I've written about my 10 year high school reunion before, but as it is tomorrow I am going to just touch on the subject again. I initially wanted to go to my reunion since I figured that is what you are supposed to do. After getting in touch with an old high school girl friend (now friend) several years ago, she convinced me that going to the reunion would be a torturous waste of time. I stuck with that idea up until a couple weeks ago when that same friend IMed me to ask me if I would go with her and another friend to the reunion. So now I am apparently going. Luckily I planned ahead a bought a ticket, just in case, but mostly because the reunion committee kept sending facebook messages about being sure to buy your ticket so they would have the money to pay for the venue. Regardless, I am going. I still don't really feel like going, but everyone says I will have a good time (and for some reason I trust them). I know all about reunions due to what I read on wikipedia and what my brother and friends have told me about theirs.
A class reunion is a meeting of former classmates, typically organized at or near their former school by one of the class on or around an anniversary of their graduation. Former teachers may be invited as well. Usually, participants nostalgically reminisce about their old school days, fondly remember their school pranks, and bring each other up to date on what has happened to each of them since they went their separate ways. Alumni are quite often concerned about how their lives have turned out when compared with the lives of their former classmates, and will sometimes feel pressured enough to go to great lengths to concoct stories about their fruitful careers, personal accomplishments and relationships with others.
In film and literature, especially crime novels, thrillers and psychological suspense novels, class reunions have been a frequent device used to show the eruption of emotions such as shame, hatred or guilt within individual characters who, suddenly faced again with their own youth, become aware of the fact that they have been unable to cope with their past. In many cases, those who used to be bullied, humiliated or in any other way mistreated by their teachers and/or classmates believe that now their chance has come to take revenge on their former torturers. Another staple of this kind of fiction is former classmates taking up with their old flame again, either because they have changed to their advantage and developed into an admirable adult or precisely for the opposite reason—because they have not changed at all in a fleeting world.
I don't have much else to say. I may do a special edition of The Elder Statesman next week to tell ya'll about it, but I don't think I'll have that much to say. I mean really...is getting back together with the people who I spent four grueling years with ten years ago going to change anything about my life for the next ten years or more? Probably not. In fact, it will probably be a relatively expensive night on the town thinking about past glories and failures (basically the same as my early twenties). I'll let you know how it goes maybe...
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
The Babaganoush Sports Beat
Southern Methodist Football
It took coach June Jones just two seasons to turn SMU from a joke into a bowl team. The Mustangs improved from 1-11 in Jones' first season to 8-5 last season, capping it off with a 45-10 rout of Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl. It was SMU's first postseason appearance since 1984 and just their second winning record since resurrecting football in 1989 after an NCAA-imposed "death penalty." The turnaround doesn't look like a fluke. The Mustangs return 15 starters, and though the schedule is difficult, another bowl bid looks likely. SMU hopes to take the next step this season, which begins Sept. 5 at Texas Tech. The Mustangs are aiming for the Conference USA title – though Houston is more commonly considered the preseason frontrunner. But really, who is afraid of Houston? Not the Mustangs. One trademark of a June Jones-coached team seems to be an absolute absence of fear. SMU lost a lot of talent from last year's team, but the players and coaches seem positive their system will work better and better as the talent and depth improve and the players get more and more familiar with the intricacies and nuances of the offensive and defensive systems.
STRENGTHS:
1. Coaching: June Jones has had something of a Midas touch wherever he has been. He lifted a long-dormant Hawaii program to new heights during his tenure on the islands, and in just his second year in Dallas, he led the Mustangs to their first bowl game in 25 years. Jones is renowned as an offensive genius, and rightly so, but his most important gift might be that of master psychologist. He and his staff have changed the culture around a program that had had just one winning season in the previous two decades. Jones believes in positive reinforcement and has instilled a new level of accountability in his team, from freshmen to fifth-year seniors.
2. Quarterback Kyle Padron: With exactly six starts on his college résumé, Padron already is one of the clear-cut leaders on the team. He has a 5-1 record as a starter and set an SMU single-game record with 460 passing yards in the Hawaii Bowl and was named the game's Most Valuable Player. His passer rating of 159.9 was the fifth-highest mark in the nation.
3. Defensive ends: Starters Taylor Thompson and Marquis Frazier completely changed the effectiveness of the defense last year, playing solidly against the run and the pass. Coupled with backup Margus Hunt — who, in his first year of playing football came within one of the all-time NCAA record for blocked kicks in a single season — the Mustangs have the best trio of defensive ends in more than 20 years.
4. Offensive tackles Kelvin Beachum, Jr. and J.T. Brooks: the bookends of the Mustangs' offensive line are big, athletic and technically solid. Beachum earns more accolades, but by the end of the 2009 season, Brooks was the offensive line's best player. These two were key reasons why Padron barely got any pressure at all in the Hawaii Bowl.
WEAKNESSES:
1. Depth: Since Jones' arrival, the Ponies have collected some quality starters, but are dangerously thin at many positions.
2. Uncertainty in the running game: transfer Shawnbrey McNeal was a pleasant surprise last year, running for more yards than any back June Jones has ever coached in college, but he is in San Diego now, trying to make the Chargers as a free agent. Chris Butler, Zach Line, Bryce Lunday and Ryan Moczygemba return, but many expect a pair of true freshmen, Kevin Pope and Darryl Fields, to compete for significant playing time — if not a starting role — right away.
WHO TO KEEP AN EYE ON:
The Mustangs are coming off their first bowl appearance since 1984, and returning to the postseason will depend heavily on QB Kyle Padron. He was pressed into starting duty as a true freshman in Game 7, after Bo Levi Mitchell was injured, and Padron performed so well down the stretch that Mitchell -- a two-year starter -- decided to transfer to FCS member Eastern Washington. Padron threw for 1,922 yards in seven games, and 3,000 yards is an eminently reachable goal this season. Padron is the latest quarterback off the assembly line at powerhouse Southlake Carroll High, in the Dallas suburbs.
PREDICTION:
Since coming back from the death penalty in 1989, SMU has finished with a .500 record or better three times. How have the Mustangs fared before and after those seasons? Before and after each of those winning/even seasons, the Mustangs had losing records. Some of those were as bad as 1-11 like in 2007 after Phil Bennett lead SMU to a 6-6 season in 2006 or as innocuous as 5-6 like the 2005 season where Bennett lead the Mustangs to 5-6. If I had to make a gut prediction based on what I know, I say the Mustangs go 6-6 this season. The Mustangs lost a small senior class, but that class included a lot of key performers, including WR Sanders, SS Rock Dennis, CB McCann and C Mitch Enright. Jones and his staff are building the program the right way, stockpiling young talent, but while that talent base grows, the Mustangs will call on a lot of young players to fill key roles.
Now, if you are asking me as an alumnus and SMU homer…I say we come back with another 8 win season, starting with an incredible upset of Texas Tech at Lubbock. Kick ‘em Stangs!
It took coach June Jones just two seasons to turn SMU from a joke into a bowl team. The Mustangs improved from 1-11 in Jones' first season to 8-5 last season, capping it off with a 45-10 rout of Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl. It was SMU's first postseason appearance since 1984 and just their second winning record since resurrecting football in 1989 after an NCAA-imposed "death penalty." The turnaround doesn't look like a fluke. The Mustangs return 15 starters, and though the schedule is difficult, another bowl bid looks likely. SMU hopes to take the next step this season, which begins Sept. 5 at Texas Tech. The Mustangs are aiming for the Conference USA title – though Houston is more commonly considered the preseason frontrunner. But really, who is afraid of Houston? Not the Mustangs. One trademark of a June Jones-coached team seems to be an absolute absence of fear. SMU lost a lot of talent from last year's team, but the players and coaches seem positive their system will work better and better as the talent and depth improve and the players get more and more familiar with the intricacies and nuances of the offensive and defensive systems.
STRENGTHS:
1. Coaching: June Jones has had something of a Midas touch wherever he has been. He lifted a long-dormant Hawaii program to new heights during his tenure on the islands, and in just his second year in Dallas, he led the Mustangs to their first bowl game in 25 years. Jones is renowned as an offensive genius, and rightly so, but his most important gift might be that of master psychologist. He and his staff have changed the culture around a program that had had just one winning season in the previous two decades. Jones believes in positive reinforcement and has instilled a new level of accountability in his team, from freshmen to fifth-year seniors.
2. Quarterback Kyle Padron: With exactly six starts on his college résumé, Padron already is one of the clear-cut leaders on the team. He has a 5-1 record as a starter and set an SMU single-game record with 460 passing yards in the Hawaii Bowl and was named the game's Most Valuable Player. His passer rating of 159.9 was the fifth-highest mark in the nation.
3. Defensive ends: Starters Taylor Thompson and Marquis Frazier completely changed the effectiveness of the defense last year, playing solidly against the run and the pass. Coupled with backup Margus Hunt — who, in his first year of playing football came within one of the all-time NCAA record for blocked kicks in a single season — the Mustangs have the best trio of defensive ends in more than 20 years.
4. Offensive tackles Kelvin Beachum, Jr. and J.T. Brooks: the bookends of the Mustangs' offensive line are big, athletic and technically solid. Beachum earns more accolades, but by the end of the 2009 season, Brooks was the offensive line's best player. These two were key reasons why Padron barely got any pressure at all in the Hawaii Bowl.
WEAKNESSES:
1. Depth: Since Jones' arrival, the Ponies have collected some quality starters, but are dangerously thin at many positions.
2. Uncertainty in the running game: transfer Shawnbrey McNeal was a pleasant surprise last year, running for more yards than any back June Jones has ever coached in college, but he is in San Diego now, trying to make the Chargers as a free agent. Chris Butler, Zach Line, Bryce Lunday and Ryan Moczygemba return, but many expect a pair of true freshmen, Kevin Pope and Darryl Fields, to compete for significant playing time — if not a starting role — right away.
WHO TO KEEP AN EYE ON:
The Mustangs are coming off their first bowl appearance since 1984, and returning to the postseason will depend heavily on QB Kyle Padron. He was pressed into starting duty as a true freshman in Game 7, after Bo Levi Mitchell was injured, and Padron performed so well down the stretch that Mitchell -- a two-year starter -- decided to transfer to FCS member Eastern Washington. Padron threw for 1,922 yards in seven games, and 3,000 yards is an eminently reachable goal this season. Padron is the latest quarterback off the assembly line at powerhouse Southlake Carroll High, in the Dallas suburbs.
PREDICTION:
Since coming back from the death penalty in 1989, SMU has finished with a .500 record or better three times. How have the Mustangs fared before and after those seasons? Before and after each of those winning/even seasons, the Mustangs had losing records. Some of those were as bad as 1-11 like in 2007 after Phil Bennett lead SMU to a 6-6 season in 2006 or as innocuous as 5-6 like the 2005 season where Bennett lead the Mustangs to 5-6. If I had to make a gut prediction based on what I know, I say the Mustangs go 6-6 this season. The Mustangs lost a small senior class, but that class included a lot of key performers, including WR Sanders, SS Rock Dennis, CB McCann and C Mitch Enright. Jones and his staff are building the program the right way, stockpiling young talent, but while that talent base grows, the Mustangs will call on a lot of young players to fill key roles.
Now, if you are asking me as an alumnus and SMU homer…I say we come back with another 8 win season, starting with an incredible upset of Texas Tech at Lubbock. Kick ‘em Stangs!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
The Communion of Saints
This is going to be a short one, more for me staying sane by not doing tons of research than for ya'll to not have so much to read. As I was sitting in church Sunday morning I said the prayers that we always say, but I was being really pensive. I began to think about each little thing we prayer and about. At one point in the Mass, the priest calls on the intercession of the communion of saints and as I looked around the room, there were some puzzled looks (as always). Today we will investigate the idea of the communion of saints.
Catholics believe in the "communion of saints." Even though people die, we stay in touch with them and they with us. How is this possible? It is possible through Baptism by which we enter into the death and resurrection of Jesus. Even though Jesus died, he rose from the dead, remaining even more present than when he was on earth to all who believed in him. We live in Christ. Those who have died believing in Christ remain alive in him.
Therefore, whether dead or alive, we are connected in love. So when your grandmother who loved you very much dies, we believe that she now continues in heaven to love who she loved on earth, but with much greater intensity and depth and selflessness.
The saints play an important role in Catholicism, because Catholicism recognizes how people come to know and love God through others. Parents and family play a key role in your development in everything, including faith. Later in life, all sorts of other experiences, especially friendships, have a deep influence on how we grow in our faith.
The communion of saints is a network of friendships that connects us to the love of God. Saints function like windows through whom we can see the shape of God's love. Saints don't point to themselves, but to God. It is impossible for saints to take the place of Jesus, for their whole lives and all their energies were and remain focused on him, and on us in him. If we look to the saints, we will be led to Jesus.
Catholics believe in the "communion of saints." Even though people die, we stay in touch with them and they with us. How is this possible? It is possible through Baptism by which we enter into the death and resurrection of Jesus. Even though Jesus died, he rose from the dead, remaining even more present than when he was on earth to all who believed in him. We live in Christ. Those who have died believing in Christ remain alive in him.
Therefore, whether dead or alive, we are connected in love. So when your grandmother who loved you very much dies, we believe that she now continues in heaven to love who she loved on earth, but with much greater intensity and depth and selflessness.
The saints play an important role in Catholicism, because Catholicism recognizes how people come to know and love God through others. Parents and family play a key role in your development in everything, including faith. Later in life, all sorts of other experiences, especially friendships, have a deep influence on how we grow in our faith.
The communion of saints is a network of friendships that connects us to the love of God. Saints function like windows through whom we can see the shape of God's love. Saints don't point to themselves, but to God. It is impossible for saints to take the place of Jesus, for their whole lives and all their energies were and remain focused on him, and on us in him. If we look to the saints, we will be led to Jesus.
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