I have to be honest, you’re not getting the post I had originally written. The fifteen hundred word diatribe, connected to the rather snarky title, was shot down by my fiancee. Her response of, “Do you really want to drive away your last eight friends?” made me reconsider the content.
Thank the Norse gods for smart gals.
(However, if you’re interested in it, just email me and I’ll send it to you–unless, you’re one of my last eight friends. I’d like to keep you around a little while longer.)
When I was in Chicago, the director of the ethics center that co-sponsored part of my stipend asked me to write something ‘political’ for their newsletter/whatever it was. In response, I wrote a very brief article titled, From Afghanistan to Georgia. He was not terribly enthused with it. So, I ended up publishing it in Christian Ethics Today (with an extended version collected in Third Way Allegiance) where it died a slow, unnoticed death. Since the annual SOA protest is set for Nov. 18-20, I thought I would at least shout about it one more time.
If the article interests you (or, even if it doesn’t) at least check out the short documentary below (the buzzing sound goes away around the 10 second mark, and, more importantly, it includes appearances by John Dear, Daniel Berrigan, and the greatest President of the United States ever, Josiah Bartlet).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTncV-hhIIU
Each November, regardless of the class I’m teaching, we watch this documentary, discuss it, and then I offer extra credit to any students who join in the annual SOA protest. One year I actually offered to give ‘A’s to any student who was arrested at the protest. Of course, I was joking (sort of . . . activism is a lovely educational exercise–it’s a far better pedagogical tool than the “let’s put our chairs in a circle and pool ignorance” approach). Despite my half-in-jest offer, the news of it traveled so quickly that within four hours I was called into the department head’s office where he sternly “suggested” that I rescind my offer.
Given that I like making rent, I happily complied.
Oh well.