Green?

New, slightly more mature (if less fun) layout, as well. Enjoy.

First Contact (sort of)

I haven't been good about updating this blog in the past week or so, but my work may finally be paying off. I received a few (!) messages from Chris Stedman, both via e-mail and Twitter, about working together, somehow! He read my piece (mentioned in a previous post) and seemed interested in discussing some of what wasn't discussed explicitly in the piece - between the lines, if you will. What would happen if a Roman Catholic and a Faitheist walked into a bar? I was juggling two options: either an interview, or an NPS-style blog post. With Chris traveling so often (he'd only just returned from Australia when we spoke), the interview seemed less and less likely, and the post became quite doable. While playing Words with Friends, though, I had a revelation: Why not do both? My NPS-style post could second as the beginning of a conversation piece, an introduction to a dialogue, in what could be an ongoing discussion of living well, with and without faith. Perhaps a new blog, on my part, in response to the Faitheist movement, would be the answer. I'm not sure! What're your thoughts?

I'm back FROM the future!

Well, it's been a while since I last posted.

I've been keeping busy with Spring Awakening rehearsals - I'll be portraying Georg at the end of the week - and haven't had a ton of time otherwise.

If my twitter feed tells me anything useful, and I hope it does, my man Chris has been keeping busy a well, with international conferences and the like. Very cool stuff.

Unfortunately, that also means he hasn't had the time to get back to me about an interview through Twitter, so I'll have to try another way.

Email may well have to suffice. How boring, right?

Oh, the places I'll (hopefully) go!

As of right now, it looks like I'll be continuing my work on Stedman and the atheist-activist movement with an eye to what I hope can be an answer to the title of my original essay. How cool would it be if I could spend an afternoon with him over coffee, or walk into a bar and not have it be a punch line? I don't know how possible it is, but I was even thinking a Skype conversation could do. Oh, the possibilities!

If you would...

...please read my posted PI essay on Inter-Faitheist Activist Chris Stedman and tell me what you think about it below!

Brainstorming!

I can't lie: I hate exercises like these. Writing my undeveloped ideas has always been tedious for me, and nothing I've ever enjoyed. What do I love? What do I love enough to write about? Why even write about it? I'm not sure. I loved reading and writing about Chris Stedman, and have recently been in contact with him through Twitter, so there could be something by way of an interview on the way. I've read quite a bit about superheroes and philosophy, which has brought two of my greatest loves together with delightful results. I might be interested in going down that road, as well. I'm definitely interested in magic in relation to prayer, as well as prayer in relation to magic. I'm not sure if I can write on it yet, but I want to at some point. As much as I love music, I can't imagine going down that road without hating it, and I'm not sure how I feel about writing about God publicly, at least yet. I guess I'll have to see.

Coffee-Talk

His thick-framed glasses, nose ring, gauged ears, Minnesota Northstars snap-back, peat-coat, scarf, skinny jeans and Converse All-Stars don’t surprise me at all. What surprises me is his voice. I’d seen pictures of him – I knew what to expect in that arena – but I didn’t expect his voice to be so deep, soothing, and, well, learned. I imagine all the things he would teach me, if only I was his student. Would I be so wise, I wonder?
I get over myself and tap him on the shoulder. “Hi, Chris? My name’s Trevor Kelly. I’m a huge fan,” I tell him.
He doesn’t look up immediately. His fingers are tapping furiously. It looks like he’s on Twitter. He’s seriously always on! How does he do it? If I could tweet half as fast as him, I’d go pro. When he finally realizes I was trying to introduce myself, holding my hand out for him to shake for what feels like an eternity, he apologizes fervently and asks me if I’d like to sit with him while we enjoy our coffee.
I don’t know what came over me, but I went absolutely and embarrassingly fan-boy on the guy, from his writings for the Huffington Post to his upcoming book, “(F)a(i)theist,” and how much I appreciated his article for Huffington Post Gay Voices entitled “Growing Up Queer.” My uncle is a Born-Again Christian, and I’ve always had difficulty understanding what made him turn away from Catholicism, I tell him, as if he cares. The thing is… I’m pretty sure he does.
He laughs, thanking me for taking the time to read what he said. I can feel his eyes on me as I mutter apologies under my breath. I’ve probably scared the poor guy away, I think, and I start to scold myself for it. He puts his hands on my shoulders, though, and I look into his eyes for what feels like the first time. The gentleness and compassion beyond his thick, hipster lenses tell me all I need to know.
Immediately, I understood it all. I understood that I haven’t been nearly a good enough Christian, and I’m not ashamed to have learned it from an atheist activist, even if in a Starbucks. The scene likely couldn’t have been more cliché, nor should it have been. I felt like he and I talked for hours, though it was in truth only one or two. He taught me that all of us, as human beings, owed it to each other to stand together in communion and community.
And you know what? I agreed.