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JEFFREY NORDSTROM

A couple photos of me.

6/28/2015

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I'm not very social, but occasionally someone takes a photo of me and it finds its way onto Instagram. For my own reference, here are a few of those from friends and family.

Christmas carols with Nordstrom and Bowtie :)

A photo posted by Megan Jennifer (@mgoldfinch) on Dec 19, 2014 at 7:04pm PST

Waiting #salmonpizza #siciliansausagepizza

A photo posted by Rachel (@querijzarida) on May 23, 2015 at 10:29pm PDT

On mission "forget the test"

A photo posted by Rachel (@querijzarida) on Apr 30, 2015 at 10:04pm PDT

Also, I've contributed my inarticulate opinions to a couple episodes of A Path for Progress. I have a lot to learn about talking politics, but it's good practice for when I start my podcast.
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A guy told me that Jesus loves me.

6/28/2015

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Last night, while I walked the dog, a guy pulled over near me, rolled down his window, and told me "Jesus Loves You." I didn't feel like engaging in the conversation at all—I was far more interested in continuing walking the dog—but it did cause a few reflections about my years as an evangelical. Here are some of the things I was thinking, as I posted them to Twitter.

Aa guy pulled over to the side of the road and told me "I saw you and I want you to know Jesus loves you." pic.twitter.com/6Lg8kxB1al

— Jeffrey Nordstrom (@jeffnords) June 28, 2015

He kept trying to tell me that Jesus loves me. I just wanted to walk the dog. I just repeated "OK." #evangelism pic.twitter.com/swMq3ypgQP

— Jeffrey Nordstrom (@jeffnords) June 28, 2015

The church creates #evangelism narratives in order to sear followers to rejection. "Good for you. You tried." pic.twitter.com/3Dgqags8pO

— Jeffrey Nordstrom (@jeffnords) June 28, 2015

Any evangelist needs to set themselves up for failure because rejection confirms Christ's purported words. pic.twitter.com/wyiY5qiNo9

— Jeffrey Nordstrom (@jeffnords) June 28, 2015

I wouldn't change how I interacted with that evangelist, but I have some things to think about for next time. pic.twitter.com/1re1Lfmqba

— Jeffrey Nordstrom (@jeffnords) June 28, 2015

I remember being like him: telling the gospel to strangers and friends. Each rejection highlighted God's absence. pic.twitter.com/B6lUxMbOCt

— Jeffrey Nordstrom (@jeffnords) June 28, 2015
30 second snippets are not the best way to get an idea across, but I don't feel that my reflections are YouTube-worthy at the moment.

Here are a couple other related reflections:
  • I've been on the other end of this. I know what it's like to awkwardly share my faith, only to have the other party flatly show no interest.
  • There are many different motivations for this sort of evangelism: for example, He may have made a commitment to tell the gospel to one person a day. I've heard people make daily quote commitments like that before. Perhaps he felt like he needs to "get his numbers up," just as I was trying to "get my steps up" before midnight and my pedometer rolled over. It was 11:30 at night and perhaps he hadn't told anybody the gospel yesterday. I, leaning against a wall and looking down at my phone, would be an easy candidate. 
  • There's a narrative in evangelism that assumes that the message you have is so valuable that nobody should ever deny it. It should, as my wife suggested, "waft from you like an aroma of fresh cookies" that attracts everybody that hears it. When they hear it, their lives will change. They can't resist it. The problem is, of course, that they can resist the gospel and they do resist the gospel. For thoughtful, critical thinkers like myself, this caused some severe cognitive dissonance.
  • It's sort-of like the "L'il Susy" narrative, best exemplified by Jack Chick. I'd read a good discussion of this a few years ago; I don't remember where. However, in each L'il Susy comic, Susy tells the gospel and children receive it wholeheartedly and completely. This guy, pulling over to the side of the road, probably had an adult version of the narrative in his head. He wanted me to hear the words "Jesus loves you" and for it to click in my head that "This is what I need." Instead, I gave him the confirmation of persecution. 
Screengrab.
Excerpt from "L'il Susy," Chick Publications. She's a regular character in Chick's comics for "Little Children."
The further I get from Christianity, the more ridiculous and offensive the message becomes. I once thought I'd continue to be interested in Christian thought, but it grows more banal by the day. 

And I'm thankful for the distance.
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A perfect failure: my first camerahack.

6/24/2015

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The camera: I manipulated some 35mm in here and hoped for the best.
The film: damaged, bent, and scribbled upon.
My first camerahack attempt using my Argus (above) was a failure. When I got the film developed, the computers at London Drugs couldn't find the images, they were so overexposed. I could see a couple faint shadows on the developed film, but could barely make out an image. I used a Sharpie to delineate the ends of the photos I hoped to see, but the computers still couldn't find them. I vowed to buy a negative scanner so I could "develop" the images myself. I didn't get such a scanner for another 5 years or so.

And I lost that piece of negative. I thought it might be lost forever.

Until tonight. While organizing photograph prints, I found the negative. it was bent and in really rough shape. But after some wrangling with the scanner frame, after five years of waiting, I finally got to scan the thing.

Here's what I scanned:

Images from the negatives I just discovered from my first #camerahack. @shootingfilm @film_shooters @FilmHasGrain pic.twitter.com/ViHKiCJz8K

— Jeffrey Nordstrom (@jeffnords) June 25, 2015
I gotta' admit that I love them. They worked perfectly. They are perfect failures.
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On my part in the educational field.

6/23/2015

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A couple thoughts about my place in the profession where I earn my wage:
  • I teach. But, despite standardization of Learning Outcomes, I'm never sure whether I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. The written Learning Outcomes don't fully translate over to a classroom filled with independent minds. There's always a level of "professional" guesswork in any form of assessment or evaluation.
  • The complexities of the system make for a lot of disparate tasks. As well as Learning Outcomes, each district and school has different program-based activities and assessments that need attention during class time. For a system that delineates class time so aggressively, the system sure likes to interfere with that class time. Provincial and District assessments that have no bearing on the student's "marks."
  • Current trends in education are largely driven by corporate think tanks that value "common core" and "skills for the future." "Technology" is usually the method to achieve these skills, as well as the media used for the end product. I feel as if I should admit that my job will be irrelevant/redundant soon.
Teaching pushes my brain to think in wide swathes. One day, however, I'd like to focus on something. I still don't know how it feels to focus on one thing and one thing alone.
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Glamping at Jones Lake.

6/22/2015

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I've never been drawn to camping. I'm not a fan of getting dirty and find its setup rather instensive for what I get back from it. Besides, I've never wanted to invest in all the camping gear that all my backpacking friends liked to acquire.

This weekend we went "glamping," where we took the RV up to Jones Lake, between Hope and Chilliwack, BC. Somehow, the beast climbed all those hills and found its way into the campsite. Yay for old-school, trustworthy tech! Carburetors all the way, baby.

At Jones Lake near Hope, BC. #exploreBC #visithope pic.twitter.com/TAjUpzxkPJ

— Jeffrey Nordstrom (@jeffnords) June 22, 2015

#campfire #bacon #breakfast #slomo #fisheye #videoshowapp make by @videoshowapp

A video posted by Jeffrey Nordstrom (@jeffnords) on Jun 20, 2015 at 9:59am PDT

For the first time, we're using our recreational vehicle for bona fide RECREATION. We're not living in it; we're not using it for storage; it's not an elaborate spare room. We're at a campsite and we're camping. #RV #recreationalvehicle #camping #weekendwarrior #campsite #nofilter

A photo posted by Jeffrey Nordstrom (@jeffnords) on Jun 19, 2015 at 9:53pm PDT

Up at Jones Lake last night. #exploreBC #britishcolumbia #beautifulbc #visitbc pic.twitter.com/VG4xuvulut

— Jeffrey Nordstrom (@jeffnords) June 22, 2015

We found this #frog amid thousands of #tadpoles. #macro #amphibians #frogs BTW these photos were taken on a BlackBerry Torch.

A photo posted by Jeffrey Nordstrom (@jeffnords) on Jun 21, 2015 at 10:00pm PDT

Jones Lake. #visitbc #exploreBC #beautifulbritishcolumbia #camping #lake pic.twitter.com/Vvuvk4Mg6z

— Jeffrey Nordstrom (@jeffnords) June 22, 2015
On Friday night, we spent the night at Othello Tunnels Campground in Hope, BC, but the others in our party found the passing trucks unbearable. I didn't really notice the trucks because I didn't know any better. But we packed up and drove up the forest road to Jones Lake.

And the sounds of nature were sonorous. And the sky was jammed with stars and a few planets. And it didn't really take that long to set up or tear down. And the beach was covered with sand and glass, but the girls had a good time. And I had a good time too, although I was admittedly antsy. 

At one point, my S5's battery died because we forgot the car charger. Fortunately, I'd decided to bring the old Blackberry Torch, which I initially intended to be my daughter's camera for the trip. I used the Torch for quite a few photographs, including the one of frogs in the top-right corner. It was fun to use the old-school cameraphone, but it was also a good reminder of the severe superiority of the S5. The novelty of the Torch's camera wears off quickly.

It's good to know about the campsite. I will return there. I'd like to return sometime without needing to stress out about the RV's tires and whatnot, perhaps just to go there with the kids. 
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Photos used under Creative Commons from Brett Jordan, b r e n t
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