Say Yes to Michigan?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what I’m going to be doing in the fall after I graduate from Albion College and get finished with my job in Ohio.  Yes, I’ll be working in Ohio for the third summer in a row, as it is the only place I’ve been able to secure entertainment employment.  The story on that in another post.

I feel really hopeful about the State of Michigan.  I think that this could become a fantastic place for the entertainment industry, particularly when you combine it with all of the natural beauty which helps to drive tourism in our state.  If we could build an infrastructure and support for the arts within this state, than that will only work to our advantage as we build up our tourism dollars.

Props to the Snyder Campaign

My first props of the 2010 Michigan Governor’s race go out to the Rick Snyder campaign for being the first ones to reply to a question I tweeted to them.

The exchange went like this:

RickForMI  Generation Y Michiganders pledge allegiance to Michigan http://bit.ly/1oaxdb. Rick will insure that all young people can find work in MI.

asfreeman  @RickForMI How?

RickForMI  @asfreeman Rick has a proven record of creating jobs. Soon he will release his plan to create jobs as Gov. In meantime: http://bit.ly/3FQXzU

I recommend everyone go out and click that link.  I don’t endorse Rick Snyder as a candidate, but I do greatly appreciate his campaign working to use Twitter not only put out news on the campaign trail, but to actually interact and listen to voters.  I hope the other campaigns will follow suit as we enter the year 2010 and the election slowly but surely starts to pick up.  Other campaigns I’ve tweeted at have seemed to ignore my questions.

It should also be noted that I am still waiting a response from the Snyder campaign to my follow up question about his jobs plan: How do creative and performing arts jobs figure into this plan?

I call on all of the gubernatorial campaigns to answer that one simple question.

Marriage/Dating

Sometimes I feel like I’m just copying what Noel is doing over on his blog.  However, since he’s one of the pastors at the church I attend, it would make sense that the things he’s talking about are the things that I’m thinking about.

This weekend, he gave a wonderful sermon about submitting like Jesus.  (You can hear it here.)  As a part of that sermon, he talked about submission within the context of a marriage, a message I had never really heard before.  Within his own message, Noel referenced a message from Matt Chandler on the idea of submission within marriage, which you can listen to here.

There are a lot of interesting things in these messages for married couples, and it left me trying to figure out what they meant for the rest of us.  I’m not married.  Some day, I probably will be, so I mean, I can look forward to putting these messages to good use then.  But is there any way that these messages apply to me now?

Why I Have to tell you about Jesus

This video from Penn of Penn and Teller is why I have to tell everyone I meet about Jesus, beyond the great commission.  I agree with Penn.  If you know Christ, how much do you have to hate a person not to share the Good News with those around you?  It’s an area that I struggle with, but I can’t let myself anymore.

If you want to talk about Him, let me know.  Let’s talk.

Tradition

“I am opposed to bleached faith – the empty symbolism that diminishes the power of real belief.” – Steven Goldberg

How many times do we find ourselves doing something because “it’s what we’ve always done.”  That is a meaningless reason to do things.

One of the things I lvoe about theatre is the tradition.  Live performance is an act that ties something I’m doing today all the way back tot he Greeks, the founders of western civilization.  That’s wildly cool to me.  But I also don’t want to do somethign because it’s what’s always been done.  I want to do things with meaning.  Things that will change everything.

The question we’re always supposed to ask in the theatre is “why?”  I’m going to start asking it about life.  I invite you to do the same.

Let us ask “why?”

Let us not answer, “because that’s what we’ve always done.”

Religion in the Public Sphere

I’m literally two pages into a new book that I’m reading, and already there’s something I want to share.  The book is “Bleached Faith: The Tragic Cost when Religion is Forced into the Public Square” written by Steven Goldberg.  Primarily, the focus of the book appears to be on ten commandments cases, and the book itself is written from the perspective of constitutional law.  Here’s a couple of quotes to think about:

“It is a sign of weakness – an admission that religion needs artificial life support – to push religious symbols into the smothering embrace of government.  If the push succeeds, religion is weakened further when it is distorted to fit governmental desires.”

Prosperity

The video below is from John Piper – I discovered it trolling through the archives on Noel Heikkinen’s blog.  I really think that this is something many Americans need a good reminding of, myself included.  We must serve and suffer for Christ, helping to elevate those that need our help to live better lives.  The creation of prosperity is not how we win salvation, and it is not a sign of God’s favor.  Serving those that are less fortunate than us, serving others as Christ would serve them, knowing and living like Christ is enough, that’s what we need.

God bless you.

Education

During any debates on education, there are certain things that are always discussed – the primary thing being test scores.  There are a number of things test scores don’t show, and one of those is who each student is as a person.

I know that often, the demographic of a school will be discussed as test scores are being compared.  There will be talk of “rural” schools, “suburban” schools, and “inner-city” schools.  As a substitute teacher, I’ve taught in very different schools demographically, and there is one thing I’ve discovered – all students are ultimately the same, no matter where you are.

They all want to be cool, accepted, smell better, and they want to have reasons for the knowledge the system is trying to impart on them.  How often do educators seem stumped when students ask them why they need to know something for a specific field?  We need to focus on each individual, creating opportunities for the students to explore who they really are and what their God-given talents are.  We need to stop trying to homogenize the youth to become cogs in a machine, and instead we must nurture them to be who they are truly meant to be.

Healthcare

“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’” – Matthew 25:40

How many of you reading this that oppose the public option have healthcare?  I can’t know for sure, but I imagine it is none of you.  Your concern for self is alarming.  I imagine you’d probably declare yourself a patriot, too.  I think that’s what this healthcare debate is missing – true patriotism.

Judging from this debate, American’s have forgotten their roots as an impoverished nation.  As a nation of those escaping persecution of all forms.  A nation created by people who felt terrorized and abused by their government, not protected by it.  A nation founded on the social contract of John Locke.  What do we stand for anymore?  Certainly not what the Statue of Liberty declares:

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

Where has that United States of America gone?  With healthcare reform and a public option, we’ll be one step closer.

Why?

As artists, it is our duty to bring issues of humanity to the forefront of society.  We must then work within societal structures to bring about changes to the world to make it a better place to live for those around.

People must leave the work we’ve created and feel something for their common man.

I need to create art that matters.  Theatre and writing that changes the world.  How about you?  Do you want to create it?  Do you want to experience it?