I don't read anymore.

     "I don't read anymore. I don't read any less, either!"

I know it is a new spin on an old joke... but it's still true. I read. My list is eclectic. Currently my stacks include (in a variety of 'stations' around our home):

Mountains Beyond Mountains

by Tracy Kidder

The Philokalia, Volume 2

compiled by St Nikodimos and St Makarios

Guernica

by Dave Boling

Drive

by Daniel H. Pink

The Hidden Reality

by Brian Greene

Teaching As An Act of Faith

Edited by Arlin C. Migliazzo

     The titles have a random appearance but follow a hidden thread... they are part of my 'need to know'. Two books I recently finished are Closer Still by Scott Evans and Clean by Douglas Weiss.

Closer Still

by Scott Evans

     Closer Still by Scott Evans is what happens when a young, Irish youth pastor speaks openly. His  zeal, passion, and frustration with the status quo of Christianity today (and the misconceptions in and surrounding it) are compelling. I don't agree with everything Scott writes but I do agree with this heartcry-

"May you have the faith to believe that you are made in the image of God and that the Cross tells you that you are worth dying for."

Clean

by Douglas Weiss, PhD

     Clean by Douglas Weiss is a book for men. Period. This book is a must-read for men who struggle with sexual integrity and for men who don't: both will be challenged and encouraged. Dr. Weiss is the executive director of Heart to Heart Counseling Center in Colorado Springs and the president of the American Association for Sex Addiction. Dr. Weiss is also a former sex addict, and, as one who has overcome the issue, his words carry weight. Men- read this book!

     

Faith like cardboard

     I grew up calling it cardboard.

     "Bring me that cardboard box!" someone would say.
     
     That was until one of my students corrected me. I suggested she screen print onto 'cardboard'. She looked at the paper in my hand and said, "Actually, Mr. Carter, that's corrugated paper. Cardboard is just one of the layers- like a cereal box."
     "Oh," I blinked.
     "That's O.K. Most people make that mistake." Her Dad sold corrugated paper so she knew more on the subject than most teenage girls.

     Greg Card paints on corrugated paper. I was surprised when he told me because Greg is big on 'permanence'... something corrugated is not known for. He stresses that an artist's work should outlive the artist- art should be archival. "The problem is air," he explained. "Corrugated breaks down when allowed to interact with air. Seal out the air and the temporal becomes permanent." Varnish is a good sealant. 

     Why paint on corrugated paper? Here are a few reasons Greg gave:

     - the paper is abundantly available, and free
     - the surface is interesting to work on, sometimes the printed side adds an element
     - corrugated paper is both rigid and light
     - painting on 'previously owned' corrugated paper is an artful way to recycle (I imagine a buyer's face as they look at the back of the newly purchased painting and discover they are holding a piece from a toilet box- which I am currently painting a series on)

     Corrugated is from the Latin- corrugare- to wrinkle up. As a verb, it means to draw or bend into folds or alternate furrows and ridges (dictionary.com). Corrugated paper is composed of a 'wrinkled' layer of cardboard sandwiched between smooth layers. It is this hidden layer of ridges and valleys that provides strength.

Creation

Day one

     My life is corrugated... a series of highs and lows, covered by a smooth veneer, but frayed, with worn spots in the corners. There is strength that comes from weathering a valley storm, and there is renewal that comes from a mountaintop. 

     Sometimes I think my faith is like cardboard- a thin, flat cereal box. What I want is corrugated faith: layered, dimensional, with places that go deep while reaching high. Corrugated faith is being wrinkled up with God.

 

Creation

Day Six

     Thanks to Greg, I have begun painting on corrugated paper. I rescued several pieces from a nearby dumpster. The surface is smooth, until I tear it... which I do. The strength should be revealed.

Shrewd

Concept Sketch

Shrewd

In Progress

...all to Himself

"The only difference between me and the homeless is that I have a door to hide my brokenness behind."

Max Andrew Dubinsky

     

     Honesty is something I've not always practiced but always appreciated... that's probably why I like to hear what kids think. They are not afraid to look you in the eye and say, "Your breath stinks!" 

     Sometimes Christian's breaths stink. Max Dubinsky is not afraid to say so. An Anthology of Madness, Max's recently released book, is not for the faint of heart. Here's an excerpt-

We are anxious human beings, desperately seeking approval because we've invested our hope for happiness in things which will inevitably let us down. Your family. Your job. Sex. Pornography. School. It's time for you to realize disappointment is God's way of reminding you- his creation- that you've invested your life into something other than Him. Things that will never live up to their expectations. He created you. He wants you all to Himself.

      An Anthology of Madness is more than a memoir and collection of poems- it's a challenge and, in an honestly strange way, a word of encouragement. In the Epilogue, Max writes-

I don't know what you have been through. And I don't know where you're going. But I know sometimes faith can be a rope that hurts to hold. And I want to tell you, "Don't let go."

...interrupted by clarity

'There are things that stand

in heights of the universe,

yet people take them lightly.'

Talmud, Berachos 6b

     A few days ago my little girl received her High School Diploma... something that will take a few more days to process. Life, as we know it, is interrupted by moments of clarity. 

     Graduate comes from the Latin, gradus- a step, this being a step for both my daughter and me. I have been blessed to be one of her teachers these past four years and, like her, it is time for me to move on. My wife and I have our sights set on Charleston, SC... a new chapter.

I always have mixed feelings when chapters end. 

Debbie Millman, designer/writer/interesting person recently delivered a commencement address based on one of her written pieces. It is one of the better I have heard.

Images used by permission of Debbie Millman

You can hear the commencement address by Debbie Millman here-