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| Amy and I just went to TGI Fridays here in Pusan. I've come to the conclusion that I like American food. I've always been a picky eater but have gotten better in the last few years. I'm cool with a dose of ethnic food but I don't think I'm down for a steady diet of it. I've been a regular at McDonalds, mostly for Ice cream though. CM 2007 has been a great experience thus far. It's fun to see and meet so many Christians from around the world. It really has given me a new perspective. I'm running out of time in the little computer lab they have set up here so I'm going to stop now. | | |
| There is "Remember the Titans"," Glory Road", and the new movie now in production "The Express" about the first black Heisman Trophy winner all are movies that deal with sports and racial themes. Anyone else wonder why we haven't seen a major motion picture about the life of Jackie Robinson?
Amy and I heard something funny yesterday in the car on espn radio. The host, talking about people who always say that Pacman Jones needs to stop hanging around with people that get him into trouble and find new friends, wondered if anyone was advising any of his friends that they needed to stop hanging out with Pacman Jones. Eventually don't we need to see this guy as the one others shouldn't be hanging out with?
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| We took Shekinah (Amy's 5 year old niece) to play with the Koch kids last week before she left. She spent most of her time playing with Brittany, but the highlight of the visit had to be just before we left when Joshua Koch (also around 5 years old), a couple minutes after giving her a big hug, came up to her and planted a big kiss on her cheek. Shekinah was confused, thinking that only people in her family should kiss her. I guess the Kochs are raising a son who is not afraid to take the initiative with the opposite sex.
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| There are 6 units in our condo complex. The last of the six units just closed late last month. Our complex is in the middle of Chicago's East Garfield Park neighborhood. Each unit was sold as a part of a city of Chicago program called something like City Homes for City living. Basically we all got a $20,000 discount in exchange for living here for four years, meeting income requirements (we couldn't make too much money), and going through a first time home buyer course. There was a lengthy and complicated application but it was an awesome deal as newsweek recently named the neighborhood one of the most up and coming in America. All of us who bought a condo stand to make a lot of money.
Now I don't make a lot of money, in fact before getting married my income was less than the median income for the neighborhood. The neighborhood is 97.2% black. A couple of the women on my team last year lived next door and police officers had talked to them on multiple occasions to tell them it's a bad idea that they are living there. They tried to scare them telling them of violence and drug activity that happen on our block.
All this is to say what has really surprised me: Three of the units were purchased by white people, 2 African American, and one latino. I'd been asking myself why our building is so far off of the demographics of our neighborhood? To me my living in this neighborhood is simple economics. I moved here because I work in Chicago and given my level of income this is what I could afford. I've assumed the majority of people are living here for the same reason. To me even though my parents have money and I grew up in an affluent suburb of Detroit, any privilege I had was gone because now I make about the same amount of money as those around me.
I'm starting to think that privilege is more than money though. I've always been surrounded by people who owned their homes. That is what you do when your an adult. I work with people who own their home, I knew others who were looking and purchasing who referred me to trustworthy relator and mortgage brokers. My parents made me open a savings account with my Christmas money when I was 10 and helped me get a checking account and manage a credit card when I was in college. By contrast look at our tenant in Detroit. By contrast we have a tenant in Detroit. I don't know her salary but she seems to have a decent job. She pays rent that is close to what we pay for the mortgage. I'm shocked though that she pays us every month with a money order. I don't think I even knew those existed until recently. Why would someone not have a checking account? Our tenant probably didn't grow up in a community where everyone had them. If she doesn't have a checking account there is no way she'll jump through the hoops to own her own home anytime soon, even though that might be possible with her income level.
I'm not sure how I should feel about the fact that three white people or families got this great deal on a condo in this neighborhood when there were likely plenty of people all around us who make the same amount of money or perhaps more than I did, but are renting.
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| I used to be able to blog multiple times per week. I'd have an interesting thought while driving in the car or doing something on campus and my first thought would be "I need to blog about that." I think my wife has replaced my blog. Instead of sharing my thoughts with the internet community I have a wife to share thoughts with now.
I won't change my blogs color scheme for the playoffs this year. The Pistons are driving me crazy a little bit with their inconsistent play. I could have swore they were going to loose last night. Speaking of swearing, Amy has told a few people about the words that left my mouth after the Red Wings game on Sunday. If you saw it you would understand why. I can't really complain though. It is an amazing time to be a Detroit sports fan. The Red Wings and Pistons are in the midst of deep playoff runs (although the Wings may end theirs tonight), the Tigers are in first place, and the Lions have drafted another wide receiver in the first round.
I'm a bit concerned that Detroit may be the pro sports equivalent of Ohio State. It is highly possible that the Tigers, Wings, and Pistons could all loose in their championship series back to back to back. It pains me to relate to Ohio State in any way.
Amy and I did our first newsletter as a married couple this week, as well as updated www.chicagocampusminister.com to include her.
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