What Athol Wrote...: December 2007

The Inner Life of a Cell
Tuesday, December 18, 2007

It's been too long. I've been in the weeds again, what with the usual holiday happenings, a deadline on the Winter Haven galleys, and a cold I can't seem to shake. But my smarter brother just sent a link I have to take the time share with you.

Some guys at Harvard’s medical school got together with some top-flight computer animation guys and came up with this simply amazing short film, which depicts “unseen molecular mechanisms and the ones they trigger, specifically how white blood cells sense and respond to their surroundings and external stimuli.” You have GOT to watch this video. Every image you are about to see is medically correct, even the little walking things, which my brother tells me were only discovered a couple of years ago, and really do move that way. (The article says the main compromise made graphically in the film is an unnatural amount space shown between the various components in the interest of clarity, because in the real world all of this is so densely packed we could not distinguish one function from another if it was shown realistically.) As you watch, think about the fact that this is happening in all of your body’s countless cells at the very moment that your cells are collectively enabling you to watch it happen on the screen. What a wonder!

I am reminded of a Hebrew poem, written nearly 3,000 years ago:

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake, I am still with you.
-Psalm 139:13-18

How wonderful to know, as the Psalmist did, although the Creator is capable of such infinite complexity, even so, when we awake we are with Him. Jesus made this same promise, but note that he expects a response from you and me in return for such Divine devotion: "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven." (Matt 10:29-33)

To those who say there is no God, to those who say whatever god there may be could not possibly care about little you and little me, I can only reply: for heaven's sake, watch this video and open your mind. As Mies van der Rohe said, "God is in the details."

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

Merry Christmas, and God bless us, every one!

Posted byAthol Dickson at 8:21 AM 4 comments

Labels: The Jesus Way

In Mexico
Monday, December 3, 2007

Research for a novel is always interesting, but that word doesn’t come close to describing my experiences over the last week. While working on background for a story I’m calling Lost Mission, I traveled to the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. There I stayed in the town of San Miguel de Allende (pictured here) and made side trips to nearby villages and cities. In the midst of our nation’s concerns about illegal immigration, more U. S. citizens should travel beyond the usual beach towns and visit Mexico’s interior to learn about the history and culture of our beautiful neighbor to the south. A little less fear and a lot more friendship would go a long way to finding solutions everyone can prosper from, in my opinion. But I won’t get political here, not when there are so many more interesting things to say.

The town where I stayed most of the time, San Miguel de Allende, was renamed in the early 1800’s, retaining the name of the priest who first settled there (Fray San Miguel) but adding the village’s favorite son and one of Mexico’s founding fathers of the Mexican War of Independence (Ignacio Allende). “San Miguel” as the locals call it, is incredibly photogenic. This blog includes a few shots I took there, but go to this link and scroll down to the “Galeria Fotos” near the bottom to click for more lovely visions. Believe me, the images you will see there (and here) are unretouched. Even with nothing but a disposable camera, anyone can take of perfect photograph in that glorious place!

The sense of history in the state of Guanajuato is everywhere. I was honored to visit the little town of Dolores Hidalgo where Father Miguel Hidalgo gave his famous El Grito de Dolores (The Cry of Dolores) speech to rally the people and begin the struggle for independence from Spain. Looking at those famous church steps, I had the same sensation of awe I have experienced at the Alamo and at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Hidalgo, along with Allende and two other leaders of Mexico’s war for independence, were captured and executed for the cause of freedom, a price every signer of our own Declaration of Independence knew he might be called to pay. (Learn more about Allende and Hidalgo here.)

I also visited the Valencia Hacienda (now a restaurant) in Guanajuato, where the Valencia family lived across the street from their own private cathedral (see photo at left). That’s right: they had their own personal cathedral! The Valencias were among the richest people on the planet at that time, in direct control of 25 to 30 percent of the silver produced in Nueva Espanola, or “New Spain”. When you consider that New Spain accounted for about two thirds of all the silver mined on earth, the Valencia’s wealth defies imagination, easily reaching the level of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet today.

Guanajuato itself has a lovely European ambiance, with pedestrians wandering cobblestone streets lined by limestone and stucco facades, and drivers navigating a strange underground road system created by the miners who originally gave the city its wealth. 48 kilometers of tunnels under the city left the downtown area free of the noise and exhaust that plagues so many other towns. Diego Rivera was born there (on the right is a photo of The Lovely Sue and Yours Truly in front of Rivera’s boyhood house), and a major university is right downtown, which may explain the sense of creativity and energy I felt throughout the city.

The strong connection between my country and Mexico reveals itself in the strangest details. For example, did you know the Mexican Revolution was initially led by Francisco Madero, who studied at the University of California, Berkley? In San Miguel I attended a world class jazz concert along with an elegant crowd of well heeled people from all around the world. This, in a theater marred by bullet holes in its limestone façade, evidence of the firing squads that operated with ruthless efficiency there during Mexico’s revolution early in the last century. What a surreal contrast between that grim reminder of Mexico’s bloody history outside, and the sublime gypsy-swing music of the Hot Club of San Francisco on stage inside! I also had a chance to see Doc Severinsen play with Gil Gutierrez and Pedro Cartas (the classical guitarist and violinist duo known as “Gil and Cartas”). These three guys were awesome together, with beautifully arranged music spanning from straightforward jazz, to moments of classical Spanish guitar, to Django Reinhardt type “gypsy jazz.” I’m listening to one of their CD’s as I type these words, and if you can get a copy, you should listen, too.

All of this in only one week, and believe me, this description barely scratches the surface of the sights, sounds, and people I encountered. Mexico. What a beautiful, amazing, and fascinating country it is! I went south unsure of the final direction I should take with Lost Mission, and came home overflowing with grand ideas and creative energy. Now at last after months of preparation it’s time to do what writers do and . . . write!