king of the scavengers

so a few weeks ago i saw a film with some friends from CovCol. when meeting a few new students, a good friend of mine introduced me as the "king of the scavengers." i thought this title was humorous at best, true at the worst. it turns out that is closer to true than even i realized. after lunch today, Brian and i went to the cocacola bottling plant. we have driven past the plant several times a week for the last few months. we had been talking for weeks about going by, beacuse, in our minds, they should have free cokes on hand. the plan was that we would walk up to the front desk, ask for a free coke, and if denied, we would tell them that pepsi gave out free cokes, in the hopes that they would fork over the goods just to keep two customers.
so, we walked in. there was a reception desk with a coke fridge behind filled with coke products. we walked up to the reception window on the side of the room and asked who we could see about getting some coke. "what for?" the lady asked. "research" i said. she gave us a number of a woman to contact. after she handed us the sticky, i asked her about the cokes in the cooler behind us. "what about those? can we have one?" "sure" she said. "really?" we asked in disbelief. "sure" she repeated. so, we walked behind the desk, opened the fridge, and grabbed a few cokes (in glass bottles... they somehow taste better). we walked out as kings. it made an otherwise borning and somewhat frustrating day one that would stand out in my mind as a victorious day. today i was the king of the scavengers.

at the bottom of everything

this song makes me happy. it has consistently for the last few days. the music video means much less than the song- the way Oberst brings life to words and doodles pictures in my head makes me want to scribble dreams down on napkins and lay on my back in a cornfield. anyway, this song never fails to make me, quite literally, laugh for no reason. it makes me happy just because.


death will give us back to God just like the setting sun

out looking for inspiration

i am always out looking for inspiration. here is some of what i found today:




"Images help me find and realise ideas. I look at hundreds of very different, contrasting images and I pinch details from them, rather like people who eat from other people’s plates."
- Francis Bacon

BIBLIODYSSEY

artists, archivers, collectors, collagers, Howards, all curious peoples, click here.
bibliodyssey is a collection of the strange, forgotten, and ancient prints, publications, illustrations, drafts, and sketches found in archives all over the world. it's materia obscura at its finest.

Petition to Covenant Administration

dozens upon dozens of Covenant alum have been posting about the schools recent change in policy toward the oversight of the student newspaper, The Bagpipe. a petition to president nielson was drafted and is being signed. i signed it. if you are concerned with freedom of the press, academic freedom, and institutional trust within the Christian community of Covenant College, then i would recommend that you sign this document as well. the petition is specifically from alum and current students of the college. in order to sign it, you must log in, using the password "freedom" and click on "edit post" at the top of the next page. scroll down and add your name, graduation year, and email address (not using the "@" symbol) to the list. im not sure what, if any, affect this will have on the administrations decision regarding the oversight of The Bagpipe, but it sure is a lot more productive than bemoaning the current state of our institution.

sign of the times?

i went to Covenant College for two years. i loved it. im hoping to return some day. all three of my siblings went to Covenant. i have spent a lot of time and my family has spent a lot of money there. i for one, though grateful for the education i received there and extremely appreciative of the unique Christian community found there, am afraid for the future of the school. the administration seems, on the whole, to be much more concerned with appearances than with the heart- more concerned with quantity than they are with quality.
in a recent move, the CC administration has, in affect, taken creative control of the student-run publication on campus, The Bagpipe. this move more than hints at the growing obsession of the administration to control the image of the school by controlling the students.

"Covenant College is Dying"

long overdue part deux

so here i was at the end of an amazing summer at Ridge Haven. what was i to do? all the other counselors had returned home and/or to school, but i didnt want to go back to chattanooga just yet. dont get me wrong, i love home and my family and i missed everyone and my city, but i just wanted the squeeze as much as i could out of my time away this summer. so, i went on the appalachian trail. this wasnt as spontaneous as i make it sound- i hade been planning on it for several weeks. daddy b, the ministry director at RH, is an AT enthusiast. he lead the trip which included two counselors, meghan and myself, as well as the assistant ministry directors, andrew and laura kate lupton. we did about a 30 mile horseshoe-shaped section of the trail up albert mountain, and ending on the other side of standing indian mountain. we did it in two and a half days. it was a wonderful experience- we saw bears (i didnt... others did) and slept in shelters and had trail names for the log books and all that good stuff. for me, it was an excellent ending to my Ridge Haven experience this summer.
after we got back, i quite literally sat around for the rest of the week. i went into asheville on friday and on a whim called drew belz to see if he wanted to have lunch. he did. we talked for a few hours and i was invited to go camping that night with im and a few other ashevillians, including b.gill and jim-boy harrison. we hiked out into lineville gorge by torchlight- indiana jones style. upon reaching the summit we were to climb and camp on, we dropped out gear and hiked down the ridge to this massive swimming hole complete with natural waterslide and a 30 foot jump. we swam for a while, then hiked back up to our stuff. from there we proceeded to climb a rock outcropping in the middle of the lineville gorge named babel tower. the name fits. its about 400 ft. we hiked/climbed it and slept out under the stars that night. there was a meteor shower. we saw some of it before drifting off. the next morning i woke up and climbed up on a rock to pray and start my day, and when i returned to the camp spot there was one mean looking yellow and black rattler shaking his tail at me. i'd say it was between 3 and 3.5 feet in length and about 4 to 4.5 inches in diameter in its thickest spot. and, on top of that (quite literally) was james harrison sleeping in his hammock about three feet above this sucker. james woke up and yelled at him not to move. i was about 15 feet from the snake, so i bent down slowly and found a stone and hurled it at the rattler. i hit it in the head. he crawled off under a rock and we made little time in packing up and having breakfast elsewhere.this is what i saw when i woke up on top of babel tower. from left to right, the four peaks are sitting bear, hawks bill, table mountain (dead center), and laurel knob

the AT and my babel tower adventure was a perfect way to end my North Carolina summer. now that its over i wish i could go back and redo it all. but, school starts on monday, and im excited about my classes. its good to be home with good friends in my own city and my own bed and with my mom. dad is still in Ghana. he should be home next weekend. anyways, i guess this post brings an end to my summer blogging. the posts will probably be fewer now- just when something memorable or funny or important happens. anyways, thanks everyone for reading. stay classy.