May 28, 2010

Latest Creative Endeavor


(Sorry boys by the way...)
So I recently made this jewelry pendant. I am pretty excited and feel I have a new obsession coming on... the clear glassy like finish is called "diamond glaze dimensional adhesive" which is code for awesome.
The flowered paper is from this stationary that Anne & Laura got for me from the National Art Museum in DC (is that what the art museum in DC is called?)
Anyway, I hope that everyone has a great Memorial Day and if you have an exceptionally exciting adventure, be sure to share. Actually. Let's be real, even if it's only moderately exciting, share.

Until the Pequod Stellas,
Cheltz-dog

May 24, 2010

Beautiful

There is a fantastic song that I managed to imbed not here but on a blog I do as part of my work (a work which I will no longer be working at after this week--new job). ANYWAY, go to this link http://arringtonroofing.com/Roofer-Blog/job-photos/ and find the link that is entitled "Banjo Moon." It is a fantastic, fantastic song.

May 23, 2010

Southwest Update

A small piece of the desert flew into my eye while driving today.



Then I sang Neutral Milk Hotel, which led me to the next stage of my journey: hitting up the BK Lounge. Josh Neu, Peter Kane, and Sercer mentioned one afternoon's return from Nashville the glory that is BKL, ever since that fateful afternoon I have been a believer.




In other news, some masses in Arizona are commonly called "guitar mass."

ONE MORE WEEK OF SCHOOL.

 Yesterday I spat game with a pidgeon and a palm tree; they were both fairly coy.  48 hour mohawk.
















Okay: Way to go Cheltz on being the best blogger. You and your posts are legit (even though you may not have recently posted up at the BK Lounge).

Summer Plans:

  • Going to be in DC June and maybe July
  • Going to Mary Pat and Sam's wedding (July 3rd)
  • Passing through Texas and other states on the way to and fro DC

Gift: Wisdom

Dear Friends,

Happy Feast of Pentecost! I heard a priest comment last week that we should celebrate Pentecost with the same joy and splendor that we celebrate Christmas; because after all, where Christmas celebrates the second Person of the Trinity coming into the world, Pentecost celebrates the third.

I wanted to share this passage from Christ is Passing By by St. Josemaria:


Among the gifts of the Holy Spirit, I would say that there is one which we all need in a special way: the gift of wisdom. It makes us know God and rejoice in his presence, thereby placing us in a perspective from which we can judge accurately the situations and events of this life. If we were consistent with our faith when we looked around us and contemplated the world and its history, we would be unable to avoid feeling in our own hearts the same sentiments that filled the heart of our Lord: "Seeing the crowds, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were bewildered and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd."

Not that the Christian should neglect to see all that is good in humanity, appreciate its healthy joys or participate in its enthusiasm and ideals. On the contrary, a true Christian will vibrate in unison with all the good he finds in the world. And he will live in the midst of it with a special concern, since he knows, better than anyone, the depth and the richness of the human spirit.

May 17, 2010

Who knew Minnesota was so cool?

Chesterton Academy! as in, G.K.


If I ever happen to be raising high school aged children in the fine northern state of Minnesota, I just might send them there. From the website:

"Chesterton Academy is a private, independent high school in the Twin Cities that nurtures the minds and souls of young men and women with a classics-based, college preparatory education taught through the lens of the teachings of the Catholic Church. Through the study of art, music, literature, language, history, mathematics, science, philosophy and theology, Chesterton Academy will prepare students to think both rationally and creatively, to defend their faith, to contribute positively to society, and to promote a culture of life.

Jude Dougherty, Dean Emeritus of Philosophy of the Catholic University of America, once commented: “Those who do not possess a classical education are prisoners of their own time. To know and be interested only in the ‘now’ means being incapable of evaluating or appreciating even that.” That is why a Chesterton Academy education is so essential. It is an opportunity to introduce students to the true, the good, and the beautiful. It is an opportunity to take the best of what has been thought, so as to provide a sturdy intellectual foundation for the future. Finally, it is an education that recognizes, as G.K. Chesterton said, “that there is a whole truth of things, and in knowing it and speaking it we are happy.”

also... note their major matching donation campaign right now if you feel so inspired and generous!

In a world fraught with angst, one man must have the answers...

This made my Monday morning.

Mmm, Danish.

May 16, 2010

Super Chill Orangutan does Hollywood

Vincent Van Gogh totally looks like Chuck Norris

Vincent Van Gogh Totally Looks Like Chuck Norris

London Town

Here's one of Kinch's songs that I've only heard live (I don't know if it's on any of their albums). Enjoy!

Congratulatione!

____Congratulations to____
 ____The Class of 2010____

Welcome to the real world

My advice to you: If you haven't achieved 
Ring by Spring,
Don't worry!  There's still other things like 
"Nuptial Mass before a Year can Pass"

Music recommendation

Gorilla Manor, by Local Natives. 5/8 of a point for Kinch, no?

May 13, 2010

May 10, 2010

Sometimes, I am embarrassed to admit that I indulge in certain types of media: for example, I love me some Slipknot, revel in Eminem, and even enjoy things like “I’m on a Boat!” I have to ask myself, “Self, are you just being base and falling for stuff that diverts your mind from reality for a bit?” And self says, “Yeah, I; but maybe, there’s something about all this that actually helps me understand reality, too!” In other words, I really enjoy stuff like Eminem; it makes me happy; it seems that there is something good that should follow from that happiness. So, … seeing as how I will be on a boat ferrying in between Scotland and Ireland with the SGA juniors this summer, and seeing as how we plan to visit a small, lonely island off the northern side of Scotland, the following is a brief attempt to justify my enjoyment of “I’m On A Boat!” in terms of what it can teach us about art and reality.

“I’m On A Boat!” is a post-modern expression of high existentialism. First of all, we need to get over the sterile, misunderstood formula for existentialism that is promoted to those who wish to have a shallow understanding of what is actually an important philosophy of life in the modern age. Thumbnail definition (which is false) of existentialism: “things exist, but they don’t mean anything.” This might apply more to what might be considered the absurdist imagination, such as presented in Camus’ masques, or Beckett’s tragedy; but let’s look at existentialism. Jean Paul Sartre is one of the theoreticians behind this school of thought; he promotes the “theatre of situations” as opposed to the “theatre of characters.” We have all wondered, I’m sure, What if I was alive when Christ was proclaiming the Good News? What if I went to TAC? What if I was born as Peter Kane’s twin? Well, the theatre of situations seems to attack one of mankind’s universal illusions: that our life situation is a contingent, interchangeable circumstance through which moves our unchanging self. Existentialism rather violently destroys any false dreams. I think that’s why my favorite lines in “I’m On A Boat!” include the following brilliant observations: “**** land, I’m on a boat, mother******! / ****trees, I climb buoys, mother******! / I’m on a boat with my boys, mother******! / This boat engine making noise, mother******!” See, existentialism is good in that it forces awareness of the reality of our situation in life. Only the unique, definite, particular experiences of our life allows us as selves to come to an awareness of our “me myself” (using Whitman’s term rather than Freud’s, the ego, to designate Whitman’s much more vital understanding of the self). This character, indeed all of the characters in the song and video, reject any alternate realities; they realize that it is only by grasping the situation of their being on a boat can they make any sense of their lives. They don’t reject other situations for other people (“You at Kinko’s straight flipping copies”), they just reject other possible situations for their selves. For example, some of my favorite lines are, “This ain’t Sea World, this is real as it gets, / I’m on a boat, mother******, don’t you e’er forget!” Or, "You can't stop me, mother******, 'cause I'm on a boat!" Or (and this is my favorite line), “This boat is real!”

Dante, in a letter to Can Grande alle Scale (this is the source for Dante’s understanding of the fourfold method of biblical exegesis, too, so you know the letter’s good), says that one thing by which a work may be judged as artistically correct or not is whether the title of a work is appropriate to the content of the work. (This is similar, too, to Maritain’s understanding of the poetics of the novel: the “harmonious or appropriate expansion” of a theme or idea.) Well, the artistic merit of an existentialist understanding of “I’m On A Boat!” is that every line in the poem serves to reveal and expand the subject mentioned in the title. Do we need to know about T-Pain’s love life to appreciate the situation he is placed in by virtue of being on a boat (“I ******a mermaid”)? Do we need to know T-Pain’s background (what he did before he was on a boat) to understand that the situation he is placed in on a boat is different than what he expected from himself (“I never though I’d be on a boat / … I never thought I’d see the day, / With a big boat coming my way”)? See, one of the brilliant things about “I’m On A Boat” is that no superfluous background material interferes with the unfolding of the situation given in the title of the song. One of the more annoying things in life would be a work of criticism that tracks down every little biographical detail about the characters of the song; or that chases down every reference to things that are not of the boat (much like the Road to Xanadu). Don’t such biographical footnotes distract from the work of art? To explain by digression a bit, I love the Albertine of Ivan Blatny’s poetry. Well, it kind of ticks me off that it turns out that Blatny actually is referencing some guy that Marcel Proust fell in love with, and that all of Blatny’s poetry is an expression of desire for another man! That footnote ticked me off. Heck with that, I say; who cares whether Albertine’s character is supposed to be male or female; she is a beautiful woman in the situation of Blatny’s poems and a beautiful woman she remains for me. Anyway, it seems that learning anything about the singers of “I’m On A Boat” (as a true “character analysis” would try to do) would reveal nothing about what the song is trying to say.

Ah well. I need to return to Dostoevsky's Mitya's three torments of the soul, so here’s a final remark about the possible importance of existentialism. We need to look at great events of humans in terms of how they apply to our situation in life. We can’t really come close to the faith that Abraham put in God; Abraham was absolutely absurd to believe that God would make him the father of the nations after He told him to sacrifice his only son! But, Abraham did; and He did; we cannot really have faith like that. We can only be rational, non-absurd beings. We cannot relate to the characters that do great events; we can only look at the situations we are faced with in everyday life.

That concluding remark looks like it could be said by one of Kierkegaard’s “knights of infinite resignation.” I hope I’m not one of those.

Anyway. Here’s why I like “I’m On A Boat:” it provides a forum for a meaningful discussion about art, literature, reality, life, etc. Hopefully, I will be able to justify my enjoyment of Slipknot and Eminem in a similar manner at some point in the future.

May 9, 2010

We're the Happiest University in the Country; How 'bout about that, Dallas

Howdy y'all, I'm coming back to Dallas this Wednesday for a week and a half! Neal is getting hitched, so I wasn't about to miss that. 'Til then, I've written one last article for the "Claremont Independent;" tell me what you think.

"The 'Happiest Campus in the Country'? What Aristotle can tell us about true Happiness" by Christopher Wolfe

For those who have not heard, Claremont McKenna is officially the “Happiest College in the Country.” In a ranking from the Daily Beast website, the Claremont Colleges took four of the top six spots for happiness, with good old Pitzer even coming in at 22. To be called “happy” is serious praise for Claremont, and we should be proud. But before we get too proud, we should ask ourselves: “What does this happiness consist of?” To be honest, the standards that the Daily Beast used to measure our happiness were not what should measure happiness. I would argue that unfortunately, Claremont McKenna is not the happiest college in the country. I say this because of what happiness actually is.
Aristotle offers the best account of what happiness is. The Greek word Aristotle uses for happiness is eudaimonia, which literally means “blessed.” Certainly, this broadest sense of “happiness” could accurately be applied to Claremont. A very large number of the students here are happy with the university, they are satisfied with it. They feel “blessed” to be going to Claremont considering the alternatives. But we should question whether that satisfaction makes our lives truly happy. What Aristotle means when he talks about happiness is the best human life possible, a life “in accordance with the best and most complete activity.” Many have different opinions about what that best life is, but as the argument of Aristotle unfolds, all but one of these alternatives prove incomplete.
Some say that the best life is experiencing the most pleasurable states possible. If this is true, Claremont would have a pretty good claim at happiness. The Daily Beast gave the schools high ratings for quality of food, nightlife, and fair weather; these pleasant circumstances are what really earned Claremont the ranking of “Happiest.” In looking at the faces of people on campus, most do appear joyful, which is certainly an aspect of what it means to be happy. But a happy exterior isn’t everything. We may feel that we are happy, but on reflection, we know that we are not completely happy. As Aristotle says, pleasure is not a self-sufficient end; it is a feeling that accompanies activities that may be high or low. There are some pleasures that should not be pursued — the ones accompanying vicious actions. A happy life is not the one in accordance with the maximum base pleasure; the person who thinks this mistakes being well with doing well materially.
Happiness is life in accordance with the best activity, which Aristotle shows to be contemplation. Incoming students at the Claremont Colleges have exceedingly high test scores, and are smart and engaged in the classroom. Are Claremont students happy, then, because they think more than other students? If a person is “smart,” is this enough to make him happy? Absolutely not. The intellect is more than a simple on-and-off switch that when engaged makes us happy. A way of life, not just an activity, must be embraced. When illicit drug usage, sexually immorality, and “the Vagina Monologues” rule the day in Claremont, no amount of intellectual excellence will be able to overcome these moral failings. A complete life of virtue is required, in which contemplation is the sign or specific difference of happiness.
The best way of life for Aristotle is characterized by contemplation, but not limited to this virtue. The standard for the best life which Aristotle mentions in his Eudemian Ethics is the “noble” life, kalakagathia. The noble life consists of the “whole” of the virtues, the best of the practical and the best of the intellectual, accompanied by appropriate pleasures. Aristotle says that nobility is “whatever mode of choosing and of acquiring things good by nature — whether goods of body or wealth or friends or the other goods — will best promote the contemplation of God, that is the best mode; this is the standard of nobility.” Indeed, nobility is the fulfillment of those qualities of life which of which the Daily Beast’s “happiness” is only a pale and incomplete reflection.
There is one more requirement that Aristotle says is necessary to judge a life to be happy. The life must be “complete,” — that is, the person must be dead. As he says, “one day or a short time does not make a person blessed and happy.” You should now realize that the standard I have adopted from Aristotle concerning happiness makes it impossible to judge any college student to be happy. This is true, at least until that college student’s full life has been lived and can be appraised. However, the standard of nobility is something that a Claremont student can aim at in his choices and activities. Nobility is like a “snapshot” of a whole life, that if continued could be called “happy.” We should aim at nobility, and hopefully a happy life will result.
I would not encourage anyone to stop seeking happiness. If you have joy, do not give it up. At the same time, do not tolerate evil. We should speak the truth in charity, with smiles on our faces. Perhaps the Claremont Independent should publish the “100 Most Noble Colleges in America;” Claremont McKenna would still be on my list.

A Templeton Conversation: Does moral action depend on reasoning?

A Templeton Conversation: Does moral action depend on reasoning?

Read Robert George's Response (found at the bottom).

Sometimes Obama Makes Me Happy


HAMPTON, Virginia — US President Barack Obama lamented Sunday that in the iPad and Xbox era, information had become a diversion that was imposing new strains on democracy, in his latest critique of modern media.
Obama, who often chides journalists and cable news outlets for obsessing with political horse race coverage rather than serious issues, told a class of graduating university students that education was the key to progress.
"You're coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don't always rank all that high on the truth meter," Obama said at Hampton University, Virginia.
"With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, -- none of which I know how to work -- information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation," Obama said.
He bemoaned the fact that "some of the craziest claims can quickly claim traction," in the clamor of certain blogs and talk radio outlets.
"All of this is not only putting new pressures on you, it is putting new pressures on our country and on our democracy."
Obama, who uses the handful of Commencement addresses that he delivers each year to meditate on societal developments broader than the minutiae of everyday politics, warned the world was at a moment of "breathtaking change."
"We can't stop these changes... but we can adapt to them," Obama said, adding that US workers were in a battle with well-educated foreign workers.
"Education... can fortify you, as it did earlier generations, to meet the tests of your own time," he said.
Hampton University is a historically black college, and Obama noted the huge disparity in educational achievement between African Americans and other racial groups in the United States and the world.
But he urged the graduates to take inspiration from the example of Dorothy Height, a civil and women's rights icon who died, aged 98, last month, who fought racial prejudice to secure a college education.
"A black woman, in 1929, refusing to be denied her dream of a college education," Obama said, reprising Height's life story.
"Refusing to be denied her rights, refusing to be denied her dignity, refusing to be denied... her piece of America's promise."
Obama argued that from the days of the pioneer politicians who founded the United States, until the modern day, education and knowledge had been the key to progress and US democracy.
He drew a line between Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and today's challenges.
"What Jefferson recognized... that in the long run, their improbable experiment -- called America -- wouldn't work if its citizens were uninformed, if its citizens were apathetic, if its citizens checked out, and left democracy to those who didn't have the best interests of all the people at heart.
"It could only work if each of us stayed informed and engaged, if we held our government accountable, if we fulfilled the obligations of citizenship."

Poetry On The Range

http://www.oriensjournal.com/6poety.html

May 8, 2010

The Oven Bird

THE OVEN BIRD
by Robert Frost

There is a singer everyone has heard,
Loud, a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird,
Who makes the solid tree trunks sound again.
He says that leaves are old and that for flowers
Mid-summer is to spring as one to ten.
He says the early petal-fall is past
When pear and cherry bloom went down in showers
On sunny days a moment overcast;
And comes that other fall we name the fall.
He says the highway dust is over all.
The bird would cease and be as other birds
But that he knows in singing not to sing.
The question that he frames in all but words
Is what to make of a diminished thing.






May 6, 2010

No Salvation Outside of Poetry

Here is a wonderful talk given by Bishop Conley; Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Denver.

The Title of the talk is "No Salvation Outside of Poetry."

Bishop Conley fondly recounts his experiences in the Integrated Humanities Program (IHP sometimes called Pearson Program) at Kansas University in the 70's.

http://www.archden.org/repository//TOT_03_12_10.mp3

"Poetry is the language of love"

May 4, 2010

Kid say dem crazy thangs

My Kids today:


Kids: Mr. Bloch do you still get grounded?

Mr. Bloch: Yes.

Kids: For what?

Mr. Bloch: Not Cleaning my room.
















--------------------------------------------

Susie (a female student wearing copious amounts of men's cologne):
Mr. Bloch can you help me with the shading on this object?

Mr. Bloch: I can't talk to you right now.
I can't handle the amount of cologne you're wearing.


















----------------------------------------------

Jenny, who could be one of the "plastics" from Mean Girls, made some pop culture reference in class.

Mr. Bloch: Jenny, you're a nerd.

Jenny: No I'm not! (indignantly)

Mr. Bloch: Saaaaay it.

Jenny: I'm a nerd... (quietly)

Mr. Bloch: Loud and Proud

Jenny: I'M A NERD!!!

-----------------------------------------------------

Katie: Mr. Bloch, have you been letting your hair grow long?

Mr. Bloch: Eh what?

Katie: You're starting to look like Elvis.
















----------------------------------------------

Chris: Mr. Bloch, did you used to have long hair?

May 2, 2010

Real Country

Dear All,

The Country genre has been pretty badly maimed; it's been dominated by pop artists for far too long.  Although not all country music is bad, I would say the majority of it is.


There have been a few bright stars: Jonny Cash, Steve Earle (played a song with the Pogues once!), Uncle Tupelo, and Chris Ledoux (to name a few of the few).    Many bands that may be labeled as "Country" go for "alt country" or "American" or "Bluegrass."  But I haven't yet seen a band label themselves as pure country and not sound like plastic shit - until I heard Ryan Bingham.















This guy is for real totally legit.  He's had a tough life.  He's got a deep whiskey cigarette voice that tells stories.  He labels himself as Country music.  His music is moving, energetic, charged by the Texas landscape from which he hails.  I thoroughly enjoy listening to him.

Go to his website and play some of his music.  Listen to this song from the Dave Letterman show.  He wrote the theme to the movie Crazy Heart (staring Jeff Bridges).

New Charity Week Video from UDunderground