WWTD?

Violet and I just finished Ted Lasso.  She missed most of the first season because she thought it was about soccer.  Then, after she lingered a bit too long downstairs before going to bed, she got sucked into the warmth and humor of the show as I watched an episode and she decided I could no longer watch it without her.  

This was my second viewing of the entire series and I would probably watch it again right now.  There’s something magical and attractive about this story and I think it goes a bit deeper than good writing, acting and humor.  I think Ted Lasso pulls at a string connected to every human’s heart.  

I first heard about the character on Instagram when friends were posting clips of the show.  I don’t watch a lot of TV and it’s easy for me to ignore these references but when I saw a clip of the main character throwing darts in a pub, the dialog got me.  This was when I discovered that we somehow had Apple TV and I started the series that night.  

So if you also thought it was a show about sports and ignored the social media hype for a few years, let me summarize it for you.  This really good guy takes a job he is likely not qualified to do and allows his love for others and his belief that people can be good to guide him through his own personal and career ups and downs.  It is a show about belief, forgiveness and love and yet it is not a show that mentions a religion or God in any meaningful way.  

I come from a Southern and Christian background.  For those of you not from here, the South (capital letter S) is a soup of a lot of different things that are all bathed in this broth of Christianity and humidity.   There’s a church (often literally) on every street corner and everyone seems to have some relationship to a church.  Grandma went there even if you didn’t.  Maybe you go on Easter and Christmas.  Maybe you attend regularly.  Maybe you can’t remember the last time you were inside a church but you’ll still put a check mark in the box beside “christian” any time you get a survey.  The weird thing about growing up in the South is that you’re just kind of assumed to be Christian.  Even when you are not religious at all, you grew up in that broth and you still identify with Christianity in some weird way.  

This is problematic for people who live here who actually do believe in and attempt to follow the teachings of Christ.  Mostly because the “culture of Christianity” and the actual ideology of Christianity are in such opposition to one another.

When I became an adult who was capable of thinking for himself, one of the first things I did was come to terms with what I had been taught in church for 20+ years and what I actually believed to be the teachings of Jesus.  Realizing that in many cases, these were two very different things, put me on a road that led to being an outsider in any local southern church.  

If you’ve only been paying attention to the current political situation for a few weeks, that’s long enough to know exactly what I’m talking about.  There are people who say they are “Christians” who are looking to control the government and hoping to pass laws that reflect what they think is representative of their religious beliefs.  You can watch a person who says they want Christian values vote to restrict the basic rights of other humans.  They may support laws that restrict or punish immigrants, they may support laws that restrict the rights of women and you may even see them vote to end supplying free food at school for poverty stricken children.  

Anyone who has looked at a New Testament even briefly will recognize Jesus’ teachings on how to treat the alien (immigrant) the women (Mary, Mary Magdalene, Martha, etc) and the poor and how these politicians are standing in direct opposition to those teachings.  

My first viewing of Ted Lasso had me on Google within a couple of episodes.  I was curious about the narrative and why it so closely matched the core of Christian beliefs.  I thought I might find that there was some intentional connection to Christianity but what I found instead was a host of blogs and articles written by “Christians” blasting Ted Lasso for not having more direct references to God or Jesus.  One called it “a Christ-less Gospel” and meant that in a very negative way.  I was surprised to find that Christians couldn’t be happy that such a great message of forgiveness and love was so popular and well received.  Instead, they were looking for fault, trying to tear down something that offered such hope and love to viewers.  

And then I realized, that’s what so many from the “culture of Christianity” want to do.  If it’s not their preferred version of the “truth”, they will attack it and try to kill it.  Their assumption that they subscribe to the only true version of religion means that everyone else is wrong (and probably going to hell).  

After a second viewing of the entire series, I think there’s something more going on.  

The “culture of Christianity” in my definition includes modern Christian churches along with many “church adjacent” people.  While their beliefs may vary on a personal level, they’ve all adopted a modern, American version of the Gospel of Jesus.  In this updated version of the Gospel, they play the part of “God’s chosen people” and they mix it with a hefty dose of “prosperity Gospel”.  All the scriptural references that suggest God will bless them are framed, stuck on their SUVs and tattooed on their ribcages.  Every scriptural reference that suggests a curse if you do not follow God’s laws is completely ignored.  Jesus is portrayed as a white, Republican, American man who wants gas prices to remain low, interest rates to be lowered and all of his followers to live in gloriously large homes while collecting their wealth.  In this narrative, the “Christian” living in the $500,000+ home with a successful career, multiple vehicles and a retirement plan also gets to play the part of the afflicted and oppressed.  They are the victim, the "persecuted" and anyone who doesn’t agree with them is the evil oppressor.  

One of the many flaws in this false narrative is that in order to believe this version, you must discard the complete teachings of Jesus.  I would also argue that based on correct cultural context, you would also have to discard all of the Old Testament scriptures as well.  I would also suggest that to believe this false narrative, you would also need to keep one eye closed at all times, figuratively speaking.  Sure, your church will ask you to give a tithe and perhaps an offering and the open eye allows you to give while the closed eye prevents you from seeing exactly where that money goes.  The church building, for example may be built off of a few million dollars worth of tithing while homeless people hanging out in the parking lot are asked to leave and no longer trespass on church property.  And yes, this is a real example from a real church in my area.  The money given to the church creates a very comfortable life for the ministers on staff, complete with housing allowances, annuity, vehicle allowances and a salary with more digits than yours.  Of course, career professionals should be paid, I just can’t imagine someone whose job it is to dwell on and teach from a text that continually suggests sacrificial giving to the poor and less fortunate would sleep well at night if they truly analyzed their financial situation.

Now, I realize you can’t just have unchecked vagrants coming and going in a social environment where kids are present.  I’m not saying we shouldn’t pay a pastor.  I’m not advocating for that at all.  I do think it’s odd that we’ve learned to close an eye to any way of helping the people closest to us who are in real need, while making sure to raise enough money to send a group off to a distant land to build a house or to build our own magnificent facility to be used a couple of days each week.  Why send groups away to “serve the poor” when you have a problem with the poor on your literal doorstep?  Why create a clean, dry space to remain empty 5 days a week when so many within walking distance long for such a space?

I could go on and on with examples, but you get the point.  

I know these people pretty well,  I’ve known them my whole life.  I understand why they would be threatened by a TV story that suggests that we can show love to the people in our lives in meaningful ways without committing our time and dollars to a local church.  I mean, if I were a church that had just taken out a loan of a few million dollars to build a building, I might look for ways to intentionally get more people to come to my church and give to my building fund.  I might get possessive about my church members and unconsciously look for ways to make my church look better or more “right” than the other churches in my area.  I might stop seeing all Christians as being on the same team and start to just hope that my team can help pay off this building debt.  

But we’re just talking about a TV show here, right?  Yeah.  So that Ted Lasso show….I recommend it.  Maybe watching it will put you on a path to think for yourself and reconsider some old, traditional beliefs.

end of summer musing

Summer has been nice, but I’m waking up to the fact that I’m in my last few days of break before shifting back into the busier teaching schedule.  Something about this transitional time of year puts my mind in a mood to reflect, particularly about teaching.

Before we get into that, let me give you a glimpse into my life as of the last few weeks.  After the sheer adventurous joy of the family vacation followed by 2 weeks in Europe, I came home and settled into staying up later and sleeping later.  I was drawing and sculpting and taking care of lots of art exhibit things, but I was also taking the time to stop working at night and sit around with the kids and the dogs while wasting a little bit of time watching things on screens.  We’d stay up late laughing at nonsense and going through all three seasons of Ted Lasso and then I’d sleep until 7:30 or 8:00 am, which is late for me but still early for the kids.  Blue moves into college in a little over a week.  This “wasting” of time is honestly more of a treasured necessity.  I’ve been loving our time together.

Several days each week, Violet and I have to be mindful of what we eat during the day because we know we’ll be running lots of miles at the evening cross country practices.  After practice we’ll treat ourselves to some ice cream or chocolate while sitting on the couch.  Then we wake up and repeat as needed.  

I, quite intentionally, do not think about school during the summer.  This is my hack for staying sane in the world of academia.  I answer all emails that come from students and colleagues, but I minimize that part of my life so that I will be ready to dedicate my time to it from August until May.  Generally, in the last couple of weeks of break, I’ll start thinking about my upcoming classes and responsibilities and I’ll update my syllabi and make some concrete plans for the year.  As I do this, the shadow of knowledge creeps in and I’m reminded that when classes begin, I’ll be setting that 5:00 am alarm and running in the dark again.  Meh.

I suppose any teacher worth their salt must spend some time reflecting on last year in order to properly prepare for the year ahead.  I’ll be honest, my morning runs for much of the summer were filled with conversations with myself about frustrations and disappointments from last year.  That running therapy has helped and my attitude has turned to a more positive outlook.  My morning runs are now filled with thoughts about the students on my rosters for this year and how I’m going to engage with them through specific projects and assignments.  

One of the things I started learning about my students a few years ago was that I can’t control their actions.  I may have even written about this here, but I can provide everything a student needs to be successful, but I can’t make them actually use that information and be successful.  They have to choose it.  They have to work for it.  It’s SOOOOOO frustrating to see a student with so much potential just waste the opportunities provided for them, but all the worrying in the world won’t make them change.  

As I started to get more comfortable with the fact that I can’t change student’s actions, I then needed to learn that I also can’t change the actions of others.  My peers, colleagues, friends and even my superiors in the chain of command, I can provide all the information and evidence I want, but they are essentially going to do what they are going to do regardless of what I think about it.  That’s hard to accept.  The control freak realizing he is not in control.  The horror.  

If I don’t accept it, the immediate downside is that I will feel undervalued.  I’ll feel that they aren’t listening to me and that my input doesn’t matter.  This may or may not be true in reality, but it’s also not the point.  Did I say what was true?  Did I say it to help?  If so, then I should move on with my life no matter what happens next.  

Perhaps my age and experience puts me in a different place than many in academia.  I didn’t go right into grad school and immediately begin a full time job in academia in my mid-twenties.  This is actually my 2nd life.  I didn’t start full time academic teaching until my late thirties.  Now I’m 52 and 15 years into full time teaching.  Perhaps this age and experience gives me a different perspective.  

Of course, I still take things personally for a while.  When I give my input and no one listens, I get angry.  Mostly, though, I get that anger worked out on my runs, alone.  Some days all I can see is how often in the past I have been right and how often others have been chronically wrong.  Luckily, I’m the only one who gets to hear how selfish and immature my feelings are.  Once I realize what I sound like, I can put on my big boy pants and move on.  I’m not in charge and I’m so glad I’m not.  I’m not an administrator, I’m a teacher.  

And dude, I LOVE teaching.  I’m definitely not in academia to be an administrator.  I’m not here for the meetings and the service assignments.  I’m not here for the “mandatory” training and the professional development classes.  I put up with those things because I love being in the studio with my students.  I love teaching my people.

So the things that happen and are decided that don’t suit me, if those things don’t directly affect me teaching my students as I please, then those things don’t really matter.  I can focus on being a positive influence, an encourager and a great teacher.  After all, the students aren’t in my class to hear my ideas about policy and the general direction of day to day inner workings of a university.  They’re there to learn to be artists who serve the world with love and kindness.  That will continue to be my focus.  

I’m almost ready to be excited for the semester.  It’s going to be fun!