My name is Jeremy. You can't have my last name, sorry. In fact, you can't even be sure that Jeremy is my real first name. Because this is the internet, that's why. I might be a 48-year-old guy named George from Massachusetts smoking marijuana listening to hip-hop, and you'd never know. I might even be Larry King. How could you tell?
But, you can call me Jeremy. I'm currently a Junior at Bob Jones University. (Betchya would have never guessed that if I hadn't told you!) Just to dispel a myth about BJU right now: It's not a racist institution. There's no ban on interracial dating. We did have such a ban at one point, but it's been gone for years. (In fact, the ban would probably have been lifted sooner had some idiot not tried to sue the university over it and (successfully) revoked our tax-exempt status. BJU doesn't like to be pressured into decisions, especially by legal coercion. The institution moves slowly and cautiously, but, generally, in the right direction.) Dr. Bob has never once preached against interracial dating in chapel in my time there. BJU treats people the same, regardless of race. That's probably why they're called racist; they don't pander to minorities.
ANYway, back to me! I'm majoring in Comprehensive Business Management, and minoring in Public Relations Writing. I don't know what I'm doing with my life yet. I really like my Operations Management Class (Hi Mr. Wilch!), so I might look into that direction. I think It'd be really cool to set up my own business that sells board/card games, following the Comfy Chair Revolution line of thinking.
Religiously, I'm still deciding. I've gotten to the point where I'm starting to question what I've always been taught. I try to keep an open mind, realizing that even though people I love and respect believe something, that doesn't necessarily mean that they're right. Their viewpoints are important, and I'm always willing to listen, but in the end the decision of what I believe is up to me.
Politically, I'm from minarchist branch of libertarianism. That means I believe government has legitimate functions, but not many of them. The point of government is to protect the citizens from those who would do them harm, within and without. So, the government should consist of national defense and criminal justice. Not entitlement programs, environmental studies, or education. Oh, and they can print money too. They did a decent job setting up an interstate highway system, but I think the private sector can handle roadbuilding more efficiently from here.
One political issue I differ from BJU on is gay marriage. They seem to think that American society will collapse if the Federal Marriage Amendment isn't passed; I think that marriage is a religious issue that the government ought not to be involved in anyways.
In fact, this issue is like a number of others. I believe that the government ought not to intervene unless someone is threatened by physical danger or loss--so, government ought to protect us from murder, theft, rape, etc. On the other hand, the government ought not to try to protect me from myself or tell me how to live, as that's the function of my own personal ethics and/or religious beliefs. For example, it's no one's business but mine what chemicals I put into my body, so long as I don't steal my grandmother's social security check to pay for the drugs or kill somebody by driving under the influence of drugs. In other words, so long as I'm not hurting anyone else, I should be allowed to do whatever I want to do without fear of governmental involvement.
(In case you were wondering, that's the difference between libertarians and conservatives.)
Oh, and I was and am for the war in Iraq. See also, Bill Whittle.
Enough about politics already!
In addition to the traditional religious music that BJU promotes, I like Irish music. I also like bluegrass/"Appalachian" music. I don't like heavy metal or rap music, because I don't like music that makes me angry. I do like jazz piano, because it's pretty; you can follow it, but you don't know where it's going.
I think that Pirates of the Caribbean is about the best movie ever. Also, anything made by Pixar. (I love Toy Story 2.)
Relationships: I have two younger brothers, a mommy, a daddy, and a doggy. I couldn't ask for a better family. Seriously.
Oh, you meant with a girl. I'm still looking.
And, on that note, I'm going to end this post. I'm going to put this up on the sidebar so that anyone who cares can find out all about ME!!!!. I hope you enjoy reading my blog! (Leave comments!)
UPDATE: Because of comment spamming idiots, I've had to close comments on all of my Movable Type entries. If you want to add comments about this particular page, go here instead. Thanks!
Posted by Blog Jones at October 8, 2004 10:35 PM
| Category: Personal
Jeremy,
I emailed you recently, so you have my email address. I am wary of the spam-bots, and have heard that they can get addresses from comments pages like this. That may not necessarily be the case, but I get way too many solicitations for mortagages, off-shore pharmacies, a larger *ahem*, member, and all the rest. So I don't usually post my email address. Anyway, you mentioned liking bluegrass/appalachian - I assume you are probably aware of these guys anyway, but, in case you're not Allison Krauss & Union Station (AKUS) are a good choice. Also Nickel Creek - I have only their first album and liked it very well, but heard of too many people who were disappointed by their 2nd album. Of course, music is such a personal taste, that it could be their 2nd one is just fine, but we (my wife & I) have so many CDs already we're trying to pare back not stock up. Anyway, thanks for the personal info - makes you feel like you 'know' someone (even though really don't) a little more.
Actually, I hadn't heard about them before. Of the genres I mentioned, Bluegrass is the one I know the least about. I know a fair bit about Irish from an internet radio station called LiveIreland, so I know people like Planxty, Dervish, and Sean Keane, but I haven't found a good bluegrass station yet.
As far as paring back CD's: If you have a big enough hard drive, just use Windows Media Player to put all your CD's on your hard drive. (Or, invest in an iPod.) I did that a while back, and it makes finding what I want to listen to so much easier.
Posted by: Blog Jones at October 9, 2004 11:18 PMI started putting a lot of our CDs on our computer, but found that I really didn't listen to music on the computer very much. I got a cheap MP3 player a while back - and, as an aside...it was cheap, too. Got it from Circuit City for $20 after rebate (this was probably 2 years ago, when even the cheap ones were $50 min), and the first one was dead out of the box, took it back and exchanged it, and the next one worked, but it was a trip - the 'instructions' were written in broken English (I mean, some of it was just gibberish), so tech support or anything like that was out of the question. But it ended up working fine, for what it was. I just didn't use it much. I know there's people out there who swear by the Ipod and stuff like that, but it's still more expensive than I'm ready to deal with.
I don't know much at all about Irish music - about my only exposure is Riverdance (I've actually seen the show a couple times), but I think my wife knows more about things along those lines than I do. We just got a Clannad CD - they've got a different sound.
I don't know of a station around here that really plays 'bluegrass' - if I'm listening to the radio, I usually just listen to the country stations. 92.5 plays a lot of the older stuff, but that's hit-or-miss for my taste sometimes, too.
Now that I think about it, I've got some Flatt & Scruggs music too. They're best known for the 'beverly hillbillies' theme. And, they really are/were accomplished musicians, and should be remembered for much more than that - it's just that most people can identify with that right off the bat.
And about movies, I like Pirates of the Caribbean quite well, but, if you haven't seen 'Frequency' - well, you really need to. That's probably my favorite movie of the last 5+ years.
Anyway, enough stream-of-consciousness writing for me - hope it's not too disjointed (I'm not going to edit anything)
Hi Jeremy,
I was goggleing tonight and came across your blog. I graduated BJU back before you were born as a music major. In my 30's I took and passed the CPA exam and now have a private practice building accounting systems for international non-profits. I love what I do - every day is interesting.
If you're ever interested, I could tell you about BJU back in the 70's. There certainly was an undercurrent of racism when I was there - the Dr. Bobs (we had 2 of them then) were still preaching about the "curse of Hamm" from the Chapel pulpit. I am still suspicious. I'll believe they have changed when I see a black guy walk down the snail trail with a white girl. Maybe its happened already - send me pics if so.
BTW - when I graduated, there was only 1 African-american student. The other (very) few black students at BJU were from the west Indies. Don't believe them when they say they "integrated" back in the 60's. It was just a show.
Regarding gay marriage - civil marriage should not have anything to do with anyone's religious beliefs. Think about the rights and responsbilities which accrue with civil marriage; not one of them is contingent on the sex of the person. Why then, should it be required that marriage consist of a heterosexual couple? For religious marriage, that's really up to the church, isn't it?
I've had a 40gig iPod for over a year now. I can't imagine life without it, but I'm hopeing soon that Apple comes out with a bigger pod (yes, I know they have) and ALSO fixes the problems with the battery. Then I'll buy. Do you know some of the legends of piano jazz? Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Wynton Kelly, Mary Lou Williams, Tommy Flanigan? Good stuff - all of it.
gordo
Posted by: gordo at December 31, 2004 02:05 AMI don't think that the staff holds any racist attitudes. There aren't a lot of African-American students, but I think that's more because of the bad press calling BJU racist rather than any actual racism. That, and it's a widely-known conservative college, and African-Americans, as a demographic, tend to be more liberal.
Re: Gay Marriage: I agree completely. See here and here.
I just got a Zen Touch for Christmas; I love having every music CD in my house with me. It's great. But I hadn't heard of any of those names. ::opens iTunes:: Thanks!
Posted by: Blog Jones at January 5, 2005 11:20 PMI'm on the road 3 out of 4 weeks in a month and I couldn't do it without my iPod. Its great having 8000 tracks with me to do more serious listening than I would ever do at home. I bought a small set of speakers from Altec Lansing which work well in a hotel room, and also power the iPod.
Is there actual interracial dating going on at BJU? Just curious. I had two close friends at BJU - she's asian, he's caucasian - and they always wanted to date, but never could. He married a campus sister of mine, but she never married, and I think she's always stayed bitter about it.
Here's a link to (IMHO) the best article on gay marriage ever written - and it was written in 1989.
http://andrewsullivan.com/homosexuality.php?artnum=19890828
I sent you some music files - stuff you might find interesting.
I think there's some interracial dating, but not a whole lot. Not because it's against the rules or even discouraged, but because it's a predominantly white school.
Thanks for the link and for all the music. I'm downloading it now.
Posted by: Blog Jones at January 6, 2005 11:17 PMNot to beat a dead horse, but what are the thoughts of most students regarding inter-racial dating and marriage? What are your thoughts?
It seems that attitudes in the fundamentalist world have softened. My father is a fundamentalist Baptist minister - he and my mother used to be dead set against it, but now they don't seem to care. I'm not sure what happened and why, but there you go.
They also both attended their first movie in a movie theather this past year when their church sponsored The Passion. Amazing! And I had to sneak around to see the Star Wars movies way back when.
Are standards in fundamentalist circles changing?
Anything of the music you liked, let me know - I have plenty more.
Posted by: gordo at January 7, 2005 07:41 PMI think that there has been a change in the way fundamentalists look at interracial dating. Of course, over the past fifty years or so, there's been a change in the way *everybody* looks at interracial dating and other racial issues. As a society, we've come to our senses and realized that skin color is irrelevant to character.
I mean, I haven't taken a survey, but I think that interracial dating is a moral non-issue to most of the student body. I don't think anyone would be shocked by someone from Texas and someone from the Philipines marrying.
I really enjoyed the music, and I'll definitely have to look into some of their CD's. If you do send me any more, please send it to blogjones at gmail dot com instead of to blogjones at blogjones dot com. I especially enjoyed Back Water Blues and syl-o-gism.
Posted by: Blog Jones at January 8, 2005 01:43 AM