Interstitiality

Wabash Consultation

I will be at a Wabash consultation all week in downtown Chicago. The consultation is examining the role of race/culture/ethnicity in reading and teaching the bible. There are fifteen of us--five African Americans, five Asian Americans, and five Latino/a Americans. Four from each group are biblical scholars, and each cluster has one scholar who teaches in cultural studies. There are two Hebrew Bible scholars and two New Testament scholars in each group as well. We have seven women and eight men, so the gender balance is good. We spend our days sharing papers, syllabi, and having conversations about race/ethnicity/culture and the bible. We eat at some fine eating establishments, all of which have a distinct “cultural” element. In the evenings, we go to plays, musicals, events, again with each event having a cultural/racial/ethnic flavor to it. It is a good group of folks, and this is our last official meeting. Should be a good week. The essays that we are looking at this week should be coming out in a future volume.

Moving Right Along

We moved yesterday. The move went smoothly. Thanks to the help of Ryan, Cliff, Mark (football player from Iowa), Josh, and Matthew, we were able to move all of the contents of our house around the corner in about 8 hrs, including lunch.

Everything seems to be working fine, except for some of our electronics. The installer forgot to put two lines into the house for our TIVO, which means that we are only getting one feed right now. We are also getting shotty reception (I think the guy installed our dish too close to the tree line). We also will be without DSL service until next Friday. Bummer.

After we settled in last night, Michelle and I took the kids to see Willy Wonka. It was very entertaining. Tim Burton took a different if not over-used angle on the chocolate maker's character. Burton's Willy Wonka, played by Johnny Depp, has unresovled father issues (boy, haven't seen that before!). I liked Gene Wilder's interpretation better. I tend to think of Wonka less as a damaged genius and more as a quirky genius. The highlight of the film were the ooompa loompas. Very funny!

Today we clean the old place. My feet and arms still hurt. Ouch!

Whew!

A first draft of my Japanese American interpretation of Genesis 2-3 is now finished. It still needs work, but the first draft is out of the way! To quote the old man in Babette's Feast, "Alleluia!"

Maybe It Was the Bat!

I just received a replacement bat for my Synergy 2 (it cracked). It is the new Synergy Flex, and so far it is awesome! I've used it the past two nights and I have gone 6-7 with it. I can feel some pop coming back too.

Tonight my Wed. night team, the Cavemen, won our opening round playoff game against a #2 seed. This team crushed us twice during the regular season. We came out firing, scoring 13 runs in the second inning. The final score was 21-7. We actually won by the slaughter rule (up by more than 10 runs after five innings). My new bat worked like a charm. I went 4 for 4, scored 2 runs and had 2 rbis. The Cavemen won the Skokie league 12-in. softball league two years ago. Maybe the magic has returned.

Dog Days of Summer

I am finishing an essay for a consulation of which I am a part. The consultation, which is funded by Wabash, seeks to examine the role of culture, race, and ethnicity in biblical interpretation. My essay is a Japanese American interpretation of Gen 2-3, which emphasizes themes of survival, and exile/internment. It is coming slowly, but I am almost finished. Though I do not like writing much over the summer (comes with the territory of my job), I must say that it is more enjoyable working on something other than my dissertation this "off season."

It's raining off and on this morning, which makes me think that our softball playoffs are in danger of being cancelled. This might not be a bad thing given how we have played this year. My teams are doing poorly and my personal stats are way below normal. I am hitting about .065 below my normal average (right now I'm hovering around .530 combined in all my leagues), and I only have 2 HRs--a severe power outage. I can blame my new bat, my mechanics, or even the fact that I haven't worked out my upper body in a month or so. Still doesn't make me feel better about the softball season so far. Maybe my age is catching up to me, or maybe I just need a better bat.

Move, move, move

We’re moving very soon. We will be moving to a house that is very similar to our duplex unit. It’s former tenants were Wes and Mary, and before that Chuck and Paula. I am not looking forward to the move, but I am looking forward to a little extra space (including a spare bedroom) and our own yard. Community yards are great. We share our present space with three other wonderful neighbors. Still, having our own backyard allows us to make modifications the way we like. We can let Roy roam free without worrying that he will bark at AKMA (I don’t know why he does, but he always does), and we can turn up the stereo without worrying as much about whether our neighbors enjoy our taste in music. The painters will do their work sometime this week, and after that we move in. We are still not close to finishing with our packing, so we have a lot of work to do in the next couple of weeks.

WOW

Due to the threat of rain, my family and I decided to pass on fireworks this past 4th. Instead we went to the local Century Theatre to see Spielberg’s War of the Worlds. I am not a huge Sci-Fi fan, though I have liked quite a few movies within this genre. A “real” sci-fi fan would have read H.G. Wells book, seen most of the representations of it in film or other mediums, and would know something about the history of this piece. I know no more than the average Joe or Jane about it. I know about the radio performance and the public panic that followed. I know that H.G. Wells wrote the book. Beyond this info, that’s all I know.

I wasn’t disappointed because I don’t have a baseline from which to judge the film. I can say that it struck me as less of a sci-fi and more of a horror/suspense movie. Most of what you will remember when you walk out of the theatre are the images and suggestions of how the aliens are killing the humans, and how Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning manage to escape. Death, killing, and suspenseful survival strategies = the recipe for a good horror movie. Good sci-fi usually triggers a different response. It usually intrigues me with the prospects of a different world, develops characters within that world, and has a plot that unfolds within the rules and boundaries of the created setting. Horror movies, and I love horror movies, work on base survival instincts--the fight or flight mentality to cinema. I don’t prefer one over the other, but I must admit that I went into WOW expecting a sci-fi. What I got was more of a horror movie in terms of its story telling, plot, and characterization. There are some sci-fi flicks that incorporate horror elements well. Alien comes to mind. I guess I was just expecting more of the elements that one typically finds in a sci-fi flick. Moreover, I DO take my kids to sci-fi movies. I DON’T take them to horror flicks. So, I was a little conflicted throughout WOW’s showing. What ruined the suspense for me was my continual worry that this was a bit overwhelming for our 11-year old.

So, if your looking for an E-ticket scary thrill ride. WOW might be for you. If you are expecting more of a sci-fi, mind-bender, look elsewhere. Even not knowing Wells book, I could see from the movie that there was a lot that could have been developed--the alien’s motivation for exterminating the humans, their plan for wiping them out, how it is that the earth’s ecosystem eventually does the invaders in, etc. All of these themes sit backstage as the fight or flight drama absorbs the spotlight, hitting you with different images of how aliens can destroy all humans.

Catching UP

I’m in the middle of revising an essay for a consultation of which I am a part. I am doing a thematically based reading of the Eden story and the Japanese American internment. It’s coming along. I’ll probably be done with it later in the week.

I haven’t reported on our family vacation to Orlando. Usually when you hear stories about family vacations, they tend to be of the Griswold variety. Everything that could possibly go wrong does. Our vacation was the polar opposite. Just about everything went better than expected.

We stayed at the Orlando World Center Marriott Resort, a plush golf resort just a few miles away from the park. We got a sensational package deal on Priceline. We received an upgrade on our rental vehicle for free. The tour suggestions provided in the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World worked like a charm. We waited in line for no longer than 20-30 minutes on any ride, even though the parks were packed with summer traffic. We ate well, played in the pool, enjoyed Epcot, Disney World, and MGM Studios, and we came in under budget! The kids were thanking us throughout and after the vacation for a great time. It was about as perfect as a vacation could be. I was very grateful that things went so well. My family deserved a good vacation for the three graduations that were celebrated this past spring. I will have pictures later.

Last weekend, I went to Michigan for Susie, Shannon, Joyce, and Judy’s ordination. It was a great time. The ride over with Tripp, Beth, and Andrew was full of very cool tunes and engaging conversation. We got to see Susie and Luke’s new house. It was a great time. I was honored to be there.