There are a few places in America where “weird” has become a value, and a goal. We happen to live near the epicenter of the east-coast weirdness earthquake here in Asheville. There is virtually nothing you could do in downtown Asheville to elicit the response, “hmm, that’s odd.” After all, when the goal is absurdity and doing something “different,” eventually you just have a new definition for “normal.” But (to milk all we can from the tectonic metaphor) our earthquake here in Western NC is a relative aftershock compared to the rumblings of Santa Cruz, California.
Four summers ago I experienced the earthquake. (seriously, that was the last time.) One day a local street musician coined a phrase that has stuck with me. We were listening to him play some music, and as we tossed him some change and headed on, he stopped playing his severely out-of-tune guitar (because “off-key” is nearly synonymous with “different”…) and shouted “Thanks for coming to the Can of Screws!” What a vivid description of Santa Cruz. Screws of all different shapes, sizes, and smells.
I am excited to announce that this summer Jacqueline and little Benjamin are going to get to experience the smells of Santa Cruz. We will be attending the 2009 Santa Cruz Summer Project. We’re pretty pumped about it. For the last 2 years Jacqueline has been on the outside of all of our inside jokes about Santa Cruz, being the only person on our staff team to not have had the joy of being “a screw for a summer” in the Can of Screws.
It’s our prayer that we as staff and students will recognize our own “weirdness” and from that point the other weirdos to a relationship with Christ.