Going Old School - an ode to krispy Kreme

Sitting here in our church lobby surrounded by the "great cloud of witnesses" that is 1,908 Krispy Kreme doughnuts for our youth group fundraiser (a very easy and profitable fundraiser, by the way) I was just reminded by a friend on facebook of the poem I wrote in college about these wonderful cake and glaze objects.

Irresistible Grease

- by Ben Howard

I

Krispy Kremes

Drenched in Grease

Clogging my arteries as I feast

II

My mouth is watering

My heart is beating

Krispy Kremes come for my eating

III

Thinking of you,

You wonderful cake

I dream of you until I wake

IV

Manna from Heaven

Sweet cake and glaze

I wish to devour you until the world becomes a haze

V

Oh Krispy Kremes

My greasy joy

I'm so glad that you're not made of soy

VI

Calvinists are wrong

Arminians are right

Krispy Kremes come to me in the night!

In case your wondering this was written as a joke after consecutive all-nighters in which my friends and I survived on Krispy Kremes, chicken wings, and caffeine. Also, if you can believe it, this was actually published in our college's poetry publication. I still can't believe this fact...they must have really been hurting for some submissions that year.

Big hat tip to Gustav and Moeller for the all-nighters and their help on this.

Soup, Stews, and Chili - an Ontological Discussion

I went to a Wesleyan church this Sunday in order to hear a friend preach and I ended up staying for their annual Chili Cook-off. On the way back from church I mentioned to Kristy that I'm not a huge chili fan, but that I love the recipe I have for "White Chili" (courtesy of Jennifer Lucrezio). This began a discussion as to what makes a chili different from a stew and what separates a stew from a soup.

We never really resolved the discussion (hence my reason for posting this) but here are a few thoughts/questions we had.

- Could there have once been a distinction implied in the language but as with most things in language (correct me if I'm wrong Diercks) it has become blurred over time.

- Does a chili necessarily have to be "red" or tomato based? If so then what is "White Chili?"

- Does a stew have to be thicker than a soup and runnier than chili?

- I think stew has bigger hunks of things than soup, but then there is the obvious contradiction of Potato soup.

So with these thoughts in mind here are some dictionary definitions from the Oxford American Dictionary on my computer:

Soup:
- a liquid dish, typically made by boiling meat, fish, or vegetables, etc., in stock or water

Stew:
- a dish of meat and vegetables cooked slowly in liquid in a closed dish or pan

Chili:
- a small hot-tasting pod of a variety of capsicum, used chopped (and often dried) in sauces, relishes, and spice powders. There are various forms with pods of differing size, color, and strength of flavor, such as cascabels and jalapeños.

I know the Chili definition doesn't really fit the discussion, but it's the only definition it would give me.


So the question: What is exactly entailed for something to be called chili, soup, or stew? And what, if any is the ontological difference that separates the three?

Thoughts are much appreciated.

More Lenten Thoughts

If my recent post entitled "Approaching Lent" provoked some thoughts then check out my friend Nathaniel's blog entry (here).

He, being Orthodox, does a better job than I in describing the Orthodox approach to lent. His post is short and thorough so pop over there and hopefully that will give you a little better understanding of what I'm talking about.

- Ben

Approaching Lent

I know this post may be a little late (seeing as how most of you who are reading this blog have been in Lent for the past 2-3 weeks) but I've been pondering this for a while and figured late is better than never.

A little over a month ago I was in New Orleans on my way back from Mexico and my friends and I decided to take in a Mardi Gras parade (don't worry there was none of the stereotypical decadence). As I sat watching the parade and thinking about the sites from New Orleans that I had seen earlier I began to think about the evolution of Mardi Gras and wondered how it began. I also, and maybe more so, began to contemplate the difference in both Eastern and Western approaches to the pre-Lenten days.

Most of us are fairly familiar with the Western tradition of Mardi Gras and especially Fat Tuesday (I must sadly confess a favorite of mine). Thinking about this tradition I find it interesting that many Western traditions approach a time of intense fasting/drawing near to God with gluttonous and decadent festivals. As I thought about this I wondering if this was the case with Global Catholicism (not that I'm trying to single out our Catholic friends, most merely associate Mardi Gras with Catholicism - even if it is nominal Catholicism) or if this was merely a pocket of American Catholicism that has been syncretized. Is this practice common in France? Italy? Spain? I also wondered about the development of things such as the infamous beads of Mardi Gras. Did they evolve from (heaven forbid) Rosary beads?

As I continued to think about this I thought about the practice of anticipating Lent that I see in the Orthodox Church. I don't see and emphasis akin to Mardi Gras. The Orthodox practice, as far as I understand it, is to approach Lent gradually by emptying one's house of meat two weeks prior to lent (thus there is a week of eating a lot of meat) and then emptying one's house of dairy products one week before lent (thus a week of a lot of milk and cheeses). While this practice could turn into two weeks of gluttony I have yet to see it manifest itself as such. I do admit, however, that my experience is from a very small sample size and I am forced to wonder if these two weeks manifest themselves in Mardi Gras fashion in countries that are more heavily (and possibly nominally) Orthodox such as Russia, Greece, Turkey (though this is just a question not an assertion). If, however, this doesn't manifest itself like Mardi Gras in other places I find the approach to lent in both traditions (Eastern and Western) to be in stark contrast.

I wonder if the difference in approach between the Eastern and Western traditions is founded in a possible difference that the traditions may approach the Law or laws and thus atonement. I confess that I would need to study this more, but I am wondering if the highly juridical and very Anselmic emphasis in the West has led to the laws or rules of the church being see as a hindrance and something that keeps us from fun, enjoyment, etc. While the East with a not so juridical and not as influenced by Anselm approach tends to view law as life-giving and freeing.

In the West we tend to often view the effects of sin like breaking a law and thus something remedied legally. In contrast the East, and I may be wrong, tends to view the ramifications of sin as something more akin to a cancer or disease that is healed. Thus, and I am hypothesizing here, maybe the Western approach is more easily justified because if they break a law they will easily be rectified during Lenten confession and fasting, while in the East the approach differs because they would not want to break a law that is life-giving and thus put the cancerous sin into their souls.

Please let me be clear that I am trying to tread very carefully in that any point of this thought process could be wrong and thus end up being an over generalization or fallacy. But maybe it makes sense. If I'm correct in my assumptions and assertions I do indeed find the Eastern approach to be much more healthy for the Christian and for the Church as a whole.

I hope that is at least moderately clear. I'm just trying to process through some of these thoughts between the two traditions. This is something that I've been pondering for a little while and was more recently brought to the forefront of my mind as my Orthodox friends begin to prepare for lent.

- Ben

Ramadan Ends

Ramadan has ended and thus has my Ramadan fast. I'm not really sure to write here, but I thought I should write on the end of Ramadan since I wrote about the begining. So my thoughts will probably be a little more scattered than normal, hopefully you can follow them.

I'm not sure if I will ever see or hear about any of the fruit of my prayer and fasting, but it was worth it. I have come out of this time with an increased love for the Islamic people of the world. I have a bigger view of where Islam is and how the Evil One uses it as a great tool of deception and oppression. The weekday lunch hours I spend in prayer with five other people were wonderful times. I don't know if I have ever prayed with people that ferverent in praying for people many of them don't know. It made me realize how little our churches care about the lost and the world.

I do have to give tremendous props to the Muslims though. I started the fast and it wasn't too bad and then I found out that you're not allowed to drink during the daylight hours. Then it got hard. Couple that with intramural sports and a student's schedule and by the 3rd week I felt myself getting pretty spent.

This also made me think about how much food is more than food in our culture. So much of our society centers around food. Hanging out with friends almost always involves some sort of food. If you don't eat lunch, but are still around people who do you feel like they're look at you wierd. Sometimes it was almost as if I would remove myself from social situations to avoid the complication of describing what I was doing and why I couldn't eat. Our society is completely wrapped up in food and doing this also helped me to see that in a new light.

I can't think of any other thoughts about Ramadan. I know I had a few more but I forgot to jot them down and have since forgotten them. Especially because Ramadan ended a few days ago.

So there is a little bit of an update, if you wanted one.

Blessings