*In the United States, there are more Wal-Mart employees (1.3m) than high school teachers.


Now, for those that know me, my disdain for all things Wal-Mart isn't a secret. Actually, it's played on like somesort of joke. "Hey, we got these great lawn chairs today. And they were cheap," says X. (Hypothetically speaking, X will be played by Wendy X.)
"Why X, how much did you pay?" says Y. (Likwise, Y will be played by Cheryl Y.)
X jovially declares, "Why only 10 pesos!!"
Y regurgitates, "WHAT A STEAL!!! From where?"
X lacking diffidence, "Wal-Mart."
And then like the end scene on CHiP's, everyone looks at Joel compelled by the knowledge that in no sooner than the time it took to inhale the appropriate amount of O2 to deliever my Big Box, job mandicating, social circumscription diatribe, they all just laugh. Freaking Ponch, I hate that I'm so predictable. But man, I read that article and the first thing i though was post, poST, POST!!! Predictability. It's a gift. It's a curse. And now, like every time Jon, Getraer, and Grossman made Ponch to look a fool, it's my turn to be the last holdout, look at the camera and laugh.

Futility is funny.

<<Where does he stand? He stands pro me. He stands there in my place, where I should stand, but cannot. He stands on the boundary of my existence, beyond my existence, yet for me. That brings out clearly that I am separated from my 'I', which I should be, by a boundary which I am unable to cross. The boundary lies between me and me, the old and the new 'I'. [...] At this place, I cannot stand alone. At this place stands Christ, between me and me, the old and the new existence. Thus Christ is at one and the same time, my boundary and my rediscovered centre. He is the centre, between 'I' and 'I', and between 'I' and God. The boundary can only be known as boundary from beyond the boundary. In Christ, man recognizes it and thereby at the same time finds his new centre again.>> (italics mine) -- Christ the Center, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Christ in the area of indistinction.

I was reading yesterday, looking out my window as i'm prone to do, and I saw this guy. And as I was sitting there I realized how much I love things of contrast: here, the red umbrella is more than red on white but a symbol of protection from Blizzerd '06! yet I love the intersection of things seemingly mutually exclusive; not unlike the convergence of the sacred and secular; a nice blend of Calatrava's anthropomorphism and the esoteric contrivances of Raushenberg. And while I wrestle with the complexities of this meeting, I rejoice in the beauty created there in.

Click here for an interview with a friend who has found that when the sacred and secular converge (as mentioned here) the end result is grace; and a little E.

Katie spotted this article...

...i guess we have an answer as to why Africa wasn't mentioned in the State of Union address.