I must say that the education system he describes in 1997 has not appeared to change thirteen years later. A system of “logocentrism, patriarchy, ideology,” where students defer to professors in order to claim moderate grades and passively float through their school years. Where the system rewards the student that doesn’t argue but wants to be entertained and marketed to as a consumer. Where ignorance is so blind, students are not even passionate about learning to change their state as mindless cogs.

This brought to the surface an idea that has followed me around for several years, how does one break out of this system? The first step shouldn’t be denial, it should be realization.

A friend walked up to me in the food court today, just minutes before writing this, and asked me what I was doing. I told him I was reading. He asked if it was for class, to which I replied, no, I was just reading. He looked at me quizzically and said that he would be asleep instead. (Now the real clincher.) I said something to the effect of wanting an education, to his response, I get enough of that around here. I shot back, “I hardly feel educated here at all.”

In short I am afraid of myself and a generation that has been mediocrely educated. I am entirely jealous of students at Cornell University (it sits across the hill from me) and any Ivy League school, and am wondering why I didn’t apply to at least one Ivy. But that is a facet of the past, an undergraduate choice I didn’t make.

The real question is what can be done to change this broken system, inspire the kids of today to desire education and intelligent arguments, to understand their ignorance?

Please read the article, I have linked it above and here.

Also Seth Godin put out an interesting PDF called Brainwashed. It is about how we are trained to pursue a job and how we can think differently about the current state of economy and potential careers.

I have been watching too much Entourage.
My friends and I are comparing who would be who.
I get stuck with Eric, but I’m the perfect fit.
I also feel like I could do Ari’s job.
Except with musicians.
I love the music scene a lot more and just feel that connection to them.
The struggle to make it, I get that.

I am super pumped for LA next spring.
Plus I feel my photo work is getting stronger.
Definitely took some great portraits over the weekend.
Should be able to show those soon, I am going to try and scan the 4×5 negatives before I leave for break.

The image is of me on stage with Savoir Adore while Anamanaguchi is playing an encore.
I think I am looking down at my camera.
Typical me.
All work, no play.

Here’s to a big future.
Here’s to SXSW (which I am not able to attend this year, unless someone wants to put me up).
Let’s go get the day!

It is called GRACE Essentials: A Handbook for Spiritual Maturity.
It was created by Living Word Community Church in York, PA, which is my home church.
And man is it hitting home right now for me.

Too often, Christianity is presented or understood only in moralistic terms. In other words, being a Christian means that we live a certain kind of moral life. We do certain things that are good, and we refrain from doing certain things which are bad. While there is a clear morality that Christ calls us to incorporate into our lives, morality is not the center of our faith. Jesus died not to make us good, but rather he died to make us his. And it is when we become his and live in intimacy with him that he changes us to make us better and more moral.


Christianity can also be misunderstood as merely a philosophy or set of beliefs. There is a Christian philosophy and there are core doctrinal beliefs that Christians need to embrace, but churches are full of people who hold to a solid Christian philosophy of life, as weel as believing the doctrines of the church, yet do not have a personal relationship with Christ.

Yeah, I’m kind of there right now.

I have been struggling in Christianity as of late.
I think it is my philosophy course that is causing this huge crack in my faith right now.
Perhaps as well as the many worldly characteristics of being in college.
Wants and desires are easy to fulfill and religion is easy to question.

I feel as if I have lost a basis of my religion.
I don’t know how this has happened.
But I feel it can be found again in Proverbs.
If nothing else (and I say this very loosely, don’t take me to be flippant about my faith) Christianity has a huge wisdom component to it that I love.
And I think this is where I was putting a lot of time and effort.
Which doesn’t quite make it–based on what Christianity is about.
Because when you say you are a Christian, you follow Christ.
My base was from a wisdom aspect.
When philosophy attacks Jesus, I coud purport to support my faith.
I was uninformed and incapable of acting because I had very little grace in this way of believing.
Which I impart, makes me wrong.

So it’s time to fix that.
Or give it up.
But I’m casting my lines to fix my viewpoints and then my actions.
Because that is what I feel is right.

Tonight I am thinking on Proverbs 18:1.

The one who lives alone is self-indulgent, showing contempt for all who have sound judgement.

I have an individualistic nature.
That is for sure.

Last evening a friend said to me, ‘Some of us have real majors.’
I guess photography doesn’t count as a real major.
No big deal, I didn’t view it as a ‘real’ major when I started into it.
And I still don’t view photography as a career.
I can’t say why.

But something changed in me today.
This quote was blogged by my friend.

A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.

Bob Dylan

Then I thought about it.
I love taking pictures.
Especially in non-stressful environments that allow me to be creative, where people are at ease.
I enjoy doing that, I want to do it.

I also have a lot of free time to pursue what I want to learn and study.
Which is amazing.
How many kids studying chemistry and biology and anatomy and physiology or even business get to learn what they actually want?

It took a breakdown two years ago to get here.
It took questioning beliefs to put things in perspective.
It took a few words to remind me.

Do what you and you will be happy.

…not by might alone does one prevail.

1 Samuel 2:9

Feel free to share.

The twentieth-century English philosopher Bertrand Russell constructed a new evil demon skeptical fantasy. Unlike in Descartes’s skeptical fantasy, in Russell’s skeptical fantasy, the outside world is in fact real (not a dream) — the sun is real, the Earth is real, your hands are real, your house is real, etc. However, Russell asks us to suppose that these real things were all created by an evil demon a mere five minutes ago! That is to say, five minutes and one second ago, nothing in the universe existed except for the evil demon himself. Then with a wave of his hand he created the universe as we know it – stars, planets, animals, plants, and people. And here is the kicker – when he made people, he made some look old and some look young (even though, of course, every person is in fact a mere five minutes old!) And moreover, the demon filled people’s brains with fake memories, as if they were memories of ten minutes ago, a year ago, ten years ago, even eighty years ago (he put these fake memories in people whom he created to look at least eighty-plus years old), so that people will think they are more than five minutes old. The demon also created cities and monuments, as well as history books and videos filled with fake reports and fake video footage of a past that in fact never existed. In short, according to Russell’s skeptical fantasy, the world, while real, is only five minutes old. The appearance of a past beyond five minutes ago is actually an elaborate hoax created by the evil demon.

Answer the following questions:

What are some examples of beliefs of yours that would be undermined by this skeptical fantasy, and why? What are some examples of beliefs of yours that would NOT be undermined by this skeptical fantasy, and why? Is there any way you can prove that this fantasy is not actually true? Why or why not? If you think you cannot prove this fantasy is false, can you at least give some reasons (albeit reasons that fall short of certain proof) for refusing to believe it? What might some of these reasons be?

Friends do not simply cover the same ground each encounter. There is self-disclosure that expands and deepens as time and experience go on.

This is the definition I have been looking for.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The new Blogotheque video!

8. One can be progressive in any environment, it’s a state of mind.

That being said, I am putting in time today to learn things I want to know, not just what I am told I need to know. However I do feel the environment does play a big role in how we grow.

A culture or ethos that realizes the creative potential within the society will progress the fastest.

Erwin McManus paraphrasing Lawrence E. Harrison

“I believe that the creative capacity of human beings is at the heart of the development process. What makes development happen is our ability to imagine, theorize, conceptualize, experiment, invent, articulate, organize, manage, solve problems and do a hundred other things with our minds and hands that contribute to the progress of the individual and of humankind…the engine is human creative capacity.”

Lawrence E. Harrison

This creative environment is something that is not localized in one person but permeates the entire community.

Erwin McManus paraphrasing Lawrence E. Harrison

Think about it