Undercover at Liberty University

NPR sums up the story of a Brown University student, whose own childhood he described as the "ultimate, secular, liberal upbringing," enrolling for a semester at Liberty University (founded, of course, by Jerry Falwell). My first instinct on reading the teaser for this article was to grimace--I would have expected a self-righteous, searing criticism of the school and its students' backwardness and disconnection from reality. I was more inclined to make this assumption because while Brown is a *great* university, the spectrum of ideologies among the majority of its own student body is almost as narrow as at Liberty (it's just on the other side of the fence). I was pleasantly surprised, then, to read that Kevin Roose felt he got a much more accurate and fair picture of Liberty than he ever could have from an outside perspective. He is writing a book on his experiences---when he told his Liberty friends the truth about his presence there, they reacted with excitement and interest instead of anger. Roose himself was changed by the experience:

Even though he's back at Brown, Roose still tries to pray every day. He says the act of prayer changes him, referring to the writings of Christian author Oswald Chambers.

"He said that it's not so much that prayer changes things as that prayer changes me — and then I change things," Roose says. "That's going to be important for me — to sit down every day and think about the problems and the challenges facing other people in my life, and really trying to increase my own compassion that way."

So here I go on my nerd soapbox: THIS is why I love qualitative research. Live it, see it, experience it, hear the words and thoughts of the subjects firsthand, and acknowledge that you cannot be objective. That's not the point. Let the experience change you, if it will. Report your bias, and report with honesty and care. I will definitely check out his book.

Oak Ridge Boys do...The White Stripes??

Ok, this is bizzare, but I kind of don't hate it! The Oak Ridge Boys have a new album coming out on which they cover The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army." This clip has only the audio, but give it a listen. I'll definitely give them credit for creativity and guts. I don't think this is something I'd actually download, but I'll admit, it's attention-getting. Also, I mean, they are geriatric. GOOD for THEM even to still be making music and singing live. I love how they sing the main guitar riff on the song!

I have a special place in my heart for the ancient ORBs because they are one of my dad's favorite bands, and I was able to see them play in Athens last year with my dad and Mark. It was AWESOME. So on that same note, just for fun, here's my favorite ORBs song (gotta love those outfits, and the 'staches! Oh, the 'staches!) ELLLLLVIRA!

Space Monkeys

Fun NPR article about the 50-year anniversary of the first successful space monkeys flight: Miss Baker and Able successfully experienced nine minutes of weightlessness before returning safe. Sad to read about the previous animals (monkeys and dogs) who didn't survive the trip. The two successful monkeys would get "100 to 150 letters a day from schoolchildren;" one of the monkeys had 300 mourners at her funeral. I've had the silly, sweet pleasure of seeing both the grave of Miss Baker in Huntsville (where people leave bananas) and Able's stuffed body at the Air and Space Museum. Yes, I've been to space camp---TWICE. Thanks, Girl Scouts and gifted class at school! Mark is soooo jealous.

You go, monkeys!

Austin update

I'm going to blame Mark for my lack of blogging this month. It's not his fault, but it's more fun to blame him than my own laziness! He hasn't been able to set up the wireless in our house, and so we're sharing one computer. I am going to continue to pester him until he gets it straight so that I can once again use my laptop and get back to blogging.

In the meantime, here's a whirlwind overview of what we've been up to in Austin.

1) Eating great food: I'm a big fan of Mexican, and this town's full of it. From the super cheap hole-in-the-wall taquerias to fancy pants locales with full bars and gleaming tables, every variety of Mexican you could possibly want is here. Friday night we went to Trudy's, one of the more famous places in Austin that has several locations. They have a Mexican Martini (a margarita in a martini glass) that is strong and delicious. My entree was a stuffed avocado---breaded, fried, and stuffed with chicken. Heart attack on a plate--YUM. We also really liked the Moonshine Grill downtown, where we went on my birthday. I had the trout and it was some of the best fish I've ever had.

2) Testing out the entertainment and leisure activities: Though we haven't been to see live music yet, one of the quintessential Austin experiences, we've found some fun things to do. We took Laveau for a long walk around Town Lake (aka Lady Bird Lake, the new name, but most people seem to still call it Town Lake). This is a long, skinny lake made from a damn on the Colorado River, and it's right downtown. It's a shady and pretty escape right in the middle of the city (see picture above).

Last night we went to the Alamo Drafthouse, a movie theater where you can order appetizers, drinks, and dinner while you watch. The staff also puts together a funny series of clips on the topic of whatever movie is playing (Star Trek for us) that runs for about an hour before the movie starts. It's worth getting there early just to watch the clips. One of the locations is five minutes from our house, so we'll be going a lot.

3) Exploring our neighborhood: We really love our neighborhood so far. People are very friendly and always outdoors. We have a nice park at the end of our street (only eight or so houses down from us) that is a great place to walk the dog. It's been a while since I've lived in somewhere that was really a community, but this certainly is. I don't know that it's the place for us to meet young adults who we'll hang out with, though we've met plenty of friendly people of all ages who have warmly welcomed us.