Book Release: A Living Alternative

A group of Mennonites discuss what it means to live in a post-Christian society.  Includes a chapter by Steve Kimes!

Order here: http://www.amazon.com/Living-Alternative-Anabaptist-Christianity-Post-Christendom/dp/0989830411/ref=zg_bsnr_171116_1

The Many Meetings of Stephen Crane

Many know the power of Stephen Crane's prose, through The Red Badge of Courage or perhaps Maggie: A Girl of the Streets.  But few have read his even more remarkable prose-poems.  They ask questions and leaves you hanging, considering, thinking about our troubled world and our relationship to it.

Here are some quotes to get you started:

I saw a man pursuing the horizon;
Round and round they sped.
I was disturbed at this;
I accosted the man.
"It is futile," I said,
"You can never--"
"You lie," he cried,
And ran on.

I met a seer

He held in his hands

The book of wisdom.

"Sir," I addressed him,

"Let me read."

"Child--" he began.

"Sir," I said,

Think not that I am a child,

For already I know much

Of that which you hold.

Aye, much."

He smiled.

Then he opened the book

And held it before me.--

Strange that I should have grown so suddenly blind.

"Think as I think," said a man,
"Or you are abominably wicked;
You are a toad."
And after I had thought of it,
I said, "I will, then, be a toad."

A learned man came to me once.

He said, "I know the way,-- come."

And I was overjoyed at this.

Together we hastened.

Soon, too soon, were we

Where my eyes were useless,

And I knew not the ways of my feet.

I clung to the hand of my friend;

But at last he cried, "I am lost."

Upon the road of my life,
Passed by me many fair creatures,
Clothed all in white, and radiant.
To one, finally, I made speech:

"Who art thou?"
But she, like the others,
Kept cowled her face,
And answered in hate, anxiously,
"I am Good Deep, forsooth;
You have often seen me."
"Not uncowled," I made reply.
And with rash and strong hand,
Though she resisted,
I drew away the veil
And gazed at the features of Vanity.
She, shamefaced, went on;
And after I had mused a time,
I said of myself, 
                            "Fool!"

Reading v. Watching Movies

Some people consider reading to be superior over watching movies, no matter what you are reading, or what you are watching.

There is a point to be made here.  Any kind of reading, even trashy novels, improves one's writing skills.  One's spelling improves, the likelihood of writing well increases.  To watch movies is a passive action.

However, if one is watching a good movie, like reading a good book, it opens your eyes to look at reality in a different way, to see things from another's perspective, to open our minds to a historical context, to introduce us to a new culture or a new experience that we might never have otherwise had.  Even if that experience is partly fictional, it invigorates our minds to a deeper understanding and compassion to what others have been through.  And a movie can give you that visceral experience without the length of a book.

So I guess it depends on what kind of book you are reading and what kind of movie you are watching.  And it depends on what kind of education you value.