Front End Alignment

Brendon Etter and I recorded the first episode of the radio show/podcast Front End Alignment (FEA) on Tuesday in the KRLX 88.1 FM studios at Carleton College. KRLX News Director Brandon Walker graciously produced the show.

• 0-6:00: intro to FEA
• 6-12:30: Lewis Black’s list of ‘Why I believe/don’t believe in God"
• 12:30-16:45: Reflections on performing in The Rocky Horror Show (Northfield Arts Guild)
• 16:45-27: Torture at home and at war; could I have done that? (FEA blog post)
• 27-31: wrap-up

Misc show notes/links:

• Me of Little Faith by Lewis Black
• Why women aren’t funny by Christopher Hitchens
• Theme song: Music, Motorcycles and Money, by Gary Dean Jennings, courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network.

Click play to listen. 31 minutes. The show airs/streams Thursdays at 4pm CT on KRLX 88.1 FM. (I’ll have the RSS feed working soon, as well as a downloadable MP3.)

It’s taken me too long to figure out that a Shot of Solitude (SOS) several times a week is a damn good tool for all things front-end (head)-related. I’ve known for a while that when I need to get my shit together about something, grabbing a little SOS first somehow makes it easier. More recently, it’s dawned on me that when life’s humming along just fine, thank you, a little SOS is a way to draw the good feeling out and savor it a bit.

As with most tools, though, there’s a range of skill involved in doing SOS. I’m not a clueless newbie, but Master Craftsman status is not something I expect to achieve anytime soon. So despite miscellaneous legal and financial hassles recently, I was feeling that "Hey, life’s not half bad" feeling on Monday, so it occurred to me some SOS was in order. Here’s an approximate replay of how it went for me.

I’m headed back to Northfield after a early afternoon meeting in Burnsville. I decide to stop at Ritter Farm Park, a municipal nature preserve in an outer suburb of the Twin Cities. It’s a postcard-perfect fall day, about 60 degrees, sunny, light wind. The leaves are a little past peak but the still-green short grass and blue skies provide a vivid contrast to the brown weeds and a the brilliant offerings of bright yellow aspen trees and dark red oaks. As I leave the parking lot, I start walking along a cross country ski trail for a couple of blocks, up a gentle incline.

I wonder if that potential client I met last week at the tech party will really be interested. He did ask quite a few questions, but maybe that was just… Oops, let it go. Just walk, smell, look, and listen.

Read the rest of this entry →

The story of how some young men from my hometown of Northfield beat and tortured a mentally disabled man rocked the town last week. (Strib: Lie prompted attack on vulnerable man.)

And then on Sunday night, I listened to a new American Radioworks broadcast titled What Killed Sergeant Gray? — the story of how some of our U.S. troops are suffering psychological scars because they tortured Iraqi prisoners.

And it brought back two memories for which I still feel some shame.

• I had a pet rabbit when I was about 9 years old. One day, a friend of mine came home with me after school and I showed him my rabbit. The rabbit never moved much — too fat and domesticated I guess — so I gave it a shove. My friend laughed and did likewise. Then I picked it up dropped it from about two feet. More laughter. Then four feet. Hilarious. "My turn!" Higher and higher. "Hey, his eyes are bulging!" I don’t exactly remember how long this went on but the rabbit died in my hands.
• About twenty years ago, our kids’ dog, a small Bichon, growled and snapped at me when I walked by the couch where he was sitting. I reflexively whacked it on the head with my hand and sent it flying into the coffee table, slightly injuring its leg and sending my children into tears of horror.

I wonder whether my dad’s bullying and sometime violent temper contributed to this dark side of me, even though he didn’t physically abuse me? I think it did, though it’s not an excuse.

I wonder what it would take to awaken this dark side of me again, even though I’m really convinced I’ve got my emotional shit together?

One thing I do know: I’m not so far removed from those violent abusive guys.

I had to laugh when I saw this blog post on Northfield.org (my hometown’s community website) earlier this week: Ecumenical blessing of animals at Creator’s Thumbprint Farm.

The Creator’s Thumbprint farm near Nerstrand is hosting a "groundbreaking" event centered on an ecumenical Blessing of the Animals — with as many faith communities represented as wish to participate. For this blessing, people are encouraged to bring their own animal companions to be blessed or simply come and help with the blessing of our resident creatures. We have llamas, goats, sheep, chickens, turkeys, horses, dogs and cats.

It’s a St. Francis of Assisi-related annual event, apparently. But I wonder: if you bring a cat which munches down a farm mouse, will everyone gather round to celebrate nature-in-the-act?  Could local hunters attend for a ‘dress and bless’ ceremony with a deer?

There are also ceremonies for blessing other earth-related stuff like houses. I remember my parents having a living room addition to our house blessed by our local priest.  Not one hour after he left, they had a huge fight over how to arrange the furniture.

And omigodinheaven, even motorcycles are blessed (Blessing of the Bikes). I wonder if the Christian Motorcyclists Association keeps tabs on how many bikers are killed within a year of being blessed? 

For a sane Christian perspective on this practice, see God Bless Those Baptist Sea Monkeys by the Bohemian Baptist.

I plan to launch the Front End Alignment radio show/podcast next week or the week after.

I’ve made arrangements with Brandon Walker, news director at Carleton College’s radio station, KRLX-FM 88.1, to air the show weekly - tentatively set for Thursday’s at 5:30 pm. Of course, we’ll host the podcast here, with each week’s show/episode posted here in the blog in a Flash player, plus available via a downloadable MP3, an RSS feed, and iTunes.

Joining me to co-host the show: Brendon Etter, chief blogger at A Play A Day & Lysteria.