blog.sinden.org

Artist Gwyneth Leech has created 14 stations of the cross influenced by the Iraq War and Abu Ghraib for St. Paul's on the Green, Norwalk, Connecticut.

"The year that I worked on the commission, starting in March 2004 was dominated by conflict in the Middle East, especially the war in Iraq. The many photographs of the torture and humiliation of captives, whether by soldiers or by insurgents turned the Way of the Cross into a contemporary narrative. The paintings are also my response to the seeming deluge of images of grief in the press."

Tangent: It seems Gwyneth Leech has also drawn at least one organ.

Interesting speculation on the consumption of Jesus.

First, assuming transubstantiation, how much Jesus is there, really? JWZ, a nightclub owner in San Francisco has run some numbers.

If you conservatively assume that these are the End Times and that Jesus will soon be completely consumed (a detail that I do not believe is a part of mainstream Christian dogma), then he weighs twenty million times more than you, and contains ninety-two billion times as much blood. (20,282,528× and 92,000,000,000×).

And second, outside of the Eucharist, how much non-ascended Jesus do you eat every day?

Tangent: Ironically, no word on whether this Jesus (along with David, Mary and Moses) is safe for kids or if He might represent a choking hazard.

This snippet on the front page of Indiana University's website caught my eye:

At [Indiana University], robots teach valuable lessons, perform surgery, and sing the alma mater.

Parents, rest assured that robots also ensure dormitory security and that your children are going to bed at a decent hour.

Indiana University motto: better education through robots.

This year I was in a choir that was directed by a robot. Oh, wait. That was a choral conducting graduate student.

Remember, robots are not dangerous. People denying the existence of choral conducting graduate students may be robots themselves.

On Friday, I received my copy of The American Organist Magazine. Inside was an article by Marilyn Keiser.

Hours later, Marilyn Keiser was turning pages for Christopher Schroeder at St. Thomas, Bloomington.

Christopher Schroeder was premiering an organ work by Andrew Estel.

Andrew Estel plays wiffle ball with Andrew Klein.

Andrew Klein can sing really cool multiphonics.

At Andrew's suggestion, I've started to practice multiphonics in the shower!

Is it a small world, or what?

Alternate ending: At Andrew's suggestion, I've started to read The American Organist in the shower! Too bad the pages aren't laminated.

The William and Gayle Cook Music Library has many consecutively numbered headphones available at the circulation desk.

I am currently wearing pair #1.

Is this a good omen for my listening exam tomorrow?

On my way to back to school this evening, a car drove past me with just its parking lights on. Naturally, I wished to flash my headlights at him to alert him to his error. The only problem was I didn't have any headlights to flash. I was walking. This is a problem.

Do I have to start carrying my flashlight with me? This is normal behavior at summer camp, but what about at a well-lit university campus?

In my case, this is probably a bad idea as I would likely throw the flashlight at aggressive undergraduate cars that fail to yield to me, a lowly graduate pedestrian.

This reminds me of a rainy morning when I was walking to conducting class, preparing myself mentally for my conducting task along the way. I gave an umbrella "cutoff" to a large GMC pickup that decided to turn left into my path. He stopped, and looked clearly awed by the sheer power of my gesture. It wasn't until well after I had crossed the street that he decided to honk at me. At least I think it was him. I didn't look back.

Did you know you only have to walk .3 miles from Cathedral of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama to the nearest Arby's restaurant?

What's the relationship between Episcopal Cathedrals and fast food? We at Sinden.org don't know, but we're going to find out.

Our original intention was to find how far Episcopalians would have to travel from their place of worship to the temple of the Monster Thickburger. Unfortunately, we discovered that Hardee's only operates in certain states.

Over the coming weeks, we will visit various dioceses through the internet and find the nearest Arby's restaurant. This information will be compiled here.

Tangents: And let's face it, where can you find an Episcopalian who wouldn't go for a Jamocha shake?

Bradley has been suggesting that one day the two of us eat only two meals: the Enormous Omelet Sandwich before 10:30 a.m. and the Monster Thickburger sometime afterward.

This summer, at Trinity Cathedral, Columbia, South Carolina, I'll be 3.4 miles away from Arby's.

This is the official page of the Indiana State Excise Police. Our goal is to make our site more accessable [sic] to you.

Seems like Indiana needs to work on excising some poor spelling!

Also, site accesibility is the inherent goal of web design. Any attempt to spell this out to the user (let alone misspell this out) indicates a major failure on the part of the author.

Tangent: Um, is that a buffalo in the Indiana State Seal? I remember on my way home last night, I had to wait for a herd to cross the road. Not!

Labels: web

The organ is an instrument with pipes.

Why then, would a reputable American music school buy an "organ" lacking any pipes without the approval of the organ faculty?

Rumor has it that the school is renting an expensive appliance.

The students won't stand for it. Well, we might stand on it, but we certainly won't play it. Bring it on, fickle administration!

This means protest!

I'm speechless.

Tangent: Somehow I know the impact this piece had on me this morning is related to a theology lecture delivered by Dr. James Alison last night. Britten, like Achan Zabdison, was a victim in the sense that he was homosexual and was made to feel that he was an outsider. The "gay studies" of Britten's music tend to be pretty muddled though.

The following is a true conversation between Pope John Paul II and 100,000 Catholics in Chile.

Pope: Do you renounce the demons of avarice and greed?

Catholics: Yes!

P: Are you ready to renounce the demons of violence?

C: Yes!

P: Are you ready to renounce the demons of sex?

C: No!

For some reason this nifty online Lutheran hymnal resource doesn't rank very high in Google search results.

Now, at least I'll be able to find it, and maybe I'll boost its ranking at the same time.

Recently, Andrew caused me to articulate my view of baseball. I would consider myself a baseball fan, but I don't follow trades, spring training or pre-season speculation very closely, if at all.

What I came up with is this: I consider baseball to be like the church.

Baseball, like the church, will continue regardless of the cast. In baseball's present incarnation, star "clergy" are paid millions to conduct sports liturgies in large "cathedrals" in designated cities. Meanwhile, tiny parishes continue to observe the sacred rites relatively unnoticed.

(This analogy falls apart fairly quickly given that the liturgists are competitive.)

I do sense that there is some higher power at work with the sport itself. This can be seen numerologically.

3 strikes, outs - reflect the Holy Trinity and its power over the "batter."

4 balls - mirrors the four limbs of humankind and its ability to "walk"

9 innings - (3 x 3) are an extension of the Trinity by itself, representing the church. (Extra innings represent a kind of heaven, a theoretical infinity.)

7^th inning stretch - the incarnational interval wherein God (3) meets humanity (4) in the form of Jesus Christ (3+4=7).

Need I point out that the 7^th inning stretch is accompanied by congregational song and organ improvisation?

Today we know that the earth is not flat and that rabbits do not chew their cud (Leviticus 11:6).

from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America's website article The Bible as Authority for Faith.

Wait. Don't forget rock badgers! They're not clean either.

Mitch Hedberg, my favorite comedian is dead at 37.

Listen to NPR's remembrance.

Gentle Jesus, grant him eternal rest.

Tangent: You can read a lot of Hedberg's jokes at Wikiquote.

Okay kids: just a few more hours of April Fools.

Well, I might leave it up all weekend.

And it might stay up even longer if I get expelled.

Update: The Indiana University Organ Department April Fools page is now available here.