The Further Education of a Gearhead

I really appreciated this chapter for the bluntness in which Crawford criticizes the academic world and the colorful language toward the end of the chapter. I personally find it very difficult to take people in higher education very seriously when I see little connection between thought and their actual existence. Crawford portrays the realm of academics as being influenced by the capitalist motivations of the corporations in power and this also makes me even more skeptical of scholars. If I was in Crawford's position once he took the high paying job I would not have been able to last more than a few days. I had a similar experience while working at a church in Colorado this past summer where much of the motivation and reasoning behind what they did seemed to counteract what I had learned about Christ. I made it through the summer in hopes of being able to help the kids in the youth group I was working with, but had it not been for the kid's need for good mentors in their lives I would have left.

Today this makes me question what I plan to do when I graduate in 5 weeks and how I will be making decisions for my life. Currently it's leading me to live off of a bike and the kindness of strangers and I hope that it will not be so affected by money and the necessities of life.

To Be Master of One's Own Stuff

This chapter was very interesting as there were parts I could totally connect with and other parts I had no idea what was going on. When he gets to talking about cars and motorcycles I have no idea what he's talking about and I found it a lot harder to pay much attention. I found his section about the faucet without a handle to be very interesting, the notion of infantilization seems to be something I can see nearly everywhere. We have been made into a generation of consumers rather than producers making us pretty boring. The example he provides about the musician is enlightening and something that Tom loved. People in society today simply prefer easy things over something requiring time and dedication, the satisfaction found in writing and playing a song cannot compare to just plugging an iPod. Overall I have really enjoyed Crawford, but I get lost every time he starts talking mechanics.

Also in response to the seminar Monday I struggled in trying to understand the separation the presenter had with the state from the government. I personally believe that if somebody is participating in anything from the government they are dependent on a system that needs the use of violence and manipulation to stay in existence.

Living Under Occupation

This chapter is interesting in how Wilson-Hartgrove tells the story about Pat, because it is something I can understand having been in a similar place when the Iraq war started. I'm embarrassed but when the invasion took place I thought it was a good idea and justified. Years later I now realize not only that violence is wrong, but according to Just-War tradition this war could just be justified anyway. After taking Just-War for my dialogue II class I began wondering why even Christians who believe in any form of Just-War theory (which is dumb in itself) could even justify Iraq or Afghanistan. I also agree with Wilson-Hartgrove's connection between economy, government and violence.

I still struggle with Wilson-Hartgrove's ideas as they still seem to be leaning on the weak side, which sort of makes sense understanding the audience of this book, but I feel much stronger than Wilson-Hartgrove. I have also been reading Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God is Within You and the book is known as the central work dealing with Christian anarchy. In his book, Tolstoy uses very strong language that no resistance to government, which will inevitably always use war to stay in existence, is wrong for a Christian who instead must be much more decisive with their practice (although this resistance was still non-violent). I think Wilson-Hartgrove's book is very solid and good for an audience entering into the economy of God, but by reading Wendell Berry and Leo Tolstoy at the same time with this book I feel even more strongly radical about these topics.

The Separation of Thinking from Doing

This chapter was very interesting because it brings up something that I find in my life to be extremely frustrating. Over the past century there has been a shift where jobs have moved (in America) to a post-industrialized race of white collar cubicle jockeys. The problem I often have with this is that I see a huge disconnect, not only in society but myself, between thought and action. Sometimes I think a lot of great things, but I find it very hard to actually act on that thinking and make something tangible from that. I feel that much of this mindset has permeated into the Church as well where thinking the right thing is more important that doing the right thing.

Why pluck a string when you can strum the guitar?

Reading through the first chapter of Shop Class as Soulcraft really got my mind thinking on many different levels. Our class is full of college students (obviously) so reading this book will create quite the conversation in class, as it challenges a lot of what we have all grown up with. Our parents generally have all told us that going to college is much better than being a plumber and there is a societal expectation that we are to go to college to "make something of ourselves". I find it very interesting how there can be a huge disconnect with people working within the same company where one concentrates on the business side while another is working in the service part, they even made a reality tv show about this recently where the bosses act like new entry level employees in their business to see what it's like.

Growing up my father got me really involved in Boy Scouts and over the time I was involved I got a ton of merit badges some of which included plumbing, electricity and even atomic energy. With all of these we took a hands on look at how people worked in these fields (even visiting a nuclear power plant) and I have grown to have an appreciation for "blue collar" work. It's now ingrained in me that instead of giving up immediately when I have a problem, I try to work through things and I appreciate seeing how things work.

As a BTS major I often times see a disconnect between theologians who sit in their study all day trying to find God as the rest of the world keeps moving along around them (this sounds very much like a North Park thing to say). While there is a place for study, if it's disconnected from the real world, which it oftentimes is, then it becomes pretty useless. This is probably why Dietrich Bonhoeffer is such a bad ass.