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Talking to Pollsters

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Have you ever been called by a pollster, human or (cue eerie music) inhuman? I have many times, lately it’s been robocalls. I can understand people saying they don’t believe the polls, but I don’t understand why they would lie to the polls, or worse, try to tell a pollster what they think he wants to hear.

If you were asked questions by a pollster, would you tell the truth?

In Georgia and Tennessee, we’ve had early voting for several weeks. My sweet wife and I votes last Friday, the practical option for her and a fear-based option for me. I had planned to get up early this morning and get to the court house where we vote by 7:00, but fearing a possible line or my inability to get out that early I voted midday Friday. The thing I hate most about voting is learning about a race for the first time when you’re in the voting booth (or at the stall as it is with us). I didn’t vote for one of the judicial candidates in my area because I’d never heard about the race, didn’t know any of the six names on the list, and didn’t feel good about sending up Hail Mary vote.

Anyway, tell us about your voting experience and whether you’re truthful with pollsters.

Fiction, Reviews

The Darkest Evening of the Year, by Dean Koontz

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I feel the need to say something political on this last evening before the election.

But I can’t think of anything that hasn’t already been said. And since I know for a fact that our readers are a smart, erudite segment of the population, I’m pretty sure you’ve already made up your own minds.

So I’ll do a book review. It must be days since I’ve reviewed a Dean Koontz novel.

Koontz’ latest in paperback is The Darkest Evening of the Year. On a purely technical level I can make a lot of criticisms.

Since the death of his beloved Golden Retriever, Trixie, Koontz seems to be writing out his grief, with occasionally uneven results. The dogs in his books have gotten wiser and more mystical. In this book he cries havoc and lets slip the dogs of transcendence completely, coming close to caninolatry (if there is such a word. Of course there is! I just made it up!). That “Dog is God spelled backwards” palindrome that so impressed Annie Hall is almost (almost) at work here. Continue reading The Darkest Evening of the Year, by Dean Koontz →

Non-fiction

When Do I Have Enough?

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Over the weekend, I heard an NPR interview with financial guru John Bogle about his upcoming book, Enough. I gather the book expounds on the principles in this graduation ceremony speech by the same name. The business of finances takes from society rather than contributes to it, and if no one in the money management professions has a sense of contentment, when any amount of money is enough, then we will have the types of financial crises we’re having today, financiers leeching off industry and service employees to pad their own wallets. Bogle said:

. . . no matter what career you choose, do your best to hold high its traditional professional values, now swiftly eroding, in which serving the client is always the highest priority. And don’t ignore the greater good of your community, your nation, and your world. After William Penn, “we pass through this world but once, so do now any good you can do, and show now any kindness you can show, for we shall not pass this way again.”

Enough appears to discuss the same idea as another book two years called The Number. The Number encouraged readers to decide how much they can live with and be content with it. I’m sure it would agree that the world, in Bogle’s words, “never has enough conscience, nor enough tolerance, idealism, justice, compassion, wisdom, humility, self-sacrifice for the greater good, integrity, courtesy, poetry, laughter, and generosity of substance and spirit. . . the great game of life is not about money; it is about doing your best to build the world anew.”

But can a materialist really be content? Can a consumerist ever have enough? When you define yourself by your affluence, when you seek a type of happiness in shopping, collecting, or displaying your purchases to others, how can any arbitrary limit be enough? Contentment with life must come from outside the markets (Matthew 6:25-24, Matthew 10:29-31).

Poetry

Writing Poetry for Factory Workers

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Todd Boss, a graduate of St. Olaf Collage and Twin Cities local poet, has landed a publishing deal with Norton. He sounds like my kind of guy.

“I write for farmers, factory workers, all those in my immediate circle,” he said. “I am writing about day-to-day life, the struggles of being a human being and love and all the troubadour kinds of things. I’m not writing about the Greek myths. I don’t have to impress the academy, the university professors, because I don’t work with them.”

Norton editor Carol Houck Smith said Boss’ hardcover debut is extraordinary, especially since she usually learns of first-time poets after they’ve won an award or prize. “Yellowrocket” was the first book she’s worked on that didn’t come through that route.

Music, Religion

Behold the host

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Phil asked me what my favorite Lutheran hymn is. That’s a no-brainer. “A Mighty Fortress” all the way. Oddly enough, I prefer it in a praise team arrangement, and I don’t think I can say that about any other hymn. This is a hymn you need to stand up and wail on.

My other Lutheran favorites—it will not surprise you to know—are Scandinavian hymns. Below is one I always think of as Norwegian, but in fact it’s Danish, the work of Bishop Hans Adolph Brorson. Its original title is Den Store Hvide Flok, which means “The Great White Host.” I think it’s particularly appropriate for All Saints’ Eve. Exactly the kind of hymn that wouldn’t go over in our day, as it takes it for granted that suffering is a necessary part of life.

The melody is a Norwegian folk tune arranged by THE MAN, Edvard Grieg. YouTube performance here.

BEHOLD THE HOST ARRAYED IN WHITE

Behold the host arrayed in white, Like thousand snow-clad mountains bright,

With palms they stand—Who are this band

Before the throne of light?

These are the ransomed throng, the same That from the tribulation came

And in the flood Of Jesus’ blood

Are cleansed from guilt and shame,

And now arrayed in robes made white They God are serving day and night,

And anthems swell Where God doth dwell

‘Mid angels in the height. Continue reading Behold the host →

Religion

Fried Chick

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Joe Carter over at The Confabulum does an excellent dissection of the bad, old Chick Tracts today. (Hat tip: Southern Appeal)

I remember a counselor I used to see, years back. One day he showed me some drawings that had been done by another patient, one who was psychotic. (I think his point was to convince me that there were a lot of people around crazier than me.) One thing I noticed immediately in those ugly, violent images was that they reminded me of Chick Tracts.

Book Reviews, Creative Culture