concessions of the weak

After reading a never-published story about homosexuality on campus, I couldn't help but be struck by a certain quote. This quote, said by a certain president at a certain private Christian university in a certain West Texas town, was no doubt a typical thing for this man to say considering his title and position. However, I've got a problem with it.

When talking about practicing gay students on campus, this president said that if the university is doing its job, the students should feel uncomfortable on campus, adding that the school should be up-front about it's belief that homosexuality is a sin. "It doesn't matter what society thinks or practices," he said. "God's side is clear."

Again, I understand his need to take a strong stand against homosexuality, but I couldn't help but be bothered by his sentiment. Is making a Christian brother or sister feel uncomfortable about their sin really the best way to approach the issue? Will making gay students feel secluded and condemned open the floor up for dialogue on the subject of homosexuality, or will we really just be turning even more people away from Christ by being self-righteous? Where's the balance?

Homosexuality is only one of the many giant elephants in the room at this certain university. I can't help but wonder when we'll finally be brave enough to truly discuss the issues, not just have a forum where a student who had had same-sex feelings tells how they changed their ways and how you can, too. It's a start, yes, but it's not near enough. Life is just more complicated than that.

going to the chapel

This one goes out to Karen Shields (right), soon to be Mrs. Karen Benavidez. Congratulations on your engagement! Plus, she's graduating in two weeks. I suddenly feel very old.

On a side note, isn't it interesting that our high school friend who went to a public university is now engaged, but those of us who attended the Marriage Factory itself are all graduating single? I guess some of us really can make it out alive.

Congrats again, sweetie!

my glasses are really a disguise

I don't know about the mild-mannered part, but at least I can fly. So there.


You are Superman

Superman 75% Spider-Man 75% Supergirl 67% Green Lantern 65% Robin 47% Wonder Woman 47% Catwoman 45% The Flash 40% Hulk 40% Batman 35% Iron Man 35%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

thanks

Great Thanksgiving editorial in The Washington Post yesterday.

THANKSGIVING IS, for many, the most affecting of the holidays, a complex mixture of memories, emotions and family obligations that has both its happy and somber moments. This year it's been simplified somewhat, at least so far as the spirit of the day is concerned. To state it plainly: We have a lot to be grateful for in this country, and the gratitude we feel ought to beget great generosity. Lord knows, it's needed right now.

In the past 12 months, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced by water, wind, earthquake and fire -- not to mention the usual acts of human violence and the ravages of disease. Each disaster -- tsunami, hurricane, the horrendous quake in Kashmir -- produces its own wave of charitable giving, the responses varying in size and extent depending on such things as media coverage, proximity and other unpredictable factors. But no matter how great the need, one thing is almost certain: The need will exceed, by a considerable margin, the popular attention span for dealing with it. Which is why, last month, not that long after hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the earthquake, you could already find headlines in this paper that read, "Donations Slowing as Disasters Mount Worldwide" and "Charities Report Low Donations for Quake Victims."

This isn't to say that people have lacked generosity. The amounts given for tsunami and hurricane relief have totaled several billion dollars. But more is needed, especially for those facing winter in the Himalayas with little or no shelter and limited food supplies. The series of natural disasters -- including catastrophic mudslides in Central America that seem to have largely escaped the world's attention -- have caused some to speak once again, inevitably, of "compassion fatigue." But look around -- there's little evidence of wallet fatigue in what people are wearing and driving and the places so many of us are living in. During the recent budget debates, Congress argued about cutting $50 billion, and some commented on what a small percentage that was of the national wealth and of budgets that run into the trillions. Small? Imagine what just a fraction of it, added to the fraction already donated, could do to alleviate the suffering that continues in many parts of the world, including this country.

We're into the traditional season of giving. Would that we could deepen and extend it in the interest of charity as much as we have expanded our various holiday occasions in the interest of selling.

the trump shall resound

Column: Thanksgiving evokes bittersweet memories

Review: Phoenix brings Man in Black to life in 'Line' (I made a mistake; Phoenix did in fact meet Cash before he died. I suck.)

funny

Courtesy of The Onion.

and i'm asking people to hire me?

I'm one of those people.
You know, those stupid people who end up on Jaywalking on The Tonight Show or who talk during movies.
As I sat in Environmental Science today, an entry-level course that I cannot mathematically make an A in unless the teacher drops a certain test grade for everyone, I realized I'm not as good of a U.S. citizen as I had thought. We were looking at U.S. map that didn't have states' names on it. Now, I can sing Fifty Nifty United States, which lists all 50 states in alphabetical order, but I don't think I can say where every state is located on the map. Maybe if I had an hour and a set of map pencils, I could, but not this morning. But seriously, can you do it? Try it in your head without writing anything down or looking stuff up. Seriously.

In other news, I locked my keys in my car at the gas station today. Fortunately, a campus police officer was eating lunch at Rosa's across the street from the station and was able to pop my lock. Sometimes, I'm amazed I've lived this long.

countdown

Hooray for villans. An incentive to make it through the week.

The way Kathie Lee needed Regis -- that's the way I need Jesus

Welcome to the suck.

how far should you go to be heard?

"At that period, apparently indifferent, something of a revolutionary thrill was vaguely felt. Whispers coming from the depths of '89 and '92 were in the air. Young Paris was, excuse the expression, in the process of molting. People were transformed almost with suspecting it, by the very movement of the time. The hand which moves over the dial moves also among souls.

Each one took the step forward which was before him. Royalists became liberals, liberals became democrats.

It was like a rising tide, complicated by a thousand ebbs; the peculiarity of the ebb is to make mixtures; thence very singular combinations of ideas; men worshiped at the same time Napoleon and liberty. We are now writing history. These were the mirages of that day. Opinions pass through phases. Voltarian royalism, a grotesque variety, had a fellow not less strange, Bonapartist liberalism.

Other groups of minds were more serious. They fathomed principle; they attached themselves to right. They longed for the absolute, they caught glimpses of the infinite realizations; the absolute by its very rigidity pushes the mind toward the boundless, and makes it float in the illimitable. There is nothing like dream to create the future. Utopia today, flesh and blood tomorrow."

the city i live in, the city of angels. lonely as i am, together we cry

I'm flying to Los Angeles in a little more than a month to visit my older sibling. Things I plan to do:

1. Stalk celebrities.
2. Go on a celebrity homes tour.
3. Take pictures of my favorite celebrities' stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
4. If Daniel can swing passes, run around Disney World like crazy, having my picture taken with Mickey and the gang.
5. Go to the beach.
6. Eat an In-N-Out burger.
7. Go to Rodeo Drive.
8. Take pictures of famous streets and their signs.
9. Annoy my brother by acting like a tourist.
10. Stalk some more celebrities.

If any of you have other suggestions, feel free to share them.

Days left in school: 17 school days, 5 final days.

Current listening: Life in Slow Motion, David Gray and Strange and Beautiful, Aqualung
Current reading: In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Most recent purchase on iTunes: Run, by Snow Patrol (thanks, Courtney)

I'm awesome. My new opinion: you're never too old to trick-or-treat. The Optimist staff had a grand time on Halloween, driving to our professors' houses and begging for candy before we begrudgingly went back to the office to work on our next issue. It took a while for us to convince the guys to join the fun, but everyone loved the excursion.

his only begotten son

Another reason not to live in a red state.

A favorite movie of mine is The American President. In the climactic ending where President Andrew Shepherd is giving a speech defending himself against his opponent, presidential hopeful Bob Rumson, he sums up Rumson'’s stances on issues fairly well. He tells the American public that Bob Rumson doesn'’t care about their problems; he cares about two things and two things only: making you afraid of them and telling you who'’s to blame for them. That's how you win elections.

It appears Middle America has been listening to too many Bob Rumsons. Homosexuals, those who have abortions, unwed mothers, the media and liberals in general have all been blamed for the downfall of our society. We'’ve been made afraid of them, thinking our society will continue to worsen if they are openly accepted. After being afraid of them and then blaming them, we conveniently lumped them into one group and gave them a name: sinners.

The only problem is that we forgot to put ourselves in the group, too. We'’re all sinners, just as much as the next person, white or black, Jew or Gentile, gay or straight. God doesn't view us any differently, so why should we?

Too many thoughts circulate in my mind about this issue, and it's hard for me to adequately surmise the important factors to be taken into consideration. All I know is that I'm tired of it all, and I'm tired of feeling alienated in my own religion.

it's all happening

The latest. I actually like this one (the review, not the movie).

Christmas came early

Don't you think they look alike? I do. This came to me today, sometime between laughing about Scooter being indicted and smiling about Miers withdrawing her name. I'm such a jerk.

searching for my lost shaker of salt

An actual conversation I had with a checker at H-E-B yesterday, sparked on by the ACU shirt I was wearing:

Checker (male, about 19, glasses, nerdy): You know, I hate to tell you this, but Abilene High School is a better school than ACU.
Me: Um, OK.
Checker: No, really. I mean, a lot of our classes are better and we have college-level classes, like Calculus.
Me, confused: What year are you there?
Checker: Oh, I graduated.
Me: Where do you go now?
Checker: Nowhere, I can't afford it.
Me: Well, going to ACU is better than sitting at home and doing nothing.
Checker: I'm not sitting at home, I'm sitting here working to earn money so I can afford to go to school.

I don't think I said anything after than, just made an annoyed face, picked up my bags of groceries and headed for the door. My sitting at home comment was rude, I know, but I was just confused as to why a high school graduate was telling me my education was a sham. Apparently, I've been kidding myself these past four years. I should have just audited Abilene High classes and I'd be good to go. Thanks for the tip, random checker person. Oh, the fun people you meet in Abilene.

Dean Barnard's worst nightmare

So, the Associated Press picked up the story of three ACU social clubs having their pledging halted for hazing investigations, unapproved activities or the resignation of their sponsors. Several papers and networks picked it up, including The Fort Worth Star Telegram and The Houston Cronicle. For a more complete list, click here. This can't bode well for the future of social clubs.

she probably doesn't know what she's talking about, but she at least references "The Godfather: Part II"

Hooray for columns! I like this one and let's pray it's accurate. Miers added to Bush's croney staff. I know I keep only posting my Optimist stuff on here, but life is too crazy because of Homecoming for me to be creative.

you can't take the skies from me

The latest. The review's not that great, but the movie is.

take my love, take my land

I sat in a theatre filled with some normal people, and some strange-looking people. I've decided most of the strange people were there not just because of the movie's subject matter, but because I was at the Mall of Abilene movie theatre on a Saturday afternoon. Serenity was great, but now I want the stories to continue. Maybe if the film is successful, sequels will be in the works. You should all get past the sci-fi/western label of the film and see it. It's amazing. Daniel and I can die happy now that we've seen it.