Sic Semper Tyrannis

Catching Up at the First of the Year

The blog version of what I’m thinking and feeling these days…

There’s a lot going on in the old noggin these days. First of all, like I alluded to before, I’m back from New Orleans. I have caught up on work responsibilities so I can write a little bit now.

I was in New Orleans from Dec 27-Jan 2. I went with a group of fifteen folks from my church to gut a house for Nazarene Disaster Response. This was my second such trip. The difference from last time? Different people obviously, but the huge difference was in accommodations. Last time we stayed in a non-air conditioned church gym, sleeping on air mattresses in the sweltering summer. This time we stayed in a Salvation Army Rehab Facility that was a lot like college dorms. Now, some on the trip expressed guilt in coming back to such relative “opulence” every day after work, saying that it didn’t feel “mission trip”-ey. I was not one of those people.

The coolest part for me was a second project we were able to do. As we were gutting the first house, building a huge debris pile in front, a neighbor named Hannah came over and asked if we could help with her house. The story is that she paid a crew to do what we were doing but they left the job unfinished. A single, older woman going through chemo—that seemed like something we could do. I was glad that NDR was flexible enough to allow us to do this, as there is a process of paperwork, and lists and waiting that a homeowner typically would have to go through in order to get their house gutted.

I gotta be honest. There’s not much of a religious or spiritual component to “why” I have gone on these trips. I enjoy the work. I like tearing stuff apart, getting dirty and sweaty and feeling like I’ve done something. I say this a lot, but it’s very therapeutic for me to put a crowbar through drywall and I like seeing a physical manifestation of “work” at the end of the day. I like accomplishing something. If God gets some glory, or if someone’s life is made a little easier, or someone is made happy because of it—that’s icing on the cake.

That said, however, it is certainly different to not have the homeowner on-site, working alongside you. That was the coolest part about the last trip. Anyway, it was a good trip this time, a good way to start the year, and I’m glad I got to know some people better.

Speaking of ways to start the year, some of you who know me well are going to think that someone has hijacked my blog when I tell you that I am hopeful and excited for this coming year. For one pretty simple reason- I will be paying off my credit cards within the next few months! Not many people know this, but the number one stressor for me comes from financial worries.

And even though I am battling a nasal-blocking cold right now, I’m not down. I’ve got much more important things to worry about than some stupid cold that will pass in a few days.

So, that’s the general welfare report.

I also wanted to talk about finishing the latest Klosterman book IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas. It’s a collection of annotated interviews, (and a horrible short story.) I liked it infinitely more than his last book, basically because it was about something other than himself. But after having read all of his books now, I’m a little puzzled.

What about Klosterman makes him uniquely qualified to get paid for publishing his opinions on things? Granted, he’s a pretty smart dude. But not THAT smart. He can be pretty funny at times, but not THAT funny. And one telling thing he wrote in Killing Yourself to Live that really caught my attention was at one point when he’s trying to describe the sound of some song. He says something along the lines of “this is always awkward for me.” I would think that being able to describe the thing which you are going on and on about should just about be requirement #1, no? That’s kind of annoying to me—a guy talking circles around art but never really being able to get into specifics. Op Ed is such a fuzzy profession. Is it possible for this kind of commentary to be anything other than dogma handed down from on high: “Here’s why this song/album/TV show/movie/sports team is important.” The unspoken element is: “…important (to me.)” My overall impression of his writing took a real nosedive after reading Killing Yourself to Live. It made me question the first two books. Can someone capable of such narcissism really give a circumspect review of anything?

Anyway, it feels good to have read all of his books so I can know what uber-hip pop cultural reviewers are talking about when he’s referenced.

posted by Mike @ 9:27 AM