English Literature 12

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.

-William Butler Yeats

James M. Nelson
Personal Blog = http://jamesmatthew.wordpress.com
Bachelor of Arts English (with distinction)

Bachelor of Education

I grew up on a dairy farm on Canada’s rugged East coast (Nova Scotia). When I was sixteen, my family moved to Vancouver Island. I was in Haiti at the time doing relief/missions work. I flew home to N. S. for a week of recovery (ahhh, tropical diseases…) and then flew out to Calgary, AB where I met my family. I came to Duncan Christian School for my gr.12 year, where I met my wife, Lydia.

We live in Chemainus with our son, Josiah. I am a worship leader in my church and member of the church leadership team.

Some quick facts:

Hobbies:

outdoor activities such as hiking, kayaking, and camping
reading
travel and adventure
music
Photography (Member, CAPA)
a fascination with “LOST” (thanks Tamara and Rachel for the reminder!)

What’s in your stereo right now?

Jack Johnson “On and On” -groovy surf rock. Very mellow.
Coldplay “X&Y” – just can’t get around these guys. Like a worship service!
The Contact “paralyzed from the soul up” – A band from the East Coast that my buddy Steve helped record,mix, and master at Polyblend Studios in Halifax. Just got it in the mail today…
U2- “How to Dismantle and Atomic Bomb”- Bono asked Mike W. Smith that question…Smith didn’t know…Bono said: ‘With love, with love.’
Anything by David Gray. If I had anything by ‘The Violet Burning’ I would play it lots and loud
Guilty Pleasure?

T-shirts–love em.
Hot Tamales–great study food
Honey on cheerios –> not honey nut cheerios..they’re just ok
“Gorilla Radio” by Rage (the edited version)…”it has to start somewhere, it has to start somehow/ what better place than here? what better time than now…all hell can’t stop us now” I play it loud when it comes on the radio…real loud.
quotes that smack me up side the head (see quote above)
What’s your soapbox?

Fair Trade Coffee – Coffee is the #2 commodity on the world market (next to oil). There has never been more coffee, but the price has never been higher. This makes no sense. Feeding our coffee habit on the backs of poor farmers is unethical and wrong. On top of that, genetic modification has resulted in the devastation of sustenance farming and many ecosystems in the name of convenience (and makes for a bad cup of joe- literally, compare an organic, shade grown bean to a genetically modified one, you’ll see the difference). Check out the following websites:
level ground

famicafe

World Equality- Only 8% of the world lives the way we do in the Western World. The rest of the world (92%) lives in relative poverty and is basically enslaved to keep us comfortable. This should not be. The effects of globalization have enslaved the developing nations and we live off of the benefits. Something has to change; the world cannot support all of us living on such a grand scale as we do in the West, so the answer is not to ‘elevate’ (as some might say) other nations to our level of riches; we ‘must decrease so they may increase’… Check out the following websites:
make trade fair

ban land mines Guess who the world’s leading producer of land mines is?

doctors without borders

war child

Recent Reads:
In the middle of Crime and Punishment. Yikes!

A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens. Very scattered and hard to follow. The ending is amazing though, great imagery of Christ

The Word on the Street, by Rob Lacey. An ultra-modern take on scripture. Edgy. Fresh. The Psalms as rock ‘n’ roll or rap, that says it all.

A Soul Survivor, by Philip Yancey. A great read of the 12 or so people who helped Yancey keep his faith in spite of his ‘religious’ upbringing.

top 5 books:

the Bible
Lord of the Rings , by J.R.R. Tolkein
Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo Possibly the best book I have ever read. The first 150 pages would make the rest of the book (1400+ pages)worthwhile if it was terrible. A beautiful tale. Jean Valjean is an amazing example of redemption. I can’t say enough about this book!
Paradise Lost, by John Milton -opened my eyes to God’s omniscience.
The Cave, by Jose Saramogo (sp.)-Translated from Portuguese . Poetic and beautiful. A potter who sells his work to a Communist style city suddenly loses his source of income due to the invention of plastics. A stunning journey of simplicity. – it is beautiful and conversational. Fluid.