Okay, you found me out: Charlotte Bronte is my alter ego

You can tell she and I share a common spirit, even just in our use of semicolons. She narrates my life, with a slight accent and a better vocabulary than my own. ;-)

But seriously, this part of Jane Eyre really caught my attention - is this Jane's fortune being told, or my own? I find myself in a sort of paradox; I think it'd be great to emulate Mr. Rochester (in personality, if not in circumstances), but I find myself instead sharing traits with Jane, which, while not a bad thing at all, may wind up being barriers to my happiness...

Read on! This is the fortune-teller talking to Jane:

"Your fortune is yet doubtful; when I examined your face, one trait contradicted another. Chance has meted you a measure of happiness; that I know. I knew it before you came here this evening. She has laid it carefully on one side for you; I saw her do it; it depends on yourself to stretch out your hand, and take it up; but whether you will do so, is the problem I study...
"The flame flickers in the eye - the eye shines like dew; it looks soft and full of feeling - it smiles at my jargon - it is susceptible; impression follows impression through its clear sphere; when it ceases to smile it is sad - an unconscious lassitude weighs on the lid, that signifies melancholy resulting from loneliness; it turns from me; it will not suffer further scrutiny; it seems to deny, by a mocking glance, the truth of the discoveries I have already made - to disown the charge both of sensibility and chagrin; its pride and reserve only confirm me in my opinion. The eye is favorable.
"As to the mouth, it delights at times in laughter; it is disposed to impart all that the brain conceives, though, I dare say, it would be silent on much the heart experiences. Mobile and flexible, it was never intended to be compressed in the eternal silence of solitude; it is a mouth which should speak much and smile often, and have human affection for its interlocutor. This feature also is propitious.
"I see no enemy to a fortunate issue but in the brow; and that brow professes to say - 'I can live alone, if self-respect and circumstances require me so to do. I need not sell my soul to buy bliss. I have an inward treasure, born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights should be withheld, or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give.' The forehead declares, 'Reason sits firm and holds the reigns, and she will not let the feelings burst away and hurry her to wild chasms. The passions may rage furiously, like true heathens, as they are; and the desires may imagine all sorts of vain things: but judgment shall still have the last word in every argument, and the casting vote in every decision. Strong wind, earthquake-shock, and fire may pass by: but I shall follow the guiding of that still small voice which interprets the dictates of conscience.'
"Well said, forehead; your declaration shall be respected."

- the fortune-teller, in Jane Eyre

Jordan the Politico

So I'm usually not much into posting on politics.

However, a friend of mine has been doing a lot of research on upcoming candidates - their past records and their statements about the poor, here and abroad. This deserves some recognition, and so if you haven't read it yet, it's at http://galatians210.blogspot.com/index.html.

My state of residence was disarray…

Man, it's hard to feel hopeful and incomplacent at the same time. When I stop goofing around, my life catches up to me and I feel a bit overwhelmed by directionlessness and uselessness. I cry out to God to show me purpose and vision beyond what I see with my everyday eyes. He is a good God, doing more than I could ask or imagine; I know exciting things must be happening somewhere in the world, and if they do turn out to be happening right where I'm living now, I pray for eyes to see them, and the chance to be even a small part of them.

In a similar vein, a friend has said one must wait for a heroic love (in the context of romantic relationships), a love that strongly binds and fiercely defends. This is in opposition to settling for the usual chick-flick-style drama of "boy messes things up, she gets mad, he apologizes, will they / won't they, and then they do." I could not agree more. It's an intimidatingly scary thing, though, both to wait, and also to love like heroes! I am not sure I am ready or able to love heroically, though I pray that I find the courage and strength to do so. I fear I am more the type to love Romantically… passionately, longingly, tragically, sacrificially, and unrequitedly. May God prove my fears, as always, to be unfounded.

In other news, I saw "The Battle of Algiers" over the weekend. (Don't look for it on Fandango, look on Netflix - it was made in 1965.) The review said it is "astonishingly relevant" today, and I suppose you can judge for yourself if you see it. I found it to be true, though… For a movie in French from forty years ago, it's especially surprising. Has America turned into Imperialist France from fifty years ago? I'd say maybe more so than we'd like to admit.

By the 1950s, France had been the colonial power in Algeria for more than a hundred years already. The city of Algiers was divided, though, into the European Quarter and the Islamic Algerian rest of the city. An independence/resistance movement started up and began terrorist activities to kick out the French… the movie tells the tale of the man who ends up leading the resistance movement, and the various criminal tactics they employ, and the escalation that occurs as France decides to send in troops to "interrogate" suspects and destroy the organization. I won't say how it turns out… but I will say that the issues of Muslim/Western culture clashes, the use of torture, the western power just trying to police the city and keep the peace, the facelessness of a terrorist enemy (the actual organization in the movie is mainly 4 guys, but there's 400,000 native Algerians in the city that are all suspects, as each could be carrying bombs or whatnot), and the ease with which both sides slip from their high ideals into prejudice, hatred, and crimes against humanity – all these are definitely "astonishingly relevant." And for a movie made only 4 years after Algeria actually gained its independence… it's amazingly even-handed. It definitely helps explain the current French attitude a little better. I think it should be required viewing for world leaders today.

Not much else is new. I get to go up to the bay area in two weeks! And London in less than 2 months... much craziness.