How to Tell that Your Son Spends Too Much Time at Church

We have a few hard and fast rules about what Sam can and cannot play with in our house. Being 2 1/2, Sam naturally wants to play with those things. There's the antique metronome on the piano, the collection of instruments from various parts of the world, and there are the little plastic grapes adorning our dresser.

Sam loves to pick off a few of these grapes and then ferry them around his room in his dump truck and his digger. It makes sense; they are the perfect size and roll around satisfyingly. But the choking hazard is a bit too much for either Joy or myself feeling comfortable with his playing with the grapes, so they stay off limits.

This morning in the frenzy for getting ready for church, we left Sam alone upstairs for a little while. When I went to collect him for church, he had five grapes in his digger and was carrying one around in a bottle top. Joy bundled him off down the stairs, reminding him firmly that we don't play with the grapes, while I returned the grapes to their bowl. I overheard him protest that he needed the grapes, telling Joy, "But it is God's special will that I take this grape to church today for Cole to play with."

P.S. It's a Movie

Since I already posted on the chances of Indiana Jones receiving tenure (next to nothing) I thought I should follow up with one of the more bizarre news stories I've read about the movie. It seems as though Russian Communist Party members are calling for a boycott of the movie in Russia. Why? Because it represents Western anti-Communist propaganda that distorts history, that's why.

Read that sentence again - Indiana Jones distorts history. The St Peterburg Communist Party chief Sergei Malinkovich is concerned about the movie because "In 1957 the Communists did not run with crystal skulls throughout the US. Why should we agree to that sort of lie and let the West trick our youth?" I know our culture is not the most historically informed one on the world stage, but I doubt the movie will, as Andrei Andreyev has been quoted as saying, "provoke a new Cold War."

Want to know what might actually provoke a new Cold War? A Russian leader spreading the idea that the main goal of the United States is to destroy Russia. But maybe I just don't properly recognize the power of commercial art.

Oh yeah, Indiana Jones also Teaches

I'm a fan of the Indiana Jones movies having grown up on them along with Star Wars. But since becoming a professor, I see his activities as an academic in a bit of a different light. Thankfully, I'm not the only one. Ever wonder if Dr. Jones received tenure for his exploits? Wonder no more.

Celebration Time

We have cause to celebrate around here even before Noah's birth. Joy just heard the news yesterday that she's been named a Kindermusik Maestro!

What's a Maestro you may ask? Here's the official description:

The Maestro Program
Each year Kindermusik International recognizes Educators through the Maestro Program. Based on excellence in three categories—teaching, community outreach, and net sales—its purpose is to provide continuing support and recognition for this distinctive group of Kindermusik Educators.

In other words, Joy's program is in the top 5% of all Kindermusik programs in the world - that's out of over 5,000 programs currently. So, a not-so-small reason to rejoice.

(I'm just a little proud of her)

Let's Go Riding in My Car, Car

You may recall that these days, Sam is taking his Baby Noah everywhere with him. What you may not know is that his Baby Noah is a reconditioned Cabbage Patch doll.

I can tell that Joy is getting close to delivery by her breathtaking amount of nesting, which currently includes cleaning out our basement. In the course of that great clean-out, she's come across some of her old stuff (including her uniform from her one year as a cheerleader) and freed up several boxes. Thus was born the picture you see above. Sam declared that the box was his car, so we got out markers and began coloring it. You can see the red headlights and the racing stripes he put on in the picture - you can't see the wheels he drew on it. You can see that Sam likes riding in it along with Baby Noah (who, very unsafely, does not have a car seat) - you can't see that we usually go to the doctor's office to get stickers and lollipops. The car has become a staple in our house, even going so far as to serve as a car for Sam's other cars to get around in.

At least we don't have to pay the gas prices for this car!

Gregorian Chant's Comeback or Everything Old is Old again, but Hip

Have you heard the news? It seems as though Gregorian Chant is making a comeback in Catholic services. After being thrown out of many Masses when Vatican II said it was perfectly acceptable to hold the Mass in the vernacular, this cornerstone of Western music is experiencing something of a vogue. It seems as though there are two forces at work here:

1. Catholics my age are growing tired of hearing the same music at home, in their car, at the dentist's office, and at church. They are longing for an experience that transcends everyday life and find that the unmeasured, unhurried, half-understood Latin lines of traditional monophonic chant accomplishes that transcendence. (The question as to why Gregorian chant has a mystical feel to it is best left for another post)
2. It also seems as though listening to and performing Gregorian chant reduces stress. Hmmm, imagine that - prayer and meditation can reduce stress. But no one has done studies to see if Gergorian chant's use in Halo reduces the player's or the Master Chief's stress levels.

Looking back through history, these trends wax and wane between more traditional forms and newer forms and eventually, elements of both end up in a new fusion (so we don't sing Gregorian chant now the way it was sung 1000 years ago). Still, it is an interesting phenomenon. And since Protestants seem to follow their Catholic brethren in musical use, what's next, are hymns going to make a comeback?

What's Grosser than Gross

Can you tell that I'm done with school and working from home for a few weeks? All you get are Sam stories all the time. I have other interesting tidbits to throw up here in the coming days, but for today, a question: how do you know your son has come down with a cold? When he goes outside to play on the swingset and comes back in with snot trails over his face and arms clearly marked by layers of dirt.

Other identifying markers?