aznrednek's Xanga

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Thu, 24 May 2007 20:52:52 GMT

This entry was originally published at Dan Tan Music Blog

So through close degrees-of-separation, someone told me about Hannah Sink, a 23-year-old UNC grad who entered a short film into a contest sponsored by DreamWorks (Spielberg’s company). Her film, shot in a rock quarry in Raleigh, won her a coveted spot on “The Lot“, a reality TV show that debuted Tuesday night. The winner of “The Lot” will be awarded a contract to make a movie for DreamWorks. Next episode is Thursday night.

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I recently committed to record my first CD, and my good friend Jeff Dolan will be acting as producer (he’ll light fires under me to keep me moving ). Music has always been a passion, as has been ministering to people, and recently those have been converging. I don’t know exactly what I’ll be doing in the future, but I know that I’m supposed to keep developing my musical skill and songwriting. If God gives you a talent, don’t bury it. Let it grow, allow God to develop it, or it stagnates and you’re left with this smoldering unease inside you that eats away at your soul.
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There are times when I wonder, “what comes next?” I have some ideas that are taking root, but I can’t see the future clearly just yet. And God often has other plans for us than what we can see. In time everything is made clear, but when you’re waiting and you don’t know what you’re waiting for, it can be very difficult to maintain faith in God’s direction and providence. If we knew all the reasons why our lives sometimes go into waiting mode, I don’t think we could handle the full knowledge. Our minds are easily overwhelmed, and the slow revelation of life is a blessing that spares us from madness.

If Hiro Nakamura had dropped out of the future when I was a boy and told me the full path my life would take until I reached my present age, I think even as a child I would have said, “Uh dear God? Can you take me from this world now, cause after seeing it, I really don’t want to walk down that path. Maybe parts of it, but certainly not all of it. Those dark pathways– I REALLY don’t want to go there, please?”
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While perusing Hannah’s blog on “The Lot”’s website, I came across this entry that talks about the waiting process. And also, about understanding why sometimes God says, “Before you go, first you must wait.” Read it here…
“Late Night in the Hospital” - http://community.thelot.com/blogs/Hannunc/2007/01/19/Late_night_in_the_hospital

Asian-Americans and the Virginia Tech shooting

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 13:25:37 GMT

I wrote a comment in response to a friend’s Xanga post, and thought I’d post my comment on my blog with a few edits. She wrote…

But the discussion that immediately sprang up in the community of which I am a part disgusts me. I am talking about the Asian-American community’s obsession over the fear of retribution. The naked relief from the non-Korean entities that the killer did not come from their ranks; the desperate apologies and conciliatory gestures from the Korean community, having drawn the short straw. What inhumane self-centeredness!

My comment…

I think it’s an understandable reaction given the values of many asian cultures. Even Asian-Americans are heavily influenced by the shame-based cultures many of them grow up around. As far removed as some Asian-Americans think they are from their ancestral cultures, there is still often a sense that the public actions of an individual can represent an entire race– particularly when the media seizes upon ethnicity as a noteworthy detail. Think about families where the failings of one child are lamented by parents as “bringing shame upon the whole family.” How much worse, then, is the shame felt when major news outlets started to fill their sparse articles with his ethnicity and immigration to the States, his awkwardness of speech as recounted by classmates, etc. I think that the lack of information early-on about the shooter resulted in a hyperfocus on the ethnic and immigrant angle. When that aspect makes up 20-30% of a written article, it stands out as a noteworthy detail to the average reader.

I’m not condoning the knee-jerk press-releases about “please don’t blame all of us”. But I think it’s understandable given the cultural context of where these public statements are coming from. Shame is a powerful force for people of asian descent. Note the difference between guilt and shame. Guilt is where you’ve done something wrong. Shame is fear-driven– fear of potential condemnation. Shame constrains one to avoid certain acts or apologizes for things one is not responsible for (false guilt). True guilt comes if you’ve actually committed a wrong.

On a second note, with regards to the policy debates that will come, the time for them is never immediately after a major crisis. Legislation in reaction to a crisis is usually ill-conceived, impractical, and placebo in its effect. I’m a big believer in legislation that builds into itself expiration, requiring independent evaluation and assessment of effectiveness after the emotions have subsided. The passage of a law is not easily reversed if it should prove to be ineffective, or worse, counterproductive. This is the time to grieve, to remember the victims, to care for those affected because many of the affected will themselves become indirect victims of this tragedy if they do not receive long-term support and care.

Legislation would never have prevented this tragedy from happening. When a man commits to plan public harm of many innocent people, he has already determined to violate any law that stands in his way. Any law can be circumvented, any regulation can be bypassed, all internal moral barriers have been abandoned. Legislation and law are no shield against evil intent. And what legal punishment can you exert over someone who’s intention it is to take their own life?

I was recently with a friend who has a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend. He intentionally showed up when she was with her daughter, putting all of her friends on edge. Does he care about the restraining order? No. Can the police do anything? Not really. The safety of herself and her daughter is in her own hands, not in the hands of the police.

In the case of this recent tragedy, could it have been prevented? I don’t know. But no amount of law can deter hatred, no legislation can extinguish rage. Virginia law already bans firearms on school property (SEE : Code of Virginia §18.2-308.1). The law already existed– but Cho had no regard for it.

In an ideal world of science fiction fantasy, someone could have read Cho’s mind and locked him away once murderous intent was detected. Minority Report presented a stylized and simplified exploration of many of the moral and ethical problems about this approach. In today’s world, maybe if Cho had spoken to someone openly about this, they could have reported it. There are a thousand what-if’s.

The stark reality is that when someone commits to do evil and begins to carry it out, prevention has already failed. They are not deterred by threat of punishment. Once that happens, the only option is direct intervention to interrupt the crime, and the people who will have to make those split second decisions will be citizens like you and I. Everyday citizens must take responsibility for their own AND others safety. Years ago, when someone tried to carjack a family member, there were no police nearby and had they arrived they would have been too late. The only thing standing in the way was myself and I chose to intervene. When evil comes for you or a loved one, there may not be time to pick up the phone and wait for someone else to rescue you. It’s harsh, but that’s reality– you will face it, and you may face it alone.

The people who were around Cho in his early years bear responsibility too. I’m not saying that childhood persecution is the only precursor to violence– I experienced plenty of that growing up in the deep South– but children are easily wounded. Rage that grows unchecked in a child manifests in horrific ways when they are old enough to inflict pain on others. As a child, I defended many of my peers from taunts and persecution. Even then I remember fuming, “Why doesn’t anyone else DO SOMETHING about this?” I rarely saw anyone else standing with me. Is that still the case in our society, or has it gotten worse? Wound a child repeatedly when he is young, and he will do the same to others when he is older.

Like every other tragedy of this nature this will spawn many debates in this country. And like every other time, there will be no consensus. I, for one, have decided to allow this to remind me that I should extend mercy instead of retribution, compassion instead of apathy, love instead of hate. God has had mercy on a corrupt soul like me, I should then do the same for others. And for me it also reminds me that standing up to injustice and evil when it comes knocking is my own responsibility– not someone else’s.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 15:59:05 GMT

Human Trafficking Awareness Weekend

This entry was originally published at Dan Tan Music Blog

Voice Together and Visio Dei are promoting events this weekend to build awareness about the problem of human trafficking and slavery. For more info see: http://www.opposingthetraffic.org According to Make Way Partners, human trafficking is a $9.5 billion criminal industry, with over 30 million victims of human trafficking and modern day slavery in the world today.

* Friday 8pm: rock-n-roll benefit concert at the Pour House in downtown Raleigh

* Saturday night: sleep-out on the State Capital lawn

* Sunday: Kimberly Smith combats human trafficking and slavery through an organization called Make Way Partners. She will be speaking at Visio Dei on Sunday morning to share her first-hand experiences confronting this horrific problem worldwide.

For information about this weekend’s events, see http://www.opposingthetraffic.org

For more information about human trafficking, see http://www.makewaypartners.org

The following is an email from Jason Gore, one of the pastors at Visio Dei , regarding the events of this weekend (edited for brevity).

Myself and some friends ( www.voicetogether.org - myself and some good friends - www.visiodei.org - my church community - also good friends) have been working really hard to pull together an awareness weekend for “Human Trafficking”.

The weekend is here and I wanted to let all of you know about what’s going on. You can check out the website at www.opposingthetraffic.org - We put this site together to hold all the details for the weekends festivities. In short, we have:

a benefit show at The Pour House Friday night - doors at 8pm (we need to cover a hefty bar tab - please bring your friends) - The Bands are Incredible - lots of fun - good rocknroll
A sleep out at the Capitol lawn Saturday night (we have a permit)
Our Church is giving the morning to Kimberly Smith of Make Way Partners to speak of all that is going on around the world related to human trafficking - this will blow your mind

I would like to personally (or not so personally) invite all of you to the benefit show Friday at the least. It will be a blast… would love to see some of you I haven’t seen in a while. You can get info there on the rest of the weekend. Saturday will be a blast also and Sunday you would hear things that you will not believe.

Anyways… no matter where you fall in the realm of spiritual things, I am sure you would agree that sex slavery and human trafficking is far beyond something we should just let go unnoticed. I am not only asking that you try and make it if you are free, I am asking you to consider changing your plans if you have them for such a cause. (dont mean that to sound rude… hopefully you know me well enough to catch that - just being to the point) If you can’t, I understand

Here’s how you can help

come to the benefit show
bring other people
email/blog/myspace/facebook/contact your friends and tell the about the weekend - www.opposingthetraffic.org
join the Voice Together mailing list - www.voicetogether.org - for future updates on things we are doing (www.myspace.com.voicetogether)

OK - for now that is all…

Signing off - but - come into town this weekend… come to the show… hear about what’s going on. If we could save one woman or one child from this terror, it would be worth all the effort.

I know we can make a difference.

Peace and Love
-Jason
pastor
visio dei

www.visiodei.org
www.myspace.com/visiodei
www.jasongore.blogspot.com
www.myspace.com/jasonrgore

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 20:04:08 GMT

Borders Shows in May

This entry was originally published at Dan Tan Music Blog

May 12th is a joint performance with the talented Alisa Turner ( http://www.myspace.com/alisaturner ) .

* Borders in Chapel Hill (next to Lowes Hardware) on May 12th, 6:30pm (map)

* Borders in Cary on May 19th, 7:30pm (map)

Come on out! Support local music!

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 19:50:36 GMT

April 13th, not April 16th..

This entry was originally published at Dan Tan Music Blog

Oops, I made a mistake in an earlier post. I’m performing tomorrow, April 13th, not April 16th as I’d previously stated in an earlier blog post. Come hear me and Kelly Hilliard at Pheasant Creek Coffee in Apex, 8pm, Friday April 13th!

Google Map link is here…

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 19:13:35 GMT

Borders Book Store show, short notice

This entry was originally published at Dan Tan Music Blog

In support of this weekend’s unofficial “Seattle’s Best Coffee” openings at local Borders Books and Music stores, I’ll be performing this Saturday, April 7th, 3:00pm at Borders at the intersection of Six Forks Rd and Strickland Rd in Raleigh, NC. (Map) See this local Border’s activity schedule for other upcoming events.
Come and see the new coffee shops, and hear other musicians throughout the day at various local area Borders.

Local musician and Campbell U graduate David Calvert (www.davidcalvertmusic.com) will be performing at 5:00pm at the Borders at the intersection of Six Forks Rd and Wake Forest Rd. If you’re near that area, come on out and support him! (Map) See this local Border’s activity schedule for other upcoming events.
If you miss this weekend, you can hear me and the amazing Kelly Hilliard (www.myspace.com/kellyhilliardmusic) again on Friday, April 13th at Pheasant Creek Coffee in Apex, 8:00pm. (Map)

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 17:03:39 GMT

Upcoming Performances

This entry was originally published at Dan Tan Music Blog

* March 16th, 2006 (Friday) @ 8pm @ Pheasant Creek Coffee, Apex, NC
* March 25, 2006 (Sunday) @ 5pm @ Borders Books and Music, Raleigh, NC
* April 13th, 2006 (Friday) @ 8pm @ Pheasant Creek Coffee, Apex, NC

I’m performing this Friday, 8pm, at Pheasant Creek Coffee in Apex (Map). Come on out and support the music and the coffee shop! Music is free, if you like it please tip the musicians and the coffee shop baristas! Best coffee in the Triangle, according to Mix 101.5.

Click here to see the location on Google Maps and get directions. Pheasant Creek Coffee is in the same shopping center as “The Original Italian Pie” (which just closed down) and “Xios” restaurants just south of the gigantic Beaver Creek Commons shopping center in Apex (Target, Lowes, Panera, Carabbas).

Also, on Sunday the 25th of March, I’ll be playing at Borders Books and Music inside the beltline in Raleigh. It’s the newer Borders, intersection of Wake Forest Rd and Six Forks Rd (map). There will be other live music from 2:00 - 7:00pm during their educator’s appreciation sale (25% for current/former educators). Also free. Maybe one day I’ll actually get paid to do music .

Pheasant Creek Coffee
800 W. Williams St,
Suite 140
Apex, NC 27502
919-362-7776

Borders Books and Music
404 E Six Forks Rd
# 101
Raleigh, NC 27609
919-755-9424

Hope to see y’all there!
http://www.myspace.com/dantanmusic

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 17:10:34 GMT

Best Valentine’s Day Gift Ever

This entry was originally published at Dan Tan Music Blog

I’ve been tutoring lately at a group home for teenage girls, and have gotten to know the staff and the girls well. My Valentine’s Day evening was spent at the group home.

I was given Valentine’s candy from one of the girls, which I initially refused until she insisted. The more I think about it, the more I’m humbled by her generosity. Candy is not a regular staple of their diet there, and is normally reserved for special occasions, or “purchased” with “privilege points” they earn for reaching their goals. She didn’t just give me a single piece, she gave me the WHOLE bag of candy she’d gotten for Valentine’s Day. I feel like I should give it back, now that I realize the high personal cost of her gift.

Are you familiar with the story of the widow’s mite?

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2021:1-4;&version=31

1 As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 3 “I tell you the truth,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

Wow, now that I think about it, that little bag of candy has become a much more significant gift to me. It represents a spirit of enormous generosity, and a gift that is far more valuable to the giver than to the receiver. She can’t just go get another bag of candy, she has to wait for another special occasion when she receives it as a gift, or use up her very limited supply of “privilege points”. Whoa.

Had I thought about all this last night, I probably would not have accepted the gift. But since I already have, it’s a small bag of candy in a sandwich bag that I will cherish for a long time.

And that’s the best Valentine’s Day gift I’ve ever received.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 13:53:37 GMT

Marching with Martin Luther King

This entry was originally published at Dan Tan Music Blog

On last year’s anniversary of Martin Luther King’s death, I was talking to my dad about him. My dad recounted that he was in Washington D.C. when the big civil rights march took place. As a foreign student with a camera, he was naturally curious to see what the commotion was about, so he slung his trusty camera across his neck, and ventured out into the protester-filled streets. Before long he was being shuffled along with the crowd, taking pictures, being given signs to hold, and happily taking part in a major piece of American history.

I was stunned to hear all this. MY DAD MARCHED WITH MARTIN LUTHER KING!!!

I’m picturing a solitary asian face in a sea of other faces filling the streets of Washington D.C.. What a moment that must have been! A Forrest Gump moment if there ever was one.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 20:04:45 GMT

Cool science projects

This entry was originally published at Dan Tan Music Blog

A coworker dropped in to show me some really cool science projects that can be done in the home. Check these out! http://www.scitoys.com

Among the cool projects, a functioning magnetic Gauss rifle, a really neat 30-second electric motor (that’s how long it takes to build it), mini rocket engine out of kitchen materials (shown above)…

I’ve been tutoring at the House of Hope for a few months, and have been looking for simple science experiments I could do for the girls there to get their interest piqued in science. It would help them to see practical application of the scientific principles they’re studying. House of Hope doesn’t have the resources or teachers to do science labs, and it’s hard to motivate students to study science or math when they’re missing out on the practical and fun side of it. If you’re interested in tutoring there, PLEASE contact me, I’m the only tutor right now. Their material is not difficult, no math higher than Algebra II, and no science higher than general physical science. Leave a comment for me if you’re interested.