Uh-oh, It's the Prop. 8 Post !!!

Hello all,
I've not updated my blog for some time. A lot has gone on since my last apology for not keeping this up-to-date. I have tons of stories and thoughts, both humorous and a bit more serious, that will probably find their way onto this blog.

Right now, however, I'd like to address something more current. I'd like to talk a little bit about Proposition 8.

I am sure you all know by now that on November 4th, California passed, by state referendum, a ban on same-sex marriages. The vote was roughly 47 to 52% in favor of the ban. The vote was cast. It's over. And, that's all I'm going to say about that.

The most visible response (certainly not a universal one), especially here in New York, has been one of vehement outrage. Already, there have been at least two massive protests. Celebrities and news anchors have used the media as a vehicle to, perhaps inappropriate, disdain for the vote. People talk about having moved one step forward (with the election of Obama) and one step backwards (by banning same-sex marriage). Another talking point that I am hearing a lot of is, "All these people want to do is add permanence to their relationships. Why are they denied this right when heterosexual couples can get married just for the heck of it, get divorced within months, even weeks, and enter into another loveless marriage?" This frustrates me on two levels.

First of all, I would point out that same-sex couples are comprised of people too. This means that they are just as capable of being selfish, lustful, compulsive, adulterous and violence as heterosexuals. I will note that many of the same-sex couples seeking to get married are committed, and have been together for quite some time. Still, this fact of "commitment" does not raise these couples to a level beyond human.

Secondly, and much more importantly, I would like to bring up the subject of divorce. Divorce is awful. Divorce is painful. Divorce takes two things which God has knit together, and rends them apart in the most brutal way, inflicting serious emotional wounds on anyone even marginally involved. Our culture tells us that it should be easy and simple. "If a relationship isn't working out, you can just sign a paper, and all your troubles will be over. Simple as that." The Church has bought into this lie, and has even propagated it. In the United States today, over 40% of marriages will end in divorce. And, studies have shown that if you're divorced, you are more likely than not, to get divorced again. The problem is even bigger IN the Church. There is a much greater percentage of Christians who get divorced, than those outside of the Church. Some may argue that this is because unchurched (what a word!) people don't even bother to get married in the first place. I say, the Church has turned a blind eye to this very serious problem. While so many Evangelicals are wringing their hands about same-sex marriage, they have whole-heartedly endorsed a much greater threat to God's perfect idea of the uniting of a man and woman! Here is the problem. If anything has allowed for same-sex marriage to occur, look no further than inside the Church. It's only natural for this train of thought to follow in this way. To echo those celebrities and news commentators, if heterosexual couples can marry and divorce at will, then why not committed same-sex couples?

I feel like the Church has taken the easy road. It's easy to hold signs, and march in protest against an issue that has not, by in large, infiltrated the pews. It is much harder to address the fact that many of those in a given church have been divorced unreasonably, and are not repentant about that fact.

Does this make the Church's voice in the issue null and void? Certainly not. But, it does make weaken their argument considerably.

May we pull the log our of our own eye before reaching out to those who are hurting in ways most of us cannot even imagine. And, may God give is wisdom.

...so goshdarnit, you will listen to me.

While not everyone can have the opportunity to audition to be become the next American Idol, everyone can certainly have the chance to be their own version of Simon Cowell. A culture supersaturated by reality television, where contestants are constantly critiqued and "voted off" if found wanting, along with the rapid growth of the Web 2.0 community, has created a country full of people determined to have their opinions heard, and has provided them with the means for them to make it happen. While participation in the public forum is generally a good thing, much of the debate, critique and subsequent digression into name-calling, needless sarcasm, and petty accusations, has migrated to the least pertinent of areas. No longer is this type of talk exclusive to online political or video game forums. Heated debates rage on in the comments of Youtube videos. Disagreements in how-to forums turn into personal attacks. Varying personal experiences create raging arguments among photographers as to which camera is really the best for a particular purpose.
Recently, I was watching a how-to video on Youtube, showing how to economically pack a small, carry-on suitcase for about a five day trip. The guy in the video said he was packing for Florida, so his clothing mostly consisted of t-shirts, jeans, and the like. Even so, his folding technique allowed him to include about two changes of clothes for each day, two pairs of shoes, and that ever-necessary toiletry bag. I thought the video had some great insights for packing light on a short trip. However, the comments below the video showed that not everyone agreed. It would have been one thing if they were just disagreements, but the notes consisted of sentiments such as , "WTF. Won't his shirts get wrinkled?", "What a dumb*ss. He didn't leave any room to bring stuff back with him.", "Good luck when they search your bags!", "What if you're going away for two weeks and not just four days?", "Stupid video; a complete waste of time",or "What a tool!" And the list goes on. Needless to say, this is all quite frustrating.
It would seem, however, that many of these people offering their opinions rely only on what they're thinking at the moments, doing little to no homework on what they're saying. Often, these opinions are not backed by facts, are inaccurate, and are generally very one-sided. A prime example I saw this past fall was a person who passionately contended that the war in Iraq was wrong because "the U.S. has killed one million Iraqi civilians." I'm sure.
Online forums were initiated to encourage sharing of advice, discussion and debate. However, it seems that the cloak of anonymity that the internet provides allows people to take simple discussions overboard. As this type of Web 2.0 technology has progressed and become more accessible to the masses, these attitudes have started to bleed into offline life. We feel entitled to give people our opinion on something, whether or not they want to hear it. The attitude is that of "I have a blog, so goshdarnit, you will listen to me!" I have seen more people be openly harsh and critical toward strangers in the past few years than I have ever. Gone is the decorum; gone is common courtesy. And frankly, it scares me a bit. What will be the next digression? Perhaps we should turn off our televisions and pull away from our computers enough to get to know people for who they are, and not for how well they perform to our fickle standards.

Much more on this later

All the World Might Be a Stage (but it more than likely isn't playing something I want to see)

That's the bad thing about plays; you usually can't walk out of them without getting noticed. In movie theatres, which are often designed for people to come and go, one cannot disturb the performance, save blocking another's view for a few moments. After all, it's actors are merely projections. Also, while live theatre generally limits bathroom and concession stand use to the intermission, coming and going during a film does not carry the same stigma that the same type of movement would in a theatrical performance. In other words, should things turn sour on the big screen, one can leave gracefully. It is usually not so in theatre.
I seem to have been having some bad luck with plays lately. All of the one's I've seen in New York this year have taken, at some point or another, that aforementioned sour turn. And no, none of the three had an intermission. These were a mixture of plays: two being Fordham productions, and the other, an off-Broadway show. From gratuitous and sexualized murder scenes, beyond-bawdy comic songs, and insanity coupled with incest, these plays left you with a bit of a sour taste in your mouth (the latter two plays were not nearly as bad as the first, which in addition to being the most unsavory, was poorly written and weakly directed).
I wish I could have walked out on them, or not have gone in the first place. (Thankfully all three plays together cost roughly $25.00, which in New York, is a steal!) However, one cannot always look into the exact details of the show before attending. I guess I will try to be much more cautious in the future, or at the very least sit near the aisle to make a speedy and unobtrusive exit.

Halloween: A Dialogue

I know it's a day late, but here's a little something. I'll be back with more real updates soon. There have just been a few more important things going on of late.


Halloween: A Dialogue*

Male: So what are you dressed as?

Female: Oh, I'm LeBron James.

Male: Oh really? I don't ever recall Mr. James wearing garter hose and pumps.

Female: Duh. That's because I'm a sexy LeBron James.


*All events described within are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, or events is purely coincidental.

Lititz?!?!!?!

Oh, Lititz, you sure know how to capture the Associated Press' attention.

I found this on Yahoo's new spash page, right under word of Turkey threatening the U.S.: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071011/ap_on_re_us/high_school_racism.

Photography: A Musing

Though this may be a more pensive blog entry, I am going to try my best not to be too negative. I am not writing this, holed up in my dorm room, on a cold, rainy fall night, feeling lonely and sorry for myself. On the contrary, I am home for the weekend, my birthday is tomorrow, and I get to see my best friend this afternoon. In other words, I am doing quite well. Anyway, onto the topic at hand.

I've been thinking lately about my flirtation with this thing called photography. I use the word flirtation, simply because, I can now see that I have not been entirely passionate about it. Whether this was because of my depression, or because I have attempted to venture into this art using borrowed cameras remains irrelevant. I even feel, that that latter fact is a key hallmark of my mere flirtation. There have been countless times I have thought about buying a camera, a few I have looking into purchasing one, and none where I have actually bought a camera. I have survived four years of high school photography classes, and one in college on other people's cameras, which has has limited me quite a bit. Those were four years and a class too many.

Any excellent photographer will tell you, you must be photographing constantly. It cannot be a just a weekend hobby, or something you do for an art class when it comes around, or just an activity to fill some spare time. Harsh? Yes. But to improve your art, just like a sport, one must be shooting daily. Much to the giggles and knowing glances of my class, my photography teacher would repeatedly exhort us to carry our cameras with us everywhere. I really don't think people did too much. For the girls from the Bronx, this may have been a wise choice. However, those that did shoot often, those that make their cameras a part of their bodies improved dramatically. Not only was their overall art better in quality, but they had a tremendous amount of photos, allowing them to choose the best of the best, and not have to scrounge around for a few decent photos to show during critique. I, however, was too busy wallowing in my own self pity to take notice.

I notice now.

Over the past year, I have been content to take a few pictures here and there, (whether or not they are good is a non-issue), look at a lot of other people's photography, engage in artistic communities (although minimally) and call myself a photographer.

Frankly, I am not.

But, I can be.

I am not working this as a sort of "end of my teenage years" rant about how in my twenties, I'm going to take more initiative and be a more diligent photographer. Photography is not really the issue at heart. I feel as though I've been living my life as if it were that photography class. I have not been entirely diligent. I've had bursts of doing well, and then have fallen back into procrastinating, then rushing to do just enough to get by. That's not good enough; that's not what God calls us to.

He calls us not to perfection, but to excellence. God calls us to do our work for Him, not those around us. I've been forgetting that. I have made the habit of my life not even to do my work for others, let alone God. I've been working for myself.

I did not intend for this entry, which was indeed supposed to be about photography, to extend to some of the things God has been teaching me toward the end of this summer. But perhaps it was appropriate. This past week, I has been starting to forget.

I was reminded, and inspired to write this by reading an interview of a photographer whose work I really have come to like. Not only did it clear up some serious misconceptions about his personal character, but also got me to thinking about my work, which led me to think about how it mirrored my life.

Sometimes, God can be pretty clever.

A few things

Is seems it has been almost a week since I have last updated. So, I leave you with a few random thoughts.

Perhaps it is because we moved back to school during fashion week, or perhaps the face of New York has changed dramatically while I was away, but everyone has gotten a lot prettier and much more stylish. Those who themselves do not carry the face of body of ideal beauty, still look as though they are extras in a movie. I felt very much out of place.

I have both the Hebrew Bible and the Apocrypha sitting in my room. Do not worry; I will not be reading the latter.

I desperately want to be in a play this fall, but I know that doing so would mean certain and swift academic suicide.

I need a camera.

Next weekend, I am (hopefully) planning a get-together dinner with a few of my friends, who are all on floors with double digits. In other words, since I am on the sixth floor, I do not get to see them too often. As I was telling my friend Matt, I was hesitating calling the dinner a potluck (even though that's what it is), because that would make us sound too old, and might require the implementation of a "kid's table", so our middle-aged selves could stuff our faces and discuss the details of our middle class existence in relative peace. I think I will be making vegetarian lasagna (for my vegetarian friends, or course).

Art History

My art history book is the most ginormous thing on the face of the planet. I believe it is a bit over 1000 pages.

Don't let this small picture fool you. This book is a beast.