I finished a wonderful novel last night called Household Saints by Francine Prose. I think you all would like it. The first sentence is a zinger: "It happened by the grace of God that Josheph Santangelo won his wife in a game of cards." How could you not want to read the rest? Ms. Prose explores, in her own quiet way, themes as broad as God and love, and as unlikely as the possibility of modern sainthood. It's quite moving and very thought provoking.
I am also reading a book called Real Presences by George Steiner, a literary critic/philospher who argues in this book that perhaps art is not possible without the existence of "the Other." It's a dense book, but very good. He is inspiring, especially in my thinking about a Mennonite approach to the arts (which is abysmal, if it is anything at all—we could learn a few things from the Catholics here) in general, and painting and writing in particular. One of my goals this coming year is to work on an apologetic for a Mennonite approach to aesthetics. There isn't one, and we need one! I think it could revitalize the life of the church.
Another book I just started is called Beauty and Being Just by Elaine Scarry, who is a philosopher of aesthetics at an Ivy League school. Not much to say about that except that I'm only a few pages into it, and that she ties beauty with social justice.
And finally, I'm reading a book about Modernism (1890s-1930s) in literature. Yawn.
I'm going nuts at Amazon. I haven't bought any books lately, but there is almost two hundred dollars worth of books in my shopping cart waiting for a nice warm home and a loving caretaker!
What are you guys reading?
Well, Lily wants toast, so I'll sign off now.
By the way, Radiohead has a new disc out, Gretchen. You have to order it from their website. It's called In Rainbows.
Chad
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Hello,
I just finished grading my students' essays. Oh vey. Here is a sentence from one of my student's essay. They were asked to do a semiotic reading on an object that represents American culture, and this particular student chose to write about hamburgers. So that's a pretty good object to write about. His one sentence that almost made me pee my pants was, "Hamburgers are very vertical." Oh yea? Well how do you get the ketchup, mustard, and pickles to stay put if your burgers are vertical? (He meant "versatile.")
But, on the other hand, I have a student who wrote the most eloquent essay, why America is like a quilt. I gave her a 97. So, I gave 6 As, 2 Bs, 7 Cs, and 2 Ds, an interesting spread of grades.
I'm getting ready to start a painting on canvas. I'm going to print one of my stories onto it, then wash over it with several layers of thinned oil paint. I've been thinking a lot about icons and how they are painted, how when an artist makes an icon of a saint, Mary, or Jesus, he or she "writes" the icon and doesn't paint it. It's a lovely metaphor, particularly when you explore the etymology of the word, "write," which means to etch or scratch. So, in is a very real sense, my stories are icons or paintings, etchings in canvas.
Anyway, I hope you all are well. The kids are great. Lily is reading and writing. Aaron is reading a lot, and Cyndi has a show this weekend at EMU. She is debuting her birds, the dead ones.
Good times all around!
Chad
I just finished grading my students' essays. Oh vey. Here is a sentence from one of my student's essay. They were asked to do a semiotic reading on an object that represents American culture, and this particular student chose to write about hamburgers. So that's a pretty good object to write about. His one sentence that almost made me pee my pants was, "Hamburgers are very vertical." Oh yea? Well how do you get the ketchup, mustard, and pickles to stay put if your burgers are vertical? (He meant "versatile.")
But, on the other hand, I have a student who wrote the most eloquent essay, why America is like a quilt. I gave her a 97. So, I gave 6 As, 2 Bs, 7 Cs, and 2 Ds, an interesting spread of grades.
I'm getting ready to start a painting on canvas. I'm going to print one of my stories onto it, then wash over it with several layers of thinned oil paint. I've been thinking a lot about icons and how they are painted, how when an artist makes an icon of a saint, Mary, or Jesus, he or she "writes" the icon and doesn't paint it. It's a lovely metaphor, particularly when you explore the etymology of the word, "write," which means to etch or scratch. So, in is a very real sense, my stories are icons or paintings, etchings in canvas.
Anyway, I hope you all are well. The kids are great. Lily is reading and writing. Aaron is reading a lot, and Cyndi has a show this weekend at EMU. She is debuting her birds, the dead ones.
Good times all around!
Chad
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
where is everybody???
Are we all not speaking these days? We had a great time at the Birky Family Dinner on Sunday. Missed Chad & Heather. Gretchen, Todd & Maddie were there. Maddie got to meet her cousins & was excited to interact with the little ones. Becky was there too. Sorry I don't have any pictures - even though lots of them were taken. Chad, tell Aaron & Lily I could use some of their artwork. Heather, Emma could send me some of hers too. Take care!
Love,
Mom & Aunt Cheri
Love,
Mom & Aunt Cheri
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Hello!
I'm absolutely loving teaching. My kids are so young and impressionable. It sometimes freaks me out when I think about all of them (there are nineteen) listening to me ramble on for an hour. I assigned their first essay today: a semiotic reading of an object that represents American culture. Hmmm....we'll see how that goes. I'm finally doing what I want to be doing for the first time in my life. Gosh, it took long enough. Hopefully there will be more classes for me next semester, or next year. I'm going to apply again at JMU. But in the meantime, I'm teaching, painting, and working on a novel. I've sent out a couple of stories, but haven't heard back yet. I discovered a cool podcast available from the New Yorker where writers read fiction that has been published in the New Yorker. It's really good. You should take a listen. My favorite story thus far is by John Cheever called "Reunion." I'm also thinking about starting to paint on canvas: big color fields painted with oils. I can picture them in my head, but I'm not too sure how to flush them out into colors and onto canvas. We'll see if that happes. Cyndi is working on a photo project. She is photographing every item she owns (like all our spices, one by one, every pair of underwear, our CDs, etc.). The show will be called "And This Isn't Everything." She wants to cover several gallery walls with prints of all our crap. It's a bit obsessive, but that's Cyndi! God bless her. She's also going to put it on YouTube as flashing images (about one per second) to some house music. I'll keep you informed when it happens.
Lily is liking Kindergarten. She's hot stuff now, and wants to pierce her ears so she'll "be the prettiest one there." Dear God have mercy on us all.
love to all,
Chad
I'm absolutely loving teaching. My kids are so young and impressionable. It sometimes freaks me out when I think about all of them (there are nineteen) listening to me ramble on for an hour. I assigned their first essay today: a semiotic reading of an object that represents American culture. Hmmm....we'll see how that goes. I'm finally doing what I want to be doing for the first time in my life. Gosh, it took long enough. Hopefully there will be more classes for me next semester, or next year. I'm going to apply again at JMU. But in the meantime, I'm teaching, painting, and working on a novel. I've sent out a couple of stories, but haven't heard back yet. I discovered a cool podcast available from the New Yorker where writers read fiction that has been published in the New Yorker. It's really good. You should take a listen. My favorite story thus far is by John Cheever called "Reunion." I'm also thinking about starting to paint on canvas: big color fields painted with oils. I can picture them in my head, but I'm not too sure how to flush them out into colors and onto canvas. We'll see if that happes. Cyndi is working on a photo project. She is photographing every item she owns (like all our spices, one by one, every pair of underwear, our CDs, etc.). The show will be called "And This Isn't Everything." She wants to cover several gallery walls with prints of all our crap. It's a bit obsessive, but that's Cyndi! God bless her. She's also going to put it on YouTube as flashing images (about one per second) to some house music. I'll keep you informed when it happens.
Lily is liking Kindergarten. She's hot stuff now, and wants to pierce her ears so she'll "be the prettiest one there." Dear God have mercy on us all.
love to all,
Chad
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Catching Up
I've got new photos to share. We seem to be very busy here out west. It's not interesting busy stuff that you all care to hear about. Just a lot of walking (in prep for Marathon), get togethers with friends and family, and house stuff. We are getting very excited about all of your visits this fall. Chad, I wish we would be seeing you. Look foward to hearing from you all.
singles ad
hello hello. i finally got around to taking some more recent pictures of maddie. she's crawling, sort of. she kind of scoots around and drags one leg-slightly resembling a hermit crab. as you can see, she still loves baths and faking illnesses. this is begining to sound like a singles ad. she also loves poetry, long walks on the beach, candlight dinners and massages. um, anyway...i think its becoming apparent that i have nothing to say. i would be interested to know how chad's days as a professor are shaping up. oh and mom, i checked out your shadow puppets and they were pretty impressive. i now regret making fun of you, relentlessly for those several minutes. my deepest apologies.
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