(more useless rambling....) FROM THE WEBMASTER June 9, 2001 I'm writing this letter a bit generically, since I'll be posting it on the 'letters' section of both my major websites- the ZPBSTimes and W.I.T.N.E.S.S. Ministries. First off, I'd like to thank all those who've been praying and encouraging me during the last 20+ weeks (January through May). I began student teaching in January and successfully completed it May 4th. I also made it through my LAST Social Science elective class- Juvenille Delinquency. Thanks to Prof. Maxsam for the patience with me gettin' a project or two in late. Not bad for a Kappa. I'm long overdue for an update to both these sites- the Times is running over a YEAR without an update - thank God the time for me to do an adequate update is coming soon. My 'strike' has turned into a real bit of time away from my Blue and White family - I've been off the map in the political and social scene of Sigma (although I've got tons of e-mail to keep me up to date on what's been going on, although I haven't had time to read much of it) and minus seein' Spring 2k1 from my home chapter (Fred- update the bloody page!) come out (Congrats Frank Javois and Jay Carnegie), no one's heard hide nor hair from me since 'Strike'. Okay, okay - among the 100+ letters there was one piece of feedback to the 'Strike' piece from someone related to one of the incidents I described, but two long letters later, it was quieted. It's all old now anyway- barely worth mentioning (and no, I'm not posting the e-mail dialogue, for those who DO know about it). On with life. So what have I been up to? Well, those folks who follow my Christian website have a better idea. I've managed to squeeze in two or three updates there and even got out to do some counter-cult work when Sun Myung Moon made a trip through D.C. back in April. Got to fellowship with some believers who are co-laborers in the apologetics ministry such as Jay Howard of Focus on the Faulty, Marcia Montenegro (Christian Answers for the New Age) and Dr. Fred Miller of True Light Educational Ministries. Those who constantly yap on about denominations would've been shocked to see such a diverse group all working as one for the cause of getting souls away from the Unification Church (now calling itself the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification) and toward faith in the true Messiah- the Jesus Christ of the Bible. I've spent the better part of March and April over on thejesusproject.com as the resident theologian who disagrees with everything, reads his Bible too much, posts too much scripture and posts 10 page responses to one sentence questions, but haven't really popped thru in a week or three. Don't mistake- there's a lot of good and genuine believers there- there's also a few nutcases roaming around- but that's the case with almost EVERYWHERE on the net and in real life. In my time there, I've put together responses to various questions that have popped up- Election and Predestination, the extent of the Atonement, Eternal Security/The Perseverance of the Saints, 'Tongues' and more. I know for a fact that I've written the equivalent of over 100 pages of material. I've taken my 'best' stuff from these meetings and will be incorporating it into new articles on my Christian site shortly. In the meantime, I've also managed to get myself kicked off (and then reinstated) on another website I used to frequent (thefifthquarter.com). Those of you on my Christian site should already be familiar with it all- those from the Times can click here and check out the whole thing. In a way it was a good thing- it gave me the initiative to put space between me and some of the 'younger folk' whose minds weren't fully developed yet and who just yearned to argue and debate. You know me- I do have a tendency to get wrapped up in useless debates and points, so my expulsion was a good thing. Gave me a chance to grow up some more. We all need a maturity recharge every now and again. The only thing I miss about my 'old' status is the monthly column (a commentary) I used to write. It's been taken over by someone competent enough though, so no biggie. Besides, there's nothing stopping me from either (A) opening my own site (ha! Fat chance! No time!) or (B) just posting my commentaries on the discussion board (where they'll get read anyway…..). No sweat either way. The other 'good thing' that came out of it was the fact that I got to spend more time in scripture AND around Christian folk on the net (since that's when I primarily started visiting the Jesus Project site). In the professional area- those of you close by know that I haven't graduated yet. Why? Pretty simple. There's a nice little 'EXPENSIVE' company named ETS in Princeton, New Jersey that administers it's Praxis examinations (formerly known as the NTE) for teacher certification around the nation (and in some international areas). There's already a ton of states that require the Praxis exam for certification- that's no big issue. Many universities are requiring their education majors to pass the Praxis exams as a graduation requirement. Basically it works like this- Praxis I is in three parts - $55 per test, $30 per registration session (so for every session you attend, $30 bucks, no matter how many tests you take). I wouldn't recommend taking more than two tests per day. Praxis II (specialty area tests) runs anywhere from $55 and up. My two portions were $70 each. Scores take 8 weeks to come back. You fail, you retake, you repay. Wanna contest your scores and have them re-score your test if you fail by only a few points? $35 bucks. Want your scores by phone? $25 bucks. Missed the late registration date (another $30)? Try going to a test on standby. Test fee ($55-70 and up), registration ($35) PLUS $60 standby fee. Wanna breathe during the test? $45 breathing fee. You can't bring your own air. See why I called them 'expensive?' Praxis I, I passed ages ago (in 1997). Praxis II is the specialty area - mine being music. The state of Maryland now has TWO portions of the test for Praxis II ($70 a pop for each)- Music Content Knowledge and Music Analysis. Content Knowledge is pretty self-explanatory: it covers Music Theory, History and a bit of listening exercises. Took it back in March, failed it by 9 points (probably 2 or 3 questions). Passed Music Analysis by 14-15 points or so. So I'm one test in the hole. Bowie requires Praxis II as a graduation requirement. Yep- so guess who didn't walk on the 27th of May. Oh yeah- I did go through all the 'channels' to try to get this waived- Dean of Arts and Sciences, Provost, President, Advisor- all to no avail. No one wants to make an exception for Bowie's LAST Music Ed major under the old program who decided not to transfer out of the old program but held on. No biggie. In God's time I will graduate. Other than that, I've completed all academic requirements for graduation from Bowie- even all the 'unofficial' things like Senior Recital (which I did on Piano and Saxophone) and more. I had the chance to work with some wonderful students this semester- both at Laurel High School (some of them will be Freshmen at Bowie this fall) and at Benjamin Tasker Middle School. I got somewhere in the neighborhood of an A-/B+ in student teaching, two glowing recommendation letters from both of my cooperating teachers, one of my students baked me a chocolate cake on my last day student teaching (it was GOOD too), and enough faculty recommendation forms for most of the counties in Maryland. Ain't God good? I'm looking forward to getting past this stupid test so Bowie can award me my degree in August, I can get a job somewhere and begin the rest of my life. I've been on hold much too long and it's beyond time to move forward. A friend o' mine recently reminded me of something about myself - I've become a hermit over the past few months. Most of my time (outside of teaching- which was 16 weeks + 4 weeks of class) hasn't been around people- it's been in front of this computer. So you'll pardon me if I take my time with updates and restrict them to major ones every 2 months or so. I think I need to rejoin humanity and remember what it means to communicate without the use of a computer. For all those wondering, no, I will NOT be in Detroit for Conclave 2001. I ain't got no money (although that didn't stop me from riding the bus 33 hours to Conclave 99' in Dallas); through prayer and meditation I've determined that it's not the Lord's will for me to be at Clave 2k1 (spiritual reasons- too many temptations that I'd find too appealing to say no to, so I'd just as soon flee them, per 2 Tim. 2:22 and not even put myself in the situation- ya know? At least not right now.); In addition, this summer will be busy for me- I'll be working with Bowie's band program (as usual) helping to teach during the mid-atlantic orchestra camp coming up July 9-21. It's paid. I need the money. Nuff said. On a side note, I have my first speaking engagement coming up the first weekend in July. My good buddy Jeff Downs is putting together conference on the Word of Faith movement (Copeland, Hagin, Hinn, Price, Jakes, Meyer and the rest of those crackpots) and their abberant doctrines/teachings. As 'inspiration', I had a discussion recently with a person on thejesusproject.com website regarding whether or not physical healing was guaranteed in this lifetime. I found the site where he was getting most of his arguments from (some looney website), so myself and some other believers in the apologetics field (one pentecostal and one non-pentecostal) will probably be putting together to post a joint response to the nonsense on that site. In the meantime, I'm making a personal study to refute most of this and will use the material from this study for my presentation on the 7th of July. I'll keep folks abreast of the time and place on my Christian site. Keep me in prayer. I think that covers it. For the Times site- expect a real update soon. I've got one client's website sorely overdue to get finished (yes, I had to pick up website design as an extra income during student teaching) and then band related responsibilities. But the Times will get done as soon as I get these interview questions back from S….aaaah haaaa!! We'll see ;) As for W.I.T.N.E.S.S. - it's about to undergo a name change (OH YES, an actual NAME change), add some new features, new content, new material, a theological journal and much more. I'll fill you all in more on the next update. Look for them to begin showing up soon. Trust me- you'll like. Take care until next month (or next update) y'all. Kerry