Donald Miller, Douglas Coupland, and Inauguration

Posted on January 21, 2013 by awtraughber

inaugurationI WAS QUITE PLEASED to see that Donald Miller had posted a blog entry about the Inauguration.  I was more than pleasantly surprised when I discovered that his post spoke well of Douglas Coupland’s Life after God, a series of interconnected stories revolving around a narrator who has left God behind.  And yet, as the story ends, the narrator declares:

My secret is that I need God– that I am sick and can no longer make it alone.  I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem to be capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love, as I seem beyond being able to love.

One key turn for the narrator, Miller points out, was the presidential inauguration he visits while on the East Coast (as opposed to being home in Canada).  It is this point that Miller draws connections between God and inauguration, the hints of our need not for royalty but for a King.  That “Perhaps before we get too excited or too deflated about this week’s inauguration we can remember the One that is to come.”  We are a forward-looking people.  Not that we forget the past or ignore the present, but we live in light of the one who is the Light, whose reign is sure, and whose kingdom knows no end.

You can read all of Miller’s entry here.

Photo courtesy the Washington Post

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A Song I Would Sing (to My Students)

Posted on January 14, 2013 by awtraughber

I’VE HAD OVER 600 STUDENTS pass through my classroom over the last six years.  And while each connection is different, I’d be lying if I did not confess a great deal of care for each of them.  I don’t sing much at school these days; it’s a bit of an awkward proposition.  But if I did, I’d find a way to sing this song: Andrew Peterson’s “You’ll Find Your Way.”  Since I can’t sing it for you, I can at least point you to it.¹

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¹  I am mindful of the words of Augustine, mainly because my Faith & Literature class is about to start reading selections from his Confessions: . . . for you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.  We should be relentless in our searching, restless.  We may not always understand what we’re looking for, but I can’t help but believe a lot of it is a search for the God who loves us.

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A University Worth Attending

Posted on January 2, 2013 by awtraughber

WHERE CAN WE GET APPLICATIONS for this school?

I remember seeing the first trailer for Monsters, Inc. years ago and not being impressed at all.  And then, when I went to see it upon release, I was more than pleasantly surprised.

This kind of “goody” is part of what makes creativity so great.  Just something to put out there to make people stop and smile.  Such things may not make the world go round, but they do make parts of the trick a little more enjoyable.

I wonder if financial aid is available?

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New Year, New You, New CS Lewis, Too!

Posted on January 1, 2013 by awtraughber

C. S. LewisTURNING OVER A NEW LEAF IS ONE THING; jumping trees is something else entirely.

Turns out that’s exactly what C. S. Lewis did following the events of World War II.  According to an article posted at Christianity Today titled “Why C. S. Lewis Didn’t Write for Christianity Today,” Lewis made a complete shift from his apologetic to fiction-writing self. ¹

Following the writing of Miracles, Lewis moved from (his version of) straight-forward apologetics to (his own version of) straight-forward fiction.  That earlier approach, the article suggests, was “tailor-made for men at war.”  But after the war?  Turns out he wanted to write stories to “help get past the eyes of watchful dragons.”  It wasn’t an easy shift, just as I imagine apologetics can be a difficult thing.²  But it was one he found necessary and important.  Because of it we have treasures beyond just Narnia: the Space trilogy, The Great Divorce, Til We Have Faces.  These are books that work their own magic in their own telling and work their magic well.

I am mindful of this, here at the beginning of a new year.  How interesting that Lewis, who did his work so well, would move from one mode to another, seemingly willingly.  It gives one hope for the long road.  Not that any of us are necessarily masters of what we are already doing, but that we can (even later in one’s professional career) make new paths that become just as vital as the old ones.  To understand the need for that shift and to be willing to make it.  That is good courage, and that is heartening here for me as this new year begins.

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¹ As a child, I remember thinking that the shows that my afternoon shows (The Jetsons, The Facts of Life) were all first-run shows.  It was years before I realized that they were syndicated reruns.  The same with most writers’ works.  Even when we have a list of publication dates before us, it can be difficult to see any flow or shift.  We take them as we get them.  I’ve read a good bit of Lewis, but I had yet to make this connection.

²  One of my favorite classes to teach is my “Introduction to Christian Thought” class,  which is mostly apologetics.  It can wear on me, speaking of the faith in a certain way that is more from the outside than the inside.  Quote from Lewis found in the article:  “That is why we apologists take our lives in our hands and can be saved only by falling back continually from the web of our own arguments … from Christian apologetics into Christ Himself.”

(photo courtesy of assistnews.net)

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2012: The Year of Richard Parker

Posted on December 30, 2012 by awtraughber

Richard ParkerTHERE IS A MOMENT at the end of Life of Pi where Pi (the survivor) and Richard Parker (the tiger) finally reach land.   Pi, collapsed on the beach, finds his throat so dry that he cannot speak, cannot utter a word as Richard Parker, his nemesis and sole link to his old life, slowly slinks into the jungle, never to be seen again.  With the quiet whish of a tired tail, both a defining relationship and a way of life are over.

When I moved to Hawaii almost ten years ago, I was mostly optimistic about my prospects at making some kind of life.  I found most of my connections through work and church (as most relationships require some kind of medium for regular connection).   Ebb and flow as they did, they were still good.  2012 was the year many of those connections changed.  While some of that change started earlier, this was the year I felt it most.  Church friends left.  Work friends left.  Shifts in families happened.  I fumbled my way through most of it.¹  And in the end I sat there, mostly like Pi, unable to say much of anything.  And what was there to say?  “Stop?  Don’t do this?”  I may have tried in some cases, but to no avail.²  Life moves on; the tiger has left the beach.

A friend once told me that when things change in life that are beyond you, any opportunity for “renegotiation” is rare.  Once the initial “deal” has changed, coming up with a “new deal” is difficult if not impossible.  I’m curious to see how that plays out in 2013.  I choose to believe that some kind of recovery is possible, though what new thing you find might look and act a little different.  I do know, as I end 2012, that significant parts of my way of life over the last nine years are over.  And I grieve that, though not as one who has no hope.  The tiger has left the beach, but something else is on the horizon; “there’s another hill ahead.”  Make no mistake: 2012 was a solid year full of good moments with great people in beautiful places.³  I am a million ways grateful for all of them.  But 2012  had more than its fair share of “Richard Parker” moments.  That’s why I’ll give him some credit here at the end of the year.

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¹  I have long known that I’m not the best at maintaining relationships.  I’m frustratingly passive-aggressive.  Maybe one day I’ll get it right.

²  It’s such a strange place to be in, and we’ve all been there.  How do you hold on to what is good but also move ahead, push forward?  I suppose things like high school and college (and even graduate school for some) feel different because they have “terminal moments.”  Almost everyone around you walks across a stage and moves on from there.  I wasn’t expecting versions of that to happen this far into adulthood. Shows how much I understand things. . .

³  A few of them: senior trip to Maui (sometimes you just have to step up); late April trip to Portland to visit the coast and see former students and spend two days listening to Donald Miller talk “story”; a great baccalaureate and end-of-the-year with seniors; a good summer school experience; a fall break trip to Denver to see dear friends (and their little one) and a part of the country I had never seen before.  Yes, 2012 was a great year.  But something about that Richard Parker moment stands out as a real through-line for me.

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Books in 2012: The December Dismantle

Posted on December 29, 2012 by awtraughber

2Library-Books012 WAS A GREAT YEAR FOR BOOKS, at least for me.  I spent much of the last ten years “catching up” with authors I did not know.  And while there are dozens of dozens of important books I have not read, I think perhaps I have at least a bit of a foothold in the mountain of text written these days.

2012 saw new books from Eggers, Tropper, Chabon, Wright, Bissell, Franzen, and (posthumously) David Foster Wallace.  I got to meet one author this year, Donald Miller, who I’ve been reading for the better part of a decade.  I saw some of my favorite books turned into movies.  I found myself revisiting the thoughts of A. W. Tozer for most of the last half of 2012.  And I ended the year with the hint of better things to come all-around with the likes of Robin Sloan.

And so, my three most engaging reads:

1.  Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore.  It was an adventure story that connected the dots between books and technology.  It was sincere and hopeful.  And it introduced me to Sloan, who has solid web presence.  He’s a great thinker, perhaps in line with Coupland and McLuhan for me.  I look forward to what he has to say in the future.  You can read a really interesting write-up of Sloan here.  And speaking of McLuhan. . .

2.  Every Love Story is a Ghost Story.  This biography by D. T. Max of David Foster Wallace was good look at the deceased author’s life that reminded me a lot of McLuhan in the sense that DFW understood the effects of a ubiquitous television culture.  From Max’s view, DFW grew to become a kind of morality writer, which I saw hints of in the recent release of Both Flesh and Not, which was one final collection of DFW’s essays.  If you had told me at anytime in the past that I would enjoy a decade-old essay about professional tennis, I would’ve laughed a good laugh.  But I did and it was enthralling.  I know that biographies make you feel like you know someone better even though you don’t.  But it definitely added understanding to an author I am still getting to know.

3.  The Pursuit of God.  I was introduced to A. W. Tozer years ago, in that space between my high school and college selves.  I reread TPOG after I bought a couple of copies as graduation gifts for students.  Then I found myself working through God’s Pursuit of Man.  Then, up through this past week, I journaled my way through The Root of the Righteous.  Tozer was no scholar, at not in our sense of the word.  And yet there is a ring of truth to so much of what he says.  I was excited to see his thoughts crossing paths with the thoughts of N. T. Wright, just as a younger me was excited to sense a connection of views between Tozer and Bonhoeffer.¹

“Your life must be an open city, with all sorts of ways to wander in,” the protagonist in Sloan’s adventure concludes.  Books and movies and music and television have been roads for me, roads and trolleys and subways.  I am thankful for them, those who write them and act them and sing them.  They make the city of my life a much better place.

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¹  In reality, Wright’s How God Became King should be one of my three mentioned.  It solidified in my mind some things, things that Tozer helped fit in my heart.  Whatever some people’s problems with Wright, I cannot help but think he has cleared away some damaging debris that can help us reimagine the kingdom of God.  And Tozer?  I’ll be revisiting his thinking much more in 2013.

(image courtesy of radionorthland.com)

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Music in 2012: The December Dismantle

Posted on December 28, 2012 by awtraughber

Death Cab for CutieANY YEAR WITHOUT NEW MUSIC FROM U2 is questionable at best.  And 2012 started slow, not much new music out there, at least not for me.  Then, around August, things picked up monumentally.  Some high points. . .

Live Music.  I can now remove Death Cab for Cutie from my “must see live at least once” list.  The band, headed by Benjamin Gibbard, did an amazing show: piano, guitars, drums, and a lot of sweat.  Best moment: “What Sarah Said.”

Radio Singles.  There were a lot of songs that dropped that I liked (and maybe even purchased) that didn’t really demand a whole-album download.  Songs I wouldn’t change the channel for: “It’s Time” by Imagine Dragons, “Ho Hey” by the Lumineers, “Home” by Phillip Phillips (thanks to the Olympics more than American Idol), “Some Nights” by Fun., and “Payphone” by Maroon 5 (why was it so darn catchy?).  Props to Fort Atlantic, whose “Let Your Heart Hold Fast” grabbed hold of me near the end of the year.

Great Albums.  Lots of great albums dropped, mostly in the year’s last half.  Andrew Osenga’s Leonard, the Lonely Astronaut had a number of good tracks, as did the new album from the Avett Brothers.  Mumford & Sons Babel was a great effort with a lot of great tracks (“Whispers in the Dark,” “Lover of the Light,” Hopeless Wanderer,” “Below My Feet,” and “Not With Haste” plus all three bonus songs) as was Andrew Peterson’s Light for the Lost Boy (more on that in a bit).  But the album that got the most play from me was the Killers’ Battle Born.  Is it retro?  Maybe.  Is it a bit of a show?  Perhaps.  But Flowers turned some amazing lyrics on the album and surprised me with some great ballads (of a sort).  Consider: “Deadlines and Commitments,” “Miss Atomic Bomb,” “Heart of a Girl,” “From Here on Out,” and “Be Still.”  They aren’t radio smashes (at least not in today’s market), but they show some kind of growth and thought.  I found myself haunted by the ending of “Heart of a Girl” a few days ago, which was strange.  But that ending sums up so much of what seems to be on Flowers’s mind these days.  Wonderfully mellow album.

Song of a Lifetime? But every now and again, a song (or set of songs) comes out that really captures something, something that breaks your heart and puts it back together again.  I mentioned Peterson’s Light for the Lost Boy as a great album, which it is.  But the last three songs on the album?  Heartbreakingly hopeful.  “Carry the Fire” and “You’ll Find Your Way” are like compasses, reminding you that direction is a real thing, even if you find yourself going in the wrong one.  And while they stand well on their own, they are great as preludes to the last song, a 10-minute track titled “Don’t You Want to Thank Someone.”  It took me a while to actually listen to it because I thought it was going to be some cheesy track.  But then I listened to it, again and again, everywhere I took my iPod.  I played it loud in my classroom.  Months later I’m still playing it, and I have to admit that I find myself choked up by it often.  The song builds well, authentically.  It captures the human condition, and the Christian condition, amazingly well.  And, like the songs prior, it leaves you deeply hopeful (and thankful).  You can actually check out two versions of the song here.  The first version is the demo, guitar and voice only.  The second version is a concert clip.  I encourage you to listen to both.  And read the article it’s embedded in.  It’s a song I am definitely thankful for.

(photo courtesy of me at the Death Cab concert)

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TV in 2012: The December Dismantle

Posted on December 27, 2012 by awtraughber

Old TelevisionI BECAME AN INADEQUATE CRITIC OF TELEVISION the day that The Sopranos first aired.  Over the last decade, “quality” televion has made premium cable channels home.  So while I dabble with cable some (mostly for “genre” television), most of what I watch can be found on the big 3 2/3.

This year’s big cable offerings for me were actually slim: The Walking Dead and Doctor Who.  In 2012, TWD ended its horribly slow second season and entered into a third season that started strong then barely stayed afloat until its mid-season finale.  It’s weird, watching a show where you like hardly any of the main characters.  And as much as I’d hoped to love this year’s five-episode run of Doctor Who, it wasn’t until this week’s Christmas special that I felt the joy and suprise the show usually brings.¹

And so it was network TV that kept my attention this year, and the shows that did that were mostly returning favorites.  I did watch the first season of Grimm over the summer and even caught it’s initial season two mini-arc, but I’ve sense fallen behind without much desire to catch up.  The only other “new” shows for me were FOX’s The Mindy Project, which is slowly growing on me, and NBC’s Revolution, which slowly grew stale on me.²

Three shows kept me on my toes this year, all of them on CBS (eek).  The Amazing Race and Survivor had two great cycles each in 2012 (their fall cycles were especially engaging).  And while none of those I rooted for won this year, they did provide good twists and turns.   The other show in this category for me was How I Met Your Mother, and that because it continues to strike a chord with my current life experience.³

What’s let for me?  The New Girl looks continues to mature well. 30 Rock is coming to an end in January, just in time for Community (the most creative show out there) to return sans its original showrunner.  The Office is on its way out, too.  Glee remains a show with more misses than hits (but with the most chances for hits).  And I’m not all that sure that any spring debuts will catch my attention at this point.

Gosh.  I sound a little down on television in 2012.  Maybe so.  It’s definitely a transition period, especially as NBC loses what in my opinion was comedy gold on Thursday nights (but what was in reality a little-watched block of shows).  Perhaps I found myself reading about TV almost as much as I seemed to watch it.  Andy Greenwald writes about The Walking Dead, NBC’s Thursday nights, and other shows throughout the year, and I find myself appreciating his perspective.  You can read his end-of-the-year thoughts here.  True he talks a lot about cable, but at least half of his top ten are network (plus PBS).  Give it a look.

You can also read through Relevant Magazine‘s top ten in television list here.

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¹  I did give premium cable’s The Newsroom a try, and I quite liked it.  Granted, I’m a fan of almost anything Aaron Sorkin puts to paper and screen.  Unfortunately, only the first episode was available for any kind of download.  Ah well.

²  This was also the case last year with Abrams’ Alcatraz.  Great first couple of episodes, but then it did a slow fizzle.  Revolution could come back strong in the spring.  The question most wonder is this: will anyone still remember that they liked it at all when it returns after a four-month hiatus?

³  Shows I watch but didn’t mention: Downton Abbey (can it tighten things up when it returns in a week or two?), Modern Family (I guess I just take it for granted as I have become a sporadic viewer of the show), Happy Endings (it airs against The New Girl, I think), Sherlock (brilliant acting and directing, but season two paled in comparison to season one), and Big Brother (because that’s all that’s left in the summer).

(image couretesy of smartgeek.com)

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Movies in 2012: The December Dismantle

Posted on December 26, 2012 by awtraughber

safetyColin Trevorrow’s SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED epitomizes what I looked for at theaters this year: the unexpected.

Don’t get me wrong: I also go to the movies for a kind of comfort, as a way to relax.  Movie-makers like Whedon, Jackson, Abrams, and Nolan have shown themselves reliable in their work.  Franchises also allow for a certain amount of safety. Having read the novels or comics that so many movies were based on added to that safey net.  So while  The Dark Knight Rises and The Hobbit and Cloud Atlas (a la the Wachowskis) had their potential pitfalls, I also felt like the finished products would be as their creators intended.  And I’ve learned to trust creators.

And this made a good place for me to enjoy movies of uncertainty, either from new creators or based on quirky premises.  Like in Safety Not Guaranteed, I found myself wondering of new movies without a franchise safety net could bring more than just enjoyment: that they could take me to a new place just as surely as Aubrey Plaza’s Safety character could travel through time.  The movies in 2012 took me to some amazingly wonderful, unexpected places.

Consider Chronicle:  I had no idea of its existence until maybe two weeks before release.  A found-footage super-hero movie?  I was there.  And it was great.  Then there was the Whedon-produced Cabin in the Woods, which had been “on the shelf” for years.  Reviews were mixed, but I knew that the creators involved had something up their sleeves.  The twist beginning was great, the cynical twist ending was a place I didn’t think they would go (but did).  The innocent quest of Jeff, Who Lives at Home.  The quantum evolution relationship of Celeste and Jesse Forever.  The gut-wrenching confrontation between author and his creation in Ruby Sparks.  Those were the gems I found myself hoping for just as much as I hoped to see Bilbo meeting Gollum or Peter Parker getting bit by a radioactice spider (again).  The ultimate example of a movie that took me someplace unexpected? Rian Johnson’s Looper.  Is it about time travel?  Sure.  But then it becomes about so much more (most of which was not even hinted at in the trailer, which is a big but worthy risk).  These movies all started at one point and almost never circled back around (timeline-wise or not).  Such are the moves where movie-going safety cannot be guaranteed.¹

The general outline of the next year in movies is already well-planned: Warm Bodies, Oz, Iron Man, Gatsby, Star Trek, Man of Steel, and Monsters University for the first half of the year alone.  But it’s the movies that will fall into and rise up from the cracks that will give flesh to the skeleton, which makes 2013 that much more exciting and unpredictable.

My Most Seen in 2012: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Best Surprise: Looper (and Madascasgar 3, dang it)²

Best “Too-Soon” Reboot: The Amazing Spider-Man³

Interrupted by a Tsunami Warning: Cloud Atlas

Better Than the Reviews Let On: Brave, Rise of the Guardians, John Carter

Inspired Me To Watch Other Movies: Prometheus

Was In A Lot of Good Movies: Joseph Gordin-Levitt

Viewing Repeats Itself: Lincoln

Most Unnecessary Reveal: Middle name is Robin?  Really? Totally unnecessary.

Still Not Seen: Les Miserables, Zero Dark Thirty, Django Unchained, The Impossible

For a great look-back at the state of cinema in 2012, check out this article by Zach Baron.

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¹ Were there “misses” in this kind of movie experience this year?  Most definitely.  Seeking a Friend for the End of the World left me feeling unexpectedly cold.  Branded, save for one scene, was an utter disaster.  So just because you were slightly out of site from the big name movies was no guarantee of what I hoped for.

²  I still don’t quite understand what made Madagascar 3 so laugh-out-loud enjoyable.  I think, unlike most animated sequels, it fully embraced its absurdity.  Or maybe it’s just that the third movie in a series just works really well for me (the same thing happend with Ice Age 3).  I refuse to believe it all boils down to “afro-circus,” thought that was quite funny.

³  Another mystery.  Perhaps this should have been called “Spider-Man for those who didn’t like Tobey McGuire as Peter Parker.”  The whole cast of this movie did things just write.  Plus, there was enough of a shift in origin-and-history narrative that the story has taken on its own (quite intriguing) trajectory.  I hope more people see the sequel.

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Behold the Lamb, the King of Kings

Posted on December 23, 2012 by awtraughber

IT HASN’T FELT MUCH LIKE CHRISTMAS this year.

That’s no complaint.  It’s hopefully a healthy thing.  I got most of my shopping done early.  I haven’t been to many Christmas-y events: mainly just the Honolulu City Lights.  I haven’t given or received many gifts (though there’s a lot of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts waiting to be given).  And yet I would venture to say that I still “feel Christmas” quite a but right now: something about the shaping and reshaping of the world, the sovereign reign of a good God in the midst of messed up people.  It’s all there, takes everything into account.  And so two things here for Christmas.  First, one of my favorite Christmas songs:  the title song from Behold the Lamb of God by Andrew Peterson:

And an article from Christianity Today by David Neff titled “Worship Christ the Newborn King,” in which many good things are said.  You can read it here.

Merry Christmas to you!  And thanks for visiting and reading this site!

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