tim merritt [dot] net

I’ve got more to tell, and show, about the trip I took to New Orleans last month with some folks from my church. We worked on a house, mudding and sanding drywall, painting the porch, and more. We stayed at Olive Tree Village, formerly a church and now a center for housing volunteer work crews from all over the country staying in New Orleans and helping Presbyterian Disaster Assistance with the ongoing Katrina recovery effort.

Of all the disasters of the last few years, one reason to keep New Orleans in mind is that it’s a great and unique American city, and it deserves far better than the sham “heck of a job” of recovery it’s received. Do what you can for New Orleans – it makes America a better country. Even if you don’t do it for New Orleans, do it for somewhere hit by disaster. It’ll make you a better person.

This guy was there, always keeping a helpful eye on sanitary conditions. He never complained and he had a drink of water ready whenever anyone was thirsty. So say hello to SinkMan.

As I said, more to come on the trip, but I thought you might want to meet him.

I sent Stefan “a link to David Foster Wallace’s introduction to the 2007 edition of Best American Essays. I have enjoyed his magazine pieces, and own two of his books, so I sent the link unread with a promise to him to come back to it later. Stef sent back a grumpy rant about the piece, and without getting into the nature of his complaints, what impressed me most was the closeness of his reading and the concentration he must have brought to bear. It forced me to realize that I don’t as a matter of course bring more than minimal attention to what I read – I’ve been scanning, not reading, and my mental muscles are weak. They need to do some weight lifting, and so do I.

Yes, “Tim” is an anagram for TMI, “Too Much Information.” Email messages unread: 68. RSS items unread: 625. Current browser tabs among 5 windows: 11. Too. Much. Information.

So where to cut back? I don’t want to lose more sleep. I would have trouble giving up reading political coverage during this run-up to an election year, especially when the Republicans are fielding such a bizarre misguided flip-flopping fear-mongering group of candidates. And the Democrats, ah the Democrats… they’re so amazingly timid about really pounding on the most incompetent regime America’s seen in my lifetime, and on the Congressional Republicans that have enabled it. George W.Bush makes Nixon look like a smart progressive on most issues. Who’d have thought we’d pine for Nixon? Ever? And in a situation like this, how can I keep from following it?

But back to Too Much Information. There’s always something new just a click away, whether it’s one of those emails, or in a feed, or on a site I haven’t checked this last foru minutes, or something. And I have this blog, see, the one you’re reading? Having a domain, and a blog, implies a commitment, and I have not kept that commitment. I have a camera, too, that camera implies another commitment, to take and publish pictures. I have not kept this commitment either.

Will Richardson writes and lives the Read/Write web, and I do not. Too much reading and not enough writing/photographing/publishing. I’ve allowed the too-many opportunities for something new to become data smog and I have to filter more of it out. I guess that output would become more of the smog for someone else, but the exercise of doing it myself would be better for my mind and my health.

The AARP Magazine has posted 50 Things You Need to Know by 50

I’ve got some time before I need to know this, but it’s never too soon to start studying for the exam.

I have my hosting for this site and some others at Textdrive, which has an active, informative, and entertaining forum. I’ve learned a lot there about hosting web sites from the generous and talented people, customers and employees, that post there. It is a real community. I particularly enjoy the off-topic area known ast Textdrivel, where member Besonen started this thread with the post below.

You’ll be glad you watched this.

It’s a Flash video; you may hate Flash video. Take a chance on it. I know I’m glad I watched.

Pass it on.

Just a moment to wish all a Happy New Year for 2007. Many changes and new things are coming for me and my family, and I wish us and you the strength and wisdom to meet what comes with equanimity and even joy. Embrace it when you can, tolerate it when you need to, endure it when you must. Look out for each other, look out for grace when it finds you.

I had seen several links to this Russell Davies post on PopUrls, and finally followed it. I may make this my home page, it’s so good and inspiring. Before following the link, I expected a guide to being interesting, but it’s really about being interested – ten suggestions for living in a more engaged and thoughtful way and sharing it through the web. (Jason Kottke linked to a New York Times story about Pixar University in January on the same idea; after reading the article, so did I.) Russell works in advertising, a profession that I find very problematic, but when practiced well combines the best of storytelling, teaching, and artistic expression. Imagine a classroom with similar guidelines. Teachers can model this for their students and they’d both find more in life to look forward to. He writes:

The way to be interesting is to be interested. You’ve got to find what’s interesting in everything, you’ve got to be good at noticing things, you’ve got to be good at listening. If you find people (and things) interesting, they’ll find you interesting.

Interesting people are good at sharing. You can’t be interested in someone who won’t tell you anything. Being good at sharing is not the same as talking and talking and talking. It means you share your ideas, you let people play with them and you’re good at talking about them without having to talk about yourself.

Read russell davies: how to be interesting

_Cross posted on DV for Teachers because it’s too good not to have here too._

Spiritual Cinema Circle

For the Spirituality In Our Daily Lives class, we’re viewing and discussing short films from the Spiritual Cinema Circle, a subscription service that sends a DVD with four movies on it – shorts and features, comedies, dramas, documentaries. I haven’t yet watched more than a few of the shorts, looking for some that would work in the class.

The film for October 1 is Celamy (2005) by Julie Anne Meerschwam, a lovely 18-minute film about a five-year-old girl who, after her mother dies, finds her way with the help of her best friend. Some discussion at the Theology and Film blog, but caution, if you don’t want spoilers. Added Saturday, Sept 30.

So far, we’ve watched and discussed these films—

• Sweetheart, (2003) by Australian filmmaker Matthew Saville. Its tagline: “A mother. A son. A phone call.” Read Matthew Saville’s Wikipedia entry, and an interview with Saville) at Sleepybrain, a Melbourne-based blog about modern culture.
• In God We Trust (2000), by Jason Reitman, director of the justly praised 2005 satire Thank You for Smoking. A young actor, a quarter, a truck, and an all too brief chance to find out what matters in life.
• Spin (2005), by Jamin Winans: “Two Turntables and a Time Machine,” leads us to consider the consequences of our choices, and the unlikely places where we might find grace.

  The group has really responded well to these films – especially Sweetheart. I don’t know if it’s available anywhere else. It’s worth seeking out.

  [Update: added information about Spin on Sunday Sept 24.]

After reading some help files, I made some guesses that worked out, and the familiar look here is back, but with the “Pages” navigation at top left that makes it easier to find the separate pages regarding Sunday School, individual films, and so on. I’ve made a brief page for Hoop Dreams, and will add to it as the weekend approaches. I’m writing this from a Holiday Inn in Orlando, where I’m attending an Educational Technology conference this week.

I like the older design of timmerritt.net (tiny screenshot at left), but I needed a layout that put the Pages links near the top so people in my Film and Faith Sunday School class could more easily find the pages about the upcoming films. Hence this standard layout until I can find one that allows more photographic customization and higher homepage placement of Pages links.

I’ll have links to readings about this Oscar winnah in another day or so. I’ll send an email to the group when they’re up. I also sent an email with links to the Probing Questions handout from the Ransom Fellowship site.

Pro Blogger Jason Kottke compiled a list of his best links of 2005. Jason finds and links to things that constantly open my eyes and continue to show why the web is such a great place. I’ve been saving many of these as PDFs to read on the train to work.

We had a nice Christmas and first day of Hanukah. We all exchanged gifts, but less expensive than in past years, and made a collective donation to Habitat for Humanity’s Katrina-specific recovery efforts. We also ate almost all of two six-pound legs of lamb, a good bit of red wine, assorted delicious fresh vegetables (in the middle of winter – modern life is better than we realize, most of the time), and several cookies and some spectacularly stinky Shropshire blue cheese. We – or some some of us, at various times – played games with the infant and the five-year old and the college students and high schoolers and grandparents and a little solitaire on a laptop, ate cookies and watched some TV and read some books, and talked and told stories, and ate more cookies. A great family holiday.

[Update: I changed the graphic at the top from New York’s skyline at dusk as seen from the Empire State Building last December to my brother making gravy Christmas day for the roasted lamb. Thanks, Michael.]

Several years ago, while working as an adjunct instructor teaching film studies, two of the more sarcastic students I taught asked me to sponsor a student club, a club to be their response to the Campus Crusade for Christ. They wanted no more than to register the name of the group, and for that they needed a sponsor. I thought it was just clever enough to agree to, so I signed the form for the Campus Crusade for Cthulhu. Their motto: “Why pick the lesser of two evils?”

In that vein, Boing Boing posts about Family Circus meets Cthulhu mashups. Cute.

Turkey, dressing, gravy (mmmm, gravy…), pie… we feasted. I hope you did too, if you’re in America and were well fed if you’re not. We missed those not with us today, and thought of them, and celebrated those who were with us.

David Foster Wallace – Commencement Speech at Kenyon University
“It just depends what you what to consider. If you’re automatically sure that you know what reality is, and you are operating on your default setting, then you, like me, probably won’t consider possibilities that aren’t annoying and miserable. But if you really learn how to pay attention, then you will know there are other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, hot, slow, consumer-hell type situation as not only meaningful, but sacred, on fire with the same force that made the stars: love, fellowship, the mystical oneness of all things deep down.”

Jim Wallis Speaks at Ebenezer Baptist in Atlanta

Ellen and I went to hear him speak, and ended up hearing him preach. It was a full service and Wallis gave his inspiring message about the Bible’s call for social justice, its emphasis on helping the poor.

The service was presented by the [Regional Council of Churches of Atlanta](http://www.rccatl.org/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=33). Wallis is president of [Call to Renewal](http://www.calltorenewal.org/), an effort working for social and economic justice, and is Editor-in-Chief and Executive Director of [Sojourners](http://www.sojo.net) magazine.