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| I'm an Old Spice guy. I don't know if it's because there's a picture of a ship on it, or if it's just the way that it makes me smell all old and spicey, but I like it. I think Old Spice Original is how guys should smell. And I don't even care what girls think.
So. I'm all moved into my room in this big empty house. I've been assured that by the end of the summer there will be at least 2 other tenants here. I'm quite happy with solitude for right now, though. I bought a million candles. And I hung huge prints of Andrew Shepherd's photography on my walls. It's June and really cold at night. This is where I live now.
In Harvey, Elwood says that "one can never have too many friends." I think it's true. But, today I thought about trying to make new friends, and I just thought, "ehhh, who needs 'em?" Of course, I think I felt the same way when I first got to Ouachita. So anyway. I suppose I'll try to make some friends here. Even if it's just for the purpose of having people to go to restaurants with.
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| Racial Blog PostI read this article, "In Obama Era, Voices Reflect Rising Sense of Racial Optimism" today in the New York Times, and it devotes a good bit of time to testimonies of blacks who feel that since Obama's election, whites have been more open and congenial to them, greeting them more on the streets and such. I found it really interesting because I felt like I had noticed that very same thing in my own behavior, but I wondered if I was just imagining things.
And that got me wondering why. I don't think I was a racist before Obama was elected. Had I been, his election would probably have produced the opposite result. Not only that, but I actually think I'm more inclined to greet black people with a friendly smile right now that I am white people. Alright, I admit, living in Africa for 2 years might be a factor here, but I think it's more than that. What's different, exactly?
I think that to some extent, it's a matter of shame and honor. I think there's been a lot of unseen, undiscussed shame in the white community about our historical role in race relations and maybe (just maybe) even that large, white voting block who are the beneficiaries of so many inherited systems of society have felt not only shame for those systems but also for their lack of courage in confronting the injustice in them. And so we've passed blacks on the streets and lowered our eyes, even if we didn't realize that's what we were doing. Or we've distanced ourselves from black coworkers, thus distancing ourselves from certain otherwise unavoidable reality checks.
But now, large groups of whites have worked aside blacks to elect a black president, and suddenly we don't feel that shame the way we did. We can make eye contact now because we feel a sense of ownership in the good that is going on - not just ownership in all the bad that has ever happened.
And I think that's a good step, possibly, but not enough if all it's done is appease our consciences. I do have hope that it's done more than that, but I think a word of caution is appropriate. I don't have a roadmap, and (even though this makes me sound like a Marxist - which I am vehemently not) I think that addressing social class inequality will help many of the issues that are labled "racial" in the U.S. (This is close to Obama's philosophy, and it's gotten him labeled a socialist. hmph.) More than all of that, I think Jesus gave a lot of answers about how individuals and communities can work to help the disenfranchised and redeem and restore those who are willing to admit that they have disenfranchised others. That is where I will choose to begin.
Anyway, just thoughts.
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| Andrew Bird and I were in Dallas. I saw him. I'm not sure if he saw me. He was playing a... well, he was playing a large portion of the stage it seemed. He is a genius. He is a genius. He is Andrew Bird. I listened to him for about 5 hours on the way back.
I'm in Russellville now, and will be so for about 2 months. Real-life interaction with some humans would be wonderful.
After that I'm going to Chicago, or really to a little town just outside of it called Wheaton, to study Greek, Hebrew, Bible, and Ancient Near Eastern culture. I'll be there some years? Visitors will be welcome, I'm sure, after I figure out where I'm going to live. Feel honored: I'm giving Xanga this update before Facebook.
I'm still getting used to this America thing. Mixed feelings. Andrew Bird live is a good selling point for it, though.
I twitter all the time now. The inanity!
I'm going to write a children's novel before I die. Probably.
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| Letter From Across The SeaDear Xanga,
I'm coming more and more to the conclusion that "home" usually feels most like the place that I last lived at, and rarely like a place of present tense.
When I first left this most recent home of nearly 2 years, I went to Cairo, and had a lovely time. I saw pyramids (and went in one), I went to an Egyptian soccer game (which was ca-raazy), and I ate kosheri. It didn't even feel like I'd really left home, I guess because it was still African and Arab all at once, which is what home felt like these last 2 years.
I then went to Beirut, and saw the Mediterranean Sea for the first time in my life (although in Istanbul I'd been quite close). I spent a day in the mountains, and several days in the city. I went to Baalbek and saw the most impressive Roman ruins in the world. I saw a couple of movies in the theater and had Coca-Cola from the fountain for the first time in too long. I watched about 15 episodes of Arrested Development at my friends' apartment there. It was like returning to the West without quite leaving the East behind.
Then I came to Paris. I saw the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre (and most of what it holds), and my favorite thing was the Musee d'Orsay. I didn't see everything there was to see, but I had a few very Parisian picnics by the Seine in spite of all the coldness and I got caught up on LOST thanks to the blisteringly high-speed internet in my friend's flat. It has been a wonderful time, but in this leg of my travels I have said goodbye to nearly all remnants of the East which have pervaded my life these last 2 years, and it was as if I re-entered the West starting with the very roots of the Enlightenment as displayed on so many buildings and monuments in this fair city.
Tomorrow I will leave for London. I've seen the last very familiar faces until I arrive in Arkansas again. The rest of my travels will be conducted in English, a language in which I haven't been immersed for almost 2 years. Almost everyone who understands this period of my life is getting farther away, and it's not that I don't want to return home or give other people the chance to understand... but I hate having to leave so much and so many people behind.
Anyway, that is where I am now.
Peace,
John
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| Johnnie Raines Tells You What's UpI have 8 more full days in this country before I leave it without any definite plans of returning. I feel strange. I don't expect people to understand what this has been like. I imagine that these last two years of my life are going to be reduced to a fact about me. Johnnie Raines, he spent some time in Africa. To be honest, that's probably better than actually trying to explain it all. Wow, Debbie Downer.
So, my plans for when I return. First order of business, and this is important: Re-read the Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series. I've felt my nerd-life draining out of me lately, and I need a serious recharge.
Second business item... finalize school plans? I'm applying to schools. I should know what's up admissions-wise by mid-march. Decision to pursue higher education will depend on financial aid, gainful employment, and... student loans? From what I've been seeing on the news lately, that all seems a bit fantastic. Sammy Williams may need to find me a job in the crime lab.
Third order of business... road trips? Little Rock doesn't count as a road trip, by the way, since I intend to be there so often that my physical position can only be described by a Schrödinger wave function with a node at Morrilton. But back to the road trips. Dallas seems certain. Chicago and Philadelphia loudly call my name. Los Angeles, CA and Lynchburg, VA are ambitions. But I can't do it all. I need to save some money in case the economy goes crazy and murders everyone. I'm really not worried about myself. I can live on salty rice and beans. But some of you guys might be in trouble.
Fourth thingy... get a job? I won't be doing this until mid-May at the earliest, and it's possible that by then I'll have plans for the fall which require relocation. So we'll just have to wait and see how that works out.
I really like N. T. Wright. If you've never read anything of his, then you should. I agree with approximately 99.987% of all that he says.
J. D. Raines | | |
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