Remembering Glen Stassen

Early this morning, I got a message from one of the professors I work with at Fuller, informing me that Dr. Glen Stassen had passed away a few hours previously. It wasn't unexpected news. Dr. Stassen had been fighting cancer for much of the previous year, and his health had taken such a turn in recent months that a planned retirement event honoring Dr. Stassen was moved ahead to this past month to make sure that he would still be around to enjoy it. Although this naturally made for some quick scrambling for my colleagues and myself in Fuller's School of Theology Dean's Office, I can safely speak for all of us in saying that we were happy to do so.
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Celebrating the 45th Anniversary of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

I am extremely thankful for my friends on Facebook. They often remind me of news and events that I would otherwise allow to pass by unnoticed. That's what happened today, when one of my friends posted this news article recalling the origins of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood 45 years ago today. This is the kind of anniversary I would have been sorry to have missed.
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The Resignation of a Pope

The season of Lent starts on Wednesday. As I've mentioned in the past, it is common practice for Christians to give something up during the season between Ash Wednesday and Easter. This year, it appears that Catholics will be giving up having a Pope for Lent.
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Blog Action Day 2012 - The Power of We... in Fighting Breast Cancer

There are several holidays and observances on the calendar that, although they do indeed have some form or another of official recognition, nonetheless often go by unnoticed. "Boss's Day," which takes place tomorrow (Tuesday, October 16th), has been one such holiday for me. The fact that I'm noticing "Boss's Day" this year is more than a little ironic, but more on that in a moment.
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In Memory of Patrick

A friend of mine from college passed away yesterday after a near-drowning accident on Thursday. He had a pretty good impersonation of Gonzo singing this song.

Star Trek: The Next Generation Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary

If you follow the Star Trek franchise, you may already be aware that today marks the 25th anniversary of the premiere of the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Encounter at Farpoint." The odds are, Paramount will be making an even bigger fuss about the 50th anniversary of the entire Star Trek franchise in just four more years, but in the meantime, there are plenty of interviews and retrospectives to be found. Just head on over to StarTrek.com for a sampling.

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The Count's Not Laughing Today

I've just heard the news that Muppet legend Jerry Nelson passed away last night. Besides performing as "the Count" on Sesame Street since 1972, Nelson was commonly heard as an announcer for many Muppet productions (including an uncredited bit in last year's movie, The Muppets) and a number of minor and not-so-minor Muppet characters (perhaps most notably Gobo Fraggle on Fraggle Rock) over a career than spanned six different decades.

While Nelson had already retired for health reasons several years ago, giving the Sesame Street folks time to transition to a new performer for Nelson's characters, I have not been able to verify if a permanent voice for the Count had yet been selected at the time of Nelson's death, and know that Nelson continued to provide the Count's voice at least for a time after giving up the actual puppeteering work. I imagine that at least some recordings of Nelson's announcer-work (perhaps the introduction to "Super Grover" sketches? I admit this is just a shameless way to justify using a picture of my Super Grover toy. Nelson was not Grover's voice) will be used for some time to come. Even so, he will be missed.

The Wedding that Survived the Storm

I just got back from a weekend in Alexandria, VA, attending the wedding of a friend I've known for nearly 25 years. He and my brother (who served as one of the groomsmen) have been close friends ever since my brother was perhaps 10 and the groom was maybe 3 years old. Although I wouldn't make the trip from California to Virginia for just anyone, this friend was definitely worth it. The weekend turned out to be an epic story that demonstrates just how much things can change in the time between one day and another. I only saw a small part of everything that happened, and therefore can only paint a partial picture, although I hope that what I have included gives an accurate idea.
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Saying Goodbye

Arguably, my favorite installment of the classic Muppet movies is 1984’s The Muppets Take Manhattan. In this movie, Kermit and the gang are portrayed as recent college graduates who have finished a successful run of their college play (“Manhattan Melodies”). Upon the suggestion of an audience member, they attempt to take this play to Broadway. After a series of doors slammed in their faces (despite considerably more effort than displayed in the original The Muppet Movie, where a single incident of allergy-inducing animal strong-arming got Kermit and his friends past secretary Cloris Leachman, and into the office of producer Orson Wells, who promptly agrees to prepare “the standard ‘rich and famous’ contract.”), the gang decides that they must part ways while Kermit attempts to continue trying to get the play off of the ground on his own. This leads to my second-favorite song in the movie (my favorite being the dream sequence that first introduced the world to the Muppet Babies concept): “Saying Goodbye.”
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Reflections on the Passing of Chuck Colson

It was in the middle of the week, perhaps a day or two after Dick Clark's passing, that I first learned that Chuck Colson — well-known for his participation in the Watergate scandals, and then for his conversion to Christianity and subsequent founding of Prison Fellowship and continuing political activism — was in such failing health that he, too, would pass away soon. While Clark's death filled me with sadness at the loss of a personality I had come to admire greatly over the years, Colson's passing this afternoon leaves me with a much more ambivalent feeling, and I'm not entirely sure how to respond.
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Remembering The Painter of Light

I hadn't planned on talking about death again so soon after my reflections on the subject for Good Friday, but the sudden passing of artist Thomas Kinkade, who had styled himself as the "Painter of Light," on Friday night changed those plans.

I think I first became aware of Kinkade's work when I was in college. Although I have always thought his work quite beautiful, he sparked my interest for a rather different reason: he grew up in my parents' hometown of Placerville, CA. In fact, I understand that he was in the same high school graduating class as one of my aunts (a couple of years younger than my own parents), and we've been particularly interested in the occasional painting he would create depicting a Placerville locale of one type or another. My favorite work of Kinkade's, The Mountain Chapel (seen in the plaque to the left, but here's a better look), uncannily reminds me of Montreat, even though Montreat clearly was in no way the inspiration for this piece.
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The End of my Ordination Process

What follows is a copy (slightly edited to remove other people's names and identifying characteristics) of the letter I sent earlier this week to the chair of my presbytery's Committee on Preparation for Ministry:
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The End of an Era: The Final Space Shuttle Launch

I made the effort to watch the final launch of the space shuttle program this morning, as the Atlantis took to the skies one last time.  While I'm forced to acknowledge the reality that 30 years is really a long time for a program of this kind to last, I'm still somewhat sad to see the shuttle go.
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Your Future is in Front of You

This post was written for the Fuller Blogs website, where it first appeared this past weekend.

It's that time of year again, when graduation looms just around the corner. Even though I myself got my degree from Fuller several years ago, this is a season that affects everyone in the Fuller community. Whether you're a graduating student looking forward to the completion of your own degree, or a current student just looking to get through your current class and perhaps preparing to say good-bye to some of your friends, or a staff member preparing end-of-fiscal-year budgets or closing out committee work for the academic year, the rhythm of the academic cycle ensures that graduation time is an important season for all of us at Fuller.
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10 Years of Towel Day

If you're at all like me, you probably didn't know that Towel Day existed, but having heard about it, can probably guess what's going on, especially if you're a fan of Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy series.  If you don't already know that I'm a fan... well, let me just say you must have missed my tweet this past weekend, or my similar post on Facebook, where I said "There'll never be a better time for me to repost this link (than this past Saturday)"  Despite posting the link again a mere four days later, I still stand by that statement re: Saturday, but it should make the point that I'm a fan of those books.
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Holy Week Reflections III – Good Friday

Elisabeth Sladen died this past Tuesday.

If you don’t know who Elisabeth Sladen was, that just means that you, like most people, have probably never watched Doctor Who.  For those of us who have followed the Who universe for any significant part of the past 48 years, Sladen was known as Sarah Jane Smith, one of the longest-lasting companions of the entire franchise.  At the time of her death, she was even starring in her own Doctor Who spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures, which was in the middle of filming its fifth season (or, if you prefer the British wording, “series”).
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Spring Break Reflections

Disclaimer: This isn't an entirely new post, but incorporates elements of a couple of posts I first put up half a decade ago.  The originals may be found here and here.

While reading through my church's prayer list this morning, I noticed that one of our regular attendees who is in college was asking for prayer, especially as the anniversary of a fellow student's death in a car accident during spring break was approaching.

That got me to reflecting on my own spring breaks in college, which were often also unhappy.  I don't think that it is an exaggeration to say that there was a time when the words "spring break" would strike fear into my heart.  This is mostly due to two consecutive years of bad spring break experiences.
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Rest in Peace, Gary Coleman

Although I'd read the news report that former child actor Gary Coleman was in "serious condition" on Thursday, I was surprised to learn on Friday that he had actually passed away.  I'm not sure what is most appropriate to say in commentary on the actor's clearly difficult, if short, life.  Perhaps I can respect his comedic career by sharing this "news story" that I wrote a number of years ago, as California was reaching the end of what has easily been one of the most bizarre periods of recent political history, when Coleman was one of over 100 candidates running for governor in the election that gave us Governor Arnold "The Terminator" Schwarzenegger.  I distributed it to a few friends on the morning that Schwarzenegger was announced as the winner.  It is, of course, entirely a work of fiction:

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(Excerpt from The Los Angeles Herald, October 8, 2003)
Coleman wins election!

SACRAMENTO - In an election result that stunned political speculators, candidate Gary Coleman won the gubernatorial recall election in California yesterday, beating out a field of over 100 candidates including Democrat Cruz Bustamante and Republicans Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom McClintock. 

Although recent polls had suggested Schwarzenegger was set to win the governorship, political experts have suggested that Schwarzenegger’s own campaign may have been his downfall.  Exit polls indicate that many voters believed Schwarzenegger’s “Join Arnold” campaign slogan referred to Coleman’s Diff’rent Strokes character Arnold Jackson, who popularized the catch phrase “What’chu talkin’ ‘bout Willis?” in the late 70s and early 80s.  When asked about the confusion, Schwarzenegger, known for his role in the Terminator movies, responded, “We spent a long time debating what message we wanted to send to the voters of California.  We had tried ‘Hasta la vista, Davis,’ and had even made T-shirts with Davis’ picture saying “He won’t be back,” but it was decided that it would be best not to use my Terminator experience too heavily.   We decided to go for a more personal slogan, but felt that too many people would have trouble saying ‘Join Schwarzenegger.’” 

Outgoing Democratic Governor Gray Davis could not be reached for comment, and some analysts speculate that he may be considering an appeal to the state Supreme Court for a ballot recount, despite the fact that the recall election defeated him with a vote of 95% for the recall and 5% against.  Davis is said to blame the controversial “punch card” voting systems used in the heaviest population centers of the state, claiming that any voter who attempted to vote “No” on the recall ballot was unable to punch all the way through the ballot.  “It’s a clear example of the Republican conspiracy to get him out of office,” Davis aide Jerry Walters was quoted to say.  “The ‘yes’ card was made out of tissue paper, so that it tore through easily, while the ‘no’ card was made out of corrugated cardboard!”  California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley (D) declined to comment.

Ironically, Coleman celebrated his victory on the set of NBC’s Los Angeles-based Tonight Show, where Schwarzenegger had begun his campaign only a few months earlier. When asked by host Jay Leno about his plans for the state of California, Coleman could only reply “What’chu talkin’ ‘bout Jay?”

Remembering Turtle the Cat

Although she'd been clearly not feeling well for a while, I wasn't expecting to have to put our cat, Turtle, to sleep yesterday. There's not much I feel I can say about the situation here, other than to remember the few times I've featured her here on the blog, and to share this bit that I submitted to ICanHasCheezburger.com some time ago. If you enjoy it, you can go to the official link and say so!

Remembering the Man in the Mirror

Like most people, I was stunned to learn that Michael Jackson passed away last week. Unlike other celebrities (like Farrah Fawcett, who died the same day), I'd had no indication that his health was even in decline. Of course, I'd not even been following his career enough to know that he was trying to stage a comeback tour in the coming year, so it would definitely be a stretch to say I was a huge fan. Still, I came of age in a time where Michael Jackson's music was inescapable. Too young to have direct memories of his tenure as the lead singer (albeit youngest!) of the "Jackson Five," I became aware of Michael Jackson right at the time when he was redefining his own career as his own person.

In the summer of 1988, just before I entered high school, I attended my very first Montreat Youth Conference. Toward the end of the week, they always have a Variety Show, and I performed Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror," which I had learned the previous spring in choir. I really should never have done that. I had no background music to play, and none of my friends who knew the song could play instruments, so I did the whole thing a cappella. Also, the song was a bit too high for my comfortable voice range (Jackson is known for a rather high singing voice, whereas my voice has been in the low bass range since I entered my teens). In fact, my voice actually cracked as I tried to hit the high note at the end of the second verse, right in front of an audience of over 1000 people! There was no point in trying to hide it (especially a cappella!), so I basically made a face acknowledging the mistake, and then finished the song. The song was actually well-received, and I got a few compliments for handling the voice-crack the way I did. Still, if I'd had to do it over again, I probably would have let someone else have the slot.

I've often mused about the fact that performers often sing (and even write) songs that don't consistently match their own lives. Someone will sing a song about eternal love, yet have multiple marriages and divorces, for example. There will always be some controversy over Michael Jackson's life, especially the last decade or so of it. There's that incident several years ago where he dangled his baby son from a balcony before reporters, for example, and there will probably always be some question about whether or not Jackson had a problem with pedophilia. In light of these kinds of oddities, "Man in the Mirror" may well be one of those songs that was "just something to perform" that "sounded good," even if the real meaning of it (making a change in one's self in order to make a difference in the world) didn't fully enter into Jackson's being.

But, recognizing the way in which Jackson did take control of his life, not only terms of redefining himself for his solo musical career, but in other ways (both good and bad), I have to imagine that there was at least a part of "Man in the Mirror" that reflected Jackson pretty deeply. I get the impression that he wanted to make the world a better, happier place, and even if he didn't always know the right way to go about it, he got out there and made the effort. His choices were his own, and good or bad, he made them himself. Perhaps that's the best that can be said of any of us.