random things i’ve been pondering

1. I don’t know if you guys have any familiarity with sacred harp singing, but I’ve developed this bizarre interest in it. It’s a capella four-part harmony, which probably contributed to my love for it, old-school gospel singing that grew popular out in the back country in small-town churches. Baylor holds a sacred harp sing every February, something I’ve never been able to get up and go to, but next year maybe I’ll get there. Here’s why:

2. I have an insane theory that rap music is just the boasting poetry of the medieval bards translated to the inner city–if you’ve read Beowulf, you know that medieval warrior culture was rather prone to having the poets make huge claims about their kings, and eventually about themselves, the greatness of their wealth and power and fame and poetry. (In fact, in some cases we know more about the poets than the kings they served.) Now, in many ways, some aspects of urban culture overlap with those older cultures: They’re both tribal (Crips vs. Bloods, or Danes vs. Saxons), they’re both territorial, power comes via violence and money, leaders and poets alike are revered for the amounts of wealth/bling they have, those faithful to their leaders get rewarded, they have a similar saint/sinner dichotmous view of women, what have you. Now, is it any wonder that the closest thing we have to a warrior caste is talking about their bling and their women? *shrug* Maybe I’m stretching here, but it’s an interesting thought to me.

3. Thesis: Physical books and letters, as opposed to digital media, are more incarnational–the word made paper, so to speak, instead of ephemeral light. Discuss.

4. I bought the latest Patty Griffin CD the other day, and I have to say that it is stellar (which is to be expected), as is Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky, which I borrowed. If you’re into folky, mellow music, you would probably like either of those.

5. Non-Harry Potter nerds, skip this: I have a theory that Harry will go behind the veil in the Ministry of Magic, the one that Sirius fell through, but somehow be able to come back–which makes sense both in terms of the monomyth (the hero dies, whether literally or symbolically, and then resurrects) and in terms of the book itself (all the phoenix imagery can’t be an accident). We’ll see what happens on Saturday, I think.

6. Reader survey:

a. What’s your favorite album by your favorite artist?

b. If the presidential elections were held tomorrow, who would you vote for?

c. What was the last movie you saw in theaters?

d. What color is the shirt you have on?