Future Bard

It was almost painful the other night to hear Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young sing about a war whose purpose Americans never really understood, started by a president who didn’t tell the truth and then waged the war ineptly. And that was before they sang about Iraq.

Andrew Rosenthal of the NY Times offers the most incisive and cogent analysis of the current (lack of an) anti-war movement in his opinion column "There Is Silence in the Streets; Where Have All the Protesters Gone?." A variety of reasons are cited, including lack of a draft and media manipulation.

However, the most haunting reason is this: politeness. My generation has been reared to believe that moderates and liberals are tolerant, polite and, above all, non-judgmental.

Yes, Jesus himself, instructs us not to judge others, but he still held ideals passionately. His passion overflowed into justified anger when he overturned the money changers tables in the temple.

Everything is not relative. We can and need to acknowledge the wide palattes of grays in real life, but some things are BLACK and WHITE. Right and wrong.

Fighting war, other than as a LAST resort, is wrong. (This eliminates every war/conflict we've fought since combating Hitler.)

Tortuing "enemy combatants" is wrong.

Holding them indefinetly without charges and a lawyer is wrong.

Remaining silent while atrocities are committed in your name is wrong.

Spending more on wars than public education is wrong.

There is no gray here. Being "subtle" or polite is not a virtue in the face of unquestionable evil.

I have done very little to oppose this war. I believe my creator will not accept "But, I was busy with grad school!" as an excuse. My lack of activism will be corrected shortly.

I returned from my writing tutorial session. My prof tore me a new one. I have a lot of work to do on the following: theme, scene structure, conflict, internalization, point of view, and how a story should progress... just to name a few.

I appreciate the honesty. We talked and created a plan of action for the next week and will do so each week for the rest of the semester. This is what I wanted.

Still, the truth friggin' hurts. So, I'm gonna mope and listen to Idlewood Blue (Don'tchu Worry About Me) on repeat for about ten minutes.

Then, I willl get back at it. :)

I am a regular participant in a new group blog called Mainstream Baptists. We have pooled our efforts into creating a recognized site for those interested in religous liberty, separation of church and state, and mainstream social issues.

Michael Westmoreland-White compiled each of the contributors' data into brief bios. Check it out here.

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I have been in a funk for the past year: unhappy with the lack of resources in my grad program, particularly the lack of instruction; overworked and underpaid; and worrying enough to drain years off my life.

I have been eerily bipolar lately. I call ecstatic and happy about my meeting with KJW and my first classes with Professor Chester. Then, the next day I come back venting and angry again.

We talked and it turns out that two years into our marriage, we still have to learn some things about each other. I do not know Monica, the worker bee. Turns out she is happy with her job and situation, happy with our current income and rather spartan amounts of disposable income (for now), and in no rush to go back to school or have a baby. If I need to stay a third year at OU, do it. If I want to go on and get a MFA, more power to me. When Moni decides she wants to go back to school, she'll do so, come hell or high water.

I think in my rush to put myself in her shoes, I transferred my own darkest fears and concerns rather than actually look at my wife's desires and needs. My own personal hell was paved with the best intentions: I want nothing more than to love and cherish my wife and serve her.

I resolved to find my way out of the funk. To stop being a worrywart. To read my Bible again. To get off my ass and back onto the basketball court. To sneak behind my Resistance, slit its throat, bury it in a nondisclosed grave, and make writing fun again. (Sorry for the graphic imagery, but writer's block is an evil second only to AT&T's customer service department.)

I resolved to be happy again and my boy, Jonathan, called out of the blue and we yukked it up on the phone for TWO hours. Good times.

Here is a list of writers that I study and hope to integrate into my personal writing style:

1. William Shakespeare - the Bard; the Greatest.
2. John MacDonald - bestselling novelist in the '60s and '70s, best known for the Travis McGee mystery series.
3. Rod Serling - creator/writer of The Twilight Zone.
4. Larry David/Larry Charles - my favorite writers from Seinfeld.
5. Nick Hornby - bestselling novelist whose works are consistently adapted into popular films, author of About A Boy, Fever Pitch, High Fidelity, etc.
6. Matt Taibbi - monthly contributor to Rolling Stone magazine.
7. Harold Pinter - Nobel Prize winner, playwright and screenwriter, most famous for Betrayal.
8. Joseph Heller - author of my favorite novel, Catch-22
9. Stephen King - influenced by MacDonald. I have actually read only two of his novels, but need to read many more.
10. Saul Williams - spoken word poet, actor, rapper, star of the film Slam and has two albums.
11. Paul Feig/Judd Apatow - writers and creators of Freaks and Geeks, Apatow utilized that template for the TV series Undeclared and the hit film 40 Year-Old Virgin.
12. Chris Rock - stand-up comedian, actor, funniest and most incisive sociologist in America.
13. George Carlin - I always knew about him, really beginning to get into his comedic style lately.
14. Nicholas Sparks - Don't laugh, the guy makes money and usually writes romance novels that walks the tightrope between touching and gag-inducing quite well.
15. Woody Allen - I like him less than most, but there is no comedian who is a better writer.
16. John Stewart/Stephen Colbert - The most honest and funny social critics in America.
17. Andre 3000 of Outkast - best rapper of all time in my opinion, able to blend the political with humor, sex, and eccentricity. He is Chuck D and Flavor Flav rolled up into one.
18. Common and Cee-Lo - I don't like everything they have done, but when these guys get inspired they take hip hop to a level surpassed by no one.
19. Rolf Potts - full-time travel writer (they're rare) who is able to blend humor with fledgling attempts at adding depth to travel writing.
20. Larry R. Moffitt - travel writer, I've only read one of pieces, but his style is brilliant.


I will spend the next month analyzing and reflecting on what attracts me to these writers. Hopefully, I can channel a small portion of their skills and develop a unique writing style that attracts others. More importantly, I have to develop better discipline and habits as a writer. But that is another story.

I am a member of Generation Y, the Millennials, or whatever we are supposed to be called. For my entire life, fundamentalists and the far right have dominated the political landscape. My presidents have been the following, uninspiring lot: Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. During 12 years of public schooling, I never had sex education except for a single day in sixth grade. I never was taught about evolution. I never had a civics class.

We are the first generation reared on a never-ending stream of high-stakes standardized tests. Our entire lives we have been told how important grades, test scores, and a college degree are for our future livelihood. We are now graduating to find these “good” jobs being sent overseas.

We have grown up as latchkey kids; our most significant relationship has been with our babysitters: cable television, video games, and the Internet. We look out at the world we are to inherit and see global warming, global terrorism, the re-segregation of American society, and an escalating, bankrupting national debt. We know that we will not have the same standard of living as our parents.

We are looking for answers to our complex, scary, and confusing world. Fundamentalists reach out with open arms - embracing our technology, our music, our mass media culture - and offer ready-made answers. God is great. God is powerful. God bless America! God will bless his faithful flock. Just look at Sam Walton!

And Moderates?

In our eyes, mainline churches sleepwalk through services: sitting stolidly in hard-backed pews, mumbling through five hymns, enduring wishy-washy sermons, and then go home. The reasons for our estrangement with mainline churches runs deeper than their lack of technological prowess.

We are looking for ways to change the world. Fundamentalists provide a platform: support our president, oppose abortion, return prayer to schools, and protect the sanctity of marriage from homosexuals.

And Moderates? The silence is more than deafening, it’s indicting.

If you engage, we will come. Speak out against the low minimum wage. Question why America spends more on prisons than education. Protest that over 40 million Americans lack health insurance. Condemn school districts that coerce students into mandatory prayer. Challenge the ever-expanding War on Terrorism.

Moderates cannot and should not offer absolute answers. However, moderates can provide a godly model of how to engage and wrestle with the world through a mature, questioning, evolving faith. Technology needs to be harnessed in order to reach my generation, but the gospel is needed more.



This entry is cross posted from the Mainstream Baptists blog.

The latest issue of Rolling Stone contains a devastating article, "The Unending Torture of Omar Khadr," about what goes on in our name in this so-called War on Terror. Only an excerpt is available online, the entire article is found at newsstands.

Omar Khadr, raised in a family of al-Queda fighters, has been held and tortured for the last four years in Guatanamo Bay, Cuba since the age of fifteen. During that time, American soldiers have beaten him, placed him in solitary confinement, threatened to have him raped, and sicked attack dogs on him. One time, they chained him in the fetal position for hours on end until his bowels release, doused him in cleaning solution, hoisted him up by his feet, and used him as a human mop to clean up the urine with his face.

No human being deserves this treatment. We are commanded by God and human decency to love our enemies. My America should never condones such treatment, especially to a child.
Have the terrorists won? Have we been terrorized into giving up our freedoms, our lives, and our very souls?

According to Dr. Martin Luther King, "A time comes when silence is betrayal."

My generation is all too silent about this war. Why are the most vocal advocates fortysomethings like Michael Moore, Bill Maher, and Cindy Sheenan or senior citizens like Seymour Hersh, Gore Vidal, and Kurt Vonnegut? Why is my generation so silent? Are we too busy worrying about finding a job? Looking for love in the club? Wondering which suitor Meredith will pick on Grey's Anatomy? What is wrong with us?

I will no longer be silent. This war is corrupting my country, conflagarating the entire world in conflict, and threatening the legacy of the Enlightenment.

We are becoming as ugly and reactionary as al-Queda. Enough is enough.

I am in shock. According to the NY Times, the Democrats voted down the minimum wage bill... and I couldn't be happier!

Why?

Republicans tied their support for a wage raise to $7.25 an hour in exchange for the following wish list:

1. A permanent reduction in the estate tax
2. $38 billion in tax breaks and federal aid

This was the proposed Republican New Deal: the poor earn $7 an hour and pay full taxes while rich families receive the first $10 million of their inheritance tax free.

Amazingly, the Democrats showed some spine and voted the provision down. I never expected this because they have never done anything similar in my entire political lifetime (1992 - present).

These days, we the people have to savor our few small victories. A glimmer of hope shines brigther in my soul today.

I will resume posting blogs on a daily basis.

As a writer, I want my words to reach others and through blogging I do not have to wait for some magical day to get published.

My prior blogs - Young and Relentless, TFA Unfilitered, and Christian Democrats - will be merged with this one. This will become my clearinghouse for all the scraps of coherent writing that I produce.

Currently, I am writing to only myself. Hopefully, I will find my voice and a community of readers over time.