The Big Blue Martini Nation

So, The Lexington Herald-Leader is reporting that they have fired now former coach Billy Gillispie. The story mentions how Gillispie was first first introduced to UK fans back in 2007. An "impromptu" prep rally followed by a press conference. Even at the time I thought it reminded me of two people meeting for the first time before their arranged marriage. "Oh, I've been in love with you from the time our eyes met ... five minutes ago."

From beginning we've heard rumors of alcohol abuse, womanizing (including college age girls), which may or may not be true. However, we know about the intense practices, the conflicts between the coach and the players, his refusal to speak to a civic organization (per the news article) and his rudeness to the press. His rude statement to Jeanine Edwards during halftime at the Ole Miss game was inexcusable.

Being fired sucks, and when I read Mitch Barnhart's and UK President Lee Todd's statements about why he was fired I felt my stomach turn a little bit. However, I think he was wrong for UK from day one. Actually, I think he'd be wrong for pretty much any basketball program. He's rude, obnoxious and (if the rumors are true) immoral.

I hope they find a good coach who will represent the Big Blue Martini Nation well. Having said that, who cares? Seriously.

It's a game. Seriously. If people would put half the energy they put into following UK basketball like a religion and getting all bent out of shape over wins and losses and put it into their families, their churches, their communities or anything worthwhile this state would be in a better place. Seriously.

Odd one

I finished Odd Hours and I really hope Dean Koontz writes another installment of the Odd Thomas series.

Reasons why

My lovely wife and I were outside yesterday doing some much needed maintenance to the house when I heard a public service announcement on the radio. It said that many young people are choosing to abstain from premarital sex. Well, that's great. I'm all for teenagers abstaining from sex.

The problem is that the speaker said that having sex "just to fit in" isn't good. Is that why people have sex? Maybe some girls and an even smaller number of boys would, but I think the folks who created this announcement are out of touch. Adolescence begins so much earlier than it used to, which means more time for the hormones to rage. Add an oversexed media to the mix, which the announcement mentioned, and you have ingredients for people wanting to have sex because of biology. Believe it or not, but people who have gone through puberty have this "programming" inside them that says, "Reproduce now, not later. Or, now and later would be okay too."

The key is to tell people that they must fight that "programming" until such a time as they are older and married. Frederica Mathews-Green has a solution for this problem that I don't quite agree with. She basically says the same thing I do except for the older part. Then again, I haven't heard many Eastern Orthodox folks talk about her much anymore. Sure, there are some teens who are just doing it to fit in. "It's mostly the girls" I can almost hear you say. Well, Dr. James Dobson was complaining once about girls calling boys and being too aggressive. So ... oh, never mind, that's a topic for a whole other blog let alone post. I just think we try to sanitize people or something.

My point is, telling teens not to drink alcohol or smoke pot just to fit in makes sense. There isn't a biological drive to chug cheap American beer or to do shots of cheap tequila. There isn't such a drive to smoke a joint either. Ignoring the fact that people do have a biological drive to reproduce and telling them "it isn't going to make you cool" is just downright dangerous.

Anyone out there?

I'm beginning to suspect that no one is actually reading this blog but me (to proofread the blog). That can be good, though. I used to have another blog a long time ago and people read it and didn't like what I had to say.

I heard something on NPR the other day about yet another newspaper going the way of the dinosaur. Actually, the newspaper will continue to operate on line, but much of the staff (including those folks who actually printed the paper I'm sure) will soon be unemployed.

I graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2000 with a Journalism degree. Once upon a time that degree could get you through some doors, but I'm not so sure that's the case now. In these economic times it doesn't do much. I worked at a weekly paper for a while, but I eventually thought I would benefit from moving to a daily newspaper in a slightly bigger market. I no longer work for that paper for reasons that I won't go into. For right now I am no longer a journalist.

I said a few years ago that a journalist is the 21st Century version of an elevator operator. Thanks to the Internet I don't need to go by a printing press for thousands of people to read my thoughts. I can talk about politics or beer and I don't need a printing press for you to read it, much like I don't need to ask someone to push "three" for me. Still, there is still some level of mystique about a newspaper. After all, Clark Kent wasn't a blogger and Jimmy Olsen didn't take photos to post on flickr. A funny side note, someone once referred to my co-workers and I at the weekly paper I worked for as a bunch of Lois Lanes.

All this brings me to the question, what does it mean to be a writer? I've been told that I "write well." I've also been told that I my writing is horrible and that it needs so much editing that it is no longer mine once it has been edited. In the context which that was said, that statement made the speaker appear somewhat unethical, but I wont' go into that here. Anyway, I have some ideas that I would like to turn into novels or short stories, but somehow I just can't get do much with them. I've written some short chapters my latest idea, but what next? I have a plot, but it has holes and problems.

Character A comes to Character B for help. Character A has a problem, but what exactly is it? Or more to the point, what can Character B do to help? I don't know. So, I write this blog and wonder if anyone is out there.

Very Odd

I recently received a slightly used copy of this book in the mail the other day. I've read Forever Odd and Brother Odd, so I was excited to see what old Odd Thomas is up to these days. You see, he sees and interacts with spirits of the dead. They can't talk to him, but he can learn things from them.

In Brother Odd, he was the guest of a monastery in California where he discovered that one of the monks was up to something very evil. I've also read a couple of other books by Dean Koontz and I highly recommend him. I wish I could write like him.

Based on other things

I was listening to NPR today and heard the story about Obama rescinding the Bush administration's ban on funding stem cell research. The reporter said that people suspect that a lot of Bush administration policies in this area were not based on science but "other things." These other things were not mentioned by name, but it was obvious that the reporter had nothing but disdain for those "other things."

Could those "other things" be faith and morals? Who needs those when you have science? The idea that one's religious convictions should be kept at home as if in a shoe box is ridiculous.

New (to me) brew on the block

My über-beautiful wife and I went to the Atomic Cafe last night and I saw a beer that made me curious. The Rogue Dead man turned out to be an excellent choice. Very malty with a semi-bitter finish.

The meal was pretty good too, but just being out with my wife and tasting a new beer made the evening very nice.

In search of wisdom goes in search of ...

A new church. I have been praying over time that God would direct my family to a church where we can all be fed with God's grace. We tried a Baptist church last Sunday that was very unlike any Baptist church I had ever visited. It was semi-liturgical. The choir processed in behind a banner/cross and there were vesicles and responses. It was nice, the people were nice and I liked the music. But, I didn't feel like I just absolutely have to go there.

Tomorrow my family and I are very much considering attending a Presbyterian church. The children's coordinator there is someone my wife knows from her childhood, so that is a plus. I'm hoping to find some place where we can have community and grow as Christians. By community I mean a group of fellow Christians are welcoming, open, honest, sincere, non-judgmental and so forth. I'm also looking for a group of people who can tolerate differing opinions about faith, politics, child-rearing and so forth. I'm hoping we can find that place.

... and speaking of that same old topic

One of the local Episcopal churches is having a rabbi come and talk to them about sexuality in the Old Testament. From a strictly academic stand point that sounds somewhat intriguing, but why a rabbi? Jews and Christians read the OT very differently (they don't see Jesus where we do). So, why would I necessarily want to hear what a rabbi has to say about sexuality in the OT? Why not invite a seminary professor or a member of the clergy who is an expert in this field?

And why sexuality? Don't Episcopalians appear obsessed with sex anyway? What about finances or the environment? Anything but sex.

The great demise

When I was 13 or so I was invited to "Mass" at an Episcopal church. I only found out months later that most Episcopalians don't refer to their Sunday service as Mass or consider themselves "English catholics without the pope," etc. Still, I had questions about what Christians believed about God, and the basic reply I received from anyone at the little church I had previously attended was "read your Bible."

Well, many men and women more learned than I have read their Bibles and come to a plethora of contradicting ideas about the Trinity and the nature of Jesus (i.e. Arius thought the Son was a creation of the Father instead of co-eternal). I had questions and I needed answers. About halfway through my first visit to An Episcopal church I got those answers. In the Nicene Creed, which is recited at almost every Eucharist (though I know someone will point out that this isn't always traditionally the case).

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible ... And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father ... And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life ... who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified ...

This answered my fundamental questions about the Trinity. Of course the mystery of the Holy Trinity is far beyond the scope of human intellect, this helped. I fell in love with The Episcopal Church (TEC), and I was determined to convert. My parents didn't want that as TEC too closely resembled Roman Catholicism for their liking, but eventually they gave me the green light. At once I soaked up all the information about TEC I could, especially anything Anglo-Catholic. I had a rosary, a St. Augustine's Prayerbook, and a crucifix on my wall. I was set.

Whether I was leading the Christian life or even making a real attempt to be a Christian is another story. My journey out of TEC to other churches and back is also another story. The main focus of this post is how TEC is literally imploding while you would never know it based on what is said on a typical Sunday. My attempts to discuss the growing doom and gloom in TEC with Anglican clergy has been met with the same problem-what-problem? reaction.

Time and time again I've given up on TEC and then gone back because I like a good liturgy. I was sitting in the pew of an Episcopal church I could practically hit with a baseball while standing on my front porch (if I had a good throwing arm) when the bishop said some very questionable things about what Jesus really meant when He said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." I wasn't convinced. I really do believe Jesus meant that only He is the say to the Father. What does this mean for the good pagan who has never heard the Gospel? I think the Bible has some answers for that, but basically all I can do is trust God's mercy.

I've always seen TEC as a place for people who have an appreciation for liturgy as well as a sacramental world view without having to acknowledge the authority of the bishop of Rome (that would be the pope). But lately, one Episcopal priest's claim that there is room enough for disagreement within the Anglican world just doesn't do it for me. How much disagreement is healthy? My reading of the Bible says that Gene Robinson shouldn't be allowed to receive Communion let alone hold the office of bishop. Other folks' reading of the same book says otherwise. How can we claim to follow the same religion? I don't know.

So, I'm watching bishops and congregations storm out of TEC while competing churches and communions are being formed. I've visited a couple of those Anglican churches under the authority of foreign bishops and even joined a continuing Anglican church once, but I found them to be either very angry or very confused about their identity. I also found them to be very much like the other splinter groups claiming to be catholic, Anglican or whatever. To reiterate, I'm watching the legitimate Anglican body within the United States fall apart and I hate to see it happen.

On a Myspace group that I'm a member of, someone talked about "frozen" Episcopalians and "progressive" Episcopalians. I can't imagine what side he is on in these difficult times. So, my wife (not an Episcopalian) and I have begun looking for a church where we can worship together. Why am I willing to walk away from TEC? How could I expect my wife to join a church that is in such disarray? And, if I can't expect her to join, then what am I doing there? I can't sit and watch the clergy of the local churches try and pretend the shit ain't sinkin' when the water is up to their eyeballs.

I am hungry and need to be fed wih the living bread. I am thirsty and need to drink living water, not fight in the trenches over what parts of the Bible to agree with or not.

Update: I forgot to mention that the block quote is from the Nicene Creed.