Getting To Calvin, And How You Can Help

Your Typical Anecdotal Opening

This past December I discovered that, as with many high-tech toys and devices, I despise GPS navigation systems.

The university was closed for winter break and I didn’t have to teach again until mid-January, so Jen and I decided to take a short anniversary trip—our thirteenth. We chose Richmond, Virginia, for the Edgar Allan Poe museum, the many antique and book shops in Carytown, and because it’s close to Jen’s parents (in other words, free babysitting for our four kids). The in-laws’ Honda is much too small to carry our abundant progeny, so it seemed only natural that we would swap vehicles for the weekend. My father-in-law, being the considerate man that he is, even programmed his GPS to direct us to our hotel. “Just follow the directions,” he said. “You can’t miss it,” he said.

But after thirteen years, I guess he doesn’t know his son-in-law as well as he thinks. Coming into the city, I followed the sweetly feminine computerized voice, at the same time keeping a careful eye on the car’s odometer.

“Turn left 3.2 miles.”

Okay.

“Turn left onto I-95 North.”

Done.

“Exit point one miles.”

No problem.

“Recalculating. Recalculating.”

Wait a second. Didn’t she say---

“Recalculating.”

One wrong turn, and we were lost in downtown Richmond. And not the “good” side of town, either.

Now I’d looked at a map before we began the trip so, after half an hour of turns and double backs, we finally stumbled on Cary Street, and I had a vague idea where we were. I turned off the GPS and headed west. Ten minutes later we arrived at our destination, exhausted and completely stressed. All because I trusted that wicked computer wench.

Just thirty seconds with a map, and none of this would have happened. Thirty seconds with a map, and we’d have already been checked into our room and opening a bottle of wine.

The Real Point

All of the above is just to point out that I'm the type of person who likes—no, needs—to plan ahead. To me, the phrase “fly by the seat of your pants” has never sounded remotely fun or adventurous but…well, quite painful. I won’t even sit down to write the first sentence of a book or a short story until I’ve worked out the ending in my head. I may not know every detail of the journey (whether literal or narrative), but I know I’m wasting my time if I don’t at least know where I’m going before I start trying to get there. So though it is not until this coming April, the staff at Relief has been for the past six months making preparations for quite a showing at the Calvin Festival of Faith and Writing. And these preparations are really starting to speed up.

This year we will have a booth in the exhibition hall to sell recent and back issues of the journal. With some help from Midnight Diner Editor, Michelle Pendergrass, and authors Michael Snyder and J. Mark Bertrand, we’ll also be presenting a panel discussion during the concurrent sessions. There will be lots of games and giveaways and a circus monkey performing Glenn Beck impersonations. (Okay, I lied about that last part, but if we find one, we’ll make it happen.)

What Does This Have To Do With You?

And yet, all our careful planning aside, there are three specific things we need to get to Calvin. First, as I’ve learned since taking the Editor’s chair, what Relief and probably any journal needs more than anything is people who are willing to actually do things. In this case, that would be little things like helping to man a book table, or passing out flyers, or just spreading the word about the journal. So if you’re going to the Calvin Festival and you’re interested in being a Relief volunteer, please contact me at chris@reliefjournal.com.

Second—and this one is tough for me to even bring up—the Calvin Festival is, essentially, a book fair, so Relief will obviously need books to sell. And books cost money. The last year has been hard on businesses nationwide. Much more so for non-profit Christian literary journals, many of which have folded since the last Calvin Festival in 2008. Relief is fortunate to even still be around, and more fortunate to have completely sold out of Issues 3.1 and 3.2. But that good luck leaves us now with no inventory of our most recent books, and Issue 4.1 may not be complete by April. In short, we need to print another run of 3.2 before Calvin, and we’ll have to get on that very soon. If you are interested in helping to support Relief by donating to put a few books on our table, email me at the address above for details. Your donation will go much further than you may realize, and we will welcome and appreciate any gift, no matter how small.

Third and final, I’d like to ask you to pray for the Relief staff over the next couple months. We are volunteers ourselves, most of us working full-time jobs and then some, and then putting many extra hours of our precious little free time into this journal simply because we love it and the authors we publish. Prepping for a conference like this is a big undertaking, and it only heaps more onto a very tall mountain of things to be done. So please mention us to the Father when you can.

A Tough Few Months for Populists: The Loss of Howard Zinn and Ray Browne

Stephen Swanson departs from initial post on the meaning of “union” and various queries into whether it has “a state” regardless of speeches in order to highlight the passing of some ones who have been vitally important in shaping his beliefs about voice, art, and culture: Ray Browne and Howard Zinn.

The losses of Ray Browne, who died last October, and Howard Zinn, who died on Wednesday, provide me with a chance to write something that’s been on my mind for three months. Zinn and Browne shared a view of America starting at the bottom and working up, rather than the more traditional top-down. It’s so often that we highlight the fastest, biggest, richest, most beautiful, and most powerful things as the best, but these men made their lives’ work emphasizing the popular, average, and normal, and turning those words in assets not reasons for derision.

Ray Browne, it’s Ok to Study the Popular…

Calling Browne the founder of popular culture is a misnomer. People have been interested in and examined popular things for some time, but Browne, at least in the American academic system, pushed for the acceptance and respect for popular culture in academics and criticism. For example, his book on Lincoln, Lincoln-Lore: Lincoln in the Popular Mind, argues that understanding Abraham Lincoln as a literal, real person limits the citizen’s understanding of the role that Lincoln has come to hold in American minds, words, and ideals. And that one must examine thing of Lincoln that reach beyond facts and words of him as a man. His work and the works of those who he influenced have spread to the point to almost make what was once unthinkable, almost normal, that we can and should think about our common world and the things we “like” as a part of our intellectual lives.

Howard Zinn, We Must Listen to the Popular…

I am in no way the most devoted to Zinn of my friends, in fact one of my cohort literally made the movie, and so must leave detailed discussions to them. In almost everything Zinn wrote over the past 30-plus years, he emphasizes the need for citizens of America to seek out and actively listen to the voices of the average Americans from throughout our history and through all points on the political spectrum. During the times of my post-secondary education (1997-2007), American popular culture has trended toward the assumption of a nearly blind acceptance of authority that we agree with and rejection of those with whom our beliefs conflict. This period has shown increased reliance on pundit/mediators to break down and keep the gates of our physical, intellectual and spiritual lives, and regardless of whether one agrees with Zinn’s politics, the need for a citizenry to educate themselves on the realities of our collective histories and current place presses on my mind daily as I encounter students with huge gaps in the most basic geographical, historical, and cultural knowledge necessary to make even basic political opinions.

To Me…

The underlying assumptions in Browne and Zinn’s works revolve around a respect and need to understand those that have been labeled mundane or ordinary. These days it grows harder and harder to convince my students, and even my peers, that they have something worthwhile to learn, consider, evaluate, and express, and that they should not also look to the simple or obvious sources for these knowledges but should dig deeply and sift carefully, testing themselves and their environments throughout their daily lives and into their futures.

***

Stephen Swanson teaches as an assistant professor of English at McLennan Community College. Aside from guiding students through the pitfalls of college writing and literature, he spends most of his time trying to remain  aware of popular culture, cooking, and enjoying time with his wife and son. He holds degrees in Communications (Calvin College), Film Studies (Central Michigan University), and Media and American Culture Studies (Bowling Green State University. In addition to editing a collection, Battleground States: Scholarship in Contemporary America, he has forthcoming projects on Johnny Cash and depiction of ethics in contemporary film noir.

The Old Blog Is Back and Coach Retires

The Old Blog Lives Again!

For those of you who were pining for the days of old, for the old Relief blog, I have good news: it's alive again. You can click on this picture of it to jump over there:

Sorry it took so long. I think Ian The Web Editor will be starting to move content from the old one to this site before too awful long.

Coach Retires from Relief and The Diner

So most of you already know that the Diner is good hands with the new Editor-In-Chief, Michelle Pendergrass, and I'm also retiring from Relief as well. Oh sure, I'll still be around in case something blows up, but Relief is in good hands with the crew we've built.

I'm going on to other ventures, and you can watch those ventures unfold over at CoachCulbertson.com. and TheBasisCourse.com . I'm moving into the public speaking world, and into the apologetics world, giving Christians and pre-Christians answers to their biggest questions from a more logical, philosophical, and sometimes even scientific perspective. Should be big fun.

And oh yeah, I'm still refining the Write A Book in 30 Days Video Coaching Course over at WriteABookIn30days.com.

It's been a good run, and I've learned a HUGE amount of stuff, and made connections with amazing people that I never would have been able to know otherwise. I'm deeply grateful to all of you, our staff, readers, and authors, for allowing this radically different approach to Christian publishing to exist.

Keep the dream alive, gang!

Your friendly neighborhood tech guy, Coach Culbertson

Photo Haiku Wednesday 1.27.2010

Photo Haiku Wednesday is back and there's good news! The good people over at Quo Vadis have generously donated some prizes!! The weekly winner will receive a Quo Vadis Habana Journal and a bottle of J. Herbin ink!!

Every week Relief will choose a random winner! So play along and tell your friends. See the information below for extra chances to win.

Photo courtesy of Michelle Pendergrass.

Directions:

1. Enjoy

2. Write a haiku inspired by what you see

3. Post the haiku in the comments for chance to enter

For extra chances to win:

4. Follow @reliefjournal on Twitter

5. Follow Quo Vadis on Twitter

6. Twitter @reliefjournal with your haiku and #PHW (Photo Haiku Wednesday)

* * *

Winner will be announce via Twitter Thursday afternoons.

We can only ship to U.S. addresses right now.

You may only win once every three months, but you may play along every single week for Twitter Super Bonus Points!

Avatar: What's the Big Deal?

Travis Griffith finally buckles under pressure to see Avatar, and shares his reaction to the film and its implications on spirituality.

My brother called it a "life changing experience."

My mom said it was "an amazing insight into spirituality."

A friend said it was just "a remake of Dances With Wolves."

The pope called it "simplistic and sappy."

The Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, said the film "gets bogged down by a spiritualism linked to the worship of nature."

Then Avatar won for best drama at the Golden Globes and now is a favorite at the Oscars, so I decided I had to experience the film for myself, make up my own mind and then share my thoughts with all my Relief friends. The overall take away: What's the big deal?

James Cameron, the film's director, said,

Avatar asks us to see that everything is connected, all human beings to each other and us to the Earth. And if you have to go four and a half light years to another, made-up planet to appreciate the miracle of the world that we have right here, well, you know what, that's the wonder of cinema right there, that's the magic.

Of course, that's why the Vatican says the film supports a worship of nature and neo-paganism (which obviously is bad for business).

Here's the deal: Avatar does indeed support a worship of nature. It also supports a love for one another and the importance of not judging other people, regardless of race or beliefs. In the movie, the Na'vi people have developed a vibrant, complex, and sophisticated culture based on a profound spiritual connection to their planet, one another and the encompassing spirit they call Eywa. The operative concept for the Na'vi is balance. Their lives express this balance in body, mind and spirit.

A review at movieguide.org said,

In reality, you are connected to the earth by gravity, not by spirit. The Bible tells us the earth will be burned up and there will be a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness reigns. We are stewards of the earth and its creatures, not brothers. We are accountable to God for what we do with the resources He's given us.

The spirit world is not something in need of balance. It is a war zone where evil spirits want to drag you into lust, greed, anger, and depression while the Spirit of God seeks to rescue you from darkness.

So the hard-line Christians blast the spirit world with their "reality" of fire, fear and brimstone while lauding heaven as God's Kingdom. Pagans reject heaven and revel in the universal energy of the spirit world. Who is right?

What if the Christian heaven and the pagan spirit world turned out to be the same place behind the veil, just with different marketing here on Earth?

Yet, the Vatican tries to protect its stake in religion while belittling messages like the one in Avatar. It would have been great to see the Vatican lead a discussion towards a more loving and accepting version of spirituality instead of calling the film's relevant message "simplistic." Some might even call the type of spirituality portrayed in Avatar as more advanced when compared to the archaic beliefs and practices of Catholicism.

In the end, all Avatar asks us to do is love each other and our planet so humanity can evolve into a place of unconditional bliss. That, after all, is the same ultimate goal many of the world's religions have, they just all seem to call it something different. Catholics call it the Kingdom of God. Buddhists call it Nirvana. Avatar called it Pandora. Same damn thing, just with different paths that lead there, all as valid as the other.

As long as beliefs are based on love, who's to say who gets to claim the correct one? I say choose what feels right to you, without fear of being judged for your beliefs by someone else.

If you've seen the movie and want to share your thoughts, or care to challenge anything I've said here, I'd love to have a discussion with you.

Love... to all.

***

Travis Griffith, who left behind the corporate marketing world, choosing family and writing in lieu of “a comfortable life” financially, is a former atheist trying to define what leading a spiritual life really means. His children’s book, Your Father Forever, published in 2005 by Illumination Arts Publishing Company, Inc. captures only a fraction of his passion for fatherhood.

Relief News Tuesday 1.26.2010

Blog going double time in February

Starting next week, the Relief blog will be attempting to update two new posts every weekday.  One will go up around midday and the other will go up in the evening.  These new posts will feature the blogger columnists you've come to know and love--like Deanna Hershiser and Stephen Swanson--as well as guest bloggers--like Heather Cadenhead and Michael Snyder.  So be ready for double the material with the same insight and quality that you've come to expect from Relief.

Special Message

Coach "Coach" Culbertson will be putting an update on the site very soon.  It's got a couple surprises in it, so be sure to check back to see what Coach has been up to!

On Writing Groups and Muddling Through

Last summer, my husband’s friend posted on Facebook: “Are there any serious writers in Seattle who are interested in a writers group?”  My husband replied that I was, and then he asked me what I thought.

He was right.  I was interested.  I was still working a couple of part-time jobs, and I was considering pursuing my M.F.A.  The thing about these writing programs though is that they require a writing portfolio and I hadn’t done any significant poetry writing since 2007.  Writing is a lot like exercise: once you stop, it’s really hard to get started again, and it’s easier to do if you have a buddy.

Writing Groups of All Shapes and Sizes

As a writing major and an English teacher, I have a long history with writing groups.  I learned how to give and receive critique from my high school English teachers who both modeled effective critique and created workshop space for us to interact with each other’s work.  It wasn’t until I began teaching that I realized how rare those creative writing classes are in high school, and I have yet to work at a school that offers that same opportunity.  By the time I graduated from college, I had come to depend on feedback from my community on my writing, and I found it harder and harder to come by.  My teacher friends didn’t often offer the same depth of critique—perhaps because it was simply relief to be reading something beyond the average eighth grade poem—so when I came upon my first writing group in Portland, I felt relieved to know that my writing was once again in good hands, with people that would neither praise it excessively or tear it down needlessly.  I found this particular group through my church: it was small, met biweekly, and while we each had different poetic styles, we were able to provide solid feedback to each other.  Either that, or we just said, “Dude, I’m not sure what to tell you.  This is beyond me.”  Being in a small group gave us space to focus ample time to each piece on those rainy winter evenings.

That group broke up about six months after I joined it as people moved and life happened.  About a year later, I was asked to become part of the leadership team for a larger writing group, and I found that to be much less effective.  We only met monthly, so I frequently found myself either throwing something together before rushing out the door (a great leadership model to be sure) or not bringing anything because I knew there was no way we would get to everyone.  While I received some good feedback on the few pieces I did bring, I was exhausted, leading in too many areas of my life that year.  I was not sad to step down.

Despite the overwhelming sense of relief after leaving the leadership team, I effectively stopped writing poetry a few months afterwards.  It seems I am not as self-motivated as I would like to think I am.  So when this opportunity opened to join a new group in Seattle, I jumped on it despite knowing no one in the group.  I have found it’s often best if the people in the group form their relationships around the writing; it’s easier to stay on topic that way, and it’s easier to be honest—both in your writing and in your feedback.

Since those initial summer conversations, we have met a handful of times.  We are still figuring out our rhythm: how often to meet, how to prevent procrastination, what size is best.  Perhaps most significantly, we are working through how to give feedback on significantly different kinds of writing.  Out of the four women, each of us is working within a different genre, and I find myself a little disoriented jumping from one genre to the next, in and out of my expertise.   Yet there comes a point when good writing is good writing, and it’s something you recognize in prose or poetry.

Muddling Through (Or Um, What Now?)

However, it is hard to be an active member of a writing group when I am not producing much new poetry.  I’m out of practice; I’m not seeing or hearing things like I used to.  Last week, I had about two hours to write a poem for the upcoming meeting.  Nothing happened.  I read some poetry.  Nothing.  I found some of my old work.  Nothing.  I finally decided to take the old work to the new group since they hadn’t read it before in hopes that it would spark new ideas and ultimately new poems.  So far, nothing.  The issue is not so much getting back into writing.  Those of you who read my personal blog know that I participated in National Blog Posting Month in November where the challenge was to post every day for thirty days.  This commitment catapulted me back into writing regularly; it’s the best thing I’ve done for myself in some time, but the poetry remains stagnant.

Right now, I am waiting.  While I am still planning on pursuing my M.F.A. after my husband completes his graduate program, I am not sure where I’m at as a writer right now.  And I believe that’s okay.  There’s something to be said for the discipline of writing, for surrounding yourself with good art and thoughtful people, for giving yourself deadlines so you actually produce work instead of just telling strangers over appetizers and small talk that you’re a writer.  Yet it’s not instant, there’s no formula, and you must learn to listen well—even when the silence uncovers more questions (like which genre to pursue and when).  In the end, the process will yield the art, and right now I am trusting the journey.

***

Kristin Mulhern Noblin is a veteran English teacher who enjoys good coffee, watching football, and using her red KitchenAid mixer.  She lives in Seattle, Washington, with her husband and looks forward to the day they will have a dog.  When not wrangling middle school students, she is busy standing for truth, beauty, freedom, and love.

World Peace: All Figured Out

Travis Griffith has a surprisingly simple plan for World Peace. Would it work?

Guess what I did this weekend?

Well, aside from watching my Cardinals get spanked by the Saints in the NFL Playoffs, I figured out the way to world peace.

Yeah, I know. And it wasn’t even that hard.

First, I was thinking about the reasons why humans on Earth fight with each other. The biggest reason, though certainly not the only one, is this: faith. Why? Because when humans have faith in a god alone, it makes them crazy. It makes them believe their way is the only right way, and others should believe it too.

Here’s a simple example that boils down the history of faith-based fighting into a brief exchange between characters. Imagine these people sitting in a beautiful café at sunrise, enjoying a latte and talking about faith:

The Christian: Jesus is the Lord and the only true path to God’s Kingdom. The Jew: I don’t believe in Jesus. The Christian: You are going to Hell unless you accept Jesus into your heart. The Jew: That’s why we don’t like you very much. The Muslim: Just don’t come to our land and say Jesus is Lord. Allah is the one and only God. And we’ll fight to defend Him. The Christian: Christ is the world’s only savior and those who don’t believe will burn in Hell. Elsie (the pagan): Enough with Hell. Just love and worship the planet, and the people and nature around you. The Christian, The Jew and the Muslim: You’re crazy. That’s worshipping a false deity. The Muslim: You’re no better, Jew.

Pretty soon, the peaceful little café erupts in a firestorm of punches, hate, judgment and lots of spilled coffee.

Isn’t faith crazy?

Now, what if each of these people had faith in their gods, but also in each other? Maybe the conversation would go like this:

The Christian: I’m curious about what you guys believe. The Jew: We basically believe what you do, but without the whole Jesus as savior thing. The Christian: Fascinating. Tell me more. The Muslim: We believe in a peaceful planet, ruled by one God, who we submit ourselves to. The Christian: Sounds lovely. Elsie (the pagan): We worship our Earth and respect our gods and goddesses while exploring spirituality. The Christian, the Muslim and the Jew: Still crazy, but hey, that’s cool. The Christian: I’ll tell you what, I’ll pick up the bill this time. Nice chatting, friends.

Now the café is a place of love and acceptance. Everyone’s beliefs are still intact and each person had the opportunity to gain some knowledge. Would it really be that hard to expand this little café scene to the entire world?

Granted, on the world scene we’re dealing with spilled blood instead of coffee, but the solution is the same. Love each other. Keep faith in whatever gods we choose, but while working to restore faith in the humanity that surrounds us.

Why is it so hard for humans to accept people with different beliefs? Could love and acceptance truly be the keys to world peace? I have faith that they are. What do you think?

Love... to all.

***

Travis Griffith, who left behind the corporate marketing world, choosing family and writing in lieu of “a comfortable life” financially, is a former atheist trying to define what leading a spiritual life really means. His children’s book, Your Father Forever, published in 2005 by Illumination Arts Publishing Company, Inc. captures only a fraction of his passion for fatherhood.

Photo Haiku Wednesday

Photo Haiku Wednesday is back and there's good news! The good people over at Quo Vadis have generously donated some prizes!! The  weekly winner will receive a Quo Vadis Habana Journal and a bottle of J. Herbin ink!!

Every week Relief will choose a random winner! So play along and tell your friends. See the information below for extra chances to win.

Photo courtesy of Michelle Pendergrass.

Directions:

1. Enjoy

2. Write a haiku inspired by what you see

3. Post the haiku in the comments for chance to enter

For extra chances to win:

4. Follow @reliefjournal on Twitter

5. Follow Quo Vadis on Twitter

6. Twitter @reliefjournal with your  haiku and #PHW (Photo Haiku Wednesday)

* * *

Winner will be announce via Twitter Thursday afternoons.

We can only ship to U.S. addresses right now.

You may only win once every three months, but you may play along every single week for Twitter Super Bonus Points!

Relief News Tuesday 1.19.2010

Photo Haiku is Coming Back!

Starting tomorrow, Relief will resuming Photo Haiku Wednesday.  Not only will it be back in all of its glory, but Michelle Pendergrass has seen to it that we will have prizes!

Thanks to Michelle and the great people over at Quo Vadis we will have a Quo Vadis notebook (that's a picture of it on the right) and a bottle of J. Herbin ink.  Michelle wrote a great review of Quo Vadis products, and you can read it here.  After that, make sure you check out their website (http://quovadisplanners.com/) to see all of the cool stuff that they make--some of it is really awesome!  After that, make sure you follow them on Twitter (http://twitter.com/QuoVadisBlog).

Don't forget about Calvin!

Relief is going to be well represented at Calvin's Festival of Faith and Writing April 15-17.  We're working on something special for the festival, and we would love to see you there, so make sure you get your tickets from their website (http://www.calvin.edu/academic/engl/festival/).

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

I'd be a terrible poser if I acted like U2 was one of my favorite bands. (Sorry Heather) However, as I sat down to write this post, that song did come to mind and I did pull it up and listen to it.

Because right now, it's truth as far as The Midnight Diner goes.  So I'm going to lay it all out there and hope that you will rise to the occasion and make it so.

Submissions were extended to January 15 and maybe I should have addressed the issues then, but I didn't think about it.  Live and learn, right?  So the 15th came and went and I looked at the state of submissions and noticed a huge discrepancy in categories.  Some categories are overflowing but most are gaunt and starving.

We have plenty of horror, paranormal, and hard-boiled stories. They are abundant.  Everything else? Not so much.  Like almost nothing. A drought.

We need you to submit in these categories:

Jesus vs. Cthulhu

Monster

Shatner on a Plane

Archetypical Exploration

The One That Happens in a Diner

Weird Western

Conspiracy/Intrigue

Adventure

Aliens/UFO

Weird War

I am committed to producing a quality publication and right now, I feel that the scales are stacked and there isn't much variety.  Take a look at the list and get going!

As for the new deadline, I wanted to give you until the end of March, but then I looked at my April calendar and I'll be traveling three-quarters of the month and I know I will not be able to read the last minute submissions, not to mention start trying to produce this issue, so to save my sanity, I'm going to go out on a limb here and set the new submission deadline for May 15, 2010.

I realize that means we've kept submissions open for two months shy of a year and I understand we've not made decisions on stories submitted over the past six months, but I'd rather publish a quality, diversified issue  than try to make it work with mostly three categories.  In the end, this is better for you, author, because you want your story in a publication that cares.

* * *

Michelle Pendergrass is Editor-in-Chief of The Midnight Diner and hopes you consider submitting a story in one of the desolate categories above.

Special Relief Offer: Send us your 700 Club member card, we'll send you a free subscription

In response to the recent comments by the Reverend Pat Robertson blaming the disaster in Haiti on the impoverished nation's supposed "pact with the Devil," many Christians are understandably distancing themselves from the very public Evangelical figure.

Mr. Robertson's views are increasingly seen by Christians as anti-intellectual, bigoted, and not representative of mainstream Christianity in America . Relief: A Christian Literary Expression is willing to provide some incentive for persons who may be considering withdrawing financial support from Pat Robertson and his 700 Club.

700 Club members who cancel their memberships in protest of Mr. Robertson's latest hateful comment will receive a one-year subscription to the journal--two issues of Relief--free of charge. Participants need simply to mail their 700 Club membership cards in two or more pieces to:

Relief: A Christian Literary Expression 60 W. Terra Cotta Suite B PMB 156 Crystal Lake, IL 60014

Hitting the Mixes

Deanna Hershiser ponders failure and success in writing.

I've been looking back and thinking I would describe a few of my writing hits and misses. But then I thought, what do those terms mean?

Hit

--n.: 1. a blow; stroke. 2. a getting to what is aimed at.

As in baseball, so with the pen. I wanted to get hits, to see my name in print, to hear that people were reading me. After each of those gifts arrived, I hoped I would receive more -- wider recognition, contest wins, and let's not forget lump sums.

In daydream scenarios, I imagined the greater good my words might accomplish, the lasting effect of my ministry on the world.

Many times, though, I received good news from an editor or contest when some aspect of my life was in a low state, or when the news was more like a blow. For example, the first check I received for an article, back in 1996, brought with it amazing feelings -- most of them good. But I couldn't help tracing over again the sorrowful subject of my story. Was God pleased that I got paid for this? Or had I taken advantage of a sad situation to boost my ego?

While a therapist might have labeled my guilt feelings neurotic, I'm not sorry for the inner wrestling I did. Further thought and prayer helped me write more on the subject and find richer insight.

Miss

--n.1. a failure to hit, attain, etc. 2. (obsolete) loss; lack.

I almost quit writing after my first rejection. Thanks to encouraging friends and growing up some more, I tried new things. One evening I found myself at a writers' conference banquet, knowing I had won a prize for a short story but waiting to hear whether I had received first, second, or third.

Though happy to be in my seat at all, I really wanted first prize. Who would ever care about the other two? To come all this way and not get first, I knew, would feel like a loss.

Then a fresh thought hit me. I might be able to handle loss right now better than someone else sitting in the full dining room. Forget how good anybody's writing is for a minute, my mind said. Someone else might truly need first prize. Strange to say, I relaxed. And yep, someone else won. I still have the certificate for my second prize in a file somewhere, all but forgotten. Yet, again, I'm glad I went through those weird thoughts and emotions in my writing process.

I may post more in coming weeks about my successes, failures, and the mixture of lessons that have ministered through them to me. Feel free to share any of your own in the comments section.

***

In 2010 Deanna Hershiser plans to take breaks from toil over essays and memoirs to fish with her father on the McKenzie River near Eugene, Oregon.  Her latest publications have included fiction in joyful! and nonfiction in Camroc Press Review. She blogs here

The Haiti Earthquake: Sending Love, not Judgment

Travis Griffith reacts to the Haiti earthquake and the troubling reason Pat Robertson has for why it happened.

The devil doesn’t exist anymore. I got rid of him.

I say that, and people will call me crazy. Yet Pat Robertson can go on TV and claim that Haiti suffered a horrible earthquake because its people made a pact with the devil.

And people believe him.

If you want to watch the video for yourself, you can do so here.

The earthquake in Haiti is a tragic event that has claimed an untold number of lives. The people there need all the compassion and love they can get, and I for one am trying to send what I can to them.

The people in Haiti do not need to be told they brought this among themselves. Maybe a reader can clarify for me, but I don’t see how Robertson can call himself a man of God while claiming that humans deserved this earthquake by rejecting God and accepting the devil. That’s an arrogant claim that degrades the whole of humanity, not just those who are suffering in Haiti at this very moment. I don’t believe for a second that God would unleash his wrath on one of the poorest countries on Earth.

I contend that God doesn’t even have a wrath. God has love, for all of humanity.

Robertson’s latest claim is a stunning and sickening example of what is wrong with religion, and only proves that a more compassionate, loving form of religion is due on this planet.

Even the parts ravaged by poverty, death and earthquakes.

Love… to all.

***

If you would like to aid in the relief of the earthquake in Haiti, please visit  World Vision, Edeyo, Red Cross, or text "HAITI" to 90999 on your cell phone to send $10 to the American Red Cross.

Not Another Resolution Post…Nor Lists for the Year or Decade

Stephen Swanson avoids the dangerous pitfalls of genericity (It’s a word he made up. Deal.) and refuses to look forward or backward.

Temptations & The New Liturgical Calendar for Writers

The fear of the blank page/screen holds a deal of sway in our daily lives. Like any common cultural experience, we’ve constructed systems to help deal with it. Shelves of books on how to write (some of which are quite useful) and myriads of places to lose ourselves in the writings of others provide “inspiration”. Websites serve us with distractions we HAVE to check (“But I HAVE to harvest my farm now, or it will rot.”). To be productive, even on a personal level, we need to break the cycle.

To answer to these fears, we’ve constructed templates to follow that take the mystery away, while celebrating the appearance of “mystery”. This “liturgical” calendar outlines a cycle of “worship” that guides our public conversations. Look at the cover stories on those magazines at the check-out, the commercials on TV, the “lead” stories on MSN or CNN, and the products in the “seasonal” aisles.

The Outline

August warns us of the impending school year by article upon article discussing “Ways to Help Your Child Succeed” or “The Area’s Best (and Worst) Schools”. The banner ads for tutoring companies increase, and phonics is shown in every break of Yo Gabba Gabba with magic wands that will read to your children for you. This merges into preparations for Halloween with the obvious decorations and candy displays, but there are also scary movies, books, and Yahoo tells me about “haunted” romantic trips. This morphs into Thanksgiving’s recipes, family advice, and subsequent beginnings of increased liquor ads and then transitions into the ubiquitous Christmas’ obvious place in the cultural milieu. Then, one cannot avoid the New Year’s calls of “to resolve or not to resolve”, weight loss, eHarmony pimping of perfect mates just waiting for you to log on, and beginnings of tax advice/warnings, which are followed my Valentine’s Day, etc, etc, etc…

Whose Calendar?

This is not a surprise. On one level, we believe it makes “sense”. The school year revolves around the periods where the kids are most needed on the farm. The taxes are due on April 15th, and the year starts in January, marking a 1-2 month period of mad scratching on misdated checks. However, in the contemporary moment, these periods are rather arbitrary. How many kids are still needed in the summers? Why not start the year in the middle of the summer? These are arbitrary and increasingly connected by someone telling us that we MUST think of X at Y time of year and conveniently have the perfect things for us to help ourselves.

Life in >140 Chars

For us, writers, we dangerously fall into paths of ease that function retrospectively or predicting the future. This is not a challenge or really effective. Go to any literary function, and views of the past and future abound. What we need to work on is the ability to write and produce in the now. What is our current plan? What do we say at this moment? While these are rooted in the past and future, our struggles, and thus our resolves, need to break out of the cycle and express the meaningful moment in more than 140 characters. Otherwise, we continue to allow the meanings of life to be predicated by the Snuggies and Chia Pets of the world. Did that planning into the “10 Perfect Drinks for your New Year’s” article really make your New Year’s Eve?

*** Stephen Swanson teaches as an assistant professor of English at McLennan Community College. Aside from guiding students through the pitfalls of college writing and literature, he spends most of his time trying to remain reasonably aware of popular culture, cooking, and enjoying time with his wife and son. He holds degrees in Communications, Film, and Media and American Culture Studies from Calvin College, Central Michigan University, and Bowling Green State University, respectively. In addition to editing a collection, Battleground States: Scholarship in Contemporary America, he has forthcoming projects on Johnny Cash and depiction of ethics in contemporary film noir.

Relief News Tuesday 1.12.2010

Congratulations to Allison Smythe!

Congratulations to author Allison Smythe, whose essay "The Significance of Place" (Relief 2.1) has been listed as "Notable" in Best American Spiritual Writing 2010 (now published by Viking Penguin).

Best American Spiritual Writing is an annual anthology edited by Philip Zaleski. Out of hundreds of essays, thirty were selected for publication in this year's edition, and another twenty-five (including Allison's!) are given honorable mention as "Other Notable Spiritual Writing of the Year."

Another notable item

As you may have noticed, we haven't featured a photo haiku on the blog in two months.  We are doing our best to bring this feature back, but we did notice something that we thought you might like:

Michelle Pendergrass, Editor of The Midnight Diner, has started her first in a year-long series of themed photo postings on her website.  This week's theme is Hope, and Michelle's picture of it is beautiful.  (The story behind it makes it even better!)  Check out her picture here.

As of right now, there are two people who I've found that took up the challenge.  One is this post from Karina, and the other is this post from Heather A. Goodman (whose poetry you can find in Relief 3.1!).

Epiphany: Journeying with the Magi

Wednesday marked the Christian Feast of Epiphany, or the time when the wise men visited the baby Jesus.  Yes, it's true: most nativities lie.  According to Scripture, Mary, Joseph, and the baby were long gone from the manger by the time the magi showed up on the scene, and I'm sure the shepherds were too.  I didn't really learn that the magi were still on their way when Jesus was born--at least, not in a way that stuck--until either high school or college, and I remember being disappointed.  I'm not entirely sure why: perhaps because it seemed weird that the Christmas story extended outside of December, perhaps it was because of the misleading nativities, perhaps it was sadness for the magi who missed the big event and arrived after the fact.

Yet now I find it reassuring that the story continues beyond the decorations coming down, vacations ending, routines resuming.  Epiphany serves as an important reminder that the coming of Christ is about both waiting and movement.  While Israel waited for the Messiah and a teenager waited for contractions, the magi were still on their way, still seeking, still anticipating wonder.  It is perhaps the core of the gospel--God became flesh and walked among us--and we are called to wait, to journey, to worship, which seems so fitting for those of us living in this tension where Christ has already and not yet come.  As a friend aptly tweeted recently, "Words for Epiphany: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it."  What are you journeying toward this new year?  Are you paying attention along the way?

I find that poetry helps remind me to pay attention to all that is around me and all that is within me.  I first read this poem on a friend's blog last year and stumbled upon it again today.

The Journey of the Magi

"A cold coming we had of it, Just the worst time of the year For a journey, and such a long journey: The ways deep and the weather sharp, The very dead of winter." And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory, Lying down in the melting snow. There were times we regretted The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces, And the silken girls bringing sherbet. Then the camel men cursing and grumbling And running away, and wanting their liquor and women, And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters, And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly And the villages dirty and charging high prices: A hard time we had of it. At the end we preferred to travel all night, Sleeping in snatches, With the voices singing in our ears, saying That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley. Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation; With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness, And three trees on the low sky, And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow. Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel, Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver, And feet kicking the empty wine-skins, But there was no information, and so we continued And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember, And I would do it again, but set down This set down This: were we led all that way for Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly, We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death, But had thought they were different; this Birth was Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death. We returned to our places, these kingdoms, But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation, With an alien people clutching their gods. I should be glad of another death.

--T. S. Eliot