The Black Athlete Discourse

I just finished my masters degree at the University of Oregon. You all know the Ducks by now I am sure. If not, just open up the sports page, or any page for that matter. For my final class, I enrolled in a course from the International Studies department that focused on social theory. The final for this course was a paper, in which I researched the conception that black people are more athletic. The questions I took on were:

Q1: Are black people more innately athletic?

Q2: If not, why does every student in my class belief this to be true?

A1: In researching over 20 peer reviewed academic journals, I found that science does not support the hypothesis that black people are more athletic. This means that there is no correlation between any innate physical difference of black people and athleticism. While the common understanding is that blacks are in some way genetically more adapt to be athletic, on a physiological level, this is not supported by any scientific evidence.

A2: The lack of support for question 1 leads us to question 2. This answer is a little more involved and highly theoretical. Therefore, I will skip the social theory and move straight to the conclusion. The reason that most people perceive blacks to be more athletic is because this idea is part of a larger discourse of African Americans. This term discourse is basically references, symbols and other meanings that point to an overarching "thing." It is the same reason most people are a little more tense when walking by a black guy at night, that a women wearing a head-covering is now a reference for the "War on Terror," and the very way that the "Third World" holds meaning. They are all part of a larger discourse.

I feel challenged to question the ideas that I hold as "common sense." If I were to have been raised in any other country in the world, most of what I hold as common sense would not be common sense. Therefore, it is not common sense if not everybody knows it. Next time a stereotype flashes into your mind, ask yourself, "Why do I think this?" See what happens.

On a side note, me and my girlfriend read a Wall Street Journal article a few weeks ago, where it discussed recent construction of museums in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The article stated, "The countries are trying to find a middle ground between modernism and Islam." Look into this statement. It is saying covertly that Islam is clearly not modern. Thanks Wall Street Journal.

Back Home

Inspired to enter the blogging world once again. I just recently returned from my journey across Western Europe, Africa, and Asia. To be fair, I only went to a single country in both Asia and Africa, but can still claim that my adventure spanned three continents. I would have to say that I have a dream that my next adventure includes Australia.

I went on the trip with Ryan John Roemer, my great high school friend. It was a trip of reconnecting after five years. Learned so much about each other and about ourselves. I will spend some a great of time unpacking the trip and will continue to comment of my findings.

Here are some pictures that were recovered from the journey:

Europe in Six Weeks

Me and my best friend in High School are now on a jounrey through Western Europe and Morocco. It should be an epic journey, a pilgrimage of sorts. Here is our itinerary of the great adventure:

July 7 - 9: Switzerland
July 9 - 11: Italy
July 11 - 16: Spain
July 16 - 20: Morocco
July 20 - 24: Italy
July 24 - 31: Mediteranean (Croatia, Greece, Turkey)
August 1 - 5: Germany
August 5 - 7: Netherlands
August 7 - 10: Scotland
August 10 - 17th: U.K.
August 18th: Home

Global Economies

I am taking an economics course about the Economics of Developing Countries. During the course of the first lecture, the Professor informed us that the average global GDP per capital is roughly $8,000. For those of you who are not current in economic terminology, GDP is basically a measure of total economic output. In other words, it is the value of all goods and services created in a particular country. GDP per capita is then simply a countries GDP spread over the country's population and it is a measure of the value of output of each person.

For comparison, the GDP per capita in the US is roughly $37,000. In class we talked today that you must take into account internal services and based on this fact, will factor in the purchasing power which will decrease the gap between the rich and the poor to a minimal extent. However, it is just a reminder of how fortunate we are in the US and also how as much has been given, much is required. So the question I ask myself is what am I doing with what I have been given? This is on my mind because the gap between the rich and the poor continues to grow.

Running or Sitting

Metaphorically, I have chosen to run in times when I am tired. As anyone can attest to, the hill gets longer, the pace quickens, and the heat get turns up. Yet, in general, I have continued to run the course. However, sometimes you need a break and today I chose to sit down. Notice that there is a difference between giving up and sitting down, of which I am doing the latter. I do not know for how long or when the run will recommence, but I am in search for some more fuel to spur me on once again. Outside the realm of the metaphor, I know that I walk with a God that is good and faithful.

Christmas Card

When you walk into my house in Salem, the first thing you will see is the little box of Christmas cards on the bench on the right side of the entryway. I love this box, and it provides great reading material when using the adjacent restroom on the left side. I love reading the Christmas cards because it is a snapshot into the lives of those who have walked through our lives at sometime or another. Therefore, as is tradition, I am writing a Christmas card.
 

James 4:13 - Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit," whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that."
 

The college group I am involved with has been studying James for the term. However, this verse seems to have more redundancy then just the past term, as I have seen these truths at work for the past year. Before sitting down to write this letter, I looked at last years Christmas letter that I wrote to get an idea of what has transpired over the year. I was taken back to death, anticipated career moves, and relationships. Despite change, and transition, one thing I hold onto is that God is faithful, therefore friends and family, I hope that I can depict this truth over the course of this letter.

A big development for the year, outside of my new career as an underwear model, is that I began an adventure through the Bible. I had never read the whole bible and honestly felt like a fraud for never getting through His word. As I went, the Bible started to become real to me. For the first time, I spent consistent time in the Word getting to know the God I claimed to love. I am now on the backstretch and have about 100 pages to get through over the Christmas break. It feels like a victory, and it is only the beginning of a life of getting to know God.
 

On the lady front, I began my first collegiate dating experience on February 7^th with a girl named Emily. She waltzed into my life and I experienced love for the first time (with a female outside my own family). I had known Emily for four years, but something changed upon my arrival back from Christmas Break. I learned so much from her, about God, people, love, and myself. During the course of our relationship, we maintained a joint journal that we passed back and forth, outlining the blessings of our relationship and how God was using us individually. Looking back upon this journal, God's hand was so clear in our relationship and I would not take any of it back. In the beginning of September, I had an undeniable prodding from God to end our dating relationship, which at the time was the last thing I wanted, but in retrospect was a blessing from above. And even now, we maintain a close friendship. Through my relationship, I was able to get a small glimpse of how the Lord loves us. I learned that in order to love someone I must first be in an intimate relationship with God as he is love and only through a relationship with Him can I have the potential to love. Secondly, I learned that love is self-sacrifice, yet it becomes a joyful thing to give for the one you love. It is like Christ and the church, in that for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross.
 

The next major crossroad happened in March, when me and 5 other guys took to the road for Spring Break 09’. In truly epic style, we crossed through 8 states in 8 days, experiencing the beauty of the Lords creation around us. One of my favorite aspects of the trip was dinnertime. Each day we threw the budget out the window and indulged in a huge meal. But it was not the meal that was special, but what happened around the meal. Each meal we reserved an unlimited time for each guy to take a night and share his life story and a passage that has helped him through life's obstacles. We then memorized each of the six verses. I will never forget those times. Sitting on the South Window at Arches, overlooking the glorious snow capped Utah Mountains, with the sound of the bagpipes roaring through the red-rock was a distant second. A quick aside, the guys all decided to invest in a single pair of Exofficio underwear, which we had heard could last two weeks in a single wear. To unveil this incredible truth to the world, we took pictures at every major landmark (Grandcanyon, state borders, Arches, ect.) with just our Exofficio's. Now we are going to be featured in some Exofficio ad campaigns, after signing our model release forms, naturally. But through it all, was just reminded how the beauty of mans creation pails in comparison to the beauty of the Lord's nature.

We also experienced loss again and on April 10^th, my family made our final trek to Fresno, Ca for my Grandmother's funeral. It has truly been a season of loss as we lost Grandpa and Uncle in the past year as well. Both Grandma and Grandpa battled cancer to the end, and are now in the presence of the Lord. For the funeral, my dad, Jon-Marc and I played a version of Psalms 23, focusing on the life that my Grandparents now have in Heaven. It was a special time, yet the realities of death are vivid as they are no longer here to watch us fall in love, pursue our dreams, and walk through the challenges of life. While loss is painful, it serves as a reminder that people and relationships are what matters in life and that life without close relationships is no life at all.

In June, I graduated from the University of Oregon and after much prayer, decided to defer my employment offer in San Francisco to the following year. I also decided it would be wise to apply to graduate school at Oregon and despite GMAT scores that were lower than expected, I was admitted into Graduate school at the UO for Fall 2009. Then to completely mess up my plans, I was presented with an opportunity to go to the Middle East for the summer. Through the radical year I had experienced as a staff member of the college ministry and the a seed that was planted during my time in Cambodia years earlier, I wanted to open myself up to whatever God laid in front of me. So a few days after my college graduation, I moved to Jordan for the summer.
 

While in Jordan, I taught an English course, led a children's program, and spent time with the local workers and people. I maintained a faced paced living over the time and despite spiritual oppression and barren lands, I saw the Lord move and was moved with compassion for the area. I experienced rich relationships and had my own "call" validated; that in some form or another I am meant to declare the beauty of God. I do not know what this looks like but I have learned that I have a maker who has it under control. However, this summer I was also deeply challenged by the idea of sacrificing for the kingdom. I learned that while I am to take up my cross daily, I have to first be a disciple of Christ. Continued prayer for the release of the captives is needed.
 

To usher in the start of a new school year, I had a close call with death. In September, two friends and I took to the ocean with our surfboards at the beginning of our college group leaders retreat. My friend Walt and I ended up getting caught in a ripe tide and splattered on the rocks. While we struggled to keep our heads above water while simultaneously disconnect from our boards, live took on a new meaning. Turns out we were on a rock shelf that could have easily taken us under the rocks, but God was faithful to somehow land us on the rocks. As the tides continued to rise, we ended up being rescued by the coast guard who had to twist our arm to get us into the rescue basket to be airlifted into a coast guard rescue helicopter. This certainly changed the course of the ministry retreat, gave us a new perspective on life and a certainly a cool story to tell. I was actually able to tell the story in the high school group last week in conjunction with Psalms 18, where David declares that the Lord is his rock and fortress in times of trouble.
 

Most recently, I finished up my first term of graduate school, and was able to transfer my employment offer to Portland from San Francisco, where I will begin employment with PwC starting in January of 2011. I am leading a Home Group (fancy word for a group of people trying to figure out how to become like Jesus) out of my house in Eugene and am still involved in the College ministry as a “normal person”. I have also moved into a house about a mile from campus called "The Ranch" and live with four burly roommates. One of my closest friends, Michael, actually shares a 9x11 room with me and we are learning the ropes of married life (kidding). Sharing toothpaste, nighttime talks and lunch rendezvous on campus. I love it. At the beginning of the year we took the chain saw to two felled trees and have about a chord of wood to fuel our fireplace. Nighttime fires are becoming a special routine for the guys of 580 West 8th. It has also been an incredible opportunity to have guys over to the house. Jon-Marc and I are continuing to hold down the sibling duo at the UO and I love being in community with him. He is becoming a man of character as well as a guy who can make me laugh harder than anybody.
 

I feel like I just took on the form of an English major, writing an unnecessarily long paper to get a single point across. However, a man has got to do what a man has got to do. It has been a year of experiencing the Lord and his faithfulness is ever-present. Enjoy your families, friends and continue to seek Him who is worthy of all praise. Merry Christmas.
 

Ryan Steven Dangaran

Memory Verse for the Week @ 580 West 8th

Psalms 100

Shout to the Lord all the earth

Serve the Lord with Gladness

Come before His presence with joyful songs

Know that the Lord is God

It is He who made us, we are His

We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving,

And enter His courts with praise

Give thanks to Him, and bless His name

For the Lord is good

His mercies endure forever

And His faithfulness continues for all generation