The End of the Line

Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for riding the Key City Railroad. We are coming to our last stop, the end of the line. If you wish to continue on your journey, please go to harryconner.wordpress.com.

I am leaving blogger for wordpress, and changing my emphasis upon writing. No longer am I going to pontificate on what I feel is wrong in the world alone. This kind of writing is not necessarily constructive and does not really get us anywhere. I want to focus instead upon what God is doing in the world, and explore how we can join him in his work of re-creation.

Random thoughts had while working the computer lab in the College of Business Administration

All hail the disease of Capitalism,

which reduces the value of human beings to the quantity of their production
rather than than the quality of their soul.

which sells the poor to the lowest bidder
and oppresses the powerless to make the strong more powerful.

which sees the environment as an asset to be consumed
and gives no thought to future generation.

which abhors the virtuous life in favor of the vices of greed, lust, and avarice.

All hail our diseased economic system!

Turning the Other Cheek

Yesterday was not a good day for me. Yesterday, I found out that someone had used my cell phone to make over $200 worth of phone calls to Nigeria. I called my cell phone company to report the fraud and they were less than helpful in resolving this problem. Evidently they are able to take off half the charge, but not the entire charge. I am grateful for the half, but still very disenchanted with CINGULAR WIRELESS :-( over the entire process.

Even more so than my less than helpful wireless provider, I found myself with large amounts of resentment, anger, and even rage toward my defrauder. At that moment of blissful, righteous anger I remembered Jesus' words from the sermon on the mount. "If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." At that moment the only turning I wanted to do was turning my cheek as I threw a devastating right hook into my opponent's face. Righteous anger is a fairly enjoyable place to be, and it was very difficult to want to take Jesus seriously.

The Sermon on the Mount is a very difficult piece of teaching to put into practice. In many situations, it is counter to human instinct.

The Lamentable Lapse of Public Discourse

Today is election day. I am increasingly grateful for election day because it signals an end to the campaign season. This is because it means an end to campaign television advertisements. Television is the primary medium by which candidates address issues, their opponents, and the voters. As part of this, television has become the primary vehicle for slandering or belittling one's opponent in order to gain a few percentage points in the polls. This type of discourse marks those who use it as unintelligent, and lowers the collective IQ of all who hear it.

Politicians, and consequently the electorate, are driven by their own interests. They believe that it is in their (and therefore the nation's) best interest to be (re)elected and will therefore pursue this goal at all costs. Their sole interest is gaining, maintaining, or increasing the power one wields. Legitimate public discourse is contrary to self-interest driven politics because it locates the public interest outside the personal interest.

It is precisely Christianity's assertion that the other's interest is MY interest that gives me hope for Christian participation in the public arena. Christians are uniquely equipped to participate in political speech because if they are serious about their convictions they will not driven by self-interest, but by concern for others, especially those disenfrancised and marginalized by the current system.

Terrorists and Patriots

Remember, remember the fifth of November,

The gunpowder, treason and plot,

I see of no reason why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intent

To blow up the King and the Parliament.

Three score barrels of powder below,

Poor old England to overthrow:

By God's providence he was catch'd

With a dark lantern and burning match.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, make the bells ring.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

Hip hip hoorah!

Thus goes a song celebrating the foiling of the Gunpowder plot which had planned to blowup the Parliament building with King James I and most of Parliament in it. After detonating the British government, they also planned to install a new Catholic monarch in the place of the Protestant James I.

I guess how one views this event, and others like it, depends upon one's perspective. For Protestant England the conspirators were traitors to the crown, and were justly executed for their crimes. For those Catholics, oppressed by the Protestant crown, they were freedom fighters or patriots.

The world is not as black and white as we would like to to be. Our current "War on Terror" must surely seem like terrorism to those who suffer for our foreign policy. Very justly should we remember, remember the 5th of November for one man's terrorist is another man's patriot and who is to say which one is right.

Friday Open Thread

This afternoon, while slurping some tasty chicken and dumplings in the Graduate Commons, I was reading from a back issue of Newsweek. In one of them, I read an article about the recent shooting of 10 girls at an Amish school in south eastern Pennsylvania. I have read about this event and the reaction to it several times and each time I have been moved by the grace shown by the Amish community to the family of the man who did the shooting. They have set aside some of the funds coming to help with medical bills for the widow and 3 children he left behind when he took his own life that day. They have extended forgiveness to him, and opened their closed funeral ceremonies by inviting his widow to attend, and by attending the ceremony of the man who did the shooting. The Newsweek story recounts how their non-amish neighbors came to their aid to drive them to hospitals where their children had been taken, and by protecting them from the prying eyes of the media by blocking driveways and roads so that they could morn in peace. Each time I read about this event, I feel the urge to weep at the beauty of the Amish response. Their actions speak a better word for Christ than any other.

What would happen if we took our Christian convictions as seriously as the Amish in this time? What would happen if we as a nation chose to respond to violence with forgiveness?

A Change in the Wind

The prevailing winds in this part of Texas are from the south. This means that for most of the year we have hot relatively dry weather. This also means that for large parts of the year, women walk around with very little clothing on. Yesterday the wind changed. A front moved in from the north bringing with it cooler weather and a north wind. I rejoice when this happens because women begin wearing less revealing clothing.

I understand that I am making some broad generalizations about male and female behavior patterns.

I have to believe that women wear what they wear largely in ignorance of what occurs in guy's heads when they see women thusly attired. I have to believe this, because if they are not acting in ignorance, then they are acting maliciously, and I am reticent to believe that a large percent of the female population is simply cruel.

I want to take a moment to confess my complicity in creating an environment where women feel the need to wear what they wear. One of the reasons for this is because we men look. Culpability lies on both sides of the modesty issue. If men did not look, women would not be as pressured to to dress immodestly.

Granting the double guilt implied in this "chicken or the egg" scenario, I would like to argue for modesty. Modesty is attractive. A girl who dresses revealingly leaves little to the imagination. There is no mystery, there is no quest. In short, immodest apparel does not actually achieve it's desired end.

Okay, I'm done ranting. You may now feel free to lambast me for my ignorance.

A Better World?

This summer I began working for Technology Support Services here at ACU. I now get to spend my days answering phones and going out on service calls to aid the vast legion of faculty and staff here in their technological woes. All this technological focus has gotten the ol' thinking engine working, and caused me to reflect on the futility of technological progress.

I have found myself asking, "Has our technological advancement made the world a better place?" I must answer that it has not. Rather than bringing humanity together, our heightened technology has, in my mind, served to further distance us from our fellow man. Take the cell phone, for example. The cell phone provides unprecedented levels of access into our personal lives. Granted, we may "choose" to leave the cell phone at home, or turn it off, but in reality how many of us actually do that? The cell phone is the new gatekeeper of our personal lives. Instead of having a face to face conversation, the preferred medium is now electron to electron. For me this, is a step backwards rather than a step forwards.

As much as I love my iPod, whenever I wear it, I am conciously separating myself from the world around me. Cocooned within my own little world, I am as God. I have the power to choose what sounds I hear around me, what conversations I participate in. I can always just point to the white earbuds and cord as a ready excuse to avoid positive human contact. My music is without a doubt very profound, and my choices enliven the world around me, but even then, I am missing out on the world in which I claim to participate.

I do realize the apparent hypocrisy of my post. Here I am using a technological medium to proclaim the evils of technology. My thought has not been wholly negative, as I have striven to produce something constructive from the dialectic tension of my life as a cyborg. Technology should serve to enhance human interaction, not insulate it. Technology is at it's best when it enables human interaction. Use the cell phone to meet someone face to face. Leave the blackberry in the garbage and work when you're at work rather than when you're at home. Do not choose to be enslaved to the silicon idol.

"Liberty, Freedom, Tyranny is dead!"

Rock On

Here is the revamped posting of the rocking guitar version of Pachabel's Canon in D. (Quick note: this person is covering an adaptation done by someone else.)

Waking up to NPR

I have got to stop listening to NPR in the morning before I get out of bed. The past couple of days have started to news of the Israelies bombing the hell out of some more defenseless Lebanese. Thus, my first thoughts involve monosyllablic words of Anglo-saxon origin. In order to alleviate this situation, I thus propose this open letter to Prime Minister Olmert and the General Staff of the IDF (Israeli Defense Force.)

To Minister Olmert;

It troubles me, that you have authorized the wholesale destruction of southern Lebanon in order to erase Hezbollah as a threat to your country. I realize that Hezbollah's existence and recent actions constitute a clear and present danger to the national security of the state of Israel. What troubles me, however, is that you have chosen to respond to terrorism with terrorism. Hezbollah launches rockets at Israel's cities indiscriminately killing and that is just what we would expect from terrorists. When the IDF responds in kind by destroying civilian infrastructure and civilians it becomes a terrorist organization as well. For a nation intimately familiar with the evils of terrorism to then use terror against the civilians of a peaceful nation is unthinkable. Are we that unimaginative, that we must continue to use the old, broken system of dealing with terrorism? Can we not think of a better way?

Sincerely,
Harry Conner

Going Home

This afternoon I watched the movie "Cars" at the old(er) movie theater in my hometown of Grand Prairie, TX. Now, before you run off with visions of a 1920's cinema palace with deep pile carpet and gilded everything I must warn you that the old(er) movie theater in my hometown is a Cinemark 16 Multiplex. The only thing old fashioned about it is the lack of stadium seating.

When the theater was built in my youth, it was state of the art and exciting. Its construction meant that we didnt' have to drive to Arlington to see a movie. (Not that I saw many movies in the theater as a kid what with my family's annual income and my parents strict isolationism.) It was the theater where I remember seeing my first PG-13 movie (Batman Returns). It was(is?) the theater of my childhood. There is something oddly comforting about that. It was almost on par with wrapping up in an old blanket.

Oh, and about the movie. When I drive home to Abilene tomorrow, I'm jumping off I-20 at Weatherford and taking hwy 180 out. It's much more scenic, I highly recommend it.

Friday Update

Just thought I'd let all my faithful reader's know what's going on in Hairyworld. It's been pretty rainy in King Fred's kingdom recently, but I am devoting more energy to the spiritual disciplines of prayer and reading so it is to be expected.

>Harry

The Ballad of King Fred (part 1)

Once upon a time, in the kingdom of Palacia, lived King Fred. Officially he was King Frederick II, but to his subjects he was just King Fred. Sometimes, behind his back, people who didn't like him all that much called him Fatty Freddy Fat Fat.
King Fred was not your average, everyday potentate however because he had a special connection to the weather. Some people have jewelry that supposedly changes color to display their mood. You could say that King Fred had a mood sky. When he was happy, the weather was nice and pleasant. The sun was warm, but not hot. There was rain, but not too much. When King Fred was sad, the clouds were low and dark and it drizzled constantly. When he was angry there would be thunderstorms with dangerous hail and lightning, and it would rain so much that it caused floods.
King Fred's subjects liked it when he was in a good mood. They would have picnics and play ball in the park, or go relax on the beach and play in the ocean on those days. On bad mood days they would stay inside or if they absolutely had to go out they would put on their raincoats and grab their umbrellas to go out.

[to be continued . . .]

International Incident Brewing

It is halftime of the US vs. Ghana match, and I am PISSED OFF. It appears that there is a conspiracy among certain referees to prevent the US from going on in the tournament. It began in the last game by a Uruguayan referee who believed that he was what people all over the world were coming to see. It has continued in the current game by a German referree, one Markus Merk, who sees penalties where there are none. Most infamously awarding Ghana a penalty kick in stoppage time of the first half for a LEGAL CHALLENGE by US center back Ugechi Oneywu.

I realize people the world over despise our president and his warmongering policies, I know I do. But the chicanery perpetrated by our president should in no way affect the officiating at games where our national team plays.

Well, my ranting is done, but I'm still mad. Hopefully the second half will quell my offended spirit with a US win in spite of the referree's attempts to insure the opposite.

Why I Love the World Cup

Reason 1:

A tiny country with little recent reason for national pride has the chance (and takes it as often as not) to upset a perennial powerhouse (ex. Senegal vs. France; Ecuador vs. Poland; Trinidad and Tobago vs. Sweden) on the world stage. For a time, citizen's of said tiny country walk tall and proud because of what their team did on the pitch.

Reason 2:

Like the Greek Olympics of ancient times, the World Cup has the power to make peace between warring parties. In the Ivory Coast, a civil war which has raged up til this past weekend has been suspended for the duration of the tournament. Granted this peace is probably only temporary, but it sets the stage for a lasting peace.

I'd like to hear your reasons for liking / loving the World Cup tournament.

Saturday Morning Update

It is now day 2 of the 2006 World Cup and I have watched 3 games. Can life get any better? I submit that it cannot.

6-9-06
I watched legendary Germany defeat a very competitive Costa Rican team 4-2. Prediction Wanchope (Costa Rican forward) becomes a household name the world over by the time his team is out of the tournament.
I watched an out of shape Poland squad get RUN OVER by an energetic Ecuador. It looked like 1939 all over again for the Poles.

6-10-06
This morning England defeated Paraguay 1-0 in a game marked by bad calls and bad football by both squads. Here's hoping the Soca Warriors of Trinidad and Tobago give the Viking Swedes a run for their money today at noon.

That's it from the World Cup so far. 3 more games to watch today. Woo Hoo

Home of the Brave?

Engraved on a bronze plaque on the base of the Statue of Liberty is the poem "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus. It reads:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Perhaps that door that was once open allowing my ancestors entrance to the land of opportunity is now shut. Perhaps it is only open to those who are white, or have some talent which grants them entrance. If that is the case, then perhaps we should close ol' Lady Liberty down. Either we are what she says we are, or we are not.

In the Army Now?

Tomorrow, at a little after 9pm, I will be talking with a recruiter from the Texas Army National Guard about becoming a chaplain in the Guard.

It is FINISHED!

"And the Lord look at all that he had made and behold it was very good."

The semester (aside from two pending assignments) is completed. More importantly the 125 or so young men, who up until today I had been responsible for, are GONE. I am now going to bed.

Good night all.

Who Am I?

You Are Kermit

Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know. You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems. Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green. Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies!

The Muppet Personality Test

Almost there

As of the writing of this post there are now 22 hours til I have to turn in my written briefs (papers not underwear) for my comprehensive exams. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and though it's most likely the train coming the other way I don't care at this point. I just want to finish.

Thank you to all of you faithful friends who have been praying for me and supporting me to reach this point. I promise I will not let you down.

~ Harry

Why we create . . .

In a recent discussion with Marcella Walker, I came to a tentative conclusion that art - in its various forms - is the response of the created order to the fall. In short, we are artists because we suffer the pangs of separation. We know that the world is not as it should, and so we respond with art. (We also respond with humor, but that is a different post.) Our music, poetry, literature, painting, sculpture, cinema, et cetera is at is most foundational level our attempt to deal with the brokenness of the world around us, and reclaim, however tenuously, a connection with what the world could be.

I would like to hear the thoughts of you, my loyal visitors and readers.

~Harry

Lunchmeat (2005-2006)

Last night, Thursday March 9, Lunchmeat the cat, formerly of Smith Adams Residence Hall was struck and killed by a passing motorist while crossing EN 10th Street. The motorist remains unidentified and is assumed to be unharmed by the colision.

From the day he first appeared at Smith Adams, he was a friendly and affectionate cat. He was content to spend long hours sitting in laps and relaxing with the residents of the hall.

In short, Lunchmeat was a loving and loved member of our community here. We miss him.

The Broadway Version of My Life

Today while I was walking home from the library and seriously rocking out on my iPod (think the commercials) I thought what a cool thing it would be to make a musical of my life out of the songs on my computer. The list is incomplete (acts 1 and 5 are kinda hard to set to music.) But here is my life as a musical

Act 1
Superman by Five for Fighting
Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

Act 2
Rave On by Buddy Holly
Come Fly With Me by Frank Sinatra
Kiss the Girl from Disney's Little Mermaid
I'm a Believer by The Monkees
Love Me Tender by Elvis Presley

Act 3
Charade by Bobby Darin
Your Mistake by Sister Hazel
She Hates Me by Puddle of Mud
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry by Johnny Cash
Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own by U2

Act 4
Somebody to Love by Queen
The Date Song by Jamie Hooten and David Graves
Bridge Over Troubled Waters by Simon and Garfunkel and Johnny Cash (I can't decide which version)

Act 5
O'Sullivan's March by the Chieftans
Into the West from The Return of the King (performed by Annie Lennox)

Let me know who you think should play me in both the stage and movie versions.

PS Thank you for indulging this little bit of narcisim on my part ;-)

Austin City Limited

This past weekend I had the great fortune to travel to Austin, the capital of Texas, to visit my good friends Nathan and Melissa Jerkins. While there I took a much needed break from school life and became, for 2 days, just another 20-something. We ate gigantic chicken fried steaks and fish tacos. We played washers and enjoyed one another's company.

The weekend was more than simply good food and games, however. The weekend was an eye opening experience. I have spent the better part of the past decade living in the theorhetical world of the university. Virtue is a topic of conversation, tolerance a matter of course in a world where everyone operates with similar agenda's toward similar ends. The weekend in Austin opened my eyes to the world outside the academy. In this world, virtue is a lifestyle that must be practiced faithfully if one is be virtuous. In this world, tolerance must be embraced as each new person is encountered. Here, in the real world, the theoretical world of the academy must actually be put into practice. Honestly, it was unsettling. This is not a safe world, and the consequences for our actions are real, the stakes much higher.

God help me as I prepare to enter the real world.

A For Real Update

I have just finished reading the book Farnham's Freehold by Robert Heinlein. It is a science fiction novel which describes a family catapulted 2,000 years into the future by nuclear war. There they discover that the cultural roles have reversed. "Whites" have, by their own self-immolation, become the subservient culture to the dominant "Black" culture. I will not give away any more details because it is a good story which you should probably read.

When it was published in 1964 it was, to be sure, a controversial book. It seems to me to be controversial for both sides of the racial divide. White people would be offended by its portrayal of white people as the property of others, while Black people would possibly be offended by the assertion that, given power, they will be no more humane than white people were.

The question of power is central to the understanding of the author's point. It is not about race, it is about power. Power is the dividing factor in human relationships. It is the thing which makes its posessors strive for more, and those who lack it to fight for it. Once again, it is not about race, but about the attitudes of power. Power corrupts those who posess it as surely as people die and governments levy taxes.

Jesus Christ laid aside his power and priviledge and became the lowest of humanity. He laid aside his divinity to become a slave, and he calls us who claim to follow him to do the same.

An Update

This update is for you Jamie Hooten.

I will be going to Austin to visit Nathan and Melissa Jerkins this weekend.
Comps are still beating me about the head and shoulders.
Changing door locks is a fun diversion from schoolwork.

The Life of the Minister

"Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God." 1 Corinthians 8:1b-3

Perhaps those of us who are called to ministry would be well served, and would well serve God's church if we take these words to heart and enact them in our lives.

Survival of the Fittest??

We now live in the twilight of the human race. Human beings (homo sapiens) have peaked as a species and are now on the way out. Soon we will be joining the dinosaurs in the pre-historic section of the museum.

We get into machines and routinely race around at 3 to 5 times the speed our bodies were designed for. We get into other machines and fly, a feat for which we are not physically equipped. This high level of technology should carry with it a large body count as the poorly equipped and the unadaptable are weeded out of the collective gene-pool, thus making the remaining whole better equipped to deal with the world we have created. Is this the case? No, it is not. We have used our high level of technology to create not only faster modes of transportation and the like, but also safer ones. Now, the unfit are allowed to persist and even procreate through the proliferation of helmet laws and seat-belt legislation thus muddying the gene-pool. I submit that humanity has thus ceased growing and has begun to revert to previous lower levels of intelligence.

It will not be long before the curtain closes on the human act and we go to intermission. Current expenditures of resources and the increasing pollution levels will soon leave us with a world no longer capable of sustaining human life. A fact somehow missed by the law making bodies of the United States especially. The Dinosaurs had a run lasting millions of years, we've been going for several thousand. A meteor ushered their demise, we are bringing about our own.