The Heart Of Higher Education
A millionaire elected official recently used a government Twitter account to publicly deride his own constituents right to unionize with these words: "We’ll...give teachers control of their hard-earned paychecks & ensure taxpayer dollars are used for students, not politics." It’s ungodly and ugly as can be but also not entirely unexpected.
One reason that move bummed me out is because I know that education is politics. Here's how I define education: the sometimes slow and sometimes sudden overcoming of deferential fear together with others. I love (or want to love) education and I've been trying to involve myself in it for most of my life. One of my mentors (and one of the best educators I know of) is Professor Judy Skeen. Even before I joined her as faculty in the School of Religion, I'd come to see and understand that she's one of the real ones in Tennessee. There's only one infinite game (the healing game), and she's a master play within it. If you're involved in what is referred to as "higher education," consider joining her for this awesomeness.
I’m guessing…if you’re among the 2,021 people who’ve taken me up on the offer of a free subscription to this Substack, you might want a little more from today’s post than the public notice of an online retreat. I get that. I’m saved to serve. Here’s more.
Have you read Stevie Smith’s “The Airy Christ” yet? I hadn’t until Nick Cave put it in front of me. It’s a balm in our weary lands. If you aren’t inclined to click on the link till you know what you’re getting into, I offer you this:
Those who truly hear the voice, the words, the happy song,
Never shall need working laws to keep from doing wrong.
If those words don’t do the trick, I’m not sure what else to say.
The above image is an effort expended by Paul Klee in 1919. It grabbed my attention, because it’s intensely reminiscent of the material that inspired/inspires J. Todd Greene’s Paw Paw series. If Klee’s image and the words “Todd” and “Greene” and “Paw” and then “Paw” again aren’t alluring enough to persuade you to click on the link the previous sentence, I don’t know that I have anything more for you.
OK, fine. I’ll give you this:
The above image is one of Todd’s Paw Paw paintings. If you visit me in my home, it’s one of the first sights you’ll notice.
I’ll also mention that, when asked about it, J. Todd Greene himself confirmed that Klee’s drawing appeared around the same time his great-grandfather, Herbert Morgan, started drawing what he saw as the Bible was read aloud in his presence.
Have y’all ever noticed the way John the Seer puts it?
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Per′gamum and to Thyati′ra and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to La-odice′a.” Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me…
“I was in the Spirit” is pretty wild but “a voice like a trumpet saying” is wilder and then “write what you see” is wilderer but then “I turned to see the voice” takes us out of orbit. John the Seer has a way of putting it. So does J. Todd Greene and Paul Klee and Stevie Smith and Judy Skeen. Coldplay’s right. We do live in a beautiful world.
Thank you for your time and attention.