Interconnected

I came across this facebook application, friend wheel, thanks to ben askew. It links all your friends together by who they know. Ben's wheel was very well interconnected suggesting a lot of people he knows all know each other. My wheel is quite different and suggests a number of disparate 'communities' which i belong to. I'm quite interested in what communities mean these days and which communities we belong to. This wheel shows church friends, people from the youth group i used to help lead, uni friends, highway projects, music friends etc. There are also quite a few people i know that none of my friends know, does that mean i am on the periphery of their communities (or just cos other people from that group of friends just aren't on facebook yet). It's interesting, a geographical one would be interesting too. Geographical communites eh? That's so twentieth centuary.

bank holiday I

I've been pretty busy lately, too busy to blog as i've been out enjoying the nice weather we've been having. i don't particularly like super long blogs, they are just little morsals of thoughts and things i've been doing. if you've got time to be reading long in depth debates and shenanigans you really ought to be getting out more. so i'll blog some small episodes over the coming days:

Thursday
so it was election time, i'd declined to be a poll clerk this year as i wasn't in need of the extra cash and i didn't fancy the really long day. Ther was little coverage over the elections and they seemed to come and go with little fuss. The predicted labour failure didn't really materialise. my ward was very tight, just a few votes in it. To be honest i'd have been happy with the candidates from labour, lib dems or greens. Members of the labour party were going around knocking on doors to remind people to vote and to get an idea which way people were voting. I'd never seen them do that before - they were obviously keen to win the seat. They lost out to the lib dems by about 30 votes! Thankfully there seemed fewer interest from the british national party around sheffield, though they still collected reasonable numbers of votes in the wards they stood which is a worrying trend.
At bible study we're using an mrdf study guide looking at poverty and slavery. It's been interesting and this week we were looking at some of the laws given to the newly flourishing israel nation after leaving slavery. Rules that ensure profiteering is not a major driver, but the growth and stability of all members, rich and poor, of the israel nation. Laws that give rights to the alien and ensure stumbling blocks are not placed in the way of those less able. Alright if we were to read on in the passage there are numerous odd laws that must really be taken within the cultural setting, but the basics to which the israel nation was raised are a great set of starting ideas. We mused how we would run a new settlement. The key seems to be the 'buy in' from all members of the group. It only works if everyone does their bit, however menial. In practice though, humans seem to be inately selfish which i guess is why capitalism creates greed at the exploitive expense of others, communism breeds apathy and a superior ruling class that has to enforce the pricipals in order for them to work, the welfare state breeds people who exploit the benefits entering a cycle of dependency and an unwillingness to work. It makes you wonder if there is ever a way that the kingdom of god can work here on earth as prayed for in the lords prayer - may your kingdom come on earth, as it is in heaven. Will there be a time when everyone wants to serve god in that way, or will selfish tendancies or disputes about irrelevencies continue.

Living in a material world

The collapse of fare pack shows yet again the importance of wise investment. On one hand it looks like a great scheme that encourages people, particularly those on low incomes, to save money towards the cost of Christmas. The media response has been quite surprising and I wonder why this investment collapse is more newsworthy than the many other collapses of pension schemes etc that have happened. The collapse must be most hurtful to those people who have encouraged their friends and family to use the scheme, under the impression that it was a safe means of saving. They must feel like they have conned their friends. The aspect of this story that really concerns me is the way in which it is portrayed that without money and gifts it will be impossible for these families to have a good Christmas. MPs requesting money to help families have a good Christmas, supermarkets (who will benefit from the shopping in their stores) offering to help out, just fuels this idea of a capitalist Christmas, a celebration of wealth and the giving and receiving of gifts. It really seems that this is now what the public’s perception of this traditional holy day has become. A pagan sun festival adopted for the celebration of the birth of a saviour now demeaned as a day which requires wealth to enjoy. I remember my friend telling of how as a kid during the minor’s strike his family really had nothing at Christmas, no means at all to purchase gifts. The only gifts he received were some donated by the salvation army, yet despite this situation and the hardship, it really was a Christmas to remember, about a steadfast community united in a cause and not about how many gifts he received.

It's been a week

Since my last post. I've just not got round to posting, despite doing quite a few things. My sister came to visit on wednesday eve and we were able to go out an enjoy a meal. Thursday was church council, quite a business orientated meeting this one, and therefore more odious than normal. Afterwards Dave came round to my house to sample some of my home brew and have a chat. It was a good chat actually, conversation about our faith and struggles with text and contextualisation, some thoughts that had been floating around a while and had re-surfaced after reading cait's recent post I shall let these thoughts crystallise and post on it soon. What else? Football matches, church, another teletext review, a gig. Oh yes, a gig, went to see Monkey Swallows The Universe again on sunday. They were supporting the long blondes. Again, there tunes stood out and the mix was much better, though still not up to scratch. Had a brief chat with Nat after the gig, and she was telling me how they are wanting to get some new material outand are looking for a contract with a record label. Hope they secure a good one. The Long Blondes were ok, though it was the lead singer's strong vocals and on-stage presence that made it. Reminded me of the vocal energy of Poly Styrene from x-ray spex. There's a set of pics of the long blonde set here, which i think are ok considering I was stood at the back for their set. Finally, there was a nice sunrise the other morning.

Middlesex

So i have finally finished reading this novel, and it has given me a good two weeks worth of enjoyment. I found it so much better than Eugenides debut novel, the virgin suicides, as it is certainly less 'american'. Sometimes I feel that I don't connect well to american literature, never getting into hemmingway, frustrated with the lead of 'catcher in the rye', continuing reluctantly with Kerouac, but this novel trancends the geographical confines and culture of the US. Here a story begins in the 1920s in greco-turkey, a story of love amogst the atrocities of war. The searching of the american dream and the penetration of a recessive genetic mutation leaving Cal born with non-specific gender. Raised as a girl, it is during her formative teenage years she realises that actually she is genetically a man, but with deficiency in one enzyme resulting in mal-formed gonads. Certainly an interesting subject matter, and told in a story that covers the subject matter with sincerity and not titilation. Of course anyone studying biology past gcse level will realise that there is more than a Y chromosome that makes one male, and studying developmental genetics shows how finally balanced the chemical soup of morphagen gradients, controlled by a comparitely small number of genes, is that ensures the organs grow correctly. The book also asks questions about identity, what makes us male or female, not new questions, but can be extrapolated to many other aspects of life, the ideologies we choose, the faith we have. Are all these tightly wrapped in the union of nature and nurture, what has the greatest pull? In this book it is obviously the male genetic make up that pulls Calliope to her male counter part Cal. But it also challenges the superstitious nature of faith, is Cal the punishment from God for an illicit incestrous relationship, or the elevated chance that recessive traits have of showing their prominance amongst closely related families from geographically secluded areas. Christ actually refuted the belief that disabilities were punishment from god, but this mindset still seems to prevail. Where does the boundary of superstition and spirituality lay, are prayers mere protective talismanic chants, or a communion with the divine? I think this book does really well to demonstrate the shades of grey through which life is lived, nothing is black and white, even something as straight forward as sex determination. Which is why I often sit on the fence over issues of faith, not because I want to shy away from saying faith is this or that, or christ means this or the other, but because I recognise God to be multi-coloured, multi-faceted, and to work in ways that i can't fully perceive. I think i like this book because it asks of us, who we are? which leads us to why we are? (for which 'life of pi' is a great book to read). And just sometimes we realise we are loved by god and we are to show that love.

Down and out

There hasn't been any reviews on here for quite some time so i shall try and re-address that over the coming days. A couple of book and cd reviews. Today I just finished reading 'down and out in paris and london' which is Geroge Orwell's thoughts and recollections of living with no money. From pawning clothes to buy food to survive, working 18 hours a day in a hotel, various squalid bed sits, to living the life of a tramp in london. It's not a bad read, and is quite an eye opener to the abject poverty experienced by many in this country merely 70 years ago. The novel concludes with some interesting thoughts, ideas to give hope and work to the 'tramps' and thoughts on class, which I guess are the seeds for his most well known novels, 1984 and Animal Farm.
In this book he is incredibly critical of the hospitality offered by the churches, despite the fact these would offer free food and drink, it always seemed to come with a forced prayer or a sermon. The tramps seemed to despise this charity, perhaps because they were starving they needed food and found it embarassing to have to take it from someone with excess, or perhaps it was felt that this charity was done out of some christian duty, rather than with any thought for the person. But it makes you think, people don't like to receive charity, they want dignity and the ability to leave a life of poverty. Which I guess is why things like fairly traded goods are a good way of engaging people to break the chains of poverty.

End of an era

So tonight saw the last episode of top of the pops and with it the end of an era. Of course the decision to end the long running programme is probably correct, having not watched an episode for quite some time, now that music is on demand 24/7. However, it was still a fairly sad occasion. I remember the odd episode being watched by my baby sitters as a kid, but it wasn't until the late summer of 1987 did I really become enthralled with pop music, and it was from this date that every thursday evening I would be glued to bbc1. I'd get my tape recorder and place it as close as possible to the tv set and record the tracks that I liked, so I could listen to them again. I still have the tapes, and I even did my own commentry. There has been some really memorable episodes, but i think the performance of 'smells like teen spirit' by nirvana was like some kind of epiphany. All of a sudden everything I thought music should be was turned on it's head and I started listening to more and more obscure guitar based bands and also delving into the past, particularly music from the 60s. All sparked by a performance on TOTP, I find it hard to think how an act could make such an impact these days.
I'm also quite pleased to know that I was once in the audience for a TOTP show, as it went on tour in the late 90s, visiting sheffield where I was really excited to see a performance by Mel C. My head was just about visible in one of the shots of the episode, and the Macy Grey perfomance of I Try has appeared on numerous TOTP2 outings.
It was great to see Sir Jimmy Savile, being his usual exuberent self, still living the totp dream with over the top golden shell suit, that's what totp was all about. A shame there was no clips of A Flock Of Seagulls, who perhaps sported the most outrageous hairstlyes of any totp performers.

So totp leaves and enters the realms of nostalgia, and I'm sure it will be remembered with fondness.

It's still number one, it's Top of the Pops!

Football thoughts

I really enjoyed some of the carnival atmosphere that was generated by the fans, particularly the tunisians who seemed to be on every street corner in munich, singing, dancing and waving flags. There was nothing threatening about their behaviour. Likewise these Japanese fans we met outside the stadium at kaiserslauten were in great spirits, and these fans seem to continue to cheer no matter what is happening on the pitch. Unlike the tense england fans, who if aren't berating their openants are berating their own team, tension only broken by the scoring of a goal. I did miss the match of the day analysis at half time, watching matches in germany resulted in some odd half time moments, including the use of borris becker as a pundet interviewing franz beckenbaur! (Though i get back and itv have shane wharne to talk about australia - what next...)

Whilst waiting for the game at the stadium in munich there were numerous loops of adverts on the big screens, one from fifa showed ppl from around the world playing football, with the slogan football unites and intimating that it was the solution to all the worlds political woes. This in addition to an advert for the official world cup 'hymn' and the following mass throngs coming to 'worship' at the stadium, made me wonder if they are trying to make football some quasi-religious experience? No doubt a full stadium and remarkable football, especially the euphoria of a late winner can really move a person and lift their spirits, but does it really promote worldwide unity, something i consider to be a kingdom value. Yes a lot of people speak the language of football, and yes it is easy to play with people from all cultures and backgrounds. But it also seems to promote this inate tribalism, that I particularly note in english fans, but am sure is present the world over. Phrases like 'our boys' and 'us' and 'them' mean that sometimes the football team embodies the kind of nationalism where one considers their nation to be superior to another. This is also seen at local level in national football too, and it is this aspect of football that increasingly bothers me, especially when i hear some of the chanting directed at opposing fans. It seems to be full of narrowmindedness, and not at all the all-encompassing unity that fifa would have us believe football embodies. I'm not against passionate support, but when it comes at the expense of decency towards other nations, or even our own players then it just highlights the flaws in the religion of football. I'm not saying that any faith has this issue sorted, and I often wonder why such tribalistic nature seems to exist, what I long for is a world where everyone is equal whether jew, gentile, free or slave, male or female, straight or gay, all loved equally by god.