Cellardoor Annals

For our Politic… alternate or otherwise.

"Sovereign Lord, foolish we are, believing that we can rule ourselves by selecting this or that person to rule over us. We are at it a gain. Help us not to think it more significant than it is, but also give us and those we elect enough wisdom to acknowledge our follies. Help us laugh at ourselves, for without humor our politics cannot be humane. We desire to dominate and thus are dominated. Free us, dear Lord, for otherwise we perish. Amen"

-Stanley Hauerwas, 1999

2008: 11/11
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
hauerwas
theology
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Recently… or my fixed gear metaphor.

Things have changed…

Not only in the presidential office but for me personally. Last year at this time I was readying my resume to get back into the church field and awaiting anxiously the moment I would leave the cult of the green apron, and break back into the church world where I could have a book deal and a spot on the speaking circuit. But, here I am still wearing the green shield on my chest. And in the same way that a few notes in a chord can change how it is heard and how it functions in the songs progression, a few new elements in my life have altered my posture toward life here in Boulder.

Never would I have thought that I would start working for a church part time and do ymin on budgeted time. I have a bible degree for God's sake! Never would I have thought I would decrease the people's carbon emissions by offering them an alternative to their car via refurbished custom single speed and fixed gear bikes. Never would have I thought that instead of writing on my blog I would rather do research in to my fantasy football team, never would i have thought that i would cut my hair into a fashion mullet… weird.

But alas all that has happened…

Last night I met a friend to talk about ymin over a martini… and I didn't have a 5 point ministry place to offer him. I just had a story of a broken youth pastor that is trying to create avenues for students to connect to G-d.

Today, I am going into the bux and knowing I may not be out of there for a year and I am ok with that. I have good people around me and a way to make sure that when I sprain my ankle (which i did playing capture the flag with student) i don't have to pay 600 dollars for the medical treatment (walking boot, x-rays etc.) The only downside is I can't ride my bike that I just finished building, 60 dollars in medical bills, and being annoyed i can't climb a ladder.

Last week my wife finished her master's thesis (Sequential Bilingual Language Acquisition in Preschool Children with Disabilities and the Role of the SLP in Supporting their Development) and I could not be more proud of her and the DRASTICALLY important questions she is asking in her paper. For her, grad school was a way to pass time and get invested into the boulder community while her husband worked at a church she didn't connect with. Now it has altered her identity and postured her to become an expert in a field that has such an important role to play in society in the years to come… I am so proud of her.

Things change indeed… like the leaves outside my window as I write this. And this change hits me a lot like learning to ride a fixed gear bicycle: familiar but … awkward but… so much fun but… so scary when a Yukon driven by a blonde tri delta with big sunglasses and California plates pulls in front of you because she forgot to look at the bike lane when they are about to make a left turn… my bike is my metaphor:

This is my bike and it is wonderful… and it is broncos colors… YES!!

2008: 11/08
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
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I was in an f!@#$& boy band … vote!

Hey i cam accross these videos and i don't think that they will convince you to vote if you planning on not, but they are funny,innovative, and relevant watch and enjoy (p.s. you all are my five people).
5 More Friends

2008: 10/29
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
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Fantasy frustration

So, I have tried to keep the fantasy football off my blog but today I am on my third loss in a row in BOTH my leagues. Are you serious? I did a ton of research, tried to ellimimate as much risk as possible and make a good draft. And starting off the season I was doing well. But then injuries and teams stared to fall apart (aka the broncos) and now I am sitting last in both leagues. Ugh!

My wife on the other hand is now going to be tied for third and you know what her drafting strategy was: who is ugly and who has dreads. Aaahhhhn!

Ok no more fantasy on the blog. That was my one and only rant.

2008: 10/26
CATEGORY: in boulder
life happenings...
Sports
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Love Wins!!!!

This saturday there is a benefit concert to raise awareness and combat the rise of the child sex slave trade world wide. If you are in the Denver area you should really think about coming. Here is the info:

Sunday, October 26, 2008

6:00pm – 7:30pm

First United Methodist Church

1421 Spruce Street

Boulder, CO

$10 suggested donation

If you want to check out some of the sponsors:

www.love146.org

www.iempathize.org

let me know if you want to go because i would love to see you there.

2008: 10/24
CATEGORY: becoming church..._
in boulder
life happenings...
peace making
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I have an iphone and look what I can do

So my phone was broken in half. So after some hookups at my neighborhood apple store I got a new phone! I took this picture of my little brother and I am posting it from rapid city south Dakota. Technology is ultra crazy!

2008: 10/20
CATEGORY: life happenings...
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Robby Smernoff

I meant to post this last week but things got a little crazy… my friend robby has entered the blog world and you should be sure to get him on to your blog roles and rss feeds… check him out here… or the url is http://wearenotcool.blogsp ot.com/

2008: 10/16
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
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A quick reflection on a lecture or Professor Garret?

Just over a week ago in california I went to a wedding with some friends, and it was wonderful to see them all. One of the many things that i got to do when i was back in socal was an opportunity to guest lecture at my old university in my friend Tim's pop-culture class.

It had been awhile since I had to come up with a coherent idea with points and a thesis. And honestly, I think the mental exercise is one of the things I appreciated the most about lecturing. I loved needing to think through some difficult things and then put them together in away that is coherent (seriously… tons of fun)

Tim also gave me a sweet topic to speak on skepticism of metanarrative in postmodernity (i.e. Lyotard) through the lens of the Wachowski Brother's "V for Vendetta". Basically, I spoke about the predominate hegemonizing narrative of the totalitarian state in the movie and the transformative experiences of Eve and Inspector Finch to shed themselves of reliance on their metanarrative. Consequently, they form and help form a new identity with the community that V is creating. At the end of the lecture I suggested that even though the case is not nearly as extreme as in the film, the predominate metanarrative that we find ourselves in is "America" and we must shed our selves of that story and have a new identity emerge. Those identities are fostered by the subversive and localized narrative called kingdom of God manifested in the local church. In the lecture the kingdom of God in the local church is the "v" character to some degree (but being a pacifist i hope with out all the knifing… even though it does look ridiculously cool). Finally, I looked at the story of Jesus and paying taxes to Caesar (matthew 22:15-22), saying that jesus says give back the roman identity to Caesar and give your devotion, trust, personhood etc. to God.

Overall, I liked the idea that I developed. I think I could have made it a little simpler for the students to digest but you live and learn. I think that what i took to out of the time was i could see myself doing that one day. One day down the road, i would love to teach theology or bible or pop-culture to college students. I think that one day… I'll do that. But first things first: pay off school debt… get aubs through grad school and then get accepted into a good grad school that will perhaps pay for me to go to there. Ah… the life ahead.

2008: 10/16
CATEGORY: becoming church..._
Film
life happenings...
theology
thoughts
Travel
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Ah ha and finally… next steps.

Right now the leaves are changing here in colorado. When you drive up boulder canyon and then head north our of Nederland, the aspens look like they are ablaze with a smokeless fire that is consuming valley after valley. The changing of the season seems appropriate as to the stage that aubrey and I are encountering at the moment.

Finally, after a few months of job interviews, flights, continual rejections from said interviews, aubs next step finally found us. We are going to remain here in Boulder for another season. Aubrey will be finishing up the class portion of her masters at university of colorado this fall and then finally graduate in the spring after a semester of internship (i am very proud of her). I have started most recently as the youth organizer at The Collective, our local community that has played a vital role in aubrey and my healing and formation in the past year and a half. The position is part time a part time one that i could not be more excited about doing. The staff and the community are doing amazing things (e.g. coming together rather than splitting apart, trying to rid the world of sex trafficking). I am very blessed (in the true meaning) to get to experience life with these people. And since this church thing is a part time gig… i am making some changes on the stable work front to bring in some extra funds. I have started a custom single speed bike business with my friend colin (website soon) and baring some major changes I will probably be moving from the giant coffee making multinational conglomerate to a fruit themed computer multinational conglomerate. Lots of changes in the air.

My heart feels ablaze with an excitement similar to the nondestructive heatless beauty that the aspens go through in the yearly calendar as the anticipate the changing of the season. Life right now feels fresh… like cool water on your face after a long and hot hike.

As for the near future:

Tonight aubs and are flying out to california to go to a friend's wedding, and catch up with some friends. I will be out guest lecturing on Meta-narrative and identity formation in the Wachowski brother's "V for Vendetta" in this guys pop-culture class at my old university . I am also looking forward to catching up more with this guy (even though he was just here), not to mention going to the beach… YES!

2008: 10/03
CATEGORY: life happenings...
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Part the third…. Montana/yellowstone

I have resigned myself to know that I don't have the time to write about this leg of the trip (life has gotten much busier). So, here are the pictures. I will try to post some news about aubs and my next steps, in the next day or so. But here you go: