Monday, 24 September 2012

 Tonight, just before I went to bed, I decided to check my email once more. This message was waiting for me in my Hamline email account:

Dear Hamline Community,

In recent weeks, a number of you have urged the University to take a stand in opposition to the proposed amendment to the Minnesota Constitution which would limit marriage in the state to a union of one man and one woman.  These activities are all within the spirit and foundational ethos of a university—we think about societal issues, debate them, and then as citizens, act upon our convictions. 

Significant and careful consideration of this matter has been given by me, the Board of Trustees and many of you in the community.  Such consideration has led to the conclusion that Hamline will not take a position in opposition to or in favor of the amendment.

Those who have urged public opposition by the University have passionately and eloquently cited Hamline’s core values and history of inclusivity.  The University’s position should not be viewed as supportive of the amendment or as a rejection of these values.

Rather, the intent is to allow for civil discourse and civic engagement by all members of our community.  As a diverse university made up of students, faculty, staff, alumni, the Methodist church, and our neighbors, each individual and group should have the freedom to express their approval of or opposition to the amendment.  It is extremely important that Hamline remain a place where, in the words of John Wesley, “the very act of intellectual inquiry is sacred.”

I know that we each individually have a personal view—I certainly do as a citizen and voter.  And we will not all agree.  But Hamline is best served as a university to allow for intellectual discourse and the unfettered exposition of ideas and opinions in regard to this amendment.

President Hanson

I was going to write back immediately. In fact, I hit reply, and wrote: “Professor Hanson – I’ve been contemplating dropping out of Hamline after this semester. Thanks to your message, my decision is now clear.”

I laughed at how clever my ambiguity was, then I figured, “Meh, whatever,” cancelled my message, and went to bed.

Tuesday, 25 September 2012

Today, when I arrived on campus, there were students gathering on the grass speaking about the President’s deplorable lack of position. Some were writing big demands on the sidewalk with sidewalk chalk, saying things like “We will not be ignored,” and someone put a t-shirt on the bronze statue of Mr. Hamline himself that said “We will be heard.”

When I went into the building my class is in, some students were marching down the hallways, and the guy in front had a bullhorn saying something like: “What do we want?” and then everytone else shouted, “A meeting with the president.” Then he asked “When do we want it?” And I think the answer to that was 4:00. They were so loud that at least one class ended ten minutes early.

When our class began, the professor decided to kick off the day by asking us how we felt about our President”s lack of a spine. Pretty much everyone thought she was wrong for not taking a stance, especially since Hamline claims to be a force for social justice. Our professor told us that, in the 1950s, when racial integration at college’s was being met with resistance in third-world nations like Arkansas and Mississippi, Hamline took a stand saying that they were pro-integration.

Evidently they don’t care as much about gay people’s right.

One student raised a good point, though. She said that the racial integration of colleges directly affected Hamline, whereas gay marriage does not. But then another rather vocal student said that’s beside the point – a college that believes in social justice should be in the forefront of advancing their students’ rights and should show that they are a safe place for everyone. Then the first girl asked: “If gay marriage becomes legal, will churches be forced to perform gay marriages?”

Man, the misinformation being tossed about is shocking. I was a bit disgusted that a student at Hamline did not know better, but the other students quickly informed her that voting No will not make gay marriage legal and, even when it does become legal one day, churches are still free to forbid gay marriages in their churches, just as they are now free to forbid interracial marriages, or (in the case of my former religion), weddings that don’t use Kingdom Melodies or have a limosine.

Saturday, 22 September 2012

This morning, Owen and I went to another one of Lowe’s Build and Grow workshops. This was our first time going there since May, but I decided to forego their summer workshops that featured nothing but DreamWorks film tie-ins.

As we approached the store this morning, we saw, parked at the other end of the lot, a fire truck. Owen asked why it was there (he thinks I know these things), and I told him I didn’t know. We guessed that maybe there had been a small fire or an accident.

Then we went inside, and Owen began work on today’s project, which was a fire truck. While he worked on it, it dawned on me that the fire truck parked outside must be part of today’s event. When I told Owen this, he instantly remarked that it’s too bad they didn’t have an ice cream truck here back in May, when the workshop project was an ice cream truck kit.

I liked today’s project, by the way. It wasn’t ridiculously simple – like the racecar he made last spring that had a grand total of five pieces. And it wasn’t useless, like the mini-chalkboard he also made last spring. Apart from one wheel that was incredibly difficult to nail to the axle (we bent five nails in the process of trying), Owen built the whole thing himself and earned his sixth iron-on patch for his apron.

Then we went outside and toured the fire truck. With other kids climbingall over it, Owen went inside and out, exploring all the gadgetry andexpressing constant amazement at the size of the vehicle. He requested I take the picture you see to the right. Owen is seated on the engine’s read bumper and holding up his latest creation.

 

Sunday, 23 September 2012

Well, as I announced last week, our sprinkler system has been extricated from our property.

Yesterday, Owen and I went around the yard removing the heads. I unscrewed them from the tubing, and Owen filled in the foot-deep holes with soil. Then I pulled up on the few exposed tubes, and cut small trenches through yard until I could unscrew them. When there was nothing to unscrew, I took my handsaw and sawed the tubes off, reburying the remaining piece as deeply as I could. Then I pulled out the soaker tubes from the flower beds. This was quite fun, really. I just got a good hold of the tube and walked away from the bed, forcing the tubes out of their shallow graves.

This morning, I disconnected the system from the water main and dug up the mainframe. Pulling the huge box out of the ground was tougher than I estimated. I kept thinking it was cemented in place in some way. So I kept digging and digging. Finally, it began to shake free and I pulled it straight up.

I filled in the resulting hole with spare soil we have in another flower bed that we plan to dismantle one of these years. I then smoothed out hte ground, pulled out oodles of ivy roots, and re-sculpted the flower beds on either side of the new space. Before, the bricks around the bed led up to the sprinkler system and then just stopped. Now they curve right up to the house. I curved them in such a way as to ensure the space between the two beds is wider than my lawnmower. This will ensure I can easily get in there and mow it once there’s some grass there. I used a few of the flat bricks, which before were in front of the mainframe, to line the space directly adjacent to the house. My reasons for this were because I did not want grass growing right up next to the house, and the gas meter is right above this space, so I don’t want to have to ram the mower into the meter every time I mow. Jennifer said this was a good idea.

While working on this project, Owen reminded me that I would not have to hire someone to come and blow out the system at the end of the season this year. I agree son: pulling out the sprinkler system has already saved me fifty bucks. Woo hoo! Now to hop over to Craig’s List and sell the parts for more money…

Friday, 21 September 2012
While I usually take Owen out to the corner drug store on Fridays, I had to change it up a bit this week, due to a college obligation today. So, back on Wednesday, after picking Owen up from school, he and I muscled up to the ice cream fountain. While he licked his dessert and played the peg game, I snapped this picture:

Look! How cool is that? There’s The 2013 Saint Paul Almanac on its very own display and up for sale. Just before I took this picture, Owen had to take one of the books off the rack and open to the page with his picture. (Yes, it’s true, there’s a picture of Owen accompanying one of my stories. Jennifer took the picture. Thus, three members of our family are referenced on one page of the almanac and, yes, Isla noticed she’s not included.) He showed the soda jerk his picture, and she said, “Wow, that’s cool!”

Meanwhile: Today I stopped at the public library to return two books and pick up two more. And, while there, I just had to stop in the 211 section and take this picture:

Look! How cool is this? There’s a copy of Atheist Voices of Minnesota on the shelf at 211.8092 right where it belongs, near The God Delusion, The Agnostic Reader, The Loser Letters and Science versus Religion. Of course, it also has some pretty shady company, too, but I don’t care: the cool thing is that some of my writing is out there: at the corner drug store and the local library.

Thanks for indulging my narcissism.

Thursday, 20 September 2012
If you want to make fun of a religion without upsetting anyone, it seems your best bet is to make a sarcastic remark about Scientology. As a non-religious person, this seems a bit like the pot calling the kettle a slightly different shade of black.

So, mindful of the cliche, I am hereby going to poke fun of Scientology, but only because it dropped right in front of my feet. Literally. I picked up the mail off our porch this evening, and this is what I saw:

Ignore the top half of this image, which I only included in the scan to show that this flyer is, indeed, brought to me from my neighbors at the Church of Scientology in downtown St. Paul. What caught my eye was the lower half of this flyer: LOVE? and HATE?.

I think that’s a good way to demonstrate love. Just two intertwined hands. My guess is these two hands belong to lovers, but it could be familial or friendship love. (I’m sure it’s not agape love, though, since that’s the lowest kind of love, but that’s another story).

Anyway, what’s with the hate [portion of the] mail? Why does lightning equal hate? There are so many good ways to show hate…they could have shown a masked crinimal assaulting some old lady, or a KKK cross-burning, or some random dude with his fists clenched or a bunch of people with headbands, goatees, and sticks. But lightning? I don’t get it. Do Scientologists believe that lightning is evil? In that case, I could never be a Scientologist, ‘casue I think lightning is really cool. I mean, what other non-living thing has a distinct name for its sound? Way cool.

Also this evening, Isla pulled a red basket off a shelf in the toy room, and began pulling out the puzzle pieces, one by one. She began with the black and white pieces (shown in the center, below), and then alternated each side of the “train” until she completed the whole line. Owen and I read an entire chapter out of a book while she was this. I was impressed with her dedication:

Here she is seen about to attach the final few pieces. Alas, my act of taking a picture disturbed her concentration and she didn’t bother to hook together the last three pieces. Oh well. Still pretty impressive.

Monday, 17 September 2012

So, the household leadership committee is in preliminary talks to euthanize our spinkler system.

When we first checked out the property with our realtor last summer, we really didn’t care about the sprinklers. It actually made me like the property less, because it introduced an unnecessary variable that I knew nothing about. Hooking up a hose, screwing on a spinkler, and letting it spin for a while: that I do know. But a built-in system? Just sounded like headaches and lost money.

Last year, I used it once. I couldn’t even use it for the first few weeks after we moved in, because there were two busted valves. Replacing those cost $50. Then I used it once. Then it was getting cold outside, so I had to pay another $50 to have someone come over and blow-out the system.

One of the sprinkler heads was busted, meaning that if I turn on that section of my lawn, then all the water just gushes out of that spot. This summer, I ran over another spinkler head with my lawnmower and broke that one.

I guess you can pay lots of money to have someone remove it, but I looked up online, and it appears pretty easy to do it myself especially since:

1) I don’t care if it’s usable after I remove it

2) My lawn, and thus the system, isn’t that expansive

3) I’m only going to remove the stuff near the surface. The pipes a foot underground can stay there.

“But wait!” you say, “If you leave those tubes in the ground, they will get in your way when you landscape in that area.”

Um, maybe. In fact, that already happened in one portion of our lawn. So I just ripped it out. And I’ll do the same when, five years from now, I decided to install a fallout shelter and come across the renegade tube.

And here’s an interesting article I read today: Three Republican Presidential Electors Might Not Vote for Romney.

Tuesday, 18 September 2012

Once again today, I left work and drove straight to class.

I’ve tried classes in the morning, before I go to work, and classes in the evening, at 6:30, but this is my first time with a middle-of-the-day class.

Pros:

-Easy to get in all my hours at work. When I have a morning class, it custs into three or fours good hours at work. But this 2:30 class only eats up about one or two hours, so that’s good.

-Not out late at night. Yeah, in the evening, I just want to do my own thing.

Cons:

-Busy campus. People everywhere. Yuck. And no parking.

-Have to hope to science my car starts. See, if class is in the morning or the evening, when I leave for home, if my car won’t start, then I can just hop in the other one. Or get Jennifer to drive me. But when I leave work, there’s no back-up plan. Just relying on sheer luck. I don’t like that.

So the bottom line is: There’s never a good time to go to class. 

Wednesday, 19 September 2012

I am really loving the sudden onset of fall. I wasn’t expecting it to come this early or this fast, but I don’t bemoan its appearance.

Things that are great about fall:

-Get to use blankets again

-Fresh air

-Less bugs

-Can be outside without sweaty profusely

-Less-instense sunlight

Even though it was windy this evening, I took Isla for a walk to the park. Well, she rode in the stroller, but you get the idea. We wore our jackets, and I wheeled the stroller through small piles of leaves. At the park, Isla picked up a cluster of yellow leaves, which she identified as beautiful. In the wind, two of the the three leaves tore free and flew away. Isla was upset and wanted me to go get them, but I told her they were gone. She recovered pretty quickly and spent the rest of the journey home holding her stick with one beautiful, yellow leaf on it.