No I Don't Want to come Talk to You

Do church leaders not know how intimidating they are? Do they not realize the authority and threat they carry. I just feel like sometimes they act like I should want to come and visit with them in their offices. The truth of the matter is that it ranks in my mind just a few steps above gang firing squad. Right now it is all I can do to stay active and stay quiet so when the bishop asks me to come and talk with him in his office it feels really over the line. I feel pressured and hurt.

Just leave me alone!!!

Defend Marriage or your women will all become lesbians!?!

This is actually a reasonably well written discussion and acknowledges the pain that is caused by requiring that all marriage be hetero-sexual. I think it is wrong, but that is mostly with the assumptions not the logic.

http://dennisprager.townhall.com/columnists/DennisPrager/2008/05/20/california_decision_will_radically_change_society?page=1

But my favorite part is the second to last paragraph on the first page which, as near as I can figure, is suggesting that if we allow gay marriage a lot more women will choose lesbianism. I find this amusing for several reasons

• It's probably untrue. While there may be a continuum of sexual orientation, I doubt there would be that much of an increase in lesbianism.
• Considering how much Lesbian porn is marketed to the straight male (I know I shouldn't know that) that could be the biggest selling point for gay marriage: LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE AND INCREASE THE CHANCE THAT YOUR WOMAN WILL SWING BOTH WAYS, MAYBE EVEN TRY A THREESOME.

The paragraph is generally flawed with the notion that marriage is effectively channeling sexual activity at all. Infidelity has been a constant since long before marriage and has been throughout all of marriages history. Marriage's ability to channel sexuality has been further undermined by birth control, a fluid economic system, and women's liberation. (All of which are good things by the way.)

Is Anyone else scared?

I feel sick and terrified. I probably shouldn't have written the Sacrificing Isaac, Invading Canaan post. It would be easier just to have said that I disagreed on the political issue and had done, but I do believe that justice demands that all of God's children should have the right to chanel their sexuality rather than suppress it, and if I imagine otherwise, that strikes me as a changing and unjust God so I can't accept that anymore than a God who doesn't perform miracles. But whatever my reasoning, what it comes down to is that I won't vote for this.

So has anyone else had people very close to them or church leaders "remind" them of their sustaining vote of the prophet and strongly imply that they wonder whether you sustain the prophet. I know my dad once had an interview with a fairly high authority who said that it shouldn't be taken to suggest that their membership was any less faithful. So why am I scared? So why do I hurt? Why do I worry that people will push so hard to get me on board with this one issue that I can't be comfortable being on board the Church boat. We don't push out people who don't have their 72 hour kits and 6 month storage. We don't push people out for not doing their geneology. Why on this. OK because I'm stubborn ass who has to say why he opposes it. I guess if I said I opposed geneology or thought 6 month storage was a bad idea (actually, 6 month storage of fuel might be a bad idea in an urban area where it is a severe fire risk) that might raise similar ire.

I just want to be true to myself and be open and honest with my church and loved ones. Then I want them to love me for who I am and the service I perform even while they disagree with me.

The Interview

Well, I had the interview today. On the good side I feel like it went very well. I had strong answers to all of the questions including the written one on diversity. My presentation went well and I have a strong connection with three of the five people on the committee. On the bad side, I saw both the candidate before me and the candidate two people after me. Both are good friends who also work part time at LACC and would be excellent choices. Still, I'm glad there are a lot of internal interviewees. They are all good people and will work hard to improve education at LACC.

Good News / Bad News

The good news is that I got the call from Los Angeles City College and they do want to interview me for the tenure track professor position (Yeah!!!!). The bad news is that the interview is next Wednesday when we were supposed to be in Las Vegas. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to deal with this.

1. Stay home
2. Fly back from Vegas to home (I can get a flight as low as $70 if I take a layover and go to Burbank, closer to $120 for a direct to Long Beach.)
3. Take a bus back ($48-$55 depending on whether it is refundable.)

It may actually be a good thing since it will get me back home before the rest of the family and I can then go to adjunct meetings at Cypress and Cerritos. Or I could get a round trip ticket and join the family in Vegas Wednesday evening.

Update

I decided to fly back because I wanted to be helpful to Staci during as much of the vacation as I could and I didn't want to be exhausted from a bus ride by the time I got home. I thought the price was pretty reasonable and standard for the distance and there were only 3 seats left at that price; one at the wrong time. Explaining to my wife why I spent $120 on a plane ticket is a harder proposition. (I'm hoping to get a subbing position that Friday that will pay for the ticket.)

So now I'm Corihor?

I found out today that because I plan to vote against Proposition 8 I'm essentially a modern day Corihor. Of course the commentor also said that 30-40% of the church would vote with me. That's 4-10 times more than I expected.

And to think in 2 weeks I'll be teaching Sunday school again. Don't worry I won't preach against the prophet or knowledge by faith. I try to be extra special good when I'm teaching.

Journey to the Center of the Earth - Movie Review

OK, to be honest I went to see this movie because I was so impressed by the 3D technology in the movie Monster House that I wanted to see if it was the same technology and if it was just as good. The technology did not disappoint. The movie . . . was cute.

A bit about the technology. The trick to getting 3D is to send different images to each eye. When you see real objects, those that are closer appear to shift position slightly from one eye to the other, and the brain interprets this as being close. Old 3D used red and blue or green filters so to send one image to the left eye and a different one to the right, but this threw off colors and had other problems. Disney and other places use linearly polarized light (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_polarization) at right angles, but tilting your head causes the images to blur. The new technology uses circularly polarized light (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_polarization). As a result, you can tilt your head any which way and the picture stays clear. (Though it can confuse your brain in interpreting the 3D if you tilt too far.)

So yes it was the new technology (REALD 3D, www.reald.com) and I managed to get three pairs of glasses in the deal so now I have 3 left handed polarizer filters and 3 right handed. Cool beans.

Unfortunately, they spent a lot of time just showing cheesy 3D effects of things coming out at you. I realize that is what is neat about 3D, but it seemed like they were trying to hard rather than just letting the 3D speak for itself. The show's premise is of course ridiculous and the execution is not a lot better. But the 3D is great and the action is fun. (Oh, and the mountain guide is cute.)

I think it is worth seeing for the 3D experience (send your glasses to me if you don't want them) and it is a fun movie. However, if you get a chance to see Monster House, Beowulf, or Chicken Little in 3D (they appear to have all been redone in reald 3d) I would choose those just because they are better movies to begin with. (U2 3D, Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus, and Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas have also been done, but I haven't seen them in 2D or 3D so I can't speak to the movie quality.)