28.1. On Missing Jamaica

In my top ten coolest reggae songs of all time.



Gosh I miss Jamaica sometimes.

28. B7 Reconnect

At Bethel we have what are called "FYE" (Freshmen Year Experience) blocks--two courses blocked in a single time slot on Tuesday and Thursday of the fall semester that two professors teach teach. Cristian and I teach FYE together.  FYE is a sort of a misnomer because it only runs the first semester.  Nevertheless, since the program was begun eighteen years ago it has had a fairly dramatic impact on student retention and has enriched the overall Bethel experience.  While it is not a unique program--there are many similar across the country--it is one of the things that makes the Bethel experience unique. 

Often at the end of the semester our students have expressed their sadness that the block experience ends with the semester.  More times than I can count, students have told me during second semester that they "miss block."

We've been thinking a lot about SYE (Sophomore Year Experiences) that might build upon the FYE.  There are many things that could be done, but lets just say that at our institution curricular changes don't come easy.  One day driving into school I had a brainstorm about a way to "reconnect" with my block during second semester that wouldn't require any curricular change.  All it would require would be permission to meet one day per week during chapel (for chapel credit) during the second semester of sophomore year.  The VP for Student Enrichment liked the idea and gave our block permission to give it a trial run.

So yesterday Cristian and our two "block mentors" (Karli and Cassie--the best FYE student mentors in the history of the program) started brainstorming together about what this thing might look like.  We set a launch date, came up with a name ("B7 Reconnect"--FYE Block 7, reconnecting on many levels), talked about how to generate excitement about it, and discussed themes and topics that might be most helpful to sophomore's in college--something in the general neighborhood of life calling or vocation and our identity in Christ without using such tired and over-used lingo as that.  Anyhow, I'm looking forward to the many layers of "reconnection" that may be possible in a setting that is as "un-classlike" as possible.

I love my work.  It's the place God has called me--as Buechner says, it's the place where (my) deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.

p.s.  This song just started on my Last FM reggae station, and I've been singing it to my wife. :-)

27. Advertisement

Free to good home:  two knees afflicted with mild patelar tendonitis from years of basketball.  As a bonus, I'm willing to throw in two achilles heels with chronic bursitis and two arthritic ankles. Left heel has noticable haglund's deformity.

Sometimes it's called "pump bump" because women who wear pumps a lot develop this "bump" on their heel.  I've never worn pumps, but I've got this.  And I have a feeling it's contributed to the achilles tendonitis and bursitis, and who knows, it probably hasn't helped my knees either.

I'm paying for the hours a day of basketball I played on the Kingston asphalt for two years straight.  No regrets--other than I sometimes wish I'd played even more and stayed even longer.


 

26. 150 Makes

Sometimes in the middle of the day I have to break the monotony of checking things off my "to do" list, take a walk over to the gym, and make 150 shots. 

And then I can go back to checking things off my "to do" list and it doesn't seem so tedious anymore. 

Just finished making 150 shots.  Just checked "write blog entry" off my "to do" list.  Next item on my "to do" list: "Make new 'to do' list."

25. Pro and Con

I'm considering the pros and cons of a standing desk or stand-up desk.

Pro: No more sore rear end.
Con: Potentially sore feet.

Pro: Novelty. First person in my office wing to have one.
Con: Weirdo.  First person in my office wing to have one.

Pro: Apparantly standing is better for your back.
Con:  My back is in relatively good shape compared with my ankles and achilles heels.

Pro: Might be able to get rid of my current really ugly desk.
Con:  Current really ugly desk weighs slightly less than a dump truck.

Pro: I like to read and write standing up.
Con: I would have to purchase ($) and assemble the stupid thing.

Pro: Would have to reorganize office.
Con: Would have to reorganize office.

Decision:  Undecided.

24. On My Favorite Thing About Crossfit

The best thing about crossfit is that you can invent your own crossfit workout and call it a crossfit workout.  Here's the one I invented and then did today.

100 rep. jump ropes
10 wall ball shots with 25# ball
10 pull-ups
10 jump-knee tucks (a move borrowed from p90x)
10 sumo high pulls with 30 pood kettlebell

As many rounds as possible (AMRAP) in 15 minutes.

Exhausting.  Felt great!

23. On "Little Things"

I read this short story--very short story, really--by Raymond Carver yesterday, and now I can't get it out of my head.  It is quintessentially minimalist, and yet it managed to grab me at a gut level with its raw emotion.  The story is called "Little Things" (read it now!!).  It is getting dark outside, and inside, too--where a couple fights as he packs his bags. He wants to take the baby. She refuses him. They struggle physically, pulling at the baby, trying to pry the child from one another's arms.  The story ends ambiguously: "But he would not let go. He felt the baby slipping out of his hands and he pulled back very hard. In this manner, the issue was decided."  As I read, Carver managed to make me feel for this couple, even though I've no idea what "little thing" has caused them to be so furious with one another.  And I felt for this little thing--this child caught in the middle, pulled two directions, somehow certainly harmed by the actions of these two wounded people. 

I guess I am reminded that there are little things that, over time, become--or will become--big things.

22. Five Guys Boogers and Flies

At first, Sydney cackled with joy when I called it this.  Now she gives me a look of disgust and says stop.  I shouldn't call it this, but I can't help it. I mean it as a term of endearment--I love this place.  It's perfect.  Sydney loves it, too.  Which is why I should not exasperate her with gross comments about boogers and flies.  She's a big girl now, and too mature for such things. . . .

Except for most nights when she asks me to read her a story, and to include my world famous embellishments--the gross-out references to bodily functions I'm sure those authors meant to include but left hidden between the lines.  It takes the eye of a literature professor to see them.  To point out that after supper Snoopy usually takes a poopy may require a doctorate in literature. She's particularly fond of the thunderous "toot" that peels the paint off the walls, especially when the source is some prissy princess.  All of her favorite literary characters have managed one of these, though they're authors forgot to spell them out for us.

Just doing my job as a father and a literature scholar to point them out to my five year old.

MMMMM..... burger.