Lost Philosophers (I can't wait for Season 6!)

*Nerd alert*

Like many Lost fans, I love the cultural references but I don't get all of them. This means that I will probably spend the rest of my life learning things that remind me of Lost. For example, last year, I stumbled across the fact that there was a 19th Century philosopher named Jeremy Bentham. "Well crap," I thought. "If I had known this before, I wouldn't have spent all of Season 4 wondering who was in the coffin under the name Jeremy Bentham." Who else is named directly after an English philospher? John Locke, that's who.

So this semester I did a reading on Utilitarianism, and it talked a lot about Jeremy Bentham. This got me thinking about Locke's transformation on the show. He starts out as John Locke, and is pretty idealistic. The philosopher JL strongly influenced the discussion about liberty during the founding of the US, and the Locke on Lost is definitely a "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" kind of guy. Also, the early flashbacks about Locke show how his experiences shaped him into the person who he is (see Locke's tabula rasa).

As I was reading the Utilitarianism stuff, I was struck by how much the Lost writers weave into the show. When John returns as Jeremy Bentham, in Season 5 he has become more utilitarian. Now, I wouldn't say he is a perfect example of a utilitarian, but he certainly becomes a "sacrifice for the good of the many" kind of guy. Of course in the case of the show, the good of the many is defined by the Island/Jacob, and Locke is utilitarian in his doing of what he is told. More significantly, Ben Linus is very utilitarian (he let his daughter die rather than surrender his people to the hostiles), and Ben ends up sacrificing Locke for the good of the people on the Island. The parallels continue.

So here's the part that really got me. The philosopher Jeremy Bentham did a really creepy thing. He donated his body to science. At his request, his body was dissected in an anatomy lecture, and then his bones and preserved head were made into basically a dummy of himself, which is on display for all to see (although his real head is actually stored somewhere else now partly because it was preserved badly and partly because of repeated student pranks in which it was stolen). Anyway, remember all of those shots of creepy John Locke's dead preserved body? I do. It was creepy, just like the real Jeremy Bentham's preserved dead body. Oh Lost writers... you're so good.

Breaking News

Newark, DE. May 1996. Following a stunning act of coordination, Justin Callahan of Newark, Delaware was named star galloper of the third grade class. Callahan, 8 years old, is also known for his work organizing his sock drawer and meticulously lining up his shoes. In the future, he hopes to reclaim his title, and is considering entering the skipping contest as well.

Knitting Away My Control Issues

I finally finished another knitting project! Nothing gets me motivated like a deadline. In this case, I was knitting a blanket for Baby Kyle, and while I intended to finish it earlier... like when he was born, or when Sara and Aron brought Kyle to camp... I didn't. But I did finish it in time for his baptism so that's good.

I used my favorite baby blanket pattern - the Big Bad Baby Blanket from the S'nB book. The blanket is usually supposed to be a 3x3 square (great because babies don't grow out of it too fast), but unfortunately along with the fact that I was knitting in a race against time to finish the last foot, I also ran out of yarn. I thought I had two more skeins at home, but when I returned home at 10 pm Saturday I discovered that I did not have more. Oops.

The perfectionist in me thought I should just postpone my blanket-giving yet again, but I reminded myself that I'm trying to be less anal about my projects. Not everything has to be symmetrical. I should use the yarn I have in creative ways rather than buying more yarn than I need so that things are completely uniform. So, used what I had. I stopped knitting about when I ran out of yarn, and it was actually about the dimensions of a normal rectangular baby blanket. The pattern was asymmetrical, but it actually looked kind of cool. I bound of

f the end which all green (or was it all blue, I can't remember) partly because I had more of that left, and partly for effect. Overall I liked the effect and was proud of myself for not being completely irked that it isn't completely uniform. Of course it did occur to me that Sara, being somewhat of a perfectionist like myself might try to fold it along the break in the pattern,

and then realize how off-center it is and be disoriented. But that's probably silly. Or is it?

Anyway, now that I'm done this blanket, I have a project to complete for the newest Shitama, and then I'm moving on to a new blanket that will be totally asymmetrical and fun, for a certain baby to be whose parents love things that are quirky and asymmetrical.

Fear and Loathing on the Metro

Tonight I was riding back from class on the metro with a classmate, when we noticed a couple get on the metro, walk to the seat across the aisle from us, and then turn around and walk away, because there was a cell phone and a cardboard box sitting unattended on the seat. On the box was a picture of some sort of electronic device with a screen, and there was a strap or cord of some sort hanging out of it. It was basically exactly the kind of sketchy thing you are supposed to be concerned about on the metro. Now I been riding the metro for years, undaunted by terrorist threats, sketchy/crazy/obnoxious/belligerent passengers and crazy crashes, but as I looked around the car I had that I NEED TO GET OFF THIS TRAIN feeling.

The box and phone looked so sketchy and deliberately placed that I was reasonably certain it was not actually a threat (one would expect a bomb would not actually look so bomb-like), but nonetheless it was exactly the kind of thing you are supposed to report. As we hesitantly discussed what we should do, more people around the train noticed the objects and started looking awkwardly around at each other. No one wanted to speak up, but all of these seasoned metro commuters seemed to be silently asking, "Should we be freaked out?" "Should we do something?" My classmate and I ended up getting off the train and going to tell Metro employees, who made a phone call but did not seem overly concerned. Having done our good citizen deed for the day, we hopped on another train 2 minutes later.

When we got on the shuttle from the metro station to campus, I was squeezed in next to two girls from American University, one of whom said loudly to the other, "Did you know if you want an abortion it costs $400 and Planned Parenthood is the best place to go?" She proceeded to talk about how annoyed she was that she didn't get any homework done because her roommate is pregnant and was on the phone talking about it all afternoon. For most of the ride back to campus she talked about how annoying roommate was stupid and deserved an unexpected pregnancy. Of course I remember some of the conversations my friends and I had on public transportation in college, but this was just seemed so completely inappropriate (not to mention unabashedly judgmental and mean... and ok both annoying and a little entertaining).

How weird it is that we are willing to have loud private conversations in front of strangers, but not to initiate conversation in a situation when common sense and the transportation authority say we should? It is totally OK to come off as mean, but not to seem too concerned. Sort of like we're still in middle school.

Drying Herbs and Future Scone-Plans

Yesterday I took a break from Wesley's sermons to dry some herbs from my mom's garden. It was beautifully sunny and warm, quite a relief after the cold and rain all weekend. I don't really use herbs much in my cooking, but that's partly because I never feel like buying herbs and spices so I usually avoid recipes that involve them. But I thought that since my mom has an abundance of herbs I would try drying some before the first frost.

I went with the freeze-dry method. I of course got directions on the internet. I cut basil, thyme, sage and rosemary, washed them, dried them, and put them in little ziplock baggies. They are currently living in the freezer. I have to wait "several weeks" to see how successful my experiment was. But since there is so much more in the garden I'm going to dry a bunch more and make some pesto on Friday.

My next quasi-domestic endeavor is going to be to try out a recipe I found for the amazingly melt-in-your-mouthy pumpkin scones I tried at Starbucks yesterday. My attempt at the vanilla scones was fairly successful last Christmas. I think I'm going to make both when we go to the beach for Thanksgiving. Both kinds of scones are delicious but having seen the nutritional information I can only justify making them at the holidays (and I almost never get them at Starbucks, although the petite vanilla scones are a good compromise).

I can’t wait to live in my cabin and cook with my home-grown herbs and bake scones. Another possible culinary endeavor: Ina Garten’s rosemary chicken salad served with cheddar-dill scones and herbed butter. Mmm….

God hates Cecil County? (and obviously gays and Obama...)

I know its been months since I blogged, but please indulge me while I rant a little. I learned from the Cecil Whig this morning that Cecil College is doing a 10th Anniversary performance of The Laramie Project tonight, and Westboro Baptist Church is sending protesters. Lucky us.

I won't waste much time trying to describe them, since you can look them up yourself on wikipedia, or their official church website (godhatesfags.com).*

Their mission is based on a message of God's hate. How is that the Gospel? Gospel means "Good News" and "God hates you" is not good news to anyone. I serve a God of love. Remember that guy who came to earth and invited in the people that the Pharisees were shunning as sinners? The one who said "let he who is without sin throw the first stone"? The one that shared meals with prostitutes? The one who was hard on the religious and compassionate toward those who the religious people were picking on.... what was that guy's name? Oh right..... JESUS. That guy, remember him?

This group makes me physically ill. I respect the opinion of people who believe that homosexuality is a sin, but I cannot respect people who distort God's message of love and forgiveness and use it to abuse, marginalize and terrorize people who are already marginalized and discriminated against in our culture. And having Will and Grace on TV does not make up for all the ways our culture makes it difficult for LGBT community. This group is picketing 14 different events today alone, in New York, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Maryland. This is how they are using their resources. This is how they are carrying God's message to the world.

The most frustrating thing is that they will keep doing this, and nothing can stop them. If I cancel my plans tonight and made a "God Loves Gays" sign and go up there with my Bible to explain to the WBC people that God is a God of Love and forgiveness, it would not make the slightest bit of difference. The freedoms of religion and speech that they would take away from people of other religions guarantee that they are allowed to keep on spouting their awful agenda of hate.

What I can do is try to live out God's love in ways that I think God is calling me to. And that means that I need to risk standing in support of the LGBT community more often. It feels risky to be too open about the fact that I believe God loves the gay community just as they are, no ifs ands or buts. That shouldn't be a risky sentence to write or say when serving a God of Love, but as someone who is ministry (and has not yet gone through the ordination process), that sentence could really bite me in the butt. Not to mention the inevitable arguments that people will try to start with me. It is a risk, but my love for the gay people in my life drives me to be more bold. I believe with ever fiber of my faith that God loves each person just as she or he is, and that the pain inflicted on the gay community by the church grieves God's heart. I just want people to know that. My voice can't drown out the hatred, but at least its one more voice trying to shout against it.

*I'm not kidding that's their actual website. It is as theologically rich and insightful as you would imagine. Much of their attention is fixed on the murder of Matthew Shepherd, the subject of The Laramie Project. The group lifts up this anti-gay hate crime and pickets performances of the play with signs declaring God's hatred for homosexuals. This was also the lovely group that picketed military funerals in Maryland a couple years ago, because they blame gays (especially those in the military) for terrorism. BTW they also have a documentary showing that Obama is the Anti-Christ. Yep.

Special Needs Week 2009

Special Needs Week is over, and it may have been the best I've seen. Things went really smoothly and Justin only had to do 41 loads of laundry (although there were rogue laundry washers as well). I'm always amazed at how well the staff does with our campers with special needs. Consider the fact that our counselors are roughly between the ages of 16 and 26 and many of them are new to being counselors in the first place. We put these people in situations that they never imagined themselves doing and they do an amazing job. This job isn't for everyone but many people find that they can deal with a lot more than they thought. You find yourself cleaning up poop and its not all that tragic.

What makes all the difference is the fact that people with special needs are just about the best people you could meet. They just overflow with love. As challenging as special needs camp can be, it is totally worth it to spend the week with these campers. They hug us, tell us they like us, show us what friendship looks like, and they teach us about faith. They remember us years later and are still excited to see us.

I love special needs week because it brings out the best in the staff and the campers. I can't really describe it without being cheesy. Its just awesome.