Happy Halloween, whether you like it or not!

My first instinct was to blog about the physical confrontation that I had with a student last week, but I delayed long enough until it was Halloween, so I figure a holiday post is more in order (I'll talk about my brawl next week, I promise).

Anyway, today's post is spurred on by my morning commute, which is always accompanied by the calming tones of KLTY's morning show with Frank Reed, Darlene Stringer, and Perry Revis. It dawned on me very early in my commute that these three were trying very hard to not even use the word "Halloween"(although in fairness Frank would use the expression, "Halloween alternative" on occasion). The code word that was most often used was "Fall Festival", as in, "The weather is going to be wonderful for your little ones as they go out to Fall Festivals tonight." I've always thought of myself as a Christian in good standing (actually that is a lie. I've always seen myself as a Christian darn lucky to have a forgiving God), but I missed the memo where it became the standard assumption that all good Christians eschew Halloween entirely.

I know that this is a source of conflict among some of us, but I think that friendship is only real if we can disagree with one another and still love each other, so let's talk about this. I come from the camp that says, at worst, Halloween is a meaningless night that allows kids to dress up, have some fun, and get candy. At best, it is a national tradition that unites disparate people in a common cultural legacy that forges an American identity that values shared rituals over sectarian heritage. In short, Halloween makes a stronger united America.

One could argue that the use of costume is not so much about idolizing the assumed identity, but casting off the real identity. We mask who we are to show that what we are is nothing. If everyone is something weird, than there is no standard for conformity; no majority or minority. We must all be accepted (or rejected) based off of our own uniqueness instead of on our allegience to certain socio-racial subgroups.

Unfortunately, this is all a national and philosophical perspective rather than a religious one, which is my supposed area of expertiese. Of course, I'm Church of Christ, and we CoC'ers speak where the Bible speaks and are silent where the Bible is silent, and the Bible is pretty silent on Halloween. I did find an interesting Episcopalian article here that makes sense to me from the Christian Point of View. Read it and give me your thoughts.

I love you guys, and I hope you have a Happy "Fall Festival" today.

Coming Home?

Well, as you should be able to tell, I fell off the wagon last week and didn't get to blog. I can't tell you how much I loathe working with the laptop carts at school, because it takes 10 minutes to pass them out and 10 minutes to collect them, and then I have to stand at constant attention of what the kids are doing for fear they will "accidentally" wind up on a porn site. It really cuts into my slacking time.

Anyway, Jennifer and I spent the weekend in lovely downtown Abilene, Texas for ACU's homecoming. I learned a couple of things from this experience:

1) Only the pretty and perfect people come to homecoming reunions. As I reflect on my time at ACU, I had more than a few friends. This weekend, I saw exactly three of them, and that is only because they still live in Abilene. The rest of them had better things to do than spend a weekend trying to recapture past glory. The cynic in me says that the only people who go to reunions are those whose lives peaked during college, but that is probably unfair.

2) Jennifer apparently had more "pretty and perfect" friends than I did in college. In what will surprise you not at all, Jennifer is more social than I am, and the whole weekend thusly consisted of me standing awkwardly behind her as she hugged and chit-chatted with people that I could not pick out of a line up to save my life.

3) I have really good current friends. There were exactly two times this weekend when I got excited upon recognizing someone. Both happened during the homecoming chapel. The first time was when I saw the Thompsons (Cody, Robyn, and Jace) from VRCC. The second time was when the Wages came in a little later. Also, we met up with the Hamptons who showed us around campus (it's changed a bunch in the last 7 years) and let me hold their cat. Seeing old familar faces is nice, but it is hard to beat those reminders of home.

4) Despite all of this, some friends are real keepers. My friends the Bells (Don and Melissa) housed us for the weekend and showed Jennifer and I that we really suck as hosts. The Emery's shared lunch with us Sunday, and there was some real nourishing of that relationship that I hope doesn't end at Carino's.

I hope that my comments don't offend anyone, particularly Wages', Thompsons', or any of Jennifer's friends whose names I learned this weekend but immediately forgot.

Is it Christmas Yet?

As many of you know, school is out today for Columbus day (or "fair day" in some districts). It's nice to have a day off, but it feels very abreviated. This year hasn't been the hardest one I've had in teaching, but I'm looking forward to a nice extended break.

If you hadn't guessed, I have little to say today. Jennifer and I are trying to clear out stuff on our DVR, so it's a relaxing day on the couch. I have work I should do for work tomorrow, but I can't bring myself to make it happen.

I'm not going to make you read my pointless ramblings, so I will sign off. Take care.