Festival of Faith & Writing: Sat- kdc

Couldn't connect to the internet last night so couldn't upload my pix. Hopefully tonight.

Snippets from the last 2 days (& if there are typos, forgive my tired mind):

* Friday, Songwriter/author Michael Card ended his session on Christ & Creativity (perhaps based on his Scribbling in the Sand) w/a new song I can't get out of my head. It ended with "worship him with your wounds for he's wounded, too." Beautiful & haunting.

* Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz) is the great, hot speaker of this generation. He's quite funny & fresh, but seemed to repeat himself a fair amount between his 2 sessions (one dealing w/memoir & the other w/contemporary apologetics). I finally broke down & bought Jazz (I have this aversion to buying "hot" titles once I'm behind the curve on them. If I'm ahead of the curve, then, of course, I'll brag to everyone about how I just knew this book was special), so I'll compare from there.

* Got to go pull myself across campus to hear Walter Wagnerian close down the festival, but a couple of stats that I found interesting. The Salman Rushdie keynote was, by far, the largest attended, w/townsfolk showing up & stray students. They opened a new section of the bleachers & the back section was full as well. (More on the key note later.) Today's Marilynne Robinson was larger than the previous, but not larger than Rushdies.

HOWever, yesterday's hour-long interview w/Robinson was packed out. Today's interview w/Rushdie was not. I'm not sure what that means, but I found it intesting.

* The College cafeteria meal reminded me why I don't miss my old college days. (The box lunches have been delicious, though.)

* WORK THE SYSTEM: Rushdie said he would only sign one item per person. Not this time buddy! I lugged around 2 HC first edition The Satanic Verses + 2 speeches he'd had printed by Granta in 1990 all day & I would not be denied. So I had him sign one, then went to the back of the line, & had him sign the speeches (he seemed pleasantly surprised to see them, thank you very much), then talked a student to walk my last Satanic Verse through, since there was almost no line behind me.

* College Kids Today Aren't So Desperate, Mom & Dads! To expedite my Rushdie line-time, I tried to bribe the Calvin College "blueshirts" (their volunteers) into walking items in for me, but they refused. I got up to 75 cents and still they turned me down. Me in college? I would've caved at 50 cents easy! They're all spoiled rotten, I say!

* MORE RUSHDIE: One young coed drove 11 hours from Cincinnati to hear Rushdie speak and sign all 9ish of his books in her collection. She politely waited to be the final person in line, waving people in front of her.

* IS THIS INTERESTING TO YOU? I listened to thriller writer Ted Dekker discuss his intent (he thinks "Christian novel" is a misnomer that must be erased because "All truth is God's truth" & as long as he writes stories of good and evil, that truth is more important than if his books are overtly Christian or not. He said his first 6 or so were overtly Christian but the most recent 6 (or so) aren't & he has no intention of changing that.

Anyway, that's not what I find especially interesting. The lecture was in the Seminary Auditorium & as I exited I noticed a bulletin board w/pix & bios of 32 or so seminary students who'd been chosen for churches. One of the bio items was married status & spouse name. Of the 28 married seminarians, 2 women had taken their husband's last name, 2 seminarian couples (4 people) had merged/hyphenated their names, & of the other 22 (or so - I only counted once) all 22 female spouses had kept their maiden names. Don't know if this is typical of seminary/grad programs, but I still found the overwhelming landslide of wives declining their husband's name in matrimony interesting.

More tonight (assuming a connection).

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Festival of Faith & Writing - kdc

Okay, I'm a bad blogger. I lost my NAYC / GC mojo & barely made it through my email last night before crawling into bed - then could barely make it out this morning. After only 1 day!
Yes it's walking all over this nice, but not beautiful, Calvin College campus, but still...

But the highlights have been very high indeed - hope to upload pix tonight from the (actually very nice & service-friendly) Comfort Inn (as the shuttles only take us home at the end of the day) - so here's a little bit here & there:

* Here's what I like about this conference - they're confident enough about their faith in Christ that they're unafraid to invite those who have different views on "faith." Thus I attended a session where a Christian & Muslim poet shared how they embed their faith into their works; Salman Rushdie, who has certainly been on the business end of faith & was already a declared atheist, will be speaking tonight because his books explore the distance between belief and non-belief; the boldest evangelical writer stands besides another whose only connection is 12 years of Catholic school. There's a diversity that enriches without threatening.

* Not that this diversity doesn't cause me some uncomfortable moments. Immediately before Andy Crouch's hour-long interview of the great (& that is the correct word for her writings - great) Marilynne Robinson, I plopped down beside a little English/Creative Writing Prof from Evangel College from Springfield, MO. Hey, I'm from MO, too! Let's talk! Soon enough we discovered we were both Pentecostal. She was Assembly of God. I wasn't.

With only moments before the interview began, how much do I explain to her - or not - (& how much does she care to know - or not) that I'm Oneness Pentecostal? Is it worthy starting & leaving open-ended? The conversation actually veered elsewhere, but I wonder...

* If you're the least bit interested in poetry & wordplay, you must go to Eighth Day Books & buy everything by Scott Cairns, but Philokalia: New and Selected Poems seems like the best deal. Cairns is actually teaching at my alma matter now - Univeristy of Missouri-Columbia - but it's the quality of his poetry that shines through. That, & his deep Orthodox beliefs. Completely built my faith by listening to him discuss art & poetry. (May be able to share some quotes later tonight.)

Anyway, I always buy a "lark book at one of these things. You know what a lark is; it's the "I don't usually buy this kind of book, but I need to broaden my mind just to see" type of purchase. SO I was thrilled to already have, and get him to sign myPhilokalia: New and Selected Poems, w/a very generous personal message.

* Hmm...so much more. About 1800 attendees for about 100 speakers on a campus of 4500 students.

* Alice McDermott (Charming Billy) spoke last night (her reading was horrendously long - from a new book coming out in Sept - but when she shared her thoughts about dealing with the unpleasant fact of death, they were quite good); Christian poet Luci Shaw's kickoff speech was completely flat (she read her poems in the same tone of voice as her speech & seemed incapable of sharing any "news that stays news" in the phrase of...oh, you know, that one guy. The poet who supported facism in Italy. Sorry, it'll come to me).

* Need to go grab a good seat for Salman Rushdie as I have 2 First Edition Satanic Verses I want him to sign & don't want to have to wait an hour to do that.

More tonight!




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Irony, More Pulitzers, and An Epiphany

The Benchwarmers are wallowing in irony today. Denelle, there are certain songs that take me right back to my college days and that is one of them. Someday Brad and I will have to share our plankton lab college memories with everyone.

In my Pulitzer blog yesterday, I failed to mention that The Times Picayune and The Sun Herald won Pulitzers for their reporting of the Katrina disaster. Definite props are in order to both of these, and we're especially excited for the New Orleans, LA based Picayune.

And talking about going back to my music from the college days, I came across this interview with Leigh Nash (formerly of Sixpence None the Richer) over at Relevant Magazine. I bring it to your attention because she makes this one statement that was a total epiphany for me. You know how you have those moments where something blows the lid off of your thinking? This was one of them.

I prefer to be an instrument. Like, if you hold your hands open, God can use them, but if you're holding on to some dream or something you want to do so tight and your hands are closed, He can't. I try to keep them open so they can be used.

Why do I have such a hard time learning that lesson?

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Festival of Faith & Writing - kdc

If my good friends at American Airlines hadn't totally rescheduled my flights here (Grand Rapids, MI) & home (leaving Sunday morn at 7:30 instead of 9:30 is a big, big difference), I'd be a bit more wired.

I'm at Calvin College's bi-annual Festival of Faith & Writing & I'm thrilled. Attended 2 years ago & it was good. This year will be better, w/a superb list of speakers - Salman Rushdie, Marilynne Robinson, Donald Miller, Alice McDermott to name just a few - all sharing thoughts on faith in writing. If all goes well, I'll have pix & commentary each day.

However, to continue w/my "Huh? You Scheduled What?" our Festival shuttle picks us up from the hotel at 7:45 a.m., but registration doesn't start until 9. What are we going to do for an hour, pray tell?

Aw, who needs sleep anyway?

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!

The Pulitzers

Thanks, Denelle, for reminding me about the Pulitzer Prizes announced this week.

The Pulitzer for poetry went to Claudia Emerson for her work titled Late Wife.

In Late Wife, a woman explores her disappearance from one life and reappearance in another as she addresses her former husband, herself, and her new husband in a series of epistolary poems.

Also of note is the fact that Thelonious Monk received a special award for his work in jazz music.

A posthumous Special Citation to American composer Thelonious Monk for a body of distinguished and innovative musical composition that has had a significant and enduring impact on the evolution of jazz.

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The Fire Still Falls

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the San Francisco earthquake, but Pentecostals of all stripes are gearing up to mark the 100th anniversary of the great earth shake-the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Azusa Street in Los Angeles.

For more on what the UPCI is doing, check out Ninety and Nine's exclusive interview with event organizer Rich Brown.

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!

Crowd Shots!

Pictures are: (Top to Bottom) Picture of Claudene Frances snapping a shot of Wayne and Ryleigh, Andy Smith talking with Nate Binion and John Smelser, Melinda Smith talking with Scotty Slaydon, Two pictures of Crowd shots, the humble blogger, Hailey Francis fascinated with Caleb Curry's Bionicles, and finally another crowd shot.




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World Premiere - But of What!?

Perhaps some keen-eyed detective can tell us..?


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Family & Observations

So it's nearly 10 p.m. & most of the crowd has drained away.

A Book Release Party is a great idea - a neutral setting for people from numerous churches & situations, meeting to just enjoy each other's company. Yes, I know we do that after most services and events, but this was around a single accomplishment that allowed everyone to enjoy each other. Amazing what you can discuss when you aren't starting w/the service that just ended. Someone else should do this soon.

Andy's older brother flew up here from Dallas just for this party. I'm under the impression he doesn't know too many people here but that doesn't matter - he's here for his bro. How cool is that?

When you're at a party like this you realize how many people do NOT pay the slightest attention about what they say. I had one person repeat themselves – word for word! - to me at least three times. I must not be that memorable. Or he must believe that to be the most fascinating story of this Century. (If so, I humbly disagree.)

This is a picture of Melinda & Emma Grace Smith. Happy family of author Andy Smith.

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!

Pictures: Reading / Crowdshots

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The 2nd Reading

He's reading the Afterword

Andy has shared that it took him 21 days to write this book after 21 years of living the book since his parents death.

He's sharing how Christ was an illegimate Son who went through every possible rejection, even being chosen last at kickball. :) Nothing like some humor to make the point.

He has a great talent for a strong final line. Probably from preaching?

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Name Dropping!

Many of the local pastors are here: Bros. Tom Trimble, Scott Graham, Jonathan Urshan, all enjoying the fellowship.

Headquarter's officials include John Smelser & Robert Fuller & Travis Miller & Todd Gaddy & Wayne Francis w/wives.

David Norris from UGST.

Two staffers from 90&9.com. (Okay so this is the only way we'll ever get noticed. Give me a break, I could be socializing...)

Everyone's kids were welcome & bouncing about w/out being distracting.

It was also a thrill to see Andrew Countaway and his fetching wife Tiffini later in the evening.


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The Reading

Wayne has just introduced Andy to read a section.

Andy

This is a favorite selection that Wayne picked up.

The cover is him at his parent's headstone, when both his parents died within 19 days when he was 17.

Chapter: My Story Part 1

Andy's sharing how his near-death mom danced & shouted in church, a message in tongues seeming to state she'd be fine. She died shortly thereafter.
------

Great ending line. Clapping.

Suprise! 38 Candles

Wayne just announced that Andy's birthday is Wednesday, so they brought out a cake to song and clapping.

Many from surrounding churches are here, as well as the UPCI headquarters are here.

Part of this is for fun, but part of it is the truism taht "It isn't real unless it's on the web." So this release party is now real!

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!

Ap Book Release Party! - kdc

It's Monday evening at Picasso's in Old St. Charles, MO.

The irrepressible Wayne Francis is hosting a Book Release Party for Andy Smith, whose just-published "The Eleveneth Commandment: Freedom Through Forgiveness" is being feted.

About 50 of us are cramming into this tres chic coffee house, awaiting a reading or 2 (amidst the general public) & I thought it'd be fun to live blog throughout the experience. My beautiful assistant and her handsome son will be snapping pix, which I hope to upload throughout the night (assuming I can find a power outlet to keep my laptop alive).

More soon!

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!

Devotion: Week Three

But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 19:14 kjv

A couple of weeks ago we placed my 3 month old son in his bed and wound up his mobile. It plays The Lullaby while stuffed trucks, cars, and firetrucks turn overhead. My son loved it. Tears came to my eyes as I watched the glee on his face as he kicked and punched the air with joy over this newfound form of entertainment.

How would it be if you and I were so easily impressed with things so simple? If we found joy in the everyday?

I tend to complicate matters for myself. There is always a deadline to meet or schedule to fill. Always one other chore to complete or errand to run. I get so busy in the mundane routine that I forget to be awed by the furious beauty of a thunderstorm or the gentle peace of a rain shower. I don't carefully evaluate my relationships to make sure that each of them are still strong.

Jesus told us plainly that the kindgom of God is made up of people with child like characteristics.

I'm pretty sure that one of them is the ability to be awed by the little things.

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!

You Heard It Here First

Welcome to what promises to be an exiting week here at A Month In My Life and at Ninety and Nine.

Our executive editor, Kent Curry, has a couple of exciting appointments this week, and he hints at the possibility that he may be doing some live blogging while there. That's all I can tell you for now, but check back here often to see if the roaming editor checks in with us via a blog post.

Also, from a very reliable source, we have learned that Ninety and Nine apparel is on its way!

Look for the unveiling sometime this May.

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!