Need I say more?
25 September, 2007
21 September, 2007
End of week 1
Well, Melissa has almost finished her first week of work, and Livi and I our time at home together. Both have been pretty successful, I think! Being stuck in the house during the rain is no fun, though :-P
[15 min. delay]
Cool, rain seems to have stopped!
We'll keep you posted with pictures and videos! But right now we're all settling into thisnew schedule.
Chris
[15 min. delay]
Cool, rain seems to have stopped!
We'll keep you posted with pictures and videos! But right now we're all settling into thisnew schedule.
Chris
11 September, 2007
It's important to me that this blog contains a little more than just pictures (especially of you-know-who!), though it's difficult to find time and thought energy. In this case, I just want to highlight something that I discovered today that immediately went into my "everybody should see/hear/read this!" file. But first, some personal background.
I think that my ongoing fascination with art, faith, and politics is that they help me to understand, or at least come to grips with, the world that I live in. For me, artistic endeavour and political arguments take a step back from the daily business of living to address the "whats" and "whys" of existence: I can place myself within a broader narrative, and begin to categorise, explain, and critique the things going on around me.
Faith provides a great precedent for this in the form of the prophets. Unlike fortune-tellers, the role of the prophet is to provide a narrative for her followers: One that tells the story of the past, the condition of the present (along with God's judgement of that condition), and the possible futures which will result from choices made now. In short, prophets give us a kind of divine social commentary that is at the same time political, historical, moral, and, well, prophetic. I don't believe I have an extraordinary gift in this regard, but I desperately search for these narratives, woven by others, that I can trust and live by, whether it comes from Isaiah, Jesus, or Tom Wright.
Politics are, for me, about providing the raw material with which to apply prophetic judgement. Whereas I will become 100% captivated by a prophetic narrative (say, about the relational community of Jesus growing into the Kingdom of God), I tend to stay detached from political parties, or even philosophies, sifting each alternative according my principles, and ending up with a continually morphing patchwork of ideas with inevitable contradictions and ambiguities. The real purpose I have with politics is to be aware of what's going on: of movements and philosophies, trends and taboos. In short, politics provide the questions, but not the answers.
I mentioned art as well, but it's not quite so relevant here and more difficult to nail down, so I'll leave it :)
All this has led to an interesting path for me over the last few years. Starting as a born-and-raised conservative Christian, in the build-up to the Iraq invasion I began to question the compatibility of a Biblical faith on the one hand, and a patriotic, good guy / bad guy, us vs. them attitude on the other. This led to a serious rethink of both my faith (is it really about religious affiliation leading to an all-important afterlife, or rather about the working of God within history towards the complete redemption of this life?) and politics (is the United States really a global force for peace, freedom, and human rights? or is it an empire securing it's own interests under a guise of self-deception?)
If you've stayed with me this far, we're almost there :) After coming to the UK I discovered a book called "No Logo" by Naomi Klein. A praise on the cover described here as a sexy Noam Chomsky, so I was intrigued. The subject of the book had to do with the history of product branding, leading to today's attempts by companies like Apple, Starbucks, and Nike to brand attitudes, ideas, lifestyles, and entire cultures.
What gripped me about that book wasn't that it was meticulously researched and argued (though it was and more); it was that it created a narrative that made sense of something. Now, when I walk through a shopping mall or watch the latest iPod commercial, I have a lens through which I can understand, explain, and critique what I'm seeing. Could a political writer transcend the category I outlined above? Is it possible for me to believe in a secular prophet, who, like the spiritual kind, weave authoritative narratives to explain life as I know it?
At this point, my answer is yes. Which is why I was excited today to hear about her new book, "The Shock Doctrine." I haven't read it yet, but my understanding of her basic premise is that the spread of free-market capitalism depends upon nations experiencing the same "shocks" that torturers (in this case, the CIA) have discovered are useful in breaking down a subject's defenses. As any good prophet would, she retells the past in order to throw light on the present; and whether or not she states it openly, there are always implications for the future.
I hope to find time to read the book, as well as follow the website. I hope I can pique some others' interest to do the same... I know at least a few libertarian-leaning friends with whom I might have some dialogue! In the meantime, below is a short film: please comment on it, her website, my summary of her work, or my personal thoughts and life-approach.
Always pondering,
Chris
I think that my ongoing fascination with art, faith, and politics is that they help me to understand, or at least come to grips with, the world that I live in. For me, artistic endeavour and political arguments take a step back from the daily business of living to address the "whats" and "whys" of existence: I can place myself within a broader narrative, and begin to categorise, explain, and critique the things going on around me.
Faith provides a great precedent for this in the form of the prophets. Unlike fortune-tellers, the role of the prophet is to provide a narrative for her followers: One that tells the story of the past, the condition of the present (along with God's judgement of that condition), and the possible futures which will result from choices made now. In short, prophets give us a kind of divine social commentary that is at the same time political, historical, moral, and, well, prophetic. I don't believe I have an extraordinary gift in this regard, but I desperately search for these narratives, woven by others, that I can trust and live by, whether it comes from Isaiah, Jesus, or Tom Wright.
Politics are, for me, about providing the raw material with which to apply prophetic judgement. Whereas I will become 100% captivated by a prophetic narrative (say, about the relational community of Jesus growing into the Kingdom of God), I tend to stay detached from political parties, or even philosophies, sifting each alternative according my principles, and ending up with a continually morphing patchwork of ideas with inevitable contradictions and ambiguities. The real purpose I have with politics is to be aware of what's going on: of movements and philosophies, trends and taboos. In short, politics provide the questions, but not the answers.
I mentioned art as well, but it's not quite so relevant here and more difficult to nail down, so I'll leave it :)
All this has led to an interesting path for me over the last few years. Starting as a born-and-raised conservative Christian, in the build-up to the Iraq invasion I began to question the compatibility of a Biblical faith on the one hand, and a patriotic, good guy / bad guy, us vs. them attitude on the other. This led to a serious rethink of both my faith (is it really about religious affiliation leading to an all-important afterlife, or rather about the working of God within history towards the complete redemption of this life?) and politics (is the United States really a global force for peace, freedom, and human rights? or is it an empire securing it's own interests under a guise of self-deception?)
If you've stayed with me this far, we're almost there :) After coming to the UK I discovered a book called "No Logo" by Naomi Klein. A praise on the cover described here as a sexy Noam Chomsky, so I was intrigued. The subject of the book had to do with the history of product branding, leading to today's attempts by companies like Apple, Starbucks, and Nike to brand attitudes, ideas, lifestyles, and entire cultures.
What gripped me about that book wasn't that it was meticulously researched and argued (though it was and more); it was that it created a narrative that made sense of something. Now, when I walk through a shopping mall or watch the latest iPod commercial, I have a lens through which I can understand, explain, and critique what I'm seeing. Could a political writer transcend the category I outlined above? Is it possible for me to believe in a secular prophet, who, like the spiritual kind, weave authoritative narratives to explain life as I know it?
At this point, my answer is yes. Which is why I was excited today to hear about her new book, "The Shock Doctrine." I haven't read it yet, but my understanding of her basic premise is that the spread of free-market capitalism depends upon nations experiencing the same "shocks" that torturers (in this case, the CIA) have discovered are useful in breaking down a subject's defenses. As any good prophet would, she retells the past in order to throw light on the present; and whether or not she states it openly, there are always implications for the future.
I hope to find time to read the book, as well as follow the website. I hope I can pique some others' interest to do the same... I know at least a few libertarian-leaning friends with whom I might have some dialogue! In the meantime, below is a short film: please comment on it, her website, my summary of her work, or my personal thoughts and life-approach.
Always pondering,
Chris
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