Thursday, February 26, 2009

The Social Experiment



Sense I have been pursuing social justice as an expression of my faith I have ascribed to some of Shane Claiborne's ideas. Particularly the concept of setting up faith communities in the desolate areas of the world and proclaiming Gods Kingdom. This model worked well for me in my last neighborhood, but I'm running into a few hurtles in my new neighborhood.

I've been to a few community meeting, observing mostly, looking for ways I can engage my neighborhood. I'm realizing that things are pretty well established here. There are plenty of programs and non-profits in the neighborhood. On one hand this is great, on the other hand my new neighborhood is clearly not a desolate area. I need a new model.

As a "doer" type of personality, the old model worked great for me. You can do pretty much anything you want and have a good chance of making a positive impact. I believe that this new model will have to rely more on relationships/socializing. Admittedly, this is not one of my strengths.

Photo Credit: The Waving Cat (Click)

I am not a morning person anymore.

I have always thought of myself as a morning person. Then my parent's lived with me for two weeks in my small, cramped two bedroom apartment.

I typically wake up at 6:15 and by the time I open my bedroom door my mom is already sitting in the living room watching the news at an unnecessary volume. I'm thinking; "Why is she up already, she's on vacation?" Then I try to use the bathroom and my father is taking a shower. I'm thinking. "I really have to go to the bathroom.....this is very annoying!" I start to make my breakfast and before I finish my father sticks his head out of the bathroom and says "Do you have to take a squirt? " I'm thinking; "Squirt.....who the fuck uses the word squirt, that's disgusting." I walk in and use the bathroom for a few minutes, then as I leave he go's back in to finish his morning routine.

As I sit down to eat my breakfast my dad starts preparing his. He gets out a cup of yogurt and a granola bar. He likes to break up his granola bar and put it into his yogurt. Under normal circumstances I would have no problem with this, I even enjoy it myself. Except that my father gets out the rolling pin from cabinet and proceeds to beat the granola bar with the rolling pin creating a lot of unnecessary noise for 6:30 in the morning.

Then I made myself some hot tea. As I was squirting the honey into my tea it made the per-verbal fart noise, at the sound of which my father did a double take and stared at me with a devilish smile. As he is my father I didn't even need to look in his direction to know he was doing this. No words were exchanges and at 6:45 am I do not appreciate my fathers childish sense of humor.

So this dance continues for the next 45 minutes or so, my parents doing something innocuous and me suppressing a disproportionate level of frustration. Around this time I realize that although I have always had a roommate I am usually up and out the door before they even wake up. I very rarely have had to deal with another person's morning routine. Maybe I am just not the morning person I thought I was.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Eastie Gras

Tonight our community celebrated it's first Mardi Gras, Jesus style. No beads. No boobs. Just good conversation. (I know, it's not as much fun but it's more meaningful) We ate pancakes with all the trimmings; brown sugar apples, chocolate chips, and whip cream, while discussing how we as a community could participate in Lent.

By the end of the night we stumbled on the following idea. Spending the time of Lent to reflect on our core values as a community. Finding what aspects of Jesus we most want to reflect in our neighborhood. We also want to document the brokenness we see in our neighborhood. Our hope is to find a synergy between our values and the brokenness we see in our neighborhood and to come away with an action.

As for myself. I have decided that I want to be more creative and be less depressed about the possibility of loosing my job. So I am going on a media fast (News and TV) and start some creative projects. I am going to try and write a short story that has been in my mind for a while and be more intentional about getting out of the house to shoot some photographs.

For the first time in many years I am actually excited about Lent and what can come out of the experience.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

The Story of My Life


It seams as though I have ambition, or maybe it's just something inherent in all men. I start these crazy projects that end with mixed results. Once it was a bookshelf. Of course I couldn't just make a normal book shelf, it had to have crazy angles and aircraft cable. Then there was the Media Center PC. I bought a 500GB harddrive, and new RAM, but of course they weren't compatible. I eventually got the computer to work, and it's still sitting next to my TV.....but it's not hooked up.

Last week, while cleaning my bike, I found out that I had two broken spokes on my rear bike wheel. I could just take my bike to the shop and have someone fix it, but what's the fun in that. So I went to the bike shop and after a breif converation with bike mechanic I walked out with a new wheel, two specialtey bike tools and $120.00 less in my wallet.

I was able to get the rear cogset off the old wheel and on to the new one fairly easly. I go the new wheel on the bike and took it for a spin. I did notice that the breaks are not properly aligned, and that the cables are a little warn, but I'll leave that for another day.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Thoughts on the economey

It seams as though everyone has a comment or an opinion on the economy, so I figure I would set up a soap box and give mine too.

President Obama signed the Economic Stimulus bill earlier this week with the hope of stabilizing the markets and bring economy back on track. But do we really want things to return to normal? Or do we want something more?

Tonight a friend told me some statistic's that read something like this: Corporate executives make as much as 400% more than the lowest paid workers in their company. The top 1% of in America, own 90% of the wealth. Is this the type of economy we want to return to?

At it's worst American capitalism rewards economic growth at any cost. Stock prices go up based on quarterly profit reports, regardless of how worker were treated and the environmental impact of the products produced. An ever growing GDP is the end goal, and the indicator of a "healthy" economy.

John Perkins said it well in his book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man"
"The system, however, is fuels by something far more dangerous than conspiracy. It is driven not by a small band of men but by a concept that has become accepted as gospel: the idea that all economic growth benefits humankind and the greater the growth, the more widespread the benefits. This belief also has a corollary; that those people who excel at stoking the fires of economic growth should be exalted and rewarded, while those born at the fringes are available for exploitation."

I am not a politician or an economist, and I do not know the answer to our current economic woes. But I hope to be a prophetic voice that can point us in the direction of a more just economy. An economy where the environment if cared for. An economy where they is enough for everyone to be provided for. An economy where everyone is valued.

Monday, February 16, 2009

My G1 phone is amazing

So a little while ago I wrote a posted about my G1 phone working without the data plan. To reiterate it worked perfectly fine without the data plan.......but it works even better with it.

I was trying to fix a problem with my SD card, so I decided to reset my phone. To do this it required me to turn back on the data plan. Now I'm hooked.

This morning I used an app called Buddy Runner, a GPS tracking app that works off my phone. I was able to track my run, fairly accurately, and give me a report on my distance, time and elevation. It also sends the information to a website that logs all your runs.

With the Android app store going to payed apps this week I am sure there will be even greater apps to come. I guess there is a good side to capitalism after all.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Simplicity



There is a lot of talk about simplicity these day's. My group of friend is no different. Last night we attempted to understand simplicity and came up with our own take. Here is some of what I remember from the conversation.

What are our values?:
The question behind simplicity is in someways a question of what are your values. What do you want your life to reflect. For example, if you value the environment living a simple life might look like buying less, or growing your own food. It is also helpful distill your values to a select few that are import to you. Meaning, the more values you try to reflect the more likely you will not be able to do any of them well, or that they may contradict each other. For example if you value spending less money and buying organic healthy food, you will have to deal with the fact that you'll be paying a premium for organic food.


Limiting Options:
In America we have way to many options. If you go to the supermarket you will find 20 different types of canned peas. Do we really need that many choices? Could limiting our choices actually make our lives simple. Could limiting our choices allow is to have a deeper experience with the fewer choices we have. Take friendships for example. Although it might seam harsh to say I am limiting my friendships to a few select people, it would allow you to intentionally deepen those relationships. Fewer choices could mean a simpler and more connected life.

Geography:
At one time in my life (early to mid 20's) I was all over the Boston. Lived in one part of the city, worked in another, and on any given night I would be somewhere else meeting friend or at an event. This adds a lot of travel time and general complexity to my life. Recently I have move to East Boston with a few friends. Now I only really need to leave my neighborhood to go to work. My social and spiritural circle of friends all live within a few block radius of my apartment. This is a part of simplicity that I think comes with age. When you are younger you feel as though you don't want to miss out on anything, but as you get older you don't mind missing the latest movie opening to stay in and finish a good book.

Photo credit TheAlieness GiselaGiardino's (click)