Monday, December 6, 2004

theological observations

Correspondent “The Rock” points out that the “first they came for the Jews” poem I quoted in my last post was written by the Reverend Martin Niemoller which is a good example of religious belief as a positive and noble thing. Despite the Rock’s egregious confusion of the proper terms of address for Protestant and Catholic clergy, he brings up a very good point. As the previous post noted, one of the major issues was the hindering of a Christian denomination attempting to communicate a progressive message, and I alluded to my own Catholic education as having shaped many of my progressive values. The perception of a right-wing monopoly on God is something that needs to be addressed…WITH FIRE RAINING DOWN UPON THEM! See, that was some satire there. Since homophobia was the topic at hand, it’s worth pointing out that some of the most violently antigay people, I’ve ever met, including the always entertaining Uncle Gerry, haven’t claimed to be Christian at all. They just hated those fucking faggots. So anyone who thinks religion is the source of all the evil in the world has some more looking to do. We’d find some reason to hate each other one way or another.

Religion doesn’t create good or evil, it merely promotes a context for the one, and an excuse for the other.

I write for my office newsletter. It’s not lame like the stereotypical office newsletter, it’s pretty good, if for no other reason than I write for it. I’ve never posted any of my pieces for it here because I figure it’s pretty inside stuff, but this month I did something pretty accessible. My friend Jacob and I sit down with a different member of the staff (usually a high ranking one for some reason, the powerful people like to read about themselves) and interview them, asking about their lives as well as their jobs, then we cut and paste their answers so that they will be entertaining. This time we happened to interview a very entertaining person, who I think you’ll find interesting even if you don’t know him:

Christmas with Deshawn!
(Contains no reference to Christmas)

This month, we held court with the beguiling VZ Wireless Project Leader Deshawn Jones

CAEL Courier: So let’s hear about your background, Deshawn. You were born in England right?

Deshawn: I was. My mom was an Indian girl who was living in England. And it’s a really funny story how she met my dad, my dad was an African-American soldier, he was in the Air Force, from Oklahoma, anyway, my mom was living in England with her friend Joy. And one day Joy went into town or something and she asked my mom if she wanted to get her anything and my mom just said, “Oh, bring me back a handsome GI.”, and they laughed but then Joy got on the train and she saw my dad there, on his way to see another girl actually, and Joy started talking to him and as a joke, she actually did bring him back to my mom, and then it wasn’t a joke anymore. Lucky for me huh?

CC: And for all of us. That’s just adorable. That’s romantic comedy screenplay stuff there.

D: Yeah, disgusting isn’t it? We moved to Colorado after that.

CC: It’s certainly an interesting number of places to have been.

D: Isn’t it? It’s kind of a peculiar mix to have in your background you know, being black and Indian. Most people of mixed race in America are black and white, and there are a lot of them. But there aren’t many of me. Sometimes I find myself looking at people I see on the street and kind of wondering…”Could he be…is he like me?”

CC: So what was your youth like?

D: Oh, pretty typical I guess. I was always kind of a class clown, I guess you’re not surprised by that. It’s funny, in high school I got a “Best Joke Teller” award but I don’t think I ever told a single joke. I was really talented in the sciences, like chemistry and math and things like that. I was in the top 5 % of the country on the ACS Organic Chemistry test so for a while I thought I might do something with that. A friend of mine was going to pharmacy school so I thought, “Why not do that”? But I only lasted two semesters at that before I dropped out. I guess I never had much of a clear direction. I’m just kinda blowin’ in the wind you know? Like a…popsicle stick floating down the river. But I’m not really bothered by that as I guess I should be. Then in ’99 I moved to Chicago. I was really into improv comedy for awhile and this was the place to do that. I started working for the Select temping agency and in 2001 they referred me here and I’ve been here since then.

CC: What do you like about CAEL?

D: Oh the usual stuff. It’s a great collection of people, interesting work. And it’s a job where you feel like you’re doing something good. You’re not clubbing baby seals.

CC: I think everyone considers you a great source of fun and humor in the office.
D: Yeah, I’m kind of the court jester figure. The office wacky guy. Somebody has to do it right?

CC: Right, but you’re unusually good at it.

D: I’m never really sure, you know, sometimes I say something wacky in meetings, especially manager meetings, and everyone laughs but I always wonder if everyone just doesn’t want me to shut up. I think people laugh…people laugh when they’re uncomfortable and I think also to pretend they’re having a better time than they are.

CC: That’s a fairly dark point of view isn’t it?

D: You found my secret. I don’t know, I’ve always been wacky. It’s just the way I am. I guess I had a wacky dad, it’s always been my sense of humor. I like to mess with people. Everywhere. Like telemarketers. Sometimes I scare them. My outlook on life can be pretty dark but I try to see things in a positive light, people aren’t perfect but it’s great to watch them, to watch them doing their best in life. I like making people laugh. I extract a lot of pleasure from the little things. I think that’s where real happiness is. This is kind of…but I really like the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz at the end, you know how he was on this quest to find a heart and the Wizard says something, I can’t remember exactly but he says something to him like “The proof of a man’s heart is what his friends think of him.” And I really like that. The Wizard of Oz was a smart guy. It’s how he got to be the Wizard.

-Jacob&Rory Inc.

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