Fear of Swine Flu vs. Knowledge

From graphjam.com

Courtesy of graphjam.com

Working Together: The Whole Word to the Whole Campus

This was completed several months ago, but it was recently released by 2100 Productions, InterVarsity’s Multimedia company (who are simply awesome).

done

This is part of a training cirriculum we are using with students across the country in helping building authentically multiethnic ministries in colleges and universities across the country.

Enjoy!

I’m a Marvel, and I’m a DC

I cracked up when I saw last summer’s YouTube superhero promo series, but this one is just as funny.

So is this one

Man Dates Gone Mainstream: “I Love You, Man”

The second Thursday of the month is when I try to get together with my fraternity brothers (not as successful as I’d like to be) and eat at a great Chicago restaurant.  Most of the time, we laugh so hard that we can become “that annoying group of guys” where we try to leave a nicer tip because we know we could easily be seen as “those guys.” And thanks to better than average interpersonal skills, we are typically able to talk to the waitress and leave on good terms.

As I’ve interacted with a lot of circles of young men over the years, I still love my gatherings of fraternity brothers the most.  Just Thursday, we went from trying to solve the country’s economic crisis, to religion, to buffoonery and how to travel with a hangover, to farting, to the subtlties of Irish stouts, to understanding how to be a professional gambler, to education and community development.  My abdominals get a better workout than I get at the gym from laughing so hard.

But it’s interesting observation – when I go out, try to look at the gender dynamics around me.  More often than not I see larger groups of women than men, and men typically rarely congregate together without the company of women.

Anyone experience anything differently?

I’ve talked about this before, and ask any of my students I’ve mentored, but it looks like America is going to be talking a lot more about “man dates.”

(I still resolve that I did not hear either the terms “Man-Date” or “Dude-Date” before I started using this years ago – but that doesn’t matter anymore.  Totally should have copyrighted it or somethin’.)

Best quote of the preview:

“Society tells us to act civilized, but the truth is were animals, and sometimes you gotta let it out”

“Argh!”

“Respect the process”

“ARRGHHH!”

“Yeah, you feel better?

“Yeah!”

“You wanna get a corndog?”

“Yeah!!”

(Oh, and BTW, I have played Rush on Rock Band in similar fashion…T, I know you are smiling now for some reason and you don’t know why. And the fart conversation? Totally had that one too…)

I’m curious what America’s response will be. In college and post college, many men have a real hard time finding authentic friendship. I feel blessed to have some great male friends over the years – both in Christian communities as well as those outside of the church. I’m trying to get in a football league again where I can revisit the gridiron in all of it’s glory.

But I know my experience is the exception rather than the norm. Why is that?

As women have rightly gained more opportunities and are making the most of them, men often don’t know what to do with themselves. When men expected certain opportunities to be handed to them, they aren’t in the same way – which is a good thing.  But at the same time, I would argue that we haven’t advanced our understanding of male identity that can thrive in an age of feminism.  

I mean, Homer Simpson is America’s most recognizable international male figure other than the president.  Does that rub anyone else the wrong way?

I’m curious as to what conversations about genuine male friendship will happen over the course of the upcoming weeks.

Slumdog & Oscar: The Danger of “Awareness”

When Slumdog Millionaire came out in theaters, at first I was very excited to see it.  Some of the students I took to Cairo to live among the poor organized a reunion around the film so they could see it together – I couldn’t make it, so I told them to enjoy it themselves without me.

Then things with my late-Grandma Lois became the priority in my life, and seeing a movie was pretty low on the list.  Finally, I just up and saw it a couple weeks back.  I was preparing myself for it, mainly because I thought the shock value would be something that would remind me of my experience living in the slums of Cairo and continue to remind me of my commitments I’ve made to live as an agent of God’s justice, his shalom, in a broken world.

And it did. The shots in India and the subtle exposing of the caste system is something that is important.  The scene where you see the children collecting garbage and the ones who are stolen by the villain – that location could easily have been shot in Mokattam with no one knowing the difference.  

I was brought back to Mokattam once again for glimpses. The way my memory works is that emotions and imagery tap thought trails that cause me to relive experiences again.  Slumdog did that for me – it was a rush of sensations back to living among the poor, seeing their smiles and saddness, laughter and tears, sights and smells, recalling stories and statistics.

Yet at the same time, I was incredibly bothered by the overriding premise of the film that interwove itself into the gameshow, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”  While it is an incredibly effective device to create a sense of anticipation and excitement with the question, “Will he win?” I was more concerned that it created a false hope that people get out of this through such fanciful ideas.

Hollywood does a good job of exposing people to just enough of the problems of the world to make us feel a little more informed s0 we care a little more about what happens. But then the lights go up and we leave the half-eaten jumbo popcorn and box of raisinettes on the ground for the kid paid minimum wage to pick up, who makes more than some families combined and would be glad to enjoy the popcorn and raisinettes we leave behind.

Here is what is interesting to me: Slumdog Millionaire had a production budget of $14 million.  It has a current worldwide box office gross at $153 million.  Now, I don’t know about you, but a profit of $139 million is pretty incredible in a down worldwide economy.  I know that Slumdog has likely brought to the attention to people around the world more about child slavery, forced prostitution, human trafficking, slum communities, and other problems of the world.

But awareness is not our issue anymore. We are aware. We need more than awareness these days – we need real, tangible efforts and dollars to make real change. People need to be aware that awareness isn’t enough, and awareness without action is worse than ignorance.

I don’t know if Slumdog Millionaire is giving of their profits to end the problems they filmed and made a bunch of money on.  I hope they have. But if they haven’t, then I think it would be exploitative to get rich off of filming poverty and making a whole bunch of people feel better about themselves for becoming “more aware.”  Again, I hope this isn’t the case and would be happy to be shown otherwise.

It’s hard for me to imagine my friends in Mokattam among a group of people dressed in the best clothes they’ll ever wear, walking on red carpet with the paparatzzi, enjoying fine dining and waiting for their names to be called, walking to the podium giving an acceptance speech about how thankful they are, and then getting cut off by the orchestra in mid-sentence. The talking heads celebrate and say, “Wow, what a great movie. Such an important work.”

Important work? But what about those whom you portrayed? They don’t get picked up for red carpets and game shows, and they need our help. Do we choose to or not?  

If not, then we should really consider that our Oscars belong with the grouch in the trash. At least the real “slumdogs” could have their just reward.

Motivated for 2009?

I’m ready for a new year.

I do make new years’ resolutions (I always think it’s good to resolve to make things better for myself and those around me) and I’ll be thinking of them on New Years’ Day.  But for now, I need to get motivated.  Motivated for 2009.  Are you ready?

And here it is: 40 motivational speeches in 2 minutes.  Sorry, no Matt Foley.

My favorites?

I don’t know – there are way too many great films in this. Old School, Muppet Movie, Swingers, Animal House, Ferris Bueller’s Day off, Braveheart, Lord of the Rings, Matrix, Hoosiers, Patton, King Arthur, Dead Poets Society, Untouchables, Henry V, Robin Hood, Rudy, Pulp Fiction…gosh, so many great movies.  I don’t know if I could pick a favorite.

Best line: Sean Connery, “That’s the Chicago way!”

Followed by, “You’re like a big bear, man!” (Swingers)

Watchdog Renaissance & Hometown Pride?

I get the NY Times in my inbox everyday and I usually get about 20 minutes of reading time in.  I read good news and bad news everyday.

Today’s good news from the NY Times is that we may be seeing a reporting renaissance that could spur on more folks who do the same.  The journalism industry seems to be reinventing itself with the increased accessibility of publishing through the internet, so there are several strategies moving forward.  Having a low overhead, not-for-profit approach that is based on journalists recapturing the integrity of their profession is a great way we could see watchdogs back in the news room.

You stay classy, San Diego.

But then, if watchdogs do their job right, they uncover stuff we aren’t all that excited to have made public.  Which leads me to my next point – the NY Times took the liberty of exposing my hometown for regular underage drinking as it talked about the Wisconsin drinking culture.

I don’t know how people in Edgerton are responding, but I think some of us are slightly embarrassed that our town makes the National Press for…underage drinking.  Of course, just one look at our team song and you can see why our nickname isn’t exactly the most healthy…

We are loyal Edgerton

Loyal and True

Though the odds be great or small

We’ll be cheering you

U-RAH-RAH

We are loyal, Edgerton

To the fair name

Fight, fight forever

Tobacco City win this ga-a-ame.