The Arrow's Path

Earlier today, the Rt. Rev. John Sentamu was enthroned as the first black archbishop (of York) in the Church of England. Being Archbishop of York is essentially the second highest office in ye olde C of the E. Read more here...

Hobbit To which race of Middle Earth do you belong? brought to you by Quizilla

As annoying as it is (cue the Monty Python: " I don't like Spam !"), sometimes I actually enjoy wading through the subject lines in the weird world of unsolicited E-mail (spam). Truly, some of the unique combinations of stuff you get in the subject lines of Spam are truly entertaining. You've all seen those obnoxious and disgusting e-mails. Suffice is to say its amusing when non-English speakers try to send spam. So much gets lost (or added as the case may be) in translation. Some of which do not even make sense. Since I try to keep this blog as clean as possible, I'm forced to leave out some of the truly funny subject lines involving...uh...well never mind. Its interesting what spammers will do, however, in attaching XXX to spam subject lines. Subject: XXX House Mortgages (I am afraid to ask how that works.) Subject: Own your own online XXX Viagra business (Why?...so I can end up like you spammers annoying people?) I also enjoy the random spam that is so obviousl...

I meant to post this Cherokee myth last week during Thanksgiving, but forgot to. So belatedly, here are my Thanksgiving themed Myths of the week: 38. Why The Turkey Gobbles (From James Mooney's Myths of the Cherokee, 1792) The Grouse used to have a fine voice and a good halloo in the ballplay. All the animals and birds used to play ball in those days and were just as proud of a loud halloo as the ball players of to-day. The Turkey had not a good voice, so he asked the Grouse to give him lessons. The Grouse agreed to teach him, but wanted pay for his trouble, and the Turkey promised to give him some feathers to make himself a collar. That is how the Grouse got his collar of turkey feathers. They began the lessons and the Turkey learned very fast until the Grouse thought it was time to try his voice. "Now," said the Grouse, "I'll stand on this hollow log, and when I give the signal by tapping on it, you must halloo as loudly as you can." So he got upon the log...

I have a confession: I hate nylon shoe laces. You can't buy tennis shoes anymore without getting them with nylon shoe laces. They don't stay tied unless you quadruple knot them. And the ones that come with the shoes are always too long. (My only guess is that I am not tying them correctly, and must in fact octuple knot them.). They're pieces of nylon rope. Well, at least men can't find real shoe laces. I dare not venture into the crazy world of women shoery. (Pumps? Stiletto Heels? Platform boots? Oh, the Humanity!) I'll let you in on one of the great secrets of the universe: men don't shop. We know what we want, we go in, we buy. You'd think the powers that be would have a basic understanding of economics or marketing and be willing to cater to us Cro Magnon shoe buyers: Me Want Shoe. Me Want Cotton Laces. You have shoe with cotton laces. Me Buy. Simple, no? But alas, go into any shoe store or retail outlet that sells shoes and ask for cotton shoe laces. I ...

It is an annual tradition after Thanksgiving for my parents to put up their Christmas tree. We alternate between the big, fake tree, and the really big, fake tree (I'll let you decide whether really modifies big or fake in that sentence) . We keep both in the garage. With Festivus lurking about, its probably not a good idea to go into the forest with a ax or a chain saw. At my folks' house, we have what I call Festivus, the Christmas gremlin. I think Festivus was behind my grumpy Christmas post a few days ago. We used to have in the house a homemade pipe cleaner elf looking thing, with felt clothing and a styrofoam ball for a head. I made it one Christmas when I was about 10. About three years later, poor Festivus was down to one eye and a leg was missing; so, my mother threw him out. It was then that the fun began. Another Christmas tradition is the annual Christmas light snafu. We will get the tree set up, and we will get the Christmas lights ready by checking them first t...

After a more leisurely drive back from Knoxville, I am back safe and sound at the Seabury Pen. There was surprisingly no traffic at all until I hit the outskirts of Chicago, and even then it was heavy but moving along nicely. I think I actually made it up to 60 MPH on the 90/94. That must mean Sunday is going to be a nasty traffic day. Glad I came back a day early.

Well, Black Friday is upon us, otherwise known as the day after Thanksgiving commercial retail gluttony fest. This signals the kickoff of my annual hibernation from chain retail stores. I just really detest going to stores between Thanksgiving and Christmas, as people go collectively out of their minds to go further into debt to buy junk they don't need. I realize the stores have product to move and accounts to put in the black but trying to shove the commercial end of Christmas down my throat before I put Thanksgiving turkey there leaves me sick to my stomach, frankly. Especially since they don't even bother to say Merry Christmas anymore. Its Happy Holidays. We have to be PC, don't you know. Although I always found it amusing that to be politically correct, we utter the word "holiday" which means Holy Day. Go figure... I do like traditional Christmas music. You know what I mean, the kind with an organ and a boys’ choir, or maybe some Bing Crosby if I've grow...

I just want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. No, not Happy T-day or, my huge pet peeve, Happy Turkey Day. We're supposed to be giving thanks, not committing one of the mortal sins of gluttony. At least have the courtesy to be thankful enough to be able to type out the full words: Happy Thanksgiving! (See, that wasn't that hard was it?)

Shameless Dobie Pic of the Week...its good to be home. 

I drove home to Tennessee after preaching class yesterday because I scored Tennessee-Vanderbilt football tickets. I haven't been to a UT game since last year, and since I am going to be in England next football season, I figured I better go. I may be ordained the next time I get to go to a college football game. SO let me get this right...I drove 9 hours basically non-stop to sit on a cold metal bench and watch a Tennessee offense in complete disarray and lose to Vanderbilt. I feel unclean.

These are 2 dobies from the Illinois Dobie Rescue society, Melvin and Kitty who have recently been adopted...

Here are this week's folktale of the week. The first is Cherokee, the second is Sioux. 80. The Spirit Defenders Of Nïkwäsï' (From James Mooney's Myths of the Cherokee) Long ago a powerful unknown tribe invaded the country from the southeast, killing people and destroying settlements wherever they went. No leader could stand against them, and in a little while they had wasted all the lower settlements and advanced into the mountains. The warriors of the old town of Nïkwäsï', on the head of Little Tennessee, gathered their wives and children into the townhouse and kept scouts constantly on the lookout for the presence of danger. One morning just before daybreak the spies saw the enemy approaching and at once gave the alarm. The Nïkwäsï' men seized their arms and rushed out to meet the attack, but after a long, hard fight they found themselves overpowered and began to retreat, when suddenly a stranger stood among them and shouted to the chief to call off his men and he...

Actual conversations I overheard tonight at the Computer Store: First Man : "My laptop is running so slow and crashes all the time. I'm bringing my computer into to the shop to check it for viruses." Second Man (while the poor salesman lugs the clunker into the back) : "I don't worry about viruses. Not many people know that viruses work in the back of the memory, and Windows is in the front of the memory. So it's something else." Hmm...I didn't know that either; and yet with that bit of knowledge, I think my IQ still dropped. And then I overheard this gem during the same visit: Customer: My manual says I have a 486 and it is getting too slow; I want to upgrade it. It says I need to upgrade to something called a 2 megabyte SmartDrive? Will that help? Better get home before midnight, or you'll be reformatted into a pumpkin.

In order to be able to finish my Plunge powerpoint presentation that is due on Thursday, I was rapidly busting my tail to get my Ethics paper done (also due on Thursday). Not more than 3 minutes after I have finished my 10 page ethics paper, my computer beeps, "You have 1 e-mail." PAPER DUE DATE POSTPONED UNTIL NOV 22ND As Homer says, "d'Oh!"

I had initially included these thoughts with the previous post, but I thought that sort of lessened the point on Rosa Parks so my reflections on the Powwow will be a separate blog entry. As I announced yesterday, the American Indian Center of Chicago was having its 52nd annual Powwow Convention this weekend at the UIC Pavillion near, of all places, Greektown. I was interested in going, though I have had some tripidation about going to such things in the past because 1.) sometimes it smacks of tokenism (Look, Mommy! An Indian!...No, Junior, don't touch the Indian!), 2.) becomes a flea market for non-authentic Native American junk (Dream catchers are for suckers), or else 3.) it devolves into tribal superiority contests (T-shirts that say Siouxperwoman) and petty bickering. All of which, I think, ultimately defeat the purpose. This was one of the best inter-tribal Powwows I have been to, however. Maybe this is because there is not a large Native American population in Chicago, so mo...

I was riding the bus today down to the Native American Powwow at UIC because the purple line of the L train is closed for three days due to fall cleaning. In its stead was a huge trolley bus that was really the length of two buses joined in the middle with a weird accordian turret connector. As I live fairly near the end of the purple line going toward the Howard street train station, there was only like three other people on the bus when I got on. I made my way to the middle of the bus, so that I could have the seat in the accordian section, which is a fun place to sit because is sort of swivels when the bus turns. (That's juvenile, I know...) As we were making our way down toward Howard, I suddenly realized how completely stereotypical the sections of the bus were. The fair skinned, white, blonde folks were sitting at the very front of the bus. The obviously white but dark haired folks were sitting behind them. I was in the middle of the bus with the other assorted mutts. And all...

The London Times did an interesting piece on Archbishop Rowan Williams' teenage encounter with Eastern Orthodoxy. Its worth a look see...

There is, believe it or not, a Powwow of the American Indian Center in Chicago. It should be fun, as there are a lot of dances and crafts there. If anyone wants to go with me, I am probably going to buzz down there tomorrow around 9 to 10ish on the L, as I am sort of an adopted member of that organization. If you want to tag along, drop me a line. I am told the frybread is delicious... In other Native American news, I have been corresponding with the rector of the cluster of churches I am going to be interning at this summer. They are on the Rosebud Sioux reservation in South Dakota. Apparently, one of the congregations does the entire BCP service in Lakota Sioux. I am really psyched about that, although it means I will have to pick up something-near-proficiency in another indigenous language. I ordered a primer and grammar tape today. I'm excited...it appears to be a beautiful language. I realized today as reality set in that I will be going from a Reservation mutual ministry int...

From the Archer News Service: Here is an interesting article on a new dinosaur they uncovered called the Godzilla croc . In other news... beer may fight disease

For those of you who have been following my blog saga of "Bigfoot," I got this update picture from the Illinois Doberman Rescue society. Apparently Biggie is doing well and quite happy in his foster home. he is officially clear of his heartwarm and his weight is finally in the healthy range for dobies his size. He was truly the most underweight dog I have ever seen when we did the dobie rescue back in the spring. He looks like a completely different dog now, its simply amazing...If I lived in a place where I could have a dog, I would adopt Biggie in a heartbeat.

Here is this week's Cherokee myth of the week. I have thought about quitting this little ongoing series, but I have gotten feedback to continue it. I am also going to start including some Sioux myths, since I am going to be working some with that tribe this summer. So, without further adieu... 76. The Bear Man (from James Mooney's Myths of the Cherokee) A man went hunting in the mountains and came across a black bear, which he wounded with an arrow. The bear turned and started to run the other way, and the hunter followed, shooting one arrow after another into it without bringing it down. Now, this was a medicine bear, and could talk or read the thoughts of people without their saying a word. At last he stopped and pulled the arrows out of his side and gave them to the man, saying, "It is of no use for you to shoot at me, for you can not kill me. Come to my house and let us live together." The hunter thought to himself, "He may kill me;" but the bear read hi...

I just got back from Pittsburgh, completing my 10 days as a Plunger for my Church, Ministry, and Culture class. Calvary Church in Pittsburgh is really something else. They struck me as very silver spoon liberal, which really irritates my blue collar tendencies. But they were incredibly nice folks and treated us like absolute royalty. It was a good trip and I learned an incredible amount of ideas for church ministry that I could translate to a rural/small town scale with some modifications. That excites me, actually. In other news, upon my return, I learned as I walked in the door that I had been accepted into the student exchange program with Westcott House in Cambridge, UK, for next fall quarter. I had applied but did not think from the other folks who said they were going to apply, that I had more than about a 1 in 4 chance or so. This is a really exciting prospect, the magnitude of which has not sunk in yet. (I'm just too tired to process any more information). Guess I need to ...

I got into a little snit a few days ago, or perhaps it is more accurate to say one of my blog readers got into a snit with me, about my not posting a comment they had left. I deleted it because I found it to be inflammatory and political in nature. I realized I have not listed a coherent comment concerning my blog, so here are my simple rules: 1. Civility please . That seems simple enough, but I am constantly staggered by the amount of blatant disrespect of courtesy, especially on the internet. I think the internet lets people feel "safe" to post comments they would not have the guts to say to any real person's face. To that end, comment boards have to be monitored. Comments that do not meet the basic rules of civility (name calling, profanity, etc.) will be deleted. 2. My second rule of comments on this blog is not to discuss politics. I really try to avoid political discussions altogether for various reasons. The primary reason being that the country in so polarized rig...

This is just a brief note to let all my readers know that, contrary to rumor, I am still alive. I have been away on "Plunge" and am still in Pittsburgh until Wednesday. I have been truly booked solid the entire time meeting with various people and groups here at Calvary church. I just preached my Sunday sermon not more than 45 minutes ago. Everyone was very gracious and said I did very well. But, seeing as I was a visitor and a seminarian, I probably could have preached a complete crapper and gotten the same response. I am skipping the adult forum to update my blog. The adult forum is discussing the outcome of the Pittsburgh diocesan convention, which we attended, so I do not feel like I need to scoop on that. The only thing I can think to say about that at this point is: Schism isn't coming, folks...its already here. I am pretty conservative, but even I was scared by what I was hearing. Anyway, I will post more on that when I get back to Chi-town. Hope everyone is doing ...