About Me

Jason Oliver EvansI am Jason Oliver Evans. I am a Philly native, now living in Durham, NC. I am a first-year M.Div. student at Duke Divinity School. I am a life long gourmand. I am a hopeless bibliophile. I also love to study communication and culture, the African American experience (i.e. history and culture) , U.S. politics, news media, the ancient world, and Holy Scripture and the Great Tradition of the Church.

10 Responses to “About Me”

  1. stellewriter01 Says:

    March 31, 2008 at 12:26 am

    Jason,

    I read and replied to your blog on Transgender perspective. Yes, it is confusing, even for those who are buried in the world of not quite “normal.” Those of us who are transitioned or living in a permanent gender role are not comfortable with the GLBt Transgender definitions. Most of us who identify as transsexual are not gay, and not sexually promiscuous. I am also a Bibliophile who is amazed daily by the Truths, and depth of God’s Word. Should you wish to understand more clearly issues of I/T you may contact me, . My heart is trying to fathom a way to reach those like me who have been rejected by the church. : )

  2. AR Says:

    June 10, 2008 at 1:43 pm

    Jason, you say you are living “the African American experience.” As a white girl who grew up in the Rural Midwest, I am really curious about what that means.

    On the one hand it frightens me (I’m being terrifyingly honest here) that there is a segment of our society that self-identifies itself as being a sort of society of its own. Many black people seem to talk about being African-American as if it were more than a mere demographic. Perhaps there is lingering fear that history is not finished biting us over how Africans came to these shores in the first place.

    On the other hand, my few months interacting with an Army base in the south (I’m about to move to MI from GA) have given me a glimpse of the warmth and vibrancy and some kind of invisible social order that many black men seem to carry around with them. So I wonder, do black people feel cut off from the rest of us, or are they simply trying to preserve something that they feel is particularly theirs?

    I would be really, really interested to get your perspective on these questions since we have so much in common in other areas. I guess I’m just wondering, what is it really like? – since you mentioned it. Forgive me if I’ve said anything in ignorance.

  3. Jason Oliver Says:

    June 11, 2008 at 9:04 am

    Alana,

    To be honest I didn’t respond as quickly because I had to sit and think about what you asked me. I never expected to be asked the meaning of the African American experience.

    What it means, to me at least, is that as an African American, I am a part of a cultural group who haven been historically and systematically oppressed and marginalized within this country by the very institutions which professes to secure the nation, and uplift the people. This fact presents to me as a young African American man with challenges which are not faced by the majority culture such as racial discrimination, profiling, tokenism, among other challenges every other American faces.

    And any people with a history and a culture is more than a ‘mere demographic’. How Africans got here is a part of the whole complex system of degradation which African Americans faced in the past 400 years.

    Africans had their own culture(s) when they hit these shores and have struggled to maintained their cultural identities within the majority Eurocentric culture of America. So the social order that you may observe in the south is a continuation of that struggle. I hope this helps. Blessings.

  4. AR Says:

    June 23, 2008 at 7:59 am

    You’ve surprised me as well. I assumed that there would be something positive, some ownership of the experience and I was hoping for some personal insight into the good as well as the bad.

    But thinking about this more, I’m wondering if perhaps you are not talking about your personal experience – “what it’s like to be THIS African American” – so much as assuming to yourself the wrongs of your entire class. Am I correct, or do you actually walk around all day being profiled?

    Is there anything redemptive about being both black and American? Do you think we’ll ever be able to come to peace about the whole thing, as a nation? And do you really feel there’s some invisible system in place that ensures folks of African descent will continue to have a rough time of it here?

    My personal confession is that I feel a sort of stage fright around black people until I get to know them. We get the message of “don’t discriminate, don’t do this or that” pounded into our head so much that it’s difficult to just see someone as a person. I’m sick of seeing people as members of a class, as opportunities to mess up and be offensive. Like a black person is a moral or social sandpit or something, with a big sign that says – “tread carefully here.” That’s why I’m asking you this stuff, because I feel that if I could just get inside the experience a little more I might be able to relate more authentically.

    But I guess that would be the domain of art, and since art no longer has the ability to say anything meaningful, we’re left with this gaping wound as a society, blacks and whites staring at each other across a bomb crater, each side wondering what the other is thinking. Honestly, I feel so cut off from other people in this area and it’s a very painful consciousness.

    I’ve just moved to the suburbs of Detroit – the most segregated city in the nation.

  5. Jason Oliver Says:

    June 24, 2008 at 9:09 am

    Alana,

    You are right to point out that African Americans are actors in American history for better and for worse. I’m not sure what you mean by “own” experience. Experience is a fickle thing. African Americans are humans with the same propensities for evil and wickedness like everyone else in the world.

    Also, I said that as a young African American male I face some challenges which are racially and economically ordered.
    One example of this that African American men earn 72 cents for every dollar white men make. From an internal point of view within African American community, education is racialized, meaning the more educated an African American is, speaks eloquently, and does not wear hip hop gear, he or she is racialized as “white”. Trust me, one of my white high school friends called me the “whitest black person she knows.”

    As for understanding African African experience on a holistic level, I would recommend to you the book African American Psychology: From Africa to America by Belgrave and Allison. It’s a good introduction into understanding the psychological conditions of African Americans collective. Also, W.E.B. DuBois’ classic The Souls of Black Folk. Maybe take a Intro to Black Studies at a local community college if it’s offered. I hope this helps you a bit more to greater understanding. We all need it. Blessings.

  6. astrowog Says:

    October 18, 2008 at 9:10 pm

    Please explain what “gift” did you receive?

  7. Wayne Leman Says:

    November 1, 2008 at 2:18 pm

    Hello Brother,

    This week we moved Better Bibles Blog to WordPress. When you get a chance, please update the address for Better Bibles Blog in your blogroll to: http://betterbibles.com

    Thanks,
    Wayne

  8. Jason Oliver Says:

    November 1, 2008 at 4:20 pm

    Consider it done, Wayne.

  9. desiresinspiration Says:

    November 25, 2008 at 10:21 am

    I too am a food network fanatic, I love Rachel Ray’s 30 minute meals and Sunny’s show. I am fascinated with trying new flavors and recipes. I also spend lots of time watching HGTV.

  10. Jason Oliver Says:

    November 26, 2008 at 12:36 pm

    Yay, a fellow Foodie! Welcome.

Comments are closed.