Yesterday my second day of vacation I went down to the MCA and saw the Olafur Eliasson exhibit Take Your Time. The works in the exhibit range from 1993 to the present. Eliasson describes his works as “devices for the experience of reality”. Each work is emersive and experiential. Even his series of photographs of rivers, caves islands, etc. in taking up a wall are something I more experienced than observed. Some of it was subtle like the hall lit with only orange light, to stark, a black room lit only by a single light shining on mist of water near the back of the room. There was also the walls of moss or bricks of fired soil mounted on a wall. The moss was according to the exhibition brochure living and changing over the course of the exhibit, and you could certainly [...]

Original post by lekamphausen@netzero.net (Larry Kamphausen)

(Edited 8/21/2009 5 pm. Also have posted what I hope is a more pastoral post on Reconciler’s Blog)So that my reader will be able to know where the following comments begin from I will say that overall I think that our current system of providing health care to people in this country is deeply flawed. That our system creates a situation in which a large number of people mostly poor cannot afford basic regular health care and rely on emergency rooms for that care is unacceptable. I am avoiding talking about insurance because I am not sure relying upon health insurance to provide for good health care was the wisest course of action: profit motive is a bad reason to care for others. I believe part of the current problem is that health care is almost entirely based on someone making a profit off of our health or [...]

Original post by lekamphausen@netzero.net (Larry Kamphausen)

(Editorial note: published before rereading and I was quite muddled at points, edited for clarity 8/13/2009 8:15 pm. LEK)Last night, I went to a presentation at an Episcopal Church on Evangelism by the Episcopal priest who (along with Tripp) thought up the idea of an ecumenical congregation that became Reconciler, David Gortner. Essentially he said that evangelism is not a programmatic thing but a Spirit empowered and lead relational activity of Christians consisting in listening and conversation born out of joy and gratitude. As a spiritual director this sounded somewhat similar to spiritual direction, another spiritual director,who is also the priest of parish that held the seminary, made this observation during the discussion as well.
As a basis for his discussion of Evangelism we read the passage from Acts about Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch and the passage of Jesus with the Woman at the Well (St Photini). [...]

Original post by lekamphausen@netzero.net (Larry Kamphausen)

So, I have been attempting all week to post something but what I have attempted to write was still not ready to post. Couldn’t find that place between posting something that could give some idea about my thoughts on some things I ahve been reading and short essays that really need more work and may or may not work for this blog.So instead here is a quote from the last essay in Remembering our Future: Explorations in Deep Church.
“Church is not another organization primarily committed to individual or community development. It is a community of worship who express their love and gratitude to God. Worship is not the method of evangelism it is the sacrificial offering of the community in love with their redeemer and their creator; it is the spirit-filled response to a gracious invitation.” Mark Wakelin “Education, Discipleship and community formation” (pg. 224, Remembering [...]

Original post by lekamphausen@netzero.net (Larry Kamphausen)

Looks like it’s been a while since I’ve been here.  Sorry about that.  Uncharacteristically busy, also characteristically lazy.  Talk about confusing.
Got hold of a rather way-out book not too long ago – Beatsville, edited by Martin McIntosh.   All the Beatnik madness you could hope for, and more.  It’s out of print now, so it may cost you some heavy green.  It’s completely worth it.  And if that’s not cool enough, there is a website based on the book as well.  So go indulge yourselves, cats and kittens. Oh, and I almost forgot – thanks to this book we now know who the artist is for that pic I posted a while back – it’s Beatnik Queen by Todd Schorr.  Groovy.

Have you heard there’s a biopic of Allen Ginsberg in the works?  Howl will apparently focus on the events in his life surrounding the book’s obscenity trial.  It looks promising, but [...]

Original post by beatnikgoth

 
Quote
Long Overdue Update - The Short of It All
Ok, 3-ring circus over (for the moment) with SSA and their unbelievable incompetence. Been there, done that, couldn’t be happier that the whole fiasco is history. Finally got my SSDI awarded in May 2008. I delivered my baby grrrrl in July 2008…then everything’s a blur (Post-Partum will KILL you…) until the sad loss of my Grandma in July 2009. That snapped me into the present somehow.
 
Now my family and I are arranging to relocate to Florida. NJ’s cost of living has gotten beyond a burden. Being disabled and raising a child is difficult enough without having compounded financial hardship adding more stress to the situation. And I’ve returned to my creative outlet of making jewelry. Hence, the postings here should be much more jovial and relaxed than the previous entries.
 
I hope to update this blog more often, but that [...]

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Johnny Indovina, the lead singer and songwriter of Human Drama, formed Sound of the Blue Heart in 2006. The band’s second album, Wind of Change, was released mid July 2009. One can hear in this new album that Johnny Indovina was the stylistic driving force behind Human Drama, but also how Indovina and Sound of the Blue Heart are forging a new sound. The album simultaneously dips back into the Human Drama era and is a mark of departure from Indovina’s previous work, including Sound of the Blue Heart’s first album Beauty?.
When I was hanging out in the Goth scene in Los Angeles in the 1990s I was only vaguely familiar with Human Drama, even though they had been around L.A. since 1985. My friend who introduced me to the L.A. Goth scene, Alex Makarczyk (also lead singer of the now defunct L.A. band Delirium Blue), had [...]

Original post by lekamphausen@netzero.net (Larry Kamphausen)

I invite you to check out the various articles on joy in the latest issue of Catapult:”Getting the Joy” I have an article as the feature, it is an exploration of the epistle to the Philippians.

Original post by lekamphausen@netzero.net (Larry Kamphausen)