Tag Archives: Monte Vista Christian

Fiction

What Happened One Christmas

Note: I wrote this story for my senior English class in high school. Reading it now causes me to cringe severely. It’s painfully bad in some respects, particularly in the way it mashes a hard Christian message on at the end despite being full of outlandish gore and alcohol consumption. It strikes me as very much the product of a Christian teen (it’s very teenagery) who was trying to cleverly push the boundaries while also maintaining a foot in the Christian camp. However despite it’s glaring flaws, it fascinates me because of how well it captures the creative and cultural influences that were active in my life during high school. The writing is heavily influenced in particular by three sources I clearly hear in the background of some passages: I hear the early Internet (particularly an old web series called Grudge Match) in the irreverent comedy and outlandish violence; I hear Tom Clancy, particularly Clear and Present Danger, in the descriptions of the elf commandos; and I hear Frank Peretti’s Christian supernatural novels (This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness) in the closing section. Rereading this now is a vivid reminder of how much I liked all three of those things then. A few months after this, I started my five years at Bob Jones University, during which time I turned away from the ‘worldly’ aspects of this story and began to invest ever more heavily both intellectually and emotionally in the Gospel elements captured in the closing section. I have not cleaned up any of the many typos in this piece. (DL, Sept. 19, 2021)

Once upon a time, there was an old, fat, philandering lawyer named Daddy Mack. Now Daddy Mack had two loves in his life, beer and guns,  a deadly combination at best. One Christmas Eve, Daddy Mack had been celebrating in his customary fashion, when he decided that he wanted to shoot himself a nice buck for Christmas dinner. Therefore, Mack trundled off to his gun cabinet to select the perfect weapon for the occasion. After several moments of reflection, he settled on his pride and joy, a mini-gun that he had purchased from some Arab terrorists after seeing Terminator 2. He loaded up a backpack with sufficient ammo for about 15 seconds of automatic carnage, and strolled over to his wardrobe, where he selected a black leather jacket, and motorcycle boots. He then grabbed his Terminator 2 soundtrack, stuffed it into his discman, donned his shades and headed for the garage. He loaded all his gear onto his Harley, kicked the starter, and crashed through the garage door, singing “Bad to the Bone” at the top of his lungs.

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Academic Writing

The Bass

Note: My senior-year English teacher in high school was dedicated and hard working. She cared about her students and was passionate about making us better writers. And at the time, I couldn’t stand her. She put great emphasis on helping us find our voice, and in the process (I felt) stifled our voices–or mine at least. After much frustration with negative feedback on my writing (this piece, for example, written at almost exactly the same time), I wrote a piece designed purely to make her happy. It was shorter than other things I had written, and I put very little effort into it, other than to parrot the style I felt she wanted–short sentences that communicated ‘feeling.’ My only goal was to make her happy, and I succeeded. This piece got an A and positive comments, and I’ve always hated it. (DL, Sept. 19, 2021)

I love playing the bass. When I play the bass, whether alone, but especially in a group, I experience a unique sense of rhythm and control. The bass is the root and bone of the music. Every chord is built upon the foundational note that the bass lays, and it is the bass rhythm that shares the responsibility of driving the music.

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Gaming

Rome Mortal Combat

Note: I have been writing about video games in one form or another for most of my life. This piece was written for my junior high-school English class. The teacher of that class was excellent and had an extremely strong influence on my ability to write arguments clearly. I first learned the five paragraph essay (and the principles that form inculcates when well taught) from him. The three topics touched on in this piece–video games, ancient Rome, and morality–have continued to be important to me throughout my adult life. However as I have lost confidence in the Bible, finding the grounds from which to articulate a clear and authoritative moral vision in the absence of an authoritative holy book has been an ongoing challenge. (DL, Sept. 19, 2021)

2,000 years ago, two Roman galdiators are engaged in mortal combat.  With a quick feint, one of them darts forward and disembowels the other.  The watching thousands leap to their feet, cheering wildly.  Today, in the local arcade, two young men are engaged in “Mortal Kombat II”.  They are playing a video game that involves a fight to the death.  At the battle’s end, one of the characters reaches forward and rips the arms off the other.  Blood gushes, and bystanders erupt in laughter.  The striking similarities between the deadly forms of entertainment enjoyed by pagan Rome, and those forms of entertainment enjoyed today, illustrate how much the United States parallels the Roman Empire, and may be heading for the same end.

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Fiction

Sir Thomas Somersby

Note: This piece was written for my sophomore (or just possibly freshman) English class. It’s the work of a young person and is both derivative and sentimental. Tolkien is a strong influence on it (the horn); even stronger is Jane Porter’s The Scottish Chiefs, a book I loved as a young teen with its picture of selfless knighthood. Arthurian legend is obviously an influence as well. Wholly absent is any Internet influence (compare this post-Internet piece from two years later), while obviously present is the earnest Christian faith in which I was reared. (DL, Sept. 19, 2021)

Thomas Somersby was the third son of Lord Peter Somersby, a minor baron with few vassals, and fewer knights. His eldest brother stood to inherit the family property and his second brother was preparing for the priesthood, so at the age of eight Thomas began training for the knighthood.

At fifteen, he was made a page, and sent to the castle of his uncle, Lord Roundhall for further training. At their parting, Lord Peter gave his son a horn and said to him, “Thomas, I give to you the horn of the house of Somersby. I have chosen, as did my fathers before me, the son I felt most worthy of this honor. Wind it only in mortal danger, and never part with it for it is a thing of legend.” On his eighteenth birthday, he received his silver spurs and become the squire of Sir Darren Foebane. Six months later, in a skirmish with Saxon invaders, Thomas Somersby received his baptism of fire.

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