One of the small pleasures in my life is discovering the origins of a common saying. The phrase, “pull out all the stops,” is probably familiar to most. It suggests putting all one’s resources to use for a certain cause or event.
Two weekends ago I attended an organ recital in the cavernous basilica of St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal. I actually sat in the organ loft, and as the 42 tonne instrument bellowed around me, I watched as the musician literally pulled out all the stops on the instrument’s 5 000 pipes for the grand finale.
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December 6, 2006 | Leave a Comment
This is how you become an artist.
First, you need to start dressing like an artist. Shop at thrift stores. Find clothes that have been thrown out. Females: cut your hair short; males: grow your hair long. Dreadlocks are acceptable for both sexes.
Next, stop socializing with the average Joe. Make sure your friends are hippies, philosophers, or junkies.
To be a truly modern (or post-modern) artist, you have to drop all the traditional subjects: landscape (sunsets), still life (flowers), and portraits (family), at least in the conventional sense. Nudes are still welcome, so long as they border on soft porn.
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December 6, 2006 | 2 Comments
I never knew the world was so small. Or maybe I never knew the Trinity Western University community stretched so far.
Last July, a group of foreigners gathered for a rooftop BBQ at our apartment building in Bundang, South Korea. There were 12 TWU graduates at the BBQ, but at one point this year, 17 former students were living and teaching throughout Seoul and the surrounding areas. The group was, and still is, a random crew from different graduating years, majors, countries, and backgrounds, but a zest for travel and an enormous dose of student debt seems to be the group’s common denominator.
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December 6, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Last year at Christmas time, my family decided to do a ‘Secret Santa’ gift exchange. Because there are about 11 of us, the number of gifts each person would give and receive would be staggering. The gift exchange was our attempt to make Christmas a little simpler and a little less expensive.
I don’t remember what my present was, but I remember feeling somewhat disappointed after opening it. One present? It hardly felt like Christmas. My siblings and I decided that the next year, we would all put our names in the hat three times, so we would all get and give at least three gifts. We loved to receive, but we also loved to give to each other. It felt so good to see someone open a present and watch his or her face light up.
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December 6, 2006 | Leave a Comment
It is almost Christmas and I am ecstatic. I was wondering what I could possibly write about this glorious holiday, as I wanted to stay away from writing something extremely cheesy or anti-consumerist. So, after a long period of writers block and a ton of Christmas music and baked goods, I came up with a list of my top 10 reasons of why Christmas is fantastic.
10. SCROOGE AND TINY TIM: I love the goodness and redemptive qualities of the characters in A Christmas Carol. (My English professor would be proud of that statement.)
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December 6, 2006 | Leave a Comment
“It’s big.” That was the first English sentence I said in Canada. The year was 2003. I had just finished high school in Taiwan, and I decided to go abroad and study at a Canadian university. As I stood in the customs line, I saw a Canadian police officer. The words, “It’s big,” naturally came out of my mouth. But because of my poor English, my cousins asked, “What’s big?” I said “policey” (I actually meant to say, “He’s strong”).
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December 6, 2006 | Leave a Comment
I am from Costa Rica, a warm, obscure, little country that most people confuse with Puerto Rico. In Costa Rica, the roads are basically paved, pot-holed, oxcart trails. I’ve been in Canada for three years, but I’m still getting used to its roads and driving customs.
Before I came here, I wasn’t a complete stranger to North American culture. I had been previously indoctrinated with the Starbucks pilgrimages, and the ancient rivalry between the United States and Canada. I knew that the point of hockey was to beat each other up, and that the taxes were cruelly high. However, Canada’s individualistic driving style still baffles me.
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December 6, 2006 | Leave a Comment
The concept of intelligent design has been addressed throughout the ages by various philosophers and theologians. In Chapter 10 of his Confessions, Augustine declares the obvious indication of God’s presence from creation: “And see also the heaven, and earth, and all that is in them - on every side they tell me to love thee, and they do not cease to tell this to all men.” Most recently, however, intelligent design is being explored in the specialized natural sciences, continuing the quest for explanation of creation.
