September 25, 2012

1. This week I turn 52; hence, two factoids that I think may only interest me: 50 and 54. The ages of bear Bryant Bryant and John Wooden, respectively, when each won his first NCAA national championship— Bryant in football, and Wooden in basketball.

2. Just when I thought I was finished writing about Neil Armstrong, I encountered another fascinating insight, this time from WORLD magazine. Armstrong was never known to be a dedicated Christian. Thomas L. Friedman, no conservative Christian himself, wrote about Armstrong taking a tour of Jerusalem's Old City. He was taken to some of the locations where Jesus walked. Friedman quotes Armstrong as saying, “I have to tell you… I am more excited stepping on these stones than I was stepping on the moon.”

            That is an interesting quote from one who claimed to be a deist.

3. TIME had interesting article last week regarding the convergence of technology and austerity, which is producing a large number of renters. More people than ever are renting everything from clothes to caskets (the caskets are rented few viewings only, not for burial… in case you were wondering.)

            Statisticians have even entered into the dialogue, “Better to buy an $800 stroller if you use it more than 400 times,” according to one. On the other hand, I suppose, they have figured out that if a stroller is to be used 378 times, it is cheaper to rent.

4. Have you heard of Lecrae? He is a rapper whose new album, GRAVITY, stands at the top of the iTunes charts this month. What makes this interesting is he is a Christian, and many of his lyrics are very explicit–talking about God, Jesus, and the Christian life. May his tribe increase.

5. I think Texas citizens must radically rethink the way we educate children in our public school system. When Judy and I were training for foster care, we heard a resource speaker, who was the founder of the most successful daycare centers in Abilene. She said something to us that day that I have never forgotten, “We will not lose all of the children (in a day care center) for the sake of one child (who would not be won).”

            That was a novel way of saying: were her workers to continue to accommodate one incorrigible child, it would disrupt their relationships with all the other children to such an extent that proper childcare would be unattainable.

            This is precisely the problem with education in Texas; schools do so much to accommodate children who refuse to be accommodated, other children who are serious about learning cannot learn. The result is frustration on a massive scale and test scores, which continue to descend.

            I have taught in a private Christian university and in a private Christian high school, and was very blessed to have administrative support to the extent that, if a student was disruptive in class, I could easily dismiss him (or her) from my class for the day so as not to negate the learning of the other students.

            My father was a public school teacher for 20 years, and my mother taught in public schools for over 20 years, and both faced fewer disciplinary problems than exist today; moreover, they were able to discipline students in a timely manner.

            On the other hand, my wife, Judy, has taught the last few years in a public junior high school in Tyler. In Tyler public schools, should a student become unruly in class, teachers have to follow a version of the following procedure:

1. Verbally warn the student.

2. If the behavior continues, call a parent and document the time, the student’s bad behavior, and the parent’s response in a behavioral log (a notebook located on the teacher’s desk). In the call to the parent, the teacher informs the parent that if the behavior continues, the student will be sent to detention.

3. If the behavior continues, the teacher sends the student to detention.

4. The teacher then emails the appropriate principal and the teacher in charge of the detention hall.

            All of this is taking place… while the teacher is attempting to teach class! Furthermore, try following procedure when more than one student is misbehaving.

            I have been thinking a lot about public education. I will express more of what I think in the future. Today, suffice it to say, we as a community must empower teachers and administrators with more freedom to address disciplinary problems in a timely manner.

            This is best for the students who desire to learn.

            Equally important, this is best for the students who do not desire to learn.

*Thanks to Peter King for the inspiration for this blog's title.

September 11, 2012

1. Today is 9/11. Hard to believe it has been eleven years.

2. On a personal and football-fan note—ten years ago today, Johnny Unitas died. He has my vote as the most influential quarterback in NFL history. I had a chance to see him play when I was a kid at the old Cotton Bowl.

3. Another influential quarterback is Peyton Manning. It warmed my heart to see him win Sunday night, and play so well. After all the adversity he has faced, he was due some good fortune. Something else that shows what a classy guy he is occurred during the coin flip before Denver’s game against Pittsburgh. Colorado resident and Olympic gold medal winner, Missy Franklin, served as an honorary captain. After the coin toss, as the captains were heading to the sidelines, Manning made it a point to stop and shake Franklins’ hand then say a few words to her. Peyton Manning: the epitome of poise and class.

4. This will probably be the last thing I'll write about Neil Armstrong. Jeffrey Kluger, who co-wrote with astronaut James Lovell the book APOLLO 13 (also known as LOST MOON) published a neat retrospective about Neil Armstrong in last week's issue of TIME magazine. He concluded with a neat story.

            Kluger emphasized that Neil Armstrong always sought to live a multidimensional life, as opposed to a life solely defined by his walk on the moon. Kluger accompanied Armstrong and other former astronauts on a tour of United States military bases located in the Middle East back in 2010.

            On the trip, Kluger knew that it was inevitable that Armstrong would be confronted with his participation in such a momentous event as the first moonwalk. On one such occasion, Kluger observed:

            “One evening during our Middle East tour, all the astronauts were on stage before an audience of service members young enough to be their grandchildren. During the question-and-answer session, one audience member asked Armstrong if he wouldn’t mind taking the mike and, well, saying the words—the famous words, those one-small-step words. I winced, and I suspect [the other astronauts] did too. This was dog-and-pony stuff of the highest order. Armstrong just smiled and reached for the mike. His hand seemed shaky, and his voice was weak—not the clear Midwestern tones that were spoken in 1969 and have been heard and heard and heard ever since. But he spoke the words all the same—and the audience roared, and the applause rained down, and it was just the coolest and grandest and finest thing you could ever hope to see….”

            That sounds awesome to me.

5. The Richer Sex: How the New Majority of Female Breadwinners is Transforming Sex, Love and Family is a new book written by WASHINGTON POST reporter Liza Mundy. In it, she documents how the percentage of women who earn more than men is rising in the U. S. The same applies regarding the amount of women who are pursuing higher education (now a higher percentage than men.)  These factors create a strong sociological impact, which she predicts will grow in future generations. The tenor of the book is that these trends are good and healthy.

            I need to be careful to finesse what I am about to say, and I freely acknowledge it is primarily sociological and subjective.

            I believe women should be paid the same as men. I am convicted that some of the legacy of feminism is good, appropriate, and overdue. Increasing women's wages is one of those items overdue in our culture.

            We live in a free nation, and women should be able to pursue their careers as they wish. Nevertheless, here is my concern: I have lived (very briefly) in an economical matriarchal society (Papua New Guinea), and I have lived in a spiritually matriarchal society (Argentina and to certain extent, Brownsville, Texas.)

            In the bush country of New Guinea years ago, one could not help but note how many men sat around and lazily did nothing—because they depended on the women to take care of the family. The impact on the culture was devastating.

            Likewise, on a spiritual level, living in Latin America and on the Texas border, one could not help but notice that the majority of men spiritually deferred to the women. Again, the impact was negative.

            I have three daughters; the last thing I desire is for them to be restricted in their economic and educational pursuits. My prayer is that my son becomes what God created him to be as well. I wish the same for all humanity.

            Throughout the years, I have observed the tendency in us males—from boys to men—to get out of whatever work and responsibility we can. From the kitchen to the classroom, if a large number of females are active in the front, too many males are passive in the rear.

            Selfish ambition is bad; godly ambition is good. When it comes to providing for the family, we need more godly ambitious men—both economically and spiritually.

*Thanks to Peter King for the inspiration for this blog's title.

September, 4, 2012

1. Great news for presidential history fans. Michael Beschloss was on the program INDEPTH on C-SPAN (www.c-spanvideo.org/clip/3865321) the other day, and he was asked when Volume 3 of the Lyndon Johnson tapes was going to be released. If you do not remember, Beschloss edited Volumes 1 and 2, both of which are now classics. Beschloss said that he is currently editing Volume 3 and it should be finished in a couple of years. I cannot wait.

2. I think if BACKBLAZE truly does what it says it does–store everything on your computer in an off-site storage unit for retrieval if your computer crashes–then this is one of the great inventions of the 21st century.

3. Here’s my Super Bowl pick: Houston vs. San Francisco. For the BCS championship game: USC vs. Alabama.

4. Ever since I saw the movie MONEYBALL I have wanted to find some sort of statistical analysis that would help Christians with evangelism. I feel Christians spend way too much time bothering people who are nowhere near ready to have a conversation about Jesus. Consequently, it would be nice to have data, which would indicate those who are more open to hearing the Gospel.

            I read something in WORLD magazine last week that might provide an answer. A website (http://www.floatingsheep.org/) founded by a couple of academics features research gathered from strategically written programs. It is “dedicated to mapping and analyzing user generated geocoded data to gather a better read of American society. The study analyzes Google Maps placemarks for certain keywords.

            Here is one example of their work; analyzing over 10 million tweets, the statisticians located over 18,000 referencing the word “church”, and 14,500 containing the word “beer.” They then proceeded to map the locations of these tweets. Not surprisingly, the beer tweets occurred primarily in the Upper Midwest, while the church tweets were located more in the Southeast.

            Another map I found interesting was the one called “mapping Christianity.” Check it out.

5. I think dove hunting is fun.

            It's been probably 35 years since I have gone dove hunting, so I am way out of step. However, Abby, my middle daughter, had a special request this year for her birthday. She wanted me to take her dove hunting the opening day of dove season. Furthermore, she asked that we hunt in Winters, Texas, our home for seven years. Not only did she want to hunt there, she also wanted to stay for church on Sunday so that she could see some of our old friends.

            I thought this was a great birthday request, and I was happy to comply. This was the first time Abby had ever hunted for doves. A friend loaned us his 20-gauge, and I purchased two boxes of shells for Abby.

            Saturday evening, one of our old friends from Winters, Phil Colburn, was nice enough to take us out to some land where he farmed. My son, Timothy, went along with his faithful BB gun. He actually played a vital role for us: he walked into groves of mesquite trees and flushed out flocks of doves, as well as alerted us to dove flyovers.

            I had two main goals for our hunt:

                        1. Not to shoot or kill any of my kids.

                        2. Not to allow one my kids to shoot or kill me.

            Though at times I had my doubts, we successfully met my goals.

            Saturday morning, the opening day of dove season, the kids and I slept to give the other hunters a sporting chance. Saturday evening, we arrived at our spot in a field at about 6 PM. The sun was still up and it was hot.

            I had purchased six decoys, which we clipped to a barbed wire fence. The decoys did absolutely no good–not a single dove flew to a spot remotely close to them. That was fine with me because I saw behind a tree line, near some water, a mesquite tree containing 10 doves.

            I sent Timothy on a mission with his BB gun: he was to cross a dry gully, circle around a grove of trees, and sneak up on the doves to flush them out of the tree. I was anticipating the doves flying over Abby and me, which would give us a wonderful shot.

            While Timothy was in route, a number of doves, in groups of two or three, flew over our heads to the tree Timothy was stalking.

            Time for a strategy change! Forget the stalking, we three would stake out spots near that tree!

            We did so; what we did not count on was the torrent of doves that would fly our way. They came in droves.

            Abby, Timothy, and I shot and shot and shot.

            Abby, Timothy, and I missed and missed and missed.

            Had this hunt been a war and the doves been kamikaze pilots, our side would have lost!

            Wave after wave of doves descended upon us. Still, we missed.

            In our defense, doves can fly up to forty miles an hour, and at times they move like water bugs. Sometimes we missed because our shot hit tree limbs instead of birds. I must confess that some of God's creation was damaged due to our shooting.

            At last, we figured out that if we were simply patient and allowed the doves to slow down in descent, we could hit them. (Don't worry–no doves were harmed while sitting in trees.)

            Ultimately, we killed a few doves. More than that though, we had a great time. Abby shot two boxes of shells. At one point, she was reloading and shooting so fast, she forgot what I taught her. She was practically shooting her shotgun from the side of her waist–gangster style! This proved disconcerting to me–the precious baby I held in my arms 17 years ago now looked like a mutant combination of Rambo and Ma Barker.