I must say that a fresh start is just what the doctor ordered. I like it here in West Texas, I mean I really like it here. I’m really not sure why exactly; perhaps it is the wide-open flat plains, the wide expanse of sky that stretches from horizon to horizon, or maybe it’s the easy going, laid back, and friendly people that are the natives to this transitional desert oasis, or maybe it’s the 0% humidity and 65 degree July weather. Whatever the case, the stagnant black hole that Columbia had become for us, along with all its associated baggage, seems to have been burned away in the West Texas sun. I don’t think I realized what an effect Columbia had on us emotionally, spiritually, and relationally, until we left. We were drowning in the cesspool of spiritual and creative stagnation. For the first time since Performing Arts collapsed I feel that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing, moving forward in a positive direction, a direction that will ACTUALLY lead somewhere. I am thankful to the Lord for leading us here. Texas Tech is a beautiful campus, full of artistry and aesthetic quality. I am excited by the possibilities that my PhD program will offer me, a chance to act, direct, write, and research. So far my fall schedule looks to be made up of 2 acting classes, (advanced scene study and a special topics focused on Stanislavski), 1 research class, and a theatre history course. The other wonderful aspect of this program is that the mix of bible belt and secular academics breeds an interesting synthesis between the secular arts and the Christian arts unlike tanything that I have experienced before. Many of the PhD students in my program work with local churches using their educations and academics to further Gods kingdom. In fact several of the PhD students are working on dissertations directly relating to Christian arts. So for me it is the best of both worlds, excellent secular artistic training with a theatre department that understands and accepts Christian arts. I’m just glad I don’t have to play the role of defender of artistic integrity; it’s refreshing to be part of an institution that seems to understand the value of arts, EVEN Christian arts. Now that said, TTU is not Christian in any sense of the word, they are a fully secular school with secular ideas and practices, but they seem to understand that Christian arts have a role, which to me is a remarkable achievement.

 We are settling in well and enjoying our time here immensely. I like our new place and its location, mostly because we are close to everything. We are literally 5 minutes from anything, because we live in the center of Lubbock, its nice to have anything I want, delivered to my door in 15 minutes or less. Valerie is enjoying her new position in the Business School and the folks she works with seem to be really great people. We have started church hunting, we visited a Church on Sunday called City View, it seemed to be a normal, seeker friendly, contemporary, church. This Sunday we are going to a college ministry, coffeehouse, type church. We have already scoped out the local hobby and comic stores, and are slowly sampling the various restaurants and eateries. Our neighbors are mostly TTU people, we have 2 Deans and a PhD student that live beside us. Our neighbor is finishing up his Museum Studies PhD and is the head of the Paleontology department at the Lubbock Museum, he is a photographer and sculptor and hopefully we will be going with him on a fossil dig in a nearby canyon in the very near future.

We do miss all of our friends and family back east and hope that many of them will get a chance to visit us out here in cowboy land.  (=

Life moves ever forward step-by-step and it would appear that we are in the final stages of our journey here in Columbia. I thought that we were in that place many times before and yet each time something held us here. I feel that the final root has at last been pulled free, there is no longer any reason to stay and so many more reasons to leave. My Masters is complete and I have been accepted into a Ph D. program. I must say that ironically we never intended to stay here as long as we did but God, as He so often does, had other plans. My time at CIU as a student was a worthwhile endeavor that will forever shape my view of myself, the world, and God. The same holds true for my time as Performing Arts Director and Adjunct faculty but for vastly different reasons. I have met some amazing people in the last eight years, students, faculty, staff, and members of various church bodies, many of whom have enriched my life immeasurably.  Since I arrived at CIU I have been an advocate for change, believing so much in the institution that I always wanted it to embrace its full potential, I still hold out hope that perhaps one day it will. I had to learn some hard lessons about politics, Christian leadership, and relationships. Some lessons were more difficult than others but as I reflect back over the years, I would not trade those experiences for any other. I believe that God had something important to teach me though my time here in Columbia and indeed I feel that those lessons will serve me well in the future. I look back with some sadness over the past and what could have been but mostly I look to the future with eager anticipation and excitement. It is time to begin a new chapter of our lives and hopefully many of the relationships that were born here will continue to go with us wherever we go.