video update of my Kiva loan in Kyrgystan

Below is a video clip of a person I lent to in Kyrgystan (transcript at bottom). I wrote earlier that my Mexico group posted a video as well. This is why I really like Kiva - the person-to-person contact and interaction. I know it increases the transaction cost, but it is vitally important to the whole concept of P2P lending.

I'm now loaning in 32 countries. My delinquency rate has dropped from 5.9% to 4.4%, with default rate still at zero.

I'm trying to recruit folks to my lending teams, click here if you are associated in any way with Indiana Wesleyan University or Word Made Flesh.



Interviewer: What did you use the loan for?

Aigul: For this cow.

Interviewer: Just one?

Aigul: Yes. Where could I have got another 15,000 soms (USD 350)?

Interviewer: What do you think? Did the loan help?

Aigul: If God wills, there won’t be any problems when she calves, and we’ll have a good calf. We’ll have milk to sell. 700 or 800 som a week (USD 16-18). It covers the costs.

link: Possible Influence of Genetic Factors on Sin, Sanctification and Theology (Drury, Webb)

For those interested in the interaction between science and spirituality, I'd point you to a recent collaboration of two IWU professors, Keith Drury and Burt Webb in Possible Influence of Genetic Factors on Sin, Sanctification and Theology. I haven't read the article yet, but I have heard the corresponding lecture and have had good conversations with these guys on the issue. You won't be disappointed!

who said it? .094. the state of American men

Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. G-d d-mn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy sh-t we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very p-ssed off.

-Tyler Durden in Fight Club (1999 film)

Obama on peace 'n' violence (Nobel speech)

The radio on my blizzard-commute home caught my ear, about the Commander-in-Chief of a nation in two wars accepting the Nobel Peace Prize. I found the full speech text here and skimmed it. Pretty interesting - and certainly honest, no one could argue against that. Interesting that he mentioned both that "a non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies" while he simultaneously said "there's nothing weak -- nothing passive -- nothing naïve -- in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King." MLK... if only you could pop back over to this side of the river styx for a day, just for one interview. I'll meet you at the inter-city school, where kids still put you up on the walls.

Anyway, below is what I thought were the most interesting excerpts if you want the 2-min overview. NPR reactions here:

But perhaps the most profound issue surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that I am the Commander-in-Chief of the military of a nation in the midst of two wars...

We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth:  We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes.  There will be times when nations -- acting individually or in concert -- will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.

I make this statement mindful of what Martin Luther King Jr. said in this same ceremony years ago:  "Violence never brings permanent peace.  It solves no social problem:  it merely creates new and more complicated ones."  As someone who stands here as a direct consequence of Dr. King's life work, I am living testimony to the moral force of non-violence.  I know there's nothing weak -- nothing passive -- nothing naïve -- in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King.

But as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their examples alone.  I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people.  For make no mistake:  Evil does exist in the world.  A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies.  Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms.  To say that force may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism -- it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason...

But we do not have to think that human nature is perfect for us to still believe that the human condition can be perfected.  We do not have to live in an idealized world to still reach for those ideals that will make it a better place.  The non-violence practiced by men like Gandhi and King may not have been practical or possible in every circumstance, but the love that they preached -- their fundamental faith in human progress -- that must always be the North Star that guides us on our journey...

We can acknowledge that oppression will always be with us, and still strive for justice.  We can admit the intractability of deprivation, and still strive for dignity.  Clear-eyed, we can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace.  We can do that -- for that is the story of human progress; that's the hope of all the world; and at this moment of challenge, that must be our work here on Earth.

a citizen bird inventory + the bird in my house

Dec. 14 kicks off The Audubon Society's 110th Annual Christmas Bird Count, a nationwide citizen science project that inventories birds across the U.S.

From December 14 through January 5 tens of thousands of volunteers throughout the Americas take part in an adventure that has become a family tradition among generations. Families and students, birders and scientists, armed with binoculars, bird guides and checklists go out on an annual mission - often before dawn. For over one hundred years, the desire to both make a difference and to experience the beauty of nature has driven dedicated people to leave the comfort of a warm house during the Holiday season. http://www.audubon.org/Bird/cbc/

Click here to find your local group and date (varies).

Meanwhile, a yellow-fronted canary (a.k.a. the green singing finch native to Africa) has moved into my home...

the hunt

before cardboard cereal and cold milk
hunger, not alarm clocks, drove our rhythms
and so, with hunger, I rise - far too early
I move from one dark world to another, from senses dulled to alerted

the car door echoes in the silence
a foreign, metallic clank in a world of flesh, wood, and soil
earlier than the early birds, I enter where I do not belong
the forest hushes as it watches this intruder; a cicada stirs underfoot

I climb to my red pine perch, sweating under layers of synthetic skin
I lean back, breathe deep, and wait

the light, too, is foreign to me
not the on/off of Edison, but a dimmer
warming up for the trillionth time
the woods blink again

I am not alone
White-Throated Sparrows tell me of "Old Man Peabody (Peabody, Peabody)"
unaware of my trespass, a Hairy Woodpecker scours the bark nearby
bossy Blue Jays play bully for another day
and timid Bluebirds try to sweeten up the chorus

each day a playground, but always playing for keep
the Red Tail leaves her perch and cries out across the field of corn
abandon all hope, all mice who forage here
her call demands respect, even fear
used by governments to replace the squeak and cluck of the Bald Eagle

I sink further into the tree
muscles tighten, joints ache
thighs become radiators,
the woods patiently reaching out with it's life-stealing cold
a metabolic silence that waits for each creature

as I shiver, I remember my hunger
not the hunger that drove my great-grandfather
the life-and-death hunting of the Depression
but a hunger nonetheless:
to outwit and outstalk, to harvest and feast
borrowing the sun-currency of another
so that I may rise with the sun another day

with the sound of one crack my body explodes
adrenal glands dump their war-time potions
and pumping blood echoes in my head

like an owl, my heads swivels right
two figures, entering the woods
sleek, quiet, alert, and hungry
I twist, ever so slowly,
my senses are dull, theirs keen
to gain, I must risk loss

in another wood, on another world
three tense fingers release
one figure falls, one sprints away

but in this wood, in this world
I am perched facing south, not north
and the figures slowly plod on behind me
driven by hungers that began
many ages ago

I silently return home to the land I know
offering one last metallic clang to the woods
returning to my hungry family
feeling a failure
and a great success

Glen Beck and Co. love Obama

Maybe not all of them, but probably most.

Never before has right-wing talk radio / TV / magazines received so much attention. They are angry, loud, urgent, and as a result, often irrational. They want you to be like them, to spread their message to the masses before the Obacalypse destroys everything pure and good on planet earth.

The formula is quite simple. Don't try to seek the truth - that would be quite boring, and the ratings might scare away the advertisers. Instead, pick an enemy that unites your viewers/listeners (since liberals are currently in power, they're the target - it goes both ways). Whenever that person does anything at all - opens their mouth, drinks a glass of water, or even does something that a person of your political stripe would usually like, try to conceive any possible objection to that action and run with it. Limbaugh, Savage, Hannity, Beck... they are good performers and businesspeople, and they have smart folks behind them. In fact, their more loony moments have captured even my attention, and so I watch and listen even more just to amuse myself and find blogging material... which is exactly what their advertisers want. Rush is laughing all the way to the bank.

The recent announcement of 30,000 more troops in Afghanistan by the U.S. Commander in Chief is a great example.

Republicans had earlier wanted this troop increase, and it's fair to say they are generally more pro-war. If Obama didn't announce a troop increase, we'd hear cries of "cut-and-run" and being a good ol' liberal sissy. But what have we heard since Tuesday? Afghanistan is now Obama's war. Why, Mr. President, are we even over there? Why should we care about Afghanistan? It's filled with illiterate, primitive people still living in the 12th century. Afghanistan was about just whipping Al-Qaida and getting out, not nation-building [show editor's note: don't bring up nation-building objective in Iraq].

These folks are obviously not about truth, compassion, or validating the humanity of their global neighbors. I really hope that money is the main reason, and not something more sinister.

So when Conservative Victory 2010 finally rolls around next November and the tears start running down Sean Hannity's cheeks, I'm not sure whether it will be because of the conservatives' reacquired political power or for his impending decline in market share.

The upside to all this foolery? More great content for The Colbert Report and The Daily Show, which I don't mind advertising (I didn't say endorse). But enough already. Consider this my last post on (advertisement for) conservative entertainer-businessmen (did you notice that they are all white males?).

"cut a path"

Yankee Springs Recreational Area, Barry County, MI
Photo credit: Joseph Vitiello
Photo edit: me

vote TODAY for TeguToys in Honduras

Please vote TODAY for TeguToys - a friend told me about this toy-making business in Honduras. They are in the running for a $15,000 grant but they need votes. From what I hear, this company is providing tons of Hondurans with jobs, sending kids to school (who normally scavenge at the city dump), and planting trees with each toy they sell. I voted 3 times there - takes about 2 minutes, I registered quickly with an old e-mail account. They are in the "socially-responsible for-profit" category.

Thanks all.

http://www.tegu.com/blog/2009/11/20/tegu-needs-your-vote/

family commute

When we were first married, my wife and I drove to campus in the wee hours, where she dropped me off before heading to student teaching. A few times, I walked through the halls of the silent dorms, shutting off lights and recycling cans. Other times, I'd stand in the silent stillness of early morning, watching the resident Cooper's Hawks build their nest. Two years later, we were often driving to Gas City together to substitute teach. Never would I have imagined that my morning commute would some day include riding with my wife and mother-in-law, as it does every once in a while now. It's a family business of ours, this education thing. I even got to teach Spanish to her "young-fives" class, and then teach immigrants from all over the world in an ESL class that evening.

Some days are a struggle. But most provide at least a few moments of satisfaction: