Disney and the Death of the Difficult

By Paul Koch –

Sometimes it seems as if I’m living in some sort bizarre parallel universe, where the things I learned from my childhood, the things that have helped defined me up to this point no longer seem to matter. Or perhaps a better image would be that of a modern-day Rip Van Winkle. I often find myself wandering through my world, confused by what I see and unsure of how we got here. Perhaps I was asleep while everything was changing, or I didn’t keep up with times. Perhaps I didn’t really care. And now I’m at a loss to explain just what the hell is going on.

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The Best Father’s Day Present

By Paul Koch –

This Sunday is Father’s Day. Unfortunately, it’s not so much a day to honor our fathers and highlight their unique qualities. No, this sad little day hiding in the shadow of Mother’s Day has been engulfed by cheap gifts, tacky ties, and “Word’s Best Dad” mugs. So, do I show my dad how thankful I am for a lifetime of sacrifice and hard work by getting him some new golf balls? Or perhaps a new wallet would better demonstrate my appreciation for all he has done. Fortunately, just as there are gift buying guides for Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, so also there are guides for Father’s Day. So, I can rest assured that I will pick the perfect thing that has the most cleverly devised marketing strategy for my demographic to finally be able to say to my dad, “I love you.”

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Iron (and Jiu Jitsu) and the External Word

By Paul Koch –

In 1994, Henry Rollins wrote an essay for Details magazine titled “Iron and the Soul.” Rollins wonderfully elaborates on the need to press against the uncompromising iron weights you find in the gym. Their immovable presence and your desire to conquer them shapes and forms the man you are. While victory is hard earned and progress is often slow, you learn the lessons of discipline and dedication that will impact not only your physical appearance but your character as well.

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Passion Is Overrated

By Josh Keith –

Okay, hear me out before you scoff and click on another blog. I myself have many passions which I love. I have various passions, and I would never give them up—from the adrenaline rush of setting up anchor and climbing a mountain face to the overly nerdy conversations of new Marvel movies to come. Here’s the kicker: Don’t follow your passions. Now, what I mean by this is that too many people nowadays don’t understand what passion is, or rather what it should be. Passion is happiness; it’s fun something fun that you love, but we have bit of a crisis going on these days. People my age don’t know how to work toward anything but their passion.

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Back to School

By Caleb Keith –

Two days ago, I started my last year as an undergraduate student. The semester ahead is going to be no easy task. I am taking eighteen units, including courses in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. On top of that, I have my five-month-old daughter to care for, and I was stupid enough to get a puppy, which my wife will be picking up tomorrow. It is safe to say that I have a hefty challenge laid out before me. However, this challenge is not uninvited.

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One Year Down

By Caleb Keith –

One year ago, I started writing regularly for The Jagged Word. I was given the Wednesday-afternoon slot, and the main theme of my weekly articles was the intercession of technology and faith. That amazing opportunity has allowed me to get my voice out across the web while I build on my writing skill. One year of weekly writing has taught me a lot about myself and the internet community as a whole. Today, I offer up a short list of important observations that I hope are useful to those who use the internet to communicate.

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The Journey of Learning a New Language

By Caleb Keith –

The first time I ever seriously thought about learning a language other than English was in High School. One of the major graduation requirements for most High School students is two years of a foreign language, typically Spanish or French. I had no particular interest in Spanish nor French, and I was also afraid of the difficulty learning a language could pose. Luckily, my online high school program allowed me to take any language I wanted, and it could even be done via Rosetta Stone or another language learning software. My father suggested I learn Latin with his help as well as Rosetta Stone.

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The Vocation of Vacation

By Scott Keith –

“If you are a manual laborer, you find that the Bible has been put into your workshop, into your hands, into your heart. It teaches and preaches how you should treat your neighbor. Just look at your tools––at your needle and thimble, your beer barrel, your goods, your scales or yardstick or measure––and you will read this statement inscribed on them. Everywhere you look, it stares at you. Nothing you handle everyday is so tiny that it does not continually tell you this, if you will only listen…. All this is continually crying out to you: ‘Friend, use me in your relations with your neighbor just as you would want your neighbor to use his property in relations to you.’”

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Why Aren’t you in School? Vocation and the Work of the Hands

By Scott Keith –

This is a short blog written by my son, Joshua Keith. He is an honorable man who believes that the life of the mind is often played out in the work of the hands. I think here he shows himself to be a better-than-average young writer as well.

Before I begin, I’d like to introduce myself. Hello, I’m Joshua Keith. That’s correct, yet another Keith. It’s hard to throw a rock and not hit a Keith on this blog, huh? My father, Scott Keith (Grandpappy Keith), asked me if I would write a blog this week, so I decided to do it on one of the most commonly asked subjects about me.

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The Masculine Spirit

By Paul Koch –

While I much prefer my neighborhood Ace Hardware store to the Lowes across town, there is something that makes the trip to Lowes worthwhile. It’s not so much the personal shopping experience (I’ll take the knowledge of the guys and gals at Ace over Lowes any day, plus they have free popcorn!), rather it’s the spectacle that you can find at Lowes that makes it a joy to go. I’ve begun to notice something delightful in the wide and spacious aisles at Lowes.

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