Cornel West's advice to President Obama: "Don't just be the friendly face of the American empire."

I wish the Promised Land didn't still look so far away ...

Yesterday, Kirstin and I celebrated being together for half of our lives. We've now been dating or married for 15 years ... and we just seem to like each other a lot more as we go along! :)

On October 14, 1994, my brother and I had a big party at our house while our parents were away for their wedding anniversary. No, there wasn't any drinking at the party; but the music was (apparently) so loud that people from across the Boerman Expressway in South Holland (my parents house backed up to I-94) complained about the noise, leading the police to shut things down within a few hours. Some folks ended up staying, though--hanging out, walking around the neighborhood and talking late into the night. Sometime during the course of the evening, Kirstin and I realized we liked each other. I mean ... like liked. And the rest, as they say they say, is history.

See mom and dad: that party wasn't nearly as bad as you thought!

It's a bit surprising to see Audi promoting diesel through connecting it to political history (even taking shots at American automakers along the way). It's actually refreshing to see such a frank assessment (from a car company, anyway) of how our transportation choices have far-reaching and often unintentional effects.

Now if only Volkswagen and Audi would start bringing more diesel options to the North American market!

On July 15, 2004, I blogged about having reached 100,000 on our beloved Volkswagen Jetta TDI (read: Diesel). Well, today we reached the next milestone in mileage achievement:

Two things to note:

1. Yes, we did take this photo while driving 60 miles per hour.


2. The check engine light is on, but it's for something different than the check engine issue indicated in the 100,000 mile photo.

The 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 is this month and it bears remembering. Led primarily by students and intellectuals, the protests centered around hope for democratic and economic reforms.

After weeks of protests and government crackdowns around the country, tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square to emphatically quash the protests and reassert government authority. On June 5, as the tanks were rolling into position, one anonymous man found himself face to face with authoritarianism and, for a brief moment, stood his ground. Several photographers captured the remarkable moment, which became an icon of popular resistance against totalitarian power.

Though it has never been confirmed, it is widely assumed that the Tank Man of Tiananmen was eventually executed. His legacy, though, has spread around the world, inspiring thousands to stand up in the face of oppressive regimes from positions of relative powerlessness--a remarkably Christ-like gesture.

Unfortunately, government censorship in China has prohibited public conversation about the Tiananmen events (and continues to do so). Indeed, most Chinese college students have never even seen the image above and don't know the significance of the next few days.

I don't like watching beautiful buildings fall into decay. Cities like Gary and Detroit, to name a few, are filled with amazing architecture from better days gone by, buildings that are now crumbling in the wake of suburbanization and economic downturn. I recently discovered Forgotten Detroit (via David Koyzis), a web site dedicated to documenting theaters, train stations, hotels and other formerly beautiful spaces that are disintegrating throughout the city.

For example, below is the exterior and the waiting room of Michigan Central Depot, a stunning and imposing train station that hasn't been used since the late 80s.

I recognize that these kinds of buildings are expensive to renovate and that it's most often cheaper to simply build a new structure entirely. And I know that a lot of people think that folks like me are too sentimental about old buildings.

But when we continually tear down historic buildings, we slowly erase tangible links to our past. We begin to forget our stories--and they become less real to us--when we can no longer see them. And it is in our stories that we find identity, so we are, in a sense, losing our identity.

In their place, we build other identity-forming structures that aren't nearly so beautiful and that tell a remarkably different story about what it means to be human.

In the long run, we save a bit of money initially by building new buildings (as these cheaply built buildings will probably cost us more), but we lose our history and identity as people along the way--which just doesn't seem like a good deal to me.

We haven't managed to write here since the end of March. Here's a cheat sheet (for cheating, I guess?) of what's gone down in our lives since then:

• In early April, we managed the Festival of Faith & Music at Calvin College. It was incredible and we really need to write about it soon. Check out the audio on the Festival web site ...


• Shortly thereafter, we took a two week vacation and attempted to do as little as possible--which just about worked.


• *culture is not optional put in an offer to purchase an old elementary school building in Three Rivers, Michigan. We have a lot of ideas for it and we need to raise $20,000 before the end of May if the deal is going to go through. Want to donate? :)


• We're finalizing plans for a speaking tour this summer, details of which will be forthcoming on the *culture is not optional web site. Essentially, the Christian Reformed Church Office of Social Justice is giving us a grant to make our way around to Midwestern congregations to speak about approaching food faithfully.


• We celebrated World Fair Trade Day at World Fare with events on the hour, from potting workshops to film showings to a fair trade cook-off. Sparsely attended, but great fun!


• We published a few issues of catapult magazine in there, too.

It's kind of fun to hear that the Obamas will be planting a vegetable garden on the South Lawn of the White House.

Following Kirstin's post from yesterday, here is what I need according to Google:

1. therapy.


2. a job.


3. a new blazer.


4. a green card.


5. help.


6. us to make a donation. (Note: This one is actually true!)


7. our help!


8. to know about this tracker.


9. to clarify a bit. (Note: Okay, fine. The link above for donations is for *culture is not optional and it'd be great if you'd donate.)


10. a wake up call.