Local reminder!

I mentioned some of the good stuff in Morris this weekend, and some are imminent: at 3:00, it’s Vincent Price in Theatre of Blood at the Morris Theatre; then at 8:00, it’s the Auditorium of Creationist Blather, as Angus Menuge argues with me about whether neuroscience leaves room for god (answer: no. Hey, that was quick!). You Twin Cities residents can still make the movie if you leave right now — we’re about 3 hours away.

Or you could rent the video and watch it at home, and apparently the debate will be recorded, so you’ll be able to watch it on the interwebs later on.

Ah, April in Minnesota…

Let’s see…gentle rain showers, warming temperatures, a few flowers beginning to bloom? No, this is our latest weather prediction:

A winter storm warning remains in effect from 1 pm this afternoon to 7 am cdt Saturday.

Heavy snowfall is expected across central through southwest areas of minnesota beginning this afternoon and lasting through friday. The precipitation is expected to begin as a period of rain and snow…but a quick transition to all snow is expected across west central minnesota this afternoon. Visibility will be reduced to less than a quarter mile at times in heavy snow and several inches of snow may accumulate over a short period of time. In addition to the snowfall accumulations…there will be very strong northeast winds with speeds of 25 to 35 mph with higher gusts. This will cause considerable blowing and drifting of snow and further reduced visibility in open areas Thursday night and Friday. This will make travel especially hazardous if not impossible at times. snow intensity will decrease Friday but additional accumulation is expected.

The highest snowfall amounts are expected to occur in a swath from Canby to Redwood Falls northeast to Alexandria to Cambridge where accumulations of 12 to 15 inches… with isolated higher amounts…are expected by late Friday night.

I think I’ll be spending a few quiet days at home.

Islamic schools, Christian schools … same difference

I’ve been getting a lot of email about this putatively Islamic public school in Minnesota, Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy. It’s a wretched situation — this is a school associated with the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, and clearly all the students and families involved are Muslims who want a little bit of cultural isolation, and I suspect there is a lot of religious indoctrination going on behind closed doors — and I think it’s a bad thing that this school is receiving state tax dollars.

I’ve been reluctant to jump on this story, though, for a couple of reasons. The main person fanning the hysteria is a columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Katherine Kersten, who is a far right-wing kook with a history of hypocrisy, and this is just another example. I am actually quite happy to see her and her fellow Christianists tearing their hair out in anxiety over the existence of a culturally Islamic school in our midst — maybe (but I doubt this a bit) they are actually getting a vague idea of what it feels like to be non-Christian in America, and watch as the schools are blithely used as organs of theological propaganda while the administrators claim they are not.

For instance, Kersten is outraged at this report:

Afterward, Getz said, “teachers led the kids into the gym, where a man dressed in white with a white cap, who had been at the school all day,” was preparing to lead prayer. Beside him, another man “was prostrating himself in prayer on a carpet as the students entered.”

We are about to go through the various graduation ceremonies out here in Morris. There will probably be a student speaker who will be trotted out to tell everyone how much he or she loves Jesus. We will witness a man dressed all in black with a funny collar who will be given a place of honor in the event, and who will close his eyes, bow his head, clasp his hands, and lead everyone in attendance in prayer to the Christian deity. What’s the difference? One chooses white, the other black? I don’t think Kersten will be going on a rampage to get baccalaureate ceremonies shut down all across the state.

Our local high school had Youth for Christ assemblies on campus, during school hours. This is just as insane and distasteful to non-Christians (as well as many Christians who didn’t care much for an airhead braying about abstinence-only education and how wicked gay people are) as having an imam preach during school hours, but of course it was welcomed by our fundie community. Where was Katherine Kersten then?

Andy Birkey points out more Kersten hypocrisy: she has nothing but praise for a “classical curriculum” that contains Christian nonsense and was implemented in a school run on the grounds of a Catholic church in Minneapolis. You could argue, of course, that you can teach religion from a secular perspective and just exposing kids to their historical roots is not in itself a forbidden act by a public school, but the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy may be doing exactly the same thing … just from a minority Islamic perspective rather than a majority Catholic one. Their website is carefully non-sectarian and secular, at any rate, not that I wouldn’t put it past the liars for Jesus or Mohammed to scrub the crazy talk from their public face.

So, yeah, I don’t like any of it, but I find it hard to get irate at a school of 300 students which may be subverting the secular mission of the public school system, when we’ve got over 800,000 students in this same system who take Christianity for granted. Let’s get it all out. The main virtue of this little episode is that we’ll be able to use it to our advantage next time some school administrator tries to infuse Christian values into our schools — we’ll be able to point out that if it’s not OK to peddle Islam in school, then Christianity should be getting equal treatment.

The other good outcome here is that the ACLU is on the case, and has sent a letter demanding explanations and accountability. I like the ACLU; I’ll abide by their findings. What will the wingnuts say, I wonder?

Quick question for Mankatoites

I’m going to head out the door shortly for my drive down Minnesota back roads to Little House on the Prairie country — if I get there early, is there any place in town that’s good for coffee and wifi? I was planning to find a cheap hotel for the night, too, and leave from there to catch a plane in the morning. Locals, tip me off to any possibilities!

Daniel Dennett is coming to town

Hey, look at this: Dan Dennett is coming to Minnesota State University in Mankato this week. I hope he shows up wearing that pimpin’ hat.

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Dennett, one of the nation’s most original and influential philosophers, will talk about “Religion as a Natural Phenomenon” on April 3 and “Evolution and Evitability: Free Will and Responsibility” April 4. His April 3 lecture will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Centennial Student Union Ballroom. His second talk will begin at 9 a.m. the following day in CSU 253, 254 and 255. Both are free and open to the public.

I may have to swing out that way for the first lecture…if, that is, the weather cooperates. We’re in the early hours of a serious snowstorm here…6 inches of snow tends to chill the desire to go on road trips.

Two local events

One of the many virtues of my university is that, because of our history and policies, we get better than average contact with Native American cultures. Tonight, at 7:30 in Edson Auditorium, we get to hear from Sherman Alexie.

Sherman Alexie (b. October 7, 1966 Spokane, WA) is a prolific artist who is
an accomplished writer, poet, stand-up comedian, screenwriter, director,
and editor. He is a Spokane/Coeur d’Alene Indian who grew up on the Spokane
Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, WA. He attended high school in Spokane, WA
and graduated in American Studies from Washington State University. Alexie
has published 18 books to date, including his most recent novels are Flight
and a young adult novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,
which received the 2007 National Book Award Young People’s Literature
Award. In 1999 his film Smoke Signals received a Christopher Award, and was
nominated for the 1999 Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay.

Tomorrow, same place and time, it’s Bill Miller.

Bill Miller (born 1955) is an American, Grammy Award-winning
singer/songwriter of Mohican heritage. He was born on the
Stockbridge-Munsee reservation, near Shawano in northern Wisconsin.

Miller’s Mohican name is ‘Fush-Ya Heay Aka (meaning “bird song”). He began
playing guitar when he was 12 years old, and is an accomplished player of
the Native American flute). In 1973, he moved to Milwaukee and won an art
school scholarship; today he is an accomplished artist whose drawings and
paintings have been widely praised.

In 1984, he moved to Nashville. His biggest break came when popular
musician Tori Amos, after listening to his Red Road CD on her tour bus,
asked him to serve as the opening act on her Under the Pink tour. Miller
continuously gained fans with other artists from a broad musical spectrum.
He went on to tour with diverse musicians such as Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder,
The BoDeans, Richie Havens, and Arlo Guthrie and wrote songs with artists
such as Nanci Griffith, Peter Rowan and Kim Carnes.

In 2005, Miller’s instrumental Cedar Dream Songs won a Grammy award for
“Best Native American Music Album”. Miller has collaborated with other
notable Native American musicians such as Robert Mirabal, R. Carlos Nakai,
and Joanne Shenandoah. His project with Mirabal, Native Suite was an
experimental and traditional project, featuring flute and percussion, as
well as Mohican pow-wow singing.

I’m hoping to make it to the Alexie talk, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to get away for Miller’s, unfortunately — the first week back from spring break is a busy time.

The godless are gathering

The family and I are about to head out to the 34th Annual National Conference of American Atheists — maybe we’ll see you there.

If you can’t make it, or you just don’t like mobs of amoral atheists, you can join a few of us squid-lovin’ science-worshipping Pharynguloids on Saturday night (here’s the facebook invitation). People will be meeting at:

Date: Saturday, March 22, 2008
Time: 8:00pm – 11:00pm
Location: The Local
Street: Nicollet Mall and 10th Street
City/Town: Minneapolis, MN

I’m going to try to make it, violating the tradition that these PharynguFests lack me, but I can’t make any promises — I’ve got other meeting stuff scheduled, and I might be late. You don’t need me to drink beer and have fun, anyway!

Hide the women and children!

The atheists are coming!

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It’s nice to see we’re getting front page coverage on the Minneapolis Star Tribune, but it’s also sending the wrong message. American Atheists are having their big conference in town next week, but we’ve been here all along and we aren’t leaving after Easter. It’s a somewhat muddled article, too — the writer seems a bit confused by this whole atheism business.

No one can say for sure how many atheists there are, partly because those within the movement can’t agree on the definition of an atheist. Some count humanists, agnostics and practitioners of astrology as atheists, but others draw a tighter circle.

Somebody has to explain to him that practitioners of astrology are regarded as creationists, not atheists. That’ll confuse him even more.

Anyway, the article does give some nice plugs for Minnesota Atheists, the Atheists Talk radio show, and Atheists for Human Rights. And I’ll be sure to get my horns trimmed and tuck my tail into my underpants so I don’t alarm people when I’m walking around downtown Minneapolis this week.

Signs and wonders

I have just walked outside in Morris, Minnesota, and you may not believe this, but there is liquid water falling from the sky. I even spotted an absence of coats, and someone rollerblading. Have I been magically transported to some tropical paradise, like Portland, Oregon?