The Old Testament Song

Taylor and her best friend Sydney sing the books of the Old Testament for our church's talent night.

Smugmug

I'm experimenting with a new photo sharing site called Smugmug. I've loaded most of my Peru pictures up there. Check it out and tell me what you think.

Is Google making us stupid?

My friend Scott brought this article to my attention.

Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle....

The challenge is to read the entire article. It is quite fascinating and a little disturbing.

dog dreams

Here's a picture from Taylor (age 7).
Her cartoon has a surprisingly adult-ish wit to it I think. The New Yorker cartoons have nothing on this.

Can you tell she wants a puppy?

Gulf Shores

 

We were at Gulf Shores, AL last week with a group from church. It was a blessing to be there with good friends. We ate lots of good food, enjoyed the company and played games. Most importantly, the girls enjoyed the beach and Dad stayed out of the sun.

bloo bunny

blue bunny was in blue bunny town - Addy

wisdom and folly

Please check out the spankin' new blog from my friends Jim and Amy. Jim's a philosophy prof and rock n roll fanatic so you know it will be interesting.

Here's a little taste...

Long before I ever became an academician I loved rock n’ roll-from the crunch and sizzle of Jimmy Page guitar riff to the soul-soothing wail of Aretha Franklin. But most of all, I loved the songs themselves, from love ballads to R&B grooves to punk rock political anthems. And I’ve spent decades building my music catalogue, both to enjoy the music and to get a better grasp on the evolution of this art form.

It wasn’t long ago that to call rock music an “art form” was a howler. And it has only been very recently that study of the popular arts generally has become a legitimate field of scholarly inquiry. Happily, today there are several academic journals devoted entirely to the subject, and even the most prestigious aesthetics journals routinely feature treatments of rock music. Finally scholars have realized what should have been obvious all along. The study of popular culture is important because it provides us with insights in a wide range of subjects: art, anthropology, psychology, sociology, cultural studies, and philosophy, to name a few. And study of the history of popular culture is significant for the same reason that any historical inquiry is significant. It provides us with a better understanding of human nature and society.

Stanley Kubrick's Boxes

I'm not a big fan of Kubrick's films (to be fair I've only seen Full Metal Jacket), but I found this documentary about Kubrick's archives to be fascinating. This might give some of you a better insight into what an archives is and what an archivist does (in particular see part 4).



The video is just shy of 50 minutes and does contain strong language.

hattip: FilmChat

Bleed Into One

I for one want to see this documentary. Enjoy the trailer.

Peru Branch

My purpose in traveling to Peru, was to assist the Peru Branch of the Summer Institute of Linguistics in their archiving and learn about their history. Here are a few pictures of the current office in Lima.

 

 

 

Universidad

I'm behind in blogging about my trip to Peru, but I'll try to post more stories and photos over the next days.

On my first Monday, most of the staff at the Institute Linguistico de Verano were attending a dedication of their former reference library to a local university. So I attended the ceremony despite my lack of spanish comprehension.

Iglesia

When I arrived here in Lima on Sunday I was operating on just a few hours of sleep, but I wanted to go to church with my hosts. So after a quick shower, we drove across town to the Spanish-language Four Square church they attend.

While I studied spanish almost 20 years ago in high school, my comprehension is pretty low. The worship was easier to follow. I made attempts to sing along - understanding a few words and phrases. All but one of the songs were new to me. It was fun to sing the familiar song Blessed Be the Name of the Lord with my Peruvian hermonos & hermanas. I really like their song Mas a Ti, Menos a Mi (More of you, Less of Me).

The sermon was more difficult to follow. My host had a spanish/english bible so I knew the scripture passage. Abe translated portions for me as went along. Fortunately, the pastor was a very dynamic speaker making it interesting to listen to and observe.

The church exterior / courtyard

The pastor

Sunday dinner with my hosts the Koops

A dinner guest

Lima, Peru

After 20 hours spent in 3 airports and 2 planes, I arrived safely in Lima, Peru on Sunday morning. I will be here for two weeks, working with and visiting colleagues at the Instituto Linguistico de Verano. I will attempt to blog and post pictures when I can. I am encountering many new sites, sounds, smells, tastes and people. Finding words to describe it all is difficult, but I'll try to share as much as I can in the days to come.

The coastal highway

The home where I'm staying (a third floor apartment)

A view from my host's home

Across the street

YouTube Baby!

I'm officially a web geek now that I've posted my first YouTube videos from the Mike Roe House Show. Enjoy.

Pale Blue Eyes

Workin' On A Building

City of Refuge

Ache Beautiful

The Michael Roe House Show

Michael Roe has been playing and singing since 1979, first with the 77's and more recently solo or with the Lost Dogs. Rumors of a new 77's album have been circulating for a couple of years, and now it look like it will be a reality. So Mike journeyed out on a brief solo tour (the John the Baptist Tour) to preview the "new" songs. The new record will be made up of old school blues and bluegrass gospel spirituals rescued from obscurity, covering the likes of Elvis, Bill Monroe, Blind Willie Johnson, and the Velvet Underground.

We had the privilege of catching the Nashville stop on this tour where Mike and some friends played in the dining room of Mr. True Tunes himself, John J. Thompson. I had heard about these "house" shows, but had never attended one. JJT had cleared out all the furniture from his living room/dining room which made enough room to pack in about 30 loyal fans. It was cool to visit with other Nashville members of the 77s fan community: Zayne, Paul & Amy, and Kyle.

Since this is Nashville, Mike brought out a group of special guests to jam with. Joining him were Phil Madeira and Jimmy Abegg on guitars, Matt Slocum (Sixpence None the Richer) on cello, and Steve Hindalong on percussion. With little or no rehearsal the ensemble opened with a cover of the Velvet Underground's Pale Blue Eyes. I didn't write down a playlist, but it was made up entirely of songs from the new album, until the end when Mike and Matt performed a gorgeous rendition of Ache Beautiful.

This house show was great. Sure the seating was tight and the room was hot - nothing to complain about though when you're witnessing a one of kind jam session by veteran musicians. The sound was raw which fit with the songs - lots of blues with a bit of folk and bluegrass thrown in. I for one can't wait for the new album.

Denomination Blues

We saw Buddy Greene perform last night with the Pa's Fiddle Project band. Check out some of his work on Youtube. This one is Denomination Blues.

Happy Land - Pa's Filddle Project

Last night we had one of those Nashville moments where we enjoyed top notch musicianship at a free concert. The event was Pa's Fiddle Project - a musical odyssey inspired by the music mentioned in Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books. Janell has been reading the books to our girls (so far they've read Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prarie, and On the Banks of Plum Creek), so the whole family attended the show at Vanderbilt University. The songlist included Arkansas Traveler/Devil's Dream, Sweet By and By, Money Musk, Highland Mary, The Girl I Left Behind, Old Dan Tucker, The Gum Tree Canoe, Barbara Allen, Captain Jinks, The Blue Juniata, Irish Washerwomen, Oh! California, and On Jordan's Stormy Banks. The project and concert are both products of Vanderbilt's Blair School of Music. They have two cds available (highly recommended). This music is a cross-section of Americana: hymns, sprituals, ballads, bluegrass, etc... and will appeal to historians, lovers of american folk music, and of course fans of the Little House books.

Air Show

Yesterday the Blue Angels performed at the Smyrna Air Show. We didn't go, but we did the next best thing by watching parts of the show from a friend's back yard. We had a blast with lots of food, a trampoline, kittens, a couple games of corn hole, and of course the Blue Angels.

beauty from ashes

Nearly two years ago I posted briefly about the tragedy at Taylor University when four students and one staff member were killed in a horrific car accident. The story made national headlines when it was discovered that the identities of two of the victims had been switched. One girl lived and the other died. The story is resurfacing now because the two families involved have collaborated to write a book. Dateline NBC produced a very well done story last week that is available on YouTube in twelve parts. (part one is posted above).

While I can't begin to fathom the pain and anguish that the families have experienced nor can I find a nice neat explanation for why such a tragic event could happen. I do take hope and inspiration from the faith that each family expresses as they share their story. Did God pre-destine these events to occur? I don't know, but I am confident that He does find a way to bring beauty out of ashes.

Billy Graham Center Archives

Wheaton College hosts the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism which has a robust archival program that "gathers, preserves and makes available for use unpublished documents on the history of North American nondenominational Protestant efforts to spread the Christian Gospel." I met the head archivist, Bob Shuster, via email through a mutual contact at SIL. He's been offering me words of encouragement as I transition to archiving within a missional context.

The BGC Archives has a wonderful website chock full of informative articles, interesting exhibits, and finding aids to their collections.

I highly recommend these to start with:

Postcard Evangelism, Part I : Humor

"The Zamzam has been a long time in sinking!":The Tale of an Uncompleted Journey

all dolled up

all dolled up
Originally uploaded by jnordmoe

Here are the girls all dolled up in their Easter attire. More photos are up on flickr.

the culture warriors

Yesterday I finally caught up with some excellent blogging over at The Scriptorium Daily - a blog created by faculty members at Biola University. They tackle all sorts of interesting topics from literature (a current feature on the Inklings: Lewis, Tolkein & Williams) to theology, art, philosophy, culture and politics.

This being political year, quite a few of their posts have followed the current political roller coaster. In particular, JP Moreland tackles Bill O'Reilly's book Culture Warrior and provides some thoughtful analysis on the underlying worldview of O'Reilly's "secular progressives".

Here’s my two cents worth on this question: Assumption one: God exists, secular progressives (and liberal religionists) spend a lot of energy suppressing the awareness of God to keep him out of mind. Most secularists were raised in a Judeo-Christian family with traditional values, and they feel much guilt and shame for abandoning God and their upbringing and for rejecting traditionalist authority figures from their childhood. Assumption two: Everyone wants to think of oneself and be perceived by others as a good person with solid values who makes a difference in the world. No one wants to be perceived as a self-absorbed narcissist. Assumption three: People would rather find a way to feel good about themselves as they are, whether or not they should feel that way, rather than learning to change. Why? Change is difficult and involves self-denial. And change requires admitting that one is wrong and needs to change.

Together, these assumptions imply the following: Secularists need a cause that makes them feel good about themselves, that allows them to continue to reject God, traditional values and their upbringing, and that doesn’t require them to change....

I encourage you to read the entire essay here, and then check out John Mark Reynolds' essay on Obama and the pitfalls of a Reform candidacy where he compares & contrasts Senator Obama's reform platform with that of President Theodore Roosevelt.

Senator Obama would be fortunate indeed if the sole measure of his candidacy became about the “color line.” If it were, many of us would vote for him. The vast majority of Americans will give Senator Obama a hearing. Race will not keep him from winning, but his ideology might....Senator Obama has promised change, but this word forces a voter to ask, “What kind of change?”

Ticket to Ride

One of the hottest board games in our house right now is Ticket to Ride by Days of Wonder. Its a train game where you collect "tracks" to complete routes between cities. The object is to complete as many "high point value" route tickets as possible before the tracks run out. This is a great "eurogame" that is easy to learn and loads of fun - yesterday we taught the game to three friends, one of whom managed to beat me in spite of my great Boston to LA via Miami route (the green player below).

Easter Sunrise

We got out of bed before the crack of dawn yesterday to attend a special sunrise service that featured three congregations. One church provided the outdoor venue (an outdoor stage located in a small natural ampitheatre), one church provided the music, and our pastor preached.

We had been looking forward to celebrating Easter in this manner for weeks. The music was great, Daniel preached a good sermon on the intentionality with which the events of Holy week unfolded, and the sun did rise, although veiled behind clouds..... And the temperature was in the mid-30's (not including the cold North wind). Brrr!

Fortunately, the service was fairly short, and we all shared a pancake breakfast and some inter-congregational fellowship afterward. It will certainly be one of the more memorable Easter services as well as the coldest.

We hope you celebrate Christ's ressurrection and experience the Hope of Easter everyday.

Baptism

Taylor was baptised on Palm Sunday! She had been asking questions about God for over a year and was ready to begin her journey of faith this past November. We are excited to see her mature as a little lady and a follower of Christ.

This first picture captures Taylor's enthusiasm in the moment. She is our emotive child.

Obama's preacher

Barak Obama's ties to pastor Jeremiah Wright are very troubling. And his response, thus far has been wishy-washy at best. Does Obama offer hope toward racial reconciliation or does he represent more of the politics of division that we have seen on both sides of the political spectrum. I discovered a blog that tackles this issue in a fairly even handed way. Check out Dirty Harry's Place for several posts on the subject.

Here's a taste:

Christians don’t ask, pray for, or gin up their congregation by asking God to damn anything. One of the tenets of our faith is forgiveness. One of the tenets of our faith is reconciliation. Reverend Wright isn’t praying that America be better, or even that America become more like his vision of her. Reverend Wright is asking God and his congregation to damn America — to damn an entire nation — to damn a people.

Steyn on History Education

Mark Steyn wrote a piece on Australia's former prime minister John Howard this past December in which he comments briefly on the problems with history curriculum in that country (and in Western Civilization).

.... At his 2006 education summit, Howard called for "a root and branch renewal of Australian history in our schools, with a restoration of narrative instead of what I labelled the 'fragmented stew of themes and issues"'.

As he explained at the Quadrant 50th anniversary celebration: "This is about ensuring children are actually taught their national inheritance." The absence of "narrative" and an "inheritance" is a big part of the reason that British subjects born and bred blow up the London Tube, why young Canadian Muslims with no memory of living in any other society plot to behead their own prime minister.

You can't assimilate immigrants and minorities unless you give them something to assimilate to. It's one thing to teach children their history "warts and all", quite another to obsess on the warts at the expense of all else. The West's demographic weakness is merely the physical embodiment of a broader loss of civilisational confidence. Australia should never have had a "department of immigration and multicultural affairs", but, given that it did, Howard was right to rename it the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. Government should promote citizenship, not multiculturalism....

I encourage you to read the entire article in which he also tackles the threats of global jihadism and compares Howard to Blair & Bush.

As a historian, I do not shrink away from discussing the "warts" of history, but I agree with Steyn that we shouldn't lose sight of the grand narratives. We need to shift the balance away from the narratives of individual identity and re-emphasize broad national and cultural unifiers.

hat tip: Thanks for Noticing Me

Larry Norman 1947-2008