I read it in the Bible Pt. 2

Two angels are sent by God to tell Lot to leave the city of Sodom since God had commanded it to be destroyed. Lot insists that the angels stay the night at his house before the city is obliterated. On that night, a mob of angry men gather outside Lot's house and they demand to have gay sex with the angels.

Genesis 19:4

"Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom--both young and old--surround the house. They called out to Lot, 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.'"

Lot's response expresses a very peculiar point of view concerning the value of women and the power of homophobia.

Genesis 19:7

Lot says "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing. Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof."


Now I know why only certain portions of the Bible are taught at church. Besides, I don't think this helps the "family first" mentality at all. However, it does wonders in the formation of skewed perspectives of homosexuality. Anyways, the wave of raging gay men are repelled, the city is obliterated, and Lot's wife is turned into a pillar of salt by God for defying His orders not to look back at the destroyed city. WTF.

I read it in the Bible, Part 1

This is the LORD's punishment Eve for eating the fruit of the forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 3:16

To the woman he said,

"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing;
with the pain you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you."


Ladies, you can now forget the whole theory of how, in your transition from walking quadripedally to bipedally, your hips shifted and childbearing became more difficult. You can now blame it on the LORD himself. Oh, and should any domestic issues arise between you and your husband, feel comforted by the fact the he rules over you. Good luck.

Reveries of a Solitary Blogger

I really wish I had something interesting to talk about. But as it turns out, it's one in the morning and I once again feel like the last awake human being. It's not a feeling a altogether dislike, in fact I feel as if there is something oddly romantic about this hour. In high school I used to wake up at 2:00 a.m. (unintentionally, but for some reason it was always that time) and leave my room to look out the living room window. The empty, dimly lit streets used to give me a sense of comfort that I can't fully explain. It was as if I was the only person awake in the world, and strangely enough I enjoyed that solitude. I was kind of a lonely kid then. I remember laying awake in bed, hours after my family had gone to sleep, and feeling as if I was miles and miles away from anyone who would want to talk. Looking back at it I suppose you could say I was a bit emo. To some extent, I still am. But these alone times don't make me nearly as lonely as the used to. Maybe because I grew up a bit; started to think less and less about meeting the perfect girl and more about applying for graduate school and finding a job. Nevertheless, those times really taught me the art of introspection. It's typically to hear about how people dislike being alone because they think too much. Though it's a relief to not have that burden as much anymore, I'm not sure that avoiding negative thoughts is entirely bad. Such thoughts humble you, remind you of your imperfection, of your humanity. It feels good to be embrace this solidarity every once in a while.

In the words of one of the world's greatest minds as well as my favorite author, Albert Camus once said, "The only real progress lies in learning to be wrong all alone."

My New Career Plan

This is how I feel.

It didn't take four years of college psychology to learn that optimism is one of the leading predictors of success in life. But this is the best I've got. With this horrible economy and my limited teaching experience (none), now is the time to tackle this tornado known as starting a career. Fortunately, CNN said that the education is one of the few fields actually doing well throughout this hell that we call the US economy. That at least gives me a flicker of hope. This guy, on the other hand, probably doesn't have ANY hope in tackling that actual tornado. I'm one up on you, sucker.

Needless to say, looking at this guy's inevitable destruction makes me feel a little better. It's too bad that with the 70,000 jobs that were lost just today, more than one person is likely to be inspired to stand toe-to-toe with a tornado. In fact, that's my new career plan if my teaching career falls apart...

Tornado-fighter.

It's late.

The Machine Stops

"Man, the flower of all flesh, the noblest of all creatures visible, man who had once made god in his image, and had mirrored his strength on the constellations, beautiful naked man was dying, strangled in the garments that he had woven." -E.M. Forster (1909).

Quite the species, we humans. Nary can I think of another so eager to destroy itself. And aren't we effective? In fact, we have professions whose sole purpose is to destroy fellow man, though we use our political sanctions so that we might title them with euphemisms. And how effective we are to destroy our own environment. Never at any point in history has it been so simple. Instead of actually committing to a search for extracting renewable energy sources, we instead decide to claim that Armageddon is near when gas prices are high, yet claim that nothing is wrong when gas prices are low. We live in a system of neverending reactiveness, wondering why we've made the same mistakes again and again. We question the things we don't understand only to the extent that our mental voids be explained by belief and not by testable knowledge. Human ignorance has never been bliss, though we'll take it any way we can. Perhaps E.M Forster was right all along.

Predicted by Forster's short novel The Machine Stops, humankind continues to destroy itself by ruining the environment such that the human race can only survive by living underground via a system of interconnected tubes and standardized cells that span the world. Humans' every physical and spiritual need is met by the omnipitent machine; from which we live, for which we live. Having all needs superfically met by the machine, humans have lost all desire to work, to dream, and in many instances to think beyond what they are told by the machine. As long as people's needs are met, they remain content. It isn't until the machine starts to fall apart that people realize what their lives should have been about.

If this plot sounds familiar, it's probably because it is the basis for the original story plan to the movie Wall-E. Once again, humankind has managed to destroy life on Earth and continues to fulfill their hedonistic lifestyle via the comfort of space. The humans in Wall-E have similarly transformed themselves into part of the machine in which they live. The remants of everything we associtate with the joys of human life aren't actually expressed by humans, but rather by a little machine named Wall-E and his AI friend Eve. Though the machines cannot actually feel the love they yearn for, their efforts to express such emotions essentially make them more human than human. As Wall-E and Eve dance through space, their trail embracing the beauty of a double helix, the machines have come to embrace the love that humans have abandoned.

Indeed, the supposed supremacy of humankind is vanishing. Man remains crippled by his own design while his creations yearn for the real emotions that their master has wasted. When our time has come and the remaining essence of our civilization finally crumbles, perhaps we too will yearn for such a love, as we stare up the genetic magnificence of all we should have been.

Hindsight vs, Foresight

"He had sworn not to be what he'd been before..."

I suppose that sums it up.

It's been nearly three years since my last post and much has changed. While I can't say that I've developed a completely new identity, to a great extent, that's exactly what I'd like to say. When I stopped writing, I was going through the toughest times of my life. At the end of it all, I'd like to think they made me a better person. In many ways, I know they have. However, I made a lot of mistakes along the way that I'll never forget. Perhaps the greatest strength indeed is not forgetting your weaknesses.

But now things are a lot different; better, I would say. Though not completely blissful, I hope never to be. Having just graduated from college, I feel that I am on my way to something new; something that I will have to work twice as hard for, but receive twice the reward. In many ways, this is only the beginning. I've got so far to go, so let's get started.

You'll hear from me soon.