So I have to write for school every now and again.

November 28, 2009 by baggervais

I was supposed to write a response to the weekly reading I did for one of my classes, Methods for Teaching Writing, or something like that.  That’s what the next few days are for.  I plan on posting these responses here.  This is the response to the reading on the first day of class:

“Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan

Amy Tan’s article has won me over, because I can relate to it.  I myself have wondered how my “Englishes” have held me back, and maybe also where they yet could take me.  My mother’s mother was an English major from the Chicago area, so I have been subjected to the “proper” form of American Standard English through that line.  However, my dad’s English was that of a “Yooper” from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where the deer outnumber the people and the English would make a backwoods Canadian fur-trapper blush.  Even so, my dad went to college and spent his entire adult life outside of the U.P., factors which diluted his Yooper English and prevented me from picking up many of its peculiarities.

Additional components to my linguistic makeup come from where I was raised geographically.  I was born in Malawi, and though my family moved from there before I turned two, some of the British and Chichewa expressions of the area stayed with us (if it’s not my imagination, I remember hearing that as little kids my sisters and I even had hints of a British accent).  After Malawi, we then lived in various parts of francophone Africa until I was nine.  My parents plugged us kids into French schools during this time, and it’s safe to say that I spoke French better than English up until I was about ten.  I used English at home to be sure, but when my family finally moved to the U.S. in 1995 I can remember feeling that other kids my age knew a bunch of words I had never heard before, and that I had some catching up to do.

Having been in the U.S. now for almost fifteen years, I’ve developed the Englishes that will communicate with my surroundings here, and I’ve learned what Englishes do not belong here.  I still catch myself wondering sometimes if something that sounds normal to me is actually just a “family-ism,” and occasionally friends will point out funny ways I have of putting things, but for the most part I’ve caught on to Standard American English.  I’m relieved though to read that Amy Tan is no grammarian and that her success in writing came after she embraced her own Englishes, because I’m still a little shaky on my explicit knowledge of grammar, and as a matter of taste I think that the most enjoyable writing is not rigidly academic.  I recognize the need to be able to use “good” grammar and write academically in order to be taken seriously in certain situations, but I generally subscribe to the linguists’ belief that grammar is descriptive rather than prescriptive.  I think that good communication involves getting your message across in the most effective way, with as little getting in the way of that goal as possible.  I also think that the message you may want to get across is not always limited to the semantic.  If you are communicating with intimates, for instance, you may have something you want to say, but you also have an understanding of your relationship that you want to maintain as you say it.  If you seem concerned with sounding academic in such a situation, it could communicate a lack of comfort in being with the other person, or possibly trigger the “Who do you think you are?” effect.  It would be best instead to use relaxed grammar and even relaxed word choice, opting for expressions and turns of phrase rather than home run SAT words.  And if you are communicating with my family dog, it doesn’t matter much what words you say, but your tone makes all the difference.  However, if you are writing an article for the University, it would probably not be prudent to be too liberal with your choice of language.  In that case, readers might get impatient if you delay the communication of some information by your flare for style.

I find constraints on voice an unfortunate fact of formal writing, and have struggled in the past to remove my voice from things like job applications and term papers because I hate to sound so unlike myself—it feels almost dishonest.  And in the same way that I prefer vocalists who have distinct and subtle nuances in their voices to those who have had all the individuality classically trained out of their voices, I prefer writers with distinctive voices that shine through.  But I suppose that, until the day when I have a following like Amy Tan’s that I’ve groomed to go wherever I will in my writing, I should comply with exterior demands placed on me, and should teach my students how to do the same.

-Baggervais

I would have more friends if I:

September 22, 2009 by baggervais

1.  dressed like a human being.

2.  had seen the movies other people my age have seen.

3.  wasn’t so out of the pop-culture loop.

4.  could talk sports instead of only playing them.

5.  could talk politics and issues that matter to people.

6.  could talk about normal people things, instead of mountains, Andrew Peterson, and weather.

Weather is not small talk to me; it’s too exciting to be.  Weather.com reports that snow fell yesterday in Colorado Springs.  Today, the announcements lady at P.K. Yonge High wished us a happy first day of Autumn.  That means that it was still summer when the snow fell!  I shouldn’t have to tell you how exciting that is.

7.  didn’t blog about flatulence.

-Baggervais

I’m sorry.

September 18, 2009 by baggervais

I know most of you are girls, but my mom was telling me today about a news report on two roommates who got in a fight over flatulence.  I tried to find it online, and couldn’t, but I do recommend googling something like ”flatulence news orlando.”  You don’t even have to click on any of the results, just read the headlines.

I also found this in the process.

-Baggervais

No one’s as uninformed as I am about things.

September 3, 2009 by baggervais

But Rabbitroom.com informs me everyone’s talking about Derek Webb’s use of bad words in a controversial new song, “What Matters More.”  In case you’re not talking about it yet, he says, “if you really believe what you say you believe you wouldn’t be so d@&% reckless with the words you speak,” and later, in some kind of anti-irony, “don’t give a s#^!.”  Derek is writing about the way Christians can tend to emphasize some things they’ve decided matter, like not cursing and not being homosexual, and neglect other things that may matter more, like being sensitive about homosexuality or caring for the needy.  His use of bad words naturally makes an already controversial song even more controversial, but I like this guy’s take on it, coming from one of the comments following the Rabbitroom article:

“This controversy over the ‘bad word’ is exactly what Derek predicted in using the bad word. We get more bent out of shape over four letters strung together than we do over people going to hell. Not only that, we say such offensive things that can hurt the ones we claim to love. I think he hit the nail on the head, and now we’re complaining of the headache.”

So, moral judgments aside, Derek Webb’s an artistic genius.  A lot of people are accusing him of stirring up controversy as marketing, but I think they’re missing the artistic value of what he is up to.  Derek reminds us of our own rules, violates them as he does it, and then shows us how we also violate them.  Not only that, but he even causes us to violate them.  He’s sort of taking his cue from the satirical form, which would point out the ridiculous to the ridiculous, getting them laughing at themselves only to reveal it’s themselves they’re laughing at.  But he’s added another twist, and manages to engage the ridiculous in the practices he’s arguing are ridiculous.   Lo and behold he’s got us all writing blog posts about how he uses bad words, and not about how we hypocritically focus on homosexuality at the cost of caring for people.

I know Derek sings on a Caedmon’s record, “I’m not above or beyond anything,” but I can still believe he’s above using bad words as a marketing ploy.

-Baggervais

Cru at UF.

August 28, 2009 by baggervais

It seems like Cru at UF has been steadily growing every year since I started going 5 years ago.  The first Cru meeting of the year when I started would’ve probably had about 400 people in attendance.  Last night the projected attendance was 1,000 or so.  Even when I was a fourth-year veteran it was impossible to know most of the people at the meetings.  Now I’m basically the new kid as far as anyone else knows.  But, obviously, there are tons of new kids besides me.

So Cru is immensely popular now, and I hardly know anyone there.  Also, it tends to cater to the younger crowd.  But, even though I’m the anti-trend, and even though I substitute-taught people like this year’s freshman last year, I’m not the Antichrist, so I went and checked it out last night.  And it was more exciting than ever.

Because of the huge numbers, Cru has had to start meeting in the University Auditorium the past couple years for its kick-off meeting.  The UA seats between 800 and 900 people in its main room, which means the remainder of 1000 have to sit somewhere else.  I was such a remainder.  And yet the excitement was not dampened by watching the meeting on a screen in a back room of the building.

I must admit that my heart started off a little hardened at the beginning of the meeting.  I have a hard time not being cynical about worship leaders and stereotypically Christian people in general, especially when it’s just the thing to do in a certain crowd.  But God has been forcing me to depend on Him and walk with Him in ways I’ve never been driven to before, and the worship He’s due for that helped me to overcome my hardness of heart a bit.  By the end of the meeting, I was deeply convinced of the work God is doing in Cru, in spite of and through the people that are a part of Cru.

The “preacher” for the night was Clayton King, not a part of Cru, but a guest each year.  His goofy, hyper, ADD style of preaching did little to soften my heart at first, but eventually his passion for the gospel and spiritual gifting as an evangelist were clear, and won me over.  His talk mainly addressed the worthless, lukewarm kind of Christianity that a lot of people inherit simply by being American, and he set it up in contrast to the all-consuming, take-up-your-cross way of following Christ that real belief leads to.  He made it known that belief in Christ has consequences, and demands your whole entire life.  I think that makes it all the more amazing that at the end of his talk when he had us all bow our heads and gave us a chance to pray to receive Christ, and then had us give a show of hands while our heads were still bowed if we prayed the prayer, he counted 70 raised hands!  Are you kidding me?  This isn’t Tim Tebow in the Philippines!  This is America, UF even!  People are here for the party!  It’s amazing that during the first week of school, people who likely have spent the summer imagining how much freedom they’ll have in college and have been looking forward to drinking and mingling with the opposite sex, and people who are probably part of the modern intellectual climate, would hear a message about turning their lives over to Jesus and would accept it.  And 70 people out of 1000, a lot of whom would already have accepted that message, is a significant number!  I don’t see how that happens without God being involved, answering the prayers of his people.

It does my heart a lot of good to see that God is moving at UF and in Cru, and it isn’t just a phenomenon of popularity, and we don’t labor in vain.  I’m not sure what level of involvement I’ll have there now that I’m in grad school, but it’ll be nice to see what’s going on, even if from a distant room.

-Baggervais

I’ve come out of the mountains.

August 22, 2009 by baggervais

All the way out.  It’s now been proven that you can do nothing but drive for the waking hours of 2 days (through places like Texas) without caffeine and those hours won’t become sleeping hours, thank God.  And that’s how I got from Colorado Springs to Gainesville, FL.  You can also thank God that my truck made the trip without a single hiccup, because though I believe in the righteous requirements of man-law, I know nothing about curing automotive hiccups.

About Gainesville:  if you don’t know, the place is known for drawing people back one way or another.  I’ve come back as a grad student, beginning UF’s English Proteach program this coming Monday.  I’m pretty excited about it, not because I like the higher learning scene or anything, but because it’s working out like it’s the right thing to do and because I like student life in Gainesville.  I’m living in a house with 5 other guys, 4 of whom are friends from my previous Gainesville life, and all of whom like playing things like Ultimate Frisbee.  There’s already talk of doing 3 on 3 roommate competitions in various sports.  If I don’t blog regularly, it’s because I have a big class load and all my free time is being spent not missing out on any sports to be played.  And even when roommates can’t play, there’s always the basketball gym on campus.  Today I landed on a team with 2 girls from UF’s basketball team, a guy that was on UF’s men’s team before but quit, and another Joe like myself.  I take back everything I said about girls not being good at basketball.  But they still can’t dunk.

So, hello again, mom, and whoever else is still paying attention to this.  Hopefully someone is, because my mom already pretty much knows everything I just wrote about.

Go Gators!

-Baggervais

See you in August.

May 18, 2009 by baggervais

It probably doesn’t make any difference to my blog as few and far between as posts have been lately, but I thought I’d let you know that I’m taking off for the wilderness tomorrow, Lord willing.  I scored a summer job at this place, and it runs until August 15th.  Word is there’s no cell phone reception there, and if you want to get on the Internet you have to run on into town on your day off and find a cafe.  Since I don’t have a computer, cafes don’t do me any good.  Maybe I can find a library up there, but don’t count on it.

Pray for me and todos el mundo this summer if you care,

-Baggervais

(Go Magic!)

Cosmetology.

April 30, 2009 by baggervais

“These days there’s dudes getting facials.”  If you’re a man you recognize that as part of our national anthem.  Well, Theo Ratliff is the prettiest boy in the NBA thanks to the work of a couple of my Magic men.  It got started with little Anthony Johnson (who’da thunk?) at all of 34 years old laying the foundation, and Supes followed him up to put the finishing touches!  So long Sixers, here come the Magic!

-Baggervais

Hope.

April 22, 2009 by baggervais

You may be wondering, “What’s that change that’s been sweeping the nation?”  “Barack Obama?”  Well I tell you, it is the release of Jars of Clay’s newest project, The Long Fall Back to Earth.  But if the never-before-seen sales sure to follow don’t turn our economy around, I don’t know what can.  But give it a chance, go do your part.

And this isn’t just a Baggervais thing:  I quote one of you readers, “A minimal acknowledgment of the J. of C. album drop seems requisite.”  Pretend that she’s known for understatement.

-Baggervais

Por que no?

March 17, 2009 by baggervais

man-made-nature

I’ve long thought that the best artist is the one who can draw most realistically.  As you can imagine, I haven’t developed a deep appreciation for abstract art.  But the piece pictured above, undoubtedly done by the best artist, has got me thinking.  As I look at it, I put myself in the place of the artist when he was creating it.  He is not depicting any physical thing that exists in real life, so it is completely up to him the direction of his brush strokes.  I imagine him struggling to resist the typical shapes, angles, spirals, etc… that we are used to as he attempts to draw something unexpected.  I bet he occasionally got an impulse to put a mark in one place, but he deliberately would put it somewhere else to challenge his habits.  And all this while trying to be guided by the ordered properties of beauty.  And who could dispute the piece’s beauty.

This same struggle between limits and pushing them comes up in music too.  There are all sorts of theory you can work with or against as you compose.  A song might have a key that would dictate what notes and chords and things you can use, or you might be Derek Webb and throw in some alternates that make your song impossible to sing if you’re anyone else.  But even if you’re not Derek Webb and only the simplest major scales come to mind as you compose, you still have a lot of freedom to be creative.  And even if you don’t know how to mix and match time signatures and couldn’t explain what one is, you have plenty of options for how to arrange your beats.  Consider this song.   I’m sure the Robbie Seay guy is well acquainted with his music theory, but as I remember the song (the computer I’m on won’t let me listen), it’s a pretty simple tune that just gets tweaked a little here and there in a way you can’t predict.  It manages to be catchy and relatable without being something you would guess.  It’s cool when a musician takes a tune in a direction you wouldn’t guess, or uses a note that you didn’t see coming.  It’s like it expands the concepts of beauty that had already been established in your mind.

As a graduated English major, I must point out that there are such things as the language arts, too, and that they work in the same way.  In any language, you have the structure of grammar and a somewhat finite vocabulary to work with, but you can also test the limits of these.  And you have a variety of forms you might write or speak in (prose:  essay, drama, novel, etc…; verse:  sonnet, ballad, etc…), or you can mess with these and come up with your own.

Why stop there?  My guess is that whatever it is you do, it can become to you an art form.  If you’re stuck being a business head, you don’t have to be boring; you can come up with new ways of doing things.  If you’re a bagger, why not put ice cream and detergent together?  As you get dressed in the morning, why not wear socks with sandals?  OK, sometimes it’s a good idea to follow the pre-existing guidelines.  But everyone knows that sandals get smelly and can feel weird if your foot is sweaty, so the socks thing makes sense.

My point is that there are all sorts of rules and conventions out there governing how to do all sorts of things.  These rules and conventions exist for good reason, and are helpful.  But it’s also good to take another look at them, and challenge them, and in so doing figure out when things really do need to be a certain way, and why.  I would say this is an act of art.  Doing it helps us understand such things as truth and beauty more fully.

Just kidding, by the way.  I drew the picture at the top, and with a pen, not a brush.  I’m no artist, nor am I an art critic.  As if I needed to tell you any of that.

But I will take bids on the original, 1 in. x 1 in.

-Baggervais