The Institute (協会)

Alejandro Sanz--Great Stuff

Young Dads Are The Real Mama's Boys

This month's Details Magazine has a wonderful about the pathetic state of young fathers who have were raised in feminized America--they can't related to their own sons.

The article is titled, "Is Daddy the Real Mama's Boy." The answer in America is, "yes."

Clinical psychologist William Pollack, the author of Real Boys and the codirector of the Centers for Men and Young Men at McLean Hospital at Harvard Medical School, says that fathers can actually be scared when they first come into contact with such filial unruliness. "The more sensitive the male, the more frightened they are," he explains. "They're afraid the boy's going to be a bully or a school shooter. . . . Or they have the fear that they won't be able to relate to their sons—that they won't be able to be buddies."

Would a buddy, after all, hammer the stereo with a rubber stegosaurus every time you try to introduce him to the delicate charms of Nick Drake's Pink Moon? Psychologist Michael Thompson, the author of Raising Cain and an expert on the behavior of boys, tells a story about a friend of his, a librettist working in musical theater, who found out that his son wanted to go to Madison Square Garden to see professional wrestling. The father, Thompson says, "was completely bewildered. . . "

Not coincidentally, Pollack points out, the Boy Scouts were formed in England at the turn of the 20th century because of a widespread concern that British men were becoming feminized. "They were having a renaissance in England of men who read books and became literary and were starting to go to salons," he says, "so people felt they had to go outdoors and be rugged."

In some major American cities, busy and wealthy couples have taken to hiring "mannies"—in part so that their male heirs will have someone to play catch with. "I think that's really good for kids, to have a guy around who's playing rough with them," says Holly Peterson, the author of The Manny, a saucy-socialite novel about the trend. "My son said to the manny the other day, 'I really like it when you beat me up until I'm almost about to cry.' When you're 7 years old, it's exciting to be punched and thrown and make it through and survive. That's what little boys want."

The state of things today is so sad. Many young men remain clueless about their emasculated state and the cycles continue. A "manny?" Are you friggan kidding me?

Fellas, what's up with this?

See Ya Next Time, John!

(CNN) -- Former Sen. John Edwards is dropping out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, CNN has learned. Former Sen. John Edwards addresses a campaign rally in Springfield, Missouri, Monday. Edwards has told top advisers about his decision. It is expected he will announce it at a speech in New Orleans, Louisiana, at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

New Orleans is the same city in which he declared his run to be the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee. Edwards' campaign Web site said he was to deliver an address on poverty and work on a Habitat for Humanity project in New Orleans on Wednesday.

Edwards has trailed former first lady Hillary Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in the early primaries, including a third-place finish in Tuesday's Florida primary, with 14 percent of the votes. He also came in third in key races in New Hampshire and South Carolina.

I hope Edwards endorses Obama! An Obama/Edwards ticket would be good for the Democrats. Actually, I'm surprised he stayed in this long.

Fellas, thoughts?

Reformed Theological Seminary and RBA Innovate

From RBA's website:

Reformed Blacks of America, Inc. (RBA) is pleased to announce in partnership with Reformed Theological Seminary – Orlando (RTS-Orlando) the creation of the African-American Imagination and Theology Project. The African American Imagination and Theology Project with its corresponding scholarships seeks to unearth and impregnate a generation of Black seminal thinkers to reflect upon and interact with the experiences, thoughts and lives of Black people and the world theologically.

For you black guys who are looking at seminaries you should be encouraged by this. Also, keep in mind that there are black scholars that you can (relax) and study under at Trinity, Covenant, Southern, and Southwestern Seminaries. Also, Bill Edgar at Westminster has a legacy of black church involvement; and do not forget about Rene Padilla at Gordon-Conwell. All of these schools have close connections to black churches locally. You have lots of good options if you want to attend great schools that will allow you to remain black. Also, don't simply go to a school because it offers money. Make sure the culture there is ready for you.

Read Bruce Fields' cautions about going to a white evangelical school. If a school does not have many black students you may want to consider somewhere else.
Dr. Fields discusses these are RBA's site:

First, there is both a subtle and sometimes blatant pressure to conform in more ways than just the doctrinal statement of the institution. It is as if you must suppress any characteristics or thoughts that are the products of your emergence from the experience of being an African American. In order to be considered as worthy of engagement, you must speak a certain way and about certain things. This manner and the required topics happen to be that which is considered mainstream to the community and therefore, “safe.” Since there are often small numbers of sisters and brothers with darker skin around the school, one can want fellowship and acceptance but it often comes with a price. A particular price may be letting someone else of the dominant community tell an African American what he/she “really thinks,” or should think, on a given matter.

Another type of experience available at an evangelical institution is a marginalization of burdens unique to the student and to the African American community.

The rest of these cautions are here.

Rant About E-Mail Here

Fellas, I have a love/hate relationship with e-mail. I love the way I can stay in contact with so many people. I hate the way people expect you to immediately respond as if that's all we do all day is sit and respond to e-mail.

Someone will write you at 9:00am and then by noon they will call and ask, "hey, did you get my e-mail?" Fire usually shots from my eyes.

Dear Hilary and Bill: "Yes, We Can"

The race-oriented attempts to belittle Barack Obama by the Clinton machine failed in South Carolina as Hilary and Bill suffered a devastating defeat.

Black democrats also showed great independence by communicating to Hilary and Bill that "black folks are not your political plantation."

Obama not only obliterated Clinton but also received 78% of the black vote.

If the democrats choose Clinton they should expect to loose the election.

Click here to read Obama's "Yes We Can Speech"

My New Segregation/Dead Evangelical Church Collection

I'm starting to collect artifacts from the the Jim Crow and Civil-Rights Movement eras.

Since it would be impossible for Christians to see signs like this plastered over multiple states and think that it was acceptable, many black theologians have concluded that during the Jim Crow era in the South the only churches that were alive were the Black Churches. The whites attending churches during this time were not actually Christians, many would say. Some black theologians would raise questions from a sign like this, "did Montgomery, Ala. ever have white Christians" or "when in the 70s and 80s did the Spirit first move among whites in Montgomery, Ala. so that there were actually white Christians there, perhaps for the first time?" I could easily see Cone, Williams, or Hopkins asking those questions.

I've never read any responses from the religious whites from that era who participated in this system of oppression who also called themselves "Christians" in terms of regret, with an explanation of the mental gymnastics necessary to live in a Jim Crow context and still sleep well at night.

Black History Month is soon. . .

And They Prayed and Wept For Japan

Here is one of my first reflections about my time in Japan. I posted it at World Magazine's web-zine. The title is "They Prayed and Wept For Japan."

I wish I was fluent in Japanese. I would have understood more of the prayers at a Tokyo house church I recently visited. I was convicted, actually. In praying for friends and the nation at large, church leaders wept (some of them praying in English, for my sake I think). It was refreshing to be around a group of Jesus followers who so loved their country, their families, and friends that tears flowed from earnest desires for the Holy Spirit to move people to follow Jesus. Only 4 percent of the population follow Jesus in Japan and, on average, career missionaries told me, it takes over 8 years (some say 10 to 15 years) of regularly hearing the gospel of redemption before a person becomes open to believing the truth of the covenant gospel story.

I don’t weep over America or my friends and family members who are not followers of Jesus. I hardly ever pray for them. I have no excuse. If I love them, like I claim to, one should think that I would desire to pray and weep for the Holy Spirit to move in a country as idolatrous as America. But I don’t. Instead of loving my country and its people I spend a lot of time throwing rocks at the big, bad “culture.”

Hurling rocks at non-Jesus followers for not living and thinking like those who are guided by Holy Spirit seems silly and is pathetically bloodsport for many of us.

Read the rest here.

Actually, I've been writing on a host of issues the past few weeks ranging from environmentalism to Christianity and politics. I forget to post them here sometimes: here's the rest.

Worst Trip In Years: The Flu and No Keys

This weekend I may have taken my last trip while having a severe cold. There's nothing like sitting through a couple of days of meetings while you can't breathe, constantly with the chills--even though you're wearing several layers--with a cough that won't quit. My ab muscles are sore from the coughing and my throat is raw. Drinking orange juice is painful. Not to mention the fact that I was all drugged-up on various cold medicines.

By the way, Dayquil did not work for me at all.

To make matters worse, when I got to Grand Rapids it was 8 degrees and they were right in the middle of multi-day snow storm. I didn't bring shoes for snow (that's my fault).

On the way back last night my flight was delayed over an hour. I can't breathe. I'm literally laying on the floor looking up at the ceiling dosing off and contemplating flying standby on a flight to Atlanta to get to my parent's or sister's place.

During the flight, as I was coughing every 5-7 minutes and blowing my nose, I took pleasure in imagining my arrival at my home to throw down some yogurt (I haven't had an appetite in 4 days), take some Nyquil (the only thing that seems to really work), and sleep for 10 hours. But, oh no, that was spoiled too.

When I got to the airport parking lot, I discovered that my car keys were missing. It's snowing, 32 degrees, I'm at my car, and I have no keys. I opened up my luggage to look and placed some books and papers on top of my car. A random gust of wind blew all the papers AND THE BOOKS of the top of my car. The books fell to the grounds. The papers flew all over the parking lot. I couldn't retrieve them all.

Now what? I think I looked pretty desperate because one of the parking attendants offered to take me home. "Don't you have anyone you can call," he asked. I thought about who I could call. That's when a very powerful reality check sets in. You know how people say, "hey, if you ever need anything just call me." But, do people really mean that? A friend did come and I finally made it home around midnight. I was originally scheduled to be at home around 9:30pm.

Next time, I'm calling-in sick. It's not worth it. I still have no idea where my keys are. I haven't lost my keys since high school. Really, really weird.

Please, Please, Please Let Obama Continue To Lead Among Blacks

From CNN:

MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina (CNN) -- The top three Democratic presidential candidates face off in a Monday night debate in South Carolina, with the hearts and minds of African-American voters on the line.

Sen. Barack Obama addresses Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once preached.

Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina share the stage at Myrtle Beach's Palace Theatre in a showdown as the nation honors the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with a federal holiday.

The debate, put together by CNN and the Congressional Black Caucus Institute, comes five days before the Democratic primary in South Carolina, where almost half of the Democratic primary voters are African-Americans.

These voters will be crucial to the outcome of Saturday's primary in South Carolina. They now appear to be leaning heavily toward Obama, who if elected would become the country's first black president.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Friday suggested that nearly 60 percent of black registered Democrats were backing Obama as the presidential nominee, with 31 percent supporting Clinton. That's a major shift from October, when African-Americans backed Clinton over Obama, 57 percent to 33 percent.

After Clinton's remarks the past few weeks introducing race into this campaign and dismissing Obama and blacks in the civil-rigths movement. I hope the black voters in SC and other states send her a strong message: "we know you're just using blacks to get into office."

I hate the fact that black churches let politicians speak at their churches on Sunday. Obama is at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where MLK preached.

Hey, wait, what is that? Preachers wearing robes? Hmmm.

The Flu

With heartburn too. I can't move.

French Fries

Yesterday, I had French fries. I really, really like French fries more than boiled potatoes.

I Am So, So Tired of This

Somehow some have concluded that I was actually arguing a point in the "hey, I'm back from the Japan" post below. Unbelievable. Here's what was said:

"While I don’t think you were intending to belittle suburbs or those of us who are called to minister there, because it's currently "cool" and "hip" to be an urbanite, expressing love for the city can easily turn into suburban bashing by small minds."

Am I missing something?

"While I don’t think you were intending to belittle suburbs"

I wasn't thinking about the suburbs at all. Why do the suburbs have to be included? I wasn't thinking about rural or tribal contexts either.

I'm so tired of this. I could have said, "I like red cars." And from that someone would have written that I'm neglecting "blue cars" or that I am failing to discuss the importance of "bicycles." Tired.

This is an example of "disassociative reading" and arguing a "straw man." Disassociative readers will read a line of text which sparks a trigger in the reader's mind, whether it's related to the text or not, and the reader will disassociate, going off on a huge tangent.

Here is the definition of straw man from Wiki: "A straw man argument is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position. To "set up a straw man" or "set up a straw man argument" is to create a position that is easy to refute, then attribute that position to the opponent. Often, the straw man is set up to deliberately overstate the opponent's position. A straw man argument can be a successful rhetorical technique (that is, it may succeed in persuading people) but it is in fact a misleading fallacy, because the opponent's actual argument has not been refuted."

Back to the comments: "expressing love for the city can easily turn into suburban bashing by small minds"

Dissociation: I mentioned the fact that I love the cities. Tangential referent: that I might have been making a value judgment about the suburbs. What?

Straw Man (kind'a): Expressing love for the city can turn into suburban bashing? Why is that a necessary inference? Why can expressing one's preference be just that: an expression of preference? Is stating a preference a direct argument against something else?

Expressing love for X does not necessarily, or always, if ever, have to turn into bashing Y.

Try this statement, "I love oranges more that apples." Why would this lead to people, regardless of the size of their minds, into bashing apples?

"I like college football more than professional football." Why would this lead to NFL bashing?

Why can't individuals express a preference for a thing without it being ASSUMED to be an argument against something else?

When a man says, "I love my wife," does that mean that other women will be bashed? Or should be?

BTW, the urban/suburban debate? What a stupid debate. Who cares? Here's what I said,

my reflections on my time in Japan are probably going to bother a few people

Japan is a country not a city. Urban/suburban debate? What? So, would it not stand to reason that I'm actually going to talk about world missions? Missions, folks. Missions. A discussion Japan may actually have nothing to do with any lame debates in America. Tired.

Have American Christians so made Christianity about "America" that any discussion about missions, magically, gets ambushed by discussions of urban vs. suburban. Tired.

Let's try this: Christians are called to go wherever the devil is working and wherever the brokenness of the Fall has reached. Getting into debates about which area, country, etc. is more needed, or important is a silly waste of time. Being a fan of the whatever demographic you have been burdened by should need no defense and nor should your love for something ever be assumed to be an attack against whatever "Z" you fail to mention.

Fellas, if you think I'm being too hard on people let me know. I'm just confused that how a comment about liking Japan turned into, "Anthony, you might be tempting people to bash the suburbs." Tired.

Back From Japan

Fellas, my reflections on my time in Japan are probably going to bother a few people but, for several reasons that will surface later, it was one of the most amazing two weeks I've ever had in my life!!

I realized during the trip that I love cities more than anything else in all of creation. The only real one I've ever lived near was Philadelphia and Tokyo helped to remind me why I love it so much. By city, I mean a major urban center with millions and millions of people where you can live your entire life without the need of a car and you're not likely to get fat cause you walk every where, everyday. More to come. . .

In the picture above, I actually stood at this intersection a couple of times during my trip in awe of being in contact with many images of God and rejoicing in the subduing of the earth. I realized that I like tall buildings more than tall trees. Again, more to come. . .