sarah masen
The Dark Corner
Sarah and her husband, David Dark, share thoughts and insights on contemporary culture in the hope that they will encourage discussion and assist discovery.
Principalities and Programs: Engaging the Powers in The Matrix: Reloaded
"Morpheus doesn't believe in chance. There are no accidents. And the forces of this present darkness will not be defeated by the might or power of a strong military." When reminded that not everyone believes as he does, he calmly asserts that his beliefs do not require them to. In short, all the metaphors are still intact, and they've been, to my mind, very effectively elaborated upon. Including the ever-broadening irony of a film series, based upon the notion that humankind will forfeit its soul for bright, shiny images, delivering more bright, shiny images. Or as Jada Pinkett Smith describes the Wachowski Brothers, "They know how to balance eye candy with deep thoughts." ... Click here for more...
Entertain Us: Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and the rapture of distress
In those bygone days when Guns N' Roses and Michael Jackson's Dangerous topped the Billboard album charts, pop music was in a rather sorry state. (I'll leave it to the reader to assess whether or not the earliest nineties exceed the age of Britney Spears for overall lameness.) U2 and REM had survived the eighties, certainly, but alternative rock (Black Flag, the Replacements, Sonic Youth, the Pixies) and its articulation of youthful (and mostly suburban) angst had yet to find a lasting home on the radio or MTV. All of this changed when Nirvana's Nevermind dethroned Michael Jackson as top of the pops, and with "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in our heads, few would regard Axl Rose with much seriousness ever again. ... Click here for more...
The Windup World of the Nervous Tick
Love begins with a question. In our first substantial conversation, the young woman who became my wife wanted to know if I had any thoughts concerning the meaning of Elvis Costello's last radio hit, "Veronica," a Paul McCartney-collaboration from his 1989 album, Spike. Little did she know that contemplating Elvis Costello lyrics was (and is) one of my favorite pastimes. And oh the joys of being asked to indulge an explication (by a female, no less)! I happily explained that the song is an ode to his grandmother, whose knowing glances and romantic memories survive a quietly ordered existence surrounded by nursing home personnel ("They call her a name that they never get right / And if they don't, then nobody else will"). In between her vacant stares, Costello notes the occasional smile and the penetrating look of recognition and derives an abiding encouragement from both. My wife-to-be was satisfied by my answer, and I was, to say the least, deeply gratified by her satisfaction. It was her favorite Costello song, as it turns out, and I couldn't have asked for a more fertile bit of common ground. ... Click here for more...
Rock's New Rebellion
This piece, a review of John Alderman's Sonic Boom and subtitled 'Net music and the backlash against commodification', originally appeared in Christianity Today's Books and Culture journal. It is linked to from here for your convenience. ... Click here for more...
Hazarding the Infinite
Watching the news, talking about it (especially with students), praying, reading, listening, and talking some more has me thinking about what people mean (what I mean) when we refer to Christianity. For the last few years, I've been reading like a madman about the early church, the "historical" Jesus, the Hebrew prophets, and whatever I can get my hands on that might give some clue as to what it might mean (what it might look like) to stand within the movement (once termed "the Way") as a citizen of the land called America in these very odd times. The last one has had me studying other cultures in an effort to cultivate an awareness (an identity) more radically catholic which is to say more universal and more caught up and entrenched within the tribe-transcending, utterly international Body of Christ. ... Click here for more...
Artists and Lawmakers
Sarah was asked to speak to a group of lawmakers on Capitol Hill who meet regularly as a reading group in the cafeteria of the US Senate. Here's what she prepared for the meeting: ... Click here for more...
The Presence and the Promise of the Kingdom
A methodist magazine asked Sarah to share her thoughts on the transition to a new millennium. Here's what they published... ... Click here for more...
The Unbearable Lightness of Being Interested
"If there's anything worth calling theology, it is listening to people's stories, listening to them and cherishing them." -- Mary Pellauer ... Click here for more...
Surprised by Sin
"In view of the endless power of men to hypnotize themselves into unawareness in the presence of challenge, it may be argued that willpower is as useful as intelligence for survival. Today we need also the will to be exceedingly informed and aware." Marshall McLuhan ... Click here for more...
Getting In There
"Respect, I think, always implies imagination--the ability to see one another, across our inevitable differences, as living souls." - Wendell Berry, (Sex, Economy, Freedom, & Community) ... Click here for more...
The Importance of Being Earnest: An Appreciation of U2's Dismantled Image
"The novelist and the believer, when they are not the same man, yet have many traits in common--a distrust of the abstract, a respect for boundaries, a desire to penetrate the surface of reality and to find in each thing the spirit which makes it itself and holds the world together. But I don't believe that we shall have great religious fiction until we have again that happy combination of believing artist and believing society. Until that time, the novelist will have to do the best he can in travail with the world he has. He may find in the end that instead of reflecting the image at the heart of things, he has only reflected our broken condition and, through it, the face of the devil we are possessed by. This is a modest achievement, but perhaps a necessary one." -- Flannery O'Connor, Mystery and Manners ... Click here for more...
