manufacturing glamour

“The state of being envied is what constitutes glamour. And [advertising] is the process of manufacturing glamour. … [advertising] is always about the future buyer. It offers him an image of himself made glamorous by the product or opportunity it is trying to sell. The image then makes him envious of himself as he might be. Yet what makes this self-which-he-might-be enviable? The envy of other. [Advertising] is about social relations, not objects. Its promise is not of pleasure, but of happiness: happiness as judged from the outside by others. The happiness of being envied is glamour. … Being envied is a solitary form of reassurance. It depends precisely upon not sharing your experience with those who envy you. You are observed with interest but you do not observe with interest – if you do, you will become less enviable.”

[Paul Berger, Ways of Seeing]

i read this passage a few weeks ago and i’ve been reflecting on it ever since… i’ve found it to be quite true.  this critique of consumer culture is powerful because it makes you feel silly.  pretty interesting.

explaining the religious naturally, and the natural religiously

This narrative begins in the year 1997. Sister John of the Cross is a Carmelite cloistered nun who has been living in her monastery for the past 28 years, committing her life to the tireless, endless pursuit of God. Her namesake was a 16th Century mystic and poet who wrote a book entitled, “Dark Night of the Soul,” a text influential in Sister John’s personal life and a precursor to the long journey that lied ahead of her. But unlike her namesake, Sister John’s prayers, songs of worship, and daily regimented schedule of chores has lost their meaning over the years, and Sister John finds herself in what she describes as a spiritual desert – her very own “dark night of the soul.”

Recently however, she has found her experiences with God to be electrified, her visions more radiant and stunning than ever before. These experiences of complete spiritual ecstasy come to her at unexpected moments throughout the day, and sometimes cause her to disrupt the regular activity happening in the monastery. Nevertheless, these powerful visions of God inspire her to write some of the finest poetry she has ever produced about life as a cloistered nun, bringing her special honor and accolades, even an opportunity to give a public address at the Vatican.

But shortly after her moments of spiritual ecstasy come devastating headaches that often times cause her to black-out. Her superiors in the monastery take her to the doctor when they fear these headaches may be dangerous, and her doctor makes a painful discovery: her moments of spiritual ecstasy are in fact epileptic fits, caused by a small tumor in her brain. Her doctor tells her that this tumor can be easily removed, and predicts, “Once we’ve removed that tumor… you’ll be as good as new.”

parking, theologically

most human activity is inherently theological, in that it reflects what we believe to be the case about god — who god is, what god wants from us, how involved god is in the world, and so forth. the house i buy — where it is, how big it is, how much it costs — is a theological decision. it reflects what i believe about the following questions and more: does god care where i live? does god care how i spend my money? does god favor the city or the suburbs? does god care about energy use? does god favor public transportation? maybe i believe that god cares about none of these things, in which case my decision to purchase the biggest house i can afford in the nicest part of town reflects my theolical belief that god is not concerned with such things. similarly, decisions that are much more mundane also reflect our beliefs about who god is and how god interacts with us. some people pray for a good parking spot when they’re driving to the mall. others ask, “if god is allowing genocide in darfur, why would he intervene in the traffic patterns at my shopping mall?!?”

so theology isn’t just talk, and it’s not even just great works of art like the allogry of peace and war. actors act theology and business people work theology and stay-at-home moms change diapers and make lunch theologically.

[tony jones -- the new christians]

it’s not about the bike

about a year ago, i decided to buy a bike.

the week before i made the purchase, i had a dream about biking, where i was cruising along the burke-gilman trail past gasworks park. i had nowhere to go and nowhere i had to be, i could just enjoy the ride, the view, and the night. the dream turned into a daydream at work the next day — the happiness & calm i felt that night really startled me. it made me nostalgic for my childhood, where i spent much of my time biking with my brother in our relatively large back yard that doubled as a basketball court in the rainier valley. i loved rolling around with my training wheels, dorky helmet (that featured some cool pink streaks!), and stupid grin, chasin’ dennis around. that was a time when everything was perfect.

it was a total impulse buy. if i had thought it out more carefully, i wouldn’t have bought the bike. despite the fact that i hadn’t hopped on a bike since elementary school (and really didn’t know if i’d even like it now), i went to a sporting goods store near my parents house and dropped a couple hundred bucks on a cruddy mountain-road hybrid bike. fortunately for me, it was something i instantly loved.

sojourners & obama

this video is the keynote address obama gave at the sojourners “call to renewal” conference. amazing stuff on the relationship between faith & politics. the way obama’s faith drives his politics is the most compelling reason why i caucused for obama this past weekend and why i hope to vote for him in november.

here’s the written transcript.

… should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount—a passage that is so radical that it’s doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application?

info for the wa caucus tomorrow…

you can show up at your caucus location (figure that out, here) tomorrow and participate in the big event.

when you arrive at your location, you can: 1) register to vote if you have not already done so, 2) give them your new address if you’ve recently moved, or 3) register as a democrat if you so desire.

i called the nice voter folks this morning and they assured me that i can just show up at the location closest to my address and provide all my new info upon arrival.

obama by 4

at the end of super tuesday:

obama — 838 delegates

clinton– 834 delegates

this is even better than the superbowl! check msnbc’s leaderboard, here. looks like there’s a good chance neither obama nor clinton will have enough delegates before the dnc.

washington democrats, do you know where you’re caucusing this weekend?

the anti-victory narrative

at the end of last quarter, one of my professors wrote an autobiographical spoken word piece that he read to our class. it was an anti-victory narrative.

there are a few basic kinds of narratives. there’s the hero narrative where a righteous individual rises up, overcomes the opposition and saves the day (this is the plotline of 95% of summer blockbusters). there’s the tragic-hero narrative where a tragically-flawed individual ultimately falls short of a goal because of their own shortcomings (think caesar).

and then there’s the anti-victory narrative. it’s not very popular.

what’s it like to be a giants fan right now?

this is the most ridiculous play ever. wow.

the game was over when the patriots went up with some two minutes left. the game was REALLY over when the giants return man got dropped at the 15 yard line on the kick-off. they kept finding themselves in third down situations — and somehow, they kept converting them. then, in the third down play in the video above, eli manning evades the grasps of a few 300lbs+ linemen, and throws up a prayer. then the miracle catch that shocked (a record) 97 million households… how the heck did tyree — a nobody slot receiver — pin the ball to his helmet? it was just incredible. you gotta believe fate carried them the rest of the way.

checking the endorsement scorecard…

His flair for expression, both in print and on the stump, too easily leads observers to forget that Obama is a man not just of style but of substance. He’s a thoughtful student of the Constitution and an experienced lawmaker in his home state and, for the last three years, in the Senate…… In the language of metaphor, Clinton is an essay, solid and reasoned; Obama is a poem, lyric and filled with possibility. Clinton would be a valuable and competent executive, but Obama matches her in substance and adds something that the nation has been missing far too long — a sense of aspiration.

[from the la times -- check out the awesome endorsement, here]

or in other words, she’s a pc, obama’s a mac.

obama has picked up a some nice endorsements from the la times, moveon.org (web center of the progressive universe), service employees international union (the largest labor union in california), ny post, toni morrison (read her books), and — most importantly for us seattlelites — the stranger. not bad heading into super tuesday.