Life Under the Vulcan Sun

I just made another Vulcan Mix for the Fall! Hope you enjoy and that it enraptures your heart with wondrous visions of goldenrod-orange leaves swirling down upon the Vulcan's mount... and me, Octoberfest in hand, thinking of you all.

And boom goes the dynamite.

Job Hunting

Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know that, now that I'm done with my internship with Campus Outreach, I'm looking for more writing/editing work to try to support myself through seminary at least for this semester. I'm competent at editing for spelling/grammar, style, language, argument and logic, and for formatting via Adobe InDesign or Word. I'm looking to charge rates around $15-20 per hour, but that would change depending on the nature of the project (and I could drop them down for friends, of course).

I know a few of you have had work like this in the past; I just wanted to put this out there as part of searching. If you hear of anyone who needs work like this, I'd really appreciate it if you could pass it on to me.

P.S., I love you guys (and gals). It was great to have so many people around last week for John and Jamie's wedding. Peace!

By Popular Demand...

It was great to see most of y'all this weekend at the Lambuth/Simpson festivities! What a fun celebration! Thanks, Jamie and John, for letting us be a part of the beginning of your marital bliss!

Several of you expressed interest in seeing this, starring Mimi and most of my family:) It was the highlight of our reception!

Let us know when y'all are headed to New Orleans!

Music for Posterity

Okay, so as I've contemplated succumbing to my deeply ingrained white-person impulse to buy a vinyl player, I've seen thinking about musical posterity. Let's face it: most of us find the vast majority of radio-play music awful. Simply awful. And the sad truth is that the "best" of that (of which there are a few okay songs, I guess) are going to be on the "oldies" station someday when our kids are starting to drive--unless everyone just has satellite radio, or mp3 jacks into their brains.

So I was thinking, what is the music from my time (90s on) that I would want to wave crotchetily at my kids and say, "THIS was around! This was the good stuff back in my day, even if it's not getting played on the radio!" And, while I would by no means consider this the final list, this is at least the product of one good thought-session on the matter. In no particular order:

Counting Crows- August and Everything After

MewithoutYou- Brother, Sister

Sufjan Stevens- Seven Swans

Josh Ritter- The Animal Years

Iron and Wine- Our Endless Numbered Days

And this list kinda hurts: I'd love to be able to squeeze more on here. But this is, in my opinion, the really good stuff, the albums I would want my kids to know existed. And so for you, dear friends:

What would your list for posterity be? What would be your top five albums (from the 90s forward; the good old stuff will still be around) that you want your kids to know about someday?

Update

Hey gang,

Well, the daylight is fading in Hendersonville, TN.  The closest thing to me right now is a dwindling bag of garden salsa flavored Sun Chips, I just bought a copy of Flannery O'Connor's Complete Stories and the last time I saw an ugly baby was.. NEVER! Because I just spent the day with my completely-opposite-of-ugly nephew, Emery!

In other news, I leave tomorrow for Freetown, Sierra Leone - spending the summer there doing an internship.  If anyone would like me to bring them home a diamond or two just say the word and I'll drill a hole or two in my teeth.  And if you all would pray for me while I'm there, that'd be great.  I don't have a lot of details on what the organization I'm interning with expects me to do, so it's gonna be a fly by the seat of your pants kind of situation, which gives me the slightest of nerves going in.  Anyway, just wanted to update y'all, and I'm going to do my best to sound as cool as this when I get back:

Also...

Okay, so this morning at work I found this band The Head and the Heart. They have a self-titled album out. And holy freakin' crap, it is incredible. They recall Blind Pilot, Wild Sweet Orange, and a few other bands like that a bit, but also have their own awesome sound and some really profoundly good lyrics. I had to recommend it--so good!

Contentment

Quick-and-dirty: Though the Bible promises that we can be content in all circumstances (Phil 4:11-13, written when Paul was in a craphole Roman jail again, uncertain of whether he would ever get out or not) contentment is a damnably tricky thing to hold and keep, especially when we have the promise of ever-more-perfect pleasures at our disposal via the internet and the shrinking of the world. Why do we, I, miss it so readily? I'm discovering the answer and the solution in The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs, and highly recommend the book to anyone who feels that they struggle with it too. May be a while before I finish it to lend it, though.

Peace!

Vulcan Mix: Spring 2011

Because music makes you lose control...

Follow this link to download & enjoy!

VULCAN- Spring 2011

1. Down By The Water The Decemberists

2. Barton Hollow The Civil Wars

3. Devil Knows You're Dead Delta Spirit

4. Helplessness Blues Fleet Foxes

5. Lord Help My Poor Soul Fionn Regan

6. Glad Man Singing Iron & Wine

7. The Ghost Who Walks Karen Elson

8. Suffering Season Woods

9. Alex Kona Strand Of Oaks

10. One Day Sharon Van Etten

11. Burning Stars Mimicking Birds

12. Tree By The River Iron & Wine

13. Killemall Menomena

14. Don't Carry It All The Decemberists

15. Solid Ground Maps & Atlases

16. Foot Shooter Frightened Rabbit

17. Cloudy Shoes Damien Jurado

18. My Heart Is Yours The Holy Ghost Tent Revival

19. Come Talk To Me Bon Iver

Special Moments

For those of you who may not know, I (Elaine) am living in boy land over here on 6th Ct South with Ryan inhabiting our house until his nuptials in May and Dwight, Eli, Paul (the person), and Andrew 3 houses down. It's pretty great, especially when I catch special "boy" moments on tape when they don't know their being filmed.

Exhibit A: First of all, how great it Paul the dog? Second, listen carefully to what Ryan says when he walks in to the kitchen towards the end.


Untitled from elaine on Vimeo.

Exhibit B: We were originally going to film Ryan playing the accordion, and Dwight randomly barged into our house. Notice his special way of greeting Paul (the dog). Bingo! Dinglehopper!


Untitled from elaine on Vimeo.

Saw this. Liked it. Wanted to share.

The Awful Rowing toward God
by anne sexton

i'm mooring my rowboat
at the dock of the island called God.
this dock is made in the shape of a fish
and there are many different boats moored
at many different docks. . .

"on with it!" he says and thus
we squat on the rocks by the sea
and play--can it be true--
a game of poker.
he calls me.
i win because i hold a royal straight flush.
he wins because he holds five aces.
a wild card had been announced
but i had not heard it
being in such a state of awe
when he took out the cards and dealt.
as he plunks down his five aces
and i sit grinning at my royal flush,
he starts to laugh,
the laughter rolling like a hoop out of his mouth
and into mine,
and such laughter that he doubles right over me
laughing a rejoice-chorus at our two triumphs.
then i laugh, the fishy dock laughs,
the sea laughs. the island laughs.
the absurd laughs.

dearest dealer,
i with my royal straight flush,
love you so for your wild card,
that untamable, eternal, gut-driven ha ha
and lucky love

a return to a worthless world.

i came back: http://mattfrancisco.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/vintage-ads-that-make-me-grin/

prayers appreciated

Hey guys! Long time, no see. I hope you all are doing well. I just wanted to ask for prayer for my grandfather, Ted, Mimi's husband (the grandmother who acted out the woman at the well:)). He is not doing well: fell and broke his hip, because of poor circulation had to have one leg amputated last week with possibilities of the other leg being amputated as well. Today the doctors took him off all medications (because they were making things worse) and said he probably had about 3 days. My family, especially Mimi, would appreciate your prayers during this season.

I'm looking forward to seeing y'all around the New Year! (yay Pat and Keri!)

Miss you friends:) thanks for praying!

The Samford Crimson

I think I did my family proud...

the title of the article: "Samford Redheads Face Wave of Bigotry."

Please check out pages 3-5. Nice..

Davis's House on the 18th!!

Please reply to this post by three monday if you plan on coming and let us know if you're bringing anyone else. We hate to pull this but if you're a regular and haven't responded and show up you will have to wait until everyone's served to make sure the ones who RSVP'd got something to eat.

We're excited about having people to our house!

Thoughts on looking at a peace sign

In the top floor of O'Henry's Brookwood, there's a big metal peace sign hanging on the wall (it's for sale, which is kind of an ironic statement I won't explore now). I've also been reading Stephen King's "Hearts in Atlantis," a novella about life in college in the initial months of the Vietnam War, which has had this whole thing on my mind to a greater extent. Also, I'm bored with this paper I'm writing.

Preface: none of these thoughts may have any ultimately valid conclusion; they're rough.

In the sixties and seventies, the peace movement was deeply provocative. It was widely cherished as an ultimate ideal by many (mainly, but not only, youth), and hated as anarchistic and unprogressive by many (mainly, but not only, then-adults). It was an ideal for those who held it, kind of a personal and social savior that, fully realized, would totally transform the world for good (as we see in "Imagine" or the unfortunate "Age of Aquarius"). Thirty years later, though, we see the aftermath of the ideology. Many people who remained fully committed to the peace-and-love ideal have burnt out on drugs or are hopelessly out of touch with the world, longing to bring back the promise of the late sixties/early seventies. Many who were only half-committed to or "grew up" from that youthful idealism now see it as distantly fondly as bell-bottom jeans, which is why someone could sell a peace sign sculpture for forty bucks in a coffee shop now.

I say all that because I've been thinking about how that was one of the last expressions of a popular social idealism we've seen (the major exception I can think of is the Obama-centered idealism, which has largely dissipated). At its heart, the peace movement thought that if there were just enough peace and love in the world, everything would be better. The concept was heavily explored in art, but did not motivate people to many practical peace-promoting innovations.

Since then, it seems that popular social philosophy has come to center more and more around pragmatism over idealism. In the eighties and nineties, we saw a lot of self-centered pragmatism: what works best for me and for my own advancement? Now, there is a growing heart for social good that is being approached with the determination to find out what works in effecting social change. An excellent example of this is the series of programs in Greensboro, AL, which has "with not for" as its motto for community development. It follows the adage, "give a man a fish...teach a man to fish." And most of us would agree that that is a better system, especially when we consider the effects of foreign aid on the receiving nations' citizens' views of their governments.

While those programs are worth praising in their own regard, I mention them to support how we are becoming a pragmatic society, in many ways. We sidestep rules and codes when it behooves us (how many of us have distributed music that we promised Itunes we wouldn't?); we seek philosophical and religious systems that work for us, and tend not to impose them on others when they have one that works for them.

Okay, a qualification: there's been an upsurge of idealism from somewhere in the nineties, currently focused on an ideal of authenticity or personality (e.g., the love of vinyl records, antiquated clothing, furniture, and houses, microbreweries--anything in Stuff White People Like, really). But it's by-and-large a pragmatic idealism; we implement ideals carefully and with a healthy infusion of irony and self-deprecation so nobody thinks we're weird.

So what? I don't know if I have a "so what," actually. I tend to think of how these philosophies apply to the practice and proclamation of Christianity, and how they either do or can find expression in the arts (another example: Sufjan Stevens now claims to no longer have faith in either the album or the song, and is producing increasingly jagged and lengthy compositions). I think people want to have something to be idealistic about (like Obama's presidency), but everything seems to fail to bear the weight of its own promises either partially or totally. I think that our generation, which is one that cares about the world and thinks more deeply about the world maybe more than any since the sixties, desperately wants to find hope even though it doesn't know where to seek it. People are exploring ideals tentatively, cautiously, keeping most of their existential faith in themselves like someone who has been burned over and over again by romantic relationships. This doesn't describe everyone, of course, especially in the South; I think it will grow here as it has in other places, just more slowly.

Well, I've foisted enough of my absurd thoughts on you for now. I should get back to that paper.

Brian, man, I miss you already. Hope to talk to you soon (and of course I miss those of you abroad too).

P.S., if you want an example of a modern real-but-ironic romanticism that is also totally beautiful, you should check out this video for "Elephant Gun" by Beirut:

Oh Man.

So, I do appreciate the attempt to reactivate this blog over the summer. I'm specifically appreciative of Wilmore, Straw, the Francisci...and maybe the Davi, can't remember. Thanks, it strikes a deep chord within.

I've wanted to contribute as well, but I just haven't struck gold yet...until tonight. Oh, it's amazing. I sort of wish I was her, and I DEFINITELY wish I had her voice. I hope this makes you as happy as it made me.

http://vimeo.com/14190306

Love you all!

Ben's Chili Bowl.

I am adding my voice to the growing number of people who are of the opinion that the Franciscos are trying to subtly tell us something... Now to get around to practicalities of the situation: will we change the blog name to 'Thirty-One Travelers?' Baby Francisco must be accounted for.

A few things you should know about my life:

-I am repentant. I previously judged Jamie for her love of Sonic chili dogs. I found them to be repulsive and referred to people who ate them as "fart-faces." Since moving to DC, I have grown as a person and in my understanding of the beauty that is a well-made chili dog. In an effort to apologize for my ignorance and judgmental nature, I invite you all up for a midnight run to Ben's Chili Bowl. (respects must be paid to Pat and Will who encouraged me to come to the other side.)

-To go along with the previous point: people in DC know me. It's becoming rather uncomfortable. I go to Ben's Chili Bowl and a girl I've never seen before starts talking to me in Amharic. I go to Whole Foods and a fellow shopper calls me by my Finote Selam nickname- how does he know this? I ride the S4 bus in the morning and a guy sits next to me and tells me that his relative told him to look for me. But how did he know that I was me? I go to Staples in suburban Maryland and the cashier knows me by name. I've never seen these people before. I've never even been to a Staples before. It's becoming increasingly disconcerting. And startling. I'm always on guard.

-I've started a new job. I am now considered adjunct faculty at the Baltimore City Community College. When I turned in my documents to the human resources person, she asked me how I went from being unemployed for 3 years to faculty at a college. I had never considered my life from that perspective. It was eye-opening. But regardless, I am now the Refugee Assistance Coordinator for Prince George's County. To clarify, I now control the English language for an entire county. It kind of sounds fun and royal (Prince George and all), but in reality I just do a lot of paperwork.

-I've started school. To do this in the same week as starting a new job turned out to be rather disastrous. So much reading. On top of all the paperwork. And figuring out a new bus route. And I had forgotten how to read... maybe I never knew how. And so many new people. They are interesting and I am happy to be among them, but it's all been a bit much. But I have hope that this week will be better than last week and soon I will even come out of survival-mode and actually be able to take it all in. This is the hope, at least.

-I have decided to attempt to return to the 'ham at least once a semester. My rational:

1. The Remingtons are there.

2. The community there is so great- why would i stay away?

3. I miss you all.

With that being said, let me know if there is something going on in Oct/early nov and i will come... camping trip? trip to see wardo? middle of the night beach run? just some suggestions...

That's all. Your turn.

Start Spreadin' the News

Is it just me, or was there a very large number of baby mentions in the Franciscos' last post?  Hmmm.

Well, if we must talk babies, I'll go ahead and say that my sister is expecting in February.  Her last name is Hornbeak.  Funny name.  What goes best with a funny name like that?  Caspian, according to her.  Lord help the poor child.

Well, I believe you all know this, but tadaaaa - I've moved to New York City!  And along with a newly acquired preference for the word "tadaaa," I've also just signed a lease on an apartment about two blocks from Central Park!  Tadaaaaa.  The amount of money I've already had to drop on it before even moving in makes me a bit queasy, but that's how it goes, I guess.  Plus, we all know that I only chew my food up then spit it out, anyway.

I'm kidding.

Thanks to Cory (and Jamie, John, Kris and Will) for helping me move up!

Many of you have expressed quite enthusiastically your desire to come visit me up here. Much more enthusiastically than you were about visiting me in DC.  I believe that this must be due to the fact that I myself have just become that much cooler and fun to hang out with.  Well, in that case, thanks, guys!  Come on up!

(Oh, and I love you all, miss you all, and tadaaaa - I've still never seen an ugly baby.)
(Double oh, if anyone cares to know, I think I'm reviving my blog.  Click on the "Jen" link to the right and post lots of comments so it looks like I'm cool and maybe I'll get a book deal!)

flowers.

braves win!

we miss you guys.

let's all hang out soon.

remember those marvelous days when we posted on this blog & knew all the intricacies & nonsenseries of each other's lives? let us recommence. immediately. otherwise, erin, patrick, and i are going to perform that long-since-promised hostile take-over of this air?-space.

in news of the awesome:

1. Ben Pittman announced to church that we're pregnant. we're not.

2. ok, so we're a little more boring than we thought...

3. portland and seattle were fantastic little spots. portland, if you are a no-good-nik. seattle, if you have a soul, character, and charm. tip o' the cap to you, brian.

4. apparently, we have a newly adopted son named david. he dreamed about me being his father and told me that he wished it were true.

5. erin & i went to the barons game last night & were showered with free Barons balls. we brought them home with glee. our internet, cable, and non-existent phone line all proceeded to fail (and incur $35 fines). upon noticing the balls were sponsored by charter, we found a local priest, had our apartment exorcized, and played wii. which then failed mid-game. damn charter.

6. i witnessed only the second pinch-hit, walk-off grand slam in major league history. true story.

7. birmingham's record show (at the cedar club) continues tomorrow. you should go.

8. adois, monsieur sharon & bienveniedos remingtons. holla back.

ps. accidental baby name of the month = z'ealous walker

your turn.  1, 2, 3 GO.

Our good friend Josh.

Hey friends!

One of the delights of my day is listening to NPR on the way to work... and I thought you all might enjoy this little nugget of happiness. Seriously, I think you can hear him smiling when he talks... though his outlook on life is so bleak. Such a confused little soul.

I conclude my post with this anecdote on life in DC:

Also on Friday, I was responsible for giving a talk on hygiene to 15 Ethiopian refugees. All in Amharic. It was a disaster from the start. It was all kind of common sense stuff (brush your teeth, take showers, wash your clothes), right before lunch time, and I was talking too slowly... I was losing my audience. So when I got to the section on lice, I decided lighten things up and say something to the effect of, "lice are very fast moving. They are like Haile GebreSelassie (a famous- and very fast- Ethiopian runner)." The class was scandalized that I should talk of Haile so. There was an uproar, students protesting saying, "no! he's not bad! he's a very good person!" Apparently they didn't want him to be equated with a small bug. Hard to say why. I guess I'll be sticking to reading straight from the handouts from now on...

Miss you guys! Much love!