Monthly Archive for September, 2006Page 3 of 10

So, this is pretty much my dream class

Published
by
michael lee
on 24 September 2006
in faith and theology, philosophy and university
. 14 Comments

One of the cool things you get to do as a professor (DISCLAIMER: outside of the ivory walls of academia, saying “professor” pretty much means, “person who is on the teaching faculty at a University”. Within those walls though, the title is a specific rank that’s part of this whole secret-handshake, feudal-like system where Professors are the Lords and lowly “Instructors” (my actual rank) are the vassals. When I call myself a professor around these parts (my intra-net blog), it’s in the common, vernacular sense of the word. If I were to call myself a professor at the lunch table on campus though, I’m pretty sure veins would start popping out of the necks on those around me as they race to be the first to remind me that I am, in fact, not a Professor, not ever an Associate Professor of Assistant Professor, that I am in fact a lowly Instructor, which is just one step above dried cat vomit on the academic ranking scale. So, we’re cool?) ….

As I was saying, one of the coolest things you get to do as a prof is say, “I think I would like to teach a course about such and such”, and then you write up a course plan, and if it gets approved, and students sign up for it, you get to teach it. I just finished, on Friday, the first stage in designing and submitting a new course called “Music and Ethics”.

So, I thought I would post the lecture outline here, for your perusal. It’s pretty much my dream course – it has little pieces from everything I love reading and thinking about, and all tied together by the common thread of how we should, as people of faith and as musicians, think about making ethical decisions.

Week 1: “The Case for the Ethical Life”
- Plato and the Ring of Gyges
- Reason and Ethics: The possibility of moral expertise (in what I’m sure will be a very controversial move, I’m relying on the writing of Peter Singer, who has written several books that I think brilliant but misguided, and also a few journal articles arguing fantastically well for the idea that there can exist a learned skill of moral expertise. It’s a defense for the idea that not everyone’s opinion carries equal weight in a moral conversation, that there can be those who have special training, and significant thoughtful consideration, that leads to better moral conclusions.)
- Faith, Knowledge, and Virtue: ethics and the Christian life.

Week 2: “Introduction to Ethical Systems of Thought”
- Standards for evaluating ethical systems
- Normative vs. Descriptive Systems
- Reason, Intuition, and Faith: Are ethical systems a necessary component of Christian thought? (Basially, why do we need to study this stuff? Shouldn’t we just pray and read our bible, and the right decision will be revealed to us?)

Week 3: “Ethical Systems, Part 1″
- 3 kinds of moral skepticism: Nihilism, Moral Subjectivism, Moral Relativism

Week 4: “Ethical Systems, Part 2”
- Natural Law Theory
- Divine Command Ethics
- Classic and Contemporary Utilitarianism

Week 5: “Ethical Systems, Part 3”
- Kantian Ethics
- Virtue Ethics
- Moral Pluralism

Week 6: “Instructor Bias Week!”
- The case for Divine Virtue Ethics. So, I’m not one of those profs who thinks that the way to teach philosophy and ethics is to be the totally neutral fount of knowledge, personally removed from the subject matter. I have strong, and considered, views on the right and wrong way to sort through this stuff, and I think it cheats the students for me to stand on the sidelines. So, I’m going to tell them what I think, and make my best case for why I think it.

Week 7: “The Ethics of Participation, Part 1”
- “In the world, not of the world”: a Christian perspective on holiness and participation
- Moral outcomes
- The transitive property of participation

Week 8: “The Ethics of Participation, Part 2”
- Dual Morality, Agency, and Law: three false exits to the question of participation
- The “Nazi Prison Guard” dilemma

Week 9: “Intellectual Property, Part 1”
- A biblical perspective on property
- Property and creativity
- 3 alternatives to a property system: patronage, service model, gift economy

Week 10: “Intellectual Property, Part 2”
- Ethics within a property system
- Law, Justice, and Integrity: systematic vs. personal ethics

Week 11: “Issues in Professionalism”
- Selling the goods: ethics and personal representation in the music industry
- Invested participation: aesthetics, credits, preparation, commitment

Week 12: “Aesthetics and Creativity”
- Imago Dei, and the theology of creativity
- The Dualism of Human Nature: integration and the musical experience

Weeks 13-15, the remainder of the course, are just the students turning in their thesis papers, doing peer review, and doing oral defense.

So, this is pretty much my dream course to teach. And that makes me …

King Nerd, signing out.

Hooty-McDeal - Toasty & Poached!

Published
by
Zack
on 22 September 2006
in miscellany
. 31 Comments

I’ve been hanging on to this deal for a few weeks, actually. After all the 9/11 tear-jerking, then Mike’s beautiful post about love and tire-failure, followed by Dr. Phil’s dissection of the Iranian President’s views of the Islamic faith - it’s high time we brought the fun (and smokin’ deals!) back to Addison Road. This is why ya’ll come here week after week, right?

Today’s Hooty McDeal is a scorcher….

I’ve spent countless mornings, staring at the laptop, chain-smoking Marlboro’s and drinking coffee. All the while thinking, “Man, I’m hungry. I’ve got bread, and I’ve got eggs. Sounds like a breakfast sandwhich is in order.” But I can never bring myself to actually drag that pan outta the cupboard. At the crack of noon, that’s just too much work. I can’t handle this kind of stress.
Thank sweet Jesus for this invention. The money-draining weasels over at Costco have started selling a toaster - that also poaches eggs.

I know what you’re thinking. “That’s impossible. There’s no way that any machine could actually deliver that level of convienence.” “It’s probably a million dollars.” “The eggs must taste like packing peanuts.” “Zack, you’re functionally retarded.”
Silence nay-sayers! I’ve had my greasy little meathooks all over this bad dog for a week now. It’s 100% legit. And best of all, it’s only $36.00 at Costco.com. Mine showed up about 3 days after I ordered it - standard shipping.

If you don’t already have a Costco account, get one. How else are you going to satisfy your need to buy a 30 gallon drum of mayonaisse?

Be very, well… attentive

Published
by
phil
on 20 September 2006
in current events and politics
. 3 Comments

The closing of the speech given by the “president” of Iran to the United Nations a couple of days ago:

Whether we like it or not, justice, peace and virtue will sooner or later prevail in the world with the will of Almighty God. It is imperative, and also desirable, that we, too, contribute to the promotion of justice and virtue.

“The Almighty and Merciful God, who is the Creator of the Universe, is also its Lord and Ruler. Justice is His command. He commands His creatures to support one another in Good, virtue and piety, and not in decadence and corruption.

“He commands His creatures to enjoin one another to righteousness and virtue and not to sin and transgression. All Divine prophets from the Prophet Adam (peace be upon him) to the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him), to the Prophet Jesus Christ (peace be upon him), to the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him), have all called humanity to monotheism, justice, brotherhood, love and compassion. Is it not possible to build a better world based on monotheism, justice, love and respect for the rights of human beings, and thereby transform animosities into friendship?
“I emphatically declare that today’s world, more than ever before, longs for just and righteous people with love for all humanity; and above all longs for the perfect righteous human being and the real savior who has been promised to all peoples and who will establish justice, peace and brotherhood on the planet.

“O, Almighty God, all men and women are your creatures and you have ordained their guidance and salvation. Bestow upon humanity that thirsts for justice, the perfect human being promised to all by you, and make us among his followers and among those who strive for his return and his cause.

Hmm…

You can’t really get all the flavor of this unless you read the entire speech. There is hardly a sentence that is not an overt lie, or is not based on another lie.
The last bit of the speech makes no sense if you’re not familiar with the “twelfth imam” prophecies of Islam. (Oh, the irony of that phrase… “makes no sense”.) Try to imagine that George Bush lectured the UN on Rapture prophecy, with a nice dose of Tribulation and Millenial teaching, and you’ll get the idea.
This is the man who has said Israel should be wiped from the face of the earth, and who is known to be working to get nuclear weapons to do it. Iran is the pre-eminent sponsor of terrorism in the world, a fact accepted even by the American and European left. This man is known to have murdered thousands of Iranian dissidents, hundreds literally in person, in prisons… many college students, according to reports from Iranian immigrants who managed to flee Iran. He means what he says.
It’s a mistake to believe deterrence will work in this situation. It worked for the Soviet Union, because they were atheists who thought this life was all they had, and so they valued it. An opponent with a deadly weapon who practically welcomes death herself is another thing all together.
We are not to live in a spirit of fear… but we should be more than a little nervous… and very attentive. Think NAZI Germany in 1935… or even 1938.
Sadly, the UN, for all its pretended outrage, will probably do nothing.
It seems likely that it will be America Alone that will… if Israel doesn’t get there first, which, absent some serious spine stiffening or a government change, is seeming (inexplicably) less and less likely.
Tick.

nerd humor

Published
by
michael lee
on 20 September 2006
in asides and miscellany
. 19 Comments

what’s the best kind of humor? Science Geek humor! how to blow up the world with a coffee can.

Love like Gravity

Published
by
michael lee
on 18 September 2006
in life
. 16 Comments

You breathe in, you breathe out, and that quickly, everything you know about love changes.

We were driving home today from Phoenix, where the whole family had gathered to celebrate my Grandmother’s 90th birthday. People flew in from all over to be together, to share memories, to hold her hand and talk softly. She’s not doing very well – she had to be wheeled to the birthday party in a hospice chair, with an attendant nearby most of the time - and the unspoken thought of the weekend was that we might not have another chance to talk with her before she’s gone from us. She fell, early last week, and had surgery to pin her hip together. There’s no such thing as a minor fall or a simple surgery when you’re 90, and you can see some of the strength ebbing from her eyes when you talk to her.

She met Sophia for the first time, and Sophia reached out for her, and her Great-Grandma kissed her, as old women and young girls have always kissed, and they shared that secret joy called family, even though one is too young to know what it means, and one is so old she sometimes forgets, and even though they share none of the same blood, and have only just met – love sometimes works that way.

There is a lullaby that my wife and I sing to our daughter, and as this weekend unfolded, I kept singing the words over and over in my head.

Sophia, my beauty, I love you,
But you don’t know yet what that means

Love always works that way – it is given to those who are ignorant of its full value, in a thousand private acts of sacrifice. My daughter doesn’t know that we love her – she has no knowledge of its absence, and so, to her, it is just life. It is just what Mama and Dadda are to her. May it never be otherwise!

This is the great mystery of love – that my Grandmother and my daughter can be caught up in its grasp, even though they had never met, and may never meet again. It is a force of nature, like gravity, and even though it might never be played out between them in those thousand acts of patience, of compassion, of sacrifice, it still binds them together.

My daughter doesn’t know this yet, but it is also true – I don’t know what love means either.

We all love in ignorance. Truly. We give in ignorance, and we receive in ignorance, and by these commissions we practice the art of love, knowing nothing of the force that compels it. It is the strongest force in the world.

There are deep rivers
beneath these still waters
and this love is more than it seems
this love is more than it seems

On the 210 freeway, driving home from Phoenix, at 80 mph, our left rear tire separated. The tread peeled off from the tire, and in an instant the steering wheel jerked loose from Gretchen’s hands, and we started to skid across 4 lanes of busy Sunday afternoon traffic.

As Gretchen fought for control, she grabbed the wheel, struggling to straighten out the van. We swerved sharply in the opposite direction, and as we did, I felt the van start to break loose – I saw the mountains sink below the window, and the pavement rise up on the other side, and felt my stomach turn upside down. The van started to tip over.

Your mother and I both had tutors
In heaven, and down here below

Sometimes Sophia decides she wants to do something, and nothing can dissuade her. If I push the matter, I can see her eyes flare up, and I see a glimpse of how strong her personality will be.

My dear daughter, you have no idea.

As the days of your life unfold, your mother and I will sit with you, and tell you the stories that you are a part of. My girl, there is fire in your veins – you are a daughter to strong women, women who love fiercely, and live deeply. You are the daughter of women who boarded ships to sail to strange lands, who forged homes in dark and inhospitable corners of the earth, who built businesses and fortunes in times when women were not allowed in boardrooms, who worked 12 hours a night to pay for their children’s medical care and schooling, who sent husbands and sons off to war and prayed for their safe return, women who never finished high school but whose daughters hold master’s degrees – my dear little girl, you are the daughter of strong, beautiful women.

And the strong and beautiful women who are your heritage have always taught their sons and daughters how to practice the art of love. They love like breathing in and out, like gravity, and it is a force that compels the world to turn.

Whatever we know of love, we learned at their feet.

You weren’t old enough to understand the words that Grandma said as she held you, but I will repeat them to you until you are.

“Love them.” She was looking at you, and at your mother, but she was talking to me. “Love them – you know that’s your most important job, don’t you? They are God’s blessing to you. Love them.”

They taught us the meaning
of love without ending
and, baby girl, that’s how we know
baby girl, that’s how we know

Gretchen was driving, my brother was in the front seat, and I was in the back seat next to Sophia, who was strapped into her car seat. We had all of our luggage in the back of the van, along with a big TV that my dad had sent with us to drop off for him at home.

As my stomach turned upside down, and the van tilted further and further, as the tires screamed and horns around us blared, I threw myself across Sophia, grabbing the far side of her seat with both hands, crushing her little body beneath my chest.

All I could think about was the massive TV spinning forward from the back of the van, crashing into us.

Sophia, my beauty, I love you,
But you don’t know yet what that means

You can’t possibly understand this yet, but I have never loved you more than when I was crushing your face into my chest, and you were screaming and beating me with your fists.

I can’t make you understand this yet, but everyone in that car would have done the same thing. And so would Papa, and Grammy Weiss, and Grandma Lee, and Grandpa, and your mother’s sisters, and their husbands, and your Uncle David, and Auntie Kim, and your dad’s aunts and uncles, and his cousins.

And even though she can’t move her legs, and even though she has to have help feeding herself, and getting dressed, and even though she sometimes gets confused and can’t remember where she is, even though her body no longer obeys the commands of her heart and mind; in her heart, and in her mind, your father’s father’s mother would do the same.

And behind her, a hundred generations whose bodies gave out before they could demonstrate their love for you.

There are deep rivers
beneath these still waters

My grandmother’s love was almost always the peaceful sort – the still waters. It was gentle, and compassionate, and it usually was accompanied by simple cards, and gifts, and thoughtful words.

And it was poured into my dad over 60 years of simple recurring acts of love.

Which was how he taught it to me.

And I will teach it to you in that same way – by simple repetition of silent sacrifices.

What I cannot explain to you, the deep mystery of love, is this: the still waters of simple repetition and silent sacrifice are the ripples on the surface of a raging torrent.

I will swing you in my arms just to hear you laugh, and to share in your joy.

I will also raise my arms to shield you against any onslaught, and will spend my last breath so that you can draw one more.

And though I cannot explain to you how, it is the same thing. Both acts are drawn from the same well. It is love.

At the last moment, when the van pulled itself upright once more, and as your mother guided it across 4 lanes of traffic to a safe stop on the side of the freeway, the first thing she did was reach back to touch you. You quieted instantly, and reached out and took her hand.

this love is more than it seems,
this love is more than it seems

In a few days, or weeks, or God willing, a few months more, Irene Lee will breathe her last breath, and someone beautiful will have gone out of the world.

I’m glad you got the chance to meet her, and I’m glad that you reached out to her, and that she kissed you.

When you grow, and you begin to imitate your mother, and she shows you how to live in that secret strength that the women in both of our families have always carried, and you begin to practice the art of love, it will not be something new that you do – it will be something very old. It will be something handed down from generation to generation, lived out in a thousand acts of patience, of compassion, of sacrifice.

Love is learned by imitation, and taught by repetition, and as my Grandmother leaves this earth, I pray you will take her place in this dance.

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Sophia’s Lullaby
by Michael Lee