Bullets never win

Sixty years ago today Mohandas Ghandi was gunned down. As if to mock Ghandi's life the assassin was executed and the assassination sparked riots in which many people died. He believed in nonviolence resistance in response to systems of evil. He fought for peace and justice by fasting, at times almost to nothingness. His assassin's motive was that Ghandi insisted that the Indian government pay Pakistan, though they had made an agreement following a short-lived war.

Martin Luther King jr. was shot and killed on April fourth, in sixty-eight. He was thirty-nine years old. I've been reading his autobiography lately and was interested to find out that he spent his graduate work studying Hegel and Tillich and the like. I was aware of his oratory skills, but never knew that he was an outright scholar. He greatly admired Ghandi, and believed in nonviolence himself. He lead many acts of nonviolent civil disobedience for the cause of the oppressed, namely the Blacks of America facing harsh segregation laws. Riots followed his death as well.

On April ninth, nineteen forty-five, just three weeks before the Germans surrendered, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged naked in the courtyard of a detainment camp. He was also thirty-nine. His crime was that he participated in a plot with the goal of Hitler's assassination. Though he did indeed participate with such a plot, Bonhoeffer also believed in the ways of nonviolence. He too admired Ghandi. No riots followed his death, only more war.

I believe in the ways of nonviolence. I believe that Jesus taught and lived nonviolence to perfection. I believe that because humans are created in the image of God that it is indeed sin to commit violence against another human. I believe in nonviolence because it has shown itself over and over to truly be good in the face of evil. Would I commit violence if my mother/sister/wife was being raped? Probably, but I would not feel as like a hero. What about World War Two, was that not justified violence? Was the fire bombing of Dresden just? Was dropping two atomic bombs on Japan just? Certainly there are struggles within the concept of nonviolence, as there is within any aspect of life. Nonviolence as an idealogy is not perfect, but it is good. you have my love.

When war is in your blood...

My Bible study just went and saw Rambo together. Definitely one of the goriest movies I've ever seen. So over the top that we were laughing at quite a bit of it. For those of you wondering why on Earth a Bible study went to see such a movie: our fearless leader, Steve, has lead a number of mission trips into Myanmar [Burma]. The plot, what little there is, revolves around John Rambo rescuing missionaries from Burmese rebels. And I'm sure it provided us enough quotes to last us through summer.

Classes: I like them. Not terribly hard currently, and quite repetitive, but I can tell that they are going to be good. I've been given a lot of statistics on how fat and out of shape America is, and I think we'll get to the remedy soon. I found out what legumes are, and which cholesterol is good for you [HDL, as opposed to LDL]. My exercise psych prof is really into what he's teaching, and he's funny, so he wins prof of the month from me.

I've returned to running. This week should bring about thirteen miles, and my first five miler. The rec center here is fabulous, and I get to watch the track and field teams practice while I'm running. It's kind of encouraging and discouraging at the same time. As nice as the rec is, I'm really excited to get back to running outside. It was in the high forties the past few days, as a foretaste to Spring I guess. Unfortunately Wednesday's high is supposed to be eleven. Ugh.

I'm preparing to throw my first ever Pancake Day [February fifth] party. I'm pretty stoked about it. I'd love to be in Portland celebrating the fifth annual party, but throwing my own will be its own sort of dopalicous. I does mean that there will have to be some cleaning done around here. Manlantis was a different type of dirty than the Wilson House; I'd take the Manlantian mess over this any day. No one wants to eat pancakes in a pigsty. I have a killer playlist for the party, I've entitled it "pancake pop" and it includes some Katamari jams and other indietronica hits. You should be there, er, here, er, anywhere that serves pancakes. Or donuts. you have my love.

Bus stops in January

When I was living in Portland people complained about winter, mostly that it was so dreary and that it had rained more than the year before. If I were to step outside right now, which I am refusing to, I would be greeted with negative three degree weather. And that is without factoring the windchill. Strike that, it's negative four now. So I'm moving back to Portland. Someday. Maybe. We'll see.

Being back on campus is an interesting thing. I'm definitely older than most of the other students in my classes and one of the few non-jocks. I attempt to distinguish myself by reading Cat's Cradle in between classes. But I don't think anyone cares. In one class we each shared our name and a hobby, one young man declared his hobby to be "binge drinking." It almost feels as though I could connect with my prof's more easily than with my classmates.

One marvelous thing about Ames / Iowa State is the bus system. I rarely have to wait more than a few minutes before I am carted away to wherever I am headed. But I also walk a lot, because I don't really mind it - it is exercise after all. But said walking necessitated that I buy new gloves; good ones at that. So I went to the local outdoor store where I bought some wonderful gloves and looked at snowshoes. Apparently you can rent them from rec services, which would be great this weekend if not for the frigid temps.

I am attempting to bring the Pancake Day [February fifth] tradition to Ames this year. I've acquired batter mix and a griddle and am slowly building up a nice lil' guest list. If you read this and will be in Ames on said evening, feel free to join us. Speaking of Pancake Day [Shrove Tuesday, day before Lent begins], I haven't given much thought to what I'll be giving up this year. I was thinking about Facebook, but that will be difficult to plan a Leap Year Day party with the ol' Fb.

I suppose that I should be reading for class, but I'm having a pensive afternoon / evening, quite possibly stemming from this damn weather - though I still prefer it to the humidity of August. A quick check of the weather reveals a windchill of negative eleven. Bears are wise to hibernate. you have my love.

January's thaw

I've realized that it isn't that I have less to blog about, but less time and more choosiness. Since last time I wrote I had a fabulous time at the Britcher-hosted, Ditka-hoisting 104 New Year's gathering: much Rock Star and Guitar Hero were played, much was conversed, and a bit too much food and drink was consumed. Upon my return to Iowa I've worked a lot, caucused [for Senator Obama, as promised], enjoyed fun times on Main Street, surpassed the eighty star mark in Mario Galaxy, saw Juno, finished reading The Gift of Asher Lev and The Hobbit, and have done a large amount of prep work for a warehouse project. And last night I ran for the first time in a month and a half - it was really exciting for me. I've missed running a lot, and though it hurt a bit, it was beautiful to be on the track again.

As for the next few weeks, I will be quite busy. Classes at Iowa State start next week [I'll detail the classes later (spreading out the blog posts)], which will force my warehouse hours to be cut dramatically; so I'm looking for work in Ames. The small group I lead is back from hiatus in about an hour, so that will leave me in DSM Wednesday nights [no more Olde Main dollar pint nights]. Thursday night Barker meals will start again soon, as will LOST [on Thursdays?!], and I've started watching The Biggest Loser. And I want to start baking at least once or twice a month on Saturdays [goal for oh-eight: learn how to bake]. So, busy much? Yeah. Which means that I'll have more to write about, but less time to write. It ought to be an interesting spring semester, and by 'interesting' I hope to mean 'good'. you have my love.