Excited

Okay, I know I promised a last entry on Pullman. I will get to it, I promise.

But, first, couldn't contain my excitement. Me and two of my friends from Grace Central are about to do a short film. Script is written and we are going to start selecting actors, scouting locations, etc. Not going to give away the plot, but there are owls.

Our new venture is called, "Broken Signpost Films".

Don't know if it will go anywhere or be a huge deal. But who cares? I am doing a short film!

Pullman's Fall and Redemption

Pullman’s Fall and Redemption

Pullman’s view of the Fall and Redemption is where he really draws close to Gnostic myth. There are quite a few Gnostic texts that describe their view of the fall and redemption, we see a story that is very similar to Pullman’s story. The Serpent is actually the aeaon Sophia, who tempts Adam and Eve to rebel against the Demiurge who created the world. Of course, Pullman’s Authority is described as not creating the world. But, the female tempter comes in the role of Mary.

Here is the confusion for me and where Pullman’s view of Christianity falls apart completely. Mary, a lapsed nun, is supposed to tempt the children to do something (and to be truthful, I could not figure out what she was tempting them to, sex? What? Pullman never makes it clear).

She receives these instructions from angels and then she has a long, rambling conversation with the children on why she has lost her faith. Apparently, she lost her faith because she tasted some great food and got horny. Even more, I guess she thought those things were incompatible with being a Christian, although we are never told why. The way it is written, we are supposed to believe that Christians everywhere believe the material world is bad, sensuality is bad (sexual and nonsexual sense in mind here), but once we taste all of that, we lose our faith. At least, that is what Pullman says Christians and the church and god teach.

So, in his view, the “Fall” was listening to these people. And to get back to redemption, we need to all love food and sex again over the idea of God. Now, I realize I am overstating things to be funny, but I am really not far off Pullman’s point of view in these books. Even more, knowledge will be the agent of salvation, tasting, touching, and all of that will save us from the idea of God, because God and Christians are against all of these things.

This would be all fine and good if such a thing were true. The problem is, it is all a complete and utter misunderstanding of the Christianity as it is presented in the Bible, and the first three chapters of Genesis. Christians have never, at least on paper been against the material world. It is quite true that there have been many people in the church who display a neurotic weirdness about it, but hey, we are people and we are all neurotic about something. However, Christianity has always loved food, love sex, love the material world and we get it all from the one who created us. Just read the first two chapters and see how much God declares what He has created. If the God of the bible were the god that Pullman is putting forward, I would rebel too. But He isn’t so I am not worried about it. Pullman seems intent on confusing what Christians have gotten wrong about the god of the bible.

But even more critically, especially in the area of redemption, Pullman’s god seems to have no interest in redeeming people, rather, all He wants is for people to follow the rules. But the real God the Bible talks about, entered the world as a human and sacrificed Himself to Himself. Grace is forgotten in Pullman’s stories. The incarnation is forgotten, which is odd, as it is the ultimate confirmation God loves the material world, and made it holy.

The next post will be about Pullman’s moralism. It is an interesting question that will shed light more on what Christians mean when they deny the flesh versus what Pullman means.

His Dark Materials: The Worldview

Pullman has stated his own personal worldview ranges from atheism to agnosticism. However, the worldview in his books are an interesting mix of Gnosticism, Atheism, scientific materialism, and a dash of moralism. I know that last one is controversial, but I will explain more later.

To start, I will discuss Pullman’s worldview in the books based on a creation, fall, and redemption structure. My reasons for doing this are many. First, his stated intention with the books is to present an inverted Paradise Lost, the poem by John Milton, which of course presents the creation, fall, and redemption story of Christianity. Now one might argue how orthodox Milton actually is, but that is discussion outside this post.

Second, the creation fall redemption structure is very good for helping someone understand a particular worldview. Every view of the world has them. For example, for a scientific materialist, they believe the world started with the Big Band, the fall is essentially human ignorance, so therefore science and education can fix what’s wrong with the world.

Creation: Why the worlds are here

Pullman’s cosmology in the series can really be described as a brand of Gnosticism. Gnosticism was a Christian heresy that took elements of Greek philosophy and mixed it with Christian theology. There were many different Gnostic groups, so it is difficult to pin down their exact beliefs. But, essentially, Gnosticism believed that a lesser god or angel created the world and claimed God status. The serpent in the garden was actually an agent of the real God who is ultimately unknowable, withdrawn from the world. When he was tempting Adam and Eve, he was actually doing a good thing. And even further, there is a weird and strange mix of what were termed “aeons” between us and the real god. The only way to liberate onself was through secret knowledge. Pullman agrees with key points of that worldview, especially the search for secret knowledge as a way of liberation. Even more, secret knowledge that comes from yourself. In fact, that is the point of Pullman's way of discovering truth. Whatever you make it to be, what's inside you.
However, to be fair, Pullman disagrees with certain aspects of Gnosticism in key points. He obviously does not have a hatred of the material world, as there are many instances in the book of people being love with their bodies and their worlds. This is especially true in the chapters that take place in the realm of the dead.
The other key disagreement he has would be in the nature of God. Pullman’s “Authority” which is in fact not God, but the “first angel” is the one who holds the world in slavery. And we find out, he doesn’t really hold the world in slavery either, its more the character Metatron and the church as His agent. Sound confusing? That’s because it is. To add more to my confusion, there is a hinted mystery behind all the worlds. Here is a quote from the book that describes it:
“It shocked us to learn the Authority is not the creator. There may have been a creator or there may not; we don’t know.”

That pretty much sums up the cosmology of Pullman’s universe. It is confused, random and hard to identify. He obviously desperately wants to create an atheistic fantasy, but he can’t do it. He has to leave room for mystery no matter how hard he wishes not to do so. The dust is mysterious. The Aleithometer is mysterious. They kill god in the story, but there is still mystery all over the place. Pullman tries to wrap it up at the end, to help us avoid the mysterious world he has just led us through.

So, essentially, Pullman is trying to kill the Christian idea of God, but not the concept of God. In fact, he cannot get away from it, no matter how hard he tries in the book to do so. In fact, he admits as much in some of the interviews I read of him.

And more, his perception of the Christian idea of God has many distortions, and strawmen that I do not recognize the god he thinks is described by Christianity. Rather, he describes a god of paganism, constantly wrathful, with no pity whatsoever, to living or dead alike. And more, he attributes the hatred of the natural world to god and the church. In doing so, he entirely ignores the first two chapters of Genesis. He leaves out a huge part of the Christian story. The god of Pullman is a horrible angel, but even in the end, he ends up as some sort of pitable figure.

It’s all very confusing. I struggled hard to pull the worldview in regards to god and creation in the series, but it was hard. Pullman is all over the place and it is difficult to pull in everything.

My next installment will be on Pullman’s view of the Fall and of Sin. It is really one of the most important points, because it shows that Pullman seems to know very little of what he is trying to tear down.

Sifting Through His Dark Materials, Part Two

The Negative:

It is hard for me to write about the negative aspects of these stories. I am quite sure that people will accuse me of looking for the negative because I disagree with Pullman's worldview. I am sure, there are elements of that in my understanding of his stories. But, I have to say, I really wanted these books to be good. I was rooting for it to change my mind about them as i read them. A case in point for me was when I read Harry Potter. I was highly skeptical when I read the first book. And now, all seven sit on my shelf, having been paid the ultimate compliment by me with food stains and finger prints on the book pages.

Most of my critiques about these books flow from my take that His Dark Materials has to be one of the grim fantasy series I have ever read. What I mean is, there is very little humor in the books. To compare, in Harry Potter, even in the dark moments of the book, there is a humor there that just makes you laugh every time. When reading His Dark Materials, I didnt laugh once and in fact, I dreaded to pick up the books. I think this comes from the fact Pullman seems to take himself entirely too seriously. Nearly every interview I have read (and I have read a lot of them) there is very little humor in his response to questions. I hope I am not representing him in the wrong light, but those are my impressions.

Now, I am not saying Pullman has to be like Rowling, but there were times were I was asking myself, "holy crap, can this book get any grimer?" And, it isn't just the fact that there are dark and dangerous times. Any good book should have them. But, when there is hardly any laughter or joy in a book, you have to wonder.

And that grimness and seriousness flows out into the book, especially in the writing style. The writing is overwrought in many places, and focused on telling, rather than showing. There were parts in the book I grew highly annoyed, because Pullman kept telling me how I should feel about someone or a situation, rather than showing me. I think this is especially true of the whole authority and church business. Okay, in the first book, we got the church cutting off the souls of children. Pretty bad, but then Pullman just leaves that, and seems to expect that horrible experiment to drive our emotions for the rest of the trilogy. It didn't for me, because he never showed how bad the whole church or the god figure could be in other areas. Rather, we are told this. But really, all I could see was that a rebel angel and a rogue element in the church were reponsible for all of this. We don't get a sense of the evil, the danger, the pressing need to war on this supposed god.


And even more, the characters on the good side were poorly drawn. There is no one I wanted to root for at all. We are supposed to feel that for Lyra and Will, but I couldn't. They gave me no reason to want to, or rather, Pullman gives me no reason to want them to succeed. Will is the closest one who draws out our sympathy, but Lyra is a spoiled, pretentious brat. One of Pullman's stated intents with this book is to present a better girl to womanhood story than CS Lewis' take on Lucy and Susan. Granted, I have a disagreement with Lewis' treatment of Susan, but I don't think Pullman's Lyra is a good one either. She is supposedly strong, but falls apart, expecting Will to be her strength in key areas of the book.

I think Hermoine Granger in Harry Potter is a great example of a strong, multifaceted girl/woman in kids literature. She is complex, varied, and strong. And more, she is real, you can identify with her. I can't identify with Lyra, I wanted to, but Pullman never pulls it off. I honestly just didn't care what happend to her at all.

And finally, you have Lord Asriel, who is leading this war on heaven. We are supposed to have sympathy with his aims, and goals. But the guy is a total jackass. I kept asking myself, okay so the authority is evil, but is Lord Asriel any better? Do we really want what he wants? The question would be, why? Seems like the people would be overthrowing one bad thing for another. I realize he dies, they want to establish the Republic of heaven, blah, blah, blah. Again, goes back to the confused picture of the evil in this book, I think.

So, here is my final word on the negative. There is so much promise in these books. Great potential, but I think Pullman fails in his story. I think he failed to bring everything together. And when great potential fails to bring about its promise, we are all left with the feeling of sadness. His books could have been one of the great fantasy stories, but he just never got there.
Lots of cool stuff, but never brought to greatness.

So, there is my reactions to the books as stories. Next up, will be my look at the worldview behind the books. That will come in the next few days, as it will take longer to get my thoughts together.

Sifting through His Dark Materials: Part One

Things I liked about the Books:

I want to start with the positives about what I like in these books. There are things I really loved about these books, especially with some of the new, imaginative things Pullman brings out in his world. Not just liked, but geeked out about, which is one of the highest compliments in my vocabulary.

Warning: Spoilers ahead from now and until the end.

First, the daemon idea is very, very cool. If you have not read the books, a daemon is essentially a visual representation of a person’s soul, or inner most thoughts, depending on which term you prefer. These daemon’s (and incidently, the word, at its core meaning, DOES NOT mean demon in the original Greek. Rather, it means a spirit of some type) take the shape of animal, depending on what a person is feeling. That is, only the children’s take shape, not the adult’s which stay the same.

Such a cool idea. I want one. Mine would be bear, in case you were wondering. Or maybe I am kidding myself. Maybe it would be duckbilled platypus.

I loved the armored bear Iorek. I mean, how cool can you get? An armored bear running around, crunching bad guys? What a great image. I loved it.

I loved how Pullman weaved in some quantum physics into his story line, especially with the possibilities of other worlds. I have been reading for osme time on my own about this subject (and only understood about a ¼ of it) that it was great to see it used in story form.

The themes of bad authority is a good one for literature to explore. As some people have said, and I agree with, the Authority (the God figure in the story) is not the God I serve, so I would rebel against him too, as well as the bumbling fools that make up Pullman's version of the church. The only thing I think is that Pullman did not make them loathsome enough, but I will write more about that later.

Of course, all the themes of love, honor, giving yourself up for your friends is there, but not as evident as in Harry Potter.

Other things I loved in a short burst:
the Texas Airman. The Alethiometer. Oxford. Dust. The subtle knife which can cut through worlds, a stand in for reason, I am guessing.

Next Up: The Negatives.

Sifting through His Dark Materials: Intro

Every since the movie began to weave its way into the media, people have been asking me what I think about the books. I had to confess that I had not actually read them, so I could not give an opinion. And I hate, HATE, giving an opinion I know nothing about or relying on people to tell me what my opinion should be. I have always wanted to read these books, so now was a good excuse.

I am in a weird position, because I approach these books as a person who has a multi-layered interest in them. They interest me because I love a good story, they interest me as someone who wants to be a writer, and they interest me as someone who is interested in the questions that Pullman attempts to answer in his book. And yes, there are questions he is trying to answer, it's not just a story. There really is no such thing. Any writer who is remotely self aware, will tell you they have intentions behind their stories, and the good ones hide it as much as possible so as to disguise their intent with a good story.

Such is not the case the “His Dark Materials” series by Phillip Pullman. Or rather, that depends on which interview you read. In some interviews, he describes his work as just a story, meant to be read and enjoyed. Fine and good. In others, he states his intention is for this book to be the “Anti-Narnia” and to undermine Christianity. So, which one to believe? I have no idea, to be honest, I am still puzzling over those statements. I normally hate to know what an author’s point of view is before I read the story, but Pullman invites such speculation with his comments.

However, if he wanted his books to be read “just as stories to be enjoyed” he probably should have kept his mouth shut about his other purpose. C.S. Lewis never set out to write the “Anti-atheist” story. He just wanted to write the story behind an image that popped into his head of a faun carrying an umbrella. There is no doubt Lewis’ Christianity oozed out of him with the story. And frankly, I would not care if Pullman’s agnosticism oozed out of His Dark Materials. I would expect it. I just question whether you can make a good story by having a set agenda at the beginning. You should be able to enjoy a story for its own sake. I found myself not being able to do that with Pullman, as his intentions scream loudly from every page.

So, all that to say, my reactions to the book will be along those lines, as a reader, wannabe writer (I have written a book, just not published yet) and as a minister, my day job. I have chosen to divide my reactions into two, so hopefully it keeps each distinct. I want to react to His Dark Materials as a story in of itself, characters, plot, etc and then address the worldview present in the books.

Finally, I want to make it clear, I am not going to slam Pullman, make fun of him or make otherwise degrading remarks about his work. So, if that is what you are expecting in this little essay, then go elsewhere. You will find a lot of praise of Pullman in this little review of mine. I am not out to tell people whether you should read or not read these books. Of course you should read them. They are books that tell a fairly good story. This is not that sort of review. Rather, it is what I thought about the books on different levels.


I will begin with the reaction to the story in a few days.

I am geeking out!!!!!

I cannot wait for this movie. I have loved Batman since I was a kid and while I loved the Tim Burton version when it first came out, it has not born up well. I loved the restart done by Nolan. And this looks even better.

Merry Christmas Everyone

Let's hear the words of St. Linus the blanket

There and back again!!!!!!

Finally!!!!! Peter Jackson and New Line settled their pissing fest. You know what that means boys and girls:

The Hobbit, 2010.

And even more, another movie has been added as a sequel to the Hobbit and a prequel to the trilogy.

Let nerds everywhere rejoice!!!!!!

I personally cannot wait for Sir Ian McKlellan to utter the lines:

What a lot of things you use good morning for!

Thoughts on the Golden Compass

Well, to be more direct, I dont have any yet, as I haven't read the book. A number of people have asked me about it.

So, I just got it. Give me time.

Philosopher Soccer

A classic from the boys of Monty Python.

Does God Laugh?

An interesting question. And, if you observe most of us wacky nutheads called Christians you would say no, He doesn't.

Thankfully, the followers don't always represent the Master. God does laugh and His laughter is found throughout the Bible. Usually, the laughter is directed at idols, humans who set themselves up as gods or other such madcap hilarity.

The fact is, we are bumbling, stumbling buffons, and deserve all the mockery heaven can send our way. But, God's mockery is always done to get us to turn from our farce driven, sin sick, self centered lives and turn to Him for real, healing laughter. I think that is why everyone is afraid of sarcasm and mockery. If it is done right, it will penetrate us and expose us for what we really are. No one really wants that, as much as they say they do. We hate, at least I do, to made to look silly.

And when sin gets exposed in our lives, it gets exposed in all of its idiotness and rebellion. That is why I think we need more humor in the church, especially of a sarcastic nature. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying we should be sarcastic for the fun of it and to tear people down. Rather, that we are sarcastic on behalf of our own idols, pointing the gun of Holy Ghost sarcasm at ourselves.

I have been in the church a long time, in many different roles, in many different denominations, in many different settings. Catholic. Charismatic. Reformed Presbyterian. High School kid. Student leader. Intern. Pastor. Assistant Pastor. And one common strand I consistently see, is the complete inability to laugh at ourselves. We find it every easy to mock other Christians for their supposed sins, but we never laugh at our own. We think that we have the corner on God's kingdom, the center of its activity, so therefore everything is serious.

God's kingdom work is serious. In fact, way too serious for sinful, silly human beings to take themselves too seriously. Too serious to to see ourselves as the most important thing going. Too serious that we need laughter, fun, and enjoyment. Too serious not to tear into the idols of our heart.

So, in that vein, check out these websites. A good start to help laughing at the church. Personally, one of my favorites was the article in the lark news about a guy getting kicked out of small group for "not being authentic enough".

Anyway, here are the sites....

www.shipoffools.com
www.larknews.com
www.wittenburgdoor.com

A great new art film

One of the most moving and amazing things I have seen in a long time.

Submitted

It's done. My book is really done. And, I have resubmitted to the agent who was interested in my book. I am nervous. I am excited. I love my wife for spending lots of time editing and loving the story enough to keep encouraging me in it.


Now, I wait. I hate waiting.

Southern Baptist Pharisee

Overheard at the Missouri Baptist Convention

""I understand that the Bible does not say, never says, 'Thou shalt not drink,'" said Tolliver. "It is also true to say that the Bible does not specifically refer to drinking as a sin. However, … the only Christian position in this 21st century Show-Me state environment that we live in is total abstinence!"

Wow, someone has now set themselves up as the baptist pope. As my friend and pastor says, "I am glad they are working on being holier than Jesus."

Why we celebrate Halloween

"Mock the devil, and he will flee from thee. Fear of the devil leads to devil worship." Bono

"The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn.", Martin Luther


Now, how often do these two get quoted together? More often lately, I am guessing, but I use them to illustrate why we do Halloween at our house.

Notice, I didn't say celebrate, because to me celebrate means we love the darkness, evil, the devil, etc. And there is an element of that in Halloween that is disturbing, no question. And, if it is left there, it is not something I would touch.

But, Halloween is more than that, the fun, the costumes, the trick or treating, etc is a way for us to confront what we fear. And more than that, to make fun of it, to belittle it. But, how can we do that?

The answer comes in Christ and his complete work in our lives. His perfect love that lives in us casts out fear, drives away the devil in scorn, showing him for what he really is, a prideful fraud. And, it does the same for us, as the Cross exposes our self reliance, the worship of our selves and the idols that set themselves up in our lives. The cross mocks them.

Because, that is what God does with idols in the Bible. Colossians 2:15 that Jesus exposes the authorities, things in our lives, Satan for what they really are, silly, ridiculous frauds. And, the Old Testament tells us more. I call it the Elijah treatment. Check it out in 2 Kings 18. Basically, the prophets of Baal think their god can overcome Elijah's God, they cut themselves, they shout, they get naked, etc. Baal doesn't show up and Elijah mocks them with such expressions as "is your god out taking a piss?"

God does this sort of thing all the time. He treats idols and idol worship with contempt, especially among His people. And, the way He treats it in my life and the way I want to treat evil, and my fears when the become idols in my life.

So, we do Halloween, not celebrate it. We do not celebrate evil, the devil, witches or anything that is morbid. But, rather, we mock our fears, mock the devil, and mock anything that thinks it is more powerful than God. So, as my family does pumpkins, passes out treats, or goes trick or treating, we tell the devil, the darkness and our idols,

Piss off, I belong to Christ and I no longer fear the night.

Tyranny of the Majority

I have not written a serious, churchy post in awhile. I think it is because even though I am an assistant pastor, discussing church things have been hard for me.

Why? Well, let me just say from a few hard experiences in my time in ministry thus far. And, while most of those hard times come from my own sin, there is something else at work and indeed at work in the church in America that has spit it's poison into much of evangelical Christianity.

I am talking about the tyranny of the majority.

My church is currently training the guys who will be elders. In the PCA, we have elders that rule the church and they are divided up into two classes, Teaching Elders and Ruling Elders. The Ruling elders are lay folks elected to eldership by the congregation while the Teaching Elders are formally trained in seminary, etc.

Anyway, we were talking about what sort of church we would be in if we were not presbyterian. It was interesting to see that most, if not all of the guys in the training said they would be baptists or some other form of congregational style of church government. I think I shocked them all when I said I would go the other way, to the Episcopal side.

I guess my reasons are plenty. You could chalk it up to my catholic upbrining, my desire for the ancient and holy in worship or as my wife might say, I like the dramatic. But, really, it comes down for me to what I call the tyranny of the majority.

Protestants, especially in America, are chronically allergic to the idea that a bishop and a priest should be in charge. They talk about how one man can be corrupted by power, etc. I think that is most certainly true and a valid argument to a degree. The argument then runs that people can be trusted to elect their leaders and pastors themselves. Which then assume an opposite error, that the majority is not sinful.

I am not sure what to think of this reasoning. I am sure I have overstated the case, but really that is the heart of it. But sin cuts at everything. The Majority do make mistakes, sinful tragic ones. The Majority can make tragic assumptions that lead to broken lives, broken people, broken churches and broken pastors. Or, really, someone leads that majority into those things, which brings out the irony: One man brings about the corruption of many.

So, what to do with that? For me, right now, the answer is what we do in the PCA, there is a give and take, between the congregation and its leaders. Give and take between the local church and the presbytery. The system is by no means perfect and has many flaws, but it works for now. I think the important to remember is that the Gospel has to be the center or nothing, not presbyterian, not congregationlist, nor Episcopal system of government will work.

AT: Here I am come

One of the things that my wife finds maddening about me is my constant restlessness. She would be perfectly happy to stay in one place for the rest of her life. This shows that she is a grounded, solid and stable sort of a person.

As for me, I am constantly fidgety, restless, and wanting to move off into the wild blue yonder all the time. That shows what a flightly, silly person that I am.

As you might imagine, that has created tension in our marriage from time to time. But finally, I am seeing things her way. We cannot move every two years anymore. Our family needs stability and our boys need to be settled for awhile.

But, the problem then for me is, how can I change who I am? I think the good side of my restlessness is a constant need to explore and find new things. So, how do I balance these two worthy things, Stability for my family and the need to explore?

I think I have found the solution in an old dream of mine, to hike the Appalachian Trail. Some friends have expressed interest in going with me. But, whether they do or not, I am still going to do it. Now, granted, it will take me some time, as I can only do four days of hiking a year. The average thru hiker takes a total of six months if they walk straight through without stopping.

So, it will probably take me years to finish and indeed, I am hoping the boys will be old enough to finish with me. My plan is to start next September or October in Harper's Ferry, the midway point of the trail. I hope to get through to Pennsylvania in that hike, Lord willing.

I am excited about it. I cannot wait. And now, excuse me, I have to start training.

Bizarre Travels 1.1

My last post might be considered a bizarre travels post. It wasn't, as Put-In-Bay does not qualify as Bizarre, just cheesy. Maybe in the future I will start a cheesy travel section. If you are lucky, er, providentially favored.

Anyway, my Bizarre travel post for this post travels one hundred miles south of Columbus, Ohio to Point Pleasant, West Virginia. The town is right in the middle of the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. I went there because part of the story I am writing takes place in Point Pleasant, and I needed to get a feel for the town. Plus, it contained a story I had loved since i was a kid.

Growing up, I was not allowed to watch horror movies. So, I had to find some other way to feed the kid desire to scare myself. I did that by reading books on Bigfoot, UFO'S and other strange creatures. The one that scared me the most happend to be the Mothman stories. I remember reading the story alone in my house, and hearing a noise in the kitchen. I ran outside scared. It was the middle of the day. Silly, but not when you are nine.

So, what is the Mothman? The events began began in late 1966. A creature, described as an eight foot tall creature with wings, red eyes, and no face was spotted by a couple driving along a lonely country road.

Side note: These things always happen on lonely country roads at night, and if you have ever driven one, you know why.

Anyway, the creature was spotted by a number of people in the area. Now, the thing about small town people that most people do not get is this: they are not easily taken in, especially with something like this. Some of the hardest skeptics about anything in general are from the country, not the city.

Plus, there were all kinds of freaky events that happend in the next year. It all came to head in tragedy when the silver bridge over the Ohio River collapsed during rush hour traffic killing nearly fifty people.

So, there is certainly an eerie vibe about the place, which increases with each mile you drive. The foothills are a bit lonely and isolated. When you drive over the new bridge into Point Pleasant, you can see the remains of the old one, and imagine what it must have been like to be on a bridge falling into an icy river.

As you get into the town, Mothman stuff is all over the place, with the highlight being the Statue and the excellant Mothman Museum. The local are very open about talking about the Mothman and one guy drew me a map to the TNT area, where most of the sightings took place.

Of course, i had to go. The TNT area was used by the government to store dynamite in areas dug into the ground, shaped like large mounds with steal doors. Each mound is down a heavily wooded area and there are some areas with keep out signs.

Now, the place is only a few miles out of town, but I can tell you, I got the creeps.

As i headed back into town, i decided to check out the French and Indian war battlefield in town. It turns out the whole town of Point Pleasant is the battlefield, with a section by the river being the official place.

I loved this town and it was really helpful for my book. Turns out I got the creepy vibe right, and the people there are really nice. Oh, and the Mothman Festival is September 15 and 16th. Check it out at www.mothmanmuseum.com/MothmanLives/mothmanfestival2007/mothmanfestival2007.html

In Praise of Cheese

The transition to Columbus has not been a very smooth one. Colin is having a tough time and we have all been sick for about a month. We have not been able to go out, invite people over or do anything fun. That is why we needed a day of doing something out of town.

And we did, going to Put in Bay, Ohio, an island in the lake known as Erie. The village on the island is pretty much one large tourist trap. You have shops that sell crappy, cheap t-shirts, trinkets with the island's name on them, or anything else you don't really need. Not to mention all the restaurants, ice cream shops, putt putt golf course, fake gem mining and the "chocolate musuem".

And you know what? I loved every minute of it.

The boys got to go on their first boat ride, which they loved. We played putt putt golf, ate ice cream and generally behaved like tourists. Plus, the island has all of these golf cart rental places. Colin begged to go on one and so we finally did. Twelve bucks for an hour. And, an hour of full on joy for the boys. Quinn road in the front seat, laughed, and waved at all the people as we drove by them. The boys got cheap things, Colin got a bag of rocks (his favorite thing at the moment) and Quinn got a little toy ship. Ah, the bliss of being a kid.

There was some educational value as well. The Perry Memorial is on the Island, commerating the battle of Lake Erie, a very important naval battle from the war of 1812 (side note, the putt putt golf course has notes about the battle at every hole). that is where I bought my reminder of the day, a book on the battle itself.

So, why I am writing? Because, it is to encourage people like me, who tend to take themselves way too seriously, to enjoy touristy places like Put in Bay. There is nothing "corporate" about them. Most of the shops in places like this are owned by locals or families (I have a friend who owns a shop like it). So, you can support the local economy.


And above all, just experience life through the joy of being with your family, relaxing and enjoy being a tourist for awhile.