White Christmas is a Must: Holiday Traditions that Won't Die

White Christmas is Love Letter to the World War II Generation

Most people have Christmas or New Year’s traditions. Maybe it’s a shopping trip on black Friday with the whole family, or a night spent playing video games on Christmas Eve. Traditions come and go as new people are added into the mix. Having Christmas in a different city than your own makes people adopt new traditions. Mine is simple. I watch White Christmas every year because it’s the movie I most associate with my childhood. I didn’t like musicals as a kid. I still don’t, but there are always exceptions. As an adult you appreciate things you didn’t as a kid. Dance and music are expressive forms or art. This doesn’t make sense to kids, especially boys. Unless you grew up in a house where music and dance were encouraged, you probably didn’t get it

 I remember fast forwarding through the dance numbers on our overused VCR. As a kid, I thought music got in the way of the story. But with or without the music, it's a movie with a message that a lot of people probably miss.

America the Young

White Christmas is a story rich with gratitude for a generation that fought and died in World War II. Optimism is everywhere. A song and dance team (Wallace and Davis) that met during the war, meet a sister act team (The Haynes Sisters) and head to the mountains in Vermont for some fun. While in Vermont the two men bump into their old general and decide to help him with his struggling bed & breakfast. They transfer the whole show to Vermont for the holidays, hoping to bring some business to the hotel.

I’ve tried to analyze why I like this movie so much. Despite being dated, it’s the optimism of a growing, prospering country that’s so attractive. There is talk of love and marriage and babies throughout. It captures the post war attitude Americans felt toward their future. Because it starts with a scene from Christmas in 1944 at the front, we get to see the contrast between the bleakness of war and the beauty of life away from it. After the bombings and death and misery comes prosperity and life to the full. Broadway shows are a symbol of a prosperous, confident nation.

Kaye the Wonderful

Danny Kaye as Phil Davis is brilliant. Both with his physical mannerism and facial expressions, he steals every scene. One in particular shows him pretending to twist his knee as a ruse to keep the general preoccupied. I read somewhere that Kaye was an accomplished pantomime before performing in musical comedies. It makes perfect sense. Good actors can find the camera even in scenes where their part is secondary. He is surrounded by professional dancers on the “choreography” number, but we look for him. We notice him in every frame because he’s very expressive.

His counterpart is appropriately subdued.

Bing Crosby (Bob Wallace) is in this movie to be the legitimate crooner. The pairing with Danny Kaye is similar to Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin. Crosby isn’t a great actor but pulls off a solid performance as the career focused leading man. Their counterparts are a sister act (The Haynes Sisters) whose brother served in the same unit as Wallace and Davis during the war. Actress Vera Ellen (Judy Haynes) is the carefree younger sister with dreams of stardom. Rosemary Clooney (Betty Haynes) is the cynical older sibling. Vera was hired for her dancing, she’s clearly a professional. Her IMDB said she was the youngest member of the Rockettes at the time. Everything in the film revolves around these four characters and their connection to each other.

Broadway the Prosperous

White Christmas is an ode to the generation who saved it from totalitarianism. America became a superpower after World War II. Europe recovered eventually, but only after a lot of expensive rebuilding. Japan too, dug itself out and rebuilt its cities after a bombing campaign from the allies that left it a wasteland, a radioactive one at that. American society was poised for a bright future. Its cities weren’t destroyed, Pearl Harbor the only damaged base. But everyone lost a lot of people. Estimates say around 75 million people around the world died. The Soviet Union suffered the most. Between the war itself, starvation and disease they lost close to 30 million. It’s not a surprise that most countries saw a massive boom in growth, both in babies and businesses.

Perhaps because of the heavy losses, military units felt like families.

There is a symbolic phrase that pops up twice between Wallace and Davis and neatly captures the underlying message, “Let’s say we’re doing for a pal in the Army”. Always said after a reluctant decision, like going to see the Haynes Sisters perform out of obligation. It’s a tacit acknowledgement of the value of wartime friendships. It's as concrete as the wall that nearly crushes Phil Davis during the shelling of their camp by the Germans in the first act.

America the Optimistic

You could say this movie is a thank you letter to the men and women who sacrificed during the war. The post war boom is why. No one represents the endless optimism of America in the fifties like a song and dance troupe. Phil Davis saves Bob Wallace from falling debris and injures his arm in the process. Davis uses the injury to guilt Wallace into turning his one-man act into a two-man Broadway juggernaut. It’s a running gag throughout. Whenever Davis wants something he points to his arm as if to say “You owe Me”. It’s played for laughs but contains the core message of the movie to the generation that fought the war--we owe you.  

My favorite scene is at the beginning when both Bob Wallace and Phil Davis are in their dressing room changing after a performance. It’s a scene that feels as rehearsed as one of the many dance numbers. Davis tries unsuccessfully to set Wallace up with a ditzy girl from production. Wallace was unimpressed.

Davis: "Alright they didn't go to college, they didn't go to Smith".

Wallace: "Go to Smith, she couldn't even spell it"

 Their banter and physical timing is perfect. Both men change into different clothes while discarding their shirts and jackets. They toss clothes hangers and shoes to each other, without losing the dialogue’s sharpness. It’s both performance art and witty banter, and it comes off clean like a play.

Conclusion

I think they overdid it just a little at the end. The surprise dinner for the general was a nice touch. But then, the foursome dressed like Santa, brought out the dancing kids and opened the barn door while the snow fell. It’s almost like they saved up all the cheese for the last 2 minutes. In this way it's very much like Hallmark's low budget features of today. It’s also when Bing Crosby sings White Christmas for the second time. Despite the canned finish, it’s a wonderful movie with a powerful message. Post-war America owes its boom to the World War II generation.  I'll keep the tradition alive until I just can't do it anymore.

 

Jordan Peterson Interviews Pastor Greg Laurie

 

Greg Laurie Has Something To Say, If Only Peterson Would Let Him

I saw Jordan Peterson interview Greg Laurie. YouTube had the whole interview minus the Daily Wire subscriber stuff. Greg is the real life character from The Jesus Revolution who was part of the Jesus freaks movement in southern California in the 1970’s. The movie goes into this a little bit. Greg was raised by a single, alcoholic mother who moved around a lot. Predictably he got into drugs and alcohol at a young age. A common theme of the interview was the chaos of his early life. He didn’t have a father figure or even a close male relative to look up to after they moved west. He had to keep his mother from drinking too much and ending up dead.

Anyone who is familiar with Jordan Peterson understands his particular way of conversing. He is a clinical phycologist who talks a lot about hierarchies, motivations and inner turmoil. Pastor Laurie gives straightforward answers about his childhood and Peterson examines it. It doesn’t work. I’ll show my bias toward Greg with this, but nothing is more significant than the gospel. That story of life change, salvation, and sacrifice is the best thing you will ever hear. It cuts across all the cultural baggage and class designations we live under. It’s the truest thing, and as such needs a wide berth. Don’t jump in and try to categorize it along philosophical or anthropological lines. You’ll just muddy it up.

Peterson would do well to just let answers speak for themselves. He can’t help it.

 I’ve seen a few of his interviews now and I find them a struggle to get through. Jordan is a much better interviewee than interviewer. I can appreciate that he has his own methods for evaluating answers and putting new information into his intellectual framework. But not every answer requires deep examination. Also, his question set ups are exhaustingly complex. I found myself scrubbing through his long questions to the part when Pastor Laurie begins to talk. Jordan’s not a classic interviewer, fine. He brings a lot of professional understanding of human behavior into the talk. But the segments have a way of highlighting Peterson and not his opposite.

I’m a big fan of Dr. Peterson however. He knows the importance of the Bible in Western literature. Know one dissects Post Modernism's influence on academia like him. When he’s on the Joe Rogan experience, it’s the best show all year. I’ll put everything on hold. Intuitively he understands the intricate connections between the Old Testament and New. He’s responsible for introducing the scriptures, likely for the first time, to a new audience. Unchurched young men don’t think they have any need for the bible. But Peterson illuminates it like only a scholar can. Most people have never heard it talked about in such an elevated way. He’s probably a Christian himself but it’s not clear because he stays away from hard declarations.  

Still, hearing him add commentary to Greg’s direct and simple answers, left me feeling queasy. Not only is the gospel being shared on this heavily viewed show, but it’s a very moving testimony. Peterson kept trying to shoehorn Greg’s story of redemption into something clinical and cold. I’m sure he didn’t mean to. It was like when your uncle comes home from a foreign trip and regals the family with stories about his time. Every time he finishes another vignette, your younger brother adds a note about what he’s learning in his sophomore Middle East history class.

 I’m not a subscriber to Daily Wire so I can’t complain. I’m not getting this ‘Peterson as interviewer’ thing they’re doing. It’s clunky and awkward. Maybe I’m misunderstanding what the show is supposed to be. They might be trying to do a conversational thing like Rogan has. The problem is all the questions go one way. Peterson asks them. The best  interviews I’ve seen were from Brian Lamb of Q&A on C-Span. I know, that’s an old format and an old style. But Lamb seemed to get that the show was about the person being questioned. He didn’t bring a ‘gotcha’ style or add personal asides.

 When the subject is about the gospel you should sit back and learn something. Or at least, recognize that people watching the interview will be deeply affected.  

Maybe that’s at the heart of my critique. I kept thinking about all viewers who haven’t probably heard a lot of redemption stories. How many will follow Greg Laurie’s example and seek out the one true God? But I’m not giving the Holy Spirit enough credit. Whenever the good news is preached it has an effect. For all Jordan Peterson’s parsing, Laurie’s testimony still finds an audience, the way it always has.

God's Plan for Improvement: Running With Perspective

 

Anxious Training and Old Habits that Won't Die

It’s been a rough couple of weeks since I signed up for the marathon in Texas.

 I already mentioned that it didn’t go well. The last two weeks were an off week for me. Not because I didn’t want to run, but I came down with a nasty cold. It was enough to knock me out of even trying to run. I’ve been climbing back ever since. Last Saturday I toughed it out and put in 14 miles. The rest of my team put in 20. I knew I wasn’t going to make it that far, but after not doing any jogging for so long, I was content with the result. The rest of the week reflected a normal pattern of training, 3 days at the gym and 3 days running. Sunday is the Route 66 marathon. No, I’m not signed up. I had a chance to take someone’s bib and run for them. She injured herself a few months ago and is unable to do the race. I’m not ready either.

Thinking Versus Doing

I’ve figured out that I’m one of those runners that prefers to train than race. Because I’m a thinker I’ve thought about it. There is less pressure to train. At least internally, I can relax and enjoy the run without worrying about the pace. Why can’t I do this during a race? It’s not like this counts on some eternal chart. Like, if I don’t improve every time I have to reevaluate my life choice and do something else. But a race is a test. It’s the clearest example of how much you've improved in the time you had to practice. It’s like any other test. It’s designed to measure. I hate tests because of the probability of failure. It might not even be a high probability, but it’s always there or it isn’t a test. If you have a bad race, you fail.

That probably seems like strong language for a recreational sport, but it’s true.

Failing a race doesn’t make you a failure though. People fail tests for a variety of reasons having nothing to do with preparedness. Learning to run marathons efficiently must be a long-term goal. And you might not show improvement right away. A friend of mine made a transition in his training just recently. He’s always been fast. Even on some of our longer distance Saturdays, he slowed down a minute and a half below what he was used to. His endurance improved dramatically. The idea with slowing down is to get your heart rate into a lower setting. This isn’t the place to describe heart rate zones. But let’s say elevated, or exerting a little more energy than a quick walk.

 This is supposed to allow you to have more energy at distance and ultimately get faster.

New Ways Old Attitudes

Your body becomes fat dependent at low heart rates. This means it burns fat at a higher percentage than it burns carbs. Our bodies store fat more than carbs; fat is a better energy source for long distance running. I’ve known this. Fat adaption running constitutes a sort of, marathon training 101. But making yourself run slower is a more difficult than you might imagine. There is a comfort level that develops over the course of your training. It’s never exact, but stays within a certain pace window. My heart rate has been ticking up slowly over the years as well. That’s not good. The higher the rate the shorter the distance you’ll cover. It’s another concern to work out.

Some of the most efficient runners I know are over the age of 50. They’re eager to help with advice too. It’s as helpful a community as there is. But you have to stick with it, even when you feel like a failure.

There is a verse that keeps cycling through my head. It’s more about life in general, but comes up a lot with jogging. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made know to God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

The first part hits me straight on. Nothing should cause anxiousness in our lives. I think we have a tendency to label issues in life as either “important” or “not important”. We spend more time on the important stuff like family, career, charity and tend to worry more about them. But Paul is clear that nothing should cause us anxiety. By making our requests known we hand off the worrying parts to God and he returns peace instead.

Conclusion

Most people wouldn’t put recreational running into the “important” category. For long term health and fitness it’s certainly necessary, but doesn’t rise to the level of family or career. Whatever place it occupies in your life, it’s never something to be anxious over. It’s a soothing balm of a verse that helps me relax about the trajectory of my training, racing and testing. Perspective is a wonderful thing. It’s even enough to make me breathe a little easer and slow down a bit. I might be able to get my heart rate down a few points. No promises on that though.

In running and spiritual growth, we should put aside old ways of thinking and let God reveal new paths. His peace allows us run with perspective and develop into people that reflect His nature.

Trump's Big Victory and Charlie Kirk Chases Votes

 

Turning Point and Trump 2.0: New Popular Republican Party

Trump won the national argument last night.

In a landslide that’s still being counted, he won early and sealed the deal. It’s been a brilliant campaign. He did a lot of rallies last time as well as this time, but he managed a few genius public demonstrations this time. He stopped by the infamous bodega in New York that was robbed by a crook. By doing so he brought attention to the crime in the city under the corrupt leaders. He wouldn’t have been in New York but for the nonsensical trial for supposed campaign finance misuse. He worked a shift at McDonalds to bring attention to Kamala’s lie about working there when she was younger.

Old Guard

His campaign rented a garbage truck after Biden called his supporters garbage. That one the campaign pulled off in less than a day. The GOP of Mitt Romney would never do this. They weren’t running as a representative of the people and their interests. We didn’t have an alternative really. Ron Paul was sharp but hardly popular. He was too wonky on policy for the average voter. Trump did the one thing no one else did, he listened. Ann Coulter told him to run on immigration because everywhere she went, people talked about it. It was important to Americans but not politicians.

Whenever they talked illegal immigration it was about work visas. Americans were concerned about crime. We never got an effective border wall because the business class didn’t want it. Trump at least started building the wall. Coulter got squeezed out of the White House and never forgave Trump for it. He never adopted her ideas, which were responsible for his election. He did lean on Mexico to keep a lot of the border crossers on their side. He bulked up the border with ATF agents as well.

Illegal Immigration

I thought about this last night while watching the returns. I chose to watch Charlie Kirk’s Rumble channel. Charlie is responsible for a lot of the get-out-the-vote efforts this cycle. His Turning Point Action group got serious after last year’s steal. They educated locals in key states, Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona. This election is about how Turning Point turned out the youth vote. They wrested control of the RNC from the old guard once Trump wrapped up the primary elections. They made Laura Trump co-chair of the RNC and started spending wisely.

A big complaint from MAGA republicans is the lack of help they get from the RNC. The old guard (McConnell, Ryan) hate the MAGA movement and refuse to spend money on their races in key states. Money makes a huge difference in close elections. The Washington establishment was letting MAGA world know how they felt about their movement. Turning Point was the lynchpin for moving the Republican party away from its corporate roots and toward a popular movement. They helped Trump organize his ideas from the first term into something more seamless. Along the way they got Elon Musk and RFK Jr to endorse and become full members of team Trump.

Trump needed TPUSA for the ground game. He is clearly the star and popular enough to lead in the polls. But voting is about getting your supporters out to actually mark their ballots for you. This year was no different, except the margin of victory was so much clearer. The Democrats didn’t get their people out.

Wonky Time

I tuned in early last night. I like to hear the analysis. I geek out on elections too. The TPUSA guys are serious data nerds and it’s fun to hear them handicap the race. They talk ballot dumps and county ethnicity breakdowns. They get excited, like toddlers at the zoo, when a swing state like North Carolina flips. They talk over each other constantly, pour over every new tranche of reports from the state and compare each to the last election. Some of the guys tell stories about the past year on the campaign trail. They lost their YouTube feed at one point. One of them referenced a website as a joke and YouTube cut them. I wasn’t sure why this was exactly. Was it a copywrite thing?

Charlie was on edge and extra careful after that.

Right around the time the group called Iowa for Trump, it looked like a fantastic night for DJT. Pennsylvania was still counting but running out of votes for Kamala. Even the New York Times projected Trump would win PA. Then Wisconsin started looking good and Michigan too. Even without  the western states, there wasn’t much of a path for Kamala at this point. Trump had North Carolina and Georgia in the bank. All he needed was Pennsylvania to get the magical 270 electoral votes and secure it. I went to bed content with a Trump victory. His margin was too big to try a middle of the night dump of votes.

New Day

I’m optimistic for this new administration. This is Trump 2.0. Nearly killed twice, he’s under no illusions how important this is. He is a survivor of some of the worst lawfare I’ve ever seen. It’s strengthened his resolve. He has a better idea of who to trust and who not to trust. He hired some real losers last time. His coalition looks strong and atypical. Normally you’d see a list of regular senators and statesmen from previous administrations in the cabinet. We’ll see some of that. But we’ll also see business and tech people. General Flynn will be heavily involved in cleaning out the justice department I hope.

This country needs serious people to start to fix the mess. It’s not just economic either. The Biden and Obama administrations treated the federal government like their own private army. Raiding offices and arresting their opponents; dragging citizens through circus courts and tossing them in jail. There are millions of illegal aliens in the country they need to be escorted back to their country. Something tells me Trump 2.0 is going to be a more serious and effective administration than the last time around.

Conclusion

I checked on some choice video clips from the Turning Point crew this morning. They stayed up all night to analyze the returns. At one point Jack Posobeic, basically, told Charlie to take a bow. It was clear that all the hard work paid off. He teared up for a bit, but being the humble guy he is, wouldn’t take credit.

Trump won the national argument last night, and we can thank Charlie Kirk for his part in it.

The Republican party looks different today. Thank God.