While I’m glad that this year is over, it’s also bittersweet.  I’m going to miss being at Wabash (I’m going home for the summer) because it really does become a home a way from home.  Perhaps, to some people, it becomes more of a home than their home.

I’ll be blogging periodically throughout the summer, so you’re not getting rid of me that easily! Until next time.

Tomorrow is my Statistics II final, so today will be spent pouring over formulas and concepts.  Have a good one!

Tonight is Midnight Munch, an end of the year event in which the staff, faculty, and president cook breakfast (breakfast+dinner=brinner?) for all of the students.  It’s a very cool even that I have looked forward to every semester.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more “Tales of Finals”.

Also, this is my 300th blog.  Pretty cool.

President White’s final chapel talk.

The bells used to ring out President White.

Warning: This blog entry contains language that some may find offensive.  It’s not censored because that would kind of defeat the purpose.  Also, America, free speech, and rabble rabble.

My first experience with August Wilson came in my senior year of high school.  In my English class we read Wilson’s play “Fences”.  I remember this play, mostly, because when my teacher asked us to volunteer to read parts, she wouldn’t let me read the part that I wanted to.  She took me out into the hall, I assume to avoid making this a public event (sorry, it’s going to be out there now), and told me that she didn’t feel comfortable with me reading this part because of the amount of times that the character said “the n-word” (by the way, I share Louis C.K.’s sentiments on “the n-word”, WARNING: FOUL LANGUAGE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF1NUposXVQ).

Now, this is a school that’s pretty diverse.  50 percent of the school is white, with the other 50 percent comprised of other races, mostly black and hispanic. When my teacher told that she didn’t want me reading this part for this reason, I was kind of taken aback.  She didn’t want me to read this part because the character said a word that she deemed inappropriate for someone of my skin color to say.  This struck a chord with me, because I had been saying the word “nigga” for a long time before reading Fences.  It probably has something to do with growing up where I did (Gary, Indiana) and hearing it often.  Me and one of my closest friends growing up (a hispanic kid; hey Felix!) called each other nigga all of the time.  It was never racially charged, it was never used as an epithet, it was a greeting between two really close friends.

As I got older, I noticed that there was this stigma surrounding the word.  It seemed to be a word that black folks had embraced as “their own”.  One that white people weren’t allowed to use (for obvious reasons).  On the flip side of the coin, I’ve known black people that have shunned the word entirely.  This is a word that has such a dark history, and is so shrouded in racially charged emotion, that it becomes very complicated.  In my eyes, the word “nigga” has never been an insult to black people in my generation.  The word nigga has been an insult to ignorant people.  When my friends and I used to call each other that endearingly, we were embracing a word that fit how we acted: we were young, ignorant kids that didn’t know anything and just wanted to get into trouble.  As Greydon Square puts it in his song “N-word” (more foul language here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpxkGhMYVVo): 

“So this goes out to all my blacks and non-niggas
If they acting like a nigga then you call they ass a nigga
This goes out to all my whites and non-niggas
If they acting like a nigga then you call they ass a nigga
This goes out to my Latinos and non-niggas
If they acting like a nigga, you call they ass a nigga
This goes out to my Asians and non-niggas
If they acting like a nigga, you call they ass a nigga”

Greydon Square sees the word nigga how I see the word nigga: a word that is not powered by the color of the skin of the person it is flying towards, but rather as a descriptor for the way that they act.

To get back to my original story, and the idea for this blog, I recently had a friend (white) tell me that another student at Wabash (black) told him that he wasn’t “allowed” to say the word “nigga”.  I got to thinking about how I used the word for a very long time before coming to grips with what it really means in our society, today.  So whether one race is “entitled” over another to use the word is a moot point, because I believe that this is a word that has evolved past race.

Also, Jitney was fantastic.

The Chapel was really good; I loved hearing the opinions and stories of people who have been here twice as long as myself.  Two of my favorite quotes of the

Rudy Altergott.

night come from two different seniors’ talks.  The first is: “Wabash isn’t a place where people end up, it’s a place that is earned”.  This is a statement that really got me thinking.  I have never talked to a Wabash man that has claimed to have “just ended up” at Wabash.  All of the people that I have talked to have made conscience, deliberate decisions to come to Wabash.  I know that many people “conscience” decisions to go to whatever college that they end up.  However, these decisions don’t seem as fervent in their application processes as guys who have their hearts set on going to Wabash.

The second quote that that I really liked was “If you haven’t seriously considered transferring, than you haven’t had the full Wabash experience”.  Wabash is such a difficult place that I’m sure it has passed the mind of the average Wally.  I know it has mine.

Have you ever played an RPG (role-playing game)?  I’m not talking about one of them newfangled, fancy vidjama games; I’m talking about an imaginative journey into the body of another character, in a realm far, far away.  I’m talking about things like Dungeons and Dragons and, in the case of this blog, Shadowrun.  You can learn more about Shadowrun here: http://www.shadowrun.com/shadowrun-tabletop/about/.  Basically, Shadowrunners are a group of people, in the year 2050, that are hired by large corporations to do jobs (steal intel, deliver packages, etc.)  This means that each Shadowrun team needs a motley crew.

Getting our Shadowrunning on.

The Dork Club (we’re the guys who get together to game with actual board/card games) has recently split into contingents of people that want to play different RPGs.  I joined the Shadowrun contingent, and boy am I glad I did.  Preparation for Shadowrun is quite extensive, especially if, like me, you’ve never played.  It consists of creating an entirely fictional character from your imagination (what a novel concept nowadays, right?), making up a back-story, picking an archetype, and gearing up.  I spent man hours pouring over the various Shadowrun user guides that I could get my grubby hands on creating my ideal character.  My character’s name is Seamus O’Toole (brother of Patrick Stroud, who goes by the name of Gershwin O’Toole in Shadowrun).  I am a “decker”, which is the Shadowrun equivalent of a hacker.  I hack into what Shadowrun calls “The Matrix” (this was “The Matrix” 10 years before the Watchowskis got their hands on it) and I get people inside of buildings and keep bad stuff from happening at the technological level (alarms, cameras, etc.).

To be blunt, I loved the game.  I thought it was entertaining, and I got to let my inner thespian loose.  I am excited for more.

1.) If creation stories ARE to be taught in public schools (which they shouldn’t be) than more than just the Judeo-Christian stories need to be recognized.

2.) The burden of proof in theological debate lies on the person making the positive claim.  If I say that there is a Flying Spaghetti Monster in the sky, it is my job to provide enough evidence that you believe it.  It is not your job to disprove it.

3.) If you were to boil down all religion and look past the contradictions and dogma, the only thing left is love.  And that is what Pastafarianism teaches.

With the help of some friends, and members of the Secular Student Alliance, we put together a short service (around 25 minutes) and hosted a spaghetti dinner afterwards.  Through all of the scathing personal emails, those uncouth people who decided to take to arguing over the all-campus email, and the blatantly wrong opinion column in the Bachelor (yes, your opinion is objectively wrong), turnout was pretty good.  I hope that everyone in attendance enjoyed themselves, and that those who are opposed to the idea realize that Pastafarianism is, in no way, mocking your religion.  It is satire, and we don’t take ourselves as seriously as you do.

And here is one of the combined number with the University of Indianapolis Women’s Chorus, “Caught Up With Amazing Grace” (I recommend watching in HD): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giJ0Kt0isP0

Both videos courtesy of my girlfriend, Alexandra Westerfield.

One of the best things about the join concert with the UIndy Women’s Chorus is the ability to sing songs that would not usually be possible for us.  Being an all male chorus, most of our pieces are arranged in what is called “TTBB”.  That is, Tenor 1 (highest voice), Tenor 2, Bass 1 (Baritones), and Bass 2 (lowest voices).  This is usually an arrangement for four-part, male choruses.  When singing with the women’s choir, we get to sing music arranged in SATB: Soprano (highest woman’s voice), Alto, Tenor (a combination of the Tenor 1′s and 2′s from TTBB arrangement), and Bass (a combination of the Baritones and Basses from the TTBB arrangement).  This just gives a more full sound because we’re hitting a higher register (well, the women are), and we’re covering a wider array of notes.

If you’re around Indianapolis tomorrow, April 6th, I highly suggest coming to the concert.  It starts at 7:30pm in the Christel Dehaan Fine Arts Center in the Ruth Lilly Performance Hall.  I hope to see you there!