Music from 2009

In light of it being the final week of 2009, I thought I would post some of my favorite albums from this last year.  I don't think I bought enough music this year to make a complete Top 10 list, so here are a few albums that got played regularly around the house, car, and coffee shops I haunt.

"Hazards of Love" the Decemberists
This was a surprisingly great album.  I had heard the single, The Rake's Song, at work before it came out and it peeked my interest.  It is a concept album, following a love story, that displays the wide range of the Decemberists musical abilities.  I am a huge fan of the organ, and this album has some great rockin' organ parts, The Queen's Rebuke is one of the best songs off the album.  The Decemberists do a great job with the electric folk style.  Much more rock-n-roll than the Fleet Foxes and the other newer folk out there.  The album is distinctly the Decemberists but a divergence from The Crane Wife, their previous release.  Overall, the entire album is worth checking out.

"Curse Your Branches" David Bazan
I picked up this album right before seeing Bazan perform in SF.   The concert was the best show I saw this year.  I have seen Bazan several times in the last few years and the shows are consistently good, usually just David playing by himself.  But after releasing the album he did a string of shows with a full band.  The album has the common traits of Bazan with a band fit to back him up.  This made the show a lively mix of older Pedro songs and his newer songs.  It was good to hear Bazan play with a full band, and some of the Pedro the Lion classic songs.  This album is a testament to the struggle Bazan has had in the last few years and his ability to create great music in light of all circumstances.

"Popular Mechanics"  Surrogate
I got to listen to several of the demos from this album and was impressed by them.  So, when the album came out over the summer I had a rough sense of what it would be like.  As with the other albums, the finished product was a bit unexpected.  It is a well crafted album, in both writing and playing.  The move from recording in a warehouse to a studio helped give the album a more polished sound.  And this is accented by Chris's witty and humorous lyrics.  This album fits within the genre of my other picks and my current interests are clear in my choices.  But again each album in one way or another surprised me.  We will see what comes out in the next year...

A Break From Writing...

Currently, I am spending all my time writing papers for the end of the semester (I can't wait!).  Right now I am going through James C Scott's idea of hidden transcripts as modes of resistance.  These are not outright resistance movements but everyday ways that oppression is felt.  This made me think about everyday ways people today could resist many of the negative forces at work that create injustice around us.

These injustices become more apparent as the holiday's draw near.  I would not be opposed to the outright rejection of many traditions around the Christmas holiday, such as the grossly exaggerated need to decorate ones house in little flashing lights.  But that will only lead to my being labeled a "grinch."  If that has not already happened.  So, with the spirit of giving, here are some ideas that give more than just a reason for your neighbors to call the cops because everyone in town has to see the monstrosity that is your holiday decorated home.

1. TOMs These shoes are great.  I am a huge fan of my TOMs, they are on par with my Rainbow sandles. For each pair of TOMs you buy, they donate a pair to a child in need of shoes.  Its a simple idea, that works.  Plus TOMs are comfortable and they have enough designs that you could get a pair for nearly anyone.  This year they started making a pair that ties, as opposed to their traditional slip-ons.  I really like the new design.  And like my small group guys like to say, "Nice shoes, are those like a requirement to go to Berkeley?"  www.toms.com

2.  (timbuk2)Red messenger bag  Again, Timbuk2 is a company I really like.  I have had several of their bags and they are top notch.  Right now I have my Timbuk2 backpack with me and it seriously carries a significant portion of my library with room to spare.  I have taken my Timbuk2 bag(s) with me everywhere I have traveled.  Well, this year they partnered with (product)Red and designed a new bag.  Its similar to their regular messenger bags but with a new feature.  They put a special cam buckle on the bag so you don't have to loosen the strap to get the bag off.  All you do is unbuckle it!  As with other (product)Red goodies a portion of the cost goes to the Global Fund to combat AIDs in Africa.

Here are just 2 great ideas out of many ways you can turn the consumer holiday of Christmas into something more.  But if you want to really want to go big and give a revolutionary gift, buy some goats for people in need ($75 www.worldvision.org).  Its amazing what a goat can do for a family.  Let's be people who challenge the hidden transcripts that tell us that the world is about us.

World AIDs Day

At the request of my sister, I thought I would offer some thoughts from my experiences abroad.  I should point out that for me thoughts are directly related to our actions in the world.  How we think, is directly related to how we act and interact with others.  So, I hope these thoughts can spur some conversation, that leads all of us to be involved somehow.

This last summer, I was in South Africa for a gathering of church leaders from the African continent.  This was a chance for people to discuss the nature of the church in Africa and dream of ways that Africa can enrich the global church.  This can be both encouraging and tiring as one wrestles with where we are (in the now) and where we would like to be (in the future).  Sometimes this divide seems to great.  But that is the tension.

While I was there, I had the chance to visit a development project in Swaziland.  Swaziland has one of the highest AIDs rates in the world, if not the highest.  The Population Reference Bureau charted it at 33.4% in 2006, being the highest rate in the world.  Groups like World Vision are working hard to help the country deal with this epidemic (Almost half the population receives help from World Vision).

What surprised me was not the numbers, which are staggering enough.  But the type of work that World Vision was doing.  One of the biggest projects was training church and communities leaders in the nature of AIDs.  Many people where living under stigma that people with AIDs where disloyal, promiscuous, or amoral in some way.  This was a view that the Swazi's heard in church, school, and from aid groups (like USAID pictured above).  This stigma ruined peoples lives.  Having sex with a virgin was a widely viewed supposed cure.  Which led to the rape and continued prevalence of AIDs.  People where scared to check, which was an issue we ran into in Uganda.

World Vision is working to teach leaders healthy was of viewing the AIDs and those affected by it.  By dismantling the stigma, people where able to talk about AIDs and move forward.  This made me reflect on our own situation in the US.  What mythic views are we teaching and practicing?  What stigma do we have around AIDs, or heart disease, or any other medical issue?

As we stop to reflect on the affect of AIDs on our world, we must reflect also, on humanity.  This not an issue for "others" as if we can let someone else come up with solution.  We suffer when we ostracize our brothers and sisters.  The AIDs community has had to deal with the pain of not only the disease but of being pushed to the margins of their communities.

I will post more on how this relates Christian communities especially, as well as, ways of engaging our communities.  I think there are amazing things being done by groups like World Vision.  They continue to be a hope in places with little perceived hope.  We can learn a lot from groups like this.