Tech Wars, Mostly Internal

I'm in the midst of a battle with technology and my identity as an intelligent but, yes, somewhat tech-averse person. I'm trying to figure out how to give another website, for which I am responsible, a facelift. I may be tech-averse, but I'm not beauty- or grace-averse, and this thing could use some of each.

It's running on a WordPress platform, long reputed the most friendly and popular - yet professional - of our most likely allies. I wanted to believe their claims that installations, updates, and backups would be fast and easy: five minutes!  Get started in five minutes! I have been dismayed to find that - in my case at least - this was not going to be accurate. Sigh.

I'm not starting from scratch - though one of my strategies is to set up a fake site to practice on, simulating what I'm after until I can do the same to the real site. But even setting up a new, clean site (it has to be self hosted) has revealed to me that once again I don't know what I'm talking about, that I don't have what I need, e.g., access to a server.

The site to which I refer - now the host of some 200 posts - was set up for me by a friendly, tech-savvy person while I was on sabbatical. It's just that I can't figure out how the darn thing works, at least not beyond a certain point. I finally asked my buddy - hesitating because now he's on sabbatical - how to get at the server so I could make backups (as WP advises) as well as upload a fresh, new theme. He writes: "Yes, sorry, forgot about that. Since we have [three other websites] all running on that server, I don't think that you want to mess around with it."

I think this probably means, "We don't want you messing around with it." Given my evident lack of skill, this may be a very wise restriction indeed. Somehow or other, though, it must be overcome.

The best of all possible solutions, as I see it, would be finding away for someone-who-is-not-me to handle such matters (under my direction!) Too good to be true?

What do you avoid? Do you ever wonder if this a matter of wisdom and boundaries, or shirking and laziness?

It's possible I will have to strap on my sword and slay this tech dragon, myself. Or, to use a more constructive metaphor, tame the beast.

Where's My Passport?

For months I've known that my next big research project would probably take me to Russia, but a let's-get-down-to-brass-tacks conversation last Friday made it clear that I'd better get my passport out, NOW. The city where this project is to be located is found in the kind of climate you don't want to visit in December, January, or February. Someone needs to go check things out. That someone is me (though not alone). Better either go soon or wait for the spring thaw. If we're going to be heading out in November I'll probably know by the end of this week.

Among other things, this is a good impetus to brush up my (almost nonexistent) Russian. A friend points me to a site that includes these "useful" phrases.

В нашем лесу много медведей. (V našem lesu mnogo medvedej)
There are many bears in our forest.

Борода вам очень идёт. (Boroda vam ochen' idjot)
That beard suits you very well.

Помогите! Мне нужен холодильник! (Pomogite! Mne nužen holodil'nik!)
Help! I need a refrigerator!

>> Find more phrases - such as the "Shaingainese" for "your clothes and hat are untidy" - at Omniglot.

Note: I'm changing the name of this post - which previously included a phrase in Russian - in hopes of stemming the flow of Russian comment spam. 

September Reading

Books read in the month of September. Though the last two crept into October a bit...

The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. Extremely popular novel set during the early civil rights movement explores the relationships between white women and their servants in Jackson, Mississippi. A well-written and believable page-turner. The only objection I had was to spending so many hours in a world marked by so much injustice – almost felt like reading Dickens. The author’s first novel. Will be hard to top it!

The Yada Yada Prayer Group, by Neta Jackson. Novel tells of a group of diverse Chicago women who met at a Christian women’s conference and decided to continue their relationships. I thought the premise – and the way the characters claimed to think of each other as “sisters” so quickly – implausible. Also didn’t care for the main character. Yet there was some really good, true stuff in this one. I can understand why a friend recommended it and has read every one in the series.

Silver Birches, by Adrian Plass. Another Christian novel. This one felt different than the typical offerings, maybe because it was written by (and about) a man, and a British man to boot. It’s also structured around telling the stories of the lives of an ensemble cast, this time old acquaintances gathered for a somewhat awkward reunion after many years apart. “Sensitively” written, as the reviewers claimed.

Delhi: Adventures in a Megacity, by Sam Miller. Another off-beat travelogue with lots of interesting factoids and images but that tries a bit too hard to shock or amuse. It was of interest to me because I’ve spent some time in that remarkable and contradictory city, but otherwise I wouldn’t pick it up. I think I prefer travel books that aren’t described as being humorous. Most of the time the humor in such books is either too self-reflective or comes at the expense of the host culture.

The Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale and So You Want to Be a Wizard, by Diane Duane were two audiobooks in the kid-lit category. They came on a technology our library acquired a while back called “Playaway.” Each audio books comes preloaded on simple portable device. Plug in your own headphones, replace the AAA battery if necessary, and you’re good for hours. I think the library got a specially designated grant or gift for these: the vast majority of the titles in their collection are for young adults. Fine with me; I grabbed two for a road trip. Thumbs up on the award-winning Shannon Hale’s beautiful written fantasy novel. I wasn’t impressed with veteran-sci-fi-writer Diane Duane’s, which came with huge plot flaws. (Also: Eventually the two kids had to save the world – or New York City, anyway – but most of the time they were trying to get back the girl’s lucky pen? Lame.)

Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make a Difference, by Max Lucado. Good stuff, if not as revolutionary as the publishers claim. I got a free review copy from them, and wrote a whole post about it several weeks ago.

Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, by David Platt. What’s most amazing about this book is that it is getting such a wide reading. Or at least, that it’s selling so much. Maybe more people are buying it than talking about it, but I’m hearing some talk too. This slim volume explores – with a ‘we’re in this together’ tone – some of the many ways American Christianity is out of step with Christ. Compassion International’s Wess Stafford sums it up well: “David Platt challenges Christians to wake up, trade in false values rooted in the American dream, and embrace the notion that each of us is blessed by God for a global purpose.” It's very good, and I wrote about it previously. 

One Man’s Meat, by E.B. White. Looks like this gem of a book has stayed in print for the last 60 years but I had never heard of it - at least not until a friend cleaning house to move overseas placed a yellowed paperback copy in my hands, nicely gift wrapped. White was a columnist for Harper’s Magazine and wrote a column of the same name of the book. These meandering personal essays provide a beautiful commentary on the author’s life on a Maine coast farm, raising sheep and chickens – as well as the life of the nation and world, 1938-1943. I may have to throw some passages your way as days go on. Highly recommended.

Resolved: Anything that can be published, will be

I've heard that America's Library of Congress adds 1000 books to its collection every day. I wonder how many of our congress-persons make the effort to keep up? 

Me, I tend to come away from a visit to the (more modestly endowed) library near my house with more books than I can read in the allotted time, especially since I go there once a week or more.

Recently I started feeling stressed by a pile of them on my desk. "I've got to read that book!" I thought. Well, in fact, I don't got to. So one day I swooped up the lot of them and took them back. Even if I didn't read them all this time, I know where they live.

Of course, I have a new pile now. Here are some of the items I decided not to check out. It seems there is a market - or at least a publisher - for everything.

1. A book of patterns for knitting covers for one's hot water bottle. I applaud the author for wanting to introduce craft and beauty to the average household. I just wonder how many households include even a single hot-water bottle?

I also feel absolved from taking this book out for a whirl by the simple fact that I do not knit.

2. Android Karenina, the latest of the "quirk classics," a collection made up of literary works - all in the public domain - with which secondary authors have re-mixed with snarky new plotlines and motives. You probably heard about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. Those ones - and several others featuring mummies and vampires - sound rather too dark for me. And I suspect most of the additions run toward sex and violence.

I might take greater pleasure from this, a "steampunk take on Anna Karenina," which "discards tsarist Russia for an alternate reality where a miracle metal, gronzium, has fueled the development of a thriving robot culture. Carriages and candlesticks persist, but everything is mechanized, including the near-sentient humanoid robots who aid and comfort their upper-class owners."

Seen anything lately that got you thinking, "I wonder how that got published"?

Friend, Foe, or Fuel?

During a dark period of our ministry's past some of the leaders tried to raise morale by bringing in donuts or coffee, taking us all out to lunch, or dispensing chocolate at regular intervals. But that just seemed to me like manipulation (and probably drove us out of business faster).

Similarly, when a recent church event featured greasy barbecued pork sandwiches on thick white rolls with sides of gooey slaw, potato chips, and soda, I wasn't grateful: I ate as little as I felt I could without offending and still felt it churning in my gut for hours.

So, I have to conclude, I'm no foodie. The way to my heart is not through my stomach.

But I don't usually see food as my enemy, either. So, it's been funny watching my roommate's relationship with food over the last four months. She's dieting, and everything has changed. Shopping, cooking, and preparing food are now big topics of conversation for us. She's become a connoisseur of low-fat yogurt options. She pulls recipes off the internet. She buys nutritious things she might never have considered in the past, and such things don't rot in the fridge like they used to in the days when she'd sleep all day, then go out in the night for takeout from Burger King. Those days are gone.

Now she's on "South Beach." She's befriended snow peas, whole grains, and frozen berries. She counts, measures, plans. Somewhat like my stepdad, who keeps such a careful database of all he ingests that he rejects virtually all invitations to eat out or at someone else's house.

But I don't know what to make of D.'s firm rejection of things that she really likes, especially things that stimulate her desire to keep eating. Anything with that effect is a "trigger food" and off the list. Is food - at least yummy food - the enemy, now? Well, I have other friends and relatives who do the same, who are bound and determined not to eat anything "bad."

I guess you have to choose your friends, and your enemies, even when it comes to food. The end result is fairly pleasant, as it happens, and D. is losing weight. She has taught herself to seek out and enjoy some things that taste awfully darn good. The other night - when I came back from a trip with about five pounds of apples - she shared with me one of her "treats," apple slices dipped in melted chocolate chips. 

For me, getting exercise and paying attention to when I eat seem to make a bigger difference for my health and well-being than labeling things bad and counting calories or carbs. Dinner has become my smallest meal of the day, whereas anything before 11 am is good and keeps me energized throughout the day. So, I guess I see food as mostly fuel.

What is food to you, friend, foe, or fuel?

Women in Missions History: Dorothy Carey and Hannah Marshman

My organization's headquarters are located on a street they had built for the purpose and named "William Carey Drive." Having studied the life of William Carey I find the reference a bit ambiguous. Maybe appropriately so. Missions history is full of dubious, dangerous stories, and William Carey's life had more than a few of them.

I'm sure some of my colleagues around the world sometimes wonder if they are living a William Carey story. It might also be apt to see the Member Care department located on a side street called Dorothy Carey Lane...

Dorothy Carey

While William was an amazing pioneer, committed to working towards an invisible end, faithful in the face of adversity, brilliant, and loving towards those around him, his wife Dorothy did not do so well. She was among the sizable population of missionaries who go out ill equipped and poorly supported, and, like some of them, cracked under the strain. Following the death of a son she basically lost her mind. They didn't do much for her, just tried to keep her quiet. She was a huge burden on those around her.

After Dorothy's death, William remarried in what may have appeared unseemly haste. This time he was blessed with a woman who had proven she could handle life in India. I don't know much about Charlotte, or about wife #3, Grace - both widows - but neither experienced the tragic existence Dorothy did.

Team

Like many of our missionaries today, William owes much of his success to a strong team. He worked more or less alone in the early years, and in the later ones he encountered irreconcilable differences, resigned from the mission he had founded, and set off by himself again. But for a fairly long season he was sustained by a community of faith that gathered around what went down in history as the Serampore Trio (William Carey, Joshua Marshman, and William Ward).

Hannah Marshman

Hannah Marshman, Joshua's wife, picked up so much of the slack that in a different time or place she would have been esteemed alongside the three men. She bore 12 children, raising the six survivors (!) as well as the Careys' boys - otherwise well on their way to hooliganism. She was largely responsible for setting up and running a ministry/business that did much to support the whole operation (a school for the mixed-race children of India-based Brits).

Like Dorothy, Hannah had begun marriage with no plans to be a missionary - in fact, making it a condition of her engagement that her future husband never require her to leave her homeland. (He had ideas about immigrating to America.) Yet the book Eminent Missionary Women (published by the Student Volunteer Movement in 1900) has this to say about Hannah:

“The first missionary to the women of India, and indeed, the first of all women missionaries in modern times, was Hannah Marshman. Born in England, she spent 47 years of a happy married life and a short widowhood in the Baptist brotherhood formed by her husband, Joshua Marshman, with Carey and Ward, in Serampore, Bengal…”

“She supplied to the brotherhood all the domestic comfort and much of the loving harmony without which her husband and Carey and their associates could not have accomplished half of what the Holy Spirit enabled them to do…”

“Never was there such a Martha and Mary in one as her letters prove her to be, always listening to the voice of the Master, yet always doing the many things he entrusted to her without feeling cumbered or irritable or envious.”

Can You Relate?

Hannah was quite a woman, eh? Myself, I find it easier to identify with Dorothy – pioneering in that way I’d probably just go nuts. Dorothy Carey does not get a chapter in Eminent Missionary Women! Few mission agencies today would have sent the Carey family to the field, or failed to bring them home after Dorothy's breakdown. What would you do?

Scenic Drive through Western Colorado