Interstitiality

Feeling Good

I'm feeling pretty good today:

-I drafted a pretty solid fantasy baseball team. I'm a little thin in pitching, but I should rock in hitting.

-I already know some of my softball plans for the spring. I have yet to hear from the Bent Bombers (a team that I usually play with in the spring), but I am playing on one team in an Evanston league. The Seabury Saints are also set to play one night a week in NU's IMs.

-UCLA is in the final four (pinch). UCLA is in the final four!

I love softball, and I have played more ball in the past six years than I ever have in my life. I usually play with two teams in the spring, two or three teams over the summer, and two teams in the fall.

I must admit, however, that playing softball in early spring and late fall is not so hot in the Midwest. In fact, sometimes it's downright cold. That part I could do without.

Forgiveness and Reconciliation

I have been thinking about forgiveness a lot recently, especially in the messy context of human reconciliation. I saw a film that dealt with the problematic forgiveness of an Auschwitz survivor who forgave Nazis. Gary, our dean, gave a thought-provoking sermon on the topic a couple of weeks ago, which included an illustration of an English clergy person’s resignation. She couldn’t serve with integrity at the altar of reconciliation when she was not in a place to forgive the terrorists who killed her daughter (if you ask me a supreme example of integrity and faithfulness on her part).

The study-group that I belong to is also examining this topic. On our first meeting, we looked at the movie, Crash. In an earlier post, I suggested that the film moved too quickly to reconciliation and redemption, esp. for the white characters. This week we are reading Miroslav Volf’s Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation. He is Croatian. My thoughts on the topic of forgivness are still forming, but I feel a series of posts coming. For now, however, here is a quote from the preface of Volf’s book:

“It was a difficult book to write. My thought was pulled in two different directions by the blood of the innocent crying out to God and by the blood of God’s Lamb offered for the guilty. How does one remain loyal both to the demand of the oppressed for justice and to the gift of forgiveness that the Crucified offered to the perpetrators? I felt caught between two betrayals—the betrayal of the suffering, exploited, and excluded, and the betrayal of the very core of my faith. In a sense even more disturbingly, I felt that my very faith was at odds with itself, divided between the God who delivers the needy and the God who abandons the Crucified, between the demand to bring about justice for the victims and the call to embrace the perpetrator. I knew, of course, of easy ways to resolve this powerful tension. But I also knew that they were easy because they were false. Goaded by the suffering of those caught in the vicious cycles of conflict, not only in my native Croatia but around the globe, I went on a journey, whose report I present in this book” (10).

Wow!

Wow! Let me say that again but backward, “Wow!” What a night of college hoops! Last night was probably one of the more exciting nights of basketball that I have ever watched. Here are the highlights according to me:

· Bradley’s miracle run ends. They were overmatched against Memphis.
· Duke loses! Hooray! The Yankees of college basketball have fallen! Much credit to LSU who simply out-muscled the Blue Devils. For example, at the end of the game, Glen “Big Baby” Davis was at the free throw line. All of his LSU teammates had gone to the other end of the floor to guard against a quick basket, leaving “Big Baby alone at the free throw line with four other Dukies. Davis missed the free throw but still got the rebound anyway. Amazing.
· Texas outplayed West Virginia for most of the game. WV made a late charge, actually tying the game on a long three by Kevin Pittsnogle. The Longhorns’ A.J. Abrams took the inbound pass and drove all the way down the court. He finally dished to Kenton Paulino, who sunk a long three at the buzzer to sink WV. Wow!
· Finally, UCLA scored the last eleven points to edge out Gonzaga 73-71. Gonzaga outplayed the Bruins for most of the game. The Bruins went on a furious run at the end of the game, but were still trailing by one point with just seconds left. The Bulldogs had the ball on their own end line. After the inbound pass, Adam Morrison threw cross-court to J.P. Batista. Batista, who was probably the worst free throw shooter on the floor for Gonzaga, held the ball too long. UCLA trapped him, and Darren Collison knocked the ball away. The Bruins’ Jordan Farmar picked up the loose ball and lobbed a pass to a wide-open Mbah a Moute, who sunk the game-winning lay up. Gonzaga tried to push the ball down the floor to tie but turned it over. The Bulldogs had one last desperation fall away at the buzzer that clanked off the side of the backboard. It was one of the most dramatic comebacks (and unbelievable collapses on Gonazaga’s part) that I have ever seen. Amazing!

The Bruins are in the Elite Eight. U… C… L… A… UCLA Fight Fight Fight!

U... C... L... A... UCLA Fight! Fight! Fight!

My friends and family know that I have been a UCLA fan for a very long time. I must admit that these days it is very difficult for me to keep up with Bruins, especially when I live in the Midwest. I grew up going to Pauley Pavilion, watching John Wooden, the Wizard of Westwood, work his magic year after year. I was there for the Walton years, when UCLA won a record 88 straight games. I was at the Final Four in San Diego in 1975, when Wooden won his last national championship in his last game as a coach. Tonight the Bruins return to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2002. They play Gonzaga. Here’s to a rekindling of that old Westwood magic. Go BRUINS!

ITunes Fortune Cookie

Our server has been rather fussy lately, so I haven't posted in a while.

I got this one from Yodabeth...

Instructions: Go to your music player of choice and put it on shuffle. Say the following questions aloud, and press play. Use the song title as the answer to the question. NO CHEATING

How does the world see you?
Bend and Break (Keane) [God, I hope not]

Will I have a happy life?
One Last Try (Howard Jones) [Charlie Brown syndrome]

What do my friends really think of me?
Do You Sleep? (Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories) [All too true!]

Do people secretly lust after me?
Roxanne (The Police) [“You don’t have to put on the red light!”]

How can I make myself happy?
The Stand (The Alarm) [“Come on down and meet your Maker, come on down and make a stand”]

What should I do with my life?
Psycho Killer (Talking Heads) [Oh my goodness! “Qu’est que c’est?”]

Will I ever have children?
He’s All You Need (Steve Camp)

What is some good advice for me?
I Will Remember You (Amy Grant)

How will I be remembered?
Town Called Malice (The Jam) [“…to either cut down on beer or the kid’s new gear; it’s a big decision in a town called Malice.”]

What is my signature dancing song?
Fake Plastic Trees (Radiohead) [“Faking” is about all I can do in the dance department]

What do I think my current theme song is?
She Will Be Loved (Maroon 5)

What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
Another White Dash (Butterfly Boucher) [“There is something exciting about leaving everything behind.”]

What song will play at my funeral?
I Will Not Take These Things for Granted (Toad the Wet Sprocket) [Actually, pretty good selection]

What type of men/women do you like?
Just What I Needed (The Cars) [“It’s not the perfume that you wear, it’s not the ribbons in your hair…”]

What is my day going to be like?
Come Undone (Duran Duran) [All too true! Geez, this is better than a fortune teller.]