Steven's Scribbles

Defending the gospel on LA's airwaves

2007-08-01T23:41:00.000-05:00

Tuesday afternoon, God gave me an amazing opportunity to be a light for him in Los Angeles by going on one of the city’s main evening commute talk shows on KKLA 95.5 FM at 6 p.m. PST for a few minutes to discuss the FCC’s recent legal battles trying to enforce its policy against broadcasters using expletives and violent programming during the daytime when children are watching, which is what I spent most of my time working on when I first arrived in Washington in June.

The program’s host was here in Phoenix on Tuesday describing to us how to defend our faith in the media and broadcast his show live from our hotel. It’s crazy to look back at all those days I spent in Farley Hall and the new Student Media Center at Ole Miss doing sports talk shows and later doing student government talk shows, and seeing how God has used that seemingly recreational experience to prepare me to share his Word via the radio medium in China a couple years ago and now in LA. The radio station streams its programming live at http://www2.kkla.com/listen/.

Late night road trip to the Grand Canyon

2007-08-01T23:33:00.001-05:00

Saturday night, a group of about 10 of us rented a couple of vehicles and road tripped up to the Grand Canyon to camp out and watch the sunrise from the South Rim, do a Sunday morning worship service in one of God’s most picturesque sanctuaries and then did a six-mile hike inside the canyon. The place is an incredible testimony to the fact that we have an artistic creator who is remarkably bigger than we are.

"Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious! Say to God, 'How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name.' Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man's behalf!" Psalm 66:1-5

Wrapping up D.C.

2007-08-01T23:29:00.000-05:00

I finished my last week of work in Washington, D.C., on Friday by turning in a research project and writing a defense of Judge Leslie Southwick (Mississippi boy) for his nomination to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. I’m now in Phoenix this week for more Christian worldview training, debriefing, and some fun. Last week ended a productive nearly two months in the nation’s capital of engaging in public policy work – writing legal analyses, lobbying directly to the offices of senators and congressmen, and researching the issues that most Christians care deeply about. While at times it seems like a thankless, fruitless effort since there are probably 15 secular organizations for every Christian public policy organization lobbying the same senators and congressmen, I learned it is very important to stand up for our faith in the public square and give Christians a voice in the debates that determine how our country is governed.

It frustrates me to hear people say that true Christians shouldn’t have anything to do with politics and public policy. That assertion is unbiblical. Jesus taught us in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 that we are to be salt and light in this world. Salt, in its practical sense, is used in meat to prevent decay, and public policy is a means for helping to prevent decay in our society. Light pierces darkness and Christians can be an example and be a witness to thousands of people through public policy. Also, after visiting several foreign countries and seeing the struggles going on in places like China, England and Brazil over issues like religious freedom and morality in the public square, the U.S. is extremely blessed in how free we are and how imperative it is to protect these freedoms. Seeing those freedoms attacked by organizations like the ACLU, Americans for the Separation of Church and State, and many others should only drive Christians to be bold in defending the gospel and living out the truth everyday.

It is also imperative for us to be faithful students of the Word and store it in our hearts and minds so that we will always be able to give an answer for the hope that we have and not be tossed about when we are bombarded by secularists and false prophets. We are spending out final week of the summer in Phoenix learning more about defending our faith at the logical reasoning level, as well as learning from judges and Christian law professors.

Why must America win the war in Iraq?

2007-07-27T14:54:00.000-05:00

I got to attend a hearing of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in the Senate on Tuesday, and the discussion centered around witness testimony about Christian persecution in Iraq. Several witnesses told horror stories about the killing, kidnapping and torture that has been leveled against the Christians in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq, such as the Ninevah Plain, by Muslim extremists. The Reverend Canon Andrew White is an Anglican minister in Baghdad where General Petreaus attends church, and 36 members of his 1,300-member congregation have been kidnapped in the last month, only one having been returned. Many Christians are having to flee their homes to seek safe havens, and many are refugees in neighboring Syria and Lebanon trying to survive day to day.

This tragedy depicts a unique glance at one of the primary underscoring reasons for the violence in Iraq and the hatred toward Israel. Many Muslim extremists feel that the Christians are representative of the Western world (regardless of the fact that Christianity was born in the Middle East), and that the Coalition fighting to uphold democracy in Iraq is trying to “westernize” the Middle East and suppress traditional Islam. On our side of the ocean, it’s important when debating about Iraq to remember that most people in the Middle East have no concept of the government and the church being two different entities. While religious principles have proven effective in raising up a successful nation, as we have seen in the U.S., religion and government cannot become so entangled as they have in the Middle East.

Several of the witnesses on the ground in Iraq said it is imperative that the U.S. and coalition stay the course to win the war, or even more blood will run in the streets and that Iraq will turn into a breeding ground for radical Muslim terrorists who wish to destroy the U.S. here at home and its interests overseas (including killing, kidnapping, and torturing Christians since they are associated with the West). Hard to argue with that.

How important is studying and memorizing God's word?

2007-07-26T07:34:00.001-05:00

I hopped off the bus in the middle of Chinatown on Friday afternoon after a four-hour bus ride. I forgot to charge my phone before I left D.C. earlier in the day, so I was stuck waiting at a park for my roommate, Andrew, to come find me so we could venture out in Manhattan. My traveling buddy had already darted off down the subway to catch a Broadway play. The park was right outside a high school and really big, full of Asian children and their parents or older siblings (as seen in the pic above). It brought back memories of my time in China building relationships with college students and sharing the gospel with them while we played ping pong or their new favorite game, American football. I began to pray over this park and the children, whose families were more likely than not something other than Christians.

I spoke to a few people while I was there, but while I was prayer walking a middle aged Asian man came up to me and asked if I was visiting the school. I told him my story and we found that we both worked in D.C. and were in New York visiting. He told me that he grew up in Singapore, practicing ancestor and idol worship before moving to America as a teen and being introduced to Christianity through his aunt’s Lutheran church. He became a religious scholar, and he was quick to tell me about the different branches of Christianity, as well as other info about Buddhism and Islam. He even knew that Southern Baptists were the largest protestant denomination in America at over 15 million people. But what got me was when he started talking about what people desire in a religion and how he had come to the conclusion that the Mormon church was the “branch of Christianity” that had answered all the questions people are seeking. He then told me he was agnostic and didn’t want to have anything to do with practicing religion. He wasn’t very open to hearing what the scripture had to say about life and eternity.

Ran into another guy in Times Square on Saturday night who was “preaching” from the Old Testament about how the white race is naturally evil, was sent from Satan, and that blacks should take out vengeance on whites for slavery. After listening to this guy among a crowd of black men for awhile, a few of the black guys in the audience came up to me and asked what I thought and went on to show them that the gospel teaches that God is a loving God and longs for the repentance and salvation of all people, and that the Bible predicted there would be false prophets, like this street preacher, in the end days. I happened to have my pocket Bible with me so it turned into a unique opportunity.

What my venture to New York showed me, which I’ve been learning all summer in D.C. with all the screaming and yelling going on, is that we as Christians must be constant students of the Word, committing it to our hearts and minds so that anytime we are asked we can give an answer for the hope that we have, and also so that we may stand firm on the foundation of Jesus Christ when we are blown about in the wind (by trials or by crazy people).

Other than that, NY was great. Caught a Yankees game, spent some time on Times Square and Chinatown, and went down to Ground Zero where it looks like a huge construction site with two big square holes in the ground. Andrew's church plant team is an awesome group of people and they are truly making impact in a hard place.

What would happen if an ADF intern gets arrested?

2007-07-20T08:09:00.000-05:00

So our SLU staff decided to wrap the first week of the conference by taking a kayaking trip on the Potomac River through the heart of the capital. My SLU partner, Gavin, and I had our own kayak decided we would push ahead of the pack and be trailblazers. What started as a sunny afternoon on the water took a turn when we found that the Arlington Memorial Bridge has concrete platforms that jut out at the base in the water that are about 10-12 feet high above the water. We decided to tie up our kayak and climb this platform to dive off into the river. This was all great until a D.C. Police boat sped by, turned around and headed our way. Of course when he came up to us, I was in the middle of climbing up this thing and had nowhere to go. By the time he got to the bridge where we were there were four police boats, two fire and rescue boats and a police helicopter overhead. Apparrrrrrrently, swimming in the Potomac's been illegal for decades. They figured someone was hurt (or maybe that we were planting a bomb, who knows). I had to go on the boat to answer a few questions but they let us go without a fine or arresting us. But, I guess it's good to know that our security on the water in the capital is pretty great. And I have video of our adventure....

Less intense times came on Sunday when a group of us from Ole Miss ventured over to the beach in Ocean City for the day. We found a Sonic in Delaware that was the first Sonic I've seen in two months. Not that Sonic is great or anything, but their Cookie Dough Blasts are pretty special. At the beach we got some floaties and rode the waves and we made a pretty amazing sand spaceship captained by Raphael the Ninja Turtle and manned by a desert gecko. Just a small retreat from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Student Leadership University

2007-07-20T07:52:00.000-05:00

Busyness has kept me from adding to the blog lately, but it’s been a good kind of busyness. I spent all last week mentoring high school students at the Student Leadership University conference on faith and politics here in D.C. I had 50 kids and their chaperones assigned to me for the times we were out on buses traveling around the city, so it was pretty hectic and trying. Not surprisingly, the chaperones were the most trouble of anyone, ha. While the students got to hear some really famous and intriguing speakers, the highlight was getting to spend quality one-on-one time with them and finding out where they are in their spiritual journey and try to share with them about taking your faith and being an effective leader in politics, school, whatever. Or maybe the greatest part about it was that the nine other college staff and I got to wear walkie talkies with the wire running up our shirts and into our ear and a microphone pinned to our shirt sleeve, of course wearing suits so we look like our own version of the secret service.

I had some great conversations with a guy from South Carolina who is souled out to be used by God in the mission field as a pilot. He’s 17 and already got his license to fly solo and has a huge heart for the northern region of Brazil. Of course I taught him “You are very beautiful” in Portuguese so he could make some lady friends when he gets down there full time in a few years. There was another kid from Texas who wants to go into the Marines and was so hungry to know how to have a Biblical mindset when approaching the main issues of the world and how to be used for the kingdom…of course is primary goal right now is to win the soccer state championship. About 25 kids from the Middle East, many of whom were Muslim, came over free to SLU and they got to learn that Christianity is not what’s portrayed in their theaters by American movies. They got to see what Christian leaders stand for and how they stand out in the culture. Christians are different and should be different than others…Jesus was a radical in his day and definitely stood out. Anyways, too many stories to tell but it was one of my most fun weeks since I’ve been in D.C., despite getting next to no sleep for seven days. And, I finally got to spend some time with Dr. Richard Land, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Rattlesnake encounters and little kids from SC

2007-07-10T05:56:00.001-05:00

Hope everybody's summer is still going well. I just passed the halfway mark for my time working as a Blackstone Intern with the ERLC and thought I'd give an update. I have really been able to see that Christians desperately need a voice on Capitol Hill and that many more secular interest groups are trying to sway the leadership of our country in the wrong direction. So far, I've been able to work on some cool projects like defending the FCC's ability to fine broadcasters for airing profanity during the daytime, analyzing several immigration proposals for their constitutionality and for whether they line up with biblical principles, gone to meet with several Representatives and a Senator on pro-family and pro-life issues, and gone to the Supreme Court.

Over the weekend, I went with some friends over to the Shanendoah Mountains and came within a foot of stepping on a four-foot long rattlesnake. I threw down my stick, ran, then came back and watched as it crawled off the trail, coiled up, and reared its head back with its rattle going full speed. We also got to do some platform jumping into a lake, but didn't see the snake again.

This week, however, is probably the one I've looked forward to most. I am helping 10 other college students from around the country lead Student Leadership University 201, which has 457 high school students here to learn about faith and politics. We have each been assigned 50 kids as our responsibility and will be seeking out one-on-one and one-on-few discipleship opportunities and simply opportunities to show Christ's love to them. It's been great so far. I accidentally let a "ur mom" slip to one of the groups from South Carolina when they made fun of Mississippi and all the guys tackled me to the ground. Lesson learned. Anyways, this week please pray for these students to see what it means to be an influenial Christian leader in their communities and in their world, and pray that I would have courage and wisdom in every opportunity I have with them as we hang out at the hotel or venture around the city. Also pray that I get more than the four hours of sleep I managed last night.Ha.

Looking forward to seeing you guys in a few weeks. God bless!
-Steven

A Capital Fourth!

2007-07-06T07:53:00.000-05:00

Washington has to be the best place in the world to celebrate July 4th. A two-hour parade (filled with more international groups than American ones), impromptu appearances by George Washington and Ben Franklin themselves, a cultural festival, a concert hosted by Tony Danza with Dierks Bentley and the National Symphony Orchestra in front of a national TV audience, and then a massive fireworks show over the Washington Monument. Pretty impressive. I heard that a colleague and I made a guest appearance on the broadcast of the concert, so maybe we can use that leverage to get our way with the top dogs. The thunderstorms that came through late afternoon moved on just in time for the concert and fireworks.

The most impressive performers, though, were a group of about 15 trombone players (and their back up tuba, drums, tambourine, and washboard players) that were performing on a street corner across from the Navy Memorial Metro. Geeez. It was like your typical Metro performers times 15 that were actually good, and they made a killing. They are called International House of Prayer and perform at a bunch of different places around the area.

So, I have to go back to the parade. The very last group in the parade was about 200
Hare Krishnas, complete with dancers, people chanting their religious lyrics (“Ha-re! Ha-re! Krishna! Krishna! Krishna!”), complete with a mega-float with Hare Krishna “elders” in full Hindu garb. There were Indian people, young people, old white guys, a whole mix. I wanted to run out there and yell, “No, Jesus is the way and the truth and the life! Call upon HIS NAME!” But…I probably woulda got shot by the cops. Was definitely an opportunity to turn a day of celebration into a sincere moment of prayer for a lost nation that is seeking answers, but often in the wrong places.

The D.C. area is so full of international people (you seriously cannot go to a single food service place where the servers do not speak Spanish or an Asian dialect as their primary language). More on the immigration debate later…

Can I get a wallaby?

2007-07-01T22:40:00.000-05:00

I met this little guy at the Washington Zoo on Saturday. I thought it would be cool if I could bring him or one of his cousins home as a pet. He’s little, he eats grass, and I could teach him to kick Elliott and Andrew in the mouth if they give me trouble this Fall. Sounds good to me.

So…I found a 3-year-old wallaby for sale in Illinois…only costs $1,300. And Mississippi has no law against owning a wallaby, as some states do. Maybe one day…

On another animal note, Evan Almighty turned out to be really funny and a good movie, although it's important to point out that God did promise to never flood the earth again (although I guess a flood of the northern virginia valley into the potomac isn't really a flood of the earth).

Politicians have spiritual testimonies, too

2007-06-29T21:40:00.000-05:00

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) spoke at a cookout I was at last night that was put on for some Christian D.C. interns. Although he had a receptive crowd, it was interesting seeing a side of a politician you normally wouldn’t see watching CNN or C-SPAN or CBS. He shared his testimony, and even uncovered a little known secret of his – he’s a poetry nut. He said, “I like to read poetry…it makes me feel smart.” Good excuse.

Pence grew up a relatively poor kid, but had a dream of helping the world through public office like his hero, JFK. He became a Christian when he was 18. But after he lost his first two attempts at Congress when he was 29 and 31, at what he called the lowest points of his career, he said God showed him that the dust gathering on his personal Bible wasn’t helping him succeed. Pence used the metaphor of a vehicle’s owner manual to show that without the Bible, we can’t find our purpose in life and figure out what we are supposed to be doing on this Earth to serve God. Without scripture as our foundation, we are like the house built on the sand that crumbles when high winds and crashing waves come – which is what happened when Pence found himself in political defeat. Through the saving grace of Christ and his Word, we have eternal hope and know that God has a plan for our lives. It’s exciting.

Pence is only 47 and has been in the House only seven years. I can see a Pence ’16 presidential bid forthcoming.

FCC, Ginsberg, and the Cathedral

2007-06-25T16:31:00.000-05:00

Well I finished my first real project on Friday, a constitutional strategy for defending the FCC’s ability to fine broadcast networks who air programming that contain isolated uses of the f-word and s-word. It’ll now be sent to other pro-family orgs to drum up support for an FCC appeal in the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. I’ll post a link when they put it up on the site. If the Supreme Court does not rule in favor of the FCC, there could be a waterfall of expletives that could be filling your afternoon/evening network stations soon.

Got to go over to the Supreme Court this morning to hear the justices read several opinions that were released today, including a case involving a high school student who was told he could not hold up a banner that said “Bong hits for Jesus” during a school event. The SC upheld a principal’s right to demand a student not engage in behavior that promotes illegal drug activity while under school supervision. The Court also upheld President Bush’s “faith-based initiatives” programs that use federal tax dollars, but only on technical grounds. You can read more about these cases and the others that were released today here….And on a side note, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, currently the Court’s only female justice and one of its most liberal, looks as pretty in person as she does in her official picture. ;-)

And, a pic from this weekend’s journeys across the metro area:
Life abounds at the National Cathedral.

Almost one week done in D.C.

2007-06-21T15:24:00.000-05:00

Well I've been on the job a few days here in Washington, and so far, so good. I'm staying with a great family out in Falls Church, Va., and their 13-year-old son has been like a like a new little brother. He's cool. Work at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is going great, with my first project being to come up with a legal response to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals' recent ruling that the Federal Communications Commission can't fine broadcasters for airing expletives over the airwaves. It's been a challenge, but pretty fun. I spent several hours at the Georgetown Law Center Library this morning doing some research (the old-fashioned way - with books - since the ERLC does not subscribe to Westlaw or Lexis...figured paying attention in that research and writing class would pay off one day). Wrote a blurb outlining the case's dissent earlier this week for the web site, but a more detailed constitutional analysis is coming soon. I attended a Values Action Team meeting, coordinated by Sen. Sam Brownback's office, over at the Capitol the other day. Interesting to see all the different players in the conservative public policy arena and what the talking points and agendas are. Everybody's got them.

Also got to swing by Capitol Hill Baptist last night for Wednesday evening Bible Study. They are doing an inductive study on the book of 1 Corinthians 1-3 that is really neat. We spent an hour talking about the first half of verse 24 in Chapter 1. The format was open-floor discussion and questions for the associate pastor leading the study. Pretty neat. Also got to meet some other summer interns who do a weekly Bible study and hang out pretty often.

Parents are in town this weekend. Their first time in D.C. Should be fun.

Exploring God's creation in Sedona, AZ

2007-06-15T16:20:00.000-05:00

We got to spend all day Wednesday exploring Red Rock Country in Sedona, about a two hour drive from Phoenix up in the mountains. We took red 4x4, open-air jeeps through the desert around the colorful mesas and got an up close look at some prickly pear cacti, which apparently were used by the Indians for everything from sunburn ointments to food. Also got to do some horseback riding south of town. Just wanted to put up some pics:

Humility important for lawyers too

2007-06-14T13:10:00.000-05:00

Of all the seminars that have stood out to me the past couple of weeks, C.J. Mahaney’s talk on humility has probably stood out the most. He reminded us that we are God’s creation, we are sinners, and we deserve nothing. Yet we have been blessed in countless ways, with the chief gift being God giving his son to die for us on the cross. Pride can be a huge stumbling block for Christians. Here’s an excerpt from a sermon by Charles Spurgeon that shoots it straight:

"O believer, learn to reject pride, seeing that you have no ground for it. Whatever you are, you have nothing to make you proud. The more you have, the more you are in debt to God; and you should not be proud of that which renders you a debtor. Consider your origin; look back to what you were. Consider what you will have been but for divine grace. Look upon yourself as you are now. Doesn’t your conscience reproach you? Don’t your thousand wanderings stand before you, and tell you that you are unworthy to be called His son or daughter? And if He has made you anything, aren’t you taught thereby that it is grace which has made you to differ? Great believer, you would have been a great sinner if God had not made you to differ. O you who are valiant for truth, you would have been as valiant for error if grace had not laid hold upon you. Therefore, don’t be proud, though you have a large estate – a wide domain of grace, once you did not have a single thing to call your own except your sin and misery. Oh! strange infatuation, that you, who have borrowed everything, should think of exalting yourself…"

Ole Miss baseball in the desert...

2007-06-11T06:51:00.000-05:00

Ole Miss pretty much forgot its bats at the hotel yesterday for the second Super Regional game at Packard Stadium. But what stood out most to me about my venture to Tempe (which I skipped a free dinner at Joe’s BBQ for) was that Arizona State fans are almost as fanatic as the ones from Baton Rouge. Although they have a small stadium – only about 3,000 fans – they all worked together impressively to launch insult after insult toward the 200 or so Mississippians in the crowd and the players on the field. Nothing more than the stereotypes you’d expect people to have of Mississippi, but the difference in Arizona State fans and LSU fans is that from what I could tell most of the ASU fans were sober. And while Maroon is an excellent color choice, it should never be put with yellow. Otherwise, Tempe is a really nice place, even under 105-degree, cloudless skies. And, Sun Devil Stadium (football) looks like a cool place to watch a football game. Had to throw some edification in there.

These were the guys that every Mississippian loved to hate (Notice Lance Lynn in the background, head down):

Conquering Camelback Mountain

2007-06-09T14:26:00.000-05:00

I set out with seven other Blackstone interns and enough water to sustain a small farm to conquer Camelback Mountain on Saturday, when we had our first true free time of training. Camelback is about a mile and a half hike to the peak, with some bouldering involved along the way. We chose to go in the afternoon heat to make it more of a challenge, and I should mention that the closest thing to trees out here are little bushes on the side of the mountain and 20-foot tall cacti. Five of us made it to the top in a little over an hour; the other three had to turn back at the 5/8 mile marker. After heaving for breath the last quarter mile up the mountain and getting beat by a girl, it was worth it for the view. We made it to the top around 5:30, only a couple hours till sunset. Good reminder of God’s creativity in his creation. The entire Blackstone group is going up to Sedona on Wednesday to go horseback riding and take in the desert. More pics to come!

Live from the Valley of the Sun -- Training in Phoenix

2007-06-08T22:53:00.001-05:00

When my plane landed at Sky Harbor International on Sunday morning, the flight attendant came over the P.A. system and said "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Phoenix, where we have sunny skies and a temperature of about a million degrees." No joke, ha. ADF is putting us up in a pretty nice hotel (the San Fransisco Giants have been here most of the week and the Red Sox just got here today for the weekend series with the Dbacks) and it's cooled off to the mid-90s, ha. There are about 100 law students here from all across the country; my roommate is from Portland and goes to Oregon (he actually goes to the same church that the christian band Kutless attended), and there are people from Yale, Princeton, Harvard, UVA, Michigan, Florida State, Vandy -- makes it a little intimidating. But it's cool to see that there are all these people across the country who want to use their abilities and legal career opportunities to serve God and the kingdom through defending religious liberty and Biblical principles.

We've been going through long days of seminars and lectures like we're in a seminary on steroids that's focused on culture, learning about epistemology, teleology, eschatology, Greek, Latin, natural law, post-modernism and a bunch of other stuff that makes my head hurt sometimes. And, we've been getting talks everyday on hot-button cultural issues like religious foundation of the U.S., right to life, same-sex marriage, paganism in the entertainment industry, etc. It's like trying to take a drink from a fire hydrant shooting full blast. Who knew that the phrase "separation of church and state" originated out of a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1802 to ensure that the government did not improperly interfere in the matters of the Christian church by establishing state religions? Or that homosexuality is an image of paganism in our society, as evidenced by Romans 1:18-32? We had a guy come in yesterday who is ministering to those working in Hollywood, and he emphasized that it is important to engage the culture by meeting people where they are, learning about what they love and are passionate about and showing love and grace, rather than beating them over the head with scripture and legalistic arrogance.

Anyways, it's been a great adventure so far. We got to take in a Dbacks game last night and I hope to represent Ole Miss for at least one of the baseball games out here in Tempe this weekend, and maybe do some nature exploring. We've got one more week or so of training, and then I'll be on to D.C. for the rest of the summer to do some hands-on work (a.k.a. take on the ACLU, haha). I'd definitely appreciate your
prayers for endurance and confidence on my part, and for the Holy Spirit to work in the hearts of the nation's movers and shakers. Also would appreciate any e-mails to let me know how things are going with you. Hope you're having a great summer. Will try to keep you updated when I can. Thanks again.

SonFest in Charlotte

2007-06-05T13:47:00.000-05:00

On the way to Washington, I got to stop in Charlotte to see Jordan (a successful E-Trade man nowadays…long way from rakin a field at New Hope’s Trojan Field back in the day). We got to catch Kutless, Mainstay, Jeremy Camp, Family Force Five, Jars of Clay, and Seven Miles in between some roller coasters. I had to get on the road to D.C. before Newsboys came on. But I did get some free stuff from a Kutless rep before we left. Good guys. The pic is a blurry, covert shot of Kutless….it was raining, cameras were not really allowed, and it was kinda dark.

On a mission -- Washington, D.C.

2007-06-02T10:01:00.000-05:00

This summer I'll be working in Washington, D.C., for the Alliance Defense Fund, specifically in the office of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. I don't know what exactly I'll be doing, but it should be a window into the field of law that is working to uphold religious liberty and Biblical principles. I'll get to spend a couple weeks in Phoenix training (getting indoctrinated), and meeting the other ADF interns who will be spread out across the country this summer serving God through the legal field. I will try to keep this updated instead of sending out a bunch of mass emails to everyone....So, on to Arizona! Will be in D.C. on June 15 for most of the rest of the summer. Be praying that God would do great things this summer.

National 46ers move to 4-0

2006-04-25T22:00:00.000-05:00

Well, the guys made it through the first round of the league unblemished after two really close calls and a not-so-close call. We rallied in the bottom of the last inning to beat the Twins 9-8 in the season-opener, rallied for five runs in the top of the last inning to beat the Rangers 8-6 and then scored seven times in the top of the first on our way to beating the Rockies 10-5. Tonight we scored six times in the second inning to take control and never looked back on our way to an 11-5 win over the Twins as we begin our second round through the league. I'm not sure whether it's a good thing or not considering our momentum, but we have the next couple of weeks off. It'll be good to savor the success for awhile and use practice time to get even better.

I was scared we were going to have trouble at the plate after we only had three hits in the first game, but the kids have crushed the ball ever since, and they're learning more and more about good, aggressive baserunning. We still have a lot of things to work on, though. They have a lot to learn about the game, which is encouraging because they've done so well so far despite all the mental mistakes.

The kids have been futile in their attempts to drench me with ice water the last two games, but Steven Williams got nice and soaked when they missed me and got him tonight. I'm glad the kids are having fun with it. Hopefully they can keep it up and not choke like Mississippi State has done this season.

Click here for our season schedule

Returning to baseball, this time in the coaching box

2006-04-20T15:53:00.000-05:00

It's been almost four years since my run as a pitcher for the OHS Chargers came to an end. But, this spring I've gotten back into the sport by doing the next best thing: coaching my own team. I'm the head coach for the Nationals (or, 46ers depending on who you ask) in the 13-14 year-old league of the Oxford Park Commission. It has been challenging so far, with a few talented kids and a bunch of other guys who give it their all every play. I have a couple guys assisting who know about the game, and after about six or seven preseason practices, we had our first game Tuesday against the team most predict to win the league.

We came out slow, but used a seven-run third to take a 7-1 lead. After making a few substitutions, the Twins rallied to tie it at 7-7 in the fourth. They took a one-run lead after an error allowed a run in the fifth, but we rallied the troops for two runs from the two most unexpected players in the bottom of the inning to get the 9-8 win. The kids gang-tackled me after the post-game talk, but it's OK. Hopefully they had fun and learned something about themselves and will be able to carry it over to the rest of the season. Only 13 more wins from being undefeated. Ha. Kudos to the National 46ers fan club for keeping the atmosphere lively.

Beach Reach in Panama City Beach, Fla.

2006-03-21T00:45:00.000-06:00

So it's been awhile since I've posted on here. A good reason lately is that I've been gone on spring break. I traveled with a group of nine other students from the BSU to Panama City Beach for seven days to reach out to other college students (mostly drunk ones, ha) with God's word.

We joined about 400 other college students from across the country to give free nightly van rides and do face-to-face street ministry until 2 a.m. each night, then got up each morning to go to a free pancake breakfast to make new friendships and build on the ones we established in the vans and on the streets. We had free time each afternoon for about four hours to go play on the beach or whatever. We did spend some time on the putt-putt greens, in the batting cages and at a nearby lake spotlighting gators. All in all, a pretty exhausting week, but 18 people in PCB on spring break ended up giving their lives to Christ through the Beach Reach ministry, so that's all that matters.

Most people were really open to talking about their faith, although most were drunk. One girl from Chicago, who crammed into our van with 14 other people – two-thirds of them drunk – told me that earlier in the day she had pooped in the ocean and thrown it at her friends (while she was drunk, of course). Another girl hopped aboard the Dodgeballa (our Chevy Express van) bawling her eyes out cause she had just thrown up in front of her newfound guy friends after she drank too much. And of course, the hippies/convicted felons we befriended who are driving around the country living in their van and smoking pot at night. The stories could go on for days...

The weather was awesome...80s the first few days we were there, then kinda cool around 70 on Wednesday and Thursday with no waves at all in the ocean. But it was still 10 times nicer than the rain and 40s we've got in Oxford right now.

You can keep up with the crew down there this week doing van rides and their prayer needs in real time at this site: Beach Reach Live

Accepted to law school...now what?

2006-02-07T23:31:00.000-06:00

Well, I received my acceptance letter from Ole Miss Law on Saturday, so that ended about half a year of efforts and worries. Now, all I have to do is sign on the dotted line. I'm pretty excited about the opportunity. Just one step closer to taking down the ACLU, haha. I haven't applied to any other schools, mainly because Ole Miss is just as good in quality as any of the other public schools in the South (except for maybe Georgia) and A LOT cheaper.

But now I've also got another path to consider. The journalism teacher from Oxford High School has announced her retirement and several teachers have encouraged me to apply for her job. I think it would be a fun couple of years to teach journalism, maybe a government/politics class and help coach baseball. It would be a fun change of pace and an opportunity to save money for law school. But, then again, it would require a few more headaches in getting certified for a teaching license and would mean I wouldn't have a law degree until I'm like 27. Man, that seems like a long way away.

So, I dunno. I don't plan on rushing into a decision, but I do plan on giving it a lot of thought, discussing it with a lot of people and praying about it. There could even be something else out there I don't know about that could pop up and be an even better option to choose than the two paths I've got before me now. I guess we'll see.

Google News

Konnection 2006

2006-01-09T20:10:00.000-06:00

How about spending a few days of winter break in Hicktown, USA, a.k.a. Branson, Mo.? It turned out to be pretty fun road tripping with my buddies from LSU and Mississippi College and of course getting to meet back up with old friends from Kanakuk. But we can't forget the great musical performances by Lecrae and Shawn McDonald. I got to see Lecrae at Kanakuk a couple of times, but he was still "crunk," and Shawn M was good even though he forgot the words to two songs (one of them being Amazing Grace!)

Miles McPherson, a former San Diego Charger and pastor of Rock Church in San Diego, spoke to us about how we are like diamonds, and God is the one who cuts away all the trash to give us our "bling." He challenged us to look at what our bling factor is – how well do we shine God's love back out to other people... Marvin Daniels, the director of Kids Across America, spoke about how God has demonstrated his provisions and protection and presence and why we are to give him glory in everything we do... Tommy Nelson, the pastor of Denton Bible Church in Texas, gave us a challenge of being a servant of others like Christ did when he washed the feet of his disciples. Overall, learned some pretty cool stuff during the sessions.

CHINA!

2005-12-30T16:08:00.000-06:00

Now that I have pretty much readjusted to Central Standard Time and recovered from the jet leg after our 16-hour plane flight, I figured I should post a few things about my trip to China.

A team of nine of us from the college ministry at First Baptist here in Oxford and a couple guys from Richmond, Va., spent about a week and a half in one of the world's largest countries, a place where the economy is growing faster than any on earth and where the government embraces atheism. Our mission was building relationships with students on a university campus and sharing with them the true meaning of Christmas and showing them the love of Jesus Christ.

We spent a couple days in Hong Kong upon our arrival to get over the jet lag before heading into mainland China. It felt more like a Chinese New York City than a true place of China. We visited a gigantic Buddha statue, and during the bus ride there we spent about an hour having conversations with high school students from a school in the city. Between our visit to this statue and the Buddhist temple we visited in the mainland, it was pretty eye-opening in regards to the lostness of this region.

When we arrived in our target city in southern China (which I'm not allowed to name on public Web sites), we traveled to a remote village that was home to an English teacher from the university we were working at. They lived in conditions we would imagine resembled over a century ago, yet they were all content with their lives and were loving toward their families and visitors like us. The villagers spoke little or no English, and it was concerning to think about the fact that Coca-Cola has reached places that the gospel has not yet reached...

In the village, we got to eat some pretty interesting food, such as pork liver and pork intestines. That made the ride back to the city down and around the mountains a little nauseating. But we also were able to visit a couple of schools and teach them about the English language and about Christmas. I almost got mobbed while handing out pencils to little kids.

At the university we stayed at, which was near the city of Kunming, I developed close friendships with several guys named Isaac, Mickey and Ken, as well as a few others. We spent much of our time playing basketball, ping pong, snook (billiards), badminton and whatever else they could come up with. Those little jokers can play some ball, now. They may be shorter than us, but they are used to the high altitude and have lots of energy because of their high-carb diet. Most of these students are either Buddhists, agnostics or atheists. It is a vast mission field filled with millions of lost people that needs lots of workers.

I also had the opportunity to be a guest on the campus radio station one night and was able to read the Christmas story from the Bible and share our Christmas beliefs and traditions. It was pretty cool compared to the radio work I do here at Ole Miss.

In the end, we all survived the "squatty potty."

No doubt, it was a life-changing experience and God showed me a lot of things. There's not enough room on here to explain all that and tell everything else we encountered and learned in China. What a fascinating place. Just wanted to give a brief glimpse of our journey.

Click here to see a few dozen pics from my trip.

Ole Miss overtakes M-State as worst team in SEC

2005-11-27T21:53:00.000-06:00

The last time Mississippi State won the Egg Bowl, I was still an aspiring young lad at Oxford High School, busy leading the Charger newspaper and getting ready for my final baseball season for the Chargers. That was four years ago and seems like forever. State has not had a winning record since 2000 and has owned the Western Division cellar since then — but not anymore. Ole Miss now holds the title to that claim, getting humiliated in the Egg Bowl on Saturday by three touchdowns. It could have been even worse.

So after a second straight losing season for the Rebels, where does the program go from here? Well, first-year coach Ed Orgeron has already fired offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone and who knows who is yet to be canned (or who will get out before it's too late). The whole Mazzone situation has been interesting from day one, with Orgeron forcing Mazzone to run the West Coast offense, something he's never done before, because it worked at USC (nevermind guys named Palmer, Leinart and Bush with some serious hardware). The Rebel players aren't much further back on the learning curve than Mazzone.

Rumor has it that QB Ethan Flatt will not return for his final season of eligibility after receiving his degree in May. And junior Patrick Willis could bolt for the NFL in April. Who would blame him? He led the SEC in tackles despite injuries to every limb on his body and it's not like things will get better in Hotty Toddy Land next season. Looking at the senior poster on my wall here next to my computer, the entire front four linemen on defense are gone, as are the top three receivers, Spurlock, and two offensive linemen, as well as a couple other starters here and there.

Hey, Pete, at least baseball season is less than three months away...

LSAT's history...FINALLY

2005-10-03T22:36:00.000-05:00

Most people probably wondered where I ran off to over the last two or three weeks. The culprit was this thing called the LSAT, what they say is the single-most important factor in determining a person's qualifications for law school. So, I figured I better put in the time to study for it. I finished it Saturday just as the Mississippi State-LSU game kicked off around 1:30. It's one of those tests you hope you never have to take again so you won't have to miss a whole 'nuther morning of college football.

How'd I do? Well, I didn't ace it, didn't bomb it, but probably did well enough to be competitive at most area schools. I guess we'll find out for sure here in three weeks.

Anyways, that means I've got some more free time now....so....tennis anyone?

Ole Miss Chopper?

2005-09-23T15:38:00.000-05:00

Ole Miss athletic teams have been without Colonel Reb for two years now. But it appears that some semblance of a symbol for the Rebels will make its debut at Saturday's Ole Miss-Wyoming football game.

The Ole Miss Chopper, a fangled looking motorcycle emblazoned with Rebel emblems, a Rebel football helmet and other customizations, was designed by the Orange County Choppers made famous by their show on the Discovery Channel. It will lead the team out of the tunnel before the game Saturday night.

This appears to go with the "macho" attitude that Coach "O" has brought with him to the program. The chopper fits nicely with O's black Hummer H2. All this would seem OK if the Rebels actually played with the toughness and "macho" attitude it is trying to protray. When you give up over 500 yards to Vanderbilt — who cares if Vandy is 3-0 after wins over their ACC equivalent in Wake Forest and the new bottom-feeder in the SEC West, Arkansas — then you have some problems.

Oh well. They say the bike will be raffled off at the end of the year to raise money for Katrina relief, scholarships and for the student-athlete tutoring center.

Katrina's Face

2005-09-14T22:42:00.000-05:00

Just a few of the pictures from my trip to the Mississippi Coast over the weekend:

I assume there used to a be a nice house sitting here (Waveland)

Ummm...yeah (Waveland)

"FEMA hung up on me...they said they were too busy to help" (Wavleand)

Ironic how calm and clean the beach is now...but notice the concrete structures of former large houses in the distance (Waveland)

Most of the trees around the destroyed beachfront homes had clothes hanging in them with broken plates and other household items scattering the sand below

An awesome kid named Noah I met at the distribution point outside of Picayune (Gumpond)

Some of my buddies from the same place...these guys just need some tough love (Gumpond)

Paul about gets whacked in the face at the PRCC BSU center...gotta have some fun (Poplarville)

I got to help with the cooking efforts at FBC-Biloxi (Biloxi)

This statue of Jesus was one of the only manmade structures left standing in this location near the beach (Bay St. Louis)

This used to be Highway 90 that connected Bay St. Louis to Gulfport (Bay St. Louis)

Katrina showed no love (Bay St. Louis)

And...if those aren't enough, here are some more pics from the trip!

Hurricane Katrina...storm of the century?

2005-08-30T22:38:00.000-05:00

Easily the most costly hurricane in U.S. history and possibly the deadliest, Katrina, has come and gone and left its damage. The effects were so widespread that my power here at Campus Creek was knocked out for nearly 24 hours and even power in Memphis was out in many spots most of the day today.

Damage on the coast is indescribable. The situation in New Orleans is only getting worse as the water continues to rise in the city. The pictures coming across the AP wire today show casinos that were lifted by the seas and carried across Highway 90 and sat down on top of existing hotels. Water has filled the streets of New Orleans and bodies have been seen floating along the surface. The loss of life in Mississippi is staggering. The death toll in New Orleans is uncountable at this point.

Here is just a small glimpse of what perhaps the worst hurricane in history left here in the town of Oxford...which is over five hours from the coast:

click here

Back in Oxford

2005-08-15T12:19:00.000-05:00

Well, after about three months in the Ozarks of Missouri, I am now back in Oxford. At Kanakuk, a high-intensity Christian sports kamp organization with eight kamps in Missouri and Colorado, I had the opportunity to work with kids ages 7-11 the first half of the summer and high school kids the last half of the summer. Needless to say, the high school kids were a little more fun and K-2 was a little more exciting, but it was all good. I know for sure that I'll miss all the relationships with so many kids that I developed, especially at K-2.

The last day of camp was marred by a fire that swept through the girls side of camp, destroying eight of the 20 girls' cabins and two bathhouses. But the bright side is that the last kid left about an hour before it happened and they had planned on
doing some renovations anyway.

I've got a lot to do this week before school starts, but hopefully I'll get a more thorough update on here soon.

My laptop's hard drive is sick right now, so it may be awhile before I can starting making some frequent posts again. In the meantime, check out just a fraction of my pictures from the summer by clicking on the link in the post below (July 27: Summer Update Part II).

Summer Update: Part 2 (As in, K-2!)

2005-07-27T17:15:00.000-05:00

After nearly two months of hanging out with the elementary kids (7- through 11-year-olds) at K-Kountry in Branson, I moved up to Kanakuk's high school kamp, K-2, out here in Lampe on July 14. Not only is K-2 where Kanakuk owner and president Joe White is director, it's got the most kids of any other Kanakuk kamp (close to 500 two-weekers and four-weekers combined). It is sprawled out along 170 acres of rolling Ozark hills, nestled on a bluff above shimmering Table Rock Lake.

So, how fun has K-2 been? These pictures will help you understand: (These are just a sample from the roughly 12,000 pictures I have taken since I arrived here in the Ozarks back in May.)

While my main job has still been sports and feature photography, I have had a chance to work on several big progjects that have generated Kanakuk thousands of dollars toward ministering to kids from across the country, and there has been plenty of time to hang out with kids playing sports. The other day, I got finished with my quota of action shots early, so while I was hanging out with the baseball specialty guysup at the fields, they challenged me to join them in a home run derby. They
learned their lesson after I tied for the win. It was great to see that I haven't lost a whole lot of pop in my bat (regradless of how little I had in the first place; I was a pitcher in high school, haha). I've also been able to go play out on the lake, goof around in the pool, and every now and then work on my forehand.

Sports is the main thing at Kanakuk...from 9:30 until 6:30 everyday except Sunday, the kids are out playing sports, with a two-hour break in the middle for lunch and a rest period. So it has been really trying the last week or so with the heat around 100 degrees each day with little rain. Thankfully, last night a storm came through and it hasn't made it out of the 70s yet today. Hopefully the unbearable heat is over with for the summer. One night last week, the power went out at K-2, and when
the fans don't work it can be pretty miserable and impossible to sleep. Some of the guys in my cabin went down to the dock and slept in the boats.

Maybe the best part of being at K-2 has been being around Joe White and getting to hear him speak pretty frequently. He speaks to thousands of college students and adults each year at events around the country, and he has authored several books. So far, I have been able to hear him speak on creation and how scientists are now admitting that darwinism is impossible; purity; having passion for the Lord; and how current events point to the Bible's prophecies of the end times and the second coming of Christ. I've also been in a discipleship training class with the K-2
men's director, David Liggitt, which has really been helpful in putting in perspective how to lead others to Christ, which is what Jesus commands us to do in Mark 28:19, the "Great Commission."

This summer has also given me the chance to do some reading that I normally don't have time to do during the school year. So far, I've gone through Taming the Bull (a biography of former NFL linebacker and Memphis native, John "Bull" Bramlett), The Ragamuffin Gospel, The Hiding Place (a biography of Corrie ten Boom) and Becoming a Contagious Christian. Right now I'm reading Courting Disaster (a book that takes a look at how the U.S. Supreme Court and its tributaries have recently usurped the
laws and traditions this country was founded on in favor of liberal agendas). And speaking of such, I have been able to spend some quality time with my LSAT prep materials. My practice test scores have been steadily improving, but I still have quite a bit of work to do before Oct. 1 rolls around.

Anyways, I have a little over two weeks left here at Kanakuk, and hopefully it will be the most rewarding two weeks of the summer! I know that I'll have an overloaded schedule when I get back to Oxford, so I need to enjoy the Ozarks while I can. See you soon!

How about a little summer update?

2005-06-21T17:11:00.000-05:00

For teh last month I have been serving at Kanakuk Kamps in Branson, Mo., a high-intensity Christian sports camp organization, doing PR work - mainly sports and feature photography. It has been exhausting, to say the least. Every morning begins around 7:45 a.m. and I work hard and play hard until my head hits the pillow in my un-air conditioned cabin called Pebble Beach around midnight.

I remember back in the spring taking this job because I wanted to serve God this summer and have some fun doing it, especially since I graduate next May and will have to buckle down. I would say that I am accomplishing that goal so far.

Since Kanakuk opened for kids on June 1, I have taken over 4,500 pictures to post on the Internet for parents to peruse and purchase. I have had a chance to get to know a few of the kids really well, even a couple guys from back in Oxford and a really great baseball player from Starkville. We sat up late the other night talking Mississippi State football, which was a nice relief from the stress and tiring work of Kanakuk. The little girls in the most recent group of kids have been hilarious. I have received six love letters from different kids ranging from 7- to 9-years-old, saying things such as "Steven, your big shiny camera is so romantic."

When I'm not shooting pictures or working in the office, I'm either out playing sports with the kids, hanging out in the pool or reading/writing. I'm also working on LSAT prep for the test on Oct. 1.

On my nights off (about five or six per month, depending on the schedule) or days off, I get to explore Branson, usually with five to 10 other college kids from Kanakuk. It could quite possibly be the biggest redneck town on the planet, with Hillbilly Kitchen over there and Hicks from the Sticks country store over here, along with other similar establishments dotting the luminous and bustling strip through downtown. However, my distaste for country music doesn't mean I don't find Branson fascinating. They have comedy shows (including Jeff Foxworthy on July 3), magic shows, a lot of throwback stuff and plenty of water parks and putt courses - not to mention the beautiful vistas of the Ozarks and many lakes just outside of town.

A drive about 20 miles southwest of town will take you to the camp I will be staying at in late July and early August, K2. There you will find amazing views of the mountains and valleys that give the Ozarks its reputation. During staff training week, we all went to an upscale resort on the side of a mountain called Big Cedar Lodge for its evening Memorial Day celebration. The resort was essentially located in the bottom of a valley on a lake between two tall mountains. On one side of the lake, a mountain was covered with old-style stores and restaurants, and on the other side of the lake small cabins and luxury condos dotted the hill, while an orange and purple sunset spilled into the valley and shot up vibrant colors off Table Rock Lake. It was awesome.

So that's just a glimpse of how my summer is going so far. Needless to say, it is a lot more fun and has been much better for spiritual growth than my time in Jackson last summer working for the Clarion-Ledger. But, I do miss the freedom and flexibility of a regular 40-hour a week job.

My Internet access at Kanakuk is limited, but I can access Yahoo mail each day, so send me a message at stevenjgriffin@yahoo.com! I would love to hear from you.

O'Charleys coming to Oxford...who's next?

2005-05-17T20:42:00.000-05:00

On the heels of Applebee's re-opening on West Jackson Avenue, O'Charleys recently disclosed plans to build a restaurant of its own in front of Home Depot across from Chili's.

Great news, for sure. My only question is can a town with about 25,000 residents from the middle of August through the middle of May (about 12,000 the rest of the year, including Christmas break) support so many big chain restaurants? The commercial boom that has taken place in West Oxford over the last four or five years, spurred by the new Wal-Mart Supercenter, has brought in the likes of Applebee's, Chili's, and several other smaller chains, such as Quiznos, Zaxby's and Lenny's.

So, the big question is what will be next — either next to open a new chain in town or next to go out of business because of the competitive market. How about an Olive Garden? Or Outback Steakhouse. Or what about Barnhills — at $5.99 for an all-you-can-eat country lunch buffet, that place would be packed daily. There's already a Barnhills in Starkville, Columbus and Tupelo. Cici's would be nice, as well.

Another year in the books

2005-05-16T13:27:00.000-05:00

It seems like only last week that I was toiling away in the newsroom of the Clarion-Ledger down in Jackson anxiously awaiting the start of my junior year in college. This had to be one of the fastest — but probably the most productive — year since I've been at Ole Miss.

Here are just a few highlights (and lowlights) from 2004-2005:

• The first week of school was marked by tragedy. Just days after a roommate's mother died, the ATO fratnerity house burned down, killing three students. I received a call that morning from an editor around 7 a.m. and was on the scene shortly thereafter. I had a story on the Clarion-Ledger web site by 8:30 a.m., the first story about the fire that day.

• During the fall semester and part of the spring semester I worked alongside two other guys on 92 Sportsline, a sports talk show on Rebel Radio.

• Helped carry the goal posts around Scott Field with my Gator-fanatic friend, Joe, after Mississippi State shocked Florida 38-31 in Starkville.

• Watched Ole Miss go through its first losing football season in eight years. Subsequently, a great man was fired because his boss insisted on micromanaging his team. Now, Ole Miss has a former drunk and former alleged wife-beater as its coach.

• Saw the long process of chartering a chapter of Alpha Phi Omega on the Ole Miss campus finally come to fruition with a ceremony in December.

• Got all four of my wisdom teeth cut out a week later.

• At the end of December, a friend and I flew to Denver for a national leadership conference. We had a chance to ride up to Boulder, and ended up doing some bouldering on the Flatirons west of town.

• During January and February, I was a head coach for Upward Basketball, a Christian youth basketball league designed to teach children about Christ through the game of basketball. We finished second place after blowing an 11-point lead in our final game of the year.

• I ran for ASB Senate and won. Served until April, working on the Academic Affairs committee.

• I applied for a job at Kanakuk and got it. Will be doing public relations, mainly photography and feature writing, this summer in Branson, Mo.

• Saw a lecture by Prince Edward of England while doing a story for the Clarion-Ledger in February.

• I got to teach two fifth-grade classes at Central Elementary about the writing process and how newspaper reporters do their job. I also have had the pleasure of hanging out with their rockin' student teacher, Miss Parker.

• In my first-ever competitive tennis tournament, I won the intramural intermediate singles championship.

• I applied for ASB Cabinet and got it. Will serve as the Director of Communications through April 2006.

• Got muddy while standing in the rain to see Switchfoot at Memphis in May.

• Finished a third year of writing for the Oxford Eagle.

• And finally, out of the 11 classes I took in the fall and spring semesters, I ended up with 10 As and one B. Can't complain there.

Looking foward to August already.

Campus Creek SUED!

2005-05-07T17:02:00.000-05:00

Pretty much everyone has heard horror stories about living at Campus Creek. The extremely unethical and rude management staff. The multitude of maintenance problems. The unsightly ditch running through the middle of the property. The community was even sold back in January, just FIVE MONTHS after it opened!

Now, you have a valid reason to believe that Campus Creek is headed up the creek without a paddle. The company that owned the property and developed Campus Creek last year, PRS Management, has been sued for $155,000 by a local construction company for compensation it never received. The lawsuit was filed in Lafayette County Circuit Court earlier this week. Why did I renew my lease? This place may be shut down by this time next year. Most places that don't pay their bills don't make it very long.

Top 10 things I thanked God for today

2005-05-04T20:19:00.000-05:00

10.) Dr. Dolan- Was late to class (a couple minutes later than me, anyway)
9.) My job- Rent money doesn't grow on trees...well, I guess it does; but somebody's gotta pay for those trees
8.) Chapstick- Gotta have it
7.) Pancakes- The best breakfast fill-me-up
6.) Contact Lenses- Need to be able to see clearly
5.) Tennis balls- They've just got that unique brand new smell (and are fun to hit)
4.) Ace Atkins- Told me I am exempt from doing the final project in his class :-D
3.) Patience- I go to Ole Miss, have to have it
2.) My family- They always put up with me
1.) SALVATION!

Here are a few pics from El Charro Monday night:

Me and Jordan after finding out that Monta may go to State after all

Chase telling the waiter he can't find his fork in Spanish

Jessi and Turner

Emmett Till's body to be exhumed; maybe Southern Studies wasn't just a waste

2005-05-04T13:23:00.000-05:00

I remember sitting in my Southern Studies class last fall thinking about how bored I was and how the professors (both of whom are from the North) called out all White southerners as racists as we talked about one murder and civil wrong after another after another.

One such event we studied was the brutal slaying of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black who was beaten to death in August of 1955 and thrown in the Tallahatchie River in the Mississippi Delta. His multi-day wake and funeral was covered by the national media and turned all attention to the civil rights struggle that was still taking place in the South. Although an all-white jury found the accused murderers innocent, the men later admitted in an interview with a national magazine to killing the boy.

Today, almost 50 years later, the FBI announced that Till's body will be exhumed to collect DNA evidence and see if they can determine who was to blame for his murder. It's a cold case that should be reexamined. The murders of three people in Neshoba County in 1964 was recently reinvestigated after a series of stories by The Clarion-Ledger, and a grand jury handed down an indictment for Ed Killen late last year.

So, while I still believe that my Southern Studies profs last fall were a little ignorant in their assertions about racism, it did happen. And if a life was taken, the person who committed that crime should be held accountable.

Earthquake rocks Mid-South

2005-05-02T14:08:00.000-05:00

Yesterday afternoon, my roommate and I told each other how we had been woken up around 7:30 that morning because of what we thought was the door slamming. He said it was so loud that it shook his bed. We both thought it was just our obnoxious roommate coming in or leaving (our fourth roommate was at home for the weekend).

Then today we saw in the news that a 4.1 magnitude earthquake hit along the New Madrid fault near Manila, Ark. The tremor happened at 7:37 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and it was felt in five states: Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and MISSISSIPPI (as you can see in the graphic below). Is that cool or what?

Beale Street Music (Mud) Festival

2005-05-01T18:18:00.000-05:00

There's a reason they say not to wear sandals or good shoes to Memphis in May. Tom Lee Park was in its muddiest form this weekend for the annual event that draws hundreds of thousands of people and some of the best bands around. But, after investing in a poncho and later pulling out the boots it turned out to be a fun time.

Switchfoot, a Christian rock group that recently crossed over to mainstream venues, was awesome and they have a new album coming out in August. Nickle Creek has some very talented musicians. I've never seen a mandelin (sp) played like that. Of course I've rarely seen one played. Collective Soul was really good, and the Killers and Nelly had good performances as well, even though both stages had fans packed together tighter than sardines. Perhaps the most entertaining set of the night came from KC and the Sunshine Band. Now that group has been around for awhile (KC said they used to be our parents' 'NSYNC'). They had that place rockin with "Shake shake shake, shake your booty" and "That's the way, uh-huh uh-huh, I like it." Ok, so enough of that.

How about a pic or three?

Nelly rocks the Autozone stage

Hangin out by the river (yeah that's a sillhoutte of me)

God can create some pretty cool scenes, can't he?

Strong rally fuels intramural championship

2005-04-28T23:23:00.000-05:00

Today I finished playing in my first real tennis tournament, with a 6-8, 6-2, 6-3 victory in the final championship match over my nemesis, the other Steven (with a different last name) in a marathon match that lasted three hours, five minutes. I don't think I've ever played in windier conditions in my life than what we had today. Talk about constant adjusting.

I feel like I can brag about this win because this is a new hobby I've been working on for awhile now, and this was the first competitive tennis I've played besides messing around with friends. Since they don't have baseball leagues for guys who are 20-years-old, I figure this must be the next best thing for competition. Heck, there are even 65-year-old people who play tennis in USTA leagues.

The only tennis lessons I have ever taken were when I was about 8 or 9 years old for like four weeks one summer at the Oxford Country Club. Wait...Oxford has a country club you ask? Exactly, that's how long ago it was. But I am planning on taking a tennis class in the fall. My serve is horrible! At least compared to everybody else's...

My ultimate goal is to someday be able to beat Andy Roddick (he would probably have to have two broken legs and a eye patch over his left eye for that to happen).

Collapse of the big media?

2005-04-27T09:32:00.000-05:00

The spring issue of Wilson Quarterly touches on an interesting topic. It explores how the media has evolved over the last decade or so and how the American people are starved for real news nowadays.

I can definitely concur with the author that pack journalism is the rule of the day (laziness is what I call it), and television news has no doubt become sensational in every way. That's why we are now seeing TV network news stations cover these kidnappings and cases like Terri Schiavo and manhunts for sex offenders around the clock non-stop. It's riveting (for some). I would even dare to say that competition has so overwhelmingly become the ultimate factor that the news has been turned into "entertainment" (news-tainment).

The author seems to chastise editors and producers for hiring young "marketers" rather than "journalists," but I'm not sure they have much other choice. It's called competition or ratings, and if your product isn't as good or better than the other guy's then you're not going to sell adveterising and make money. The Clarion-Ledger created zoned editions last summer while I was there to provide community news for the three counties in the metro area, and while this may not be the best journalistic concept out there, it sure as heck is making a lot of money. I'm guessing that was the primary purpose for creating the zoned editions.

He is also correct in his assertion that the news has become little tidbits and quick hit type news, rather than the traditional in-depth features. I know that may not be the most appealing thing for the intelligent minds of America, but there there are a lot of media consumers who don't care for sitting down and spending 10-15 minutes reading a 1,500-2,000 word piece. They just want the "wham, bam, thank ya, ma'am!" quick hits, and much of this is due to the development of the Internet and wireless messaging. New technology has driven the market to want everything now now now. I'm not sure how long it will be before traditional in-depth reporting will return as the primary media product, but probably not anytime soon.

I think he is hitting on something with reaching the young market, those 18-34. It seems like when people are in college and when people just get out into the workforce they are at the point in their lives when they most tend to question everything, voice their own opinions without fear of recourse and develop their own perspectives on key issues in the world. That's why Fox News has become so popular among the younger crowd, because they have a lot of young people on there and they are constantly bringing in "experts" or the "insiders" to debate issues and argue back and forth about whose perspective is right. There is very little actual, force-fed news reporting on Fox, and young people seem to hate being told what to believe. They love bickering, because they do a lot of it themselves. There is
even an online Fox News fan group at Ole Miss with over 200 members, but there aren't any for the other news networks. (It may also be due to the fact that Fox's top news anchor,
Shepard Smith, is an Ole Miss graduate). The local TV stations are so strapped with not having enough reporters to do the job that they have to be sensational to grab attention.

http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=wq.welcome

Barbour making progress; signs bill to allow display of religious texts

2005-04-22T09:23:00.000-05:00

Governor Haley Barbour doesn't have much to hang his hat on so far during his reign atop Mississippi, but he finally made a bold, admirable move Thursday when he signed into law a bill that will allow religious texts to be displayed in public buildings.

Local boards will now be able to choose whether or not to display documents such as the Ten Commandments, the Beattitudes, or the "In God We Trust" posters. The latter have been hanging in all Mississippi classrooms since 2001. The bill follows a nasty incident in Alabama last year where a state leader lost his job because he refused to order the removal of a monument honoring the Ten Commandments at the state Capitol building.

The display of religious texts has become a national point of debate because of the Alabama mess, and the U.S. Supreme Court is set to make a ruling on the issue by late June.

Hopefully, our local, state and national leaders will follow the principles this nation was founded on — freedom and a high respect for God Almighty.

Razzano trial moves to fourth day

2005-04-20T20:23:00.000-05:00

The aggravated assault trial of former Ole Miss fullback Rick Razzano continued Wednesday in Lafayette County Circuit Court with the prosecution presenting eyewitnesses of a fight that took place between Razzano and a former law student.

A grand jury indicted Razzano last June for allegedly slamming Paul Myers, 25, into a parked vehicle and then punching Myers in the head on a street curb until he was unconcsious. Myers was taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi where he received stitches for a head injury and treated for a concussion before being released.

Razzano also faces three counts of misdemeanor simple assault in the April 3, 2004, incident. His wife, Leah, was charged with two counts of simple assault. Rick Razzano could receive up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the felony assault charge.

Assistant district attorney T.R. Trout on Wednesday called several witnesses of the incident to testify that Razzano was verbally abusive and aggressive toward Myers and eight of his friends who accompanied him. On cross examination, Farese argued that Razzano was enticed to react to taunts and threats made by Myers and his friends.

Myers and his sister, Marjorie, filed a civil suit against Razzano on April 1 seeking actual and punitive damages totaling $225,000 for personal injuries suffered in the altercation.

Braves minor league baseball in Mississippi...YES!

2005-04-19T08:27:00.000-05:00

The Atlanta Braves' Double-A squad lost their eighth game in 11 tries Monday night. But why doesn't that matter? Because they made their home debut at their new ballpark in Pearl, Miss. Minor league baseball is finally back in the Magnolia State, and the icing on the cake is the fact that these guys are one breakout season away from jumping to Turner Field.

This is also great for the state of Mississippi. The Braves' only rival among the state's major league baseball fans is the Cardinals, and we already have their Triple-A team in Memphis. Perhaps Oxford's location only an hour from Memphis and a little over two hours from Pearl makes it the perfect place to live if you can't have a major league park nearby.

Also note that the M-Braves' designated hitter is Michael Rosamond. Sound familiar? It's probably because not too long ago the Madison native was launching baseballs out of Swayze Field at Ole Miss.

Don't expect this club to fold anytime soon, either, as previous minor league teams in the Mets and Astros' systems have done over at Smith Wills Stadium downtown. The M-Braves are locked into their contract at Trustmark Park for 20 years, and the Braves' fan base in Mississippi is strong enough to keep the turnstiles turning.

The DM runs white supremacist ad

2005-04-15T14:25:00.000-05:00

An advertisement appearing in The Daily Mississippian today is promoting the suppression of minority groups because it says "diversity is a weakness, not a strenth." The ad claims that by the middle of this century, whites will be the minority in the U.S. and that "for whites to celebrate diversity is to celebrate their dwindling numbers and declining influence."

The organization, American Renaissance, is based in Oakton, Va., and claims to focus on how race shapes the development of world culture and politics. The 30-inch ad that ran in today's DM clearly shows their dissent for other ethnic groups. But check out the Web site — the main page has a bright red banner at the top welcoming Ole Miss students! It also gives links to articles it recently ran about the university!

I'm not sure if AmRen does these kinds of ad campaigns for universities across the country or if they picked a select few they thought were racist-minded. They are surely aware of the history of Ole Miss, whether or not it is still accurate, and they probably recall the strong support to keep Colonel Reb in place last year. They are probably also aware of the state's recent vote to keep the Confederate battle emblem in its state flag. Maybe we as Mississippians have brought this kind of attention on ourselves, who knows.

I also have to question the DM staff for allowing this type of ad run. Freedom of speech or not, this type of speech could cause the direct incitement of hate or perhaps violence and should not be tolerated. I want to assume that nobody checked this group out, but maybe the money was the most important factor. I don't know. I hope it was just a mistake. But it should be noted that the DM made over $200 from running the ad.

UPD caught engaging in extortion?

2005-04-15T09:28:00.000-05:00

The University (MS) Police Department has always been known to be shady and in it for the money. To boil it down, the agency is essentially another fundraising arm of Ole Miss. Don't believe me?

Try asking six Ole Miss students who reportedly had their vehicles towed from the Ford Center parking lot Wednesday afternoon because the university wanted that space to be empty for an event being held later that night. Nevermind that the area is zoned open parking and the barriers around the parking lot did not go up until midday, well after class had already begun. I guess UPD expects students to magically know when to move their cars so that people who do not even attend Ole Miss can have their designated parking spaces.

Just to put this in perspective, each of those students had to pay $85 to retrieve their car from Shivers Towing. If they returned to their car while it was being loaded on a truck, they only had to pay $45.

We are....Ole Miss! We are....Ole Miss!

ASB gets interim attorney general

2005-04-14T21:42:00.000-05:00

After an hour and a half Senate debate resulted in Caroline Dye's rejection as the nominee for attorney general Tuesday, recently-inaugurated ASB Presdient Rebecca Bertrand has named Ryan Williams as the interim attorney general.

Williams, who served as former President Gordon Fellows' AG, will oversee the upcoming senior class elections and serve until the conclusion of the spring semester. Bertrand will bring a new nominee before the Senate for confirmation at the beginning of the fall term.

The disappointing thing about the whole situation is how the Senate handled Dye's confirmation hearing. They made an all-out attack on her experience in the ASB, and questioned whether she had the knowledge or ability to do the job more effectively than anyone else (specifically, more effectively than Marc Walker). They decided by a 23-7 vote that she does not. But Bertrand will appoint an extremely qualified person who will do a great job, and in the meantime, the Cabinet will move forward and work for the students (something the Senate has seemed to forget about).

The Senate is a peculiar body. I had the privilege to serve the university for three months this spring as a liberal arts senator before joining Cabinet, and I came to find out the complexities and politics that exist. It is almost "cliquish" in a sense, and it seems that the Senate will not allow anyone any real power in the organization unless they have served time in the Senate. Apparently, you don't understand the ASB unless you are a senator. Even if you serve on the judicial council, you apparently don't have the knowledge it takes to interpret ASB Code. Nothing personal against anybody in Senate, but things are getting out of hand, guys.