Taylor Swift | Mockingbird

Another Week Ends: Wiman’s Abyss, Opinionless Boyfriends, Compassionology, Lehrergate, Antinomianism, Revolution, Taylor Swift, and Wreck-It Ralph

by David Zahl on Nov 2, 2012 • 2 Comments

1. Every once and a while something comes across your screen that is so beautiful and honest and profound and enlivening that you want to force others to watch it. If commands of this kind worked, that’s what I’d do here. I’m referring to the interview that Bill Moyers conducted with poet (and Poetry Magazine editor) Christian Wiman this past February. Much like the essay of Wiman’s we featured last week, this is gut level stuff; he touches on pretty much everything that’s important. Or I should day, nothing that he touches on isn’t important: love, marriage, cancer, beauty, poetry,…

America / Art / Books / Celebrity / Everyday / Grace in Practice / Interviews / Music / Politics / Theology

Another Week Ends: Taylor Swift, Tragedy’s Tragedy, Friday Night Faith, Crises of Boredom, and More November Haidt

by Ethan Richardson on Oct 26, 2012 • 1 Comment

David Zahl is finishing up his paternity leave this week. Congratulations amigo! Love to you and yours.

1) In his “Life of Reilly” magazine series, ESPN’s Rick Reilly covered a hummer of a story about one of the most backwards high school football games in history, in which there were “rivers running uphill” and “cats petting dogs.” Taking place in Grapevine, Texas, a well-to-do suburban high school team took on a team from the juvenile justice center—the Gainesville State School Tornadoes versus the Grapevine Faith Lions. Having home field advantage in more ways than one, the Lions’ coach surrendered all—fans,…

Humor / Identity / Music

From The Onion: Fully Validated Kanye West Retires to Quiet Farm in Iowa

by David Zahl on Jan 6, 2011 • 1 Comment

Ridiculously funny/insightful bit in today’s Onion about the dead-end of achievement-based identity formation:

Following the widespread acclaim and media adulation over his latest album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, multimillion-selling recording artist Kanye West announced Wednesday that he had finally received the exact amount of approval he needed to attain and had therefore retired from the entertainment industry to live on a small farm in Iowa.

Though known for his outsized ego and grandstanding lyrics, West said “all of that is over now,” telling reporters outside his remote two-bedroom farmhouse that after years of nonstop public attention, he was now completely…

Conferences / Grace in Practice / Law / Music / Psychology / Theology

Kanye West Meets the Left Hand of God

by Jeff Hual on Feb 19, 2010 • 34 Comments

I’m still reeling from Gil Kracke’s excellent breakout session at the recent Pensacola Mini-Conference, “Like A Rolling Stone: The Law of Inertia and Human Psychology.” If you haven’t listened to it, do yourself a favor. I can assure you that it will not disappoint!

One of Gil’s primary illustrations of incurvatus in se – St. Augustine’s conception of “man curved in on himself” – had to do with the Kanye West incident at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, in which Kanye showed himself to be the very height of self absorption, a kind of incurvatus in se run amok. In…

Grace in Practice / Music / News

MTV Awards and Grace

by Justin Holcomb on Sep 14, 2009 • 7 Comments

The 2009 MTV Video Music Awards displayed disgrace and grace. Kayne West illustrated “disgrace” and Beyonce embodied “grace.”

After Taylor Swift won the award for Best Female Video, Kanye West grabbed the mic from her during her acceptance speech. He humiliated her and made her feel like she didn’t belong there, like she was not welcome, and like she should be silent. Judgment disgraces you. Watch Taylor Swift shrink in dejection.

But Beyonce redeemed it. After it was announced that she won the top award of the evening—Video of the Year—Beyonce gave up her opportunity to give…