...so I realize that some of you keep up with my life through this weird blog thing...and when I write about something, make a question about something, and then do not follow it up, you never get the answer. I forget that you are not walking alongside me...or hearing all the voices in my mind with me (though that, I will admit, is probably for the better). So I'll let you in on a few minor decisions I have made.
1. I have not bought a TV as of yet. It's still just me, the blog, and NPR for the time being.
2. I am going to take the LSAT in December. That gives me one month to study for it. We'll see how that goes. I'm sure you all have opinions on this. Feel free to comment or e-mail me, but know that I may or may not heed them.
3. I still don't like Roy Moore, and it's not because he is a republican.
I haven't been blogging much lately. Maybe this week I'll have some interesting things to report.
Monday, October 31, 2005
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
FocusFirst
CLICK HERE to read An article on FocusFirst...another initiative of Impact (where I work). It's not as good as the one in the Birmingham Weekly...but it's press, and press is always good for us.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Friday, October 21, 2005
I know...
..you all are reading, and yet very few of you are saying anything back.
In Arkansas safe and sound.....well as safe as one is in Arkansas in the house they grew up surrounded by sights and smells that are weird but intrinsically familiar. It's 2 and I'm just going to bed because I've been watching TV. I miss TV. I think that I might buy one this weekend. No official decision has been made yet, but it probably is going to happen. Perhaps the fact that it's 2 and I'm just going to bed should be evidence that I don't need the dumb thing, though, right?
In Arkansas safe and sound.....well as safe as one is in Arkansas in the house they grew up surrounded by sights and smells that are weird but intrinsically familiar. It's 2 and I'm just going to bed because I've been watching TV. I miss TV. I think that I might buy one this weekend. No official decision has been made yet, but it probably is going to happen. Perhaps the fact that it's 2 and I'm just going to bed should be evidence that I don't need the dumb thing, though, right?
Thursday, October 20, 2005
leaving
got sucked into a quiz....
...leaving for Arkansas
....I've said this to some of you, but I really think that if Roy Moore gets elected as governor of Alabama that I will have to leave the state for four years. I will really have no choice.
Think about that when you are voting, people. It's him or me.
How can people really think that he is able to lead the state? It hurts my stomach.
ok, off to the car for 6 hours. I have a copy of Cornell West's "Democracy Matters" book on CD. I'm sure I'll come back even more on fire.
...leaving for Arkansas
....I've said this to some of you, but I really think that if Roy Moore gets elected as governor of Alabama that I will have to leave the state for four years. I will really have no choice.
Think about that when you are voting, people. It's him or me.
How can people really think that he is able to lead the state? It hurts my stomach.
ok, off to the car for 6 hours. I have a copy of Cornell West's "Democracy Matters" book on CD. I'm sure I'll come back even more on fire.
| You are a Social Liberal (68% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (11% permissive) You are best described as a:
Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test |
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Whatever is....
A couple of weeks ago I was asked to share this morning about my writing. This was somewhat bizarre to me for several reasons:
1. in my human-ness I don't really think that I really express profound thoughts
2. I just joined this community... no one even knows who I am
3. Who am I?
Like Moses babbling on and making excuses, I thought for sure Ken must have meant to ask someone else, and accidentally sent the e-mail to me.
And then he sent another e-mail (when I didn't respond to the first one).
Greg began the service with the passage from Philippians (which I used to have in my kitchen- thanks Anna)
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy- think about such things...and the God of peace will be with you."
He spoke about the subjectivity of this laundry list and how it flings open wide the doors to finding God in our everyday life. For truly things such as truth, purity, and excellence are all around us in the everyday things that we love. And there the peace of God is. So we talked about the God of creativity.
I talked this morning about how most of my writing really started in China- when I needed an outlet for all the experiences that were taking place around me. I likened my writing to the prisoners that lined the halls of the academe leading up to David- showing what the stone longs to be: a figure set free by the chisel of the artist.
Beforehand I had been asked to share about writing and read a piece that I had written. Like a good student looking for shortcuts, I combined the assignment and wrote about writing. This is what I read:
For me it's about validation: when words on a page become tangible artifacts of emotions that otherwise would be lost to the intangible time and space of the moment.
The experience happens and it's gone, but if my mind snaps a picture quick enough for my synapses to form a thought that my fingers find acceptable and noteworthy, then the ink rubs down the passing of time, however imperfect, biased, cynical, naive, or rose-colored the recollection may be.
The intangible is now tangible.
For me it's about validation. Somehow as I use these senses, longing to communicate my perception of what my fingers feel, how my tongue tastes, what my ears hear and in the great symphony of it all-- how my mind arranges and tries to make sense of it all, I find that sometimes I connect to others. Though we all want to be unique, there is also a deeper longing for understanding and commonality with our fellow man.
Though I know that you and I will never be able to see eye to eye, I want to at least be able to look at your face. And connect.
And know that even when the thoughts are not profound or politically correct or spiritual that they can still connect.
For me it's about validation. Validation that these experiences are real- by communicating them, by recording them, even if they are never seen again, I give them life. I release them from the bars within my mind and allow them a life of freedom.
For me it's about validation. That I can hear and know that I'm being heard. That even when my life is boring and mundane there is still life to write about. Finding meaning at the car wash or thinking about community while making salsa, these are not profound things, but for me it's about validation.
1. in my human-ness I don't really think that I really express profound thoughts
2. I just joined this community... no one even knows who I am
3. Who am I?
Like Moses babbling on and making excuses, I thought for sure Ken must have meant to ask someone else, and accidentally sent the e-mail to me.
And then he sent another e-mail (when I didn't respond to the first one).
Greg began the service with the passage from Philippians (which I used to have in my kitchen- thanks Anna)
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy- think about such things...and the God of peace will be with you."
He spoke about the subjectivity of this laundry list and how it flings open wide the doors to finding God in our everyday life. For truly things such as truth, purity, and excellence are all around us in the everyday things that we love. And there the peace of God is. So we talked about the God of creativity.
I talked this morning about how most of my writing really started in China- when I needed an outlet for all the experiences that were taking place around me. I likened my writing to the prisoners that lined the halls of the academe leading up to David- showing what the stone longs to be: a figure set free by the chisel of the artist.
Beforehand I had been asked to share about writing and read a piece that I had written. Like a good student looking for shortcuts, I combined the assignment and wrote about writing. This is what I read:
For me it's about validation: when words on a page become tangible artifacts of emotions that otherwise would be lost to the intangible time and space of the moment.
The experience happens and it's gone, but if my mind snaps a picture quick enough for my synapses to form a thought that my fingers find acceptable and noteworthy, then the ink rubs down the passing of time, however imperfect, biased, cynical, naive, or rose-colored the recollection may be.
The intangible is now tangible.
For me it's about validation. Somehow as I use these senses, longing to communicate my perception of what my fingers feel, how my tongue tastes, what my ears hear and in the great symphony of it all-- how my mind arranges and tries to make sense of it all, I find that sometimes I connect to others. Though we all want to be unique, there is also a deeper longing for understanding and commonality with our fellow man.
Though I know that you and I will never be able to see eye to eye, I want to at least be able to look at your face. And connect.
And know that even when the thoughts are not profound or politically correct or spiritual that they can still connect.
For me it's about validation. Validation that these experiences are real- by communicating them, by recording them, even if they are never seen again, I give them life. I release them from the bars within my mind and allow them a life of freedom.
For me it's about validation. That I can hear and know that I'm being heard. That even when my life is boring and mundane there is still life to write about. Finding meaning at the car wash or thinking about community while making salsa, these are not profound things, but for me it's about validation.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
A conversation
I got a call from a friend today. This is my friend who is in rabbinical school, and she was coming home from the high holidays. She started off the conversation saying she was just getting off one of the most interesting plane rides. Her next words were ones that I am never quite sure how to react to.
"I sat next to a man that was church of Christ."
Slight pause... "Oh really." "...and how was that?"
"Kara, we had the most interesting conversations. We talked about everything from homosexuality to abortion. "
I think that I was still holding my breath at this point.
"It was so good Kara. "
I let out a deep sigh and continued to listen to her excitedly tell me about more of the conversation.
"I know that it is the kind of thing that I'm going to really have to think about and digest for a couple of days, and it will probably involve a conversation longer than you have time for right now, but it was strange, Kara. I mean, I left the conversation feeling Jealous of him."
The word bit me. Like a cheetah springing out of no where, it just ran up and took hold. What an interesting word for her to use.
"He was just so consistent. I definitely didn't agree with him on everything. Actually on most things we disagreed, but he was consistent in everything that he said......
... I was not able to find any hypocrisy in him."
Another bite. Another blow.
"Everything was so clear to him. Everything was black and white, and he was living out what he believed. I just realized that I don't have to be scared of people like him."
"I didn't ask him if he thought that I was going to hell because I'm Jewish. I'm sure that he does, so I thought it best not to ask him. But I bet he would say it in a respectful way."
I talked about how sorry I was for the lack of consistent Christians that she had met in the past. I spoke of how if we who claim to believe what he claims to belief really believe it, then that type of consistency should be the rule, rather than the exception.
Forgive us Father when we have failed to be consistent. Forgive us when we have displayed hypocrisy. Forgive us for defining a social culture of Christianity that is not always consistent with the gospel.
"I sat next to a man that was church of Christ."
Slight pause... "Oh really." "...and how was that?"
"Kara, we had the most interesting conversations. We talked about everything from homosexuality to abortion. "
I think that I was still holding my breath at this point.
"It was so good Kara. "
I let out a deep sigh and continued to listen to her excitedly tell me about more of the conversation.
"I know that it is the kind of thing that I'm going to really have to think about and digest for a couple of days, and it will probably involve a conversation longer than you have time for right now, but it was strange, Kara. I mean, I left the conversation feeling Jealous of him."
The word bit me. Like a cheetah springing out of no where, it just ran up and took hold. What an interesting word for her to use.
"He was just so consistent. I definitely didn't agree with him on everything. Actually on most things we disagreed, but he was consistent in everything that he said......
... I was not able to find any hypocrisy in him."
Another bite. Another blow.
"Everything was so clear to him. Everything was black and white, and he was living out what he believed. I just realized that I don't have to be scared of people like him."
"I didn't ask him if he thought that I was going to hell because I'm Jewish. I'm sure that he does, so I thought it best not to ask him. But I bet he would say it in a respectful way."
I talked about how sorry I was for the lack of consistent Christians that she had met in the past. I spoke of how if we who claim to believe what he claims to belief really believe it, then that type of consistency should be the rule, rather than the exception.
Forgive us Father when we have failed to be consistent. Forgive us when we have displayed hypocrisy. Forgive us for defining a social culture of Christianity that is not always consistent with the gospel.
Friday, October 14, 2005
Isn't it interesting
... when you find someone else's blog, only to realize that they have blogged about you. I'm in a quandry now, because I'm kinda hacked, but in the tension of saying something, or not saying something, so I can keep reading the blog incognito. The internet is so interesting.
Then, today, I linked to another blog... and either I'm paranoid, or I think that someone else is talking about me. I swear, I either need to get a life or I need to stop linking to people's blogs.
Then, today, I linked to another blog... and either I'm paranoid, or I think that someone else is talking about me. I swear, I either need to get a life or I need to stop linking to people's blogs.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Hot off the press
For those who live in B-ham, go by and get the latest copy of the Birmingham Weekly. Cover Story is the bomb!!! I'll try to link it up soon!! YEAH!!!!
Monday, October 10, 2005
It's October...
you know what that means for some....Chicagoween. I love this picture because I really do have the coolest friends. Sorry to break it to the rest of you who aren't my friends.
Thursday, October 06, 2005
someone said to me today
....have you ever thought about going into the ministry? I said. I was raised (half)Church of Christ. For me that meant planning a VBS for 5 year olds. Making a paper mache whale in the summer.
She said, "Oh. Yeah. I guess that would be hard."
Maybe I'll go into the ministry. Whatever that means. Maybe I already have.
She said, "Oh. Yeah. I guess that would be hard."
Maybe I'll go into the ministry. Whatever that means. Maybe I already have.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Party like it's 5766
Happy New year.
Last night, like every good Christian should, I went to Rosh Hashanah services. Though I arrived late, was told I had to have a ticket (still not totally sure about that one) and sat alone without a book (an essential), I relished every minute of it.
I really love Judaism. My best friend in high school, and my debate partner (also a close friend) were both Jewish, and I had the amazing opportunity to learn a lot about Judaism, and about Jewish sub-culture in the south. As we all grew, so did our faiths, and two summers ago I spent 10 days with Katie in Israel. She was living there for a year- the first year of Rabbinical school- and I was fresh from a graduate assistantship in Italy. I sometimes like to think that I have changed so much, but when I am with her, I find that she reminds me of the consistency and loyalty a friendship that doesn't require the maintainance of weekly phone calls, but is always authentic when it happens. From her I have learned so much about friendship, but I have learned a lot about my faith, as well.
It is through Judaism that the promises are fulfilled. I love when Paul says that the root supports us. It is ONLY through Judaism that we are supported. To sit in the sanctuary of the temple on Highland Street in Birmingham, Alabama, and to hear the Shema recited-- to hear anyone calling on the name of El 'Elyon, the MOST HIGH God. I close my eyes and wonder what RoshHashanah services would have been like 2030 years ago. Many of the apostles still observed and followed Jewish customs. What would they have been thinking to hear a sermon on the beginning of another year, waiting for redemption, and know that the prophesy had been fulfilled. It takes my breath away, and I wonder if we have forgotten who the true El 'Elyon is?
Because Jesus became personal do we forget of the vastness of God?
I think about the way that Judaism is replete with ideas of social justice and I wonder...
Because Jesus fulfilled the promise of redemption and justice, do we now not offer it to our own brothers?
Have we, as believers of the fulfiullment, missed something by not understanding what it means to say, "How long oh Lord?"-- Yearning for a long promised king? Or, just as they were waiting for the messiah, Have we simply replaced the question, failing to live the kingdom here on earth, and saying, "How long oh Lord" until you return?
In essence are we still waiting? Are we living in 5766?
Last night, like every good Christian should, I went to Rosh Hashanah services. Though I arrived late, was told I had to have a ticket (still not totally sure about that one) and sat alone without a book (an essential), I relished every minute of it.
I really love Judaism. My best friend in high school, and my debate partner (also a close friend) were both Jewish, and I had the amazing opportunity to learn a lot about Judaism, and about Jewish sub-culture in the south. As we all grew, so did our faiths, and two summers ago I spent 10 days with Katie in Israel. She was living there for a year- the first year of Rabbinical school- and I was fresh from a graduate assistantship in Italy. I sometimes like to think that I have changed so much, but when I am with her, I find that she reminds me of the consistency and loyalty a friendship that doesn't require the maintainance of weekly phone calls, but is always authentic when it happens. From her I have learned so much about friendship, but I have learned a lot about my faith, as well.
It is through Judaism that the promises are fulfilled. I love when Paul says that the root supports us. It is ONLY through Judaism that we are supported. To sit in the sanctuary of the temple on Highland Street in Birmingham, Alabama, and to hear the Shema recited-- to hear anyone calling on the name of El 'Elyon, the MOST HIGH God. I close my eyes and wonder what RoshHashanah services would have been like 2030 years ago. Many of the apostles still observed and followed Jewish customs. What would they have been thinking to hear a sermon on the beginning of another year, waiting for redemption, and know that the prophesy had been fulfilled. It takes my breath away, and I wonder if we have forgotten who the true El 'Elyon is?
Because Jesus became personal do we forget of the vastness of God?
I think about the way that Judaism is replete with ideas of social justice and I wonder...
Because Jesus fulfilled the promise of redemption and justice, do we now not offer it to our own brothers?
Have we, as believers of the fulfiullment, missed something by not understanding what it means to say, "How long oh Lord?"-- Yearning for a long promised king? Or, just as they were waiting for the messiah, Have we simply replaced the question, failing to live the kingdom here on earth, and saying, "How long oh Lord" until you return?
In essence are we still waiting? Are we living in 5766?
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