Scared Stiff

     My son laughed for the first time tonight...I was at Scouts. I was pretty bummed. So, when I came home I sat him on my lap and turned on a video of laughing babies to see if he would imitate the behavior, he didn't. So I looked up another video and he still didn't. Then my wife comes over and chooses another video and we watch it for awhile...and watch it...and then the baby's mouth and eyes go dark and it screams really loud! It scared me so badly! I yelled and turned it off as fast as I could and so of course my son starts screaming and my wife is wondering what the big deal is. Anyway, I'm still geeking out over this and it's three hours later but phew! it scared me half to death. It got me thinking about how context and mood can change everything. I was looking for happy laughing babies and I got a possessed one! It's a real shocker when that happens. Plus, I have this emotional attachment to a new baby so seeing one screaming and possessed really messes with your emotions. What is even funnier/interesting about this is that now my wife is watching laughing baby videos and it's driving me crazy because I think that any second now one is going to scream and scare the pants off me again.
     This is all very wimpy I know and I'm suppose to be a strong male but I'm not that tough. In reality I'm pretty reactive (obviously). Plus, there aren't too many more things scarier than possessed babies. In fact I was going to stick the link in here but I thought Dr. Coyne might watch it and go into pre-term labor.

Remember the Titans

     I was really aching for some Remember the Titans this weekend. I knew I didn't have any time to watch so I decided to turn it on while I did my chores around the house. My wife really hates it when I do this because it turns a 30 minute job into a 60 minute one but I think it's great! I think this is probably the greatest movie ever made. I've been listening to the soundtrack for the past two weeks. I can't get enough of "fire and rain" by James Taylor.
     Race issues have always been a passion of mine. I can't understand why we make such a big deal out of skin color. It bothers me to no end that we are socialized to see different races in different ways. It's one thing to point out cultural differences it's another thing to teach that black people are scary. The media probably does this worse than anyone.

This is my most favorite example of racial bias in the media. If you can't see it well it says that the black man is "looting" and the white couple is "finding". I'm assuming this is legitimate but even if it's not it's obvious that there is a racial bias in the media.
     That is probably what I love most about Remember the Titans that it combats the stereotypes. Anyway, I really like this movie I feel like I can do anything after I watch it plus Denzel Washington is a stud. It's definitely up there with Rudy and Rocky.

The Hiding Place

My wife and I finished The Hiding Place tonight. We have been reading it for the past few weeks. The story is about a family who helps hide Jews and others who are in danger of being taken by the Germans during World War 2, as a result they are captured and put into prison and eventually two of the sisters are put into concentration camps. I generally shy away from holocaust books because they are so depressing but my wife really wanted to read it and had read it previously. I am really glad we did. The book gave me different perspective on WW2 and on religion and the role it can play in our lives. I think that I probably take my religion for granted and seeing how much this family relied on God and on Christ for support was inspiring. Much of the time I do things because I am supposed to but for this family religion was a part of them, it wasn't about doing anymore because they had become. It was a great book and very inspiring we've decided to keep up the tradition of reading a book every night for a few minutes. I hope we can keep it up.