Reason No. 8,927 I love living in
I love how I can go see the Gin Blossoms, Lifehouse, Yellowcard and The Fray at a park that's within walking distance from my house.
Yay for the Tempe Music Festival!
And also yay for the mini Circle K that's at the park this weekend. I am definitely planning to take advantage of the taquito selection when I get hungry tonight.
Web updates all around!
Today I used my gobs of free time to knock a few chores off of my Web site to-do list:
dorky, technical change: I moved the sidebar content from JavaScript files into HTML files and changed the way it gets put on the page from a JavaScript to server-side includes now that I'm on a server that does SSI.
newsier archives: Now, the links to stories I've written don't just appear on the sidebar of the homepage, but also on the monthly archive pages.
most important of all: I added two new glamour shots to the rotation!
Check 'em out:
« There's the industrious reporter shot...
...and the lean, mean potato-grating machine photo. »
So that brings the total of rotating Brian photos in the lower left corner of the site to nine. Collect them all. :)
Hey Eric, look what I found at Fry’s…
Tonight before Wesley, almost everyone was working on homework, but I had left mine at home. So instead, I worked on my grocery list since I had already decided to hit up Fry's after Wesley. Soon, Eric and I were collaborating on said grocery list.
Some things Eric added to the list, like "Bud Light or other," had to go. And I had to tweak a few entries. For instance, the Fry's I went to was out of gummy worms, so I went for gummy bears instead. But one thing I was able to cross off the list without any modifications was...
I’m goin’ back to L.A., baby!
Speaking of (spring) breakin' it down in Los Angeles...
I found out this afternoon that unless there's any necessary staff shuffling, I'll be headed back to Vermont Square UMC this summer to be the SLC at SSP's urban site!
This is going to be awesome...
spring breaaaaaaaaaaaaaak
Well, now that even Mark's and Priya's spring breaks are ending, I figure I should post all that stuff I've been meaning to about mine.
From the first Saturday to Thursday I was in Los Angeles with Wesley folks doing an SSP spring break, where we worked on the church that's used for Project in the summer and took some field trips and hosted guests in an effort to learn more about South L.A.
That was pretty amazing since it was like being an SSP camper again — doin' the work, seeing the sights — but with a group of people who really "got" what we were there to do early on in the week, definitely earlier than high school campers usually "get it."
And on top of all that, it was not just a Wesley trip but a joint Wesley trip where I got to see my UA Methodist peeps too.
Then, from Friday to the second Sunday, I was on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border studying immigration issues in another Faces on the Border seminar. And I think I got a lot out of my second go-'round on this trip, revisiting some issues and being more deeply challenged to take action.
But both trips I took over spring break had some common threads, which were pretty cool...
in-state, international, intercultural connections
Both parts of my spring break were marked by all sorts of all sorts of crazy coming-together moments. Both trips included people from both ASU and UA, and both had some international or intercultural components.
Out in L.A., the night that we had dinner at the Dockweiler Beach also happened to be the night that there was a big Persian New Year celebration at the same beach. In fact, the new year partiers set up their sound system and "dance floor" area of the beach (dance sand?) right next to the fire pit we were using. So we got invited to dance with the revelers, and some of them joined our non-dancers around the fire.
As Kyle Frank said later, it was basically like we danced our way to world peace.
Then in Naco, we had two British ladies accompanying us for our Faces on the Border seminar, and it was all pretty international since we were studying U.S.-Mexico border issues. But in a culminating moment, we also went on a procession along the border Sunday that ended where the border wall stops and turns into a low vehicle barrier. There, there was a bilingual, ecumenical worship service held on both sides of the border. That, too, was pretty sweet.
Anyway, here are the random and assorted quotes and memories from both parts of my spring break:
ASU and UA Wesley doing SSP in L.A.
photos from this trip • videos from this trip
"Precious Memories" / Pastor DiAnn's "pastoral joke"
Girl Scout / Cookie Sunday!
"Oh good Christ!" –woman on a bike upon seeing glass rain down from a second-story window
movie themed rooms: the Titanic room, the Hobbit bathroom, the Saw room
"[chomp!]" –me
Cookies in Bed!
sledgin'
sledgendary
fawesome
famazing
Team Luke!
Brandy quotes
on South L.A.: "It's not terrible!"
on Orange County: "That's a whole different place. They have beaches — that aren't contaminated."
Swimsuit vs. boardshorts
the Brian voice: "They're different!"
"Brian, you're like the Car Talk guys, but gigglier." –Sara
"You are like all the little boys I ever babysat — all rolled into one." –Stacey
talking crap and then having the person show up
Erin Lee: Do you guys need any help?
Kyle Frank: No. We don't need any help — at all. We don't need anyone else on this roof.
cancer-causing material
make-your-own hamburgers
Suzannah, the love child of Kyle Frank and me
Kyle Frank: I figure if Brian's good enough to have a love child with, he can have my hot dog.
me: In fact...
wafers in the eye... and bra
Justin Timberlake
Going to Wesley at UCI
Sarah, the UCI campus minister: "OK, so 'bar' means 'son of,' so Barabbas is the son of Abba, the son of..."
my inner monologue: "The son of ABBA! You were the dancing queen, young and sweet, only 17..."
Stacey = the girl with the laugh
Suzannah = "commentary girl"
Tobie the spoon stealer (and returner)
"It will going to happen!" –Erin Lee
"Cookies in Bed," to the tune of "Dick in a Box"
douche nozzle
"There are things I could be dared into putting into a sermon, but that's not one of them." –Sara
"Give us a holler. We pay you top do$$ar."
HootersIkea
To Debbie Gibson or not to Debbie Gibson?
"when you say you're in a van with a bunch of other church folk i picture a cross of the patridge family and the manson family" –Matt Stone on Friday
Yep... Partridge Family singalongs and Manson Family sledgin'.
Ridin' dirty in the church van
Flinns doing Faces on the Border in Naco
photos from this trip • videos from this trip
trying to rent a minivan and getting a tank
Devin is 20... No, 21. No wait, 25. But only in Mexico?
British visitors!
Connor: Most of Arizona is just like the elephant graveyard from The Lion King.
Anne Marie: I used to love this state.
"I used to work down there." –Anne Marie on her Dream Palace past
"Think about it. Use your math." –Connor
the ever-sketchier adventures of Abraham Lincoln
the Snakes on a Plane form... and the accompanying diagrams
the guy who wanted everybody's sunglasses
the Air Force guys who wanted us to go drink with them
nothing to do in Bisbee
Safeway at closing time
"Look at these purses. Purses, purses everywhere." –Connor
me: Will the condom break? Find out next week on...
me and Connor in unison: Suspenseful Porn!
"Will Abraham Lincoln escape?" –Connor
late-night bad ideas
Spring Break! Mexico! Whooooooo!
"Whoa. Watch out. Paul's going to Mexico." –Anne Marie
Addams Family
"Poop is funny!" –me
Ooga Booga
wetass
Ben's almost complete inability to lie during Murder
"Move"
Groove Armada style
grandbabies
bulletins
"unmanded fundate"
a return to the DQ
a night of sightseeing in the EV
Tonight Mark, a friend from Forum who's in the Valley for his spring break, and I did some East Valley and Phoenix sightseeing while Justine was at work.
We hit quite a lot before we met up with Justine at her restaurant. Here was our itinerary, with actual stops in bold and places that have some sort of death story associated with them in italics:
Apache Boulevard
Food City
Apache & Rural
Jerry's Drive-In Liquor
the old ASU Visitor Information Center
the Hassayampa dorms
the law school
The Biodesign Institute
ISTB 2
Wells Fargo Arena
Manzanita
San Pablo
Old Main
Fulton Center
Tempe First
the Newman Center
the old Dos Gringos
the Arches
Architraz
Tower Center
Tempe Center
Mill Avenue
Hayden Flour Mill
Tempe City Hall
Monti's La Casa Vieja
the new condos and offices on the lake
the Mill Avenue bridges
Tempe Town Lake
the Marquee Theatre
Papago Park
Tovrea Castle
Le Nature's (ex-)headquarters
McDowell Road going through Papago Park
the parking lot outside CBNC
SkySong
Old Town Scottsdale
Arizona Falls
Camelback Mountain
Hotel Clarendon
the punchcard building
Deck Park
Cheuvront's
Fair Trade Café
Amsterdam... kind of
ASU Downtown
Phoenix City Hall
Phoenix Municipal Court
Dodge Theatre
Sandra Day O'Connor courthouse
Channel 10
Phoenix PD
Carnegie Library
Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum
the State Capitol
the 9/11 memorial at Bolin Plaza
Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office
Fourth Avenue Jail
Union Station
Madison Street Jail
Superior Court
Patriots Square Park
US Airways Center
Hard Rock Café
Chase Field
Arizona Science Center
the ASU-UA med school
the general vicinity of Fate
Chandler mall
Downtown Chandler
Serrano's
Naughty But Nice
Rocky Mountain Financial Center
Chandler Community Center
Chandler Public Library
Chandler Museum
Boyer Building
A.J. Chandler Park
Jack in the Box
the CCA
Chandler High
Ugly Duckling
Little Caesar's
Elmer's
BoSa Donuts
Wild Card
East Valley Mall, including Target and the ever-changing theater
Wal-Mart
99¢ Only Store
the Walgreens at Dobson & Warner
ASU Research Park
Voodoo Daddy's
Anyway, we then had dinner at Justine's restaurant and still made it back to Justine's by... 11:05!
It was a truly grape day. Or was it more cherry?
Looking for Brother Jed?
Click here to jump down to the video.
Today was definitely a favorite. Maybe not cherry-level favorite, but at least grape. Part of that favoriteness resulted from me finding out tonight at Wesley that Hannah and Rachel are both Brian Regan fans.
But also...
It was Nube Day, marking seven years since Simeon, José and I turned in our TeleNube project in eighth-grade Spanish.
I only had two classes today, since my midday one was cancelled.
And even though I've had three not-in-class hours every Wednesday this semester, this afternoon was the first time that I put those hours to their best possible use: swimming at the SRC pool.
I only swam 500 meters total, which is so incredibly lame, but I am so incredibly out of shape too. Anyway, that short workout left lots of time for air-drying on the lounge chairs and then some lounging in the water. It was a beautiful thing, especially after I stopped caring what time it was and actually rested both my body and my soul.
But before I got to the SRC, I got sidetracked by the crowd that always gathers around Brother Jed, who's arguably the most infamous mall preacher to visit ASU and who's in Tempe this week.
Though I wasn't sure it was a good idea, I backtracked it to the crowd after initially walking past. And I just talked with the guy who was preaching in Jed's stead for a little bit. I didn't yell at him, and he didn't yell back. I asked questions, and he answered them. Granted, we didn't get into areas where our respective theologies probably differed, but that's not what I wanted to talk about anyway.
Anyway, as I was talking with this other guy, I noticed Jed sitting behind the crowd, so I went back to talk with him. And I found that when he's not up and preaching, he's surprisingly calm and not as hot-headed as he often seems.
When I asked what his aim was when he was on campus, he motioned to the crowd and said that he aims to get people talking about religious issues, just like they were across the mall.
And I asked if he worries that people might be getting the wrong message or the wrong idea from his decidedly confrontational preaching style. He said that's not something he worries about because he said that Jesus was occasionally misinterpreted by his followers, who only later understood what Jesus was really trying to tell them.
At one point, Jed mentioned that he had been a religious skeptic in his 20s. So I asked if at present he feels like he has more questions or answers when it comes to matters of faith. He said he has more answers.
I also asked him where he was from, which happens to be Columbia, Mo. And when I later asked if the church he goes to while he's home is affiliated with any particular denomination, I got an answer I wasn't expecting. I expected that he'd attend a nondenominational church or maybe a Baptist church that takes full advantage of its congregational polity.
But Jed said he was raised a Methodist — a United Methodist — and still attends a Methodist church, even though he's not so keen on where the denomination's headed.
Yeah, you heard me...
Brother Jed is a United Methodist
In fact, he attends the church that likely would have been my home church had I gone to Mizzou, Missouri United Methodist Church. So we talked for a good little while about both his local church and our big-C United Methodist Church.
Jed said that he's not so outspoken at his church as he is on college campuses. He said he goes to a Sunday school class at Missouri UMC, where he brings up his point of view but not so confrontationally. He said most of the people in his class or maybe in his church in general are generally amenable to the theology of John Shelby Spong.
But he said that his Sunday school class recently read something written by Deitrich Bonhoeffer, who he said he found himself agreeing with. He even said that Bonhoeffer went further than he would on some points.
Jed said he's stuck with Methodism because of its heritage, and he mentioned that the founder of Methodism himself, John Wesley, preached in the open air. You know, occasionally in church circles, someone proposes the idea (with varying levels of seriousness) of having a United Methodist follow in Wesley's footsteps and become a mall preacher who would provide a counterbalance to Jed and the like. Little did any of us know that the Jed is in fact a United Methodist who sees himself at least, in some small way, as preaching like Wesley did.
And you know he's not kidding about being a United Methodist because he knows the jargon. Jed told me that while the denomination's "Open hearts, open minds, open doors" motto has led to more acceptance of gay and lesbian people than he'd like to see at his local church, it means that he is also welcome — or should be. He added that sometimes he has to challenge his fellow congregants to accept him as they would someone with beliefs from the other side of the theological spectrum.
And he's also familiar with the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. Jed said he thinks experience is overemphasized in the church today and that Scripture should be the primary part of the quad. He said he belives the order of importance should be Scripture, then Reason, Tradition and Experience.
So Brother Jed is my United Methodist brother. I'm not gonna lie; I wasn't expecting that. And being the Methophile that I am, I now see the guy in somewhat of a different light.
Right after I was done talking to him, he was back to preaching, and here's what it looked like:
As you may have guessed, I disagree theologically and I've got my doubts about the effectiveness of such a brash — and frankly, almost offensive — verbal style.
But for the first time, I sort of respectfully disagree... because in a way, I now know where he's coming from.
And that's not just because he's a United Methodist. It helps that I understand the heritage he's trying to draw on, but it also helped that I just stopped to talk to him not about his theological points but more about his methods.
It's clear that Jed routinely accomplishes his goal of stirring folks up. Maybe that really does work spiritually in the way that he wants it to. Maybe it does the opposite. Regardless, his characteristic style of confrontational conversation sure isn't my favorite. So I opt for the quieter, calmer discourse... and sometimes I learn something.
Stacey stopped by the scene of all this
and posted a facebook note about it.
Looking for the Brother Jed video?
It's still being processed, but I'll post it here when it goes live.
Also, be on the lookout for a post about my eventful day.
Happy Nube Day!
¡Feliz día de las nubes!
My motto: Work hard. Play hard.
Today I did some biking and did some reading up at Papago Park, ran some errands, cooked myself dinner and ended up watching both The Ladies Man and then Tootsies 2001 on our newly better-hooked-up-to-the-TV VCR.
And after I was done reliving a moment from high school No. 1, I drove downtown to see people from high school No. 2. Alex Kolodin was having a party that was fairly well-stocked with '05 Chandler grads, and as the party wound down, I ended up driving a crew to Denny's.
So we get there, and it's probably the busiest I've ever seen any Denny's at any time of the day... and it's 3 a.m. After we left, we (correctly) surmised from the clientele that we had been dining at the famed "gay Denny's."
