The Renewed Imagination

Another Way to Do Email

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:30:00 +0000

I subscribe to a number of prayer updates via email, and I have never known quite what to do with them. The problem is when I go to my email inbox, I go there to get things done. I'm in productivity mode. I want to move through things quickly, and lingering in prayer over something doesn't really fit.

It is surprising how unbelief can hide in plain sight. The problem isn't the emails that I feel guilty about rushing past without praying. The problem is that I've been going through all my emails prayerlessly. I've foolishly been treating me email as something to "get done" after I finish praying, not as a task that should be prayed through.

I'm well aware that some people get tons of email. And really, there's lots of email that deserves only a cursory glance, junk that deserves to be trashed. I know no one who wants to spend more time going through email. But imagine for a moment being freed from the productivity-grind of online communication. What if each email was not a checklist item but an occasion to pray?

What if:

A note from a friend became a reminder to pray a blessing over them
An email about an event, or a meeting, or a gather caused you to pray for God's will to be done in that situation
An online receipt becomes an occasion to praise God for his provision and ask for faithfulness with our money
Reading an e-bill bring us to praying for God to give us our daily bread, and provide for the needy
Seeing an advertisement prompts us to ask God for protection against idolatry
Reading a newsletter caused our hearts to praise God for his faithfulness and control in history
Going through a missionary updated brought us to our knees for the kingdom of God, and for his servants
We paused before pressing 'send' and besought God on behalf of the receipient
We truly sent God's blessings with each email, not simply a Christian signature line

Zen and the Problem of Tornadoes

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:43:00 +0000

Francis Schaeffer wrote about the way Eastern thought was becoming prevalent in the Western world. Schaeffer was writing in the early 70s, but I think this trend has certainly continued. As a nature photographer, I often hear people talking about nature in vague spiritual terms. I've been tempted in that direction myself. Here's the problem with that line of thought:

When Christ stood in front of the tomb of Lazarus (John 11) He was claiming to be divine, and yet He was furious. The Greek makes it plain that He was furious. He could be furious with the plague without being angry with Himself. This turns upon the historic, space-time Fall. Consequently, the Christian does not have Camus's problem. But if one is putting forth a pantheistic, mystical answer, there is no solution to the fact that nature is not always benevolent. One has no way to understand the origin of this double fact of nature; one has no real way of "fighting the plague."

Without the fall, there is no way to love the beautiful parts of nature, while at the same time grieving, and even getting angry at the ugly side of nature. As Christians we can understand death's proper place, and even healthy function, in the world. But there's still something ugly in it, something that occasionally pisses us off. Only in Christ does one have the right to be angry at the cost of death when one hears about a deadly earthquake, and then open your window blind and smile at the sunset.

Quote: Francis Schaeffer, Pollution and the Death of Man, p33

The Shock of the Real

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:30:00 +0000

A weird, lovely, fantastic object out of nature like Delicate Arch has the curious ablitiy to remind us—like rock and sunlight and wind wilderness—that out there is different world, older and greater and deeper by far than ours, a world which surrounds and sustains the little world of men as sea and sky surround sustain a ship. The shock of the real. For a little while we are again able to see, as the child sees, a world of marvels. For a few moments we discover that nothing can be taken for granted, for if this ring of stone is marvelous then all which shaped it is marvelous, and our journey here on earth, able to see and touch and hear in the midst of tangible and mysterious things-in-themselves, is the most strange and daring of adventures.

—Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

Good Solutions Are Small, Obvious, Simple, and Cheap

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:30:00 +0000

[W]hat I have described here... is a big problem, and it is the overwhelming tendency of our time to assume that a big problem calls for a big solution. I do not believe in efficacy of big solutions. I believe that they not only tend to prolong and complicate the problems they are meant to solve, but that they cause new problems. On the other hand, if the solution is small, obvious, simple, and cheap, then it may quickly and permanently solve the immediate problem and many others as well.

—Wendell Berry,The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture

After all the insightful and prophetic commentary Berry gives us on culture and agriculture, this may be one of the most radical things he says, on the last pages of his book. This really gives me pause in all my hubris and youthful passion to see the world made right. It's a clarion call for wisdom, for understanding, for patience.

A Blown Opportunity

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:30:00 +0000

As an American I am rooting for my country to succeed.. I'm not super patriotic; I simply care about my neighbors, my country, and the best parts of what America represents. I believe most of us do. If we are to succeed, we must still share this common love and care for our homes and country.

Because of this, I was rooting for Barack Obama on Tuesday, during his "State of the Union" address. I was disappointed, mostly. Barack should have come into that speech with one mission, one purpose only. Obama should have proved he was a true leader, worthy of being reelected and admired. He campaigned instead.

America has faced enormous economic pressure, nearly disaster, in 2011. We've also seen the people of America growing increasingly frustrated with a seemingly impotent congress, and a broken political process. Facing this deeply divided congress and senate, which reflects a divided country, Obama's one mission should have been to unite us around the few values we still share—the values that shape America.

We need a leader who can inspire us. We need a vision-caster. Not a vision for one party, or for a new model of compromise. Vision for a nation facing hard times. We need someone to tell it straight, like it is, and inspire every one of us to fight for a better tomorrow. We need words bathed in the light of our history, soaked with wisdom, and fired with the fervency of a believer.

Instead Obama sold his policies and task forces to the nation on Tuesday, and that was a poor substitute for brilliant leadership.

To be fair, he did raise above this political-hucksterism on several occasions. He did well to call congress to look for small solutions to create a more efficient government. This is a truly nonpartisan call to arms, while admitting each side's differences. The last several minutes of his speech were also very good. And he may have said more great words in the portions of the speech I missed.

But if Barack's speech would have been cut to the last two minutes of the speech he gave, it would have been much better. How many people have truly been inspired by a speech stretching well past an hour? If Lincoln delivered the most famous speech in American history in just over two minutes, how much more do we need leaders who can speak so poignantly and pointedly today? This is the generation of YouTube, and two minutes is long. Only pastors and dull politicians address the nation for over an hour. If this be a drastic part from tradition, so be it; the times call for drastic measures.

Why I'm Regretting My Kindle Now

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:39:00 +0000

Well, that's not completely true. I still love reading from my Kindle, and spent some time reading in it today. I also love all the free books I've downloaded over the past year. However, there is a problem with the Kindle ecosystem, a problem that has me wishing today that I had waited to invest so heavily in the technology.

The problem isn't simply that I purchased an e-reader from Amazon.com. The problem is that I bought into an ecosystem that's, for practical purposes, closed. I committed to buying my ebooks primarily from Amazon, and entirely in their native ebook digital format. I've given my long term stamp of approval to a gigantic multinational corporation.

What if I discover Amazon treats its workers terrible, in sweatshop like conditions? What if Amazon does business with terrorists, or regimes that oppress human rights? What if Amazon starts featuring pornography on its pages? Is buying digital books, and reading on my Kindle supporting these practices?

Pre-Kindle the answers might have been simpler: skip saving a couple bucks and shop locally. Buy used paperbacks from local booksellers, and shop at Itunes for digital content. Now my dependency upon Amazon is more complicated. Not only is Kindle content sold outside the Kindle store scarce, but Amazon actually owns all the content I've purchased. One does not buy Kindle books, but "purchases" the right to use them--a right Amazon can revoke at any time.

I'm not saying now that Kindles and their owners are evil, or part of some grand conspiracy. I'm simply concerned at how complex certain dependencies have grown. There's always costs to early adaption, and this appears to be one of them.

How about the future? Hopefully amazon doesn't become truly evil, and even does better at ethical responsibility and transparency. But I don't have much hope in corporations saving the world. I am hopeful that people will stand up for private property rights, and push for a better, more open ebook ecosystem.

Strength of Body: A Joyful Expenditure

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000

"[A]s a people, we must learn again to think of human energy, our energy, not as something to be saved, but as something to be used and to be enjoyed in use. We must understand that our strength is, first of all, strength of body, and that this strength cannot thrive except in useful, decent, satisfying, comely work.

"There is no such thing as a reservoir of bodily energy. By saving it—as our ideals of labor-saving and luxury bid us to do—we simply waste it, and waste much else along with it."

—Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture

This true in my experience. Quotes like this get me excited to work as a landscaper and agrarian.

The Front: #21

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:53:00 +0000

Attention all visitors, furry or not, welcome or not: we don't take kindly to poop appearing behind our microwave. Poop goes into the toilet. If you happen to be a mouse, poop somewhere else, somewhere we'll never see. You're welcome to take crumbs from our floor, but you are not welcome to defecate there, or any other surface, or even be seen. Be warned.

This sucker is #21 in a loosely tracked war we've been waging against pooping pests since summer. No more: we're keeping track of every kill.

So far we've deployed sticky traps, pounds of key-lime oats (mouse poison), Heineken bottles, broomball sticks, and snappy traps. We've even placed Pandora's Boxlid of Mouse Apocalypse into action (a special combo weapon that will have to be explained later). We will not cease until our invaders desist, preferable deceased.

This is a fight to the end. We live on The Front.

Time to Pray

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:22:00 +0000

If you are not praying, then you are quietly confident that time, money, and talent are all you need in life. You'll always be a little too tired, a little too busy. But it, like Jesus, you realize you can't do life on your own, then no matter how busy, no matter how tired you are, you will find the time to pray.

-Paul Miller, A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World

Favorite Music Albums, 2011 Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:30:00 +0000

Writing blog posts that are already outdated seems to be something I do, and like doing. I do this every year, so might as well do it again. Here are my favorite music albums from 2011.

1. Bon Iver, Bon Iver
I listened to the samples, and originally skipped this one. But by 2012 it take much thought to find my top album of the year. Beautiful, haunting, simple, relaxed. This shares many of the strengths of Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago, while also positive progression. Blood Bank didn't do that for me--it was more like an interesting experiment. This self titled album adds the band, and complexity, to music that still reminds of lonely winter days in Wisconsin woods, in all the best kind of ways.

2. Mylo Xyloto, Coldplay
This a return to form for Coldplay in my opinion. I was disappointed with their last record, but this one hit the spot just right. They took their music in a new direction, again, but stayed rooted to their Coldplay sound. Every song is a ephemeral brushstroke of sounds and bright colors. True, nothing profound here, but overall the most fun record to play through the year.

3. Destroyed, Moby
Moby describes his album as "broken down melodic electronic music for empty cities at 2 a.m." And that's pretty accurate. It smells of insomnia, with a woman's voice crowning on one track "I'm in love with this isolation." And humanity has it's place too, as Moby sings "I will always be right here." The instrumental track "The Violent Bear It Away" is one of Moby's best, in my opinion. A great album for working late at night, or night driving.

4. Departing, The Rural Alberta Advantage
This has been my favorite I-need-something catchy-and-upbeat-while-I'm-working album. And it's loaded with lots of folk sound and sensibilities. A good sophmore album, even if it sounds incredible simular to their last effort. I look forward to hearing more from TRAA in the future.

5. Minnesota, Mason Jennings
Oh, love, loss, and Minnesota. Mason Jennings does it so well in this short album. With his penchant for interesting sounds, his loopy but attractive singing, Mason brings simplicity and straightforward song writing to this effort. You want to listen again as soon as it ends.

There's been a lot good music released this year. I also enjoyed with My Brightest Diamond's All Things Unwind, Peter Wolf Crier's Garden of Arms, and Thurston Moore's Demolished Thoughts. And others. But this all I have time for now.

What music did you find striking this past year? What releases are you looking forward to?

Listening to His Voice

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:54:00 +0000

Screw resolutions. And no, I didn't just brake mine twelve days into January. I've blown them all before like some hell-bent boozer. Busted in January, broke in June; under my name there's a record of failures scattered across calendar months and years.

They're calling for my attention, for my improvement, that pile of books on my desk. Wendell Berry is speaking like a prophet, Edward Abby is beckoning, Tolstoy sputtering on. Puritans are hanging on my nightstand. Drink this older wine, they tell me: it helps the stomach, and goes down smooth. Magazines lie across the floor. The internet glistens with images and fonts and the damned weight of the present. "Know, know, know!" Hyperlinks draw my soul into a world of information that will surely set my feet strait, level my head, and polish hobbies into obsessions.

Then there's the journals sitting behind me—one red, one black. The lie with beautiful empty pages: spill the glory of your intellect here, and it will materialize into genius. My Google Docs tab is sitting open in the corner of my screen. It houses all those blog posts that swelled beyond the blog into gargantuan writing projects that will one day change the world. Screw them too.

The dust sits heavy on the corners of my desk. It sits pretty much everywhere else too. I've stepped over that pile of laundry ten times today. The crap on my carpet, waiting for a vacuum, bothers me. Dishes gather stink in the sink. There's fuzzies on my teeth (ok, just brushed my teeth. Too gross to wait).

All these amount to a forest fire of voices, screaming in my ear, burning up my world, pushing me beneath the covers again. "Improve yourself." "Know your world." "Stop being a slob." "Be a man, for God's sake!" "Stop sitting on your ass." "Be serious for once: devote yourself, be serious, be passionate." The problem is they hit all too close to home, close to truth.

I can't stop listening, caring, obeying. Not most of the time. These voices attack my faults, and I hate my faults. I'm tired of these voices, of their tyranny, of their occasional wisdom. I want to open my window and scream obscenities at all the urgent voices in my head, in my room. I want to screw every 'ought to', 'supposed to' and 'should' I see.

There is another voice. It whispers, just audible. I ignore this one too, especially ignore it. It doesn't do blurbs, or advertisements. It doesn't preach improvement or offer steps to a better life. It offers life.

Yeah, you all know what I'm talking about. Before you regulate all my writing to the trite and cliche, listen to another's words. Listen to his words:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

In these last days he has spoken to us by his Son...He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.

How dare we ignore this voice, this voice who is a person? How can we turn a deaf ear to the word who is man, and God? There is nothing trite or false in these words. His word are full of truth and life. They are life. And yet the mundane and practical and urgent rages on.

Sometimes I needs resolutions. Some days I need to pray. Today is a praying kind of day. A day I ask my Father to fill me with his Word today, for 2012. I don't need self improvement. I need to listen to his voice. I need the Spirit to change my heart to treasure and love and pursue all the beauty and joy and glory and treasure of His words.

Best Photos of 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 19:14:00 +0000

It's so hard to pick the best, but here are some of my favorites, or at least a sampling of my photographic journey this year. They are arranged mostly chronologically.

The first two photos are representative of my growing appreciation for minimalist and abstract photography this year.

Death Is Dry

This shot is here to argue that you don't need expensive equipment to make descent pictures. I grabbed this in Dubuque, Iowa with my Canon S90, on the way back from my sister's graduation. Though, I probably would use more self-control with the saturation slider if I was processing this again.

Rendezvous

Climbing your first mountain is thrilling, but doing it during sunrise adds all the more to the wonder and excitement. The next two shots are from a hike in Montana with my friend Phil. Climbing Baldy Mountain at 5 in the morning is one of the best experiences from this past year, and the most beautiful.

Haze and Glory

Our Wild World

I took pictures at a Basketball and Soccer camp that several churches put together in my neighborhood this summer. This is my favorite from that event. This was a year when I tried some new things as far as photographing events and people, and found out how much I have to learn.

Effort

Another event that really stretched me as a photographer was Mink Lake Camp. I was asked to take pictures at the girls camp our church helped host. I had great fun doing it. Here are two favorites

The Joyful Fisherwomen

The Art of Walking on Waterfalls

On my birthday this year, I went down to the shore of Mink Lake, and was blessed with beautiful moonlight. After about an hour of taking long exposures I walked away with this 287 second photo.

Life Rushing Past

I live in the city, so there should be something from the city in here. And there is beauty to find even in the heart of the urban jungle.

Life Under Heaven

Another highlight was the short trip I took up to the north shore this fall. Two days beforehand I got filled with wanderlust and desire to see fall colors. So I took off, and found plenty of color. I've never seen such beautiful fall colors as I did on this trip.

Mic-Mac and Superior Lakes

Nicado Lake

This is a fall shot from near my home in Minneapolis. It was at the end of fall after I had already given up on seeing great color, and at the end of the day, when I was ready to pack up. I walked past this little tree twice before seeing the light hitting it perfectly.

Tree of Light

This last one is from earlier this month. It's shot from behind Minnehaha Falls at night.

He Anoints My Head

Responsible and Irresponsible Dependencies

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:28:00 +0000

The cure is "autonomy," another illusory condition, suggesting that the self can be self-determining and independent without regard for any determining circumstance or any or the obvious dependencies. This seems little more than a jargon term for indifference to the opinions and feelings of other people. There is, in practice, no such thing as autonomy. Practically, there is only division between responsible and irresponsible dependence.
—Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America (emphasis mine)

Where Are All the People: A Confession

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:31:00 +0000

I'm mainly a nature and landscape photographer. If you look at my Google+ profile you will only see several photos with people in them. I shoot almost exclusively the natural world, due to preference and skill. I've been happy lately, albeit still critical, about the development of my style. Until I read this quote:

That is why there are no more people in these scenes of future farms than in the landscape photographs in conservation magazines; neither the agriculture specialist nor the conservation specialist has any idea where people belong in the order of things. Neither can conceive of a domesticated or a humane landscape. People are complex, contradictory, unpredictable; they are perceived by the specialist as a kind of litter, pollutants of pure nature on the one hand and pure technology, total control, on the other.
—Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America

This really struck me, and probed me to rethink my photography. I certainly don't regard humans as litter in a natural landscape, or as polluting nature. But my artistic preference hasn't been honest to my personal philosophy.

I told my sister, a fellow photographer, I'd rather take a portrait of a tree than a person. While this may remain true to some degree as long as I'm taking picture, I hope to shift the tide some. Yes, people are contrary, complex, unpredictable, and they usually don't sit as still as trees do. Yet they are beautiful, meaningful, and created to glorify their creator.

Photography is a personal recreation, but I also practice it to communicate. I believe this crazy world was made to sing the glory of its creator. He is pleased most especially when men and women worship him. Communicating the splendor of his creation merely or mainly through the natural world, sans humans, doesn't cut it anymore for me. This is a confession and a commitment--a resolution if you will--to apply myself to the discipline of taking pictures of people, hard as it may be. His glory shines in the face of man, and I need to see it, and to speak about it with my camera.

Thanksgiving: A Celebration of This Moment

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:19:00 +0000

This should be the post where I list all kinds of things I'm thankful for, albeit one week late. It isn't. This should also be the Thanksgiving post, offering insight into a holiday and a way of life, but it isn't. I don't have time for that.

As I get older that list keeps growing: the list of dreams and plans that are not going to happen. What time a busy schedule and commitments don't eat up sloth and personal vices do. Life keeps slipping by, and that series of blog posts that was going to change the world remains unwritten.

But I'm not getting hung up on that—looking at all I've left behind. What I have, this one moment now, I will be glad and thankful. With this breath, with this sentence, with these thoughts I will seize the chance to praise my King and Savior. He is anointing my head with his grace and love, and I see it.

I don't have time to revel in all the shapes and colors of grace streaming into my life now, but I want to point there. I need to see it: I come so quickly to the end of myself. I am a week creature, and easily loose it all, if I'm not delighting in His goodness.

Do you see it? Do you feel your need to delight in his love today—to know that He is your salvation? Take this moment and gaze with delight and thanksgiving: look to Jesus Christ.

Jesus Is No Accessory to Any American Political Position

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000

It seems to me that too many Christians gravitate to right-wing Republican politics or left-wing Democratic politics because they see some parallel between a political plank and a part of the gospel. It's like saying that the party that uses candles must be the true one because they're shaped so much like sticks of gospel dynamite. The gospel was meant to explode with saving power in the lives of politicians and social activists, not help them decorate their social agenda.

So John Piper writes in his book on race and the gospel, Bloodlines. Piper goes on to suggest ways that the gospel can transform race relationships, and the personal/political solution to racism. It's not a complete answer for how the gospel interacts with politics, but it's helpful.

About Humility

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 21:06:00 +0000

Humility: it's being told by my roommate, after comparing body hair, that I have probably forever missed my chance to find a girlfriend. Its confidently changing the light fixture in my hallway, because I'm an electrician's son, and killing power to half the house. It's mistaking an orange ear plug for an old, spongy carrot. It learning that yet another childhood friend is married, and watching friends run down their chosen paths in life. It's the dread of explaining once again, to all those old friends, how the world that looks so plain to you looks so foresty to me, and that I really am vigorously spinning, looking for a path of dignified purpose. It's the gigantic pimple I feel coming in above my over-long mustache. It's writing run-on sentences in the middle of run-on paragraphs.

Humility is laughing at the hilarity of it all—walking around with a sloppy smile. It's bubbly gladness, zitty, oh-so-single happiness. It's sadness, being disheartened at times, and at other times astounded, confounded.

It sees angled light flowing through the last golden leaves of the maples. It sees the images of almighty God in a dozen different shades walking past. Sees and rejoices. It marvels at the depth of the blue sky, the freshness of fall air, the way that feet are for running and dancing.

It's not humility until it looks out, and then looks into the Good Book, and truly sees. I become flooded with the wonder of mercy, the grace of God. Behold His love, and think, that he would love us! Redemption, forgiveness, adoption, not singleness but family, purpose, and the love of a Father.

Worship boy. Worship little man. Worship you funny, two-legged, walking thing. It is good in spite of it all—because of it all. Jesus is good, always good. Today is a day for repentance and forgiveness. It's a day to drink gospel glory. Feel the grace that He is pouring over the life of his children. Laugh, love, leap, run, rejoice, for He is very good indeed.

Negative Space

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:53:00 +0000

Negative space is an important concept in typology, a good idea in design, and desirable in photography if used well. Negative space in social media, publishing, and blogging is death itself.

When you write a blog you ask people to pay attention to what you're saying all the time. When one isn't writing, no one is thinking about him, interacting with his platform, clicking and generating revenue. Consistently good content, delivered regularly is the goal of good blogging.

Well, I don't care a terrible lot about being famous or about falling revenue (it never existed). But, since you took the time to come all the way over here, I thought I should offer a bit of an explanation for the empty space: Over the past few months I've found that Google Plus is the perfect platform to publish my photography. That means I have been spending a good chunk of time over there, that I used to spend here.

You'll still see my pictures from time to time on The Renewed Imagination, but if your a fan of the photography, head on over to my Google Plus profile. You'll get more pictures, and less of the laborious lengthiness that pops up here.

Besides, life is just more interesting than blogging sometimes. Be sure to enjoy yours.

Deadly Ink

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 23:01:00 +0000

Today's Halloween, a less than honorable holiday. I don't intend to take part in celebrating death or evil. However, it is good to remember that we will all die. We are mortals, and this life is short. All the silly things we let consume our lives will be cut short some day soon.

With this in mind, I started to think of some of the more memorable death scenes in literature. Below are some that I've come up with:

Most striking and memorable as literature:

Mr. Tulkinghorn's death in Bleak House by Charles Dickens. There is quite repose, moonlight, port, and a painting the is transformed into a witness of the crime. Here is the conclusion: "So, it shall happen surely, through many years to come, that ghostly stories shall be told of the stain upon the floor, so easy to be covered, so hard to be got out; as that Roman, pointing from the ceiling, shall point, so long as dust and damp and spiders spare him, with far greater significance than he ever had in Mr. Tulkinghorn's time, and with a deadlier meaning. For, Mr. Tulkinghorn's time is over for evermore; and the Roman pointed at the murderous hand uplifted against his life, and pointed helplessly at him, from night to morning, lying face downward on the floor, shot through the heart."
The murder of Leonard in Howards End by E. M. Foster
The death of Prince Andrey in War and Peace by Tolstoy
The death of George Washington Crosby in Tinkers by Paul Harding. The whole novel takes place as George lies dying in his living room.

Weirdest: Again Bleak House. This time Krooks death by spontaneous combustion.

A hopeful look beyond the grave: Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. I don't want to spoil it, and you know what I talking about if you've read it.

Most horrifying death of an depraved man: Svidrigailov's suicide in Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky.

And many more. There is a lot of dying in our books, as in our world. Life is short, so don't waste it, and get right with the Lord.

Occupy the Countryside

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Our economy isn't working well, and there are no signs of our current political system fixing it anytime soon. A good question at such a time is "what should I do about it." I don't want to say anything definitive about the Occupy Wall Street movement/s here, and yet protesting doesn't seem like an unreasonable response to our national situation.

And yet I think there is something better. The industrial machine, economic colonialism, globalism, and such must be reversed from the ground up. It can't come from just the government. Wendell Berry writes:

The answer, the only answer, to economic colonialism is to make the greatest local advantage of the products of the local countryside, producing and processing for local consumption first of all, and only then for export. This exactly reverses the colonial economy that, if it could, would have the local people starve in order to export food, or live in shacks and shanties in order to export logs.

Yes, laws need to change. But we also need to change. We need to put away our iphones and computers, and take to working humbly and living simply. This starts at the level of the household and individual, not at Washington or New York.

We probably need both: a movement on the national and the local level. But the news is focused on the national and negative. I want see and join a movement toward sustainable and just living. I'm still not sure what that looks like in my neighborhood, but I want to find out.

Eternity Rushing into Space, or the Glory of God Descending Like Fire Upon Earth

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:44:00 +0000

All for this one moment—this instant—the heavenly bodies came together in a joyful dance with every circumstance of situation and biology to capture this wandering soul in epiphanies of divine beauty and sweet bowers of blessing.

One moment in a long line of moments, and endless circle of moments, but standing above them. The painting that appeared here started months ago on a canvas of grey. It was these hills, drab and covered with dirty snow, where birth was whispered on April air. It began as woody buds softened to the breeze, and dry twigs ran with sap once again.

Then sweet rain comes, cleansing, slaking, saturating. The pallet sheds its grey hues for brown. Drab still, but loaded with life—a life living off of death. From this undying death springs life, a variable fecundity in green we call constant in our waking months.

Is it enough? Surely you can't doubt the beauty, subtleness, complexity, and variety of a Minnesota summer. But there's more, a greater show than this. Just when you claim to understand—to comprehend even a little—the deep mystery of life, it all explodes in your face.

I can see it here, on top of my mountain. I can see the waiting, the time and process, the shrill excitement.

The moment has come, and she dances and spins with all the glory of her lover-God. The clouds slip back and the sun breaks forth, shedding wondrous light everywhere. The sky ranges from deep blue to fiery gold, but below, the color has been shot through a diamond, fall. Every color of the evening sky has landed upon the forest, mingling with the best colors of life.

Photography gives me language to discuss light. It has terms for the quality of light, the hues we see. When I look off my mountain I measure contrast, saturation, and brilliance in my head. But the science can't conquer the wonder of what I see. The living place exceeds the photograph. It's complete.

For half an hour the trees sway in the breeze before the sun sinks behind nearby hills. I'm eating sausage and cheese, unable to imagine what could make this moment more full. I read the Psalms aloud for the neighboring squirrels to hear. I stare, and stare. The light fades and colors alternatively deepen and soften. A crescent moon floats in the sun's pink wake. Then stars appear, until they fill the sky with their light.

All of this, all the living and dying, the processes ephemeral and eternal, coming together to teach this boy, sitting on his Midwest mountain, something of splendor. A whisper and a cry, Worship.

Breaking Down

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Title: Econoline200

Location: Minneapolis

Nothing lasts forever in this world, but there are a few things that last much longer than you expect. I was happy to see this van still going around the block, even if it's on the last lap.

Exif Info

Aperture: f8

Shutter: 0.8

ISO: 200
Exposure Bias: 0

Focal Length: 35mm

Lens: Nikon 35mm F1.8

Camera: Nikon D90

Sunset in the City

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Title: City Sunset

Location: Minneapolis (Park & 18th)

Exif Info

Aperture: f8

Shutter: 0.6

ISO: 100
Exposure Bias: +2/3

Focal Length: 35mm

Lens: Nikon 35mm F1.8
Camera: Nikon D90

Communism and Capitalism: Culprits of Injustice

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 03:07:00 +0000

I remember, during the fifties, the outrage with which our political leaders spoke of the forced removal of the populations of villages in communist countries. I also remember that at the same time, in Washington, the word on farming was “Get big, or get out”—a policy which is still in effect and which has taken an enormous toll. The only difference is that of method: the force used by the communists was military; with us, it has been economic—a “free market” in which the freest were the richest. The attitudes are equally cruel, and I believe that the results will prove equally damaging, not just to the concerns and values of the human spirit, but to the practicalities of survival.

—Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America

Mountains in the Morning

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Golias) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:43:00 +0000

Title: Mountains in the Morning

Location: Bob Marshal Wilderness, MT

Exif Info

Aperture: f6.3

Shutter: 1/800

ISO: 200
Exposure Bias: +1/3

Focal Length: 35mm

Lens: Nikon 35mm F1.8
Camera: Nikon D90

Looking north at an unnamed peak, with Holland Peak in the distance. Taken from Holland lookout, above Holland lake. This was taken on July 5th: quite the surprise to arrive with our backpacks and find so much snow.