The Past Week in Pictures

Norah had a cold:

Naked Slurpees:

Teeth were brushed:

My beard got even more awesome:

NEWSLETTER ARTICLE!
"You May Be Proud to Be an American, but America May Not Be Proud of You."

I feel like I should probably be honest with you about some things before we get too far into the year and things get awkward. Number one - I don’t really consider the Black Eyed Peas to be talented musicians. At all. In fact, I sort of think of them as, like, anti-musicians. Number two - I’d like to tell you that I am a pillar of sobriety and temperance, but the fact is that I am addicted to something that pulls me in without me being able to resist or fight back. In all honesty, I’d do almost anything for a doughnut. They’re like crack to me. And finally, number three - I think Glenn Beck is a raging lunatic. Like, to the max. That dude is straight crazy.

If you’re unfamiliar with Mr. Beck, you really only need to know that he’s a political pundit who has his own TV show which he uses to basically push a political agenda focused on calling Obama a communist. He’s all about tearing down liberals and Democrats while lifting up “truth” and “logic” and the American Way. I don’t really get why he’s so mad. Some people are just like that, I guess.

I don't want to imply that I think Glenn Beck is crazy because he doesn't like Democrats and the President. That's not what this is about. I'm not here to argue for this or that political agenda or to prove any big political point. I just want to talk about Mr. Beck's approach for a moment, and I want to talk about it specifically because I think he's got it almost entirely wrong.

Glenn Beck rarely has anything positive to say. He's a fountain of anger and frustration and has a tendency to erupt whenever he encounters anything even remotely related to the things he doesn’t like. He jumps to conclusions and makes very stark black and white accusations based on selective evidence. He takes things out of context. He yells a lot. He's just not really that nice of a nice guy (I’m guessing, anyway… I’ve never met him personally). Worst of all, he does all of this under the guise of being a good member of society and wanting to help.

I don’t know about you, but I would definitely not be stoked to have Glenn Beck as a resident in the Upper Quad. I wouldn’t want him or anyone like him coming into our community and spouting off all crazy like. He may think that he’s got a lot to say (and that may actually be true), but he’s not really adding much to our social dialogue by erupting the way he does. His criticisms may be valid, but the way he presents them does more harm than good.

So, what can we learn from Glenn Beck? Well, besides the fact that Obama is apparently a socialist traitor who is single-handedly destroying everything pure in America, we can learn a lot about what it means to be a positive community member. If we take the time to look at the UQ, we’ll see a community of 550-ish very different and unique people who are living together under one roof. That’s a wonderful thing, right? What a wonderful opportunity to learn about one another and to develop some great relationships. But a community like this will never be developed or maintained if we communicate poorly and don’t do our best to interact with each other in a positive way.

If you’re upset with your roommate(s), don’t get all pissed off and start calling them names behind their back. If you think your RA isn’t doing their job right or being fair, talk to them (or me) directly. Going around and talking to everyone else about your roommates, floor mates, or the building staff isn’t going to address the problem or do any real good. Doing that makes you no better than Glenn Beck and everyone else like him. We need to be willing to be work with one another to make the UQ a positive community instead of just tearing each other down. Being a community member in the UQ (like in America) means more than just complaining. It means intentionally working together to make things better for everyone who calls this place their home.

Stay Gold!

MMK

For Kelly and Pumpkin Lovers

Do you know what this is?

A piece of Heaven God generously allowed me to create

in a graham cracker crust.

Pumpkin Cheesecake.

Click HERE for recipe.

My alterations included NOT using a springform pan and

instead using two store bought graham cracker crusts.

WAY easier and also allowed us to share with MK's staff

and our church small group.

DELICIOUS!

SPECIAL NOTE - If you decide to use the two pie crusts like I did, the actual baking time will be less (for me, it was roughly 45 min - one hour).

Norah News:

Norah has been SUPER into drawing and painting. It's awesome. Her first painting ever is currently displayed in our bedroom. This sounds ridiculous - but I love waking up and her painting being the first thing I see. She wanted to color so badly today, like wouldn't stop pointing at a pen that was sitting on our table. How could I turn her down? I couldn't help sneaking a few pictures. Too stinkin' cute, and please notice in the second picture how well she is holding the marker!

GO NORAH! Definitely a milestone!

Welfare and Privilege

Here's another article I wrote for one of my hall newsletters last year. It seems people enjoy that I'm posting these now. I'm good like that.

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I like Facebook. I use it a lot to keep up with friends and family back home, as well as for less useful and practical purposes (i.e. killing time and creepin’). It’s a great tool and one which I’m glad I can access. But it’s slowly becoming a stink-hole, isn't it? I can’t believe some of the crap I’ve seen come through my status feed. And it’s not just random junk generated by the ads, but junk which my friends seem to think is worthwhile. To wit: There are currently over 2.2 million people who are fans of the “Making Drug Tests required to Get Welfare” page. That’s nearly 200,000 more people than the largest “Support Same Sex Marriage” group. Awesome, right? Never underestimate the willingness of large groups of people to use their power in the worst ways.

I wonder — did it ever occur to these welfare-hating people that their whole argument is based on the one, flimsy, illogical assumption that all poor people are coked out of their minds as they stumble to their mailboxes to collect the free money handed to them by the government? Let’s forget that the vast majority of people choose not to use narcotics. Let’s also ignore the fact that drug tests don’t test for drugs like alcohol and tobacco (which cause more health and social issues across every class of person than do heavy narcotics). And finally, let’s choose to ignore the fact that the use of narcotics is a problem which transcends common definitions of social class. I’m sure that those of you who came here from “wealthy” private schools saw just as much drug use within your class as those of you who came from less affluent public schools.

The issue here is not that some (i.e. very few) drug users get free money... The real issue is that over two million people think it’s okay to discriminate against a whole class of people in our country simply because those people share the common, non-drug related characteristic of being poor. WTF?! “Well, Jim gets welfare so he must be super poor. And, don't you know, all poor people love shooting heroin all day long. I learned that from Fox News and the TV.” Meanwhile, your gramps and grams receive monthly Social Security and Medicare checks from the government (aka “welfare”) without having you join Facebook groups about them being likewise tested for drugs. And I guarantee you they take more pills everyday than do most moderate narcotic drug users. How else are they going to keep their diabetes in check, their hearts pumping, and their sex organs functional? The only difference, of course, is that we love our grandparents and wouldn't dare question their honesty and integrity when it comes to their consumption of the public dollar. Why can’t we seem to bring ourselves to have the same trusting care in the honesty and integrity of others who are going through tough times?

I don’t think the over two-million people who became fans of the drug-testing page are actually bad people who really, really hate poor people (though I’m sure some of them do). Rather, I think that they’re probably just people who haven’t taken the time to really think about their own social status deeply enough to realize that they’re more than likely privileged in one way or another. It’s easy to point the finger and make demands of welfare recipients when you yourself have never had to wonder how you were going to keep food on the table each month. It’s easy to demand drug tests of others when you know that you’ll never be in the position to have the same asked of you.

We make harmful generalizations about others when we haven’t yet taken the time to understand ourselves in relation to them. We need to be less willing to see the world solely through our individual experiences and opinions, and be more willing to see the world through the experiences of others. Walk a mile in their shoes, you know? We need to realize that sometimes we have privileges we haven’t earned and that we can’t expect others to pay a social cost simply because they haven't been so privileged.

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Stay Gold!

MMK

Droppin' Some Knowledge

I can't remember if we've ever posted a video of Norah showing off some of the words she knows. She's pretty with it when it comes to knowing what words mean and what different things are, but she's not quite there with articulating most things. She's getting there, though. I feel like any day she'll just bust out with full sentences and start saying words left and right.

Anyway. This is this afternoon after she woke up from her nap.



Sorry it's sort of blurry in some places. We're still figuring out our new camera.

Stay Gold!

MMK

For Great Aunt M

Great Aunt M -

thank you SO much

for the beautiful sweaters

you made for Norah!!!

We love and miss you!

Dear Kevin, Joseph, and Dus

This one goes out to all my Eagle brethren...

I'm such a proud Papa.

Stay Gold!

MMK

Before I Go to Bed...

Here's a new blog layout because I just can't seem to leave well enough alone. 

Also, I thought I'd share something I wrote this week. I write bi-weekly newsletters for my hall which are hung in the bathroom stalls on each of the floors. Their purpose is to provide the students with news and information about things happening in the building and around campus, but I also use them as a means to disseminate educational information related to the curriculum area I'm working with in my building during that educational block. The front page of each newsletter is always an article I write relating to one of these four curriculum areas (Citizenship, Healthy Living, Social Justice, and Academics). Those are the four areas we, as a department, feel that we can impact in students' lives while they live in the residence halls. 

I don't know why I haven't shared these articles before. Maybe I'll make it a regular thing.

Anyway. Here's the article I wrote for this weeks newsletter on social justice:

"I go to church most Sunday mornings. It’s something I look forward to and that’s usually a highlight of my week. Not only do I get to see some of my friends and sometimes eat tiny pieces of bread with a shot of grape juice, but I get to listen to my pastor do his thing and share his thoughts on a variety of topics. Sometimes he says something that fits exactly with something I’ve been thinking about or trying to articulate. That happened this weekend, so I thought I’d share some of it with you.

We, as people, tend to say and do a lot of stupid things. We say and do some smart things, too, but it’s the dumb things which people tend to remember. But that’s okay, isn’t it? I mean, besides being embarrassed, we’re justified in saying and doing whatever we want, really, because we have certain “rights” which allow us to speak and act freely. We can be as offensive or ridiculous as we want, in theory, because it’s our right to be individuals. I can swear at old ladies and babies. I can tattoo a naked lady on my throat. I can draw penises on every white-board and bulletin board in my hallway.** Its my right! Right?

Yes, I guess it is, sort of... But a “right” is not a “should”. We need to understand that our right to say and do what we want as individuals exists because of our membership in the larger society and culture in which we live. Any person who doesn’t understand that his or her individual rights have an effect on the community in which he or she lives has no real understanding of individual rights at all. If you think it’s the responsibility of your community to afford you certain rights, then it’s your responsibility to your community to exercise those rights in a way that shows respect for that community and the rest of its individuals. This means considering the impact that your words and actions will have on the community and its members -- whether or not they agree with you, relate with you, or identify with the type of person you are. We may not mean to be offensive or exclusive with our language or actions, but the reality is that those things may result from what we do and say. If we don’t want to be divisive and offensive, then that should give us pause for a moment. That should make us reconsider how we exercise our rights.

Unless, of course, we don’t actually care how other people feel and saying that we are just “exercising our rights” actually means that we only really care about ourselves and doing whatever we want to do. I hope that’s not the case. I am unwilling to believe that we’re willing or able to be so intentionally self-centered.

So what does this mean for how we choose to conduct ourselves? I think it just means that we should give the rights and feelings of others an equal amount of thought and consideration as we give to our own. It doesn’t mean we can’t swear and poke fun at one another. It doesn’t mean that fart and poop jokes can’t be laughed at anymore. It doesn’t even mean that we have to be super mature all the time.

It just means that we need to see that our words and actions have an effect beyond what we intend for them to have. If we have any hope to build a community where everyone feels comfortable and included, it’s essential that this be something we have and understand in common.

**Please don’t draw penises on anything. It’s dumb."

Stay Gold!

MMK

Major Mounting

Sarah and I went hiking today. We climbed Mount Major near Alton, NH. I'd climbed it once before with the youth group from church, but Sarah hadn't ever been there. Norah stayed at home because Sarah and I wanted to have an afternoon to ourselves and because she probably wouldn't have enjoyed sitting in her backpack for the hour it takes to travel each way up and down the mountain.

Anyway. The hike was wicked pretty because of all the fall foliage. It was a perfect day, too, besides the somewhat low temperatures and the rather high winds at the top of the mountain. Mount Major sits at the south side of Lake Winnipesaukee near the middle of NH. The view from the top is rather expansive and includes the entirety of the lake as well as a whole range of other peaks along its North and West sides. We're planning on hiking it again in the spring.

Yep. It was a good day. 


Stay Gold!


MMK

Just Woke Up...

And I just wanted to try out the video on our new camera. HD!

You ARE there!

Thanks to everyone who reads our blog and finds our posts meaningful...well, entertaining might be a better word. Anyways, thanks for letting me know my words don't go unread!

As most of you know, I enjoy baking WAY more than cooking. To be honest, I don't really enjoy cooking at all. I'm not sure exactly why, but I'm guessing it has something to do with my deep love for anything sweet. And I have a very difficult time touching raw meat (Pops, if you're reading this - stop rolling your eyes). Now that I have more time, I've been baking a ton. MK has a larger staff this year allowing me to give most of the goods I bake away (so, we don't eat it all ourselves). One staff member has Celiac Disease, allowing me to try my hand a baking gluten free items. Baking more has been so fun, and I've been able to try a bunch of new recipes. My favorite by far -

Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting (YUM!!!) - contains gluten

For recipe, click here.

My alterations - add more peanut butter to the frosting and less butter. Also I sprinkled some chocolate chips on top after frosting.

Pictures to come soon of our visit with Norah's grandparents!!!

What Happened Last Month?

I haven't been keeping up with this thing like I probably should. There's been a lot going on in the last month, very little of which we've actually chronicled here. I have all sorts of excuses as to why that's been the case, but they're not really worth explaining. Anyway, let's get caught up with a few bullet points. 

- The 2010 NFL season got underway and my universe once again regained balance and order. Our Sundays are now filled with watching dudes beat each other up after we hang out at Jesus' house for an hour in the morning. I am in two fantasy football leagues this year, one of which Sarah is also in. My team(s) are doing well. It feels nice to know that I could piece together a hodge-podge team of winners if I was ever called to be a real-life coach. I like to think that I'm sort of like the Gordon Bombay of fantasy football.

- Sarah and I went to see one of our favorite bands, like, everrrrrrrrrrrr at the beginning of September. We drove down to Worcester, MA (pronounced "Woostah") to see Bane play with a couple of other decent bands (Trapped Under Ice, Cruel Hand, Alpha and Omega). Bane is from Worcester and is one of the longest touring and hardest working hardcore bands out there, so it was totally rad to be able to see them play in their home venue. Much respect to those dudes. You should really give them a listen if you aren't a nerd and if you like good music. Trapped Under Ice was pretty intense, too. 

- We went apple picking. But you already knew that.
- We made some decisions about next summer, next year, and other adult stuff. Some of that stuff is for future blog entries, though none of it is really surprising/new/"big." OR MAYBE IT IS. WINK.


- Sarah started volunteering again in the nursery at church. She hangs out with the kiddos during the one of the services once or twice a month. I am not currently planning on going back to working with the high school youth group at our church. We were recently discussing the service side of our faith and I said that I would be more comfortable or motivated at this point to do something with college-aged students who needed some sort of God-focused activity during the week. But for now I'm not really motivated to try to find what that might be or where the need is with that. I'm pretty good just doing the dad/husband/hall director thing and letting that be my focus. We started really going back to our weekly small-group meeting this last month, too, and that has been wonderful. That group feels more like church to me than church does most weeks.




So that's what's been happening.


Also, I should note that we haven't really been taking a lot of pictures and videos of Norah lately. I don't know what it is, but I feel like we just don't use the camera as much as we used to and that we don't upload the pictures from the camera to the computer when we do.snap a few shots here and there. We tend to take a lot of pictures on our phones, though, so I am in the process of setting up the blog so that I can text pictures from my phone and have them posted on here. Look for that to be happening soon. It's gonna blow your mind. 


In other cell phone related news, we're considering dropping Verizon in a few months when our contract is up. They've been giving us a lot of hassles lately and our bills never seem to be correct when they come. We've been overcharged for things we don't use for the past three-four months, so they may be on the way out. Any suggestions if we do switch?


My beard is getting to the point where it's starting to be envied by men and women alike. Seriously. It's totally awesome. 


I haven't had a really good patty melt in quite awhile and it sort of bums me out.


Okay. This is getting ridiculous. 


Have a good one, dudes! Keep on truckin;. 


Stay Gold, 


MMK