I Can Never Tell

Perhaps I need one of those web-counters to see whether people even visit my blog.  I know it may seem vain, but I would like to see a comment on at least one of my last several posts.  I share to then share in an experience with others.  This blog is utterly wasted if no one else takes something from it, whether is be a random chuckle or a thought that lingers.

I know that some of my friends check this blog and are thankful I do post, and for that I am grateful.  I hope there would be an increase in participation as blogs seem to be one way of holding on to conversation, an art that is slowly slipping from our societies.

Let me know if I need to can my trash.  The poems can be a bit heavy for everybody including myself.  This post is mainly whacked as I am fighting a week of 7 finals and having to move out by Wednesday afternoon from my house, in the midst of finishing said finals.  Woof.

Godspeed women and men.

On the Nature of Dogs, the Right of Grace, Forgiveness and Hospitality: Derrida, Kant, and Lars Von Trier's Dogville

On the Nature of Dogs, the Right of Grace, Forgiveness and Hospitality: Derrida, Kant, and Lars Von Trier's Dogville

Wow.  Cosmopolitanism vs. communitarianism.  It is all so rich.  The film Dogville was a bit much for me because of all the sexual violence, but the concepts introduced are nonetheless worth analyzing.  Immanuel Kant's argument for "cosmopolitan right" to hospitality as a world citizen is very interesting.  Give the article a read and leave your response.

Consecrate for Change

A new blog by Chris Nielsen (a recent acquaintance of mine) called Consecrate for Change is very enthralling.  

The opening post is a diary of sorts, dialoging Chris' experiment with "solo protesting" in Provo.  The various responses to his half-hour time consecrations to the Lord's admonition of "renounce war" are discussion inducing for our little hamlet of Provo.  

Check it out if you have some time.

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday – Part I

God so loved

I so loved

 

He so loved

 

She so loved Him

 

He so loved her

 

I so loved Him,

And God so loved me.

Great rings, rounding the bends of their own eternities, 

Replicated life in travail,

To soil,

To star,

To womb,

To the heart of a single beat, the drum organs' cadence.

Blossomed flowers overrode my nuclear sunset for God.

Easter Sunday – Part II

He gave His Only Begotten Son,

Not to condemn the world,

But that the world through Him might be saved.

Beauty instead of ashes, I opened up,

And poured forth a petal that planted itself on a rock.

[Written 23 March 2008]

The Warm Day of April Solemnity

The warm day of April solemnity gathered on a plot of land,

in a framework of steel and fleshy tables and chairs

Books were opened and tongues stayed as bread broke,

and His heart burst from heaven weight

Bless and sanctified, God's finger ran its course over our dim crowns

My face, Ryan's eyes, and an anonymous girl enjoyed a ray here,

and a piece there

[Written 13 April 2008]

Bastard: An Etymology

My brother's hilarious etymological analysis of the controversial word "bastard":

"1223, "illegitimate child," from O.Fr., "child of a nobleman by a woman other than his wife," probably from fils de bast "packsaddle son," meaning a child conceived on an improvised bed (saddles often doubled as beds while traveling), with pejorative ending -art. Alternate possibly is that the word is from P.Gmc. *banstiz "barn," equally suggestive of low origin. Not always regarded as a stigma; the Conqueror is referred to in state documents as "William the Bastard." Figurative sense is from 1552; use as a vulgar term of abuse for a man is attested from 1830. Bastardize "debase" is from 1587.Who wants to be considered low?"

The Church in Africa - 2008

Africa Day of Service

Africa Measles Vaccination Program

Anonymous Saint

Anonymous Saint:

You partook and I saw you burst into flames

The Ghost rained down upon our congregation,

And I could not help but marvel at the snow gracing the passersby,

Those patrons of the white mana,

As they journeyed on their exodus

Your spirit will rejoin the dust made infinitely bright

Your breath will light darkness 

And slothfulness will bow to strengthened resolve

Not yet known by this row

[Written 28 March 2008]

THE NEW BACKGROUND

Scattered matter...

School is a strange force to reckon with in my mind.  I seem so capable of doing what is needed, laying out meticulous plans, and yet I reach the moment of action and bring forth little to nothing.  I am quite positive I have been lulled by something innocuous in my life, but whether I can comprehend it or not, I must still move forward.

I definitely need to sleep more and eat more often.  I would not be surprised if demons were at the gates of my very own heart and mind.  Critical paths are tied to my feet, though they will not wander too far into the forbidden fields with me.  

So now the question arises:  what is the most important thing I am neglecting that is causing my inaction?