G. C. Jeffers

Story, Beauty, and a World that Means

  • Why I Will Teach (with an aside)

    I am a Master’s student in Composition and Rhetoric. My field holds together the academic study of composition (the act of writing) and rhetoric (the means by which humans make meaning). The academic field of rhetoric analyzes “texts” in order to understand 1) the ways in which those texts persuade and 2) the “effect” that Continue reading

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  • David Cameron on Multiculturalism: An Analysis

    Michel Foucault has argued that the state has slowly become the primary wielder of the institutions in society whereby discipline is imposed on people. For example, the state runs the military, schools, healthcare, etc. Western societies have embraced panopticism. That is, Western societies have embraced disciplinary structures that rely on the perception of being watched Continue reading

  • Thankful Tuesday: July Ninth

    Welcome to Thankful Tuesday! Today I am thankful for: My marriage! Seriously, being married has been wonderful. I know that we’re still at the VERY beginning, but I’m a much happier person because of Amanda. Our new puppies! I wrote about our new dogs here, but I want to take this moment to say that Continue reading

  • Tools, platforms, and Google Reader

    RSS is a good tool. It gives you a simple way to shape and filter the web’s content to suit your own needs. It lends you its power when you need it without requiring any broader entanglement. Its developers, to their credit, made its simplicity central. They were acting as tool-makers, which is how software Continue reading

  • Beanie Babies: A Meditation

    As a child of the 90s, I collected Beanie Babies (oddly named, now that I think about it, given that they were animals. . .). Specifically, I was interested in the bears. As my collection grew, the uses to which I put them also expanded, especially in the summer months when the length of each Continue reading

  • A Lecture Upon the Shadow

    Stand still, and I will read to thee A lecture, love, in love’s philosophy. These three hours that we have spent, Walking here, two shadows went Along with us, which we ourselves produc’d. But, now the sun is just above our head, We do those shadows tread, And to brave clearness all things are reduc’d. Continue reading

  • Exorcising the Devil from Christian Political Discourse: Toward a Rhetoric of Love (Part 2)

    Welcome to the second post in my series on Christian political discourse. Last week I set out my theoretical assumptions and outlined my posting itinerary for the next several weeks. My goal for this series is to, in the end, articulate a roadmap toward a rhetoric of love. As a Christian, I am convinced that Continue reading

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  • Happy Independence Day

    Happy Independence Day! To celebrate, Abilene had fireworks LAST night (go figure, it’s Abilene . . .) Anyway, it was a lot of fun at the park with our new dogs and our good friends. As I wrote at the end of this last election cycle, I am truly thankful to live in the oldest Continue reading

  • Compromise by Steve Connell: an analysis

    The artifact I have chosen today is a scene acted out by spoken word artist Steve Connell (who wrote the script) and actress Faye Reagan. Spoken word poetry—often derided by so-called serious poets—is poetry of the people. It is a successful democratization of poetry, an art form that has been controlled by the elite. Spoken Continue reading

  • Thankful Tuesday: Zombies and Aliens

    Welcome to Thankful Tuesday! This weekend I watched two movies. Amanda and I saw Man of Steel on Saturday and then Drew and I saw World War Z on Sunday. Neither of them were all that great, but that’s not the point of this post anyway. What each of them did offer, though, was a Continue reading

  • Cheap Rosewater

    We would take turns reading passages aloud, and words literally rose up in the air and descended upon us like a fine mist, touching all five senses. There was such a teasing, playful quality to their words, such joy in the power of language to delight and astonish. I kept wondering: when did we lose Continue reading

  • A Prayer for Peace

    Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness, no strength known but the strength of love: So mightily spread abroad your Spirit, that all peoples may be gathered under the banner of the Prince of Peace, as children of one Father; to whom be dominion and glory, now Continue reading

  • New Dogs: A Meditation

    Startled, I jolted up and glanced at the clock. The blinking green light said 12:30. And then I heard it again. It sounded like sandpaper on a chalkboard. That’s when I realized that the noise was Mr. Mom (our new chihuahua mix) snorting his brains out. When we adopted him two days ago, they gave Continue reading

  • Exorcising the Devil from Christian Political Discourse: Toward a Rhetoric of Love (Part 1)

    Anyone who has been around me for very long, or been around the blog for any length of time, is aware of my interest in politics, theology, and the use of language. My undergraduate thesis (to be published in a revised form in CCTE Studies) was titled Glenn Beck, Jim Wallis, and the Debate on Continue reading

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  • Blogging Reset (3)

    Readers, After Lent ended, I stopped blogging for a while. Up until then, I had managed to keep my new year’s resolution to blog every day of the year. That was when I got busy with my seminar papers and with getting married. I said on April 10th that I would blog sporadically for a Continue reading

  • Theology and Underwear

    . . . conversion is no more spectacular than learning to love the people we live with and work among. -Kathleen Norris * * * When I was sixteen I made my first real promise to God. I told him that if he would expunge my guilt and self-hate—the natural outcome of a pornography addiction—then Continue reading

  • Ad Infinitum

    Minutes become hours which become days then months then years. And the sun wheels overhead. The same damn minutes are repeated, ad infinitum. And the shadows lengthen. The lines between rhythm and creation and monotony are obscured. And the moon begins a silent vigil. We were meant to dance among the stars, twirling between nebulae. Continue reading

  • And on Which Side is the Victory, I know not.

    Too late loved I Thee, O Thou Beauty of ancient days. I’m no Augustinian, but I get his temptation. Especially for a former Manichean. Thou wert within, and I abroad, and there I searched for Thee. The old Gnosticism transformed. The dualism in place. Things held me far from Thee, which, unless they were in Continue reading

  • Candles of the Between

    The bitter taste of coffee sits on my tongue while the shadowy enigma still haunts me. * * * I woke with wet eyes and cheeks, tangled in my own bedclothes, afraid of the shadow. Where are you just before you wake from a dream? Is there a place where you live before you live? Continue reading

  • Why I Write

    I was going to write this post before I read this article, but reading the article moved the thoughts into words. * * * Amanda, the other day, talked about why she writes. She even wrote about it, once. I’ve combed back through my own writings and I realize that I have never addressed the Continue reading

About Me

Gregory C. Jeffers
Anglican Christian | Husband | Father | Teacher | Scholar | Poet

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