Post Modernism & Star Trek

Postmodernism has done some crazy junk to Star Trek. I watched the 2009 prequel movie for the first time last night (I know, I'm way behind on flicks) and I liked it. But I could barely tell it was Star Trek.

The concept of Star Trek was born in the height of what we call "Modernism," which, as my good friend Willie Zimmers says, is a stupid name for a generation. Generations are hard to name anyways, but giving it a title that has the potential to change by definition quite possibly defeats the purpose. It's like calling something "contemporary." In order for something to be modern it needs to be current and up-to-date, which eventually eludes generations as they fade out of being hip or cool, and make way for newer versions of what is modern.

The "Modernist" is concerned with what they consider provable science. The concept of absolutes runs strong, and anything that is too "emotional" and not "logical" is suspect. Running somewhat contrary would be "Post-Modern," which is to say the generation that came after the modernists. Postmodernism allows for more than one opinion to be correct, and basically involves a great deal of emotion in its interpretation of reality. There is less concern about science for the postmodernist and more concern for the overall story and individual perspective.

The original Star Trek--the one with Captain Kirk, Spock, Sulu, Uhura, Bones & Chekov-- was written for a very "modern" audience. It is full of observations, explorations, and basic logic. There is relatively little action, aside from that whole crazy Vulcan mating thing, and the only thing that was "out there" was the concept of other worlds and spaceships. But these things all have very "scientific" explanations.

Last night's Star Trek movie was a prequel to the original. Postmodernists love prequels, because it somehow sheds light to why things are the way they are without giving an exact, scientific reason. It's personal, relational logic that's being used en lieu of science. There is plenty of action, great graphics, and the basic story line is quite consistent with what you might expect Starfleet to produce. At the same time it feels kind of funny. The characters are the same, and the producers have gone out of their way to find actors that look similar enough to the originals to be believable (Scotty totally could have been like that when he was younger). But because of the Modern/Postmodern divide, the movies feels weird. I kept thinking my folks would hate it, cuz it's decidedly Postmodern.

I liked it, but I also recognize other people's viewpoints in the matter :0)

Headphone Reqirement

I'm of the opinion that most albums should be listened to through a pair of semi-respectable headphones. A stereo or speakers are great, but the intricacies of an album cannot usually be realized in live sound. I suspect this has something to do with the finishing process of most albums; the average recording professional (and therefore many of us wannabes) uses headphones to produce their final product. Almost without fail I appreciate an album more with a good headphone listen.

It is even funnier with a comp album. I'm listening to Organic Culture, put out by Organic Records in 1998, through a pair of $10 Skull Candy earbuds, and it's crazy to hear the difference in the bands. Some have obvious layering, some techniques more effective than others. Some, like Tod Fadel's band Sappo, have very little layering at all. The earbuds make obvious some things that I've never noticed.

BTW, this is a recommendable disc, though its not a world changer. It's 90's era, some overtly Christian, but most are thoughtfully written. Dunno if you'll find it on a shelf anymore, but Amazon probably has most of it.

Control Free

“Freedom does not come by getting control of things or people but by freely assenting to the reality of being, whether that being is a stranger's illness, or a crushing disappointment, or an incomprehensible failure, or a futile desolation. We discover the meaning of the free life in acts of compassion and loving service, not in running after people who make big promises to us. We realize the life of freedom in Christ by accepting pain and trouble and ailments, not in grabbing after the smooth solutions to life proposed by celebrities or experts… Freedom comes from trusting, not from manipulating, from leaving matters to God rather than trying to be in control.”
– Eugene Peterson

One of the things I've learned while living in the DR is that I'm a control freak. Actually, I always knew this about myself, but there is something about the more extreme circumstances that helps our most central infirmities bubble up to the surface. I don't need to control all the people around me, insofar as what they are doing doesn't threaten my control of my own life. It's just that almost everything down here has threatened my state of being captain.

I really like the above quote. I'm trying to find the balance between no control and total control freak: healthy control, if you will. Since I'm very far on the side of no control, the danger will be to swing very far to the freak side when we get home.

I'm praying for trust rather than manipulation.

Philippians 2

I have gotten stuck on Philippians chapter two once again. I find this happens to me quite a lot because I simply can't breeze past the idea of God emptying God's Self. I'm by no means the greatest scholar among my peers at ONU, but this is one of the concepts that has stuck with me for the past 10 years, and forms one of basis for my understanding of what we're supposed to be about.

I think humans try very hard to be like the God they serve. We spend a great deal of time rationalizing our own preferences by looking for evidence that God is just like us. Military types tend to serve the God of war and retribution, Hippies tend to serve the God of peace & love, Legalists tend to serve a God that cares very much about rules, Atheist choose not to serve a God because they don't want to adhere to a system of beliefs, etc. This is why I worry about the way some people treat John Piper's teachings... the concept of a being who is interested in their own glory is just a little too much like an invitation to be self-absorbed.

Philippians 2 tells us that God is self-emptied. Jesus (one of the more clear, tangible images we have of God) didn't demand his rights (oh Lord, how much do we demand our rights on election years such as this?)but rather made himself nothing. We're talking about the one "man" who could have been anything at all. The Good Lord could have set up any system he wanted, put in place any powerful plan he wanted, and still chose to make this Kingdom one of emptying oneself rather than trying for position. Foolishness confounds what we think of as wise.

And we are supposed to be like this. Our attitude is supposed to be like this. Our actions are supposed to be like this. What would our world be like if all christians were like this? What would our world be like if I and my close friends were like this? I pray that we can get in touch with the emptied God.

I Figured Out Why My Costumes Were Lousy...

Today was a "Spirit Day" at SCS, and no, that doesn't involve a second act of grace or dancing in the isle. It's a day for the kids to leave the uniform at home, and dress in costume for a theme of sorts. This celebration has given me time to reflect on my own grumpy bear tendencies to dislike dress up days.

I think the real reason I don't love costume days is that I've mostly been too broke to make up for my lack of imagination. Allow me to explain: The two kinds of good costumes I see either cost a lot of money, or have as serious amount of imagination. I have neither of those things, though I must admit my "Sexy Lumberjack" Halloween costume was a stroke of genius(pasty white hairy legs in short shorts really set this one off:0). I'm cheap enough to never wanna buy a good costume, but my limited imagination disallows truly great inexpensive options.

Oh well... guess I'll just have to stick with the Sexy Lumberjack year after year...

Commercials

I was preparing a very nice 3 egg, broccoli, onion & bell pepper scramble served over brown rice this morning, and a strange thing happened. Out of the blue--and for no apparent reason--I got The Shane Co.'s commercial playing repeat style through my head. You know, "Now YOU have a friend in the diamond business... The Shane Company. Located on the corner of Highway 217 and Scholls Ferry Road..." It made me laugh out loud when I realized what was going on. Kisha asked what was up, so I told her, and something about saying it out loud made me wanna sing, "5-8-8-2-300, EMPIRE!" This has got to be some sort of mental regression.

In other news, the Davis family took a trip to the coast, so I've been driving myself to work for the past 4 days. It reminds me of being home... you know, where I would drive myself to work and then drive myself home, and have all that really good thinking time with just me, road noise, and my stereo. It's funny, but I think cars are culturally American. Once we become adults, and sometimes BEFORE we've reached maturity, we rarely go without a car. At least in middle class America. If you drive a car on your own, do me a favor: next time you get in, say a little prayer of thanx to the Good Lord. You've been blessed!

Hardcore For Breakfast

I'm not entirely sure why, but lately I've been feeling lousy in the mornings. Normally I'd put on some Miles Davis or Bob Marley, but lately that stuff that usually helps me ease into the morning hasn't improved my mood.

What has been improving my mood is Nine Inch Nails, POD, and TOOL. How is having hardcore for breakfast helping my feelers? I dunno, but since it's working Imma keep doin' it!

Turn that junk up to 11!!!

Spurts

It's funny how blogging comes in spurts. Some weeks I'm prolific with it all, and other weeks I'm so blah that I can barely write.

The world has simply been moving around me. I've not been all that proactive about anything, and thus things just seem to be happening. It is as it should be, because I'm mostly just waiting for June 12. I suspect that the last week before I leave will be somewhat chaotic, but I'm still a month away from all that. For now I just need to stick to the lesson plans and finish the school year strong.

I have been reading more, which I think will eventually lead to some theological bubbling-over.

Citizenship, Regardless of Leadership

Living in a foreign country makes me think of citizenship in ways I never have before. Here in La Vega there are snapshots of the way people feel about their citizenship. A lot of Dominicans want to identify with me immediately, so they let me know they're trying to get a visa to visit New York (because NY is probably very close to Oregon, and by the way do I know anyone at the embassy that can make their paperwork go faster?). The other foreigners that I see down here are quite quick to recognize how things are in THEIR COUNTRY.

I'm one of those foreigners. Shoot, I'm worse, cuz I not only go out of my to note the difference between the US and DR, I also take great pains to tell people how much different Portland is from the rest of the country. I speak fondly of the finer points of having more restaurants per capita than other cities, more hiking trails than most states, and a far milder climate than most places in the world. I tell them that some native american tribes died almost instantly when they encountered the trials of white men because of how easy and unchallenging their lives were near the Rogue River.

Funny, I can't really tell you much about politics back home. My citizenship is tied to a place and a lifestyle, but not so much to the leadership. I read verses like Philippians 1:27 and feel like I know what Paul means; regardless of leadership, we've got a citizenship into a lifestyle that doesn't depend on the president of a company, leader of a church, or director of a program. My allegiance is to a different kind of movement--a movement without a flag, motto, or pledge. I joke about "Jesus For President" as a way of saying that I don't really care who the president of the US is, and really it's true. No matter if Obama or Ron Paul are elected, I will still have my primary citizenship to a God who poured everything into a human form, came and lived with us, and continues to pursue us. I follow an active God who cares for the broken people we consider worthless. I serve a God that can melt a heart that is as numb and hard as my own. Yep.

Prayer

I don't get the current concept of prayer that I perceive from christian subculture. It seems to be the belief that if many people appeal to the omnipotent, God will somehow change God's mind in whatever matter is presented. This observation comes from years of research, and is ignited by my past year teaching at a christian school in the Dominican Republic. It seems that both Dominican and North American teachers have this idea that we should all pray for each other's obscure relatives, friends of friends, and anyone else that has recently contracted cancer, diabetes, or the seasonal head cold. Why else would people ask complete strangers to pray for someone they have never met?

I like community, and I want us to be connected to each other in a very "bodily" way (I say this to mean the way God became a body and did body stuff among us). Let us live together, love together, work together, and worship together. Let us pray together, but not with the mindset that we'll change God's mind. It seems a bit absurd to think that we can somehow impact the creator with our chants or pleas, no matter how "in the will of God" our attitude seems to be at the time. Let us search for God, and let us find that God has been looking for us. Let us pray that we can form relationships and communities that go deep, that we will know how to pray for our friends without having to announce "it's time to take prayer requests." Let us not only think of our own stuff, but be interested in others and what they are doing. (Philippians 2:4)

Tuesday Like Monday

A bit of realistic art from my 7th graders

Yesterday was Dominican Labor Day, so I didn't have to come to work. Instead Kisha and I had the opportunity to go up to a lunch spot in Jarabacoa and spend some time just chillin', walking around the property, having a couple drinks, and visiting the all you can eat buffet. Grampa would be proud... I definitely got my money's worth :0)

It was such a good time that we called Moreno to come pick us up from Parque Duarte so we wouldn't have to spend 15 minutes in the extreme noise that can usually be found between the park and our house. We got ice cream while we waited, and between that and the leisurely day we had it felt like a mini vacation. Very nice.

I remember we were supposed to be doing this relatively often. The plan was that we'd take plenty of personal days, and we'd be able to afford that because I have a steady, good paying job, after you consider the cost of living difference. But the ideal never really happened. Most things here are pretty expensive, and with the exception of rent I'd say that life is as expensive or more expensive as life in Portland (i.e. gas is somewhere around US$6.50/gallon). We can't cut away because we can't afford to.

I'm not really too upset about the money thing, but I will be happy to get home, where I know the tricks for saving money while still maintaining some manner of sanity. I could really go for some Halo on Kyle's Xbox right about now! Gaming makes my Tuesdays like Monday a great deal better.

Too Epic?

How does one start a blog with a name as epic as "Gaseous Admissions?" It's almost too epic. I promised myself it wouldn't be all juvenile poop stories, but I admit I wanna get a hold of some of the "BURPO Miracles" from the old website and post them here occasionally. Also thought about bringing EJ's Theological Journal back into the mix, which I suppose will be part of what I do. I want to talk about God some, though I doubt it'll be fodder for the truly spiritual.

Mostly I'm looking for an opportunity to say what I really think, without too much editing. I'm not sure I can even do that, because I know blogs and social media are a digital projection of one's public self. But this is also like my digital journal, as I've vowed not to kill as many tree buying paper copy journals.

In that light, here goes what I'm thinking about this morning:

You might expect this adventure to be getting easier, but it’s not. With only 6 weeks to go I find that I still have mornings when I don’t want to get out of bed, walk down the street, or interact with the world. I still daydream about my favorite restaurants and food carts, and have long bouts of nostalgia centered on Portland and all the good times I’ve had there. In the back of my head I know that my kids at school will continue to test my limits, and their behavior at the end of the year will more than likely get a little worse rather than get a little better. I wish this DVD could “skip” to the next scene.

It’s hard to walk through the barrio. The clutch pedal on the TEARS bike broke recently, so I’m loaning my motorcycle to Alberto. This gives the occasion to walk through the barrio to get to church and whatnot. I walk through the barrio and have no hard time wondering why Kisha has started getting sick again; the air is thick with pungent toxins that give me a bit of a headache just thinking about them. There aren’t any real sidewalks, and people drive up and down Principal like it’s a highway instead of a residential area. The noise is unlike anything else I’ve ever known, with competing stereos, motorcycles that have removed the muffler, people yelling, and the occasional popping sound of a kid playing with homemade fireworks. I basically can’t talk to anyone while we walk, and if people ask me a question in the street, I usually have them repeat it at least once. In short, it’s a lot like my classroom at SCS :0)

I think you really have to be called to Maria Auxilliadora to be okay with working there. It’s a place full of foreign people, foreign words, and a foreign way of living life. Kisha does just fine in this environment, talking with people, saying hello, and—I know you’re not gonna believe this—being a social butterfly. You can hear little girls and teenage boys and old timers calling her name as you walk with her, and she’s close to celebrity status.

I hear Oregon calling me back home. Honestly, I would have come home sooner if it wasn’t occupational suicide to quit in the middle of the year as a teacher. So now I’m just waiting, but it’s kind of a long time to wait because I’ve already been waiting for so long. It’s interesting to think that this has been the longest time that I’ve been away since we moved to Portland 15 years ago. I used to think of our family as somewhat nomadic, what with the frequency in which we moved around. But it seems we’ve scratched out a little corner on the west side, and being gone for too long is something of a problem. My daydreams include Lebanese, Indian, Mexican, Moroccan, Thai, Gourmet Pizza, Chinese, Vietnamese, and some good Portland vegan grub. I’d love to hook up with people when we get back, break bread (or noodles, or burritos, or whatever depending on the restaurant 