At a three-hour Stanford Associated Religions meeting last Friday I finally discovered what all religions have in common: an aversion to meetings, particulary the long and bureaucratic sort. Especially meetings in which the rules fall like manna from heaven. For instance, the Office For Religious Life (an office I generally and genuinely enjoy working with), decided that last year’s “Unified Christian Gathering” was deceptively titled because the Mormons (and a few other groups) were not invited to help plan the event and so now we have new rules governing event titles. And for a few minutes there I thought we were about to be required to clear all guest speakers with the student activitities staff. Yeesh!
Serenity
I went to go see Serenity with two students tonight.
It was really, really, really good. The audience burst into applause when it was over.
It was funny. The humor was MUCH more amusing than most comedies manage.
It was suspenseful. One girl in the audience screamed at one particular tense moment.
It was well-written. Very well-written. Every character was unique, made sense, and needed to be there.
I loved this movie.
A Dartmouth Double Standard?
Noah Riner, the student body president of Dartmouth, told incoming students that they should focus on developing morally as much as academically and that Jesus can bring moral transformation. A ruckus ensued, with the apparent justification being that student presidents shouldn’t use such occasions to promote their own idiosyncratic views of the world.
Oddly enough, a similar ruckus does not seem to have followed the then student body president’s call for the legalization of pot two years earlier.
Perhaps the issue isn’t that Mr. Riner propagated his own views, but that the message of Jesus still makes people uncomfortable after two millenia.
Just a theory, mind you.
Sound the Kazoo–Salvation is Nigh!
Yesterday was our last day of tabling on campus for the fall kickoff, and it was worth every minute for one really unique experience: I actually saw a Jewish open-air preacher on White Plaza. Unexpected, given that Jewish adherents are rarely noted for their evangelistic fervor. He had a bullhorn and everything.
It was a bit hard to make out what he was saying, given that concurrently:
- about 160 students and workers were holding a rather loud protest rally. “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!”
- a hip-hop group was blaring tunes from their turntable set up about 15 feet behind the aforementioned preacher.
- two acapella groups were also projecting music (although less thumpily than the hip-hoppers).
Still, it was interesting to speculate about the content of his message. I do know that at one point a dozen Jewish students were blowing kazoos while Rabbi Mychal Copeland blew a full-on shofar. I also was able to hear the occassional Hebrew phrase and a few English words like “inner brokenness.”
All in all, a most surprising development.
Steffa
Only a few readers will understand the reference, but for today Steffa is officially a turkey. One of her alumni works in the Stanford registrar’s office and she never told me! Consider yourself turkified, my friend.
T‑Shirts On Campus Today
While tabling on campus today I saw two t‑shirts that tickled me. The first was a Che Reagan t‑shirt. The shirt is delightfully ambiguous. Side note: the Che Jesus t‑shirts just don’t have that same vibe–the beret is just too much. The other was a Kerry/Gore t‑shirt. Kerry/Gore? What? They were never even running mates. It was Gore/Lieberman in 2000 and then Kerry/Edwards in 2004. I’m sure the shirt was supposed to be some sort of statement, but I can’t for the life of me figure it out.
GodIPod.com
Mark Batterson is about to launch GodiPod.com–it looks really interesting.
Bagels, Donuts, and Other Holy Things
We had a welcome brunch today for new students that we called, Bagels, Donuts, and Other Holy Things, which I thought was a rather clever play on words.
Bottom line: it went great. Our returning students did an awesome job of welcoming and hosting new students. This year is really looking solid, and I can tell that our returning students are getting excited about it as well.
Plus I just got off the phone with two freshmen who want to go to church with us tomorrow who weren’t even at the brunch. How cool is that?
How Students Have Made Me Laugh Recently
Presented without any context whatsoever:
I’m from Malaysia–the bigger the rat the better the food.
Student: What’s a sphincter?
Me: I will spare you the gory details–suffice to say that the question was answered
Student: You say that so matter of factly. Is that common knowledge?
Student A: You know, it took me days to realize that calling our brunch Bagels, Donuts, and Other Holy Things was a pun.
Student B: Oh my God–I just got it.
Me at the aforementioned brunch: Some of you may not have realized that Bagels, Donuts, and Other Holy Things is a play on words.
1/5 of students: Oohhhh.…
Also, I should mention that the sunbathing sirens were at their stations again yesterday. Reflecting on the available data, I’m offering three conclusions:
- They really want to be noticed.
- They may actually be frosh (note that this is a reversal on my part).
- At least one is Canadian, judging from the white maple leaf on a red background that covered the leftmost portion of her rump.
Which leaves me with one burning question–why do they make bikinis in Canada? Don’t they own thermometers?
RunThere.com
While working the contact table on campus Alan told me about a website a friend of his has set up called RunThere.com. Which I think is funny because it could also be RuntHere.com–a site to help you find short people like me. Anyway, it’s a great site for runners or for anyone else who needs to calculate distance as the crow flies.