Faith

The first few orchid plants we bought were blooming when purchased. It makes sense that you get a plant whose flower you know you will like. Then you can tend it in the in-between time looking forward to a known bloom to come. The last few plants we bought are a year or so away from blooming. They are just green leaves in a pot. We went by little pictures hanging above the flats of seedlings at the greenhouse. The real flowers will no doubt have much more splendor than a bit of ink on a piece of paper ever could. Buying a blooming plant is great, but at the end of the blooming period, on a micro scale, there is a bit of grieving for the lost flower and a steeling for the months of tending leaves ahead. Buying a plant before it blooms is full of nothing but hope for the moment. And they cost a lot less at this stage. Faith has its rewards.

Good Bye until next year

Old Dog Learns New Trick

I am 48 years old and yesterday, for the first time, I did something I never dreamed I would do. I repotted four orchid plants. I have never repotted a flower before. Actually, I don't remember ever repotting any plant of any variety before. It was a chore that needed tending but I actually enjoyed it. But I still like motorcycles and airplanes and loud guitars and guns and don't ever forget it!

Now in bloom:

My Fellow Americans...

This is inspiring and humbling at the same time. It's worth a read:

http://lifebynike.blogspot.com/2005/12/written-by-australian-dentist.html

More on Cultural Imperialism

I had a rude awakening when I got married. Somehow I managed to grow into adulthood maintaining the notion that every family did things pretty much like my family did them. And that within that sphere, my personal way of doing things made the most sense and was thus the best way. Of course I squeezed the toothpaste from the bottom of the tube and of course I married someone who just grabbed hold and squeezed wherever. Amazingly we have survived 25 years of each other but still occasionally spat over such trivial things.

In my life I’ve had the opportunity to spend time in dozens of different countries and the growing experience of being the odd one in various cultures that are vastly different from mine. I have learned that often different does not mean better or worse than, just different than. Anyone who has been abroad with their eyes open knows what I’m talking about. And you don’t have to go down this road too far to realize that it is very possible to appreciate something about a culture without even liking it. And one can appreciate and value people one does not particularly like.

It’s not so difficult to come to terms with this concerning people on the other side of the world that you are only visiting for a few days or weeks. But the same thing can be said for people in our own towns or even our own houses. It seems to be a part of the human condition to want those around us to do things our way or at least to see things our way. For many this is an obsession. Control is certainly not the answer. Most people naturally resent and resist manipulation. Even if we can effect change the odds are at least even that we won’t like the change any more than the original. Acceptance is a far better tactic. I’ve even found out to my dismay that with an attitude of acceptance, I occasionally learn that someone else’s way of doing a thing is actually better than my perfectly thought out method for reasons that I had never before considered. Acceptance (me accepting you and you accepting me) is a fundamental need of human life. But it seems that every day in every place it gets distorted into the desire to control. Some have suggested that this is the curse of Eve, but it seems to me it is no respector of sex.

It is taking me longer than most normal people, I think, but I am discovering that I am in fact not the center of the universe and that even on this little planet almost everyone alive could care less what I think. So, if indeed I do have something to offer those around me, it’s far better to let them discover it and decide without coercion that it is something they want. Acceptance is a far more effective agent of change than control. And I have to learn to be accepting of those around me because even if my logic is perfect, which it may or may not be, perfect logic that is ignorant of one or more facts can yield a completely wrong answer. I’ve come to believe (VERY STRONGLY!) that dogmatism is a dangerous activity to engage in. As a very wise person once said, in any given situation there is always something you don’t know.

Motorcycles Are Invisible

Yesterday, after weeks of cold wet weather, we finally had a nice day. I got my bike out of hibernation and went for a ride. Another fellow had the same idea but I'm sure now wishes he hadn't. I came across the wreck above just after it had happened. It was awful. The guy was actually laying in the flames. By the time I got off my bike some others had pulled him away and poured water on his legs. I reached for my cell phone but a lady was already calling on hers. A cop was there almost instantly. I stood there frustrated about not being able to do anything to help and about the classic setup for this accident. At 4:45 PM the sun was right on the horizon blasting into the eyes of the westbound Toyota driver turning left into the car wash. T-bone. It takes a nasty hit to rupture a motorcycle gas tank. I had a camera so I took a picture and left to get out of the way as a firetruck drove up.

Motorcycle riders, please remember that you are invisible. Everybody else, please remember that big, car-sized shapes aren't the only things you need to be watching for on the road.

Imposing Cultural Change

In the last 24 hours I happened to read two things that are curiously related. One was the recounting of a squabble between Jesuit missionaries and Dominican and Franciscan missionaries in the 17^th century regarding work in India and China mainly. I’ll quote a bit from Eerdmans’ Handbook to the History of Christianity (Later republished under the title Introduction to the History of Christianity):

“Most Catholics demanded that converts should make a complete break with their ethnic culture. They held that local customs and practices were rooted in non-Christian religion. They should be tested by the gospel, and cleansed of any trace of paganism.”

While it’s true that lifestyle should be tested by the gospel, unfortunately what that meant to many at the time was that anything besides looking and behaving like good europeans was pagan. The Jesuits had a much wiser approach and sought to preserve and celebrate cultures. In that time and in more recent days, one can find many stories of how the Gospel informs and completes a culture like a puzzle piece previously missing. Unfortunately, there are always folks who are blind to this who truly believe the only way to secure a soul’s salvation is to make that soul look and behave exactly like themselves.

After remarkable progress in China, in 1704, Pope Clement XI banned the Jesuit methods. It didn’t take long for the growing church to shrivel.

Fast forward a few centuries to the other thing I read yesterday. An unbelieving person left a comment on the blog of a Christian. A Christian reader of this blog followed the link back to the first commentor’s blog and found out just enough to form an impression of what they were like. Then, curiously, instead of engaging that person by commenting in that person’s own blog, the second commentor went back to the Christian’s blog and left a comment addressed to the unbelieving visitor. This person was trying to say how much love was available by hanging out at this Christian blog site, but there was an amazing tone of arrogance and judgment in the words claiming one would find no judgment there! The 17^th century squabble was about a disagreement regarding cultural imperialism. This blog comment showed me that we are now dealing with cultural imperialism in ignorance. I am certain this person had the best of intentions in trying to reach out to someone without Christ. But the presumption and belittling was appalling. The person said they would pray for the unbelieving person. I prayed too. I prayed that this particular unbeliever would never return to read the comment addressed to them. I prayed they would run into someone who would give them an irresistable whiff of the sweet Holy Spirit and not deal with this person who would no doubt drive them even further from truth. We will never get a hearing for the Gospel if we insist on the onerous notion that to become a Christian, one has to look just like us. History has proved it just doesn’t work. But you have to know you are doing it. And there is the rub. God help us.

Blown Away

A couple of my Video 1 students presented their project on Friday. They did a filmic presentation of the classic Civil War short story, "An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge." The first day of the semester these two slid into the back row and gave no clue about what they were capable of. I tried to think back to the first few weeks of classes and I have to admit that I missed any hint of what was to come. I warned the class to not try to bite off more than they could chew. One time an ambitious student had a battle scene from WWII in her script. I had to convice her that it would probably not be possible to pull this off in the parameters of her first project. Others have tried things for which they had to fudge a prop or location that just made the thing scream "WEAK STUDENT PROJECT!" I give a little speech re: projects encouraging them to take into account the resources they actually have available on our campus and in the vicinity and make their story work exploiting what they do have available instead of making excuses for what they do not.

The "Owl Creek" telling was amazing! Being in the South here, these guys were able to find some Civil War reenactors who loaned them some mighty authentic-looking costumes. They found a plantation house. They found a great abandoned railroad bridge over the river and even secured permission to use it legally. They desperately wanted to do some underwater shots and soon found that camera housings can cost thousands of dollars. So one of the guys did a bunch of research and then made one out of about twenty five dollars worth of materials. The footage is incredible! In so doing they have already managed to do something I've long wanted to try but have never accomplished: underwater photography. This was the most amazing fit of story into available low-dollar resources I've ever seen in a student project. The fact that it is a period piece underscores this even more.

I have to come clean and say that I really covered precious little in the way of anything beyond basic tips on camera angles and editorial technique this semester, but you would never know it from this project. There were a few technical glitches like a few hot exposures, but the artistic feel for placing the camera was spot on. (With the exception of one shot that included a second camera. Thankfully we now have After Effects for a magic fix.) And the editing, well, normally the first cuts I see from students are very rough. This one, the first edit they showed me, was so tight I really don't think I could have done any better. A couple key cuts were stellar, visual poetry.

The audio needs a bit of polishing and we need to erase out that non-period camera, and I have a few other ideas for polishing, but I smell festival winner all over this thing. I will definately be seeing to getting it entered in several contests. I am button-busting proud of these guys and of the rest of the class they pressed into service as actors and whatnot. But there is a part of me that is a little startled that they were able to do this amazing work coming right out of the gate. I wonder how much longer teaching video production on the college level is going to be viable. It may become strictly a high school or even grade school subject. We used to have a computer course everyone had to take: "... this is a mouse. This is a keyboard..." It was ridiculous and it finally went away. The changes in the field have been moving at an exponential rate and we are in a very steep part of the curve now. I used to be able to call myself an expert. I think I'm rapidly becoming just an ex. I have the strange sensation that it's all overtaking me and about to just pass right on by.

That sounds like a bit of a downer, but I really am tickled about this project and the students who made it. And should the field exceed my ability to keep up, that is nothing but good news for all the young filmmakers coming up. And I have no worries about finding something to do with myself.

Ability+Creativity+Energy+Work Ethic = Watch Out, Here They Come!

The Housing

Mixed Media

Story telling is one of the most powerful means of communication in most cultures, certainly in ours. Think of the things that have moved you the most deeply. They usually involve a story of some kind. Story telling is really important not just for entertainment, but for communication on a deep level. It seems to me that storytelling is undergoing some changes.

One of my students has been working on a short film on video. I call it that because though the technology used is video, it is very much in a motion picture style. He knew he could only do a couple of scenes lasting about twenty minutes on basically one set. In order to tell his whole story, he is planning on using a web site and possibly some other media. A hero of his is Josh Whedon, maker of the television show “Firefly” and the movie “Serenity.” I haven’t had the chance to see any of these yet, but I’m told that you really need to see the TV show to understand the movie. Unlike the way we have often seen in the past of similar content getting repackaged from one medium to another, this is a matter of one story being spread among different media. It seems to me that this kind of thing is a paradigm shift in the way stories are told.

As a culture we have been pushed into the realm of non-linear story telling by big media events such as the Star Wars series which were presented to us over the years out of order. Even though each of the films can stand alone, one has to get one’s mind around the prequel idea when taking them all together. In smaller ways films like “Groundhog Day,” “Memento” and others have bounced us around in non-sequential ways. And then there are the films with alternate endings. Linking such as we find all over the web got us bouncing around through content non-linearly as a normal part of everyday life. So the concept of non-linear presentation has been growing and becoming more and more the norm. But taking one story and spreading pieces of it around on different media (film, TV, web, books, magazines, comic books, audio, still pictures, etc.) which all have to be consumed in order to experience the whole is something that seems rather new to me. This technique could be very linear or completely non-linear. It really isn’t a matter of linearity, but seems to be related in that it is segmented.

I’ve been pondering the question of how much linearity must there be in non-linear segments in order for good story telling to happen? Classic story telling involves building and releasing tension. The protagonist must be put into peril and then rescued from the danger. There must be ebb and flow, pacing and contrast. This is generally well served by linear presentation. If the pieces are cut up too small then these macro features are lost. My son has some adventure style video games he likes to play. He is in complete control of the story at all times. But because this is true, the emotional graph is quite flat. The pieces are just too small to develop a story smoothly. The attraction is in the control, but to just watch someone else play the game is soon tiring. Without the element of control in one’s hands, the storytelling is just weak. So stories can be made up of modules that can be combined non-linearly, but each module must have some linearity within itself to tell a strong story.

Okay, maybe I’ll have more to say about this. Or maybe this is really obvious old hat. In any case, I’m getting very sleepy, so I think I’ll stop now.

Dear Jerry Gaskill

I listened carefully to your CD. My heart breaks for you. For what was said. And even more for what was not. I am so sorry.

The Truth Comes Out

The following is an excerpt of what I read today at "The Christian Post" re: the forced sale of property by New Tribes Mission as a result of their impending expulsion from Venezuela. Note how much the Venezuelan government cares about it's indigenous people. They truly have their best interest in mind, don't you think? Good thing they are getting rid of those awful missionaries:

"Initially, NTM Venezuelan leaders responded to the property issue by intending to transfer the buildings to the tribal people living adjacent to the school, but was informed that such transfers are not allowed.

Furthermore, NTM discovered that the law requires NTM to sell the building for at least 25 percent of the market value, a cost that would inhibit the tribal people from purchasing the buildings. As a result, NTM will be forced to sell the buildings “to those who have opposed the mission’s activities,” NTM stated on its website.

The missionaries responded to the event by expressing disappointment and concern for the tribal people. "

The meter is running in Venezuela

I just got an update from NTM missionary friend
Merrill Dyck. Here are a few excerpts:

"Today is election day in Venezuela. People are going
to the polls to vote in their choices for the National
Assembly. We continue to look to the Lord for His will
to be done here in the country."

Interesting that none of the cynical missionary bashers I've read on the intenet re: this situation was cynical enough (or perhaps informed enough) to take note of the obvious component of pre-election posturing.

"According to the Resolution put out by the Minister
of Interior Affairs and Justice, we now have 70 days
left as a Mission to continue on working in our
different tribal locations. And we continue marching
ahead at quite the pace. As I went into the print shop
yesterday, I was amazed at how many portions of
Scripture and Bible lesson material is being cranked
out. Yes, we want to redeem the time while we still
have it.  So it is a real thrill to see new verses
and Bible lessons being completed each day by our
Church Planting teams. Thanks for praying for us all
as they continue to labor in 12 different people groups.
Here are just few things to help keep you in the loop
about what is going on down here:

-as NTM Venezuela leaders, we continue to seek God's
direction and are endeavoring to keep the missionaries
encouraged and focused. We also continue working with
thelawyer who is preparing a "stay" that challenges
the constitutionality of the government's expulsion
order. That will be presented to the highest court in
the land this coming week."

Where to?

Disturbing

comment spam

has gotten to be a real pain. "jobopportunitya" has made an unwelcome pest of itself. If you know how, please blow up it's computer. I'm finally breaking down and enabling the word verification to block the junk out until they figure out a way around it, which I'm sure they will. Sorry for the extra step it will take to leave a comment.

let The People tell their own story

Steve Saint was here about a month ago and spoke in our Friday chapel. I got to spend some time with him and we talked about an idea I was rolling around in my mind to take his concept for non-verbal, completely visual technical training (thus doing an end run around language barriers) and applying it to video production. I’m still pondering the roadblocks that would have to be worked through, but I think that if tribal people can learn to do dentistry and fly aircraft (which has already been proven), then they can learn to make video.

A week or two ago one of my current students told me about some technology developments he’d heard about and sent me some URL’s to look up. The most exciting one was this:

http://laptop.media.mit.edu/

MIT is developing a $100 laptop. It will not be sold in stores but is meant for government distribution to school children all over the world. From what the site says, it appears the machines will be able to do most of what any current laptop is able to do except for having mass storage ability. Basic video editing should be possible with such a machine. The other URL I received was this one:

http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1591602,00.html

a story about paper thin video monitors costing pennies that are slated to actually be bound into magazines for Harry Potter-style moving images on a page. This isn’t exactly germane to my current topic as far as I can see at this point, but it may play in somehow.

Another more widely known technology advance is the tapeless video camcorder. These are showing up in various forms at under $100. The quality leaves a bit to be desired in the current units (1/4 screen size, 10 to 15 frames per second, and limited recording time) but that is easily addressed. Clearly, this is the direction video recording is going. Perhaps the most dramatic application of this technology is in the area of kiddy “toy” camcorders that are on the market now for this Christmas. Check out the Hasbro VCam

http://www.hasbro.com/tigertoys/pl/page.vcamnow/dn/default.cfm

or the Mattel Vidster

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000023058474/

It’s not lost on me and is actually a bit jarring that these technologies have been brought to my attention within weeks of the above mentioned idea surfacing. Here we have the first generation of tools with the essential qualities to make the above vision possible: kid proof toughness, easy to operate, and dirt cheap.

A third thing is also happening at the same time that has me really thinking about the ramifications of all this. I won’t go into it in detail here as you can read all about it elsewhere, but the situation in Venezuela with President Chavez stating his intention to kick all New Tribes Mission workers out of the country is hanging in the balance at this time. Chavez stated about a month ago that he had made his decision and New Tribes was being kicked out and there was going to be no further discussion. But my missionary friend down there emails updates fairly regularly with stories such as that of indigenous people spending days on the rivers to make their way into the cities to try to get their voices heard. Some are getting into the newspapers. A couple of guys got on TV and stated that they are sick and tired of anthropologists in the cities making decisions for them and trying to control how they live out in their villages. Many are saying that the government has done little or nothing for them and the missionaries are the only ones who have ever provided any real help. Many Venezuelans are rising and speaking out against the president’s decision. The last I heard a departure date in mid February has been talked about but the official documents making this a legal order have not been signed yet. Interesting.

Okay, what if the folks in the backcountry of Venezuela had the ability to make videos about their lives and were able to show what was actually going on in their villages? Remember, many of these folks are illiterate, so their communication would have to be aural and/or visual, not written. I have read so much ridiculous conjecture on the internet about what’s best for indigenous people, what they want, and the evils of missionaries coming in to exploit and destroy cultures from people who have obviously never been there to see for themselves the actual state of affairs. The most powerful refutation is to quote what indigenous people themselves are saying. But how much more powerful it would be if they were empowered to tell their own stories. What if scores of village groups in Venezuela right now were able to make videos and tell their side and show irrefutable proof about the reality there to blow away all the opinions tossed around by far away, ignorant, but nevertheless influential outsiders? What if these stories were able to be uploaded in very short order to the internet for all the world to see? A great deal of pressure could be brought to bear in a situation such as this and Chavez’ self-serving political agenda would be plainly evident.

So, there we go. For a long time I have been waiting for the price/performance of video technology to develop to the place where using video communication in missions would be affordable for any organization. It just didn’t occur to me that the precipitous drop in cost would continue right past that point to where equipping jungle villages to make TV would be easily possible. The training component to put this tool into the hands of illiterate people would be the biggest hurdle in my thinking. But what a powerful thing that would be! I’ve tried to think of a downside. This technology could get into the hands of folks who would want to use it for evil. But I got to thinking that is already the case. Every terrorist group has a camcorder and gets their videos on Al Jazeera or our network news to show off their latest hostage. So the bad guys already have weapons. What will happen if we give a weapon of truth to good people?

I for one think that this needs to happen. It’s highly likely that it will happen eventually whether we like it or not. But we may need to help it penetrate to the most remote peoples who up until now have had virtually no voice at all.