Back in high school, one of my favorite Led Zeppelin songs was “Ten Years Gone” from the Physical Graffiti album. It was a melancholy sort of song, and I did melancholy really well as a teenager. With Robert Plant’s pensive lyrics about days gone by and Jimmy Page’s layer upon layer of forlorn guitar, it was a great song to listen to after a breakup or when you were feeling especially misunderstood.

I thought about “Ten Years Gone” a lot over the weekend because I journeyed back to my hometown of Rockford, Illinois, to attend my 20-year high school reunion. Twenty years! Wow. In some ways they went by really fast. But if I’m honest about it, there were some really long days—long years—mixed in between my high school graduation and now. (For instance, I thought 1992 would never end.) Each season of life represents its own little eternity, I guess.

Anyway, it was good to see folks whom I hadn’t seen for, like, 20 years. Old best friends, old girlfriends, old acquaintances I wish I’d gotten to know better back in the day. I’d never been to a class reunion before, so it was a somewhat surreal experience, like being handed a mirror where objects appear exactly as they look to the rest of the world. Seeing my peers from high school today gave me a glimpse of what I really look like. No longer can I carry on with the false notion that I still look like I did when I was 26. Finally, I understand why the twentysomething on the street addresses me as “Sir.” Sometimes the truth hurts—as does my back and creaky knees. 

Actually, it was fun to see how we have all evolved and progressed over the years. We are now doctors, bankers, machinists, police officers, artists, sales execs, engineers, business analysts, editors, you name it. We have spouses and kids and mortgages. We really did grow up.

Sadly, at least two of our Class of ‘88 classmates had passed away. When you look at them in the yearbook, with those senior-year smiles, they seemed poised to live long, exciting lives. It’s sobering to think that a few more of us will probably be missing by the 30-year reunion. But life goes on. 

Being apparently the only thing approximating a minister from my graduating class, I was given the honor of saying a prayer before the dinner. What a privilege! As I prayed, I was filled with joy and appreciation for each of the people in that room. I knew a few of the folks there from as far back as grade school and middle school. As I looked at them, some looking like more refined versions of their old high-school selves and others looking like totally different people, I was thankful for having had the chance to be touched by their lives. We were all so different, yet forever joined together by those exhilarating, intense, sometimes heartbreaking four years that we spent together at Auburn High two decades ago.

You’ve got to think that Ben Stiller and the studio behind his new movie about a movie, Tropic Thunder, are overjoyed about all the controversy the film is stirring up. After all, when you’re trying to promote a movie, there’s no such thing as bad publicity, right?

This article from the Chicago Tribune explores the reactions about the film from people with intellectual disabilities and their various advocacy groups. If you’re unfamiliar with the controversy, it pertains to the recurring derogatory use of the term “retarded” by characters in the film.

I haven’t seen the movie (and probably won’t anytime soon), but everything I read about it makes it clear that it’s a satirical take on the bloated egos of Hollywood actors and filmmakers and the absurd lengths that they will go to hold on to their fame and relevance. As Ben Stiller notes in this interview with NPR, the “joke” is ultimately on them.

If I do end up going to see Tropic Thunder (or renting it down the road), it will be mostly due to my intrigue over Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of an Australian method actor who undergoes a radical pigmentation surgery to turn himself into a black man for a role in the fictitious Vietnam war film being made within the movie. I find that whole premise, along with images of the “black” Downey, simply hilarious (since I frowned upon a white church’s blackface fiasco last year, I suppose I’m opening myself up to charges of hypocrisy on this one). But the use of the R-word seems to fall under a different category.

What do you think? Should we make exceptions for the use of offensive terms like the R-word when it’s done in the service of satire and subversive art? Or should this kind of thing always be off limits?

Here’s an interesting report from the Associated Press on the current mood among white supremacist groups regarding a potential Barack Obama victory in November.

He’d be a “visual aid,” says former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, in trying to bring others around to their view that whites have lost control of America. Obama’s election, says another, would jar whites into action, writing letters, handing out pamphlets rather than sitting around complaining.

Hmm. So, does this mean that white supremacists may actually be rooting for Obama? This article may point to a possible reason for their restlessness. Meanwhile, this report notes that some political pollsters are concerned that the centrality of race in this year’s presidential election may compromise the accuracy of their data. Which may cast some doubt over a new study released this week by the Barna Research Group that finds Obama enjoying greater support among faith-driven voters, including Christians (though not evangelicals), than John McCain.

I was buried in a writing project when the CNN special Black in America first aired a couple weeks back, so I missed writing about it then. I caught it in bits and pieces. If anyone out there has comments or reviews they’d like to share here, please do. Related to that special, CNN.com has an interesting story up called “Why Americans Prefer Their Sundays Segregated.” Among others, the article quotes Christian reconciliation leaders Michael Emerson (co-author of Divided by Faith) and Curtiss DeYoung (who, along with Emerson and others, co-authored United by Faith). The piece examines race relations in the church from the first century to the present day, and offers some good stuff to chew on, as we continue to grapple with the reality of racial division in the church.

Also, on a totally unrelated note, the ABC News site has a touching and powerful interview with singer Steven Curtis Chapman and his family who are still dealing with the accidental death of Steven’s little daughter Maria Sue back in May. When I worked for Today’s Christian magazine, we featured the Chapman family on our cover one year and did other stories on them as well, so it was particularly difficult to learn of Maria’s loss. But from watching this Good Morning America interview with the Chapmans, it’s clear that they are walking through this tragedy with their faith intact.

Looks like I’m on a Barack Obama kick again. Sorry about that, but I couldn’t resist posting about this latest curiosity that came to my attention today when I received a press release from the Christian Newswire. It’s about one of the current campaign ads from John McCain. I hadn’t seen it yet, but the press release prompted me to look it up on YouTube. The ad, called “The One,” portrays Obama as something akin to the Second Coming—but the sarcasm is obvious. And the ultimate, implicit message is that Obama is a false messiah. In fact, the ad bears an eerie resemblance to something you’d find in the Left Behind books. You can check it out here or by viewing above.

Anyway, in the press release Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, authors of the Left Behind series, attempt to distance themselves from this notion that Obama is “The One.” It’s actually fascinating, and a little weird, to hear Tim LaHaye explaining, in all seriousness, why Obama cannot be the antichrist:

“I can see by the language he uses why people think he could be the antichrist,” adds LaHaye, “but from my reading of scripture, he doesn’t meet the criteria. There is no indication in the Bible that the antichrist will be an American.”

Of course, some would argue that Obama is not a real American, which means he could still be in the running for that antichrist title.

This weekend’s edition of The New York Times Magazine features an excellent report titled “Is Obama the End of Black Politics?” It’s an incredibly well-written, well-reported piece that I would love to have written myself. Alas, credit Matt Bai for his epic survey of black politics today. Using Barack Obama’s historic candidacy as a barometer, the piece measures the African American community’s increasingly evident generational divide on issues of race, class, civil rights, and leadership. The article features a wide array of traditional and emerging black leaders, and masterfully encapsulates the larger meaning of all that’s gone down thus far in Obama’s long march to November.

The piece shines a helpful and challenging light on what the Obama phenomenon tells us about ourselves as both racial communities and a nation as a whole. There are too many great quotes in this article to try and pull a single one out, but one of the key questions that the report raised for me is this: Do we (meaning those of us who are excited about Obama’s candidacy) value the prospect of an Obama presidency more as a means of access to greater political power—that is, do we see him as a black leader who will make black people’s concerns a priority like they’ve never been before?

Or, do we see the prospect of an Obama presidency as a needed message to the black community and the nation as a whole that you can rise up out of humble circumstances to achieve and become anything you want to be, regardless of the color of your skin, and that an African American can represent and lead the entire nation and should not simply be boxed into the role of “black leader”?

Lots to ponder and savor in this wonderful article. It’s a bit long, but worth the time spent. Please let me hear your thoughts on it.

Also, my good friend Douglas LeBlanc called to my attention a great New Yorker profile of radio and TV host Tavis Smiley. Tavis, as many of you may know, is an outspoken champion of African American issues and concerns. Though a Democrat, and technically of the same generation as Barack Obama, Smiley earned a reputation earlier this year as one of Obama’s most strident critics from within the liberal African American community. This profile covers a lot of the same ground as the Times piece but uses Smiley’s story as the main vehicle. It’s also worth a read.

There’s a poignant update from Tyson Aschliman at Leslie’s Journey. Thanks again to all of you who prayed for Tyson and his late wife Leslie. Leslie fought cancer boldly and, through the power of Christ’s resurrection, has conquered death. Now begins a new chapter for Tyson and little TJ. Please check out the update and bookmark Tyson’s new blog about his and TJ’s new journey.

Thanks, Tyson, for your remarkable faith and courage both during Leslie’s long struggle and now in the wake of her passing. You’ve shown so many of us how to follow Jesus faithfully, courageously, and honestly in the midst of suffering and trial.

Cathleen Falsani has a great column in today’s Chicago Sun-Times. The question at hand: “Is Barack Obama really a Christian?” Or better yet: “Who is a Christian?” We’ve covered some of this turf before, but it’s an endlessly fascinating topic.

Ever lose track of time while you’re reminiscing on YouTube? Sometimes the endless videos on there send me traveling down Memory Lane for longer than I care to admit. Let’s just say I could probably be using my time more wisely. The thing is, I have all these music memories from the ’70s and ’80s—amazing performances on Saturday Night Live or videos from MTV—that pop into my mind one after another as I’m exploring YouTube, and I say to myself, I wonder if someone posted that? And nine times out of ten, I can find it. Of course, sometimes the video is poor quality, but the music is still there, often better than I remembered it; occasionally worse.

Anyway, there’s this Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song called “Rebels” from their 1985 Southern Accents album that I really enjoyed listening to back in the day. In fact, the song was the closing number of a great live concert that was aired on MTV. I hadn’t thought about that song in years, until I got swept up in one of my YouTube binges a few weeks ago. You know how the memory of one song leads to the memory of another, right?

So, I ended up searching for and finding that live performance of “Rebels.” The song still rocks, but as I watched the video and listened to the lyrics for the first time in 20 years, I realized the song had a cultural subtext that I naively had missed before—or I just wasn’t as sensitive to it when I was in high school. 

In the video, Petty performs in front of a giant Confederate flag and drapes himself in a smaller one at the close of the song. And here’s the third verse and chorus:

Even before my father’s fathers
They called us all rebels
Burned our cornfields
And left our cities level
I can still see the eyes
Of those blue bellied devils
When I’m walking round tonight
Through the concrete and metal.
Hey, hey, hey

I was born a rebel
Down in Dixie on a Sunday morning
Yeah - with one foot in the grave
And one foot on the pedal

I was born a rebel. 

Now, I know that Petty was born and raised in the South, but I never thought of him as being some outspoken Dixie rabble-rouser. And I’m guessing the lyrics of this song and the Confederate flag backdrop are being employed in a partly ironic way that recognizes the complexity of our modern society. But as I read the comments for this video on YouTube, I realized that a lot of White Pride-type folks look at “Rebels” as a sort of anthem, and here I am—the clueless black guy who just likes the music. (I guess it was similar to my cheering on Bo and Luke Duke in the late ’70s even as they raced around in a Dodge Charger emblazoned with the insignia of the Confederacy.)

The emotion around the song “Rebels” reminded me of another tune with controversial roots—”The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Back when I was the editor of Today’s Christian magazine, we did a brief article on the origin of that song. I had always thought of it as being this sort of patriotic hymn and theme song of Abraham Lincoln that was made even more legendary in the 20th century by Elvis Presley. I assumed everyone loved it. But then we started receiving letters from angry readers who looked at the song—and our publication of the article—as a swipe against white Southerners. In fact, the article was linked to on a pro-Confederacy website that encouraged its members to send us protest emails. I was suddenly awakened to this radical movement of modern Confederate sympathizers (many of whom are Christians) who are still quite bitter about the outcome of the Civil War.

After the flood of emails, we posted an editor’s note about the unexpected controversy and tried to be gracious to the Southerners who were attacking us. (In retrospect, I wonder if I tried too hard.) Then we posted some of their angry emails, just to give readers a taste of how some people still feel about “The War of Northern Aggression,” as they call it.

Why do I bring all this up? I don’t know, except that I still love that Tom Petty song. Also, I believe it’s good to be reminded that a lot of the feelings and attitudes that helped create the racial divide in this nation are still stirring in ways many of us thought had ceased ages ago.

I always hear that African Americans need to learn to let go of the past when it comes to race relations today, and I agree with that to an extent (though it’s crucial to remember that some things from the past will continue to haunt us unless we deal with them in an honest and straightforward manner). But I think there are also many white Americans with cultural hang-ups, wrapped in things like Southern pride and family heritage, that continue to hinder racial healing in this nation. For this reason, perhaps “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “Rebels” are songs we need to hear not just as entertainment or anthems for a particular movement or ideology, but as a way of educating ourselves to the unseen snares that still beset the road to reconciliation.

This may be a bit of a departure from the usual themes on this blog, or maybe it isn’t. In any event, I was moved by this commentary/essay by Frank Deford this morning on NPR. It’s a cliche to say it, I know, but sometimes sport is the perfect metaphor for life.