If I were to deconstruct those Cracker Barrel Christians, I would do so by comparing them to tight pants. This does seem to be a cultural result, and there are other aspects as well. The transition from clerical robes to tight jeans with holes, how massive and elaborate pulpits have become mobile podiums, how choirs [...]
College
Considering I have assignments due tomorrow, I am officially back in college. The first time wasn’t fun. I went there after high school, later changed my major, eventually dropped out. I transferred twice but did return and graduate from where I began. I was waking up at 4am and worked my first job from 5-11:30. [...]
Prose
I am one of the many people who grew up fascinated and inspired by the way Monet and Van Gogh painted. As a young adult I learned that this style of painting was laughed at and heavily criticized by the academy that trained and defined artists. Impressionism was a pejorative. Yet, this style (Impressionism and [...]
The Freedom to Leave but Desire To Stay
My favorite place to visit is Los Angeles, my wife prefers New York City. Although we enjoy our stay in these places, we have no desire to permanently live there and we do not actively seek to turn our local government into replicas of these cities. On the other hand, I am reminded of Californians [...]
Doublespeak & Wrongthink
The banjo player is leaving a world famous band after receiving backlash for approving a controversial book. An apology was issued, but that too received backlash. It’s funny because he’s the banjo player, in trouble for reading a book. For those of you that don’t follow Mumford, here’s the explanation given by Winston. I understand [...]
Failed Art Career
I didn’t grow up wanting to be an artist, but art was always something to do and I haven’t permanently left the pursuit. I’ve mentioned before that both of my parents had abusive upbringings. My father’s response was to be distant, paranoid of emotionally scarring his children. My mother began collecting and reading every parenting [...]
Dumbest Smart Person
My brother used to tell me, you are the dumbest smart person I know. I had forgotten about that until I electrocuted myself last night. I was fixing a wiring situation at the brake pedal of my car. Half of my body was hanging outside in the cold wind, I could only use one hand [...]
Box of Popcorn
I know Christmas is about Jesus and not presents, but I keep remembering that my opa (grandpa) gave me a 10 pack of popcorn one year. That would not be bad if he was a poor man doing what he could for a grandchild, but he stole my father’s inheritance and literally traveled the world [...]
I had Intentions
This was to be the year I wrote a blog post every month. Need I say more? Despite my multiple jobs and responsibilities at home, I expected my procrastination toward school work to be more productive than this. As much as I would like to record new music, this will be it for a while. [...]
Namesake Rivalry
A video comparing the recruitment advertisements of Russia and the US recently went viral. (I am sharing the less popular although original video.) Common responses were the US still has a greater military might, the current Russia is a shell of its Soviet self, this makes the US look good, etc. Not to be unpatriotic, [...]