Honest Scrap Award

Danny Fisher over at Chaplain Danny has bestowed upon me an “Honest Scrap Award.” The award is described as follows:

This award is bestowed upon a fellow blogger whose blog content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant. This award is about bloggers who post from their heart, who oftentimes put their heart on display as they write from the depths of their soul.

Just when I thought my ego could grow no larger, Danny comes along and says the nicest things about me (all of which are true and bear repeating… daily if possible):

Justin Whitaker: the man, the myth, the legend. Justin is someone I’m delighted to have a real-life friendship with, in part because I think he’s tremendously good at this blogging thang. I remember thinking before I met him in person, “Gosh, I hope we hit it off, because I can tell from the blog: this guy is really something.” In bestowing this award upon me, Scott noted that I tend not to “deviate too far into [my] own personal trials and tribulations.” One of the things I admire so much about Justin is that he can write just as skillfully about aspects of his personal life as he can about Buddhist ethics (his particular area of expertise). I’m looking forward to Montreal, sir!

Wow. Sheesh. (ego needs a bigger room) Thanks, Danny!*

Now then, the rules of the Honest Scrap Award stipulate that I am to:

brag about it;
choose a minimum of seven blogs that I find brilliant;
and list ten honest things about myself.

I think I have number one taken care of.

Seven brilliant blogs huh? How about eight?

A Buddhist Catholic: Debbie’s is one of only a few that I read each new post closely. Such reading, I find, pays off as one journeys with her through nature, deep questions, and the depths of the heart where Buddhism and Catholicism are one. In terms of spirituality I see much of myself, or who I aspire to be, in her words and adventures.
Vesper in Limbo: Miss Vesper, aka Kristen, is about as honest as it gets, in touch with the ebs and flows of life at their highest highs and deepest lows. Her writing and eye for photography inspire creativity and conversation around the world. She is what we might call an evolving being in touch with her daily, even momentary, evolution.
Dharma Brother Pete: Reading Pete’s blog is like riding a bumpy slide into the heart of Buddhadharma. That’s probably a terrible analogy. But in his words we find both an ardent search and sudden fruits of his sincere practice. The bumps are found in glimpses of his past, which like many of us, reveal the all-too-human side of practicing the Dharma. Pete’s humanity is not a vice though, but a virtue, for it reaches out to each of us as we encounter life’s bumps, unsure of what is yet to come.
Bodhi Tree Swaying: This is the blog of my first meditation teacher, Bodhipaksa. Despite his subtitle: “Random Thoughts of a Western Buddhist,” his writing brings us into a life that is anything but random, and is instead guided by over a quarter-century of Buddhist practice and the resulting maha-karuna for the world. From his books on vegetarianism and meditation, to his prison volunteer work, to his adopted daughter Maia (and now a son), we find endless avenues of exploration, to admiration, and inspiration.
Jayarava’s Raves: I can barely keep up with Jayarava’s blog posts, but I am in awe of how much research and knowledge he packs into his writing. Each short essay there could easily consume a day of reading, discussion, and further research on my part. His is a blog that I look up to as an aspiring academic writer as much as I do for its purely Buddhist content. It is one that reminds me of how much work I still have to do!
The Columbia Center for Buddhist Studies Weblog: Or Coce BuStu (my name for it) for short. Not so much a blog as a portal of Blogs and resources from Columbia University in NYC. It is yet another inspiration for myself and other inspiring academics.
A drivel Runs Through It – The great miss Patia! Stop by for the photos, stay for the prose. Patia weaves her own life into the fabric of Montana’s history and endless vistas like no one else. I’ve seen many a commenter on her blog say that they feel as if they are in Montana just reading and seeing her pics. She is on her way to great things.
In the Moment: Honesty can be both brutal and funny. If I could possibly be less long-winded, and funny, and real, I would try to write just like Beatnikchik. But I can’t, so I bow fully to her for my daily doses of pithy, hilarious reality. Book publishers: get this woman on a contract. Now.

Speaking of long-winded, ten honest things about myself:

1. I can fly, I just try not to tell anybody.
2. #1 is a lie.
3.

After long days, when I’m tired and maybe had a beer or glass of wine (and even without) I can get a bit silly. This is one of those times. Tonight’s silliness comes not from libations, sadly, but from anticipation of tomorrow’s 12k trail run…
Just over two years ago I almost stopped blogging. Relationship ‘stuff’ was taking over my thoughts and thus my blog posts, and I felt it would be best if I took some time away to work things out. After some reflection and kind words from fellow bloggers and friends, I plugged along. Things never did work out with my girlfriend at the time, but happily we are still friends and the same stubbornness that kept us apart then has led us into the rich and fascinating lives we live today.
I’ve been in one abusive relationship. The abuse was short-lived. I left. Yet it was still intense, bewildering and painful. Great friends (including Jen and Patia), a strong family, and practicing Gratitude and loving-kindness sustained me through the hardest of it.
Back to happier points, I drew applause from my 180 or so students on the final day of the Intro to Buddhism course I taught at The University of Montana in the fall of 2006. I could not have asked for a happier ending to the course that I had poured so much of my heart and soul into. The experience was like no other in my life, before or since. I owe unending gratitude to many people for its success. The foremost is Alan Sponberg, the UM professor for whom I TA’ed for 3 years, learning not only the content of the course, but the joyful way it may be conveyed. Another is Jay Parini, whose wonderful little book, “The Art of Teaching” should be required reading for not only teachers, but everyone who aspires to lead and inspire young minds. Not least though were the wonderful students – thank you all who were there.
As a youth I believed Montana was the world. All beyond it was incomprehensible and uninteresting. Philosophy studies opened me to countless new worlds, geographically and intellectually, shattering forever the illusion that these mountains and rugged hills and valleys might hold all that my heart could need. I’ve traveled. I’ve grown. I’ve studied. I’ve returned (for now).
Unlike Danny (see his #3) and many other Honest Scrap Award-winners it seems, I don’t swear much. However, I do catch myself saying “F^&k-a-duck;” quietly to myself sometimes. The phrase came to me from, of all appropriate places, my mother. We were in the heart of Paris. I was 15. My mom was driving a newly rented Opel econo-car and we found ourselves in a roundabout of mythic proportions. Trapped by zippy French drivers, we circled again and again, unable to get outside when our appointed exit approached. Finally, my mom turned off on the first side-street she could actually get to and pulled over. Gripping the steering-wheel with white knuckles and to the simultaneous horror and bemusement of my sister and I, she uttered those three words over and over again.
The list of people for whom I am deeply grateful has grown ten-fold in the last couple years.
I aspire to run a marathon, travel to China, move to Hong Kong, present a paper at the largest gathering of religious studies academics in the world, publish in 2 journals, and wrap up a Ph.D. in the next 15 months or so. And I still consider myself to be lazy.
When I was 18 I took two I.Q. tests. One put me at 146, just into the genius range, the other at 120 or so, moderatly above average. Based on these, using my now above average intelligence, I concluded two things: 1) IQ test results can vary, a lot, and 2) I should stop now, as I seem to be getting dumber with each new test.
I’m not big on rules (and I’m lazy, see #8). 9 is enough. If you’ve gotten this far, I owe it to you to stop 🙂 Go read one of those wonderful blogs mentioned above. And thank you.

* some 5/12 updates