Fair Trade?

I subscribe to the "This American Life" podcast. This week there was a great segment on fair trade. They tell the story of Cambodia, who is trying to do the right things and treat their workers well, but are being beaten by countries that are not keeping the same worker standards. Click here.

Note that this originally aired in 2005

Subverting Christmas

Heres a great story about someone who got a ransom note instead of an ipod. Click

Christmas Spending

Well its two days untill christmas and I finally finished all my christmas shopping.
After looking at the final tally I am a little supprised. I thought that I was being responsible and limiting my spending, but I ended up spening more than I thought I was going to. No where near the $1,000.00 the average American will spend but rather high for me.

I guess that I didn't pay attention to the message of the movie I saw last week; "What Would Jesus Buy?"

Contentment

I have had a holiday lunch at work and gotten a Christmas bonus. I am officially sedated by the corporate machine.

Priorities

Thank God that John Kerry has his priorities in order. I would hate to miss another Pat's game.

"...Too many American football fans are being held hostage,"

Supply Side Jesus

Ahmadineblog?

Who knew that Iran's president had a blog?

I hope that I'm not on a government watch list now that I have seen it.

Manliness

Today I was able to exert my manliness upon the world, or at least my version of it. (Please note that I sit at a desk all day and push paper around for a living)

The morning was spent painting. My friend works at an organization called Youth On Fire. (It's really not as exciting as it sounds, there are no pyrotechnics involved.) It felt good to see my hands stained with paint, even if it was a girly light blue color.

The afternoon I spent changing my bike tire. It didn't actually take all afternoon only about 15 minutes, but it was satisfying to fix something myself rather than pay someone to do it for me.



PS I live this picture. Here is the website it's from.

Dogs are expensive

I just got back from the vet and what I though would be a simple routine vacinee shot turned into a $400.00 extravaganza.

Don't get me wrong I love my dog but financially she was the second most idiotic thing I ever did.

Cabin Model

Keith and I build a sketch model of the cabin tonight. A sketch model is a simple and quick model of your building. Like drawing a sketch, it is intended to be very basic. Here are two picture of the model.


I apologize for the lighting in the photos. (I have pretty crapy lighting in my apartment.) While making it I came away with a few thing I will change, after all the is the point of a sketch model.

1 The windows on the side, because I work in an Architecture office I have access to glass samples. These samples are 1'x1' insulated glass samples. I think I could use them as a vertical ribbon on the sides instead of putting a normal 4'x4' window. This would add an interesting visual component to the side of the building.
2 The roof, I think I will lowe the pitch of the roof so it isn't as steep.

Getting Older

You know your getting older when you arrive at the mall at 8:00 am intending to get a little Christmas shopping done and you get upset when you read the sign says that the mall that says the mall doesn't open until 9:00.

You say to yourself "I have been up for two hours already why isn't the mall open? It is completely unreasonable that a place of business would open at 9:00, during the holiday shopping season no less!"

Does not compute

I'm back. I have been two days without my computer. Turns out I computers have kernels and when they panic bad things happen.

The apple store hooked me up with a new logic board and I'm good to go.

American Narrative

Looking around at American culture I see few places where people tell stories. There are plenty of places to hear stories, the movies, television, but where can you go to tell a story of your own, and hear other peoples stories.

This Thanksgiving I spent an extra day at home and got to go to my fathers hunting cabin. The experience was nothing new for me, I had hunted as a child with my father. He was part of hunting club called The Mahogany Ridge Runners. Mahogany having a double meaning. One for the type of tree in the woods that they hunted and the other that Mahogany is a popular wood found in bars.

About 15 men sat around before lunch drinking beer and talking. Of course I made the rounds of introductions and small talk about Boston. After a while the conversation turned to hunting. Everyone has a story to tell, even Sam the 14 year old. Stories of what they saw in the woods, of deer they had killed. Even telling other peoples stories were fair game. The cabin was filled with the sound of conversations.

Having lived in the city for so long, where community sometimes seams forces or fake and conversations are usually more intellectual in nature, it was refreshing to see this form of community. Men, who only see each other a couple of time a year, settling into a comfortable space with each other. Able to tell stories from their lives and joke around with each other. This is something that I wish I could experience more of in my life.

PS on my way back from PA I heard the song the "Second Week of Deer Camp." I wasn't able to find a recording but there are the lyrics. It is a snap shot into hunting culture. Enjoy.

Question?

After having lunch with my friend Steve today, We came away with a question. Let me summarize.

As Followers of Jesus, what should our lives look like?
Should we be:

-regular attenders of a church?
-committed to a ministry?
-church planting?
-giving our time & money to the poor?
-witnessing the masses?
-a good person?

What if what it was about relationships?

-making time to be with God
-making time to be with other people

What if that was all it was about?
What if that was how we ushered in Gods Kingdom?

Would you be satisfied?
Would you be happy?

Photo from JurMous

Cabin Schematics 2

After a bit of research I think a 26' long stone wall will be a bit to complicated to build so I have done a little redesign on the cabin. There is still stone incorporated into the design. Now there are 4 stone piers that hold up the columns that make up the main structural frame.

The frame will consist of some rough cut trees that I will cut from the site. I want to leave them fairly natural. basicaly I'm thinking that I will only strip off the bark and leave the rough shape of the tree. It should look pretty cool on top of the stone piers.


The rest of the structure will be mostly timber frame construction out of trees that I cut down from the site. It's not a big cabin so I think the thickest tree I will need to cut down would be 12" in diameter.

Let me know what you think.....feed back is encouraged. Sorry but there are no fancy architectural rendering as of yet.

Do I detect a hint of Jesus in this water?

Now you can not only get Jesus and Mary images on your candles but on your bottled water too! Click here!

Voting

Yesterday at 7:15 I performed my civic duty and voted. As far as I can tell the only thing it gets me is the ability to complain about politics for one more year.

It turns out that I was among the few that did go out as it was a record low turnout.

Godtube

We now have it. Finally someone made a Christian version of YouTube. What is it called? GodTube of course. I really don't understand why Christians feel it is necessary to replicate the things we see in society and make them "Christian" and therefore more holy and better.

It is actually not a new thing, we've been doing it for a long time. There are lots of rumors that many old hymn have their roots as popular songs. Many believe that Christmas was started as an alternative to Pagan winter festivals.

Why do we do this? Why mimic culture to make Jesus more relevant? Isn't he relevant on his own? Or is mimicking culture just being "all things to all people"as Paul wrote?

Bad Jokes

Just the other day Slate.com announced the winners for there recent comedy contest. I submitted a joke but I was not a winner. It could be because my joke wasn't good but choose to stroke my ego and blame it on the poor video quality. The only video camera I have is the one on my cell phone. It turns out that it takes great video then its on a 1"x1" screen, not so good when it's blown up to normal size.

Check it out. There are some really funny jokes there.

Ironic

In my last post I told you that I was just diagnosed as dyslexic, but theres one thing that I forgot you tell you.

To help me better understand my dyslexia the doctor recommended .....a 400 page book.

I'll post a review when the movie comes out.

Hooked on phonics won't work for me.

This week I found out that I am dyslexic. I have always thought that I might be but was never tested. Sense I have been taking the Architects registration exam recently I thought it might be a good idea to get tested.

I figured out fairly early in school that if I payed attention in class and took good notes I wouldn't have to study outside of class. I coasted through school with a B average, rarely opening a text book. Apparently there are a lot of people like me. I was not the smartest kid in school, and I wasn't the dumbest either, so I didn't get much attention from teachers, thus my dyslexia went unnoticed.

Unfortunately for me there really isn't much that you can do for dyslexia as an adult. Your brain is already hard wired. If I was a kid there are lots of different programs, remember hooked on phonics. The best I can do is learn a little more about dyslexia and how it effects my ability to process information.

Quote of the day

While having lunch with some coworkers on Friday, we were discussing a difficult job and it was stated that...

"You can't put a band aid on shit."

How true. How true.

Am I a Liberal or Fundamentalist

As I think about myself and my beliefs I find it harder to categorize myself.



I have been thinking more and more about social justice. About how unjust this world can be. About how my actions effect the environment. About how I can help change the things I see in this world. Does this make me a Liberal?

On the other hand as I read the bible, I find myself taking it more and more literally, to actually do the things that I am reading about. Did Jesus really say that we should not worry about how what we will ware and how to feed ourselves? Did he really mean it when he said that with faith we will do even greater things than what he did? Does this make me a Fundamentalist?

Maybe following Jesus transcends our labels of Liberal and Fundamentalist.

Freedom?

I just finished watching Michael Moore's movie Sicko. Wow what a movie.

Between health care and education costs people can't thrive in this country. Many other countries have removed these two burdens from there citizens. Why can't we?

We pour money into our military unchecked and unquestioned, and with nothing to show for it. If we could take a fraction of that money and use it for free health care and education our country would be better off, and all would benefit.

We give up so much for the illusion of freedom.

Sorry for the poorly worded post, I just can't get my head on straight right now.

Cabin Schematic Design

I mentioned a while back that I'm planning on building a cabin in PA next summer.
I have been going back and forth on what I want for some time now, not being able to decide what I really want. Thinking of grand designs and then telling myself that I can't afford that or build it. Then getting mad at myself for settling for to little.

Well for some reason today I finally got a bit of inspiration. I was walking around downtown and checked into the book store to browse a little. My muse was the architecture book section. Here's where I currently stand:

-Passive solar design
-River rock wall foundations, one wall extending up to become a thermal wall
-Exposed tree columns
-One Room Cabin, This is what I have the most trouble with part of me wants something big and part of me wants something small.

Here are some pictures to give you a sense of what I am thinking.

A new way to give

I found an interesting website. DonersChoose.org allows people to give to specific teachers for specific needs. You can locate a school near by and give all or part of the money they need. Check it out.

Franconia Ridge

This weekend I went hiking with a neighbor on Franconin Ridge, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. This was by far the most demanding hike that I have ever been on. Starting at 9:00 am we hiked up the Bridal Path (2000 ft) about 3 miles to the AMC Greenleaf Hut (4070 ft) I ended up shedding a few layers and hiking in shorts and a long sleeve shirt. By the time we made up to to the hut the temperature had dropped from about 60 degrees to 40 degrees. A relatively sunny day at the parking lot had turned into to a foggy day at the mountain top, with strong gusting winds.

From Greenleaf (4070 ft) we set off to the top of Mount Lafayette (5260 ft) one mile away. This stretch was the most difficult of the hike. After being drenched in sweat from the previous leg of the hike, the cold and the wind went through your skin. Visibility at parts was reduced to about 50 yards. Needless to say it's disappointing when the only view from the top of the mountain is fog. At this point we began to ask each other, why are we doing this?

From Mount Lafayette (5260 ft) we hiked along Franconia Ridge, stopping at Mount Lincoln (5089 ft), and proceeding on to Little Haystack (4840 ft). Just before we reached Little Haystack the fog began to break up and we could see into the Franconia Valley. Beautiful, this is why we were there.

While on the ridge, we were able to watch as the fog would roll in from the west, travel up the mountain slope, over the peek an swirl around on the eastern side of the mountain. Then it would be clear for about 5 minutes and the it would repeat it's self giving us fleeting views of the mountains beyond. Although a clear day is by many, ideal conditions for hiking, that day we got a unique perspective that many don't get to see.

Biblical Living - Extreme Make Over Edition

If you have ever wandered what it would be like to follow all the rules in the bible literally, well,your are in luck. A.J. Jacobs new book, "The Year of Living Bibicilly" comes out October 9th.

You can read an interview with Jacobs at Newsweek. Find out what sin's were the hardest? Find out the difference between an agnostic and a reverent agnostic. There are also some good insights into freedom and choice.

Photo from Newsweek website.

What is Green?

On my way to the office today I saw a billboard advertising 360 Vodka. The worlds first Eco-Friendly Vodka. Eco-Friendly Vodka?

After checking out their website, it appears that they have gone a long way to make the production of their product more energy efficient, and have used recycled bottles, labels, and packaging. Is that what makes something green?

As an Architect, I see a lot of what we call "green washing." That is when you take a product and talk about all it's good, and green, qualities, but don't tell the whole story. Although I applaud the Vodka manufacture for making there product's manufacturing process as green and efficient as possible there are still two things they are not addressing.

1) Transportation: I'm not sure where the factory(s) is(are) but I am sure that they are shipping their product all over the world amassing a huge carbon foot print in the process as they get their product onto store shelves.

2) Raw materials: Most Vodka is made from potato's or grains. In the distillation process you are taking a raw material that has many nutrients necessary to human life and producing a product that has little nutritional value.

As consumers we have to be cautious of the claims that manufactures make. Be willing to ask questions and dig a little deeper. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a teetotaler, but perhaps a better solution might be a locally brewed beer or wine.

I should just stay away from boats.

I went on a deep sea fishing trip with some co-workers on Sunday. I didn't get much fishing in though, as I got sea sick before we even got to the fishing spot. I spend the remainder of the trip lying down inside the cabin. I think I should just stay away from boats.

Do you hate paying income tax? Then don't!

There appears to be an underground effort to educate people on the Federal Reserve, and the income tax. Apparently an income tax is not allowed by the Constitution. Check out this video. There is a series of 10 videos on youtube.

It starts to feel a little "conspiracy theorist" when they talk about a Fascism but it interesting non the least.

Thinking Outside of the Box

I found this great video of a group in Portland that move people from house to house by bikes. They even moved a couch and a boat!!!! Check out the video.



Wouldn't it be great if next Sept first the streets of Boston were overflowing with people moving by bikes!!!!

Comic #2

Comics

I found this comic that a former roommate made. Enjoy!!!!

The unspoken consequences of urban churches

There is an unspoken consequence of urban churches that is not talked about and I came face to face to it today. Recently in Boston there have been a number of incidences where small or not so small urban churches, mainly in Dorchester, have been causing problems. Mostly building code violations, and noise and parking complaints. These problems crop up when church plants try to make a house into a church (building code violations), or when a large existing church moves into a new neighborhood (noise and parking problems).

This dynamic was discusses at a Boston City Council meeting this afternoon that I attended. At first I was going to just watch but I decided to speak up when I discovered that there was no one there to speak on the religious communities behalf.

There were four people from the public their to testify. The other three gave vary discouraging testimony. To be honest I was kind of ashamed to be their after hearing them talk about how churches in their neighborhood had been negatively impacting them. One man, through a series of events, may actually have to sell his house because he can't keep tenets due to the actions of a local church.

My comments were basically as follows:

• I'm saddened and discouraged to hear about the experiences people have had with these local churches.
  
• Most Churches want to impact there neighborhood for the better and they can be a catalyst for change in neighborhoods like Dorchester.
  
• There is a lack of understanding from Church's as to building codes requirements and city regulations.
  
• I suggested that the Building Inspections Department and the Boston Redevelopment Authority work with the Emmanuel Gospel center to help reach out to churches to help them better understand their impact on neighborhoods.
  

In the end I do not know if I should have spoken up or not. I'm afraid that I might have sounded like I was justifying the obviously bad, and sometimes down right mean behavior that these churches have exhibited. This is one of the reasons that I left my church. We sometimes forget to think about the neighborhoods that we are in. We get caught up in getting more people in the seats that we forget how that might effect our neighbors. We let our services go a little longer because the worship is good, or the spirit is present, not thinking that it might be to late to be playing amplified music.
It can be very easy to forget to love your neighbor, while you are busy loving God.

Jim and Casper go to Church: Book Review

Have you ever sat in a church service and thought "That opening song was good I give it a 6", or "Man, that sermon was bad I give it a 2, what was he talking about." If so I would highly suggest picking up Jim and Casper go to Church. In this book Pastor Jim Henderson, no not the Muppet guy, and Matt Casper, the friendly atheist, visit 12 church around the country, from traditional to post-modern to house church's to "critique" the church experience. They have even go as far as to extend this idea on a website called Church Rater.

The strength of this book lies in Casper's frank openness and his understanding of Jesus. I would go so far as to say that Christians could learn a lot from Casper, he understands Jesus mission and the disconnect of Sunday mornings from it. Jim plays a key role too in that he doesn't try to defend what Casper is seeing. He doesn't apologize for that is done in the name of Jesus, in fact many time he agrees with Casper.

Life Lessons #16

This weekend I went camping with two inner city youths. Their ages are 16 and 17, but don't let those numbers fool you, it only represents the years they have spend on this earth. They actually act much younger. When you hang out with two boys who's favorite conversations are about girls, the many ways to start a camp fire, and dogs that look line Arnold Schwarzenegger you learn a couple of things long the way.

1) Always carry a lead pipe with you. When I picked up the boys on Saturday morning. The younger brother had a 2 foot long, inch and a half diameter section of lead pipe sticking out of his bag. I asked him why he felt he needed to bring it along but couldn't get a straight answer out of him. I can only assume that he was just "being prepared."

2) Teenage boys don't like long car rides. I was a little confused while driving to the first trail head, and this resulted in a 15 minute longer car ride. Along our detour we drove past some people swimming in a creek. The older brother, in a rather load and demanding voice, informed me that he would like to go swimming. I politely informed him that today we were going to hike to a waterfall and tomorrow we could go swimming to witch he replied, "I hate you", in the same loud voice. Que awkward pause and I believe that I now know what it feel like to be a father.

3) Attention Deficit Disorder can be a wonderful thing. About five minutes after my first fatherhood experience, we arrived a the trail head. The both brothers jumped out of the car and were talking gleefully about how they were going to break sticks, and throw rocks into the stream, completely forgetting about the "I hate you" incident that took place only 5 minutes earlier.

4) I, and my dog are getting older. In 10 months, 26 days, and 2 hours, I will turn 30, not that I am counting mind you. My dog is 10 years old. I believe that is about 65 in dog years. After arriving home we both enjoyed an aspirin and a nap.

Faith & Action

The following excerpt is from, Jim and Casper go to Church. "What I'm trying to say is I'm hearing a promise of personal happiness through a series of things not do rather than things to do. I guess you'd say that it's a call not to act, rather than to act."

I have been thinking about this idea the past few months. Christians have been known more for what they do not do, instead of for what they do. They don't smoke, they don't drink, they don't have sex outside of marriage. But what are they to do?

How about being know for radically inclusive community, abundant giving, and loving your neighbor. Instead of inspiring people and spurring them on to what Jesus called "The Kingdom of God", we confront them with problems in their lives that they already know exist.

Summer Planting

Yesterday we had the final summer planting in the park near my house. We planted a cherry tree and a Japaneses maple, and a butterfly garden. (Sorry no pictures at this time) In total 14 people from the neighborhood showed up. We more than doubled our numbers from last year! Unfortunately, just like last year the group was mostly white. Try as we might we just can't seam to break down the race barrier.

I did notice something while I walked my dog this afternoon in the park. There were lots of African American neighbors enjoying the park, at the basket ball court, playing with their children in the playground, or just setting talking on the benches. (I even saw a policeman playing basketball with some kids!) It makes me wonder if a project based approch is the right idea. Perhaps a more layed back social approch would work better.

Although, it might be harder to white neighbors to come out of their houses to mingle with their African American Neighbors.

The Jena 6

There has been a very interesting race trial going on in the small town of Jena. I am suprised that it hasn't gotten much attention in the main stream media. Below is part 1 of a 6 part segment. You can watch the rest here on Youtube.



I am shocked at the response from the white community to the actions of the white students. We still have a long way to go to overcome race relations in this country.

Childhood

My childhood felt fairly normal. I grew up in a three bedroom home outside of town. We were surrounded by family, my maternal grandmother lived on a farm at the end of the end of the road, and aunts and uncles lives in the two houses next to us. I have fond summer memories of riding my bike with the other neighborhood kids and playing in the woods out back of my house. When we were older we would drive down to the creak to go swimming.

Nothing ever upset our lives, there was never really any strife. My parents were and still are married. Aside from my sister getting caught smoking, my sister and I didn't get in to trouble. We had some typical family emergency's to deal with, the death of my grandfather, and my father's thyroid cancer, but I would like to believe every family has things like that to deal with.

This morning I read about an other kind of childhood. A childhood that ended in the death of an 8 year old. I have know about this kind of childhood for a while. Sense moving to Dorchester two years ago I have been surrounded by it.

This family has generations of problems, broken relationships, violence and hurt. Some would say that what is needed is "Parental Accountability". When I think back to my childhood I would agree with those people. If I was a troubled youth my parents would straighten me out. On the other hand my parents had steady jobs, owned their own house, and had lots of loving family members surrounding them. They the had the resources, or access to resources, to deal with life's problems.

What does a parent do when they haven't has a steady job in years?
When they didn't graduate from high school?
When they have a criminal record?
When they have their own drug addictions?
How can we claim "Parental Accountability" for a family that looks like this?

While mentoring a young boy in my neighborhood for the past year I have been able to catch a glimpse into his home life. It's not the best, his brother is a drug addict. He spends lots of time unsupervised, and there are few positive role models around him.
I could stand back in judgement and talk to his foster mother about parental responsibility, but every time I talk to her, it is obvious that she loves him, and that she wants the best for him. She also knows that she can't give him everything that he needs.

When I was a child I spend lots of time with my grandfather, every morning before school, and summer vacations too. Actually, I feel more attached to him than to my parents. Sometimes I feel like he really raised me. Not every family has that gift, someone who pick up the slack for you. Maybe the nuclear family is a myth. One father, one mother, and 2.5 children is not all we need. Sometime we need that extra hand to help out. Sometimes it can mean the difference between a healthy childhood and a bad one.

They came from another decade

Tonight I had the pleasure of taking in the sounds of musicians from decades past. George Thorogood and the destroyers, opened up for none other than Brian Adams, at they Boston Pavilion. I actually enjoyed George's set, I knew most of the songs and they were pretty good. Although they forgot that they are in there 60's and that they aren't sex symbols any more, so it's kind of skeevy when they make sexual gestures and innuendos.

As for Brian Adams, I don't really enjoy his music. Really the only reason I went was because my coworkers and I got in for free, and got free drinks and food, with tickets payed for by a corporate sponsor. It actually made me feel kind of sad for the musicians, Rock and Roll is now brought to you by Interface Carpet.

You can't argue with cookies

Here is a fun video that explains how our government spends it's money with cookies!

The First Tree

Tonight 11 neighbors came together to plant our first tree of the season. It took a little longer than we had planned, we ran into some rocks.

We also finalized the plan for a small butterfly garden in another part of the park. In doing this we ran into a little, shall we say "disagreement", but we worked through it and came away with a nice design.

This reminds me of a passage that I read recently, "Reconciliation is more important and closer to God than even the temple sacrifices" It encourages me to think that a group of neighbors working through an issue, is more important to God than the religious things that I might do to make me feel better about myself. This is the heart of God.

Perhaps after conquering tree planting we can tackle racial reconciliation.

Finally Something Good From a Fast Food Restaurant

In case if you haven't gotten carried away with all the Simpson's hype, I want to reassure you that it's not too late! Burger King has a promotional website where you can Simpsonize yourself . (Just to warn you the website is a little finicky.)

I got a chance to see the movie last night. Over all a good flick with lots of laughs. They took advantage of being out from under the FCC's prying eyes to add in a few things that they couldn't get away with on TV. (I won't spoil them for you.)

My only complaint is that the B story's were topics that have already been explored in the TV series, but what can you expect from a show that has been the air on for 2o years.

Rent Control in Boston

I have posted a couple of times about the housing market in Boston. Here and here. Recently the Boston City Council has been debating a proposal that would change the tenant/landlord relationship. This new proposal would give tenets the right to collectively discuss the rent, and other housing needs, with their landlords. These discussions would happen every 6 months in front of the Rental Housing Resource Center. I said discuss, not bargain, because unfortunately nothing that would be discussed would be binding.

Another odd item in the proposal is that it would only kick into effect when Landlords own 20 units or more. (10 units or Landlords that live outside of Boston.) In my nine years of living in Boston I have lived in seven apartments, only two of them were for for profit Landlord company's. The other five were in smaller Owner occupied situations, so the new proposal would have not benefited me.

In researching rent control, I have found that there are passionate and vocal people on both sides. I guess that should not come as much of a surprise, as this issue attacks the principals of the "Free Market". I guess it's fitting that one hope for more affordable housing in Boston is for the housing market to keep falling.

Colbert Video.

Here is a great video from the Colbert Report on the poor and welfare.

I promise that I will stop the videos and write something meaningful in my next post.

Childhood Cartoon

Voltron - Defender of the Universe


It's great to relive your childhood. You can find more episodes at imeem.

Boston to Hull

Boston Skyline
Originally uploaded by Fousty

This morning I went on a bike ride from Boston to Hull, 40 miles round trip. There is a nice view of Boston, and Gorges Island is not to far away either.

After getting out of Boston the majority of the trip was mostly winding rodes through small New England sea side towns. It was early enough that the traffic was light and the beaches that I passed by were clear of people.

Derek Web

The Power of Trees

Sense moving to my neighborhood two years ago, I have been trying to love my neighbors in several ways. One way has been to organize tree plantings in the park at the end of my street. Gathering neighbors, to labor together and to make our park safer and beautiful.

This afternoon we had a kick off meeting in the park. We brought out 5 pizzas, soda and chips. Twenty-eight neighbors laughed and talked together about trees, the park, and our experience of life in the neighborhood. If the rest of the summer go's as well, we'll not only plant a couple of trees but make a few new friends as well.

On one hand I am excited, for a neighborhood in the process of gentrification, events like this provide a great way to bridge relational and racial gaps. On the other hand, as a follower of Jesus, where do I find Jesus in this? I know he is in me and in my good intentions for my neighborhood, but how do I get to the place where I can see him working in peoples lives?

I not only want to plant trees and make friends, but want to bring Gods transforming kingdom into my neighborhood.

**Note: Picture from last years tree planting.**

What's wrong with this picture.

This picture was taken at the park near my house in Dorchester.

Legacy

This weekend I traveled to PA for the funeral of my Grandmother. She had been struggling with congestive heart failure for a year before finally giving way while sleeping. She was 88. I always knew that my Grandmother had a large family, but I didn't know how large until I read the obituary.

7 children
20 grandchildren
25 great-grandchildren
5 great-great grandchildren

A place of my own

So last year I got the crazy idea to build a cabin on a piece of land that my family owns in Pa. The farm, as we call it, has been in my family for about 6 generations. While I was down there this past weekend with my sister, I scouted out a nice location near the creek with a view.

I realized this weekend that what I don't really desire a building as much as a moment. While I was there I was imagining myself sitting on the deck overlooking the creek, listening to the water pass buy, and the wind blowing through the trees.

Money Matters Revisited

So I realize that I am actually quite lazy. It was over two months ago that I posted about my broken change jar. here & here. Well I finally got the change counted. I broke down and went to a coin star machine. I was reluctant to use it because they take a fee. I thought that I could get it counted for free. Maybe I'm just lazy and cheap?

So here is the final run down.
1c #5500 totaling $55.00
5c #1615 totaling $81.00
10c #2839 totaling $284.26
25c #1360 totaling $340.00

Grand Total: $760.26 and it only took me 9 years of saving!!!!

So this begs the question, what do you do with $760.26. In using the coin star machine they give you several options. You can get gift cards at all the usual places you would expect, Amazon.com, iTunes, Starbucks, and others. You can also donate money to several non-profits, as well as get cold hard cash in hand. Using the give card and charitable donation you can eliminate the fee. I ended up cashing out and putting some into my savings account. Some I redeemed into gift cards and I the remainder I donated to a hunger relief organisation.

The Simple Way

If you haven't heard a building owned by The Simple Way, a Christian community in Philadelphia, has burnt down, causing considerable damage to the property, and well being of many people. If you have a chance please check out there website and, donate to their rebuilding.

Dispatches From The Revolution

-Gods Kingdom is all around us
-It is just as visceral as it is spiritual
-God wants us to act so he can reveal his kingdom



For more on Revolution Cafe check out my friends blog.

Housing Justice: Part II or I wish I could get 750 million dollars from the government to help with my rent.

The BBC reported today that New York City is giving the financial company J. P. Morgan Chase $50 million over the next 15 years, totaling $750 million, in rent subsidies so that they do not move their headquarters to Connecticut. The city has also payed Goldman Sach's $650 million to build new offices. (This construction is to replace their offices lost on 9/11)

This isn't the first time we have seen corporate welfare, Walmart has been infamous for this practice. But why give the money to for profit corporation when you could use to benefit the middle class and poor of the city who are paying some of the highest housing rent prices in America. Where are their rent subsidies?

No Oil, No Power, No Problem!

Here is a great video of a passive solar house using a double envelope construction. I got this from the TreeHugger website. Enjoy

Housing Justice

Today in the Boston Globe there was an article on the status of housing in Boston. The story mentioned that a family making just over a six figure salary has trouble finding a house in Dorchester, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Boston. The article went on to say that the cost of housing in Boston is 5.4 times the median household income, the national average is 4.6, and the affordable range is 3 to 3.5.

How does this story get balanced with the booming development on Boston's new waterfront district. Most of the housing will be "luxury" condos, well out of the reach of even the middle class. It use to be that home ownership was the first step from poverty to the middle class, but lately it seams as thought those in charge of the America's city's have forgotten that.

Where will the middle class live when they can't afford to live in the poorest neighborhoods?

Where will the poor live?

Best Cover Song Ever

Religious Self-Deprecation

In the recent Presidential Forum on Faith, Values, and Poverty, Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards came out with the bold statement, "I sin every single day". At first I was surprised, I don't know of any other presidential candidate making such a vulnerable statement. But after a few minutes the shock wore off and the reality set in that it is an all too common phrase that comes out of the mouth of Christians these days.

What is it so special about these 5 words that we seam to wear them as a badge? As if to say "Look at me I know how bad of a person I am". Does it make us more spiritual people? Sure the Bible doesn't cast a very positive light on sin, but is self-deprecation really what God had in mind? What does this say about ourselves? What does this say about God?

The first time the word sin appears in the Bible is in Genesis 4 and no it's not the story of the apple. It's the story about Cain and Abel. Cain and his brother Abel give some gifts to God, and for some unknown reason God is happier with Abel's gift. Just after that we get this passage:

6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

You can master sin? Where did that come from? Maybe we aren't actually meant to sin every day for the rest of our lives. Maybe we should stop giving sin more power over our lives than it actually has.

The Radical Middle

I was reading through CNN.com this morning, and I came across an article titled, "Sen. Clinton: God got me through martial strife". Being a follower of Jesus it interested me so I read on. I was caught off guard by the fifth paragraph.

The forum, sponsored by the liberal Sojourners/Call to Renewal evangelical organization, provided an uncommon glimpse into the most personal beliefs of Clinton and rivals John Edwards and Barack Obama.

Sojourners/Call to Renewal is liberal? Wait a minute, I thought that they were a non-partisan Christian advocacy group? What's going on here? As I read on further, I found out that Clinton, Edwards and Obama, were the only candidates present to express their personal religious beliefs.

The three candidates were invited by Sojourners founder Jim Wallis; most of the other Democratic candidates appeared on CNN later Monday to discuss their faith.

I'm the first person to admit that I don't completely understand the separation of church and state, but I do think that the church has a voice and should speak into the political process. (Just like big corporations can) But why would Sojourners/Call to renewal, who have a great opportunity to engage the current field of presidential candidates on the issue of faith, choose only three candidates to speak to. And why would they hold such a forum with only Democrats?

Admittedly I don't like the current administration and their close ties to the religious right, but I do not think the answer is a religious left. I have followed sojourners for a while now and I don't believe that Sojourners wants to be the religious left, but with the next presidential election increasingly being seen as a crucial event, this would be a great chance for them to live up to their 2004 slogan "God is not a Republican or a Democrat"

With the current polarization of our political climate, it is easy for Christians to slide into the left/right categories, or to be labeled so by others. I would propose that we choose a radical middle? One that in staunchly independent from political parties, can point towards God's Justice, and let those to the right and left of them know where they are falling short.

Cradle to Cradle

I'm currently reading Cradle to Cradle, remaking the way we make things, by William McDonough and Michael Braungart. So far it's a great book. They are proposing that the life cycle of the products we use, adopt a cycle that is more like the one that nature uses. A tree draws nutrients from the soil to feed it's self, produces fruit to feed animals, and it's waste (dead leaves and eventually the tree it's self) decompose to become nutrients again.

They are dreaming of an exciting world.

We would like to suggest a new design assignment. Instead of fine-tuning the existing destructive framework, why don't people and industries set out to create the following:

• buildings that, like trees, produce more energy than they consume and purify their own waste water
• Factories that produce effluents that are drinking water
• Products that, when their useful life is over, do not become useless waste but can be tossed into the ground to decompose and become food for plants and animals and nutrients for soil; or, alternately, that can return to industrial cycles to supply high-quality raw materials for new products
• billions, even trillions of dollars' worth of materials accrued for human and natural purposed each year.
  
• transportation that improves the quality of life while delivering goods and services
• a world of abundance, not one of limits, pollution and waste

Sounds like a nice place top live.

Life Map

I have come to the conclusion that my life is quite compartmentalized.

• I work in the North End
• Go to Church in the South End
• Have a small group in Quincy
• Meet through-out the city for various social justice meetings
• Live in Dorchester where I try to love my neighbors and the poor.
  

This really is to much for one person. Were we really meant to be stretched so thin? Is this just the nature of being a 20 something in an urban setting? Is it because as Americans we have so many options that we can pick and choose the best. How am I to be fully invested in each of these things at the same time?

This spring I began to wonder what would it look like if:

• My small group was my church?
  
• We met in my neighborhood?
• My church was made up of people in my neighborhood?
  
• We loved our neighbors and practiced social justice together
  

Suddenly, I would save myself a lot of travel time.

Free College

Patrick seeks free two-year state colleges - The Boston Globe
Free two year college for all high school graduates. I love this idea, it is something that I have had in the back of my head for the last year. Sure it has it's problems, the biggest being funding, but in today's society you need at a minimum a 2 year degree to get a decent job.

Do you think they would reimburse someone who graduated in 1998?

Map

The Boston Globe has a great map of all the murders, stabbings and Hit & Runs in Boston this year. I know there have been a lot more than the ones they show but it's neat to see Boston's youth violence getting some attention.

The Potters Theme Park

Ironically the country where the Christians fought Harry Potters influence on their unsuspecting children can now take them to his theme park.

Automotive X-Prize

From the same man that advanced commercial space flight, we are now getting an X-Prize for alternative energy cars. Finally someone is looking beyond the automotive industry to fix our car efficiency issues.

Thank you Peter Diamandis, thank you.

Sheehan Go's Home

This is a sad day for america.

Helpful Hints #32

I know that may times in my life I have asked myself, "Brian, what do you think the maximum moment for that needle beam is?" Well here is all you need to know. Just multiply the lengths of the unbraced sides by the total force on the beam, then divide it by the total length of the beam.

Just one practical tip brought to you from the Architectural Registration Exam, General Structures test.

Have fun kids.

Holiness?

What is holiness? If I'm to believe my religious upbringing, it has a lot to do with sex. Specifically not having it outside of marriage. But is that where holiness ends? The other day I saw an billboard about Fidelity Investments involvement in Darfur. It made me ask the question, "Could choosing not to have my money go to support a genocide be as act of holiness too?" If so are there other ways I can practice holiness too?

Religious Shock Jock

As you likely know now the Rev. Jerry Falwell died yesterday. In typical fashion their are many people talking about his legacy. What will he be remembered by. His friends and partners will talk about his personal side how he was a good and godly man, an hero to many. His critics will say he preached intolerance in the name of God.

It dawned on me that he was really just a religious shock jock. Over the years he has made controversial statements just to apologize for them later. This always got him back into the public media and I'm sure got a few people to open up their wallets. Really what is the difference between Falwell and Don Imus? Or Pat Robertson and Opie & Anthony. They all use controversual language to get message acrross.

Please do not point out the obvious differences, we all know them.

Debate: God is not great?

I found a great debate between Rev. Al Sharpton and Christopher Hitchens on God.
Sharpton took an interesting stance that I didn't expect from him. He was able to seprate the christian religion from God in his arguments which basically left Hirchens with little to stand on. Being a black Baptist minister I didn't expect Shaprton to take a stance that would allow such an open stance on the interpretation of God. It was refreshing

Hitchen on the other hand came off as being quite arrogant and prideful in his arguments, Sharpton has his moments too. Basically his arguments revolved around how bad Gods followers are, not actually about God himself.

Check out the video.

Simpsons reflections on Church

Catholics vs Protestant heaven



Black God Rules

Florida Update

Just an update on the Florida trip
We spent Friday night at my friends house in Tampa. It was the first time I saw his new condo. I am full of envy.










We met up with some friends and went to Lincoln Road and South Beach.











Last night we went out for Cuban food. It was by far the best dinner I have ever had. All the food was great. Cuban is the best food on the planet. It truly was a religious experience.

Picture

I'm sorry but this has to be the best picture that I have ever seen.

Bright & Sunny Skys

Well I'm off again. This time to Florida. Two friends of mine and I have gotten into the habit of taking a yearly vacation together. This time its Miami, the Keys and the Everglades. Should be fun. I'll post some pictures.

And we're back......

I got back last night from a quick trip to Pa to see my family. My grandmother isn't doing well so I went down to see her for possibly the last time. Her health has been getting worse for the past year. My mother and her siblings have to give her round the clock care now.

On a lighter note I got to go the the Farm, a plot of land the my family owns by a creek. I took my dog and she loved wondering around in the woods and getting into the water. By chance my Aunt and Uncle happened to be there too and I got to catch up with them. I also took my other gram out to breakfast on Sunday at Butlers Eatery.

Religious Smorgasbord

How do you choose a religion? David Plotz has some great incite about evangelism from the book of Ruth.

Naomi is heading back to Bethlehem, but before she leaves she gently tells her widowed daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, to return to their Moabite homes and remarry. Naomi isn't trying to ditch them for selfish reasons. On the contrary, Naomi knows that she herself is too old to remarry, and she doesn't want to be a burden to the young women. They insist on going with her anyway. Naomi orders them not to follow her. Orpah finally leaves, but Ruth sticks to her like glue and delivers one of the most moving speeches in the Bible: "For wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried." This speech is incredible in many ways but perhaps most because of its insight into how people choose a religion. Ruth does not come to the Lord because He is the Lord. She comes because she loves Naomi. If Naomi worshipped Baal, Ruth probably would have become a Baalite. Sometimes the theologians forget that religion is not a calculation: Almost always we come to God or Allah or the Buddha not because we have carefully analyzed the relevant laws, texts, and miracles but because someone we love and admire leads us to them. Relationships, not theories, make religions grow.

Patriotism

Many people in the government today using patriotism for there own gain, but what does patriotism really mean. Howard Zinn gave this definition in a recent interview on Democracy Now.

"Patriotism to me means doing what you think you're country should be doing. Patriotism means supporting your government when you think it's doing right, opposing your government when you think it's doing wrong. Patriotism to me means really what the Declaration of Independence suggests. And that is that government is an artificial entity.

Government is set up--and here's what a Declaration of Independence is about, government is set up by the people in order to fulfill certain responsibilities: equality, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. And according to the Declaration of Independence when the government violates those responsibilities, then, and these are the words of the Declaration of Independence it is the right of the people to alter or abolish the government.

In other’s words the government is not holy, the government is not to be obeyed when the government is wrong. So to me patriotism in it's best sense means thinking about the people in the country, the principals for which the country stands for, and it requires opposing the government when the government violates those principles."

Sacred Cow's Go MOOOOO!!

I have been questioning some things recently. I was in a conversation with some friends the other day and we began to question if evangelism has the biblical importance that Evangelicals put on it. Last night I was watching a documentary on Howard Zinn, and I began to wonder why I believe in the Just War theory.

When I was questioning these things something in my gut didn't feel right. I had to ask myself can I question these things? Of course I knew what I already thought about these issues, that do Evangelicals place too much weight on evangelism and that all war is horrible.

But for some reason it felt wrong to question them. These things were engrained in me some how and I shouldn't question them. Good Christians and good Americans don't question these things.

To that I say mooooo!

The nicest man I ever didn't want to like

John Stewart gave a great interview with Andy Card, the former White House Chief of Staff for Gorge W. Bush. He gives some great in site into the workings of the White House, and of course John makes it all funny.

Follow the Money

Here's a great mashup of a google map and wealth in Boston.

American Racial Diversity

By far the best skit on race that I have ever seen.

Get out the vote?

There is a great debate taking place in the Boston City Council. Should immigrants have the right to vote in municipal elections, is being discussed with decedents of immigrants on both sides of the issue.

It is an increasing trend these days is for the issues debated on the national political scene, to creep into the state and local politics. But what is the place of state and local governments on these issues? When it comes to gay marriage, marriage has always been defended by the states, but climate change is not only a national issue it is an international issue. Do local governments have the right to step up and intervene?

Maybe Tip O'neal was right when he said. "All politics is local".

On Patrol with the Guardian Angles

I had my first interaction with the Guardian Angles tonight. The neighborhood watch group that I belong ask them to add our park to there patrol route, so set up a meeting to talk with them. The first thing that we noticed is that they sneaked up on us. Two of them came from opposite directions to the street corner that we were standing on. I later found out that this was intentional.

Joshua, one of the Boston Chapter leaders, filled us in on the history, and tactics of the Guardian Angles, as well as dispelling a few rumors too. It turns out that they spend 95% of their time just walking on the streets saying hello to people and being an all around positive presents in the neighborhood, a visual deterrent. The other 5% of their time is actually spend confronting people. They tend to roam around an area in small groups, never being in the same place at the same time. They have found it more effective to be random, without a pattern to there patrols, so you don't know when they will show up.

We walked through the park with them, chatting and pointing out trouble spots. Over all they are a great group of guys. All were very positive and want to make a difference in the community, to give back to the City they love. My only question of the night was how did the skinny white guy made in to the Guardian Angles?

Money problems update

All the change has been sorted. I'll have to fins a way to get it counted for free. I would use coin star but they have a 8.9% fee.

I found some of coins from around the world. Euros, Pounds, and Canadian as you might expect. Some from Lebanon that I brought back from a trip in 2003. Although I have never been there I found some coins from Brazil and Nicaragua too. (I think my old roommate put them in there.) Also plenty of wheat pennies

I have a few things that I could do with my new found money too.

Coin Sculptures
Garden Globe
Virtual Panhandler
People to People Loans
Micro-loans

Money problems

Tonight I was sitting around the house and I thought to myself, some Ben & Jerry's ice cream sounds good. So realizing that I didn't have any cash on hand I decided to raid my change jar, and walk down to the corner store. In the process of extracting a few dollar bills I had tucked away in there, it broke!

For most people this wouldn't be a problem. But my change jar is, or should I say was, a five gallon glass water jug, and it was 3/4 full of change. So now I have a heaping pile of coins in my living room and no ice cream.

I've started sifting through the change and I've found change from five different countries, several guitar picks, an old movie ticket stub for the movie "Signs", two black twist ties, and lots of tiny shards of glass.

So the big question on my mind is, "What do I do with all this money". That's where you come in. I'm taking suggestions on what to do with the money. I've decided that I'll keep the bills that were in the jar but I want to do something inventive with all the change. Please post your suggestions.

Also just for fun take a guess on how much money was in the jar. Note that I have already counted $150 in bills.