Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Update on "The Infinite Jeff" progress

New Cover

This is the newest version of the cover.  It is still the same image but modified slightly and more character has been given to the cover text. Thanks to Nate Wallis of Broken Star Studios for his work on the cover design. The  photo is by Timothy K Hamilton.
 

I am looking for some feedback, so if your comments aren't too bad you can leave them here.  If you have very critical things to say and don't want to say them in public you can contact me directly at theinfinitejeff @ gmail.com (no spaces). 

Part 2 Update

Part 2 is moving along nicely and we hope to get it to the copy editor very soon.  Once that is done there will be one more pass with some trusted beta readers to attempt to catch the last typos before it goes to a wider audience.  I know part one ended at a cliff hanger so I want to get this out so everyone can sleep peacefully at night knowing Stanley is okay.

Part 1 Feedback

Thanks to everyone who has read part one and given me feedback.  I should have asked for permission to use comments I received.  I may do that and update this post.  They have been overwhelmingly positive.  "I loved it" was a common phrase.  If you read it and are okay with me using your comments please let me know.

If you have not read part one you can find it at Smashwords: The Infinite Jeff - Part One

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Inherit The Wind

My wife and I went and saw the play Inherit the Wind a little while ago.  A friend of ours who we have both done many plays with was in it.  It was an outstanding show which fictionalizes the Scopes Monkey trial.  Our friend played Matthew Harrison Brady, the three time presidential candidate and adamant prosecutor of the teacher who broke the Tennessee law by teaching Darwin's theory of evolution. 

As I was watching the play I wanted to know more about the real life characters and story, so I pulled it up on my Android.  Isn't it great we live in a time where knowledge is instantly available?  What I learned surprised me.  The character, Matthew Harrison Brady, a deeply religious, famous high power lawyer, who so personally took issue with evolution being taught in a public school that he himself took the part of prosecutor, was portraying the real life William Jennings Bryan. Wikipedia says Bryan was a "dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party."  So, what was a left wing Democratic Christian ideology is nowadays a conservative right wing Republican Christian ideology?  This shocked me.  How did ideologies move so far?  I had heard before that the Democratic party used to be the party the Christian would go to but now it is the Republicans.  This got me thinking more about that shift.

I have never understood the alignment of Christianity with the Republicans.  While growing up it was explained to me that Republicans were the pro-business party and the Democrats were the pro-people party, protecting us from big business. Yes, I know those are simplistic categorizations but that basic teaching from my youth still plays a role in defining the parties.  But even with a broader look at the parties, what platforms align better with Christian values? James 1:27 says "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."  That sounds a lot like helping the poor and needy, a pro-people party's values.

Granted, our social welfare system is a mess and I believe it enables some people to live lives off of a system without returning anything to that system.  It needs to be rethought and revised but at the same time, it does help many people who need the help.  I have had friends and family who have been on food stamps and other programs to get them through rough times and now they are working again, paying taxes and supporting the system that supported them in a time of need.  What a blessing that was for them.  I quit teaching because it didn't pay enough (that is a whole nother topic) and went back to college and my wife went back to college at the same time.  We got Pell grants and low interest student loans.  And now I have a much higher salary and can give even more to the system that helped me take a positive step forward. What a blessing that was for me and my family. So the system can be used by the people that truly need it but it can be abused by some that don't.  Sounds as humanly flawed as any system we have ever come up with.

When I ask Christians aligned with the Republican party why they support it, inevitably the first answer is abortion.  I think abortion is a terrible thing also, and let's just make a blanket statement that abortion is something we should avoid and move to the next most popular answer I have heard from Christian Republicans: morality.  Stop right there!  Whose morality are we going to legislate?   There are some white areas, murder, stealing, but it gets very grey very fast. If we are going to legislate morality then we can get to the point that burqas are required.  That is a moral issue in many people's views so it is as valid to legislate that as it is to legislate on same sex marriage.  But let's move to the third issues that the Christians I have spoken to give to align to the Republican party.  Well, the list ends there.  Many can't even give reasons other than emotional ones. "The Democrats are destroying the country." Refer back to reasons one and two for the how on that.  This devalues the Republican party to a one issue party or a marginal two issue party.   Personally, I like much of the Republican platform, I just don't like the Republicans.  I like much of the Democratic platform, too and the Democrats are marginally more tolerable than the Republicans.  Personally, I usually vote third party because of the senselessness of the main two parties.

The title of the play mentioned at the start comes from Proverbs 11:28. "He that troubles his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart."  As I see it, we have many calling themselves Republicans who are inheriting the wind.  This presidential election is straining my understanding of human's ability to reason.  The Democrats have Obama, United Church of Christ (aka: Christian) and Biden, Catholic (aka: Christian).  The Republicans have Romney, a Mormon.  I have plenty of friends and family who fall into the right wing conservative Christian category and up until recently, if you asked if Mormons were Christians the answer would have been an adamant  "Hell no!"  Now we have Paul Ryan, his VP running mate, who is a Catholic (aka: Christian) but a strong follower of Ayn Rand.  Ayn Rand, an atheist, is know for a philosophy directly contrary to any Christian teaching.  Take the sermon on the mount, turn it 180 degrees and you have Ayn Rands teachings.  Yet this is who Paul Ryan sites as his main influence.  More disturbing is that the conservative Christians are still on board with the Republicans and still calling Democrats immoral.  The party helping the poor, orphans, widows, environment is the the immoral party and the party enabling the rich, driving a destructive energy policy for corporate gain, restricting personal rights is the moral party.  Friends, we are inheriting the wind.

I do not pretend to be right or have all the answers.  Where you see I am wrong please calmly and rationally explain why.  I will truly listen to what you have to say.  I encourage a civil discussion on this because I am beside myself in disbelief and would like to understand the rational driving what I see as insanity. Please avoid terms that set people off and just explain your position.  If I have used terms that are offensive and may set you off please look past my ignorance and do a better job than I have of civil discourse.  I look forward to having a deeper understanding.