Tales from DC: Lede Writing Exercise

An exchange from a recent lede writing exercise in class. The exercise was based on a Denzel Washington press conference for the movie "The Book of Eli:"

Student: Alright, here's my lede. "Life...is a journey, said Denzel Washington in a press conference held--
Greg: Wait! Here's an even better one: "Life...is a highway."

(laughter)

Different student: And Denzel would ride it all night long.

GopherLink! An fascinating WPost piece on a woman's encounter with Jehovah's Witness life. I must say the experience isn't atypical. Read it here.

The World's Most Generic News Report

I think you could teach all you need to know about TV new reports just using this single clip from Newswipe:

LOST's Last Supper

The last season of LOST starts tonight and it seems worthwhile to examine the bizarre promotional pictures they put out in preparation for the show. The picture above is a very obvious recreation of Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper." (Psst! Da Vinci Code readers: check out the "V" between Kate and Locke. Sacred Feminine? Is Kate Mary Magdalene?!)

For those who aren't familiar with the show, LOST is a show about err...everything. It started with a plane crash where a bunch of people of broken pasts end up on a Mysterious Island together (for Mysterious Island, read: there are Smoke Monsters/Giant Polar Bears/Weird Time Travelling Occurances/People rise from the dead/Cancer and paralysis gets healed/People have pregnancy problems/the beer is subpar). On this island, some find redemption and some become a bit more broken.

The guy center, Locke (a play on the philosopher), was a cripple who ended up walking when he reached the island. Locke, throughout the story, has been one of two or three characters with which the faith conversations take place. And similar to Locke, many of the other characters have names that reveal something of who they are, what is symbolized with them. At one point, we had a character named Charlotte S. Lewis (C.S. Lewis) and there's of course Christian Shephard (who died, but the rose from the dead? His son Jack, who is to the right of Locke, finds the coffin empty). Numerous other characters have similar intertextual references.

LOST is no stranger to religion. Throughout the show they've frequently used explicit Judeo-Christian narratives (Locke possibly rising from the dead, the empty coffin of Christian Shephard, and the frequent Faith Vs. Science arguements between Locke and Jack). The show understands faith and understands how to get people talking about faith. And here's some interesting thoughts on what can be gleaned from the photo above. This was on the MTV comments board:

There's a lot to analyze with an image like this. Few things to keep in mind: This supper was held before one of Jesus' 12 apostles in the Da Vinci painting betrayed him. This scene is also told via the Gospel of John. I'm surprised you didn't cover who they represented. From left to right: Bartholomew (Illana), James (Richard), Andrew (Miles), Judas (Sayid), Peter (Kate), John (Sawyer), Jesus (Locke or Flocke), Thomas (Jack), James the Greater (Sun), Phillip (Claire), Matthew (Ben), Jude

Thaddeus (Hurley)....wait. While searching for a higher res version of this photo...I found an ALTERNATE version. Hmm. Here is what's worth discussing: Will Sayid be the Judas to F/Locke's Jesus? Jack is in the spot of Thomas, who is known for doubting Jesus' resurrection.

It's been hard to avoid coverage of the promotional photo for the last season, which starts next week. It's a re-creation of Da Vinci's Last Supper with Lost characters substituting the 12 disciples. Some of the coverage has been a bit ignorant (Entertainment Weekly, I'm looking at you), where the author tried to explain a religious doctrine he clearly didn't understand.

Tales from DC: AIDS joke at Church

At Church this Sunday: my wife introduces me and a mutual friend to two pre-school teachers we've just met. 

Pre-School Teacher: "Your names are Roger and Mimi? Oh! Just like Rent."
Mimi: "Except that my husband's name is Greg. And we don't live in New York."
Me: "...and we don't have AIDS."

No laughs. Wrong forum for jokes about AIDS? Too soon?

An Al Khan Comic

 

From the Daily News Egypt, an independent daily newspaper in English.

Islam Viewed Disfavorably in U.S.

Surprise, surprise. American's have an unfavorable impression of Islam according to a recent Gallup poll. The feeling is fairly mutual according to a book last summer that notes that a high percentage of Muslims don't care for the United States. That book was also based on a Gallup poll. Here's the story on the new poll of Americans by the Salt Lake Tribune:

Washington » A majority of Americans have an unfavorable impression of Islam, alone among major religions, a new poll finds.

The survey by the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies found 53 percent of Americans view Islam unfavorably compared with 42 percent who view the religion favorably. Majorities view other major religions favorably: 91 percent for Christianity, 71 percent for Judaism and 58 percent for Buddhism.