We’re all registered - we came down early because The Arimathean wanted to hit one of the early day-long institutes on religion - and I wanted to check out to see where there were wireless signals ;o) There’s some great sessions coming up in the next few days, and I find myself looking forward the most to a bloggers pow-wow going on tomorrow afternoon. It’ll be interesting to see if there are any bloggers that I know covering the conference.

So far, a very wide diversity of people, and it’s surprisingly busy for as early as it is. I’ve seen only a few people I recognize, so it seems like the Detroit people are holding off until the weekend.

I forgot how much I like the Ren Cen … My first date with Gary was down here ;o)

Welcome to Creating Change!

I’ve been inundated so far with tons of pamphlets, schedules, newsletters, welcomes, flourescent-paper, etc. Therefore it’s now my turn to inundate you with my own personal welcome and intro.

I’m Joseph, a blogger from Chicago. I was born and raised in Birmingham, AL. My family is traditionally Southern Baptist, so you already know where I’m coming from. Most of my posts will be religious/theological in nature, as I’ve spent most of my life studying and researching the many faiths the world has to offer. I’m an opera singer, a linguist, a writer, and a music geek.

I chose St. Joseph of Arimathea as my avatar for two main reasons. First, we share a name. Second, Joseph was the man who volunteered to take care of Jesus’s body after he passed. This care extended in Christian lore to his care of his family and friends afterwards. I like to think that my take on Christianity takes care of most people’s worries about it, from Atheist to Hindu to Platonist. I like to open dialogue and challenge people’s entrenched assumptions about faith in order to foster growth between communities. I hope to learn a great deal about bridging those gaps while I’m here this weekend. Enjoy the ride!