Peter proposes profound parable production

I am reading a book by a guy from Belfast named Peter Rollins (between CS Lewis, U2, Peter Rollins, Glen Hansard, and Tom Fallon, it would seem the Irish have a disproportionate amount of influence over me...). It's called The Orthodox Heretic and in it he encourages the reading and writing of parables, because parables let you think about morals and ethics in an indirect, non-preachy sort of way. In any parable, there is not one strict interpretation that you can club someone over the head with. Instead, there are layers of meaning that have to be teased out through repeated readings and interaction with other readers. And for dealing with the "Big Questions" it seems to me that is a more effective path.

So anyway, he encourages readers to try and write their own parables, and so I thought I would give it a try. Here is the first one.

The wise man came to a village of affluent people living on the other side of an ancient wall from the very poor, people who they desired to help. They felt terrible that they couldn't help the people on the other side because they could hear their cries for help, but nothing could be done to get over the huge wall. So the wise man leaves with them a considerable sum of money saying,

"I give you this because I know how you wanted to help those on the other side, but didn't quite have the means. Use it to relieve the suffering that poverty has brought here."

So the people built a huge system of ladders and tunnels so that they could get food and medicine to those living on the other side of the wall. Though there were still problems, they were happy that their efforts resulted in a considerable raising of the standard of living of the people on the other side.

This being the case, they were shocked at how disappointed the wise man was with them when he came back to see what they had done with the money.

"Why?" they asked, "Look at all the suffering we have helped alleviate!"

The wise man responded, "I gave you that money so you could tear down the wall. In doing it this way, you have only alleviated suffering on one side of the wall".

Musically speaking....

Hey, no posts for a long time, I know. Working on the next CD. Quite a bit. So here's a half done version of Mary Mack. It's got a ways to go, but it'll give you an idea of where we are headed.

Also, I should mention this page made by Garrett the superfan from California. It is the most complete compilation of all things Fat and Blue that can be found on the inter-series-of-tubes. Check it out here. He found stuff that I didn't even know was there.

And today I got word that somebody in the good old USA is going to cover one of our songs on their next album. I'll post some details when I get some.

So good music days, these...

Tolkien, Lewis, and Myth

Working on a degree about C.S. Lewis and I wanted to preserve this quote for later:

Lewis's conversion was very much shaped by the arguments of Tolkien that the gospel narratives fulfill the very best of human storytelling and myth. They bring into clarity and sharp focus insights that are found throughout the world, not just in the West but also in the depths of human experience of reality.

That is all.

Which Road Takes Me Home - Song Story

So people were asking for lyrics and song stories, so this is another in the series. The first two lyrics videos are The Anarchy Song and Back to Winnipeg. More to come...

Here is the lyric video to Which Road Takes Me Home. People point out sometimes that almost every song I write is tinged with gaijin-ness. That's not something I do on purpose, but I suppose having lived much of my life as a foreigner is going show up somewhere in the songs.

This song was basically mocking my own confusion. I was looking back at my past and evaluating my present, and from a fairly cynical point of view. I suppose most people look back at decisions they made or roads they took and wonder if it was the "right" choice, or even if there is a right choice.

I actually think it might be easier sometimes to think that everything is completely random and meaningless. Or to swing to the other end of the spectrum, choosing some well-worn path that gives you a sense that you're on a solid foundation (as long as you don't ask too many questions). In either case, there's a comfort in deciding that you are certain - whether or not you really are. It's much harder to live between the poles, but my hunch is that the truth is somewhere in that gray area. It's like you have a strong sense that you want to get home, but you don't know where home is.

Adventures in English Teaching

Picture this: mid-lecture in front of 30 university first-years. I feel the cheapy dollar-store belt that I scrimped on break so that suddenly, these pants are self-supporting. Worse yet: they are the most oddly shaped, narrow-hips-wide-waist pair of pants that I have ever owned, and I can already feel them giving in to gravity.

I am sure the students are still wondering at the abrupt change from lecture to group work, and my subsequent departure from the room. But let them wonder. I'm complicated like that.

One moral from this story is don't buy your clothes at the dollar store. Another is always carry one of those little Swiss army key chain knives. Without that little red solider-of-rescue, I would have been wearing my LAN cable for the rest of the day. But with a few snips I was able to MacGyver my way into a solution. This belt will make it to the end of the day. And then into a garbage can.

Sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana

世界に一つだけの花

Just one flower... is all it would have taken...

link

An implantable GPS chip. http://ping.fm/hCirB Would you put one in your kids to keep them safe? Gut says no but if my kid was gone...