February 19, 2005

• Ok… so much going on that I don’t even know where to start.

  perhaps I’ll skip the school news for now. Yes, perhaps I shall.

  I would like to take this moment to lament the fact that we judge fads so quickly. Assuming that if someone appears to be part of a “fad” they are lame or unable to think for themselves. You know you do it. I do it too. But I was particularly taken aback recently when a friend gave me a hard time for reading Blue Like Jazz because everyone at TM was reading it, like everyone reads Wild at Heart or anything by John Bevere.

  ok, first:

  Blue Like Jazz was given to me by a girl at Uni with me because the two of us had been going to Imago since last year. Dave Shanks told Drea and I about Imago Dei during one of our many meetings at Coffee House Cafe, during our fruitless search for a church after getting off the road. He reccommened it the first time he met Drea and he saw us wave to him with cloves through the glass before sitting with him and discussing good books. Brooke lent it to me because she knew I’d appreciate all the mentioning of Reed, Tony Criz, Powells, and Portland coffee shops. The book is set in Portland… how can it be bad? “Tony the Beat Poet” is Tony Criz (I forget how he spells his last name… oh well). My freshman year at Western (the year before my intership) he was the speaker at the Christian meeting group I went to every week. The first time I saw him at church I talked to him and he remembered me. And he loves his wife so much it makes me nervous to get married. *Reed: I grew up wanting to go to Reed. They had a juggling festival that I went to every year, and the summer I spend in Portland doing trapese when i was 12 we had a show there. It’s an incredible school, liberal to the Nth, and serious. I even dragged Drea there one year (she tried to appreciate it because she loved me… but the theater people made her a tad bit uneasy). When I decided I wanted to interpret I came to Western. Didn’t apply anywhere else because there was no where else to consider for interpreting…I still want to take classes there. *Stumptown was Drea’s favorite cafe near Burnside. I took Rexly there last year during our escape from the Portland ATF. and *Common Grounds is on Hawthorne- near Echo Theater where I “lived” during the summer with Do Jump. *Powells is incredible. Brooke and I go almost every weeek. To be honest, I would have read the book even if it had nothing to do with Jesus. And I read it a couple months before I knew anyone else knew what it was.

  Second:

  Would it really have been such a bad thing if I had read it just because other people liked it? I read Wild at Heart because it was reccommended by that man I have profound respect for. I wrote down every book Hasz mentioned from the stage. It doesn’t mean I liked every book. Truthfully, John Bevere did little to help my relationship with the Lord… but I know that because I read his books. Looked at what was going on around me and decided to check it out for myself. we want people to have their own opinions and their own philosophies but we don’t allow them time to develop them. They should instantly know something of their own, still be open to others doing the same thing, and above all avoid anything mainstream. Doesn’t that seem ridiculous? Maybe it’s more true for me here in Oregon where _everyone’s an artist_ but I’m sure you’ve experienced it too. Like Ruben at Starbucks. We want to be well educated without going to college. And we claim to be process kids *shaking head*. You just can’t know. Can’t judge. Can’t guess. My biggest fashion fad is that I have a pair of Ugg boots. Nevermind that Kristin Espinosa told me about them when she came back from Australia, I simply wear them because my brother gave them to me for Christmas. I’d wear tin foil if it was from Evan. But I hate getting raised eyebrows from my friends before they offer their spanish accented “muy popular… why are you wearing them?” As if I’ve betrayed artists everywhere. Those of you in art school must encounter some version of this. 2 sides of the same coin. Whatever. If you like something, do it. My roommate is a self-admitted literature snob. She swears that Hemmingway is romantic and reads Thoreau for fun. She’s the VP of the English honors society on campus and is known to all the faculty as a “high theory” student… and she is a die hard fan of Brittany Spears. Goes to her concerts every year. It’s like the difference between the goth kids who like the style and history, and the goth kids who wear black to manipulate a response out of people. As if your opinion is really higher than anyone else’s. If we really loved people we wouldn’t inspire shame in their hearts for being themselves, regardless of anything.

  what is your guilty pleasure?

  • 6:17 pm
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