So I’ve mentioned that I’m doing a lot of writing at work and that maybe I should use that writing to, like, do something with my own personal blog. I also have a couple of for-realsies blog posts simmering, so, hey, building momentum.

One of the coolest things about where I work is the mission. We’re talking truly life-transforming and belief-shaping. Pornography is the easiest example. Before I started at my job, I found it morally objectionable but was personally ambivalent for non-Christians. (This is my default stance on many issues: I may find a behavior objectionable, but I’m not going to force someone who doesn’t share the basic tenants of my faith to live under my moral code.) Now, almost two years later, my opinions on porn are much more closely aligned with my opinions on drugs. In short: “NOOO DON’T DO IT YOU’RE RUINING YOUR BRAIN YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO HAVE A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP STOP WATCHING IT NAOW!” Seriously. There’s a ton of science behind why it’s just about one of the worst things you can do to yourself sexually. Read more…

personal, religion, society editing, linkedin, personal stories, rhetoric, social commentary, work, writing

…for the Covenant Eyes blog. For anyone wondering, this blog post subtly summarizes 2011 for me.

I’ve actually done quite a bit of writing over the last year, mostly for work. Since this website was at one point supposed to be a portfolio, I figure I’ll cross-post some of the pieces I’ve written for anyone who’s interested.

So! Since it went live on Monday, here are my thoughts on singleness via my workplace.

4 Reasons Accountability is Critical for Singles

“It is not good for man to be alone.”

If you’re at all familiar with this verse, you’re probably used to hearing it in the context of marriage. Perhaps you’ve heard it in a sermon or during a wedding ceremony.

And if you’re living in prolonged singleness, perhaps every time you hear it, you feel somewhat less-than-sufficient for not having somebody. Or maybe the opposite is true, and you have a sense of smug superiority, and you think to yourself, “Relationships are for other people. Me? I can do it all on my own.”

But this verse is about more than marriage. Nobody, not even those who choose singleness, is ever called to do life alone. Jesus always sent the disciples out in pairs, and Paul always traveled with companions. Or consider James 5:16, which says, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed.”

In reality, we singles need to stick together. Those of us who live alone are especially vulnerable to temptation simply because there’s nobody there to walk in on us. So whether our temptations are to watch pornography or to waste our lives on TV or video games or to wallow in bitterness over our lack of relationships, accountability is critical for us to continue growing in Christ.

Read the rest…

personal, religion, singleness, site christianity, linkedin, personal stories, religion, weight, work, writing

I just saw a Facebook ad for “custom term papers” (not linked, but you can find 212,000 results by googling that term). Basically, you hand them your research and they churn out an actual report. And they’ll even write your Master’s thesis for you!

My goodness, people. This is why writing centers and editors exist. Let me give anyone who wants to use a site like that a hint: academic writing is about clarity and organization. If you can explain your research to these people, you can save yourself $20/page and write minimally your own first draft. I won’t deny the need for corporate professional writers… but it strikes me as unethical to pay someone for a paper that you’ll then get graded on. It’s called “credit where credit is due.” Seriously. Learn it before you enter the corporate world.

rhetoric, society editing, writing

For Christmas, Mom and my paternal grandmother collaborated and put together two notebooks of family history–one of as much general information as they could possibly gather, and one of Grandpa’s collected letters from his army days. I’ve just started reading the latter.

And it’s kinda funny. Grandpa was a good writer.  I mean, I’ve no doubt that, in transcribing them (we have typewritten transcriptions, not handwritten ones), Grandma cleaned them up somewhat. Certainly some swear words were censored (though whether that happened on Grandpa’s end or on Grandma’s is up for debate. But really, he had the art of letter-writing pretty well mastered.

This leads to an interesting question: am I his heir? I don’t mean this in the “I’m totally an awesome writer” sense,  but in the “what am I communicating to future generations?” sense. Sure, I’ve been journaling off and on for about fifteen years now, but *what* am I journaling? Will my hypothetical grandchildren be able to look at them and say, oh, this is what life was LIKE for a DigiRhet M.A. student in 2008?

In that, war writers had it easy. In writing to my grandmother, Grandpa couldn’t just be like, d00d, Soldier Fred and I totally pwnd some n00bs; he’d have to explain who Soldier Fred was, who n00bs are, and what pwnd means. He’d tell stories. And my hypothetical grandchildren will, in some ways know him better than they would know me from, say, this blog post.

I know; it’s a question of audience. My journals are primarily for myself, or, in the case of this blog, for a quasi-professional audience. In many ways, I think I’d rather be writing for my grandkids.

rhetoric family, letters, writing