Native non native

Having moved around a lot I think a lot about what it means to be "from" some place. When we are in Montana, I still feel like it is "home" and that somehow it is a part of me and I am a part of it. What is ironic is that I often find myself in Bozeman or driving past million dollar homes and I think, "These people don't really get Montana." Then I'm faced with the question, but what if the place has changed and I just didn't change with it.

In Seattle it seemed like we were natives right away. Nobody was from Seattle so we all helped each other create a culture. In North Dakota, we could have lived their ten more years and people would still have introduced us as newcomers. In Minnesota, we are somewhere in the middle.

What brought these thoughts to mind this morning was an article in the NY Times on the artistic revival in Butte, Montana. It sounds like the Butte I know, but it also definetely sounds like it is changing. I remember in college being in some of the houses that the article talks about when they were pseudo dorms for Tech students where 8 people could live together for $75 a month. No that was not in the 60's - it was in the 90's.

Good reads

Two good articles I have read in recent days that are to a large degree unrelated, and to pull them together in my head would be time consuming and a disservice to both writers.

Typically, I stay away from any book that starts with “the Gospel according to. . .” unless those name following is Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. However, Christianity Today had a really interesting excerpt from the Gospel According to the Beatles. It shows in the end that everyone, no matter how creative or successful is searching for something, and I think helps Bob Dylan’s point that you have to serve something.

The other article was by Frank Deford in Sports Illustrated. I really like his writing and I think he sums up the state of college athletics pretty well in this short article. I only wish I would have had a chance to listen to him deliver it on his regular Wednesday NPR spot.

"Yo Rock"

I hate to see people dogging my favorite film of all time.

Rocky is a great film. Despite what CNN had to say, calling it disgraceful that it won the Best Picture Oscar in 1977 versus Taxi Driver, All the President’s Men, etc. I’m here to say that Rocky as Best Picture was not a disgrace, but rather a deserving win.

Sure it’s an old story, but what about some of the great characters and the fact that in the end (spoiler alert) he doesn’t actually win. Film critics would have us think that we are somehow mentally deficient if the think a film we actually enjoy is also good. That seems to be part of art that gets missed. Good art can be unpleasant and challenging, but good art of any type can also make us smile and restore our hope.

A friend of mine has me challenged to start thinking of entertainment and art as separate things. The definition that I am working with is that art is dialogical in nature. It comes from the “I thou” perspective and is trying to communicate something that goes both ways. Entertainment on the other hand is monological, and does not really care about the audience as people but only as consumers. It seeks something from the audience, but not at an emotional level. Anyway, if I ever get into a Ph.D. program in Communications I think this is going to be my dissertation.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Razzies had it right. Material Girls is terrible at best. I was glad the girls borrowed and did not pay for the film. Which by the way they immensely enjoyed.

Transcendence

As Ali turns 65 there are some great photos of his fights on si.com. Looking through them this morning I noticed the dates. The range from the 60's through the early 80's and in each one he looks like an entirely stunning athlete and champion. Back in the days, the heavyweight champion of the world meant something not only to boxing fans, but to the culture at large. In my lifetime Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan have had that affect on their sports. People care about the events that they are in, and it's far more than the fans of the sport. These figures transcend the particularly athletic skill they have and somehow become icons.
I'll take the argument that Jordan wouldn't be Jordan without Magic and Bird to pave the way right before. I'll even take the argument that Tiger Woods has not yet proven to be a better athlete than Jack Nicklaus, but somehow with three figures that doesn't seem to matter. It's not necessarily logically and you can't stack it up with stats sometimes, but at some level most people feel that it is true.

Tuition and stuff

I have been wondering for awhile about out of control tuition and the eventual effect is going to have on my career path and society in general. I realize for instance that I can't afford to send my kids to the college that I work at.

Today the news out of Montana is that the Republicans are proposing a reduction in tuition. Great idea in a headline, but this is one of those things that makes a great headline and bad policy. Over the years the lack of a coherent tuition policy in the state has led it to where it is. There have been a lot of conversations and very few solutions. This most current move is a short term fix with long term consequences, because when the surplus dries up they will not have fixed any of the essential problems that lead to higher tuition.

Which brings me to an interesting Newsweek article by Alan Sloan I read the other day about how we are headed for a crash because Baby Boomers are going to break social security. Full of great stuff, but again here is a problem we are not going to face until it is too late.

It's a hard lesson in life and hard lesson in global politics, short term solutions rarely have lasting meaning. Then again, lately it seems like even lasting meaning doesn't have much lasting meaning.

Hate the buzz

Last night a political figure (name protected so we can focus on the subject of buzz not party affiliation) one of the phrases used in reference to Iraq was “the centrifugal forces of chaos.” Now, I may have an incomplete education but that makes absolutely no sense. A force that brings things into a center would seem to be the opposite of chaos. Did the speaker or the speech writer really think that was going to help the American people understand what was happening in Iraq?

I recently saw a news segment on whether jargon was bad for business, and the answer was a resounding yes. I would say we are actually a step beyond that. We are bombarded with communication, but so much of it is bad communication. From advertising to political rhetoric often if feels like people are just taking several long words and stringing them together. I’m not sure if there is a centrifugal force at work, but modern communication surely reflects chaos.

Along those lines, the word out of Montana today is that Conrad Burns is going to work for a lobbying group. No big surprise, but I think the reason he was able to last so long is that people may not have liked what he said, but you knew with him you were never going to get jargon. He may have been plain, but he was also plain spoken which people appreciated.

Word on the street is that it is winter again in Montana. I'm still hoping for a snow day.

New Year

It has been a weird, wild, few weeks and I'm still not sure where exactly I am at.

It has been a long strange couple of weeks. My grandfather passed away shortly before Christmas, and going from funeral to Christmas to New Years has led to a kind of emotional jet lag.

The highlights of the season included getting to see possibly my oldest friend and his wife and their young daughter. It was a nice surprise to have a chance to reconnect with them, even if it was at a funeral. Food was a highlight. It’s hard to beat the meals that are prepared around the holidays, and the snacks alone are enough to make me happy.

All in all a season – a season where I’m just not sure how I feel yet.