Boston reunion

Sunday, June 25th is Wheatie Annalisa Walker's wedding in Boston, which I am planning to attend. Would any of you Bostonians be able to put me up for Saturday and Sunday night? I would be very much obliged,

Ryan Banek of Tyler

Everyday a vacation: Reality in Hollywood

So here I am, kicking back in my sweet apartment looking at the Hollywood sign. I've just come back from a tasty chinese lunch at a place called "the most likely place to see a celebrity" by the Los Angeles Times. No dice, not a celebrity to be seen. That I recognized, at least.

It's been great out here. There is a surreal quality to everyday; Because I'm living in a tower, have a fountain right outside this tower, and can walk to any possible thing I'd want to, it seems like I'm on an extended vacation. I've been out here a month, but I can't help but wonder if it will always feel a little bit like that.

I'm working at what could potentially be my dream job, which is archiving the Beach Boys tape library.

And I'll slowly try to break into the music biz, but that's not something that is hurried.

There's my update for now.

Austin Alley

a pic from that roll of FILM I shot the other day 

Fun with Current Events

Take a break from your crazy runnings to and fro and join me for a little [music cue] Fun with Current Events.

OK, so here's a new method of doing government we could start applying here: if you don't like the Bills Congregress is sending out, just send them a Czech! You could call it the system of Czechs and balances...
As Emeril on the Food Network says "BAM!"; now that's the way to get things done!

OK, well, moving on. Who knows, the Catholic Church might be the biggest criminal in the world? And what's the crime? More abuse scandals? A priest run drug ring? A secret movement to destroy the world? No; these are not so serious as the crime here! The plaintiff, Italian Luigi Cascioli (I know, by the name I thought he was French too) is charging that the Church's teaching that Jesus was a real person is a crime against the Italian people. That could get interesting, especially once the court allows The Divinci Code to be taken as part of the evidence for the case.

If it weren't for the fact that Coye isn't 41, I would have thought he might have changed his name and gone on a little Lithuanian vacation during his summer break under the name Vidmantas Sungaila. Dang.

Well, that's been a fresh batch of Fun with Current Events; we're committed to keeping you afloat in the wide ocean of news related materals.

another jewel from Fresh Air

May 18, 2006 · Linguist GEOFF NUNBERG comments on the recent controversy surrounding the Spanish-language version of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

If I keep on this track, I'll have to join NPR anonymous:

"My name is Coye, and I'm an NPR-aholic."


But I'm not driving a Volvo.

Spiritual Progressives

I was watching a local PBS production (Austin Now) today, and saw an interview with Rabbi Michael Lerner (editor of Tikkun). He was mainly talking about his new book The Left Hand of God (which sounds quite interesting), but he also touched on the Network of Spiritual Progressives, something potentially meaningful to all of us and the things we discuss here. (There's a conference thing this month in D.C., if anyone in that part of the world finds it terribly interesting and immediately relevant.) They even have local chapters. I think it's worth taking a look at (as are Lerner and/or his new book).

(By the way, when I grow up, I want to be Charlie Rose.)

A Personal Post (since they seem to be popular)

Yesterday (actually last night... round about 9.30pm) I turned in my last paper for the semester, and now I have a few days off before my students take their final exam (leaving me with 2 days of frantic grading before final grades are due). I think I'm a workaholic. I expected to wake up this morning with feelings of great release and joy and jubilation and all of that. Instead, I got up and wandered anxiously around my living room trying to find something to do that resembles work. I'm still trying to find something to do that resembles work. Maybe it's just a paper-halo that will wear off a little later when I realize that I did, in fact, get everything turned in already. Or maybe I'm a workaholic.

I'm driving up to the panhandle in a few days to see my youngest cousin graduate from high school, and I'm going to hang out in Amarillo until Memorial Day. After that, I'm coming back down to Austin and (for the moment) I'm planning on taking a French course over the summer (perhaps as much from wanting to be busy as from needing the class right now-- although I do need it eventually). I guess I should also try relaxing a bit over the summer. A little tubing on the river. A little local music. A little hanging out at the local swimming hole. A little revising papers and reading books for my qualifying exam.

You're all welcome-- no not welcome, invited!-- to stop by Austin and join in on any of the above activities. (I should also add "A little beer" to that list.) I realize that Austin isn't the cultural center that Tyler is (a little Texas humor), but I'm sure we could find something to do. Well, I've decided that I'm not as good at these personal posts as I am at being contentious or ridiculous, so I'm going to sign off now and think of something stupid to write later. Remember to call your mother this Sunday and tell her you love her.

More Wheaton News

I glanced over the "ballot" for alumni board representatives (though I don't apparently have a representative), and noticed at the bottom of the email, these few lines:

"We look forward to hosting nearly 800 of you during Alumni Weekend, May 5-7. View the full schedule of events, which includes a lecture by Dr. Mark Noll on the intellectual history of the College during the last 50 years. This month marks the end of Dr. Noll's tenure at Wheaton College; beginning in July he will become the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana."

So, there goes Wheaton's most respected scholar. To a Catholic university. To the same Catholic university that granted Joshua Hochschield his Doctoral degree in philosophy. It should be an interesting lecture, though-- especially if he still holds the same opinions as in his Scandal of the Evangelical Mind days (ah, the inspirational Duane Litfin).

Petition for T6 Marriage and Reunion

We, the former members of T6, being in sound mind and body (perhaps) petition the bachelor members of T6 who are not led to a life of singleness to pursue marriage (but not all simultaneously, let's space these suckers out) in order that we might reunite in raucous celebration. Send single-T6ers the message: "Get married, you know you want to." Here's to the future 2007 bash! Unless someone wants to step up and make it '06.


Petition drafted by Plankeye, Inc.