Marcus' World

Bring on $5.00 a Gallon

Today's report that many people are now taking public transportation to work, in response to high gas prices, is very welcome news indeed. There will be fewer pollutants in the air and more opportunity to show that public transit is (or should be) a very viable option for getting around. 

In Tokyo this year--and in Hong Kong, Paris, and London before that--I was once again struck by how far behind US public transit is from much of the rest of the world.  Buenos Aires and Sao Paolo also have decent train systems, and Argentina and Brazil are much poorer than us.

Gas at $3.25/gallon was merely a nuisance, while gas at $3.50-$4.00/gallon seems to be the tipping point in changing behavior.

Come on $5.00! Let's have a revolution.

My Bubbly Atheist

Growing up, I was a good Christian boy.  Before I was even 10 years old, I would only listen to Christian radio and watch religious television; and the Bible was my main reading matter. My grandma was very religious and this seemed to work for her. Whenever I spent the night at her house, I'd always read the 23rd and 91st Psalms aloud while sitting on her knee.

Around the age of 10, I started planning out sermons I would deliver when I became a minister someday.  (If only there had been blogs back then--I could have crafted some very interesting posts!)

At the age of 11, I took a more stern approach and figured out who at school needed "saving" from the fiery flames of Hell.  One person on the docket was a fellow sixth grader with the seemingly  Hell-proof name of Faith. Even back then I wasn't much of an activist; I pondered talking to Faith about my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and how He should come into her heart, but never really did it.

By the time high school rolled around, I was a stalwart in the church youth group (a group known as "The Filling Station"--complete with a logo of a gas pump--because Jesus had the power to fill your formerly empty life up). I edited the youth group's newsletter. I went to Bible camps most summers, and was on the "Bible Bowl" trivia team (think Jeopardy, but with all questions coming from the Bible). I went to every single youth group meeting during my senior year in high school, and was rewarded with a trip to Niagara Falls. (Driving to church on the day of the trip, I went so fast that I got a speeding ticket.)

My early years at Northwestern were filled to the brim with Campus Crusade for Christ meetings, and twice-Sunday trips to the First Presbyterian Church of Evanston.  Eventually, though--as often happens in college--I had a crisis of faith. Sometime in the summer between freshman and sophomore year, I decided that the evangelical Christian notion that everyone must worship the same God or be damned to perdition made no sense at all. During sophomore  year I  half-heartedly attended various religious functions, and eventually stopped going altogether.

Almost 2 years after this break in faith, I met Helen.  Several things stood out about her--she was smart, she was sweet, she was sharp, she was attractive, she was funny.  Another thing that commanded attention: her proud declaration that she was an atheist, and not just a mushy agnostic who wanted to have it both ways.  Helen only believes in what she can see with her own eyes, and doesn't think that you have to be religious to care about making the world a better place.

For years after meeting Helen--for years after marrying her--I didn't know how to acknowledge her atheism to my family.   Obviously it didn't bother me that much, but I had years of  Filling  Station-inspired conditioning to contend with.  For all I know, nobody in my family would have cared. But because of our religious heritage, however attenuated it might be today, I never wanted to bring the topic up.

This morning I peeked at Helen's Facebook profile, and noted that she now lists her religious views as, "Bubbly atheist."  I thought this was awesome.

Helen is my bubbly atheist, and I love her.

Clinton Should Keep Running if She Wants To

The last few weeks have shown Hillary Clinton at her worst: peddling sham gas tax relief and beating the drums of war against Iran. A month or so ago I was wondering if perhaps I'd misjudged her.  Today I'm very happy to support Barack Obama.

That said, why should she bow out now?  Although the chattering class has declared her candidacy over, it's not.

Next week she's likely to prevail in West Virginia (a state with similar demographics to Pennsylvania, where she did very well).  Success is also waiting in Kentucky; if she's able to get the votes in Michigan and Florida counted (whatever you might think of that maneuver), Clinton is right back in the race.

This interminable campaign has had many inflection points when either Clinton or Obama were supposedly finished.  But it's not over yet.   

At the Movies: Tout est pardonne (All is Forgiven)

Today Helen and I ventured into San Francisco to watch Tout est pardonne (All is Forgiven), which is  enjoying its West Coast premiere as part of the San Francisco International Film Festival. 

Aside from watching a powerful film, an ancillary benefit of the day was the opportunuty to explore the Pacific Heights neighborhood of SF.  Since we're in Berkeley most of the time, we're only slowly getting a handle on the quilt pieces that comprise the City by the Bay.  Someday we'll have it all figured out, even if takes a while.

In the meantime I can offer this brief report on All is Forgiven: It's about a heroin addict named Victor, who becomes awful to his wife Annette once he the throes of his addiction.  Eventually Annette cuts off contact between Victor and their young daughter Pamela, a terrible fate that estranges Victor from his daughter for 11 years.  Eventually father and daughter reunite during her teenage years.  They form a deep connection, because--in the long run--all is forgiven.

Rest assured that I'm not giving away too much. This is definitely a film to watch, both for its visual acuity and a sense of compassion that never lapses into maudlin posturing.

We all know people who never fully pull themselves together, and we all have traits that seem intractable no matter how much they can hurt those we love.  Few things are truly intractable, but change is hard.  So large measures of compassion are needed, for ourselves and for each other. 

All is Forgiven makes this case gracefully.  Afterwards, screenwriter and director Mia Hansen-Love answered audience questions. At one point she mentioned her initial impression of the "luminousness" and "darkness" within the presence of the actor who plays Victor (Paul Blain). We all have both impulses, and we all have the power to make sure that luminousness prevails in the end.

They Don't Write 'Em Like That Anymore

Today the library demoed a federated search product--a tool that searches many databases simultaneously, rather than requiring that researchers search each database individually. 

If I were a better librarian I would have diligently noted the strengths and weaknesses of the interface and pondered how to improve upon the product.  Instead, with a few errant keystrokes  I found myself reading an article about dental caries published in Scientific Monthly in 1931.

The thunderous opening sentence of this article reads thusly: "Dental caries is without doubt one of the very ancient diseases to which mankind has fallen heir."

My goodness gracious.  They don't write 'em like that any more!