. It may be comfortable, but at times of crisis we are left to ourselves." No, do-it-yourself will not do. It's much better to let the internet do it for you.

posted by Greg at 12:15 PM

little pink bikini

this weekend we went to the beach. here's our little girl posing for the camera.

posted by Jeremy at 1:16 PM

ann coulter at hermit alma mater

should we be surprised? i am. i don't understand what they are doing. i know those speakers are subsidized by partisan organizations, but the alma mater could have passed on ann coulter at least. in past years they have allowed right-wing think tankers and politicians and assorted military brass. now they are inviting extremist cartoons.

posted by Chris at 3:14 PM

Miscelaneous

Well, I forgot my camera, so I never took pictures of that magical city in mountains. Bogotá is nestled, at 8660 feet high, onto the western side of the Eastern mountain range. The Andes fork off into three ranges in Colombia, ingeniously called the Western, Central, and Eastern mountain ranges. Right over the Eastern range lies the Amazon basin; in between the Eastern and Central ranges spreads a high plain where many of the roses and carnations, among other things, bought in US flower shops are grown. On this plain, as well, though I did not go see it, there is a lagoon; I guess I should say the lagoon, not the blue lagoon, but the lagoon that gave birth to the legend of El Dorado. The Muisca native tribe would dust their leader in Gold and then sail out into the middle of the lagoon and make offerings of gold and emeralds to the gods...the attempt to drain the lagoon and find the gold not only bankrupted many a Spaniard, at some point it morphed into city of gold known as El Dorado, and who knows how many more were lost in their geldlust.

The conference went well. Except for the bigwig who asked me what "theory" I was employing for the book I was working on...and I wasn't able to give him a good answer. That is, he was hoping I would say Derrida, Psychoanalysis, Queer, or what have you...and I guess, I would say I am much more interested in a historicist approach to literature than necessarily a "theoretical" approach.

Travel back was interesting. I got caught in the Miami airport overnight; when I showed up at Delta, a full 2 1/2 hours before my flight was to leave, they told me American still had control of my ticket, whereas American said the opposite. I was shuffled between the two counters, which are literally on the opposite sides of the airport, until 9:50, at which point my flight left; American miraculously got control of the ticket and was able to print it out, which they had not been able to do, despite trying for over an hour on two different occassions; and I was forced to pay an extra 50 dollars in order to get home.

It is nice to be back; though, it's gonna take some time before I venture into supermarkets again. It's not that I had a bad experience; it's that every time I go away, I come back with the conviction that US produce departments are meant to kill the soul and taste buds...everything is so uniform and waxed that it's all very antiseptic. Give me imperfect fruit...this is the only fruit that is truly ripened and tasty. Give me oranges that are speckled green; apples with strange protrusions; fruit that has truly been tree ripened and is imperfect...much like human beings, fruit is only tasty if it's got imperfections and shows them, rather than hiding them behind waxes and façades.

posted by Jeremy at 8:31 AM

Do you always talk to music?

Last night I dreamed that Sarah Vowell (of This American Life fame) called. We talked for a minute like old friends, then she said, "Hold on," and she switched on music. She was performing a radio essay. At some point as she was talking, I put the telephone down, but I picked it up later because I thought she needed to hear me laugh or say, "That's right!" She didn't need me to say it, but I did, and when she was finished, I asked, "Do you always talk to music now?" She replied, "Yes, I find it encourages people to listen better." With that, she promised to call again, and I hung up.

posted by Greg at 8:28 AM

The Continuing Adventures of the FLDS

The radio this morning told me that Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints of Colorado City, AZ are feeling pressure this year. It's common practice among FLDS adherents to fleece the government. Many of the church's abuses currently being cited by news reports John Krakauer listed in Under the Banner of Heaven:

More than $4 million of government largesse flows each year to the Colorado City public school district—which, according to the Phoenix News Times, ‶is operated primarily for the financial benefit of the FLDS Church and for the personal enrichment of FLDS school district leaders.″ Reporter John Dougherty determined that school administrators have ‶plundered the district's treasury by running up thousands of dollars in personal expenses on district credit cards, purchasing expensive vehicles for their personal use and engaging in extensive travel. The spending spree culminated in December [2000], when the district purchases a $220,000 Cessna 210 airplane to facilitate trips by district personnel to cities across Arizona.″

Colorado City has received $1.9 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to pave its streets, improve the fire department, and upgrade the water system. Immediately south of the city limits, the federal government built a $2.8 million airport that serves almost no one beyond the fundamentalist community. Thirty-three percent of the town's residents receive food stamps—compared to the state average of 4.7 percent. Currently the residents of Colorado City receive eight dollars in government services for every dollar they pay in taxes; by comparison, residents in the rest of Mohave County, Arizona, receive just over a dollar in services per tax dollar paid.

The task of investigating the fleecing of Arizona has fallen to Gary Engels (you don't actually have to give your email address to to read the story). His investigation has led to an indictment of Warren Jeffs on charges of pedophilia, but Jeffs has fled the county, and probably the country (he's likely in Mexico or Bountiful, Canada: there are substantial polygamist communities in both countries). Moreover, Arizona is today requesting to take over the Colorado City school district from its current administration.

What is the best line between church and state? If the church believes the authority of the state is a farce—a not uncommon belief for the church to have—and as a result decides that the state can be bilked because the state has no real authority, then surely it is in the state's interest and right to respond. I wonder, though, if the FLDS church is an extraordinary exception, or if it is a cautionary tale. Many who advocate a more profound connection between churches and governments (as my preacher and his wife do, lifting up the East Sunshine Church of Christ in Springfield, MO as their paragon) might argue most churches would use public funds honorably. But that depends wholly on a church's relation to the state's power. There's ample enough reason even in all religions to look upon states with eyes askance. Why is it that such caution has diminished of late?

posted by Greg at 12:14 PM

Time Passes

It is strange to be writing for Hermits again after our being down so long! It's still something of a mystery what happened to our host—they said it was a Denial of Service attack, but they revealed little else. Why they were down as long as they were is between them and God at the moment. Perhaps they will confess, but I'm not holding my breath.

I'm trying not to hold my breath while I wait for word from the interview I had Tuesday. My performance in the interview was, to my thinking, lacking: I've had many late-night realizations, ‶I should have said. . .,″ since. Any offer will likely be made tomorrow. The waiting is excruciating, especially since I have no good sense of how they reacted, and since they interviewed seven other candidates over Monday and Tuesday.

Other random observations: Evan is darn cute, and Kathy says, "She looks like her father." I wish I had shoes that needed a good Bogota shine. There's at least one thoughtful, brave new Web site sprung out of the Churches of Christ this past month, the Gay Restorationist blog. Is the opposite of generosity refusal? I disagree with my new minister on many, many things, and kl & I both find it strange that when we talk to him and his wife, they always want to turn the conversation to how terrible it is that local schools want nothing to do with local churches. Last week he said he hated garlic. Too many magazine and newspaper articles that approach the evolution/intelligent design "debate" too freely entertain the notion that there actually is debate over the issue on anything but public relations grounds. Too many also ignore the science that is at the base of both. For these reasons I appreciate Jerry Coyne's essay in The New Republic, which unapologetically dismisses ID's claims to science. What I don't appreciate, and what I find ludicrous in the essay, is Coyne's fallacious appeals to God's benevolent creation. Case in point, appendices:

Our appendix is the vestigial remnant of an intestinal pouch used to ferment the hard-to-digest plant diets of our ancestors. (Orangutans and grazing animals have a large hollow appendix instead of the tiny, wormlike one that we possess.) An appendix is simply a bad thing to have. It is certainly not the product of intelligent design: how many humans died of appendicitis before surgery was invented?

The reason he says it is obvious. ID, after all, argues that God designed specialized creatures to be specialized in their environments. That an appendix is worthless makes the whole designed-specialization of any single specie rather untenable. But Coyne's final question relies on the benevolence paradox to to presume, rather than argue, what is basically a banal point: Why would a good designer make something that not only doesn't work, but also kills? It's Job's, Why do bad things happen to good people?, mixed with a little Bertrand Russell and the problem of evil. There's no question on what side of the fence Coyne falls. Yet it seems to me the nature and character of God is really beside his point: he claims ID has little connection to scientific (read: inductive) reasoning, and he's right. In the end, it's unnecessary either to claim or to deny or even to appeal to some fundamental characteristic of God when saying so.

posted by Greg at 5:22 PM

in colombia

well, i ve now been in colombia a little over 36 hours. i really like bogotá. it s got a very european feel to...very alpine european feel. to the east are the mountians to the west a high plain. the city is a mix of modernist type aparment buildings and two-story red brick houses with steep tiled roofs that are a terracota red covered in a green lichen.

i m staying in a great little place called "la casona del patio amarillo." it s a bedandbreakfast that has about 15 rooms and a large central patio. every room has it s own bath. yesterday, i had 2 eggs, scrambled with rolls; today, french toast with chocolate milk. given the exchange rate, it s only 33 bucks a night, or so.

yesterday, sunday, they closed down one of the main drags...they do this every sunday from 7 am - 2 pm and friends and family go out on bikes, skates, skateboards, or just to walk or run together. they also do yoga in the park...it was strange to come across a bunch of people down on all fours in the middle of a park on pavement with no mats. they play classical music and have someone who calls out the various positions they are supposed to do, much like squaredancing. i cringed as i watched their knees beardown on the concrete. colombians love their dogs...there were dogs every where...single dog walkers, groups 3 friends, entire families all walking their dogs...dogs in cars and dogs in taxis.

being someone who has crooked teeth, i was struck by the perfect teeth of the kids on the plane down. school starts this week and so on the ride down there were a bunch of upper middle class kids coming back from summer camp in the usa and canada. i assumed it was that they all got braces...but now that i m here, i see almost everybody has beautiful teeth.

it s a wonder full 65 degrees almost all year round.

i just got my shoes shined...watching a shoeshiner who knows what he s doing is a true act of beauty. it only cost me 75 us cents. in the dominican, shoeshiners were typically kids; here they are all men.

bogotá, for a city of 7 million, is very clean...that is, if you don t pay attention to the diesel exhaust.

the conference begins today, but i ve already met a brazilian and a norwegean scholar.

posted by Jeremy at 10:04 AM

here's lookin' at you kid

We've just gotten back from a trip to see Evan's great-grandfather up in south-middle Ohio. We stayed in the house that he and his wife built in 1947. A fuse blew, and I helped him change it out...he still has a stash of 1947 fuses!

Evan now gives big, wet, open mouth slobbery kisses. She grabs her toes. She rolls from front to back and back to front; however, she can only do this to her left, so she rolls across the room in one direction. She has started to make more consonant sounds: she's been glotal for a while, but now she's making bi-labial plosives and fricatives, labio-dental and dental/alveolar, which, since she has no teeth, are more labial than anything.

In a week I head off to Bogotá, Colombia. Hopefully by then I will have polished up an essay for publication and have posted a doble movie review on Hermits.

posted by Jeremy at 8:18 AM