Words of wisdom… from an adulterer?

I was reading an Op-ed piece about the governor of South Carolina who just ran off with his mistress in a huge scandal. I didn’t realize that’s what it was about; the subheadline declared, “Conservatives used sexual morality as a weapon and now it’s shooting them in the foot,” which caught my attention. A few lines in however I found a link to the emails sent between the governor and his mistress, and I was curious and began reading. I was a bit surprised to find myself feeling sorry for the man, because although his actions are inexcusable, his humanity dropped from every line and I found myself pitying him. “I remember Jenny, or someone close to me, once commenting that while my mom was pleasant and warm it was sad she had never accomplished anything of significance. I replied that they were wrong because she had the ultimate of all gifts — and that was the ability to love unconditionally. The rarest of all commodities in this world is love. It is that thing that we all yearn for at some level — to be simply loved unconditionally for nothing more than who we are — not what we can get, give or become.”

Words of wisdom from an adulterer. Who would have thought. But perhaps it is not all that surprising that an adulterer ends up hitting the nail on the head when it comes to humanities desire for love.

“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.” ~ Moulin Rouge.

Colleges in Poor Economic Times: Where Does Calvin Fall?

Upon recommendation of one of my teachers to read the New York Times, I get the headlines sent to my email every day. Usually I read the headlines if nothing else. I realize that’s sort of cheating… but that’s not my point. Today I actually read a number of articles, one of which caught my attention because it concerned a college from my home state of Oregon: Reed College. I’ve been to Reed a number of times, often for Latin gatherings, and it is well-known for both its academic rigour and anti-Christianity, despite being “free-spirited.” This article talked about how Reed had to pick students they thought were less qualified to be admitted because they had more money and could pay their way. No longer was the choice about only merit. Here is the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/business/economy/10reed.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&th&emc=th.

Within that article was a link to another article on the word “climbing walls.” The article was talking about how colleges were in the business of meeting consumer needs, although Reed was trying to resist that, because as Reed’s president put nicely,  “The whole point of higher education is we know something you don’t.” It’s not supposed to be about what the consumers have claimed they want so you give it to them. You offer them something that they don’t have and inspire them to want it: education. Maybe that’s too idealistic: maybe nowadays education is not attractive enough for people. People were once concerned with things like duty and honor but now are only interested in fulfilling their wants and their self-seeking: like the Dursleys from Harry Potter. (Thanks to Mr. Plato for making that connection so brilliantly: Voldemort is certainly evil. But so are the Dursleys, and they are the ones that we could easily become if we aren’t careful). Here’s the article I read about consumerism in universities: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/05/us/jacuzzi-u-a-battle-of-perks-to-lure-students.html.

So with these two things in mind, where does my own university fall? It has recently made a huge sports complex, undoubtedly for the sake of having a perk that attracts mainly athletes. I think if a vote had been taken with all the Calvin community as to whether that was a good idea or not… well those who weren’t excited about it might be in the minority, but they would at least be well-represented. But, what’s done is done. What’s next for Calvin is renovating the Fine Arts Center. New classrooms, and better facilities for music and other fine arts. That, I certainly approve of for its educational value, perhaps because one of my majors (English) is one of the departments being renovated. And, to be fair, I do appreciate Calvin’s understanding that we are embodied creatures and our bodies are important, unlike the Christian strain that is so platonic and only focused on our soul(er, form) that will one day be freed from our body and will get to go to heaven. Christ said the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! It is here, but not yet- but even when it is fully here, it will be a physical kingdom, not simply spiritual. But forgive me; I’ve run off on a non-related tangent.  I just hope Calvin does not fall prey to the patterns and habits of educational institutions in the world, and instead holds to a more Christian understanding of what it means to run an institution. That’s a hard balance, and I wouldn’t suggest that I would do any better. But I do hope that it is at least continually thought about.

Movie Review: Angels and Demons (And my return back to this blog)

I have another blog now at theotherjournal.com. When I agreed to blog for them  I was an enthusiastic new college student, ready to take the world by storm. Throughout the year, I discovered that despite my good high school education, I still had more to learn. Much more than I anticipated, really. Along with finding other things made a priority in my life, since blogging during my high school days tended to be a defense against loneliness. Those things made blogging a chore, and something I had to do, and many weeks I just couldn’t think of anything blog-worthy. I hardly read blogs anymore, either, so that didn’t help.

But, this summer,  I am no longer living with 40 people. My boyfriend is roughly 2,000 miles away. I have a part time job, but who knows how much that will occupy me (or have any sort of fulfillment in my life). So, I have decided to resurrect this blog (for something other than school projects). This will give me an avenue to blog about whatever. The other blog they said I can write anything, the important thing is that I write, but I can’t just write thoughtless things on that site. I feel like it has to really intertwine the theme of church and culture, and if it doesn’t, I’m at a loss.

I’ve ended up writing about TV shows a lot on my other blog, sort of on accident, but that’s the only thing I’ve been doing for entertainment. I haven’t had time to read much, and so it’s just TV and movies. So here’s a blog about a movie. Maybe I can get the entertainment stuff out on this blog (although most of my seasonal shows are over). Then I can find more academically rigorous and philosophical things to say on the other one. =)

I watched the first Dan Brown novel made into a film after reading the book. I, unlike  the predominant church culture at the time, was not scared out of my mind for how people would take the book/film in terms of Christianity. It certainly is not that kind to religion in general, since the plot of the book basically argues that the Catholic church has been harboring all these secrets for so long. That’s not why I enjoyed the story, however. I really liked Brown’s way of piecing together the puzzle pieces in an action-packed novel that I couldn’t put down. The movie couldn’t quite do it justice, but it wasn’t bad.

This time, watching Angels and Demons, it’s been a while since I read the books, I just remembered I enjoyed this one more than the last. And after watching the movie, I remember why. This one has all the puzzle piece mystery thriller aspects that I enjoyed the first time, while being much more sympathetic to the church. Religion is not just a side-plot in this movie as it is so often if it is brought up at all…  Roman Catholic practices are integral to the plot. Thousands of extras were used to play devout Catholics who were upset about the Pope’s death, and they were not shown to be just mindless sheep who turned to religion out of fear. Instead, faith was praised. The Harvard Professor, who as an academic, could not understand God because his head told him not to. He was asked what his heart told him, and he said that his heart told him he didn’t need to. (His substitution for “belief” by answering with “understand” is interesting to note). He said faith is a gift, one that he had not been given yet. Weird! The atheist got religion right in a way that many Christians would not be able to articulate. I pity Brown, because that character is probably him. He’s the one who knows church history better than those in the church do, and yet his heart-head battle is too strong, and he is not receptive enough to the gift of faith yet. But there is definitely hope.

In the film, there are also corrupt priests, of course, and Brown certainly does not paint a clear and easy picture of right vs. wrong. The character who would be most likely to be called the antagonist saved the lives of thousands of people, and everyone had the impression that he should be made a saint and recognized as a martyr. I remember in the book the struggle between religion and anti-matter in the hearts of individuals was much more pronounced, like the priest who helped research it and discover it. He wanted to create anti-matter as a testimony to God, not as a way to show that science could out-do God. But of course, often the church tries to create something (like watches) for spiritual purposes, but the secular forces are much to strong and use the item for their own purposes. (Watches were meant to keep order for monks who had a set schedule on which they prayed the psalms. Now watches serve the purpose of the god of capitalism).

While I watched the movie, I could not help but wonder how on earth they filmed everything, and how much it cost! So much artwork is included in the movie, just as it was last time, and historically places. It was beautiful, and you’d have to check another site to see how much of it took place in a Hollywood studio and how much didn’t. I did read a source that was remarking how much the Pope disliked this movie… well, or what he thought this movie must be. The Vatican staff said they did not even read the script, just heard the name “Dan Brown” and assumed it was anti-religious. Because of that, they refused that it be filmed in much of Rome and the Vatican. Ewan McGregor, who plays the most controversial and perhaps anti-Catholic character, does not think the movie is anti-Catholic: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/Movies/story?id=7586038&page=1. But regardless of whether it was actually filmed in the Vatican, it was very convincing,  and very well filmed, I thought, from the point of view of someone who has never taken a class on the subject.

And with that, I am going to move on again to thoughts of my time in college. Because college really kept me humble. I mean, I thought I had everything all figured out in high school; I felt my education was better than all my friends, and so when I went to school, of course I would still be a step ahead of everyone. And while that was true in some senses, in others it was completely wrong. So many people were smart in their respective fields of interest, whether it was film studies, or even my own major, philosophy. I could hardly keep up with conversations about philosophy in class and out of it, despite being a philosophy major. It worried me. Thankfully I found a home in English… there I could talk about things intelligently, among other intelligent people that I didn’t feel simultaneously threatened by.

I hope to continue writing here throughout the summer, perhaps as a relief from my McDonald’s job. Yes, you heard right, McDonald’s. I have a blog post somewhere about the evils of consumption, and McDonald’s is as good a corporation as any to represent that whole world. But, I am just a minimum wage employee who will work my designated shift, making sure the well-oiled machine that is McDonald’s continues to see another day with happy customers. It has to be better than using marketing ploys to get my friends’ parents to buy knives. The most important difference is: these customers come to McDonald’s. They have already decided they want to buy things. Now maybe my mannerisms and friendliness and efficiency will have an affect on whether they will come back, or if I can get them to add anything to their meal, but I dont feel like I’m constantly trying to trick them into something they didn’t ask for. Perhaps I’ll change my mind, but right now, I have no ethical qualms about working for McDonald’s.

VS.