I've started reading Nancy Pearcey's Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity, partially in preparation for "Keeping Religion in its place?" conference
to be held at First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley on Friday, January
27 and Saturday, January 28. I don't know whether I want to spend most
of a Saturday at the conference, but I'm sure the Friday lecture will
be worth hearing.

I have mixed feelings as I start the book. I can sympathize with many
of the things Pearcey has to say: the fundamental way in which
worldviews consciously or unconsciously shape everyone's ideas, the
marginalization of Christian thought from much of high academic
intellectual discourse, the call for Christians to live out their
convictions in every sphere of their lives. But I wonder, why does she
seem (at my early stage of reading) to accept so heartily and
uncritically intelligent design and compassionate conservatism. I'll
have to see for myself once I read further along.

"Organize!" and "Well-behaved women rarely make history"

Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.

I like reading witty bumper stickers but have not gotten into placing bumper stickers on our own car. I could even take the next step beyond passive consumption and create my own bumper stickers, say, by using Cafepress.

polluted elegance

Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.

I hate to admit to seeing beauty in abandoned furniture on a quiet Sunday street.

a quick self-portrait

Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.

My folks told me that they wanted to see more pictures of people they knew (including me) in my photostream. This photo is in the spirit of honoring that wish. More to come!

Rome in Six Hours and Four Decades - New York Times includes a big plug for Best of Youth:

No movie did that quite as powerfully or completely as "The Best of Youth," Marco Tullio Giordana's
six-hour chronicle of recent Italian history told through the lives of
an ordinary Roman family. Originally made as a mini-series for Italian
television, this film gestures back toward the tradition of politically
astute historical filmmaking exemplified by masters like Luchino Visconti and Bernardo Bertolucci.
It is an intellectual as well as an emotional feast, with dozens of
superb performances, especially from Luigi Lo Cascio and Alessio Boni
playing two brothers caught up in the social and political turmoil of
the 1960's and 70's. Mr. Giordana has made a movie so full of life that
even after six hours of screen time and four decades of history, you
wish it would go on.

Laura and I just can't make it to the showing at the Balboa Theater so we'll just have to see it on DVD.

Overall, Laura and I had a wonderful time in Toronto and Pittsburgh. I
consciously tried to rest and refrain from thinking about the huge to
do list for 2006. The huge storm last night
caused a two hour delay in our flight from Pittsburgh and a late night
taxi ride home from SFO. I got up this morning ready to go, ran some
errands, and uploaded the rest of my vacation pictures.
The big task today, besides marking the new year, is to put together a
draft of a reader for my class. That's enough to do today!

I'm writing from Toronto to confirm what is obvious: my online activities will be at a minimum while on vacation. I also want to apologize for my wiki's current offline status -- I don't know why it's malfunctioning at this moment and won't be able to resurrect it while on vacation. I'll get it back online when I can.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a have a wonderful New Year!

"I know I should exercise more" is a continually reoccuring thought. I renewed my membership to the Recreational Sports Facility (RSF)
but have yet to show up. Obviously, just paying money is insufficient
to get me to the gym. I will have to do something in the new year. In
the meantime, while I'm in Toronto and Pittsburgh, I plan to be active,
to walk around as much as I can. Such exercise will be important given
the holiday- and family-sanctioned overeating that is bound to happen.

Lots of wrapping up to do today. Laura and I get on a 7am(!) flight to
Toronto tomorrow morning. At least, we're on a direct Air Canada
flight, which means that food will be served to us and we won't have to
stumble around a third airport.

Getting the right presents (or even any presents at all) lined up for
Christmas is a task we will have to complete in Toronto. I have
considered setting up wireless networks at my parents', sister's, and
mother-in-law's places, but who would those wireless networks really be
for? (Should my family be game, I've printed out 4 steps to set up your home wireless network as a guide.)

Besides, should I be on the computer that much while I'm on holiday?
I've not worked out a way yet to make sure I get a good rest (which
I'll surely need for 2006) while still getting enough pieces in place
for my spring course.

Legal Gadfly Bites Hard, and Beijing Slaps Him is a fascinating article about Gao Zhisheng, a fiery Chinese dissident lawyer and Christian.

Lloyd wrote:

At the end of Mimi's post is one response to Raymond Yee's reaction to a reviewer he found shocking and thoughtless: Reluctantly turning the other cheek.

I must say though, Raymond, there is more than a grain of truth in what
the writer said: it is an incontestable fact that millions of people
the world over and through recorded history have been slaughtered for
the sake of, and in the name of, "the one true god". However, from that
monotheistic tradition has ALSO come the very real idea that God is
love, which millions of other people have lived by and in so doing have
made the world a better place through that belief.

Lloyd, you won't hear me disagreeing with your statement that millions
have died at the hands of those proclaiming "the one true god". My
comment had more to do with my own conflicted irritation with the
reflexive yet popular bashing of monotheism at the hands of ostensibly
serious writers.