Book, John Book - ProfilesArchive

About Me

I'm a high school teacher at Texas Christian Academy. Before that I worked as a video editor for a missions organization, and before that lived for three years in Central Asia, working as a church-planter for the same organization. Before that, I was a high school teacher for two years, and before that, a college student at Baylor University majoring in film. So, let's see, in order: study film, teach high school, move overseas, move back and work in video, teach high school again...the next step will be to move overseas again. Which my wife (whose name is Ira and who is half-Russian, half-Uzbek) and I plan to do someday. We just don't know where. I love to travel--I love immersing myself in both the tourist sites of a new place and the normal streets where the people of that place live. I learn a lot about God and His world by seeing the diversity of cultures--and how dark most of them are (ours included!) Anyway, some of my personal favorite places have included Sri Lanka, Japan, Sudan, the U.K., France, and Lebanon. And Spain. But there are 12 more places on the list...and I hope many more to come!I edited my profile at Freeweblayouts.net , check out these Myspace Layouts!

My Interests

Creating things--especially writing. Seeing teenagers--juniors and seniors in high school especially--realize that they have a part in God's Great Story, and seeing them reject the corrupt values of our culture to take their place in that story, and then really come alive! That's what I'm passionate about. Plus, I love a well-told story--I think it's the great tool of humanity--be it on paper, in a comic book, on a stage or on a screen. 2006 has been the year of "digging Broadway musicals all of a sudden." And how could I forget: TRAVEL! I've been a lot of places, and want to go a lot more. My list is short compared to some people (long compared to others--only 19 countries) but very diverse. See the "About Me" section.

I'd like to meet:

You! Steve Taylor. Mikhail Gorbachev. My friends from high school that I can't find and who never would have imagined I'd turn out like this. Joss Whedon. Bono. The guy who screamed "Judas!" at that one Bob Dylan concert in the 60s. And the leaders of the Chinese underground church.

Music:

I love music. I find music of all types to be a gift; I love giving it to other people, and I love it when someone understands me enough to make me a mix that I can connect with. This is rare. But anyway, some favorites: Favorite Hip-Hop: L.A. Symphony and Pigeon John Runners-up: 4th Avenue Jones, LeCrae Favorite Current Rock Bands: House of Heroes, David Crowder Band, and of course U2! Favorite Random: Sufjan Stevens, Flaming Lips Favorite Jazz: John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme"; Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue". Favorite Classical: Mozart's Symphony in D-Minor (K. 466) I'm forgetting millions of others.

Movies:

My all time favorite movie is "The Truman Show." I think it's absolutely genius. My 2nd favorite could be "Quiz Show", which suggests that I like movies with the word "show" in it. This theory falls apart when you consider "Showgirls." Blech. I also really liked "Serenity". I'm a lot more of a TV junkie these days than I am movies.

Television:

I think "Lost" is the most brilliant thing ever put on TV. I know it's not flawless, but the concept and then the ideas that they're exploring with it...it's brilliant. I also currently watch: The Office, 24, The West Wing (on DVD), Gilmore Girls (though we may give that one up--the last half of the last season was awful), Prison Break (corny and yet somehow awesome), and Battlestar: Galactica. Past shows--The Prisoner, Angel, Arrested Development. In 2004 I developed and wrote my own TV show: "Home Base." It exists...in a drawer in my bedroom. But some friends did perform episode 2 at a Christmas party once...

Books:

Yeah, I love to read. It's my name, after all. Favorite books include: "The Great Divorce" by C.S. Lewis, "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving, "Byzantium" by Stephen Lawhead, "Money, Possessions, and Eternity" by Randy Alcorn, "Blue Like Jazz" by Don Miller, "The Eyre Affair" by Jasper Fforde, "A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter Miller, and the original "Winnie-the-Pooh" books by A.A. Milne. Eeyore is hysterically bitter in those stories...

Heroes:

Jesus. C.S. Lewis. The staff of Relevant Magazine. Bono (more for the Africa thing than the rock star swagger).

My Blog

Things that make me sad, things that make me happy

So. It's been an intense couple of weeks at work. I'm always kind of surprised but what comes out of some of my kids. If you had asked me a year ago which kids would be still walking...
Posted by Book, John Book on Mon, 18 Sep 2006 03:07:00 PST

Going Back to School and Mel Gibson

Hi all--It's been awhile since I've blogged anything. So, here I am. I've just been on the phone with our good friends Todd and Lauren, who live in the Horn of Africa but are right now in ...
Posted by Book, John Book on Sun, 06 Aug 2006 12:31:00 PST

What I said at Grace's Funeral

I thought I would post what I said when I spoke at Grace's funeral. It was a sad but somehow beautiful service. Anyway, here it is: We serve a big God; an eternal, majest...
Posted by Book, John Book on Thu, 29 Jun 2006 12:22:00 PST

Grace Mann

Grace Mann--born on Monday, June 26th at almost 5 PM, and born again about ten seconds or so later. She came out of the womb, struggled to take a few breaths, and then went into the arms of Jesu...
Posted by Book, John Book on Tue, 27 Jun 2006 08:25:00 PST

School's out

It's 12:30 at night and I'm at LandSharx surrounded by hyperactive high school students. I couldn't be happier! Two days ago I was a bit sad that the school year was ending, because it is ...
Posted by Book, John Book on Thu, 25 May 2006 10:36:00 PST

So, I now have a MySpace

So, at the request of more than one high school student...I have a myspace account. And this is my first blog. The term "blog" originated as a shortening of "web log". How uninterest...
Posted by Book, John Book on Sun, 21 May 2006 03:32:00 PST