travel | The Long Journey "Home"

Wednesday I'll be living in N.C. Tomorrow I'll be visiting friends in Washington, D.C.; today I'm in Paris. While I travel a fair amount, it does always seem a bit jarring, too much change in a short amount of time. It doesn't make it any less exhausting that I generally don't consider the physical ramifications when purchasing the cheapest ticket to my destination. Today I have a 9:30pm flight from Paris to Dublin. Then after a long night in Dublin's airport, I'm off to New York in the morning, followed by a short hop to Baltimore. In my book, I can think of only one travel day that would rival it, but then I've never traveled to Asia. A little more packing, a coffee or two, and a fresh pack of smokes and I'm out the door. Thanks to dribbleglass.com for the Monopoly cards they'd like to see. Goodbye, Paris...I'm headed west.



More soon...

[America's Young Theologian][Travel][Humor]

poem | "Nerves" by Charles Bukowski

Sometimes a rant can lead from a quote to a poem. I don't like it when people have a line attached to their name and then it's quoted and quoted and quoted. I wonder how Gandhi would feel about "being the change..." or MLK, Jr. about having "a dream." Perhaps thankful for being remembered or glad that important ideas have lived on, but I think I'd simply be annoyed, or at least annoyed if people didn't take the time to read or listen to the "I have a dream" speech, annoyed if a line was used to tie me up in a box too small. Charles Bukowski's poem "Nerves" sometimes gets quoted because it has the lines: the most memorable concern of mankind / is the guts it takes to / face the sunlight again. A nice sentiment, but not really Bukowski without: I turn my ass to the wall. / I hate the mornings more than / any man.

Anyway, somehow I got frustrated enough by this quoting of Bukowski, that I thought I'd track down the poem. I couldn't find it online but knew it came from his book Burning in Water Drowning in Flame: Selected Poems 1955-1973. So, I found the book on AbeBooks.com, and emailed the woman at the bookstore:

There is a poem in this book entitled "Nerves" somewhere around p. 190. I'm traveling at the moment in Paris and so can't buy the book from you now, but wondered if you could type out the poem and email it to me. I'll buy the book from you when I get back to the U.S. in a week's time. This would be the most amazing help!

Dan Morehead

So, thanks to my annoyance and the kindness of others, I can share the poem...in its entirety:

---

Nerves

twitching in the sheets -
to face the sunlight again,
that's clearly
trouble.
I like the city better when the
neon lights are going and
the nudies dance on top of the
bar
to the mauling music.

I'm under this sheet
thinking.
my nerves are hampered by
history -
the most memorable concern of mankind
is the guts it takes to
face the sunlight again.

love begins at the meeting of two
strangers. love for the world is
impossible. I'd rather stay in bed
and sleep.

dizzied by the days and the streets and the years
I pull the sheets to my neck.
I turn my ass to the wall.
I hate the mornings more than
any man.

[America's Young Theologian][Politics][Poetry][Bukowski]

politics | Who I Support In 2008

When I was young I was a Republican, largely because I grew up in a Republican county and was born to conservative parents. My first degree was in economics. I was a free-market capitalist (not unlike Milton Friedman's laissez-faire capitalism). This somehow strengthened my Republican stances as the Republicans turned every issue into an economic issue over the last 20 years. Times change and I now view resisting the corrosive effects of late capitalism as one of the major tasks of the church and now would tend to vote left. I was on TV not too long ago saying that I would support Hillary Clinton and would hope for Obama as a running mate. Clinton still holds a significant lead over Obama when it comes to those most likely to vote in the Democratic primary. I do find Obama charismatic, but think Hillary is more qualified.

If I were a Republican, I'd vote for Ron Paul. He's simply the most interesting candidate in the GOP field and the only one who doesn't make me feel like my IQ is dropping as I listen to him.


Check them out and give $10 if you can. The options we have when an election rolls around is equally important as the election itself.

All that said, I'm often quite frustrated by the mediocrity of the candidates with which we are presented. But given the options we have, we need to start asking important questions...

[America's Young Theologian][Politics][Ron Paul][Hillary Clinton]

life | Friends In Paris

Times flies as the saying goes. This last week in Paris, I was happy to host my good friend Dave (seen above), who has showed up time and again on this blog. It was his first time in Paris and so we did a lot of the usual tourist activities (Louvre, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, sitting by the Seine, etc.), but also got in a few festivities given that last weekend was the 14th of July, Bastille Day. Friday we met another friend at a bar and struggled through conversation with other Parisians. Then it was off to a late dinner, followed by the Bal des Pompiers in the 6th.



The firemen open their stations for these charity balls and luckily my friend dated one of the firemen so we got to skip the two hour queue. There was plenty of drinking, dancing, and frivolity, included everything from extremely buff firemen dancing on the roof in...how shall we say?...less than full gear to fireworks and squirt guns.



Saturday was another 4am night, but more low-key involving a picnic on the Champ de Mars and watching the fireworks display.

[America's Young Theologian][Travel][Friends][Paris]

podcast | Human Rights and Writing

You can tell I'm a bit behind in listening to my favorite podcasts insofar as I'm just getting to posting about a podcast from April. Sara Paretsky, author of the bestselling V. I. Warshawski novels, including, most recently, Fire Sale and Blacklist, gave an interesting lecture at the University of Chicago in April. She is the winner of many awards, including the Cartier Diamond Dagger award for lifetime achievement from the British Crime Writers’ Association.

Her lecture was in honor of the life and work of Dr. Robert Kirschner, noted forensic pathologist and international human rights activist, who was a founder of the University of Chicago Human Rights Program. It was interesting to hear a novelist talk about human rights. I highly recommend listening to her lecture entitled, "Truth, Lies, and Duct Tape," but I'll share one quote:

When the government tells me there's a code orange alert, to wrap myself in duct tape and plastic, but to go shopping as long as I don't buy anything French because it is my patriotic duty to buy and run up debt but I must not have bankruptcy protection, I become just about speechless with the disconnect between truth, lies, and duct tape. I want to walk, no I want to run away from these horrors, I want to play with words, I want to dazzle readers with my brilliant turns of phrase, but the times get me down.

Her's is not a hopeless vision and you can visit the CHIASMOS site to download the lecture. Or, consider subscribing to the University of Chicago Human Rights Program Distinguished Lecturer Series.

[America's Young Theologian][Theology][Politics][Podcast][Sara Paretsky]