Why hello there!

Huh.  Apparently I have a blog.  Apparently I also have at least one demanding subscriber who misses these spontaneous glimpses into her college daughter's life.  It's hard to condense the past month and half into one post, but perhaps some fun (possibly disturbing?  Depends on how you feel about laundry . . . ) facts about the last few weeks at wonderful Grinnell College.

Fun facts:
1. I am essentially the leader of a worship group on campus, which means I am currently responsible for picking the songs each week, making sure all of the musicians have a copy of the music, and fronting the band with my piano playing skills.  I am also slowly gaining the responsibility of printing out lyrics sheets and potentially finding people to speak each week.  Yay leadership!

2.  Speaking of leadership, I was also voted a captain of the tennis team.  Perk number one about being a captain: why yes, I DO claim a bed to myself.  :)  I also lead cheering when necessary and head the group of complainers.

3.  I am a tour guide!  I am now a proud (and vocal) representative of Grinnell College.  I have given a grand total of TWO tours so far, but I think they've gone at least moderately well.  I applied for this position in the spring, was sent to the reserves list, and then was asked to join in the fall to fill a couple slots.  Yay me.

4. I have had the same occupational plan for at least two weeks now, which means it must be pretty certain.  I want to be a professor.  Preferably at Grinnell College, or somewhere incredibly similar (i.e. equally awesome, friendly, diverse, liberal, and focused on social justice).  Probably in sociology.

5.  I have an A so far in Calculus.  Pretty much every day I give myself a smug pat on the back for being so brave and diversifying my classes.

6. I will be experiencing my first 10/10 on Saturday.  Apparently there is a campus wide shot at 12:00.  I'm curious to know how they herd all the drunk people onto Mac field, distribute shots to everyone, and then prevent general chaos.

7.  Women's tennis team is undefeated - LET'S GO.

8. It's one and I have class tomorrow at eight and one more thing to do between now and then (besides sleep).  Therefore I hope you can understand this admittedly brief farewell.  "Bye."

14 Signs You’re Back At Grinnell

      1.     You have a tennis racket, a computer, a phone charger, keys, and a book on your twin-xl bed.

      2.     You nap in that bed anyway

      3.     You take naps regularly.

      4.     You take cold showers because there’s no air-conditioning in your dorm.

      5.     You spend half your time explaining you’re actually a third year, NOT a second year

      6.     You can’t believe how cute the first-years are.

      7.     You can’t see the top of your desk, and school hasn’t started yet.

      8.     You looked incredibly intelligent carrying a fridge from one dorm to another.

      9.     You’re multitasking: watching tennis on-line, typing in poems for a literary magazine, and texting your mother (who is more bored than you are – haha!)

      10. There are many photos and quotes stuck on the walls.

      11.  You’re wondering where you got so much crap!

      12.  You make two trips to Wal-Mart in as many days.

      13.  You already have plans through the day school starts (in a week)

      14.  You’re being ‘recruited’ by two different Christian groups to play piano.  J

Float On, once more

I am safely and happily in Iowa, but right now my heart goes out to the White family on the loss of their beautiful daughter, Micaela.  I did not know her personally, but she and my beautiful cousin Anna lived side by side for most of their lives, even sharing the same bed during chemo treatments.  Through Anna I felt a connection, so I am devastated by this loss.


In memory of Anna and Micaela:


Alright don't worry even if things end up a bit too heavy.
We'll all float on...alright. Already we'll all float on.
Alright already we'll all float on, ok.
Don't worry we'll all float on.
Even if things get heavy, we'll all float on.


Isaiah 65:17-25:


 ¹⁷ “See, I will create
   new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
   nor will they come to mind. 
¹⁸ But be glad and rejoice forever
   in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
   and its people a joy.
¹⁹ I will rejoice over Jerusalem
   and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying
   will be heard in it no more.
 ²⁰ “Never again will there be in it
   an infant who lives but a few days, 
   or an old man who does not live out his years;
the one who dies at a hundred
   will be thought a mere child;
the one who fails to reach^[a] a hundred
   will be considered accursed.
²¹ They will build houses and dwell in them;
   they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
²² No longer will they build houses and others live in them,
   or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,
   so will be the days of my people;
my chosen ones will long enjoy
   the work of their hands.
²³ They will not labor in vain,
   nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;
for they will be a people blessed by the LORD,
   they and their descendants with them.
²⁴ Before they call I will answer;
   while they are still speaking I will hear. 
²⁵ The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
   and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
   and dust will be the serpent’s food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
   on all my holy mountain,”
            says the LORD.



AMEN.

Iowa-bound and feeling reflective

Well, this is it.  My last post from Texas.  I can’t believe it’s the end of the summer already, but really, this past year has flown by remarkably fast.  A year ago I was debating a semester off from school, and when I decided to forgo Denison, Mom and I road-tripped it down to Texas, where I went through my teenage anger/rebellion years in approximately four months (oops – I’m still apologizing to Mom.  Love you lots, Mom!)

By the time my twentieth birthday rolled around and I escaped those dreadful teenage years, I had been at the wonderful, the glorious, the amazing GRINNELL COLLEGE for approximately three weeks, and while I did have to throw a birthday party for myself (with the help of a few transfer friends, of course), lots of people showed up.  J   The following evening I met Klevi, who somewhat soon thereafter became my boyfriend, and then suddenly we were playing tennis matches, I was hacking up a lung (or three) in Florida over spring break, we spent under 24 hours in California, it was finals week, and what am I going to do this summer?

In other words, this past year has been a whirlwind of activity, and although I never would have predicted where I am today, I wouldn’t change a thing.  And why would I?  I’m now a sociology major, which I love more than I ever loved English (side note: I read at least four soc books this summer).  I’m on a tennis team where I feel welcome, appreciated, and loved for who I am.  I’m able to play piano and to perform in a stress-free environment in the Christian worship band – can’t wait to start rocking out again.  I became involved in volunteer work at school.  I had my beliefs positively challenged in numerous ways.  I’m dating a wonderful, intelligent young man.  This summer I had a tasking but fulfilling job working with kids, which kept my spirits high and my thoughts positive.   

And tomorrow morning I fly back to Des Moines, Iowa, where I will catch a shuttle bus back to the quaint town of Grinnell, where I will lug my suitcase up two flights of stairs and then go to security to pick up my key.  On Monday I start tennis practice at 6:30 in the morning (which could be exciting – and possible devoid of any tennis whatsoever – due to my ongoing back spasms), and that day my roommate arrives. 

It’s going to be exciting.  I can’t wait to see where life takes me this year.

Now y’all take care.  ;)

Urban

Check out my new blog post at Urban Connections.  While I'm excited for the summer to wind down and school to start back up (a.k.a. bowl me over with all the opportunities and assignments), I will miss these precious kiddos.  :)

The Theology of Lady Gaga

As the title suggests, I am indeed combining theology and pop culture in a slightly unexpected way.  Recently I've fallen in love with the song "Born This Way" by none other than the inimitable Lady Gaga.  If you haven't listened to the song, you definitely should.  And if you have can't comprehend the words, then you should watch the video so you'll understand my points:

"It doesn't matter if you love him, or capital H-I-M."  Wait, Lady Gaga's singing about God?!?  Mom didn't initially believe me when I told her, but I assured her that yes, Lady Gaga was gettin' involved in religion.

The first verse is about self-love and believing in yourself.  I used to think love of self was a bad thing, because Jesus was so selfless and all, and His main commandmant was all about loving others, right?  Wrong.  "Love others as you love yourself."  I remember the Sunday School class when this message was conveyed in a new light to me - before you can truly love others, you have to love yourself and know that God has blessed you.  While Lady Gaga doesn't go that deep in this verse, I think it's important to realize that yes, self-love can be a good thing.

And then the chorus is just so motivational.  "I'm beautiful in my way, cos God makes no mistakes."  God IS perfect.  So why are we so busy criticizing His work?  Even if it doesn't make sense (sorry platypus) it is still NOT a mistake.  God knew/knows/will always know what He's doing.  Society (which is SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED and therefore can't be absolute truth) might not think you're beautiful, but you are. 

"I'm on the right track baby I was born this way."  I'm not here to get into nature vs. nurture, but nature truly affects things, and you were born that way for a reason.

"Don't hide yourself in regret, just love yourself and you're set."  It's true.  This is true for me.  It's easy to regret things and to want to go back, but hindsight is always 20/20.  If you love yourself and love God, you'll have confidence to do the right things, to always move forward, and to keep trying.

"Don't be a drag, just be a queen."  At first I didn't like this part musically, but eventually the lyrics won me over.  Point 1) sitting around and saying that shows (drag or otherwise) are no fun is quite boring, aka you're being a drag.  Point 2) It would be much more fun to be yourself and/or be a queen.  Just saying.

The second verse doesn't necessarily make sense to me, but parts of it resonate well.  It's also where I have my biggest issue.  Up until this point, Lady Gaga is making a broad statement that sits well with me.  However, now she decides to tell us what God thinks.  And I'm just not cool with that - I don't care if you ARE Lady Gaga and practically queen of the world.  I do not believe that the Bible provides conclusive, incontrovertible evidence for 'different lovers' (which I take to mean queer people), so until God definitely tells us what He wants, I personally (IMHO) believe that we need to love everybody.  I believe in a loving God, a God available to everyone. 

Moving on before religious rambling/ranting begins . . . the bridge is wonderful.  I pretty much shout the words every time.  I love how she associates ethnic/racial differences with sexuality, because I think those two 'methods of categorization,' if you will, are quite comparable.  Then she goes on to say that no matter what happened, no matter what life threw at you, you can and should still love yourself. 

That probably revealed a lot more about me than about Lady Gaga, but really I think this song provides me with a good avenue for sharing a bit more openly about some of my personal beliefs.  I am in, as I call it, the "free love" stage of my life, which basically means I have found absolutely no reason why I should not love everyone I meet and respect who they are.  It's often easier said than done (i.e. the upcoming post about my growing road rage . . . oops!), but with Christ all things are possible.

Surprise!

I definitely failed to reach my goal last week, but it’s another week and another chance for me.  Hopefully I will improve.  J

This weekend I was part of a surprise birthday celebration for my friend Erin, a coworker at Urban.  It was quite fun – perhaps not as much for poor Erin, who was subjected to a 45-minute, blindfolded ride in the van.  Meanwhile, I was busy cleaning my room and bed, which is no easy feat, making a Funfetti cake, and cutting up veggies for some epic sandwiches.

At last the birthday girl arrived, and the festivities began!  Of course, we spent half of lunch talking about the kids from work and entertaining my brother with imitations of the children.  When together, the four of us (Danielle, Erin, Mari, and myself) struggle to speak of anything except the children; work is the main thing we have in common, so naturally we exchange stories of cute/annoying kids. 

We spent the afternoon at Gruene, the historic district for New Braunfels.  Despite residing in NB for almost two years, I had not yet spent an afternoon in Gruene.  Quite frankly, I never quite understood the charm or the draw of the place; then again, I’m not generally one for moseying around and admiring clothes five times too expensive for me.  However, it turns out that wandering around with friends and trying on silly hats is FUN.  ;)

We came home for a bit, and the girls fell asleep on our couches, which was quite entertaining.  Ten we dressed up and headed out again.  I spent about 10 minutes preparing for the night out – I’d applied makeup once already, brushed my hair in the morning, and considered myself ready.  ;) 

We ate at the Gristmill after a long but pleasant wait.  They provided live music and we provided the Phase 10 cards, so the time passed rather quickly.  At last we were seated, and I sampled chicken fried steak, which, despite my professed vegetarianism, I found to be quite tasty. 

 

Then, Erin ordered a strawberry shortcake dessert, and, like good friends, we helped her eat it. 

P.S.  A not so subtle hint:  I've always wanted a surprise birthday or surprise something.  Just going to throw that out there.  :D