music and life

For my cultural artifact post I wanted to do something music
related, but I didn’t want to go through a cd. Instead I tuned to a website
called 8tracks.com. on this site users can compile playlists of their favourite
artists and songs and share them with other users. The particular playlist I used
is called “Punk Rock Prom Queen”, and is a combination of artist like
blink-182, sum 41 and other punk bands.

These particular songs I found dealt mostly with
relationships. To these artists in these songs evil originates from a
relationship that either breaks, or when the two people don’t end up together. Redemption
is found when one accepts the other back (usually the guy accepting the girl)
or if the relationship is successful. I suppose this says quite a bit about
what the empire wants us to focus on. All these bands are not groups who would
not be considered Christian, nor do I believe any of them to profess to be
either. That being said, the empire likes to put the focus of our attention a
perfect relationship. If the empire can get us to focus on a relationship, then
it is easier for them to trap us with advertisements that show us that true
happiness can be found with two things: a) a woman on our arm and b) whatever
product they’re trying to sell.
However, I think that if we look into some of the songs a
little deeper we can find some Kingdom meaning in them. God desires that we
have a good, strong relationship and I personally feel that these songs can
give a view of what we are looking for, especially if we are not sure ourselves.
For me, being very word oriented, and gifted with a vivid imagination, I find
that I can imagine what these artists are singing about, then more easily apply
that to my own life.

1)
If you have a girlfriend, or girl you would like
to be in a relationship with, is there a song that you can hear, and then you
find yourself thinking about her?
2)
What are other things that songs can help us imagine/get
us through?

The X-Files

The second artifact I have chosen to discuss is the television series The X-Files. I am not covering any episode in particular, but rather the series in its entirety. In the series, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully both are working for the FBI, and are the heart and soul of the department referred to as the X-Files, due to the fact that all of their cases involve the unexplained and the supernatural. Throughout the series, they encounter every beast, spirit, creature, and entity imaginable, but the overarching theme of the show is their quest for the truth regarding the government's involvement and manipulation of extraterrestrial life. Despite the risks of losing their positions, abduction, experimentation, jail, memory loss, and even death, Mulder and Scully attempt to pull back the curtain hiding the government's work. The main line that flashes across the screen in nearly every episode is "The truth is out there", which truly captures their determination to unveil what has been hidden from society, no matter the consequences.

Despite the fact that the truth they are searching to discover is an ugly, twisted reality, they would rather be aware and disgusted then ignorant and safe.This ties directly into many of our discussions in class, and even Emily Ulmer's discussion about discovering the truth. Just as she read a paragraph from Harry Potter to highlight Harry's need to know the truth about his past, and just as we as a class have been digging deeper into the lies the empire tells us, Sully and Mulder are also digging deeper to unveil the truth. While the truth may be deeply disturbing, it is much better that we are aware of the brokenness and distortion, rather than float through life unaware. It is only through discovering the ugly truth that we are able to discover a hope for something more.

Student News

Discussing the ubiquity of consumerism drew my attention to an artifact right in the midst of Calvin College: the daily Student News email. This morning’s bulletin had several announcements:

-Group fitness

-Night of Worship

-Chapel

-Orientation board

-Wake-up weekend

-Band

-Faith and international development conference

-Community dining plan

-Art exhibit

-Breakdance party

-Film showing

-Nite-Life

-Nite-Life

-January series

What shocked me initially were the constant references to money.

-Group fitness is FREE

-Film showing is FREE

-Both Nite-Life announcements emphasize the prize money

I originally noticed this phenomenon, of putting money references (either promises of no charge or large rewards) in the subject line when I received an email announcing a dorm event that had as its subject line something about winning $10,000. When you actually opened the email, you realized that it had nothing to do with money; that had only been used to get the reader to pay attention. Draw your own conclusions.

So then I wondered, if this bulletin was someone’s only encounter with Calvin College, what values might they think we cared about?

-Getting things for free

-Worshiping God

-How awesome Calvin is

-Social justice

-Art

-Food

-Winning money

-Learning about the world

Then:

What is the purpose of humans? To do good things, and get as much money as possible while doing them

Where is evil? In the world outside of Calvin

What do Christians spend their free time doing? Exercising, worshiping, learning, watching, winning

Calvin College has a lot of great aspects, but maybe we need to start paying attention when people use money to get our attention. It says something about them…but it also says something about us. After all, it’s a consumer-driven market.

Discussion questions:

1) Where did our obsession with money come from?

2) Is it okay that Calvin's bulletin looks like this?

People Magazine

The artifact I chose for my second cultural artifact post was People Magazine. It is a weekly American magazine that focuses on human interest related to pop culture. Personally, I find it to just be the lastest and greatest drama of the television, movie, and fashion industry. But needless to say, every week it captivates the attention of numerous amounts of Americans standing in the grocery store check-out isles.

The focus of the People magazine I read was on the Television show The Bachelor. This is a show in which 25 young American females get the opportunity to simultaneously date a young American “hottie” in search for true love. The magazine focused on all the backstage drama happening amongst the women on the show in their fight to win their “bachelor”. The magazine also talked about several celebrity romances and the gossip behind their romance, marital bliss, and also reasons for their breakups. Like The Bachelor as well as the other romances, I think the magazine really just gives a clear view of how the empire expresses what true love is supposed to look like: physical attraction and good sex.  This was made obvious by numerous other parts of the magazine which had numerous weight loss ads, girls in bikinis, parties, latest fashion styles, nude guys advertising cologne, etc. The list could go on as every page I flipped to offered some form of attraction toward the opposite sex. I have read People Magazine before and found it to be highly entertaining, but after this class I just found it to be very repulsive. The way our society so crudely falls into promiscuity, lust, and outward appearance directly counteracts the Kingdom of God. It’s sad to see that our culture is so strongly influenced by evil and what’s important to man rather than the redemption and will of God in His kingdom and this magazine just made that all the more clear for me.

1.     How as Christians how can we go against the strong pulls of our society in order to represent Christ?

2.     In what ways are we allowing ourselves to get involved in the “physical attraction” of our empire?

Cultural Artifact 2- Crime and Punishment

In the classic novel Crime and Punishment, the story revolves around a poor student, named Raskolnikov, who was a man who believed that humanity was an immoral race, whose own iniquity steered it toward self-destruction. He saw humans as weak and feeble-minded creatures with little to no moral penitence, causing it to fall deeply into decadence, with no hope of salvation. Raskolnikov saw how the Empire was working in his society at that time and was repulsed by it. He had the discernment that many in our society today lack when it comes to how greatly we are influenced by the Empire in how we think, how we act, what we buy and so on. Once Raskolnikov saw how society was, he did not, could not, think that he was one of them, thus also sharing their fate. For him to believe so, would cause him to lose his sanity as he saw himself as part of the society he so despised. Therefore, to keep himself sane, he believed that a remarkable act, the murder of Aliona Ivanova, was the only way for him to keep his sanity. Ironically, in the end it was this act that slowly wore away at his mind. However because of Christianity, reintroduced through his friend Sonia, he examined himself and saw that his exalted perceptions of himself were incorrect. He came to realize that he was a mere human, with the same sinful human nature that he so condemned and that his crime did nothing but further his sin. Raskolnikov noticed that his sanity, and thus his purity, wavered constantly because of the immorality of humanity and the society it keeps. Through Christianity, Raskolnikov was able to confess his sins, remain sane, and reenter into society. Similarly, Christians today must first discern the effects of Empire in their lives, but in doing so must not believe that they are above society, as some do, because God created us to form societies. Instead they must try to advance the Kingdom by first receiving the deliverance that Jesus Christ provided by first taking up their cross.

"The Future of the New Middle East"

I attended this afternoon's January Series lecture by Reza Aslan. Reza is an expert on world religions and an expert on the Middle East. Being a native Iranian who fled to the United States, he is especially interested in the current situation in the Middle East, and his talk highlighted the top myths about the "Arab Spring."
The fallen nature of the Middle East links very closely with the material we've learned in class, especially when talking about empire. Like in the time of the Romans, empire for the Arabs throughout the Middle East is a very real concept. It's a daily, oppressive part of their lives. The totalitarian dictators that existed until being dethroned in many countries, and still exist in some, made empire a real concept for them.
The story of the Arab spring also shows amazing redemptive power. In countries like Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt, the people rose up and overthrew the government. Dictators like Gaddafi and Mubarak eventually had to step down. This story shows the power of the people, and the power of voice. In our culture it shows us what we've taken for granted for a long time. Relating to the disquiet we often experience in our consumer society, we often feel like we have no power to affect the world at all. The Arab Spring showed how we really do have a voice if we put it into action. The flame that was lit  in the Middle East displays a real desire fire and desire for change among its people. They want to reform and change their way of life for the better. We need to take their example and stop being complacent, and light up a fire of our own. This is especially true of Christians. If we were to take and live out the narrative that Jesus provides us, we could really change the world!
Others aspects that mirrored material from the class have to do with the way social media such as Twitter and Facebook had a huge impact on the revolutions, and made them possible. Overall, the lecture was very interesting and I feel like I learned a lot.

Moulin Rouge

Moulin Rouge is the next artifact that I am going to blog about. If I have watched this earlier, I would’ve chosen this as my final project artifact but was too late to change it, so I chose to at least blog about this magnificent movie that clearly describe what the kingdom and the empire to us human beings in this day.

The plot takes place in the late 1890s, when a young writer moves to the district of Paris to join the Bohemian revolution. But as he writes he realizes he didn’t know how love felt and later on falls in love with a beautiful courtesan also the star of the legendary Moulin Rouge who dreams to become an actor one day. And as he is given a chance to introduce his musical play to her he is misunderstood to be the Duke who later on is obsessed about her. Satin and Christian falls into a forbidden affair with each other and later they both decide let go of everything they have for love but as they get ready, she is told that she was dying. And as soon as she heard this, she decides not to go on with the, “Forbidden love-Romeo and Juliet act.

Satin and her world were represented as the world of the empire. The idea of empire in the movie had the characteristics of materialism, class, status, name, fame glam and sin. And in the earlier part of the movie she performs a song that talks about how diamonds are a girl’s best friend. She also talks about her dream of becoming rich and famous which was possible with the Duke’s help. But later on chooses something of the kingdom rather than the things of the empire. She chose love. She could’ve gotten everything she dreamed of but instead chose what her heart longed for, Christian.

In one of the scene as she packs up and gets ready to run away she says to her dad, “You always made me believe I was only worth what someone would pay for me!” As I heard this script I was suddenly once again alerted that this could be like the advertisements that influence what we desire. Nowadays we are so strongly influenced by media, picture, advertisements and ect…When we all know that love is the greatest thing as the they also quote in this movie, “The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.” Why do we all feel and long for more than what the kingdom has to offer, even though we know that things of the empire are just temporary things that last only through our lifetime? How could we avoid it?

An organic science experiment

I happened to run across a link to this video today and thought it pertinent to our discussion today (and highly enjoyable):

Dancing with, and Honoring, Dinner

I went and saw Joel Salatin speak at the January Series on January 17^th. I was very interested in what he had to say because I’d seen him speak in the documentary Food Inc. and also because I’m at an age where what I eat is becoming my choice for the first time. In the coming years, I’ll be in charge of purchasing my own food and I’m interested in what ethical food looks like. I thought his message was a great groundwork for beginning to think in those ways.

His speech, entitled “Dancing with Dinner” talked about how alienated we’ve become from our food. Out of a past where families came together around food, cultures defined themselves by what they ate, and seasons were reflected in our pantries; we now live in an age, Salatin says, where food is “just a bothersome pit stop between what’s really important in life.”

In the absence of a community or family relationship towards food, corporations are stepping in to fill the role of food provider. Tellingly, these corporations’ advertisements reflect this trend. Meat packaging giant Tyson’s slogan is “feeding you like family”. This has become a self-fulfilling prophecy as more and more family meals consist of things like reheated Tyson chicken nuggets. “We used to eat together,” Salatin mourned, “now we just graze.”

“Dancing with Dinner” is an image Joel Salatin used repeatedly. In the whimsical metaphor, he referred to our food as a dance partner that we could delight in and know. “Food isn’t mechanical!” he reiterated. Salatin was clearly passionate about his topic from the largest aspects to the smallest. “Some people just see a handful of dirt,” he said, “but it isn’t, it’s soil, and people don’t realize that soil is alive!” He began to move about on stage, acting out a drama where a “narwhal-type” organism was attacked by a “centipede-like” organism. Afterwards he exclaimed incredulously, “this is the real world! This makes Steven Spielberg look like a kindergartener: and this kind of stuff is happening every day!”

Another concept Salatin repeated was that of honoring his animals and even his vegetables. He cares, he says, about the “pigness” of a pig. He farms in a way that lets the animals do the things for which they are created. Responding to questions of whether it was harder to eat a pig that you cared for and knew, he said “the way that we create sacred ness is food and eating is to value the animals in a way that makes their sacrifices meaningful.” In other words, as Wendell Berry says in his essay, “The Pleasures of Eating”, “A significant part of the pleasure of eating is in one’s accurate consciousness of the lives and the world from which food comes.” In the case of an ethical farm like Salatin’s, Berry says that “the knowledge of the good health of the garden relieves and frees and comforts the eater.”

The obvious joy throughout Salatin’s speech reflected the Kuyperian idea of “every square inch” of our culture being redeemable. Though some might think slaughtering chickens and figuring out the best way to spread manure is not a worthy task, Salatin shows a way to honor Creation in what he does, to be a part of the ecological ethic that Walsh and Keesmaat discuss in Colossians Remixed. When I see someone living like that, reveling in the good things which God has given us and ensuring that these good things will last, I see glimpses of the Kingdom.

“If God knows every sparrow that falls,” Salatin concluded his lecture, “don’t you think he would care about the “pigness” of a pig?” Walsh and Keesmaat agree with, “When fellow creatures, whether they be particular animals or complex ecological systems, are in distress, when they cry out in anguish, a compassionate community responds.” What we eat has grave implications for our planet and our fellow inhabitants. Armed with the knowledge we’ve been given by films and books and speakers like Joel Salatin, we all should seek to honor what we eat, to introduce ourselves, to learn from it; to find so much joy in our food that it overflows into a dance.

Forbes

Today, I looked through Forbes magazine. Forbes is a magazine about finances, business, the economy, and most importantly money. Obviously, a magazine about money is going to have a consumerist view of the world. In the context of our class, I noticed some interesting things. For example, on the second page there was an advertisement for a consulting firm that said, "When you are building an empire, there's no time for a learning curve." In this magazine, it is good to build an empire, to be super-affluent, and to be in charge of many people. There was also a page dedicated to "the winners and losers of 2011." Those who made a lot of money were winners, and those who lost a lot of money were losers. The magazine paints the picture that the chief purpose of humankind is to be successful by making large amounts of money. Wealth is central in the Empire.

But, it wasn't all bad. There was a slightly apocalyptic article about hackers exposing those who censor the internet. There was also a long segment about Japan "Rising to the Challenge" after the devastating earthquake. It praised corporate generosity between American and Japanese businesses. This gives me hope that people are capable of running a corporation with ethical practices and some compassion.

Finally, there was an ongoing article called "30 under 30". It was about 30 "disruptors who aren't waiting to reinvent the world." Turns out these "disruptors" are just finding innovative ways to get rich. Donald Glover, a successful actor, writer, comedian, and rapper was one of these people. He said, "I hope I never 'make it.' I wake up every morning saying 'got to be better.' I don't think I ever fell satisfied." That sums it up. In the Empire you will never be satisfied, and shouldn't be satisfied. It's all about more. It's good that he wants to better himself, but why wouldn't you want to be satisfied? I feel like we need hope for a better world, but we don’t need greed.

Can we simultaneously have contentment and hope for a better future?

Can corporations have generosity if profit is the bottom line?

Happy Endings

For my second cultural artifact I decided to watch an episode of the show Happy Endings. This show is all about a group of friends going through the "normal" situations of life. In the episode I watched tonight (season 2 episode 12) Jane talked Penny into trying to change her boyfriend to make him into someone that she wanted him to be. Her reasoning was that it would be good for him, but taking advantage of someone like that is so selfish. In the episode, Penny's boyfriend falls for her tricks and ends up changing completely: his clothes, phrases, apartment, and everything. But Penny receives payback for what she did and in the end her boyfriend runs into his ex-girlfriend and they get engaged.

Tricking a person is not living for the Kingdom of God, in fact, trickery is a huge part of the empire. As we learned in class, from the food industries to the credit card industries, the main part of these corporations is hiding the truth from consumers. These corporations are taking advantage of the public by lying to their faces and keeping certain information away from them. They are taking the right of consumers knowing the truth, just like Penny took away her boyfriend's freedom to be who he is. In the same way, in the empire, individuality is not accepted and sometimes we don't feel like we can be ourselves. Sometimes we can get caught up in what the empire says is right and normal and we hide the truth about ourselves. We hide our uniqueness and lie to others and ourselves about who we really are. We need to make sure that we don't let the empire take away our individuality. Living for the Kingdom of God means being ourselves because God created us and made us unique and perfect in his eyes.

How can we show our individuality in an empire where people are pressured to be identical to fit in? How could this individuality affect the empire and what it stands for?

U2: inspiring music.

U2 is one of my favorite bands of all time. This morning I listened to one of their albums, called “Achtung Baby,” as I was working out in the gym. Two particular songs that I listened to stood out to me, reminding me of our Kingdom versus Empire discussions in class. The first song is “Even Better Than The Real Thing.” I had initially thought this song was referring to God. However, when I searched the Internet I found that this song has a deeper meaning. The song is a play on Coca-Cola’s slogan “It’s The Real Thing.” Bono, the lead singer of U2, explained that the lyrics of this song were intended to make a statement about commercialism. Now that I realize this, this song holds an entirely different meaning to me. The song is reflective to the culture we are living in; instead of seeking the truth, people are looking for instant gratification. In our culture, we are led into believing that products of the Empire such as plastic surgery, pornography, drugs and alcohol are “The Real Thing.” As the first line of the song says “Give me one more change and you’ll be satisfied”--we believe products of the Empire will satisfy us. “Even Better Than The Real Thing” strives to make a statement about humans—we so easily buy into our culture’s lies and believe that certain products will make us happier and feel better about ourselves. In believing these lies, we follow the Empire’s way of life, rather than following the Kingdom of God.

The second song on this album that heavily makes a statement about our relationship with the Empire is called “Trying to Throw Your Arms Around the World.” The lyrics of this song talk about people who are lost in the Empire, trying to gain everything from the world and experience all that is out there. This song makes it clear that our purpose is not to try to put the world in our pocket. If we choose to take that route, we will soon get tangled up in worldliness that will only leave us lost and empty. As the lyrics from the second verse say, “How far you gonna go before you lose your way back home? You’ve been trying to throw your arms around the world.” In addition, Bono sings in the third verse, “He took an open-top Beetle, through the eye of a needle,” which refers to the text from Luke 18:24-25: “Jesus looked at him now sad and said, 'How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." Overall, these two songs make a statement about our human nature-- it is all too easy for us to get wrapped up in worldliness and consumerism. However, if we follow this lifestyle of the Empire, we will only be left lost and unsatisfied.

Discussion Questions:

1. It's easy to simply listen to music like this and not take action. How can music like this

challenge us to fight the Empire?

2. How can we practice discerning music in our daily lives?

Seventeen Magazine

For my second artifact I decided to read through a copy of Seventeen Magazine. This magazine is produced specifically for teenage girls. Fashion, boys, beauty and fitness are all major focuses within each issue. As a 15 year old high school teenager I read this magazine quite often, taking everything it said to heart. Now that I’m a bit older I looked through it and realized it isn’t anything I want to try and live by anymore, it’s just another thing to read when I have nothing better to do.

Thinking back to my 15 year old self, I really fell into this magazine and its hypocrisy. This magazine makes an attempt at talking about “true beauty”. It has an entire section about “true beauty” and then on the next page has an entire section on how to do your make-up correctly and all the ways to “make him drool”. This says plenty about the life in the empire. This magazine is something that many young girls feed into. Young girls read this and really take it all to heart. Therefore they feel they need to do their make-up the way the magazine says in order to reach “true beauty”. The empire is all about making us feel as though we are never good enough. It’s taught us that enough really isn’t enough. The empire has also taught us that if we aren’t impressing people then there is something wrong with us. No girl should be trying to “make him drool” with her make-up. This kind of message is completely unnecessary to feed into a young girl but this magazine takes part in it because the empire has taught us that it’s acceptable. Another way that life in the empire is exemplified through this magazine is in the fashion section. Yet again the magazine shows a little bit of hypocrisy here. On one page it discusses how we should all sign an agreement to love our bodies no matter how we are built. Then on the next page it gives examples of all the different body types from “curvy tummy” to “hourglass” to “petite” and what clothes make those specific body types look the best. So again young girls read this, pick out what body type they are, and go out to find all the “perfect” clothes to make them look good. The reality is that these young girls will never be “perfect” therefore this magazine should be teaching less about how to get the “perfect” outfit and focus more on how to be a better person. Personally, I think that would be a better message for young girls, yet I understand the empire has taught us that those things are not as interesting as “making him drool” or gaining the “perfect” outfit. How can we, as young women, be examples to these teenage girls and influence them against falling into this magazine and its hypocrisy? Are there ways we can show them that there is much more to life then “making him drool” or having the “perfect” outfit?