I met someone new on Friday.
She is chic and engaging. Classy, yet down-to-earth. She is well-versed on the classics but nontheless in tune with popular culture. She is intelligent, well-read, and an "early adopter"--always up to speed with the most current technology trends. Yet she maintains a servant's heart, interested in reaching out to persons from all walks of life, seeing them as equals to herself. As such, she maintains an approachability like none other.
I could spend hours in her presence and it would feel like only minutes. I look forward longingly to our next visit. She encourages me in my studies and reminds me of why I am here, while at the same time engaging with those nearby and encouraging them in their own unique endeavors. She is a gifted companion to many. It is heartwarming to observe.
She is always happy to welcome more visitors. In fact, she has her own website--I invite you to look her up and see how you might be able to connect: mystery woman. And here is a photo that displays her remarkable beauty: in the flesh.
No, she is not a real person, but the above is no less true of an experience for me. If you have not visited the Westerville Public Library, and you live anywhere in Ohio, you really must do so. She is a beauty! I attended a tour of the facilities on Friday afternoon with the C/ALSSO (Columbus Associated Library Science Students of Ohio) group of which I am a member. Needless to say, it was a delightful tour and each of us came away feeling enamored by the facilities. I promptly signed up for my library card and have been here every day since (okay, so it was only two days ago, but STILL....!!). It has been the perfect "study environment" for working on my paper this weekend (an assignment that involves developing criteria for evaluating the informational content of a website, followed by a case study "testing" my criteria).
As you can see, I am on a temporary study break in order to do a little blogging! But shhhhh....don't tell anyone!
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Pumpkin Spice Latte with an extra shot of reality
My friend J. recently introduced me to the Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks...only available in the fall. This morning I picked one up on the way to work (this is my marathon day--a full day of work followed by nearly 3 hours of class ). The quote printed on my cup was one that struck me:
Starbucks: The Way I See It #178
"The measure of genuine civilization, it has been said, is the quality of life for a nation's poorest and least privileged people. By that measure, we are barbarians. Our current level of inequality cannot be justified or sustained."
-Robert W. McChesney
Author, media critic and professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Starbucks: The Way I See It #178
"The measure of genuine civilization, it has been said, is the quality of life for a nation's poorest and least privileged people. By that measure, we are barbarians. Our current level of inequality cannot be justified or sustained."
-Robert W. McChesney
Author, media critic and professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Pay attention to the baby steps
"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness."
- Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas
I read the above quote in the introduction to an article I'm reading for class entitled, "Confidentially Speaking: American Libraries and the USA PATRIOT Act," by Ellen D. Gilbert. The nightfall imagery struck me as a particularly powerful one.
Alternatively, the image of a sunrise also comes to mind as a helpful one in considering many aspects of life. During dark times, we may not see change coming as drastically as we'd like to see--as in the difference between night and day. We are tempted to remain frustrated, angry or defeated when we don't see results as quickly as we would like for them to take place. But, if we remain steadfast, focused and determined, soon the early dawn hours will begin to creep in and light will slowly begin to illuminate the horizon....steadily chasing the darkness away until the whole sky is brilliant.
- Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas
I read the above quote in the introduction to an article I'm reading for class entitled, "Confidentially Speaking: American Libraries and the USA PATRIOT Act," by Ellen D. Gilbert. The nightfall imagery struck me as a particularly powerful one.
Alternatively, the image of a sunrise also comes to mind as a helpful one in considering many aspects of life. During dark times, we may not see change coming as drastically as we'd like to see--as in the difference between night and day. We are tempted to remain frustrated, angry or defeated when we don't see results as quickly as we would like for them to take place. But, if we remain steadfast, focused and determined, soon the early dawn hours will begin to creep in and light will slowly begin to illuminate the horizon....steadily chasing the darkness away until the whole sky is brilliant.
Queen for a Day (or at least for the amount of time it takes to read an e-mail)
I ordered a couple of hard-to-find CD's the other day from an online CD store specializing in independent music: CD Baby. (The CD's I bought were by Doria Roberts and Katie Reider). I have to share the confirmation e-mail I received upon shipment of my CD's as one of the most delightful experiences of customer service I have yet received:
Your CDs have been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.
A team of 50 employees inspected your CDs and polished them to make sure they were in the best possible condition before mailing.
Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CDs into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.
We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved 'Bon Voyage!' to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, Saturday, October 7th.
I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did.
Your picture is on our wall as "Customer of the Year". We're all exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!
Thank you once again,
Derek Sivers, president, CD Baby
the little CD store with the best new independent music
phone: 1-800-448-6369 email: cdbaby@cdbaby.com http://cdbaby.com
Wow, customer of the year!! And of course the Bon Voyage send-off is all the more touching to me as a fellow Oregonian at heart! Thanks CD Baby.
Your CDs have been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.
A team of 50 employees inspected your CDs and polished them to make sure they were in the best possible condition before mailing.
Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CDs into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.
We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved 'Bon Voyage!' to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, Saturday, October 7th.
I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did.
Your picture is on our wall as "Customer of the Year". We're all exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!
Thank you once again,
Derek Sivers, president, CD Baby
the little CD store with the best new independent music
phone: 1-800-448-6369 email: cdbaby@cdbaby.com http://cdbaby.com
Wow, customer of the year!! And of course the Bon Voyage send-off is all the more touching to me as a fellow Oregonian at heart! Thanks CD Baby.
Friday, October 06, 2006
Free Hugs
My friend K. shared with me a video that seems to be making the rounds of the internet. It's the Free Hugs Campaign -- the real-life story of a man under the pseudonym Juan Mann (say it out loud...it took me a minute to get it...) who stands in a public space (it happens to be a mall in Sydney, Australia) with a giant placard offering FREE HUGS. The video is moving--more so than I anticipated. I'm not sure if it was the images or the accompanying lyrics that affected me the most. Undoubtedly, it was the combination of both that struck a chord. You may watch the video on YouTube by following the hyperlink above--I highly recommend it!
On the commute home from work today I reflected on the video and tried to analyze my reaction to it. I suppose I initially thought it was going to be some sappy piece. A warm fuzzy story that has a sugar coated message. Free hugs--how nice. I considered what my own reaction might be to encountering a stranger holding a FREE HUGS banner in the middle of Easton Town Center. I would probably think he was loony. Or perhaps I would even be offended that he didn't recognize appropriate social boundaries. It's okay for my friends and loved ones to hug me. But a stranger....someone I know nothing about? Then, I considered the offer of the hug itself. I want to know, what is the catch? Surely the offer can't be genuine....what does this person really want? Where is the ulterior motive?
And then I thought....what if it were me? What if I were to stand in the middle of a pedestrian thoroughfare holding a similar sign offering FREE HUGS. I try to be a kind person. Indeed, offering the human touch to others is one of the most grace-filled acts of love. Could I bear to hold the sign? Wear my heart on my sleeve so boldly that I risk ridicule by a society that has been forced to learn to mistrust the stranger? And would I be willing to offer such grace to ANYone who stepped up willing to receive it? It brings to mind K's thought-provoking question the other day: Is there really such at thing as true altruism? A truly selfless act???
Here's a link to a news article posted this week that I located in verifying the authenticity of the Free Hugs video: Free Hugs Priceless in a Culture of Violence. It offers some interesting details about the story behind the video if you are interested in reading more about it.
On the commute home from work today I reflected on the video and tried to analyze my reaction to it. I suppose I initially thought it was going to be some sappy piece. A warm fuzzy story that has a sugar coated message. Free hugs--how nice. I considered what my own reaction might be to encountering a stranger holding a FREE HUGS banner in the middle of Easton Town Center. I would probably think he was loony. Or perhaps I would even be offended that he didn't recognize appropriate social boundaries. It's okay for my friends and loved ones to hug me. But a stranger....someone I know nothing about? Then, I considered the offer of the hug itself. I want to know, what is the catch? Surely the offer can't be genuine....what does this person really want? Where is the ulterior motive?
And then I thought....what if it were me? What if I were to stand in the middle of a pedestrian thoroughfare holding a similar sign offering FREE HUGS. I try to be a kind person. Indeed, offering the human touch to others is one of the most grace-filled acts of love. Could I bear to hold the sign? Wear my heart on my sleeve so boldly that I risk ridicule by a society that has been forced to learn to mistrust the stranger? And would I be willing to offer such grace to ANYone who stepped up willing to receive it? It brings to mind K's thought-provoking question the other day: Is there really such at thing as true altruism? A truly selfless act???
Here's a link to a news article posted this week that I located in verifying the authenticity of the Free Hugs video: Free Hugs Priceless in a Culture of Violence. It offers some interesting details about the story behind the video if you are interested in reading more about it.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Empowering Women
This summer the Episcopal Church in the USA elected a new presiding bishop at their General Convention. Unlike the Catholic Church, the Episcopalians allow women to become priests. They even have a number of female bishops. The dramatic event at this summer's churchwide gathering, however, was the election of a woman to serve as the next presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. When Katharine Jefferts Schori enters office in a little less than a month, it will mark the first time in any mainline denomination (to my knowledge) that a woman will be serving as its primary leader. YOU GO GIRL!! (Okay, I couldn't resist the cheer...)
Although I am not an Episcopalian, I have worked in an Episcopal Church for the past 3 1/2 years. I have been reading this week of another first in the denomination: For the first time in the 32 years since women have been ordained as priests and bishops, there was a church-wide conference held for such women--the "IMAGINE: Claiming and Empowering Ordained Women's Leadership" conference.
One of the presenters at the conference was The Rev. Dr. Carter Heyward, lesbian priest and theologian--a woman whose writings captured my attention while I was in seminary. I have only read bits and pieces of her work, but what I have read I have loved.
As I read some of the words she shared at this week's convention, I thought immediately of Cindy's struggles with the church that she described in her own blog. Heyward proclaimed to the women gathered that the priesthood of all believers is a call to help one another:
"It's the work of healing. It's the work of liberation. It's what we're put here by our maker to do; to be a priesthood of believers, to be not primarily focused on ourselves but sharing a passion -- and by passion, I mean energy as well as a willingness to suffer -- with and for the world. The church doesn't exist for itself, we all know that. We're here in the world, for the world. The church is here to be a voice of justice-making ... of compassion, of peace, of reconciliation."
The world is filled with broken, hurting, angry, confused, suffering, and dispairing people. We all carry with us our own wounds. Sometimes the injuries of others weigh heavy on our own hearts. When we witness exclusion and injustice in our own church, this heaviness threatens to smother our own spirits. We feel betrayed as equally as our sisters and brothers who are the victims.
Cindy's words are insightful when she asks, "Am I a victim or a witness?" She elaborates, "What an amazing thought? Transform my feelings of victim to witness. I saw. I know. Ben says that with knowledge comes responsibility."
Our calling as the priesthood of all believers is to engage in the work of healing and of liberation. To be a witness is indeed a huge responsibility. It calls for truth-telling. It calls for courage. It calls for channeling the anger and the passion that we feel in response to injustice in oder that we might transform it into the power that works for "justice-making...compassion...peace...[and] reconciliation."
All this is made possible only by the amazing power of faith--faith even as small as a mustard seed.
And by grace.
And by love.
Although I am not an Episcopalian, I have worked in an Episcopal Church for the past 3 1/2 years. I have been reading this week of another first in the denomination: For the first time in the 32 years since women have been ordained as priests and bishops, there was a church-wide conference held for such women--the "IMAGINE: Claiming and Empowering Ordained Women's Leadership" conference.
One of the presenters at the conference was The Rev. Dr. Carter Heyward, lesbian priest and theologian--a woman whose writings captured my attention while I was in seminary. I have only read bits and pieces of her work, but what I have read I have loved.
As I read some of the words she shared at this week's convention, I thought immediately of Cindy's struggles with the church that she described in her own blog. Heyward proclaimed to the women gathered that the priesthood of all believers is a call to help one another:
"It's the work of healing. It's the work of liberation. It's what we're put here by our maker to do; to be a priesthood of believers, to be not primarily focused on ourselves but sharing a passion -- and by passion, I mean energy as well as a willingness to suffer -- with and for the world. The church doesn't exist for itself, we all know that. We're here in the world, for the world. The church is here to be a voice of justice-making ... of compassion, of peace, of reconciliation."
The world is filled with broken, hurting, angry, confused, suffering, and dispairing people. We all carry with us our own wounds. Sometimes the injuries of others weigh heavy on our own hearts. When we witness exclusion and injustice in our own church, this heaviness threatens to smother our own spirits. We feel betrayed as equally as our sisters and brothers who are the victims.
Cindy's words are insightful when she asks, "Am I a victim or a witness?" She elaborates, "What an amazing thought? Transform my feelings of victim to witness. I saw. I know. Ben says that with knowledge comes responsibility."
Our calling as the priesthood of all believers is to engage in the work of healing and of liberation. To be a witness is indeed a huge responsibility. It calls for truth-telling. It calls for courage. It calls for channeling the anger and the passion that we feel in response to injustice in oder that we might transform it into the power that works for "justice-making...compassion...peace...[and] reconciliation."
All this is made possible only by the amazing power of faith--faith even as small as a mustard seed.
And by grace.
And by love.
Monday, October 02, 2006
I should be in bed
I'm trying to get over a bad cold. Work has been stressful and zaps much of my energy. I have several journal articles and another chapter to read for my class tomorrow night. I should either be reading or actively taking advantage of the opportunity for sleep.
But I wanted to add another entry to my blog. I can't stand to think of the one lonely entry standing alone, bare on the page, waiting endlessly for the next entries to follow. I hear the whispering calling, "Write......write.....write."
Like I said before, the beginnings are often the hardest. Especially when I know only that I want to write, but don't yet know what it is that I want to articulate. I stare at the sterile computer screen and painfully await the forced inspiration.
The thoughts that come to mind tonight are peaceful ones. Life is good. In spite of the somewhat chaotic nature of my days this past week, the burn-out I have been feeling at work, the current lowered state of my immune system as I try to fight off this major head cold, and the many household tasks that lay unfinished around my living space, I still take a look around me and give thanks that life is good. I love my life right now. I am with the one that I love--my companion and best friend. I am embarking on a new career path, beginning with my first semester of study towards earning my Masters in Library and Information Science. I am loving my courses and feel strongly affirmed that I am clearly on the right path in terms of finding my vocation, my calling. I love my family and the ways that we continue to bond even "across the distance" and I celebrate Papa's recovery from recent health-scares. In spite of the stresses that I am currently wrestling with, I sleep easy at night knowing I am at home in the world and life is good.
But I wanted to add another entry to my blog. I can't stand to think of the one lonely entry standing alone, bare on the page, waiting endlessly for the next entries to follow. I hear the whispering calling, "Write......write.....write."
Like I said before, the beginnings are often the hardest. Especially when I know only that I want to write, but don't yet know what it is that I want to articulate. I stare at the sterile computer screen and painfully await the forced inspiration.
The thoughts that come to mind tonight are peaceful ones. Life is good. In spite of the somewhat chaotic nature of my days this past week, the burn-out I have been feeling at work, the current lowered state of my immune system as I try to fight off this major head cold, and the many household tasks that lay unfinished around my living space, I still take a look around me and give thanks that life is good. I love my life right now. I am with the one that I love--my companion and best friend. I am embarking on a new career path, beginning with my first semester of study towards earning my Masters in Library and Information Science. I am loving my courses and feel strongly affirmed that I am clearly on the right path in terms of finding my vocation, my calling. I love my family and the ways that we continue to bond even "across the distance" and I celebrate Papa's recovery from recent health-scares. In spite of the stresses that I am currently wrestling with, I sleep easy at night knowing I am at home in the world and life is good.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Intro. to Blogging
This is my first blog entry. I have always struggled with introductions. How to begin a paper at the beginning? I'd much rather jump in and get to the meat of the topic rather than take the time to first organize my thoughts coherently into a linear framework. Small talk has never been one of my strengths. But ask me any sort of deep question and I'm ready to engage in rich, meaningful conversation.
My sister recently invited several close women-folk to view the blog she has started. Her words are rich and deep. I would like to respond to the invitation to listen in to her spiritual ponderings and be able to share in the dialogue. I, too, have my own spiritual struggles and will enjoy the companionship in the journey.
Let the blogging begin!
My sister recently invited several close women-folk to view the blog she has started. Her words are rich and deep. I would like to respond to the invitation to listen in to her spiritual ponderings and be able to share in the dialogue. I, too, have my own spiritual struggles and will enjoy the companionship in the journey.
Let the blogging begin!
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