Easter one-up manship

Over the weekend, we attended a wonderful Easter service at our church, complete with very well-done drama. (Our church benefits from have several writers and drama-types in it). I was going to brag about this to my sister, but when we got home from church, there was an e-mail from her saying how beautiful were the Easter services at St. Peters in Rome (and they were just a couple of rows back). Wow, that's even more impressive than what we do here in Storrs, CT!

Going to college

My 17-year-old son, Gus, was accepted to a Christian college (hint: It's in a suburb west of Chicago named Wheaton), and today he sent back the acceptance form. One of the questions asked if he had any special dietary needs. Me being me, I suggested that you put that he can only eat steak and lobster. This time, however, Cathy seriously one-upped me... she suggested that he write "kosher". It's probably best that he's filling out the forms himself.

An olympic sport for the rest of us...

Rabbit jumping Everyone's doing it now!


(Though it's just a matter of time before they need to start testing for BPEDs--Bunny Performance Enhancing Drugs).


Thanks KT Cat.

Love and poison ivy

We live near the local high school, and there's a nice stonewall at the end of our streets. Periodically I see teenage couples sitting on the wall while canoodling. It's not indecent, though it usually looks a bit awkward for them; however, the entire wall is covered with poison ivy. Sometimes when I'm passing by, I'll point this out to them, but other times I just think it's a useful metaphor for teenage love--not without its unexpected costs.

Pass the gripes forward

I had an interesting experience with the concept of "passing it forward", but instead of charity, it was griping.


At the gym, I was getting dressed after going for a swim, and Person A walked in and launched into a several minute diatribe about some injustice that he perceived during his workout. Apparently he was walking around the track, and another walker, Person B, asked him to walk in slower lane. He felt that he was going fast enough to merit being on the faster lane. It didn't sound like that big of a deal, but by the time he got to the locker room he was spewing.


He left the locker room, and Persons C and D, who listened to the rant, started griping about how much he was griping. They complained about several minutes about it.


That left me, Person E, thinking about the whole interaction and just shaking my head about it.


So, there you have it... a simple unpleasant interaction rippled through various interactions. There is something to everyday love and courtesy in even the smallest of interactions.

Go Huskies! I mean, autism research.

Last night, while driving home from an errand, I noticed that the main building on campus was lighted in blue light. (Usually just a regular white light). It's final four, UConn is in it, and UConn's colors are blue and white. I thought that was a fun idea and hoped it would become a tradition for when UConn teams do well.


While... I spoke with a neighbor today, one who is in the University administration, and he explained that the blue light is to support autism.  Apparently an autism advocacy group has asked universities to shine a blue light on this weekend, and it just happens to be the final four.


Oops.

Whatever happened to cogitation?

Periodically I'm blindsided by a cultural reference or a piece of information that I think is common knowledge but it turns out to be a generational thing. A recent example:


Last week I was in a meeting with a fellow faculty member and several graduate students. At one point, the other faculty member said that he wanted to "cogitate" on something. The graduate students (who are bright people) looked puzzled, and one of them asked what that word meant. I was really surprised because I thought that was one of those everyone-knows kind of words.


So, later that afternoon I asked my Sociological Methods class if they knew what it meant, and not one of the 40 kids did. I asked several other people who were over 40, and they all did.


So, here's my question: What happened to cogitation? (The word, not the action). Is it the case that most young people don't know it and most old do? If so, why? I don't think that it's just that young people know far fewer words; in fact, they probably know more than past generations. Also, I haven't found this big a generational difference with other words, so... what happened?


Something to cogitate on....

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Interview with me in USA Today on divorce rates

Here is an article that came out in USA Today earlier this week about divorce rates. I enjoyed the interview, and the information comes from my book.


Still, I was surprised by the comments on it. It seems like many articles on Christianity devolve into the same type of discussion regardless of their content. Troll-magnets.

Taking a stand against standardized testing

This last week my fourth-grade son, Floyd, brought home a request from his school. They asked us parents to make an extra effort in encouraging our children that week. To facilitate our encouragement, they gave us 6 stickers, and we were to put some sort of praising statement calling for our children to perform as well as they could.


What was the special occasion for which we were to encourage our children?


Was it learning more material? No...


Was it doing something that would benefit themselves? No...


It was Connecticut Mastery Test week. This means that all the kids in town take a standardized test, and if they do well the district looks good.


I wasn't too thrilled about the school emphasizing this in a way they hadn't anything else, including things perhaps more important, such as learning.


So, I was asked to provide slogans, but I wasn't explicitly told what I could and couldn't use. So, I thought that as long as we were focused on the collective good, why not go to the professionals, and I modified revolutionary slogans developed in the Soviet Union back in the day.

So, Monday morning all the other kids had notes on their lockers telling them that their parents were proud of them, and calling on them to do their best. In contrast, here's a picture of Floyd's locker.

Enough with the upselling

Last week I took a several day trip to the Midwest, and it felt like I spent most of my travel time listening to people "upselling" me. You know, when you buy one thing, the person selling it to you starts asking if there are other things that you want as well.


* I checked in at United Airlines, and the check-in kiosk asked if I wanted to purchase seats with extra legroom or an earlier place in line.
* I bought a bottle of water at the newsstand as was asked if I would like to buy some tea (in bags, not even a bottle!) for my trip. Now, why would I want a tea bag for my trip?
* At Kohl's, after I arrived, I spend most the transaction explaining to the cashier that I really did not want a Kohl's charge card--even with the extra 10% off.
* At a supermarket, they have the "item of the week" at the checkout stand, and they ask if you want it.


I recently went to a hospital to visit a sick relative, and at least I didn't get any upselling there. For an extra $200, we will make sure that he doesn't get an infection." "Would you like to upgrade the quality of the food we serve?"


I'm probably just being cranky about it because I'm getting old (why, back in the good old days....).  Also, I realize that they're just doing what they are told to do.  Still, I wonder, though, if I should start practicing "downselling." Maybe each time I'm asked if I want something more with my purchase, I'll ask if I can have the item for less money. Or maybe reduce what I'm purchasing. "You know, I think I would like just half of a hamburger. Could you take 50% off?"

Or maybe I could start selling them something that I own.  "We've got an old television set at home, just sitting in the garage.  Would you like to buy it for 20% off today?"


Hey, if we're going to negotiate, why not?

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Regulating my intake of information

This last week I was in the Midwest attending to my ailing father, and among other things during the trip, I changed my consumption of information. I carried a cellphone with me, so that I could be available to family and friends. I read the newspaper at the hotel (hey, it was free).  I even watched some television--mostly CNN in my father's hospital room. Normally I don't carry a cellphone, read the newspaper, or watch tv, and this last week reminded me of why I don't.


I strongly prefer exerting control over what I think about and react to and when I do it. Now, if I'm in a burning building--I want to know about it, even if I'm thinking about something else. But, most things in the paper and on TV are not things I really care about, and yet just being exposed to them takes up time and energy on my part that would be better spent elsewhere. Even after I turn off the television or fold the newspaper, I still think about about what I saw and read. With phone calls, while I appreciate talking with people, but the calls often interrupt other activities.  (Thank goodness for e-mail).


So, day-to-day, I carefully regulate incoming information as part of prioritizing what I think about. I read the Economist each week, for I tend to value what it covers and how it does so. Other than that... my ignorance of what the media says is is bliss, and, if something is really important, someone will tell me about it. Other than that, I want to be thinking about my research, my family, my faith, UConn basketball, etc... stuff that I see as even more important that the latest political scandal or what celebrities are saying.

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Footprints in the sand...

Thanks

Thanks Jeff.

Chesterton on committees

"I've searched all the parks in all the cities and found no statues of committees."
- G.K. Chesterton

Need I say more?

Religion story lines in the media

This week I've been reading various studies of how the news media regards religion. In 1993, Peter Steinfels, sketched out a list of basic story lines in the coverage of religion. They are:

* Religious leader has feet of clay (or is a scoundrel)
* Ancient faith struggles to adjust to modern times
* Scholars challenge long-standing beliefs
* Interfaith harmony overcomes inherited enmity
* New translation of sacred scripture sounds funny
* Devoted members of a zealous religious group turn out to be warm, ordinary folks.


Just thinking about recent stories that I've read, this list fits a lot of them. Though I might add something about religion in politics.

Can you think of other common story lines?


(Quoted from Silk 1995, Unsecular Media)
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An attribution error in teaching

I had the most interesting experience in my criminology class. I've taught it maybe 8 times over the years, and it always go well. Hey, who doesn't love serial murderer jokes?


Well, this class has met five times, and the first four times were dreadful. Sure, I got the material out, and the students participated enough, but the whole atmosphere was dry and boring. Think tumbleweeds blowing through the classroom, crickets chirping, dry coughs--well, you get it.  They even didn't laugh at a particular slide that I put up that for 8 years running has caused uproarious laughter.


In thinking about it, I've had had this happen in two other classes here at UConn, and all three boring classes were in similar classrooms--about 80 people, old fashioned seats/desks, and crowded rooms, and so I started to wonder if part of the problem was the physical setting. I talked to a friend about this, and he suggested that I do an experiment and switch classrooms. I did, to a larger, auditorium-style classroom, and it went great. They were engaged, talkative, and, most importantly, laughed at my jokes.


I'm so attuned to person-attributions, such as I'm doing a good/bad job of teaching or the students are good/bad participants, that I overlook physical atmosphere effects. If nothing else, I'm requesting auditorium-style seating from now on.


This also makes me wonder about church seating. Seems like a lot of churches have a similar layout to my "boring" classrooms. Does anyone know of research on the effects of sanctuary layout? It would be interesting.

Yet another fear message

Last week, I flew out to Seattle for a conference, and, as I usually try to do, I sat in the back of the airplane (maximizes chance for open seat next to me). This meant that I got to listen to two stewardesses talking next to me, in between shifts of racing the food cart up and down the aisle.


One of them went of on a bit of a rant about high school girls getting pregnant, and she made the case that because of some reality tv show about teenage moms (we don't have TV, so I'll take it on faith that it exists), now high school girls are intentionally getting pregnant so that they can be on reality TV. The stewardess paused and mournfully exclaimed, "what is this country coming to?"


Certainly the number of out-of-wedlock births has increased, though much faster among women over 20 than under 20, still it's hard to see a reality-tv show tie in. Given all the stupid things that people do on reality tv, I certainly hope that not many people seek to emulate them.


At the very least, I've gotten to the point where I almost automatically discount statements that include the phrase: "what is xxxxx coming to."  They seem to almost always be wrong or at least very exaggerated.

Why I'm not a computer tech

I used to think that I am reasonably competent when it comes to computer use, until this week.


First, I had a laptop given to me, and while I enjoyed using it, the screen was rather dark. So, if it was sunny outside, I would have to close the curtains. This has gone on for about a month before I realized that I could make the screen brighter.


Then, I was dragging a file in Windows, and I unexpectedly sneezed. When I looked up, the file was no where to be found. I had accidentally dragged it into some random folder, and it took me about 5 minutes to find it.


Finally, and this is the best, my high school son Floyd got a computer last Fall, and part of the agreement was that I would install a parental filter on it. I did, and several times I adjusted the settings on it to make it safer for a teenager to use. Well, come to find out that the filtering program that I use doesn't support Macs, so there's been not filter on his computer. Doh-h-h-h.


So, if you need any help with your computer, just let me know.

Ted Haggard, falling down and not letting go

GQ recently had an interesting interview with Ted Haggard, former bigtime Evangelical pastor.


In it I was struck by how much difficulty he seems to have of letting go what happened--both by him, and, especially in reaction to him. As I understand it, New Life Church gave him a big severance payment but required him to leave the state for a couple of years.


Now Ted is back in Colorado Springs, staring a new church.


This article got me thinking about some pastors' ego-investment and identification with their churches--especially when the pastor either planted the church or had been with it for a long time.


When things are going well in that type of situation, what's good for the church is also good for the pastor. The church grows, s/he feels good about doing a good job. When the church has significant accomplishments, some of the credit goes to the pastor. In this sense, the ego-invested pastor basically spends most their work life doing things that can make them feel better about themselves and look better to others. (Not saying this happens to all or even most pastors).


This provides incentive for the pastor to put a lot of work and time into the church, making it all that more successful.


The problems with this approach are put into relief when the pastor is forced out of the church. It must be very confusing for the pastor when a group of people decide that what's best for the church (e.g., the pastor having to leave) is not what the pastor feels is best for himself/herself.


This must make it very confusing for someone like Ted Haggard to understand that an action deemed best for the church pushes him away from it.


I suppose a corollary to this might be that some pastors feel that what's good for them is, by definition, good for the church.


This highlights the need for pastors to have healthy, balanced lives outside of the church so that they don't view the church almost as an extension of themselves.


Thoughts?

Body posture in a developing country

Over the break, my wife and I spent a glorious week on the Caribbean island of Nevis. We spent our time swimming, snorkeling, walking along the beach, and driving on the wrong side of the road.


After a few days, I started to notice something. When we were around both tourists (mostly American) and locals, the locals had much better body posture. As a whole, they stood up rather straight and had normal walking gaits. In contrast, it was not infrequent for the tourists to be slumping or hunched over. After I noticed this, I started paying more attention, and I found relatively few exceptions.


It made me wonder if the American (western?) lifestyle, complete with sedentary activity and high levels of stress, didn't manifest itself on our bodies. This certainly seems to be the case with peoples' weight, but I wonder if it's also the case with body posture.


I don't know if I stand up straighter now, after a week on Nevis, but it sure helped me get the real winter that we've had here for the past month.

Professor Hitler reacts to a snow day

The best part about yet another snow day... somebody had time to put together this video.  (Jay Hickey is the guy who announces class cancellations).