Space Enough, and Time

“We Dreamed a Dream. . .”

Posted on February 22, 2013 by awtraughber

This week has been unexpectedly busy and unexpectedly good. On top of a packed work week, I’ve had the opportunity to catch up with dear friends, to bring people from times past into times present. So even though a lot of what I intended to post has been put on hold, I thought I’d pass along this gem. Michael Giacchino said that the following was a video that showed true commitment. I have to agree. This guy sells it well, makes me wonder if the scene might be in the director’s cut of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. . .

Back to other stuff tomorrow.

Posted in Movies, Music | Tagged Gollum, I Dreamed a Dream | 1 Comment

Professional Sports: A Strange Source for Alienation

Posted on February 18, 2013 by awtraughber

Bill Simmons, the head honcho over at Grantland, recently posted an intense article about the issue of performance-enhancing drugs and professional sports. The same can be said for the reader response that Simmons posted a few days ago here.

What was most interesting for me was Simmons’ admission of a split in his perspective because of things that happened at the end of January: Something of a disconnect had emerged between my private conversations and the things I wrote for Grantland/ESPN. In essence, I had turned into two people. . . Sports Fan Me is candid, jaded, suspicious of everyone. Sports Fan Me repeatedly gets involved in arguments and e-mail chains centered on the question, “Do you think he’s cheating?” while ESPN Me sticks his head in the sand and doesn’t say anything. ESPN Me occasionally pushes narratives that he doesn’t totally believe in.

Anyone who mixes passion with employment runs the risk of an oddly-divided self. I wasn’t expecting to find such a real-life example of casual-but-not alienation on a sports-and-culture site. I thought alienation was something I’d only read about in Nouwen and Walker Percy and the random psych book published in the 90s. But it’s real, seeps into the least-expected places, does a weird kind of internal damage that many aren’t even aware of. It’s definitely something worth talking about. Until then, let’s hope alienation doesn’t lead to this:

Posted in Internet | Tagged Bill Simmons, grantland | Leave a comment

The Truth of Pam Halpert’s Decision

Posted on February 17, 2013 by awtraughber

Say what you will about the slow death of NBC’s The Office: chances are, it’s probably true. While the show has never recovered from the loss of Michael Scott, it still has moments (or at least touches) of greatness (and by greatness I mean an elevation of our very human condition in the midst of ennui and dysfunction).

Case in point: Pam Beasley Halpert’s decision in this past week’s episode, “Moving On,” had the receptionist-turned-sales-associate interviewing for a new job in Philadephia, where her husband had recently joined a start-up company. At she walked into the real estate office where the interview was to take place, she met the office boss. As she watches his mannerisms and and hears his spiel, she realizes that she has seen this all before: in her days of working for Michael Scott (whose name gets a rare mention this episode). My first reaction: this would be so easy for Pam! She’s already had to learn to deal with this! And then my second reaction: don’t do this, Pam! You’ve outgrown this! And that was the decision that she had to make by episode’s end.

It was with great relief (for a television show) that Pam turned the job down. It was a moment that showed how much she had grown. I know that there are those that would say she should’ve taken the sure-bet job for the sake of her family, and I understand that. But there is this sense that some things are about moving forward, even if it makes life a little more difficult. Not to go all “Donald Miller” with the episode, but I think it became clear (to Pam and to the audience) that “Pam knew she was part of a story bigger than that.” It’s a struggle many of us face, often on a regular basis: settling verses striving. But Pam handled it well, this decision about her life’s story. I’m curious to see where the show’s writers take her over the next few and final months.

Posted in Television | Tagged The Office | Leave a comment

Ash Wednesday Illustration

Posted on February 14, 2013 by awtraughber

The following uncredited story was shared in the Ash Wednesday service I attended last night:

There was a couple who already had one little boy and had another on the way. The boy would often ask where little brothers came from. “Your little brother is a gift from God.” The answer seemed to do well by the boy.

Weeks and months and trimesters passed until the second son was born. A few days later, the second son was brought home by his parents and the oldest son slowly got used to having another brother around. Time passed, and eventually the older son asked for permission to talk to his little brother . . . alone. The request seemed strange to the boys parents, but he didn’t drop the request. The parents called their family doctor and asked if it would be okay for the brother to speak to his brother alone, with no one else in the room. While he, too, thought the request strange, he didn’t see any real problem with it. “Just turn the baby monitor on and sneak it in the crib as a safety precaution.” They did, and so the older brother finally got a chance to speak to his brother.

He went in alone, walked gingerly up to his little brother in the crib. He said hello. And then he asked his little brother this: “Little brother, mom and dad said that you were a gift from God. So I was wondering- could you tell me what God was like? How did it feel to be with him? Because it’s been a long time since I saw him and I just can’t remember.”

“Lent is about remembering,” the speaker said. And while there were many things said and done in the service, it’s the story that I’ll remember. I’m not sure about you, but as I read through the Gospel of Luke this Lenten season, I look forward to remembering the stories of Jesus and working to shape my life around them, rooting my life in them.

Posted in Faith | Tagged Ash Wednesday, Lent | Leave a comment

The Dangers of Accumulation

Posted on February 12, 2013 by awtraughber

One of the coolest words of childhood during the winter months is accumulation. It’s not enough for there to be flurrie of snow: there must be enough snow to get a principal or central office to cancel school for the day. The more snow, the better the sledding and snowmen and snowball fights.

Unfortunately, accumulation isn’t such a good thing in adulthood. In fact, it can be quite dangerous professionally. Starting one meeting late isn’t that big of a deal. The same can be said for not finishing a class on time or missing a deadline of the minor kind. But multiple late meetings? Multiple missed deadlines? Those things add up, flake adds onto flake, until you have a completely different landscape. It’s a landscape that you can get trapped in and that others have a difficult time maneuvering through.

Be careful of accumulation. The joy of winter is one thing. The day-in and day-out of work and ministry is a different thing entirely. It’s the accumulation that can turn questioning people off or away. That’s the kind of accumulation we cannot afford.

Posted in Teaching | Leave a comment

Narcotics, Chesterton, and Two Reasons for Repeating

Posted on February 11, 2013 by awtraughber

I recently sat through a meeting I am sure I have had at least two times before . . . and almost nothing seemed to have changed in the intervening years. It was a sad and frustrating moment that left me thinking about the repetitive things in life.

I believe there are two reasons why we repeat things: dysfunction and delight.

I had not heard “insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results” until a few years ago. Einstein gets credit for it, as does an author named Rita Mae Brown. Turns out that it’s probably a quote from a Narcotics Anonymous handbook, which makes perfect sense. Sometimes in life we repeat things because of some dysfunction: a problem in the system or the personality. We may think we have done something about it until we realize oh no, we have not. It creeps back in, forces us to wrestle, steals any joy we may have, and then slinks away until another inopportune time.

The other, and superior, option is delight. G. K. Chesterton said it best in Orthodoxy:

A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always says “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is . . . It is possible that God says every morning “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

I suppose much of life lands somewhere in between the poles of dysfunction and delight. I’d like to think that the repetition that I have built into my life is rooted in delight, in things that bring joy and a kind of peace but also a kind of excitement. Take a moment today and think on the recurring things in life: conversations and conflicts, actions and reactions, and see what side of the spectrum they fall on. Heaven help us to fill our lives with the repetition of delight, moments precious like the making of each daisy.

Posted in Books, Faith, Teaching | Tagged daisies, GK Chesterton | Leave a comment

Miller and the Question of Contentment

Posted on February 8, 2013 by awtraughber

Lately I’ve been spending a lot more time at home. I still make it to the gym and get to church a couple of times a week and enjoy talking to my students and neighbor, but for the most part, I’m spending time at home, brewing and drinking coffee, reading, writing, and walking in the neighborhood (when the rain’s not falling in the valley). Part of this is because I am grieving the end of a particular period in my life here in Hawaii. Part of it is because I’m trying to live a more disciplined life. And part of it is a real attempt at re-embracing contentment.

Donald Miller wrote about contentment a couple of weeks ago. His perspective was from “the downsized life.” Turns out he’s put most of his stuff in storage, bought a camping van, and is now living in DC for half a year living a simpler life and working. And while I appreciate the impulse in general, he wrote one phrase about his situation that almost yelled at me from my computer screen:

For me, downsizing was about no longer buying the stuff I thought would make me content. I realize now it really won’t. In fact, getting rid of the clutter and square feet made the “pursuit of happiness” that much easier. There was less false hope around.

And while that may not be the case for all of us in search of something, it is a strange version of the case for me. I already live a relatively simple life: my life is almost a closed circuit of simplicity. But my great area of discontent hasn’t been in possessions; it has been in relationships. Over the last year or so, an unexpected relational simplicity has been all but forced on me, and I have not been able to see that for what it was: a way of refocusing me hope.

I encourage you to check out Miller’s post on contentment here. I especially like his list for being content in life. Even if your list is different, it’s nice to think through.

Posted in Faith, The Long Story | Tagged Donald Miller, Simplicity | Leave a comment

October 19th is Finally Here!

Posted on February 7, 2013 by awtraughber

For many of us, today has been at least 3 months in the waiting. NBC has been trying to figure out what to do with its current Thursday night line-up for some time now. Lots of half-seasons and strange season premiere dates and double-shipping of episodes. And somewhere in the final seasons of 30 Rock (RIP) and The Office (how is that going to end) and trying to get other shows to work, critically-acclaimed but sorely under-watched Community has been lost and finally found.

The rub, of course, is that the show lost its show-runner at the end of last season. With the loss of Dan Harmon, I can’t help but be a little concerned for tonight’s season premiere. Say what you will about him, the guy knew how to create an unrepeatable show that demands repeated viewings.

Andy Greenwald, who I mention often on this site, posted a perspective on the show after following it last season and seeing the first two episodes of this new, shorter season. In it, he confirms some of my fears. Of course the show will feel different; the question becomes a matter of how different. Maybe a show without Harmon is like Saved by the Bell without Zack and Kelly, ER without Edwards and Clooney, and The Office without Steve Carell. Check out the article here. It’s very well-done and makes many nods to the best the show had to offer in its first three seasons.

I’ll be hopeful tonight; I’m looking forward to seeing the study group and where the show goes in whatever time it has left. If there’s one thing for certain, it’s that Community can always surprise you.

Posted in Television | Tagged Community, October 19 | Leave a comment

Keller and the Collective Heart

Posted on February 6, 2013 by awtraughber

I’ve not read much by Tim Keller, pastor of the Redeemer Church in New York, but I am definitely a fan of his most recent blog entry, “Preaching to the Collective Heart.”

In the entry, Keller writes about how some have taken his use of culture references as a way of “engaging culture” through his preaching. While I’ve never preached to a crowd like Keller, I have tried to engage people (primarily students) through the use of cultural touchpoints. It’s not something I see or experience anymore: I live in a religious culture entrenched in local culture and “safe for the whole family” Christian culture. And while those things are culture, they are not things that connect with me much.

According to Keller, preachers are to “preach the truth, preach the news, and preach to make the truth real to the heart.” Whatever cultural references he uses, he says he uses them as part of his “effort to reach the heart.” And by heart he means going “right for the commanding commitments of people’s lives that drive their desires, thinking, feeling, and action.” Mix that with his definition of culture, a collective heart, and you’ve got an interesting way of looking at the task of preaching to those both Christian and not.

I don’t want to steal Keller’s thunder by quoting it all here; I encourage you to read the whole article (check out the link at the top of this entry). The final nugget, though: I seek to make plain the foundations of our city’s culture in order to help people understand themselves more fully and imagine what it means (or would mean) to live a Christian life here.

God, give our preachers hearts that can speak to the heart, and make our hearts open and ready to respond.

Posted in Faith, Internet, Teaching | Tagged Tim Keller | Leave a comment

Nouwen and the “Real Life” Fallacy

Posted on February 5, 2013 by awtraughber

One of the phrases that frustrates me most as a teacher always starts “but in the real world. . .” I understand the idea, that you want to expose students to situations and problems that they will come across once they enter college or the world of work. At the same time, I’ve always felt that such language actually diminishes the importance of what is being learned in high school, that “the world you’re living in now isn’t quite as real as the one you’ll get to when you graduate.”

Turns out that Henri Nouwen dealt with some of this in his book, Creative Ministry. In his section on teaching, Nouwen asserts that such “real life” language and the culture it inadvertently creates is

. . . alienating because the eyes of the student are directed outwards, away from himself and his direct relationships into the future where real things are supposed to happen to him. School, then, comes to be seen as only a preparation for later life, for the “real” life. One day the classroom will at last be left behind, the books be closed, the teacher forgotten, and life can begin . . . It is not surprising, therefore, that many students are bored and tired during class and are killing time by anxiously waiting until the bell rings and they can start doing their own thing . . . [in such a setting students and teachers] have been pulled away from their own experiences; they are staring into the horizon expecting something to appear there, while at the same time they have become blind to what is happening right in front of them.

Imagine that and add in the ubiquity of the internet and texting and a 24-hour news cycle culture that says life is always going on without you. Sobering thought.

I refuse to believe that teaching has to be this way, but I can’t help but believe that school’s are shooting themselves in the foot by using such language and creating such a culture. It diminishes our teachers and short-changes our students. The walk across the graduation stage does not have to be the shaking of the Etch-a-sketch or the rebooting of an operating system. It has the potential to be so much more, a place of generation more than of alienation. It is a culture that Nouwen calls redemptive and actualizing. That is a good hope, one I believe is worth pursuing.

Posted in Books, Faith, Teaching | Tagged Creative Ministry, Henri Nouwen | Leave a comment