Posts Tagged ‘college’

Off to college

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

There’s a million different ways to break the news to my friend the Internet that life has taken a shift and that I’m changing directions and going to college. I’m going to give it the short treatment today but take comfort that there is a long version of this.

What: Two years of MiraCosta community college and then transferring to public university, most likely of the CSU variety. Choosing the community college route so as to save at least one arm and one leg on tuition costs. I have a direction I’m heading on a major, but not announcing it just yet in case I change my mind on this journey of growth and discovery.

When: Enrolling in January 2010 for spring semester.

With whom: Friends and comrades Chuck, Boo and Stephy Paone. I am enrolling with them. We’re enrolling in unity.

How (will it work?): Like magic :) Actually, more likely with huge amounts of prayer, lots of hard work, lots of coffee, and lots of lentils (they say the college student of our day lives on ramen but not me, no siree. Lentils, not ramen, will be my forever friend on this journey.)

More specifically, since we dig Activated Ministries and it digs us back, we’re going to keep working there part-time to further the cause of Christ and put lentils on the table while we studiously study. As far as lodging goes, we will lodge ourselves in an apartment, living together in harmony just like the early church.

Why college?: To gain the skills, knowledge, exposure and experience needed to help me serve God and fellow man with greater effectiveness.

That’s the very, very short version. The long version involves epiphanies, hours of dialog, soul-searching, excitement, moments of deep existential angst, fear, faith, God’s promises, waiting, writing, proposing, researching, Craigslist-prowling, calculating, re-figuring, researching, more researching, and hearty amounts of Uncle Dan’s Algebra review.

Blogging will continue – although at this point it’s more correct to say that blogging will start again. I plan to keep blogging until I find my blogging stride. I haven’t found my blogging stride yet and it may take years, but by golly I’ll keep blogging until I do.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in The Latest | 12 Comments »

Book Review: Why Should Anyone Believe Anything At All?

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Yo! I’m back with a commitment for the 400th time to post more regularly. I’m trying something new here. I’m going to review a book. There’s a long-pondered reason for this and it’s chiefly because I’m a big fan of communication and have come to realize lately just how bad I am at it. I tried to recommend The Shack to someone and in the middle of my little treatise they asked if it was a Stephen King novel. I’m serious. It’s that bad.

So, using the principle of if you’re not failing frequently, it means you’re not trying enough new things, I’m hoping to vigorously hone my art of persuasive communication through what I anticipate will be plentiful and regular failures in the attempt. It’s a two-pronged effort involving both written and spoken attempts at persuasion. So, if I come up to you at some point and start trying to persuade you of something – anything – now you know why. It’s practice. Feel free to offer robust differing opinions. Remember that your part is to challenge me and help me grow.

So here goes with the written bit. I’m starting with a book that Mike lent me awhile back.

Why Should Anyone Believe Anything At All?

Why Should Anyone Believe Anything At All? by Christian apologist James Sire gives two main arguments; 1) truth is the only good reason for belief, and 2) there are good reasons to believe that Christianity is true. The first half of the book makes the argument for truth as the only proper justification for belief and the second half offers four arguments for Christianity as a belief system.

The book was born from a lecture by the same name that Sire used to give on college campuses. Before his lecture, he would set up surveys where college students were asked to respond to one question “why should anyone believe anything at all?” In his years of asking this question, all answers fell under one of the four categories.

Sociological reasons: My society, culture, parents etc. hold X belief.

Psychological reasons: X belief makes me feel good. X gives me peace etc.

Religious reasons: I read about it in a book (Bible, Qur’an, etc.) My religious authority told me (priest, rabbi, guru). Miracles prove the truth of X belief. I had a religious experience.

Philosophical reasons: X is true. X is reasonable, logical, and internally consistent. X best accounts for all the available evidence. X belief gives the best explanation of all the tough issues of life.

He devotes a chapter to each of the above reasons, examining the reasons and then asking the question each time “is that a good reason to hold a belief?” He works incrementally toward the proposition the only good reason for a belief is truth and gives a number of criteria for recognizing truth in a claim. These criteria would be the answers given under philosophical reasons.

Building on this premise, he argues in second half of the book that there are good reasons to believe that Christianity is true. Sire gives four arguments for Christianity; the historical reliability of the Gospels, Jesus’ resurrection, the moral argument, and the experience of Christians discovering God – although about this last reason he’s careful to note that religious or personal experience should not be considered a stand-alone reason for the Christian faith but must be incorporated into a larger context of evidence.

It’s not a comprehensive overview of Christian apologetics – there’s no argument from design or anything about cosmology or science. The main apologetic he offers is the person of Jesus; his character, his teachings and resurrection. I found the first half of the book to be much more engaging than the second, not because his arguments for Christianity are weak but because the material in the second half is covered by nearly every basic Christian apologetic book you’ll pick up.

The second half is a good condensed review of much of what’s in Case for Christ. The arguments for the reliability of the Gospels and the resurrection are boiled down to their bare bones, which is helpful as either introduction to those arguments or just as review. He also devotes a chapter to dealing with the problem of evil and uses the nature of evil and free will defense as the intellectual answer, coupled with his personal experience with deep suffering to offer a solution for what is probably the toughest objection that Christianity has to answer.

I like James Sire. He’s down to earth and has a humorous, grandfatherly way of presenting solid arguments. I’ve read three and a half of his books so far and I rank this one as one of his easier reads. The first half of the book on its own is worth reading as he makes an engaging case for examining the truthfulness of a belief and not relying on all the other “reasons” that are commonly offered. It’s a roundabout treatment on thinking critically and differentiating between a true reason for a belief versus a cause or a feeling.

He uses real answers from college students to illustrate his points and the book is peppered with other stories from Shirley MaClaine to Chuck Colson to Sire’s own experiences – keeping the book moving at an easily readable pace. My favorite part of all of Sire’s books is his bibliographies; he gives these tasty one-paragraph reviews of other apologetic books and subsequently the cup of my Amazon wish list runneth over.

You can watch or listen to the man himself give the lecture at the Veritas Forum.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in The Latest | 2 Comments »

Interview of the month: Ruthie, Memphis

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

(LNF: Sweetness and goodness. Now I get to say that I had Veronica Love featured on my blog before she became the Great American Voice For Sports In The 21st Century and I’ll sell this interview to Time magazine for a pretty penny.

Oh, and Ruthie. I picked this pic because it looks the most like you, in my opinion — good-lookin’, brainy, and a twinge of cheesy. A lot of other pics didn’t cover all those bases to my satisfaction but if you’d rather another one up there, just let me know.)

Hooray, my favorite type of post to make. I started this a week ago but it’s been a crazy week so here it is now.

I don’t know whether its Ruthie or Veronica Love now, but I like Ruthie because well, you just look more like a Ruthie. Ruthie used to live in what is now my Home and about a year and a half ago (wasn’t it?) took a big hop, leap and a jump over to Memphis to study journalism. Not the easiest of steps for someone from The Family to take and I give her very large (Venti size) kuddos for going through with it.

I interview people that I want to learn from, and I have a lot to learn from Ruthie. So here’s hoping that she’ll stumble across el blog and teach me something and have some fun doing it. Interview guidelines found here.

Also, I feel that I may have gotten some terminology wrong or presented some of the questions in a way that doesn’t quite make sense. For instance, do you do “homework” in college or do you call it something else? Stupid question, I know, but I’m too tired to Google the answer and Kenji’s not on chat to ask. If I did, I welcome any of my readers to chuckle knowingly and gently guide me to the right terminology. Thank you for understanding.


What made you decide your particular school? How hard or easy was it to get in?

(Ruthie) Upon moving to Memphis I decided to apply to schools around Memphis and the mid south to stay near my relatives. Just in case I got scared and wanted to run home I could within a relatively short time frame. The school I’m in, Christian Brothers University, was actually not on my list of possibilities. Originally I had my heart set on Mississippi State and my mind prepared to settle with the University of Memphis, and the backup plan of community college if both of those failed, but God had other plans.

My aunt suggested CBU to me a few times, but I had ignored her suggestions because I thought of it as a rich snooty private college that would be really hard to get into. However, over the Christmas holidays I got a job offer to work at their bookstore, which I took because I needed a job. While I was working one day I met the food service manager of the school and we started talking. He asked me about myself and I told him how I had recently moved to Memphis and was looking into schools. He told me to look no further because I was coming to Christan Brothers. I then told him about my money situation and he said no problem. The next day one of the admissions officers came over to the bookstore with an application and a welcoming gift, as well as an admissions fee waiver.

A month after handing in my application I got my acceptance letter, as well as my letters from Mississippi State and Memphis. Then the Financial Aid packages came in the mail and Mississippi State became and no go as well as Memphis, both weren’t giving me the money I needed. CBU came through with almost a free ride so my decision was basically made for me on a money aspect, and after working there for a bit at the bookstore and going on a campus tour it became appearant that it was the school for me. It wasn’t snobby like I had first thought, or all that rich, and because it was a private school, the school was less populated and the classes were smaller and more personal, which made the home school to college transition easier.

Why journalism?

Well I’m actually majoring in English with a concentration in Literature and a Minor in History because CBU doesn’t offer a Journalism major. Reason being, I am really really bad at math, and every other major requires way more math classes than just my 1 measly required class, and I’m barely passing it as it is right now. As well as I’ve always liked writing as well as History. At first I was going back and forth between switching my major and minor around but you can do more and look better if you have a degree in English than History even though you do about the same amount of work in each.

What’s your long term plan and how many years ahead is it? Where do you want to be in 10 years?

Well I have 3 more years as an undergrad student, and if things go as planned I hope to land a job for a newspaper or print related company after graduation, most desirably a job in sports media. If that doesn’t happen I’m considering joining the Peace Corps for a year or two and then going to Grad School to get my Masters in Journalism, then give the reporter thing another try. But you never know, getting married could pop up somewhere in between and throw off the plan a little. However, in 10 years I hope to be working for ESPN. heh.

How was the transition from the Family lifestyle into secular society? Easier or harder than you thought? Any major surprises or things you weren’t expecting?

I was actually a little surprised at how easy the transition from the Family into secular life was. I was warned about the dangers and told how hard life would be outside if I left, but I haven’t found it to be that way. Perhaps I was lucky or had God on my side, because I was able to find a decent job, get accepted into the school I wanted, and “get a life” pretty fast and without many problems. However, I did have some problems adjusting to the life style differences, finding my personal stance on faith and religion, which I am proud to say I still believe in God…lol, and fighting homesickness. Overall the transition wasn’t as bad or scary as I was led to believe.

What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of growing up in The Family as it relates to your life now?

One advantage is that having had lived in so many different situations and countries I’ve been able to adapt to many cultures and personalities, which is great because now I have a wide range of friends. Also having had been known as the quiet shy one most of my life, it’s funny to now be known as outgoing and sociable. The flip side to the coin is that because of all the moving I don’t really have a hometown or a place to say where I’m from. My accent is quiet messed up and I just say I’m from Baltimore, most people are familiar enough to know it’s a place but not enough to know exactly what it’s like. I’m also half black and am called whitey a lot because of that side that isn’t really seen much in The Family. lol. Another disadvantage is having to refrain from my Pop Family references, such as TYJ and peanut and raisins. They don’t really float to well and leave many people highly confused. But I have found a friend who knows Veggie Tales…it’s close enough. :)

What’s the best and worst thing about college life for you?

I would say the best thing about college life is probably that there’s so many people to befriend and always different things to do. Something is always going on around campus and there’s never really a dull moment. I haven’t had a Ground Hog day/week yet. The worse thing is definitely the cafeteria food. It’s pretty bad for a university.

What’s the homework aspect like? How much time is spent doing homework? Are you methodical or do you cram? How often do you have to write papers, say, in a given month? Do you enjoy it?

Homework, yes it’s called homework, is the majority of the college experience. Heh. Classes are only 50 minutes long 3 times a week, or 2 times a week and an hour 15 minutes long. So the teacher ends up assigning a lot of reading to do. There’s this supposed saying that for every hour in the class there’s 3 hours of homework to follow up with. I’m sure it’s supposed to be like that but I’m not that faithful. I usually give an hour or two to each class. Right now I have 3 classes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and two Tuesday and Thursday, so I alternate the homework. Like Sunday night I’ll do Monday’s, Monday night Tuesday’s, etc. I’m a cross between methodical and a crammer. If it’s a big project or paper I’ll do it a few days before it’s due, but not exactly when it’s assigned. Though recently I’ve had a few longer papers, around 5 pages, assigned Tuesday and due Thursday lately.

It’s hard to say how many papers I write a month, because some papers are written as in class essays, or part of tests, and others are assigned for homework. But I would estimate around 8-10, though some are shorter like a page or two.

I like writing, so it’s not hard to do, though it’s hard to please some teachers. Each teacher grades differently and I happened to pick one of the hardest graders in the English Department for one of my classes. I’ve learned my lesson and will try my hardest not to take her again.

Favorite and least favorite subjects?

Least favorite is definitely math. A friend me told that numbers form pictures which then tells the story, but I don’t see it. I only see numbers on a page. For me words tell stories and colors form pictures. I could never be an engineer.

I don’t have a favorite subject right now, but my favorite class was a Humanities course I took last semester. It was a small discussion based class on moral issues. It was loads of fun.

Has the financial crises been felt much on campus?

Yes, and no. Most of us are broke college students anyways, so if you walked around you wouldn’t notice much difference. But a letter was sent to our parents informing them that tuition is going up a couple hundred dollars next year because of the economic situation and more donation letters have been sent to my home lately.

And this final question from Chuck: “Ruthie, why do you eat cafeteria food when you KNOW it’s so bad for you?” Her words, not mine.

I eat cafeteria food because I have to. To live in the dorms we have to have a meal plan of at least 10 meals a week and if I’m paying for food no matter how bad it is I should eat it. Yes, I know it’s bad for me and I’ve been having stomach problems lately and I’m pretty sure it’s because of the food they cook, but again money is the issue. Waste not want not? lol. But I’ll try to do better. Next year I hope to get an apartment where I’ll have a fridge and stove to cook my own meals. Then I’ll be happy and healthy, instead of losing weight and having my insides deteriorate.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Interview of the Month | 5 Comments »