I'm a fan of T-shirts and prepositions. So when I saw students wearing chartreuse \I stand with Dave"" T-shirts, I was intrigued. My interest didn't abate when I discovered the ""I stand with Dave"" campaign was one of evangelical Christianity. I'm fine with that. Just some people out spreading the Gospel, wearing t-shirts, drinking holy grape juice or whatever. Not my bag of fishloaves, but that's cool.
I wanted to get a couple of the shirts. My dad's name is Dave. I thought my brother and me wearing them would be a nice gesture of father-son solidarity, like when we had ""Ask the Wise Bald One"" printed on baseball caps.
I went to www.istandwithdave.com, hoping to find an online order form. For those who don't know, the Dave in ""I stand with Dave"" is Dave Mader, a UW men's basketball player. He is what might be termed the figurehead of the campaign.
There was a link for ""T-shirts"" and a link for ""Questions,"" and since my question was how do I get a T-shirt, I clicked the latter.
That took me to an online forum where visitors can post questions. To clear up any confusion, Dave isn't running the campaign. According to a moderator's posting, ""'I stand with Dave' was started by Christians on campus who wanted to bring religion to the minds of the campus and make a public declaration, no matter the ridicule or cost, that they are Christians.""
The forum is intended for dialogue about Christianity and religion in general, not just the ""I stand with Dave"" campaign. Moderators respond to questions at length. One user asked about a Bible passage that seemingly limits the role of women as religious leaders. A moderator tried to clarify:
""Women are honestly different from men. Can I get an Amen? Women are always trying to figure out men and (trust me), men are always trying to figure out women. They aren't the same. Women show different characteristics then men. They are outgoing, they express their opinions more often, and at times, they are moody. Men on the other hand may not speak as often, aren't as emotional, and have very set views. When it comes to leadership, I can see why Paul really suggests that it is easier to have a man in leadership at times than a women [sic]. Men in my opinion have goals and their mind set in stone. Many women on the other hand change their minds from time to time, and it is this characteristic that makes men, in my opinion, better for leadership positions, because they are very focussed [sic] on what they know.""
Thus enlightened, I checked out other postings, finally finding one about the T-shirts.
""When it comes down to everyone wearing the green shirts, I must agree, there are a few people here and there who might be confused. Before the ad came out in the paper, many people were suppose [sic] to remain silent about who dave [sic] was and whatnot, but once his statement appeared, we can speak about anything that we want to.""
As a potential shirt-buyer, I was relieved to know the time for secrecy had passed. The shirts are nice and all, but their raging green splendor isn't sufficient cause to limit one's topics of discussion.
