A Reflection on the Water

My Life and This Journal

2010-05-20T15:21:00.000-07:00

If you read this journal at all then you may have noticed I haven't posted in it for quite a while. The reason? Uni. I'm a full time student, just finished with my freshman year, now taking summer classes (4-5 hours of homework a day+class). This leaves me with little time to write.

From now on, I will most likely no longer be posting novel-length accounts of what's going on in my life. If you want better updates, you should friend me on Facebook (just ask nicely and give a good reason), because that is where I will share my most up-to-date personal info.

However, I don't wish to close this journal. Instead, it will be taking a different direction. When I feel like it, when I have time, when I simply must write something longer than a sentence or two, then I will share it here. That means this journal will be pretty random, but hey, so's life, sometimes!

If you've read my journal, or even just this post, thanks a lot. I appreciate it. Also, comments are always <3, so I know who's out there. :)

Peace,
Firieth

Quotes for Thought - Love

2010-02-13T19:49:00.000-08:00

“I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.”
—“In Memoriam” (poem), by Alfred Lord Tennyson

“It's okay to fall for somebody. It’s not okay to fall over for somebody.”
—Bono of U2

“...They tell the singer that he shouldn't play the gig because tonight his life is at risk, and he must not go on stage. And the singer laughs. Of course we're playing the gig. Of course we go onstage, and I'm singing Pride (In the Name of Love) — the third verse — and I close my eyes. And you know, I'm excited about meeting my maker, but maybe not tonight. I don't really want to meet my maker tonight. I close my eyes and when I look up I see Adam Clayton standing in front of me, holding his bass as only Adam Clayton can hold his bass. There are people in this room who'd tell you they'd take a bullet for you, but Adam Clayton would have taken a bullet for me.”
—Bono of U2, from a speech at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

“When I talk about love I'm thinking of unselfish love. Sex can be bought and sold just like anything else. But I think real love is about giving and not expecting anything in return.”
—Bono of U2

Dracula: I have crossed oceans of time to find you.
—Gary Oldman, in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (film)

“For you I'd wait 'til kingdom come
Until my days my days are done
Say you'll come and set me free
Just say you'll wait, you'll wait for me”
—“Kingdom Come” (song), by Coldplay

“The ones that love us never really leave us.”
—Gary Oldman, as Sirius Black, in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)

“And as they stood so, their hands met and clasped, though they did not know it.”
—The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (book), by J. R. R. Tolkien

“When the love of power is overcome by the power of love... the world will know true peace.”
—Jimi Hendrix

“Suppose I walked a thousand highways
To bring you back when you are lost.
This is love.
Suppose it cost me my possessions
And I gladly beared the cost.
This is love.
Suppose I faced the soldier’s weapons
Suppose I climbed the prison wall.
This is love.
But if I give my life to save you...
This is the greatest love of all.”
—“The Greatest Love” (song), by Ken Medema

Arwen: Renech i lú i erui govannem? [Do you remember when we first met?]
Aragorn: Nauthannem i ned ôl reniannen. [I thought I had strayed into a dream.]
—Liv Tyler and Viggo Mortensen, in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (film)

“When the hour is upon us
And our beauty surely gone
No you will not be forgotten
And you will not be alone
No you will not be alone”
—“Now Comes the Night” (song), by Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty

“Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love can heal such a scar.”
—“Magnificent” (song), by U2

“I know I hurt you and I made you cry;
Did everything but murder you and I.
But love left a window in the skies,
And to love I rhapsodize.
To every broken heart,
For every heart that cries,
Love left a window in the skies,
And to love I rhapsodize.”
—“Window in the Skies” (song), by U2

“O you whom I often and silently come where you are, that I may be with you
As I walk by your side, or sit near, or remain in the same room with you,
Little you know the subtle electric fire that for your sake is playing within me.”
—Walt Whitman

“The course of true love never did run smooth.”
—William Shakespeare

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
—John 15:13

~
Photograph, from yoursummerlandhome.com

Éowyn, Hermione, and the “Secondary World”

2010-01-06T07:02:00.000-08:00

NOTE: This essay contains spoilers for both The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter (books and films).

As long as there have been stories, there have almost certainly been debates over which ones are best. These discussions are tricky, because people hold different views of what a good story is. Yet when popular modern fiction stories are mentioned, the names of British authors John Ronald Reuel Tolkien and Joanne Rowling are almost certain to be included. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Rowling’s Harry Potter have left undeniable marks on the world of fantasy and popular culture, from their first publications, through highly successful films, action figures, Internet fan forums, theme parks, and beyond.

Not surprisingly, The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter each have their own legions of devoted fans–many of whom are so loyal to their preferred story that they mock fans of the other story. To be a fan of both can be dangerous, and examining them academically might be worse. Yet it is a tempting thing to do, particularly when the issue of Tolkien and Rowling’s female characters is taken into consideration.

Rowling has been hailed as elevating women to new and empowered positions in fantasy. Tolkien, on the other hand, has been criticized in recent times for marginalizing women. This should not be surprising. Tolkien was a male writing during the 1900s, while Rowling is a female author writing in a contemporary setting. The way gender is perceived and presented has changed between their stories’ publications. But is it true that Rowling has advanced the female fantasy character that Tolkien marginalized?

A quick read or watch of The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter series makes clear the fact that women are more numerous in Rowling’s story. However, to say Rowling’s women trump Tolkien’s by sheer dint of their more numerous appearances is to take the easy way out. Truly answering the question of female portrayals requires going beyond a simple count of how many lines women have or how many times they appear. Only by digging deeper to examine their character qualities and how they fit into the stories of Tolkien and Rowling, can their importance be accurately determined (Enright).

In his essay entitled, “On Fairy-Stories,” Tolkien described the work of a fantasy author:

“[T]he story-maker…” he wrote, “[creates] a Secondary World which your mind can enter. Inside it, what he relates is 'true': it accords with the laws of that world. You therefore believe it, while you are, as it were, inside. The moment disbelief arises, the spell is broken; the magic, or rather art, has failed. You are then out in the Primary World again, looking at the little abortive Secondary World from outside (12).”

When creating their “Secondary World,” authors often base their works, at least loosely, on actual historical periods and settings. This lends their fantasies a grounding in the real world, but unless they create characters that are true to the period and setting they have chosen, their efforts are wasted. Therefore, a certain retention of traditional gender roles within historical eras and settings is necessary in order to create a realistic “Secondary World.”

This is one reason that Rowling’s female characters may seem more empowered than Tolkien’s. In the world she created, Rowling combined medieval elements with more contemporary ones. Whether you believe this blend has created a successful fantasy or not, the end result is the same. Women in Harry Potter can behave more like women of the contemporary western world without breaking the “Secondary World” of their story.

Rowling’s character Hermione Granger is a good example of this. Hermione is a “Muggle-born” (child of non-wizards) schoolgirl, hard working, academically talented, and a friend–not girlfriend–of Harry Potter. Of all the females in Rowling’s series, Hermione receives the most “ink time” and screen time. She is present from nearly the very beginning of the story, albeit, at first, as a rather bossy, know-it-all girl.

As she matures, she loses a lot of her bossiness, but continues to grow smarter. Rubeus Hagrid, the groundskeeper of Hogwarts School, says “they haven't invented a spell our Hermione [can’t] do” (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets). Often, her magic skills and rational thinking are the means of salvation for her friends, such as when she identifies a mysterious, dangerous beast plaguing the school in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets or finds a way for Harry Potter to pass his first Triwizard Tournament test in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling).

Though she is naturally bright, Hermione also works hard, taking more classes than any of her friends and diligently doing her homework. One year, she even tries using a Time-Turner that allows her to go back in time so she can take three classes at once. When this makes her life too stressful, she stubbornly perseveres until she nearly has a nervous breakdown. At the end of the year, she realizes her folly, and ceases to use the Time-Turner, but continues to do well in her studies (Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban).

Though women are stereotypically seen as perhaps too emotional, Hermione is frequently the one bringing her somewhat more flighty friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, back to earth when they edge into far-fetched speculations. However, she is not all rationality. Hermione loves, becomes deeply hurt, freaks out, gets jealous, breaks the school rules, and is not above rage or hatred.

Sometimes, her anger drives her to violence, such as when she slaps her enemy, Draco Malfoy, after he provokes her (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban). At other times, it is a more positive force, such as when she founds The Society for Promotion of Elfish Welfare to protest house elf enslavement (Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire). In both cases, Hermione is clearly not someone who will take abuse or discrimination quietly. The term “empowered female” seems to describe her well, so it is no wonder she fits quite easily into a modern, Western idea of femininity.

Hermione might, however, have a more difficult time fitting into Tolkien’s world of Middle Earth. The setting of The Lord of the Rings is, in many ways, a more thoroughly medieval one than that of Harry Potter and therefore requires a medieval approach to women. Yet, women are present and have a more important and active part than is obvious at first glance.

Of these women, Lady Éowyn is most visible and directly involved in the story. When she is introduced in The Two Towers, Éowyn is an orphaned young woman caring for her prematurely dotard uncle, King Théoden. The privileges of education and equality with men that Hermione enjoys are nearly unheard of, to her, and she appears to be a helpless character.

However, when she is released from her caretaking duties, Éowyn is revealed to be another sort of woman entirely. The king rides off to war and leaves her to rule in his absence, though there are plenty of males available. He trusts her to lead his people and his trust is not misplaced as Éowyn rules them well (Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings).

Yet she is not happy staying at home, even in a position of political leadership. When asked what she fears, Éowyn replies, “A cage. To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of valor has gone beyond recall or desire” (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers).

This “fear,” combined with true patriotism, and an event in which her love for another is spurned, leads Éowyn to disguise herself as a male warrior and ride to war with her people. Her success at keeping her secret during the entire journey to the front hints at her cleverness. Even her own uncle and brother fail to see through her disguise (Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings).

Not only is she smart, but she is courageous as well. When Éowyn encounters the evil Witch-King of Angmar, head of the Ringwraiths, she refuses to back away. Instead, she holds her ground as he smites her arm a crushing blow and taunts her, saying, “No living man may hinder me!” In response, she removes her helmet, revealing her feminine features and informs him, with a touch of irony, “No living man am I!” Éowyn then proceeds to slay him (Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings).

As Éowyn recovers from an injury received in this battle, she slowly falls in love with a man who has also been wounded (Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings). Their love story, some have argued, is the story of her “taming,” but Éowyn’s power does not rest only in fighting or ruling like a man (Enright). She is equally strong in battle, love, and healing—a role she chooses to take up once the war is over. These traits make clear that Éowyn is an empowered woman who will break gender expectations to do what she believes in.

Both she and Hermione are notable within the “Secondary Worlds” their authors have set them. Hermione is a bright student, loyal friend, and supporter of justice, while Éowyn is a courageous leader, fighter, and eventually lover and healer. They are only two examples of the females in Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings, but they are representatives of their fellow women characters. Though there are certainly characters in both stories that adhere to more traditional female roles–such as Rowling’s matronly Mrs. Weasley and Tolkien’s love-interest Arwen–even they are strong in their own ways.

So has Rowling furthered empowered femininity that Tolkien marginalized? Not quite. Tolkien has created female characters, like Lady Éowyn, who fit into a medieval world, but are still empowered. However, Rowling has created female characters, such as Hermione Granger, who may be easier for a modern audience to relate to.

Does this make Harry Potter a better story than The Lord of the Rings? That question will doubtless continue to be debated strongly, as will the issue of female gender roles in stories and life. Most likely, there will never be an absolute answer, because there are so many opinions that shape it. One thing is certain, though. Both Tolkien and Rowling have given readers and viewers fantasy stories with empowered female characters to enjoy, learn from, and admire. •

Works Cited

Alberti, John. Text Messaging: Reading and Writing About Popular Culture. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company, 2009. Print.

Enright, Nancy. "Tolkien's Females and the Defining of Power." Renascence. Winter.59.2 (2007): 93-108. Print.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Dir. Chris Columbus. Perf. Daniel Radcliffe, Richard Harris, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Robbie Coltrane. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2002. DVD.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Dir. Mike Newell. Perf. Daniel Radcliffe, Michael Gambon, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Robbie Coltrane. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2005. DVD.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Dir. David Yates. Perf. Daniel Radcliffe, Michael Gambon, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2009. DVD.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Dir. David Yates. Perf. Daniel Radcliffe, Michael Gambon, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Robbie Coltrane. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2007. DVD.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Dir. Alfonso Cuarón. Perf. Daniel Radcliffe, Michael Gambon, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Robbie Coltrane, Gary Oldman. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2004. DVD.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Dir. Chris Columbus. Perf. Daniel Radcliffe, Richard Harris, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Robbie Coltrane. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2001. DVD.

The Harry Potter Lexicon. Web. 30 Nov. 2009.

The Internet Movie Database. Web. 08 Nov. 2009.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Dir. Peter Jackson. Perf. Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett. New Line Cinema, 2001. DVD.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Dir. Peter Jackson. Perf. Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett. New Line Cinema, 2003. DVD.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Dir. Peter Jackson. Perf. Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett. New Line Cinema, 2002. DVD.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 1999. Print.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2000. Print.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2003. Print.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 1999. Print.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 1998. Print.

Tolkien, J. R. R. "On Fairy Stories." Brainstorm Communication Services. West Chester University, 2005. Web. 30 Nov. 2009.

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993. Print.

Wolfgram, Susan M., and Amy Collier. "Gender-Informed Parenting: A Review of the Film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: Why Not Hermione Granger?" Journal of Feminist Family Therapy. 14.3/4 (2002): 130-32. Print.

Éowyn & Hermione Art Credits:
Hermione photograph, from freewebs.com.
Éowyn photograph, from webspace.webring.com.
'Gimp Grungey Brushes,' by =NinjaBunnyX of deviantart.

Christmas Bells, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

2009-12-22T06:55:00.000-08:00

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men."

~

Clip art from christmasgifts.com.
Poem from potw.org/archive/potw118.html.

Be Still and Know

2009-12-14T08:41:00.000-08:00

“It’s so quiet in here.” If you’ve ever been in a room full of people when there is a brief lull in conversation you’ve probably heard those words. They are usually followed by nervous laughter and renewed talk. Have you ever wondered why?

We live in a world of car horns and cell phone ring tones, blaring music and shouting matches. Even when our environment is relatively soundless, our thoughts buzz on. Noise is everywhere. We are used to sound surrounding us. Perhaps the reason we have so much noise is because we are unfamiliar, and thus uncomfortable, with quiet.

“Be still and know that I am God,” says Psalms 46:10 (The Bible, New International Version). It was a command that George Fox took to heart in the mid-1600s. Fox was born in England in July of 1624. During the years of his youth, religious civil war rocked his country and as he grew older, he began to struggle for spiritual insight. For eight years, he consulted “Anglican Priests and Puritan ministers” but no one could answer his questions to his satisfaction (Timeline).

‘“When all my hopes in [the clergy] and in all men were gone,” Fox wrote in his Journal, “so that I had nothing upwardly to help me, nor could I tell what to do, then, oh, then, I heard a voice which said, "There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition"; and when I heard it, my heart did leap for joy (Timeline).’ This experience influenced Fox to begin preaching a new Christian message that emphasized direct connection with God. He called this connection the “Inner Light”.

Fox and his followers eventually formed a Protestant denomination called The Society of Friends or Quakers. Unlike the Roman Catholic Church’s–or even the Church of England’s–hierarchical, highly ritualized, traditional and ornate way of worship, the Quakers’ belief in the Inner Light “led them to reject both formal ministry and all set forms of worship (Quaker).” Instead, they meet together in silence and wait for the Inner Light to move them to speak. When I first attended a Quaker meeting (church service) with a class of university students on Sunday, September 27th, 2009, I was able to experience this first hand.

The meetinghouse we visited was not a traditional one and the congregation was actually a combination of several smaller groups. Our college class more than doubled the congregation size. Traditional Quakers are becoming very rare in the United States, a fact that was echoed in the older age of the congregants, though there were a few younger members.

The outside of the meetinghouse was rather non-descript. Inside, there was a medium-size room where we gathered for the meeting. It was earth tone and plain, with padded wooden pews. These faced inward to form a square shape, with one bench making each side and several more benches lined up behind each of the middle four.

I missed the very beginning of the meeting, so I can’t describe how it began, but when I took my seat on a pew, everyone was quiet. They were not, however, silent. There was an infant with one of the Quakers who made noise throughout the meeting. My fellow students were also restless and even their slight movements made noise.

As the length of the quiet increased, I found that it was difficult to still my inner noise. Thoughts varying from the mundane–hmm… the carpet is brown–to the somewhat more interesting–that young man is sitting so properly–kept running through my head. Then I remembered how centering your thoughts on your breathing can calm you, so I started to focus on my breath. As I did, I found that a lot of the noise inside me died down.

Eventually, different “noise” came instead. Bible verses and Christian lyrics came to mind and I meditated on them. Then, just when I felt I’d finally settled down, one of the Quakers rose and began to speak. She was not the only one to speak throughout the service. Gradually, with many pauses in between, people shared what they felt the Inner Light was moving them to say. Some read or quoted from the Bible, while others simply talked or prayed. One woman shared a story from the life of George Fox. Another spoke using a rather archaic-sounding form of English.

After about an hour, some of the members sitting on the middle pews stood up and began to shake hands. This signaled the end of the meeting and I stood to follow their lead. I filed out of the meetinghouse behind my fellow university students in a more quiet mood than I had been in before. While I don’t think I’d like to worship in the Quaker fashion every Sunday, it was a unique chance to let the world around me, and the world within me, become still. This helped me focus on God and what He wanted me to know.

Outside of their meetinghouses, the Quakers’ beliefs in simplicity and pacifism have impacted their lives and the lives of those they come into contact with throughout the ages. In the past, they have suffered persecution for their refusal to fight in wars or to submit to various systems of belief. However, because of their belief in equality, they have also had an important part in ending many wrongs in the world, including slavery (Dannheisser). I pray that this spirit of tolerance and peace will live beyond the dwindling congregations of traditional Quakers. The world will be a better place if it does.

~

Works Cited

The Bible, New International Version.
Bible Gateway. 13 October 2009. Web.

Dannheisser, Ralph. Quakers Played Major Role in Ending Slavery in United States.
America.gov. 12 November 2008. Web.

Fox, George. Jones, Matthew. George Fox; an Autobiography.
Google Books. 12 October 2009. Web.

Johnson, Ronald. Personal interview with the author. Canton, Ohio. 13 October 2009.

Quaker. Oxford American Dictionaries.

Richstatter, Thomas, O.F.M. A Walk Through the Mass: A Step-by-Step Explanation.
American Catholic. 12 September 2009. Web.

Timeline of George Fox. Merry L. Cook Public Library. 22 August 2006.
12 October 2009. Web.

Finding a Balance

2009-11-05T20:26:00.000-08:00

Written in response to What's Wrong With Cinderella?, article by Peggy Orenstein, featured in the NY Times, 24 December 2006 and in Text Messaging: Reading and Writing About Popular Culture, by John Alberti. Her article may be found HERE.

I am not a mother, but I have been a young girl. During my two decades of life, I have seen twists and trends in the way women are perceived and portrayed. In response to the modern melee of conflicting messages toward and from females, I base my views on my own childhood, which was, in some ways, unusual.

Unlike many children, I did not grow up with a pink, sparkly Barbie dollhouse sitting in the corner of my bedroom. My parents don’t believe in the commercialized, highly sexualized world of Mattel. As a result, I grew up on Little House on the Prairie (the books, not the TV series), stick “horses”, and crazy skits enacted in the garage.

Though I didn’t play with Barbies, one of my favorite childhood toys was a doll. Her name was Kirsten, and she was a Swedish-American pioneer doll by the American Girl company. I liked her for many reasons, not least of which was that she and her friends were neither helpless princesses waiting on “Prince Ken” to rescue them, nor perfect women with everything under control. Though I didn’t know it at the time, this way of being female was reinforced by my parents throughout my childhood.

While I admired Kirsten for her humanity and independence, I also did my share of “playing princess.” Through my involvement with ballet I learned such stories as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Romeo and Juliet by heart. When I grew older, I liked to lose myself in a good fantasy, like C. S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia or J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. These stories helped teach me about honor, beauty, love, friendship, forgiveness, sacrifice, good and evil.

Yet the female characters I encountered in them were often either boringly passive or overly aggressive. As a result, I often “read beyond” the stories, imagining new adventures for them and sometimes writing these out as “fanfics.” By the time I was in my late highschool years this led me to notice a lack of balanced female role models not only in books and movies but in the real world as well.

This absence of balance troubled me. Where, I sometimes wondered, were the female role models who were neither “princesses” nor “bra-burning feminists?” Was it possible to be a combination of the two? If not, I was in trouble.

Then I remembered Kirsten’s non-fiction counterparts. Since I was young, I had learned about women who did not allow their culture to keep them from doing what they were meant to do—women like Mary Magdalene, Jeanne D'Ark, Florence Nightingale, Rosa Parks, and Ali Hewson. These women are often ignored in the glitz of “Barbieism” or the fire of “feminism,” but they are the role models girls need: beautiful, yet flawed; caring, yet strong.

So how do we raise children to emulate them? The way my parents raised me is an unusual, but effective one. To do so, we must teach girls by our examples that they don’t have to fit society’s ideas of what women should be. We must encourage them to play both princess and pilot, mathematician and mother. Most importantly, we must help them find their identity in more than their gender.

~

Works Cited

Alberti, John. Text Messaging: Reading and Writing About Popular Culture.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2009. Print.

Rosa Parks photograph, from e-portals.org.

The Same People

2009-10-28T05:58:00.000-07:00

"The same people who marched for Civil Rights in the United States, are the same people who protested Apartheid in South Africa, who are the same people who work for peace in Ireland, and are the same people who fought against Debt Slavery in the Jubilee Year 2000, who are the same beautiful people that I see when I look around this place tonight in three hundred and sixty degrees.

We are those people. We are the same person, because our voices were heard. Millions more of our brothers and sisters are alive, thanks to the miracle of AIDS drugs and Malaria drugs... They will be doctors, they will be nurses, they will be scientists, who will live to solve great problems.

Yes, there are many obstacles. Of course, there are always roadblocks in the way of justice. But God will put a wind at our back and a rising road ahead, if we work with each other as one! One!"
—Desmond Tutu, message for U2's 360º Tour concerts, 2009

~
Photograph, from webpages.scu.edu.

The Official Raleigh Trip Story Part 2 [SPOILERS]

2009-10-23T13:25:00.000-07:00

The concert that followed was, in some ways, anti-climatic. After all, what could top meeting the man who’s had such an influence on me? Also, the band, especially Bono, sounded a bit off, but whether that was due to stadium sound systems, or the fact that they’d already been on tour for quite some time and were tired, I’m not sure.

Despite those facts, I wouldn’t take my hard-earned ticket money back for anything. Pip and I waited the rest of the hours (during which time I called Mom and Dad and told them my news of meeting Bono) and we were number 312 and 313 respectively to get into the inner circle. When the concert officials finally let us in, we walked quickly, but calmly (or as calm as we could be) down and around through a maze of barriers and into the inner circle. We chose spots about halfway between Edge and Bono’s places, against the outer side of the inner circle, with the catwalk to our backs. If I could redo things, I’d go closer to the stage, because I still felt too far away, but it was much closer than watching it on DVD, at least!

There was a long wait again, after that. I had time to go out and buy a lovely blue tour shirt (made from recycled water bottles!) and to stop by the ONE table and finally acquire a wristband which I now wear proudly. :) Muse, who kicked off the concert, were alright, but if I hadn’t heard their new album once, I’d have had no idea what lyrics they were singing. Their sound was far less clear than U2’s.

The actual concert is a bit of a blur, but there were exquisite moments scattered all throughout the show. The ones that still stand out are: the “flying bridges” that lifted up and carried Bono and Edge over our heads, Bono getting all of us (Christians and non-Christians) to sing Amazing Grace, an improvised song about the North Carolina moon that Bono tagged onto the end of Beautiful Day, thousands of cell phones turning the stadium into “the Milky Way” for Moment of Surrender, a microphone that Bono played laser-Tarzan on, and a funky-rocking version of Crazy Tonight.

After the show ended, Pip and I took a couple photos and then made our slow way out, walking at least four blocks to get to a corner gas station where Dad and his friend were waiting. On our way, we passed scores of the same semis we’d seen earlier that day, all with lights on and people already loading them up again. I later found out that one of the @u2 forum members had been at that gas station and overheard Dad talking to me about meeting Bono.

It was a late night and we pretty much crashed, as soon as beds were available. Next morning, we got up and went to church at an absolutely awesome little downtown church with Dad’s friends. It was in a fixed-up old building, with an artistic culture and strong teaching to match. The pastor had been at the show the night before and was big on social justice! If I could choose, I’d love to attend there. But of course it’s in NC.

So anyhoo, that’s the trip to Raleigh story, or as much as I can remember. It was a day and night I never could have hoped for and I’ll never forget.

These are the best clips I've found so far from the concert...

The Unforgettable Fire

City of Blinding Lights

With or Without You

The Official Raleigh Trip Story Part 1

2009-10-05T07:37:00.000-07:00

WARNING! Possible Spoilers (but not huge ones)
(click photos for full size)

My dad, brother (Pip) and I left from our house in Ohio around 4:30pm on Friday afternoon. We drove all the way down to Greensboro, NC, where my dad had an old college friend who was willing to put us up for two nights. Going through the mountains was really neat, as I hadn't seen them since I was seven or so. It was 12:00pm when we got to my dad's friend's house, and 1:00am before we got in bed, so we were all pretty exhausted.

The next morning, I and my brother were up by 7:00am. My dad and our hosts were moving slower so we didn't get to Raleigh until somewhere around 11:00am. I was worried that we'd wind up at the very end of the GA line, but some of the fans organized a number system and I and my brother were only the 313th and 314th people there.

The GA line. Photo by me.

Outside the stadium. Photo by me.

We spent the day trying to stay in the shade and making friends with the people around us in line. On a hill by the stadium it was possible to see the stage, so Pip and I took turns watching the soundcheck. Then, sometime around 3:00-3:30, Pip happened to spot one of the U2 crew members. The crew member had come out to look for a friend of his, but he stopped to talk to us and some other people. As he did so, he happened to mention that the band would be coming in through the stadium's tunnel. He also said we could go around to watch them arriving.

Of course, that was too good of an opportunity to pass up, so I, my brother and some of our new-found friends headed around the stadium. We camped out before the tunnel entrance and waited. After a while, the crew member we'd seen before came past on a golf cart. He told us that the band had already arrived, but we all laughed and he admitted he was joking. :P Some time after he left, the first black SUV rolled swiftly into sight.

My brother and some new friends of ours waiting for the motorcade. Photo by me.

Security. Photo by me.

One woman had MacPhisto horns. :D Photo by me.

Bono in his SUV. Photo by me.

Bono was in the first SUV and he had the window down. As he passed by, he made a gesture that some of us watching took to mean he would come back out to see us. On that hope, my brother and I stayed around and, to our joy, Bono did come back out. I doubt I have to describe the squealing from the girls around me, or the yelling from the guys. :D

As Bono made his way down the line, I rehearsed what I was going to say to him in my mind. I hadn't brought anything for him to autograph, because I'd always felt that just meeting him would be more than enough. However, I wanted to tell Bono what he and the band mean to me and I didn't want to mess it up.

While I wasn't squealing like those around me, I was shaking all over, I was so nervous. I had to keep looking down the row at him to make sure I wasn't watching another youtube clip of fans meeting Bono. When he got to the person next to me, I started to wonder if he'd notice someone without anything for him to autograph. There were a lot of fans and most of them were being rowdier than I was, so I thought I might easily be overlooked.

Bono signing for the person next to me. Photo by my brother.

Then he stopped right in front of me.

The first thing I felt was an aura of calm. Bono wasn't ruffled a bit by all the people screaming and asking for autographs around him. He was just completely in the moment and, I felt, completely focused on me.

As I looked at him, he reached out with his right hand and I felt my own hand reach out to his. We held hands for a moment, not shaking them, just touching. I would tell you more details, but I was too overwhelmed to even notice.

Face to face; hand to hand. Photos by my brother.

"You've changed the shape of my world—you and the band," I said, alluding to the way he likes to describe Lennon's music*, "So thank you."

I think Bono caught the reference, because his eyes seemed to show pleased recognition.

And then he did something I'd never expected.

"Thank you," he said.

I don't care what anybody wants to say about his ego, Bono was thanking me for thanking him. That's humility.

"What's your name?" Bono asked me.

"Andrea," I said.

"I like it," he replied.

Then he took out a pen, and signed my ONE shirt on the left shoulder. He had a bit of trouble, as the fabric wanted to bunch up, so I held it flat as he wrote. When he was finished, Bono smiled at me and went on to the next person in line.

Signing my ONE shirt. Photos by my brother.

Bono talking to fans. Photos by me.

* “I was in my room listening on headphones on a tape recorder. It's very intimate. It's like talking to somebody on the phone, like talking to John Lennon on the phone. I'm not exaggerating to say that. This music changed the shape of the room. It changed the shape of the world outside the room; the way you looked out the window and what you were looking at.”—Bono, quoted in Rolling Stone magazine, No. 986, 11/3/05

Finally...

2009-09-11T09:57:00.000-07:00

I have TICKETS!!!!!

Raleigh, NC, October 3, here I (and my brother, Pip) come! :D

...

[/squee] :P

~
Photograph of U2 during a 360º Tour show, from monicalea, of atu2.com.

Washing At Dark, by Rich Mullins

2009-09-10T10:23:00.000-07:00

article for Release Magazine, Summer 1992

Someday I shall be a great saint - like those you see in the windows of magnificent cathedrals. I will have a soul made of sunlight and skin as clear as the stained glass panels that make their skin, and I will shine like they do now - I will shine with the glory that comes over those who rise up early and seek the Lord....

But I do not shine so now - especially not in the morning. In fact, I grimace until noon, I would never be mistaken for a stained glass saint, though at 7 AM I might be grey and grotesque as a gargoyle. By faith I accept that "God's commands are not burdensome," but right now, I am not grown in that measure of grace that frees me to exalt in this particular command to seek Him "early in the morning."

Right now it is dusk and far in the east the sky is already being inked with the shadow that our earth makes of itself and some nearer stars are waking there. I am in a park in Indianapolis, Indiana and right now these great trees are casting no shadows; the greens of their leaves are holding the last rays of sun already set and the sky in the west is bright and turquoise and it shines like a semi-precious stone - as if any stone could be "semi-precious". And over all that I can see, over my motorcycle and the trunks and limbs of these hardwood giants, over this close cut lawn and the now abandoned tennis courts and baseball diamonds, over the sky (still fading, still and newly exquisite) and over me, a great peace washes. It comes up from the ground and down from the heavens - a deep peace breathed out by a universe that surrounds itself again to the embrace of its Creator - its God, who is to be sought by His saints in the hours of early mornings but condescends to seek out even sinners at dusk and washes them at evening in the peace of His presence and throws round their shoulders the cloak of His acceptance and puts on their fingers the ring of His pleasure - the pleasure He takes in them when He meets them here on the road even before they could get home, when He echoes in the evening the hymn He sang for them at dawn.

Someday I will rise up like the sun in the morning - someday I will shine like the saints who watch from cathedral windows. I know this, not because of any evidence I have produced of myself, but because of the witness of His scriptures, because of the evidence of His grace, and because of the testimony of this sky that washes over me at dusk.

~
Article from kidbrothers.net.
Photograph of sunburst, by myself.

Quotes for Thought—Work

2009-09-07T06:58:00.001-07:00

“"Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his countrymen work for nothing, not paying them for their labor. He says, `I will build myself a great palace with spacious upper rooms.' So he makes large windows in it, panels it with cedar and decorates it in red. "Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" declares the LORD.”
—The Bible: Jeremiah 22:13–16

“If you do God’s work, God maybe does yours.”
—Bono, lead singer of rock band U2, 50 Minutes U2 interview

“We've been trying to work out how to get all the Achtung Baby sounds live. Basically we can do it if Edge plays something different with every one of his appendages.”
—Bono, lead singer of rock band U2

“The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.”
—Emile Zola

“He who works with his hands is a labourer. He who works with his hands and head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and head and heart is an artist.”
—St. Francis of Assisi

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; there is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.”
—Henry David Thoreau

“To the early riser come the seven advantages!” he sang out one chilly October premorning, throwing open their night shutters.

Kinshi was heard to mutter from under his pillow, “Seven advantages: work, work, work, work, work, work, and work.”
—The Master Puppeteer, novel by Katherine Paterson

“Your work is a very sacred matter.”
—Martin Luther

“Take your work seriously, but never yourself.”
—Dame Margot Fonteyn, ballerina

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
—Thomas Edison

“The only time success comes before work is in the dictionary.”
—unknown

“Let the excellence of your work be your protest.”
—Dr. William Lane (Michael Card's mentor)

~
Photograph of NY worker, from solarnavigator.net.

Top 10 Things I Learned During My First Week at University...

2009-09-04T09:40:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of Letterman...

01. College is really, really hard (don't laugh!).
02. I can get sick of reading... and writing.
03. Forcing myself to be more extroverted is stressful.
04. So is trying to make each class on time when I'm not entirely sure where each class is.
05. I'm not as in shape as I hoped I was. However, walking and biking so much is improving that issue.
06. There are obnoxious college students here but they're pretty rare.
07. Likewise, most of the professors are great.
08. Not having a laptop because it's being updated is not fun—especially when I need to read things online or recharge my iPod so I have music while on campus.
09. I can forget my (20th!) birthday until the afternoon before it.
10. I can never, ever, ever forget God.

Top 10 Most Played, Monday 8/24/09

2009-08-24T09:13:00.000-07:00

It's Monday again! Time for me to post the 10 songs I listened to most from the week before along with notes about some of them. You can reply by commenting on my listening choices or by listing your own 10 most-played songs. Hopefully, we will discover new music and start some interesting discussions through this. :)

[Song/Artist/Composer/Album or Source]

01. Dream Again—Franz Ferdinand—Tonight
[A new group, to me, introduced through a U2 interview, as often happens. I was able to check a whole album of theirs out from our local library (yay for a new library card!) and found I liked about half of it. I and some other family members think this song sounds a bit like The Beatles—which means my brother, Pip, rolls his eyes and puts up with it. :P]

02. Another Time, Another Place—U2—Boy

03. I'm Not Ashamed—Newsboys—Shine: The Hits
[IMO, this song speaks powerfully about what the Church needs today. Some favourite lyrics: This one says it's a lost cause/Save your testimonies for churchtime/Other ones state you'd better wait/Until you do a little market research/I'm saying "No way. No way."/I'm not ashamed to let you know/I want this light in me to show/I'm not ashamed to speak the name of Jesus Christ...]

04. Shattered—O.A.R.—All Sides

05. The End of August—Yanni—The Very Best of Yanni
[A perfect song for this time of year—or any time, really. :)]

06. Clocks (Royksopp Trembling Hearts Remix)—Coldplay
[It took me a while, but this techno sounding remix has gradually "grown on me". I think I still like the original version better, though.]

07. Filii Neidhardi—Corvus Corax—Viator
[I came across this song whilst watching a belly dancing video on youtube. Now, before you jump to any conclusions, it was a video focusing on hands not hips. ;) I'm a great fan of the way Indian classical dancers use their hands and arms, and bellydance is a form that grew out of that background. Ergo, I've been watching videos of bellydancing arm and hand technique in my spare time. Anyhoo... This song caught my attention with its powerful combination of bagpipes and drums. It's pretty neat. :)]

08. Symmetry—The Blue Cliff Ensemble—Feng Shui

09. Mysterious Ways (Live)—U2—Vertigo 2005 // Live from Chicago

10. The Color Green (Gloria In Excelsis)—Rich Mullins—A Liturgy, a Legacy & a Ragamuffin Band
[This song is a favourite—not just because green is my favourite colour! :P Some lyrics: And the moon is a sliver of silver/Like a shaving that fell on the floor of a Carpenter's shop/And every house must have it's builder/And I awoke in the house of God/Where the windows are mornings and evenings/Stretched from the sun/Across the sky north to south/And on my way to early meeting/I heard the rocks crying out/I heard the rocks crying out... Such a beautiful picture of God's glorious creation!]

~
Musical notes image, from familyofgodduluth.org.

Smack In the Middle of a Contradiction

2009-08-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

Ohio. So far, this is a land of football (not, unfortunately, the European type), rain, heat, humidity, underfunded libraries, good music, and people, people everywhere. But I’m getting ahead of myself...

Our move on the last weekend of July was stressful work. Thankfully, the moving crew really knew their job and completed it in plenty of time on Friday. We, on the other hand, were up all Thursday night packing. It was a long night. I would get a box finished, almost fall asleep sitting up, then someone would wake me, I’d drink a glass of water, eat a couple grapes, and try to keep packing. Repeat ad nauseum.

Not surprisingly, tempers were near the breaking point by Saturday and I, in my sleep-deprived state, was definitely not helping things. Finally, I “ran away from home” and took some time to cool down while watching the clouds go sailing over the airport and listening to U2 on my iPod. That time later became a poem (End of July), but most importantly, I felt a lot better afterwards.

We stayed at a hotel in town Saturday night, because all our things were in the moving truck. That was mostly uneventful—except for the fact that my brother, Pip, is great about security. He, being cautious, locked and dead-bolted the boys’ hotel room door behind my father, who went out that night to take care of some last-minute paper work. When my dad got back to the hotel at somewhere around 1AM, he was locked out and the boys sleep like the dead. It took about five minutes of phone calling their room from the front desk before Dad could get in! :P

On Sunday, we went to church for the last time at our congregation. A friend of our family was there, which was an unexpected surprise, as we hadn’t thought we’d be able to say goodbye to her. She’s about to head off to Afghanistan to teach.

When the farewells were over, we returned to the hotel to gather our things; then hit the road for Ohio. The drive was rather boring. I like to have “road music” on long trips, but no one else in the car was up for it. Besides that, I didn’t have anything to read and the scenery was pretty familiar. Our few stops for food were highlights of the trip.

We spent Sunday night in a hotel a short way from our new city. The Football Hall of Fame was having their big enshrinement celebrations, so there were lights and noise surrounding us. However, our hotel rooms were pretty quiet and I got more sleep than I’d expected.

Next morning, Mom and Dad set off for the house to decide where they wanted things to go and supervise the movers. Pip and I took the younger two down to breakfast and tidied up. Then the parents returned and we all went over to the new house.

I’d known it would be smaller than our old home, but the shock of actually seeing it in person for the first time was too much. It’s shaming to admit, but my response was to be a whinging teenager the whole day we moved in. I knew I shouldn’t complain because I’m far better off than most people in the world, but that afternoon, I wasn’t thinking about people living in cardboard boxes on less than $1 a day. I was thinking about sharing a room with my sister, which meant a loss of almost all my accustomed privacy. That, more than the loss of space, was very hard to accept.

The first couple weeks of living in our new house reminded me of Cinderella’s ambitious stepsisters cutting their toes and heels off so they could squeeze their feet into the glass slipper. Everything was too close, too high, too low, too damp, too warm. It was akin to camping indoors. Boxes were (and still are) everywhere. Worse still, for me, people were everywhere.

Some days, I couldn’t take it any longer, so I began hoping on my bike and setting off alone through the city. God’s hand of protection was definitely on me, because I got lost once and I found a mission where a woman kindly directed me home. After that, I started being more reasonable about my bike rides. I also started reading my Bible more regularly and found comfort in several Psalms.

Just about the time I felt I’d begun to adjust to living here, it was time to get ready for college. I took three days to “study” for the ACT and took it on Monday the 17th. The test room was empty of anyone but myself, so it was wonderfully quiet and I could even whisper a few things out loud to decide whether they sounded right. I was rather nervous, because there was more math in the science section than there’d been in the GED, but I felt that the English and Reading sections went well.

That afternoon, I finally got the results from my GED back... Not only had I passed, I passed with honours. It was a complete shock. I’m still struggling to understand it. The one thing that makes sense is that I was strong enough on Reading/Essay, Social Studies, and Science, that it made up for my low math score.

The next day (Tuesday), I had a meeting with my admissions counselor. He gave me the results of my ACT... I’d passed it with honours as well! Apparently, the same thing happened with it that happened on my GED—my reading skills outweighed my lack of math skills.

Once the short meeting was over, I and my parents went on a tour of campus. It was mildly interesting but pretty artificial. I’ll truly know the place only once I’m a student there.

Since that meeting, I’ve spent my time working out which classes I’m taking during the first semester. Today, I have a meeting with the woman in charge of the university’s honours program, to discuss it with her. I’m still not certain whether I should take part in it or not, so hopefully this will help me decide. That will have to happen quickly as I have orientation this week and classes begin on the 31st.

Everything feels like it’s moving at the speed of light, right now. Part of me is ready to “face the footlights” and enter the world of university. The other part of me wants to cover my eyes like a scared kid and run in the opposite direction.

I think that if I knew where I’m going this would all be much easier. People like Bono who knew from young adulthood that they would be doing what they’re still doing seem to have it so easy. But then, I’m not them, so I can’t say for sure.

All I know is that I’m caught in a contradiction as usual. I’m a child and an adult, an idealist and a pragmatist, a dreamer and a doer, drawn by the world of great art and afraid of what it could do to me, certain of what I want and completely unsure of how to get there. The land of in-between can be very frustrating, but I suppose I’d rather have it than nothing at all.

“How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when one finds darkness not only in one's culture but within oneself? If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such paradox. One must live in the middle of contradiction, because if all contradiction were eliminated at once life would collapse. There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.”—Barry Lopez

Current mood: Nervous.
Current musica: Another Time, Another Place, by U2

Top 10 Most Played, Monday 8/17/09

2009-08-17T07:07:00.000-07:00

It's Monday again! Time for me to post the 10 songs I listened to most from the week before along with notes about some of them. You can reply by commenting on my listening choices or by listing your own 10 most-played songs. Hopefully, we will discover new music and start some interesting discussions through this. :)

[Song/Artist/Composer/Album or Source]

01. In Rodanthe—Emmylou Harris—Nights In Rodanthe soundtrack
[A new discovery. I've no idea what the movie's like, but I really, really like this song. It has such a soaring quality that it puts me in mind of Annie Lennox's Into the West or Enya's May It Be, though it has a different feel. Some favourite lyrics: In the hours when the sky was wild and weeping/You broke me from the secret I'd been keeping/Before you there was no love and no believing/I was only grieving/Until Rodanthe/Where the seagulls go soaring in the sun/High above the rugged ponies as they run/And you pull me like the moon pulls on the tide/To your side...]

02. Audience of One—Rise Against—Appeal to Reason
[Another new discovery. The music video for this song seems to suggest it is political in theme, but I'd have never guessed that from the lyrics. To me, it has a broader applicability. Favourite lines: We ran like vampires from a thousand burning suns/But even then we should have stayed/But we ran away/Now all my friends are gone/Maybe we've outgrown all the things we once loved/Runaway/But what are we running from?...]

03. Song for the Boys—Pat Metheny—One Quiet Night
[I once danced a modern dance to this piece. It's been a favourite ever since, and brings back fond memories of one of my favourite teachers. :)]

04. Another Time, Another Place—U2—Boy
[Recently, this song has become one I connect deeply with. It provokes a C. S. Lewis-ian sense of "sehnsucht".]

05. Black Light—Nicole C. Mullen—Talk About It
[Nicole is one of the few female vocalists in mainstream Christian music that I actually like. The reason? She really sings. She also likes to gently "poke" people toward taking a stand for what's right and this song is no exception. :)]

06. That Where I Am, There You May Also Be—Rich Mullins—Rich Mullins: His Life and Legacy: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven

07. These Thousand Hills—Third Day—Offerings

08. Light of Heaven—Fernando Ortega—Storm
[An old favourite. One of the reasons I really like this song is that Fernando manages to convey a view of life that is not entirely despairing, yet not rose-tinted, either. His perspective is real. Kind of like that of a certain Irish band I love. ;)]

09. Back 2 Good (Live)—Matchbox Twenty

10. When Love Comes to Town (Live)—U2—ZooTV Tour

~
Musical notes image, from familyofgodduluth.org.

A New Song

2009-08-13T06:58:00.000-07:00

Psalm 40
For the music director; By David, a psalm.

I relied completely on the Lord,
and he turned toward me
and heard my cry for help.
He lifted me out of the watery pit,
out of the slimy mud.
He placed my feet on a rock
and gave me secure footing.
He gave me reason to sing a new song,
praising our God.
May many see what God has done,
so that they might swear allegiance to him and trust in the Lord!
How blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord
and does not seek help from the proud or from liars!
O Lord, my God, you have accomplished many things;
you have done amazing things and carried out your purposes for us.
No one can thwart you!
I want to declare them and talk about them,
but they are too numerous to recount!
Receiving sacrifices and offerings are not your primary concern.
You make that quite clear to me!
You do not ask for burnt sacrifices and sin offerings.
Then I say,
“Look! I come!
What is written in the scroll pertains to me.
I want to do what pleases you, my God.
Your law dominates my thoughts.”
I have told the great assembly about your justice.
Look! I spare no words!
O Lord, you know this is true.
I have not failed to tell about your justice;
I spoke about your reliability and deliverance;
I have not neglected to tell the great assembly about your loyal love and faithfulness.
O Lord, you do not withhold your compassion from me.
May your loyal love and faithfulness continually protect me!
For innumerable dangers surround me.
My sins overtake me
so I am unable to see;
they outnumber the hairs of my head
so my strength fails me.
Please be willing, O Lord, to rescue me!
O Lord, hurry and help me!
May those who are trying to snatch away my life
be totally embarrassed and ashamed!
May those who want to harm me
be turned back and ashamed!
May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”
be humiliated and disgraced!
May all those who seek you be happy and rejoice in you!
May those who love to experience your deliverance say continually,
“May the Lord be praised!”
I am oppressed and needy!
May the Lord pay attention to me!
You are my helper and my deliverer!
O my God, do not delay!

~
Bible text taken from net.bible.org.

Hello from Ohio!

2009-08-03T07:48:00.000-07:00

We're here. :)

Slow Dancing

2009-07-30T06:35:00.000-07:00

Sneaky Poem, by unabridgedone of livejournal

2009-07-27T06:36:00.000-07:00

A poem crouched all day long
In the pouch under my hair.
It tingled ferociously
As it lingered patiently there.
But for all of my endeavors
It wouldn't spill forth from my pen;
It just loitered in my mind
Like a parasitic friend.
As it feasted on emotion
Anger bubbled in my veins.
I clenched my teeth in agony
And tangled fingers in my mane.
Finally frustration rose.
So I took my pen and smote it.
Only to find in inky turmoil
I had sat down and wrote it.

Photograph, from ling.gu.se.

Top 10 Most Played, Monday, 7/27/09

2009-07-27T06:11:00.000-07:00

It's Monday again! Time for me to post the 10 songs I listened to most from the week before along with notes about some of them. You can reply by commenting on my listening choices or by listing your own 10 most-played songs. Hopefully, we will discover new music and start some interesting discussions through this. :)

[Song/Artist/Composer/Album or Source]

01. Discothèque (New Mix)—U2—The Best of 1990-2000 & B-Sides

02. Wild Mountain Thyme—Kennedy's Kitchen—William McPeake—The Hotting Fire
[Beautiful voice; beautiful tune.]

03. Use Somebody—Kings of Leon—Only By the Night
[This is the first (and only) KOL song I've heard. Based on it, I'm interested to see what else they've done.]

04. Shattered—O.A.R.—All Sides
[This song was on my list to hunt down for a long time, but I'd forgotten about it until recently. Now I'm wishing I'd remembered it sooner, because it's definitely a favourite. How many times can I break till I shatter?/Over the line, can't define what I'm after/I always turn the car around/All that I feel is the realness I'm faking/Taking my time but it's time that I'm wasting/Always turn the car around...]

05. Ray of Light (Ambient Worship Mix)—Madonna and ACIDplanet—The Uninspired

06. GOA—Hollywood Studio Symphony—John Powell—The Bourne Supremacy Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

07. Nocturne - Bohemian Rhapsody—Lucia Micarelli—Paul Schwartz—Music From A Farther Room
[Fans of Josh Groban may recognize violinist Micarelli's name. I first heard her when she played with him, and I liked it enough to check out this album. This medley is probably my favourite song from it.]

08. Serenade - "Standchen"—London Symphony Orchestra—Schubert, Franz (1797-1828)—London Symphony—Schubert

09. 3 AM (Acoustic) (Live)—Matchbox Twenty
[While I like the album version of this song well enough, this version is far better, IMO. I think it's the quiet, piano and voice intensity that makes it so.]

10. Young Turks—Rod Stewart—M1+ Top 1000
[While I don't agree with all the sentiments of this song, the spirit of "seizing the moment" really resonates with me. Of course, I like the music as well. ;)]

~
Musical notes image, from familyofgodduluth.org.

From Fireworks, to GED, to Celtic Fest

2009-07-22T17:40:00.000-07:00

7/20/09-21/09

For a while, this summer, it felt like “the deep breath before the plunge,” as Gandalf says in The Return of the King. No more. We’re in “the plunge” now. So much has happened since my last entry, I hardly know where to start, but at least it hasn’t all been unpleasant.

I finished teaching dance and locked the studio door for the last time on the third. It was actually just my sister and I for the final class, because I’d lost my other two teen-adult ballet students to summer vacations and the like. While I won’t say I was “in love” with the location or the teaching arrangement, I will miss it.

On the sixth, my family and I went to an Independence Day celebration that was held on a golf course. Pip and I set off on our own for a while to watch Finding Favour—a Christian band from Georgia. They were fairly good, but the sound was fairly bad. The band was followed by a display of the colours, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the usual patriotic ceremonies.

After that, Pip and I rejoined the rest of the family for a fireworks display. It was probably the best one I’d seen since about eight years ago when we left our small town in Kansas and their display over the lake. The finale this year was simply spectacular and shook the ground like a really loud rock band. :P

Click Here for the Slideshow
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The two shadow photographs were by my brother, Pip.

Pip played summer soccer—or as we like to call it real football :P—until the fifteenth when it ended. Although his playing is quite good and there were other dedicated players on his team, far too many didn’t even show up. By the time the team finally started to work well together, the season was over. Needless to say, it was not a very successful one in terms of wins. *sigh* Pip, however, really stuck with it. :)

(Pip's defending the goal—#17.)

The sixteenth was both Pip’s seventeenth birthday and my GED exam day. I got up early that morning and Ada and I drove over an hour down to Fort Wayne. On the way, I ate breakfast, and reviewed some math concepts.

Testing began at eight in the morning and ended at five-o-five in the evening. There were about ten other test-takers of varying ages who took the GED with me, but I didn’t really interact with them. I was either on my own, or working next to another girl who shared my table, the whole time.

The GED began with writing/essay, then math and a break for lunch. In the afternoon, were reading, science, and social studies. I’d been concerned that the math and essay sections would be at the end of the exam when I was tired, so the order of subjects was a welcome surprise.

It was a very long, very tiring day, but not entirely without relief. The tests weren’t completely boring; there were sections I enjoyed reading, like part of the social studies test about MLK. I wrote my essay on a fun subject (though I’m not allowed to say what) and certain of the multiple-choice answers were so ridiculous that they cracked me up. We were also allowed to leave early from most test sections if we finished before the time was up, so I got brief respites from filling in endless circles.

Once the exam was over, Ada and I started home. After I’d recovered from a headache brought on by so much reading, I celebrated by rocking out to all of No Line On the Horizon—which I hadn’t listened to for more than a month. There are few feelings like gliding along the curve of a road, with the sun shining bright, a hawk rising over the green fields, the GED (hopefully!) behind me, and Magnificent swelling from the car speakers. It’s like a tiny hint of heaven on earth.

When we got home, it was time to celebrate Pip’s birthday. We had the supper meal he’d chosen, with a desert of mint-chocolate cheesecake, and he opened his gifts. I went to bed rather early after that—I was too worn out to stay up till my usual bed time.

Ada and Mom decided that trying to rent the house was not worth the trouble for what little money we might make eventually, so they chose to short-sell it. We won’t make any profit, but at least we won’t be paying on it as well as paying rent in Ohio. Last Friday, we had a realtor show the house, so we ran errands and went to the library for the first time in a long while. I got lost in an interesting book—The Clash by The Clash—which I couldn’t check out as we have no library cards... I’m so impatient to get one again in Ohio.

Saturday morning, we watched the end of a hot air balloon race, which was part of the local 4H Fair. Since we live near the airport which was their destination, we could see them from our yard. Some overshot their landing and flew overhead, so we observed many of them quite close. There were several really neat ones.

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In the afternoon, I spent a good bit of time with Ada at his office, sorting through the books and papers he’s accumulated over twenty-something years. We got through a good bit of it, but there’s more left to do. We also worked on converting old jazz records (yes, the real things) to computer files so we can burn them as CDs.

Sunday, we went to church as usual, then set out for the first annual Celtic Fest. I’d requested that we go see Kennedy’s Kitchen—a local Celtic band—before we moved, and they were playing there. When we got to the mill race where the festival was being held, it was pouring. For a while, we were worried that they might call the whole thing off, but the musicians were set up under a shelter and playing despite the wet, so we braved the weather and claimed a place by the stage.

I’m glad we did, because the rain soon slacked off to an occasional light shower and I had a wonderful time. A band called Paddy’s Racket started things off. It was actually part of two different groups, because Paddy’s hammered dulcimer player wasn’t there. Anyhoo, they did pretty well, considering the little rehearsal time they appeared to have had together and technical difficulties (a problem that unfortunately persisted throughout the day). They played quite a few trad. songs I knew, so I had fun singing along.

When Paddy’s was finished, a regional Irish dance school performed for a while. They weren’t spectacular, but they did well with the small space they had. Some of the more experienced dancers were quite good. Afterwards, I introduced myself and congratulated several of them. As I talked to one of the dancers who was about my age, I discovered that they’d been using Southold’s facilities as their home studio and we knew several of the same students there. Small arts world.

After the dancing, Mom got some real potato chips from the Fiddler’s Hearth (local Irish pub) stand. While she did, I took photos of the interesting fish ladder that was next to the festival. Then it was time for Kennedy’s.

As the band members took the stage, I recognized one of them as a young man I’d noticed sitting in the crowd during the previous acts. His name is Nolan Ladewski and he’s a twenty-one year old flutist and vocalist. From what I remember, he’s also the nephew of JoHn Kennedy, who sings lead vocals and plays guitar. Besides Nolan and JoHn, there are Chris O’Brien (small stringed instruments), Rob Weber (bass) and Bob Harke (percussion). Each of the members sang in several tunes including beautiful accapella ones, but JoHn and Nolan sang the most solos.

The concert was a blend of Kennedy’s Kitchen songs and trad. ones. I knew quite a few of them from listening to their album A Pocketful of Lint, so I could easily sing along. There were also many songs that I hadn’t heard yet. It was fun to discover new favourites as they were played live.

As the concert was ending, I bought Kennedy’s latest album, The Hotting Fire. While I did so, I asked the woman who was selling their merchandise whether the band would welcome requests for autographs. To my mild surprise, she said they wouldn’t mind and actually gave me a pen that would look nice on the album cover. So once the concert was over, I set off to get the band members’ autographs.

I started with Nolan, because he was free at the moment, then went to Rob who took time to talk a bit with me. Chris was setting up for the next concert, but Nolan was nearby and asked me if I’d gotten to her yet. When I explained I didn’t want to bother her, he said it was okay and asked her to come over to sign. Bob and JoHn were busier, but I managed to get their autographs eventually, so I have all five member’s autographs on my CD cover. :) That’s one of the best things about a band Kennedy’s size, IMO. They’re not too small to be amateur sounding, but not too large that they’re inaccessible.

Kennedy’s music was—in one form or another—the real bulk of the afternoon entertainment. After they finished, there was a short recital by the students of one of the band’s members. It was followed by a female harpist (Nolan’s sister?) playing O’Carolan’s music with Chris O’Brien. Then JoHn, Nolan, and a member of another regional folk group—The Goldmine Pickers—played the final concert. They were joined by two Irish dancers (not from the earlier group), one of whom I believe was also a sister of Nolan’s... His younger brother plays on the album I bought, as well. Their whole family seems to be an arts-inclined one.

Click Here for the Slideshow
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After the festival ended, we went to supper. Bono likes to joke that there are three things you aren’t supposed to talk about at the dinner table: s-x, politics, and religion, and that’s all the Irish talk about. I don’t know how true that is, but if it is, we had a rather Irish dinner discussion—as often happens—revolving around those last two subjects. ;) Then we headed home, for some much needed sleep.

Current mood: Busy.
Current musica: The Dollar Store Light Show, by Kennedy's Kitchen

~
Icon, from an unknown source
Photography and cropping, by myself, unless otherwise noted.

Top 10 Most Played, [Not Really] Monday, 7/22/09

2009-07-21T09:39:00.002-07:00

Aghhh! Real life busyness strikes again! Oh well. Here it is anyway.... Time for me to post the 10 songs I listened to most from the week before along with notes about some of them. You can reply by commenting on my listening choices or by listing your own 10 most-played songs. Hopefully, we will discover new music and start some interesting discussions through this. :)

[Song/Artist/Composer/Album or Source]

01. On Bridge Number 9—Hollywood Studio Symphony—John Powell—The Bourne Identity Soundtrack

02. Brother Mister—Christian McBride and Inside Straight—Kind of Brown
[This song is from a recent NPR collection of free songs from Newport. There's also a folk collection available for free download. Check them out HERE, if you like.]

03. Old Maui—Kennedy's Kitchen—Traditional—The Hotting Fire
[I first heard this song live in concert, Sunday afternoon. Its "time travel to a tall ship" quality made it a favourite straight away.]

04. Discothèque (New Mix)—U2—The Best of 1990-2000 & B-Sides
[While I know somewhere around four versions of this song, none have topped this one, IMO. There's just something about the atmosphere of this version that makes it wonderful to disappear into.]

05. A Celebration—U2
[An old favourite. :)]

06. Jig/The Dollar Store Light Show/The Full Set—Kennedy's Kitchen—Gan Ainm; Nolan Ladewski; Michael McGoldrick—The Hotting Fire

07. With or Without You—Les Nubians—U2—In the Name of Love: Africa Celebrates U2
[U2 with an African twist. This album messes my brain up, but if I forget it's U2's music, my ears like it. :P]

08. Pride (In the Name of Love)—Soweto Gospel Choir—U2—In the Name of Love: Africa Celebrates U2
[I've always enjoyed Pride when it has a gospel choir feel—whether it's The New Voices of Freedom or this one.]

09. Elegy for Cello and Orchestra—Yo-Yo Ma—John Williams—Yo-Yo Ma Plays the Music of John Williams
[Such a beautiful, sorrowful piece... It's got to be my favourite of Yo-Yo Ma's, so far.]

10. Carousel—Govi—Mosaico
[A lovely, upbeat, fun tune. :)]

~
Musical notes image, from familyofgodduluth.org.

Top 10 Most Played, Monday, 7/13/09

2009-07-13T19:33:00.000-07:00

It's Monday again! Time for me to post the 10 songs I listened to most from the week before along with notes about some of them. You can reply by commenting on my listening choices or by listing your own 10 most-played songs. Hopefully, we will discover new music and start some interesting discussions through this. :)

[Song/Artist/Composer/Album or Source]

01. Panic Switch—Silversun Pickups—Swoon
[This group has become one I'm watching fairly closely. They're still pretty new, so I'm curious to see how they develop. At the moment, I like their sound quite a bit, but I think their lyrics could improve some.]

02. Escape—Enrique Iglesias—Escape
[I know some people call this a "stalker song", but to me, it's a song of true, deep, passionate love that won't ever give up, no matter what.]

03. Marco Polo—Loreena McKennitt—The Book of Secrets

04. Stand By Me (Live)—U2—ZooTV tour (Stockholm)
[U2 played this to close their show. Bono started it off; then exited stage and Edge finished singing it, so it's a neat opportunity to enjoy the guitarist's voice singing solo. ;)]

05. Tiny Little Robots—Cage the Elephant—Cage the Elephant
[Another new group I'm watching closely. This song is a cry for something more than the daily grind. I know that you're tired of this/'Cause you're a robot/They designed your life/But true souls said you know what's right/And you can join us on the other side... I like it. :)]

06. Something to Believe In—Poison
[I heard this for the first time while channel surfing a couple days ago. It was on our local pop/hip hop/r&b station, of all things. Anyhoo, it's become a new favourite. The lines stuck in my head are: Sometimes I wish I didn't know now/The things I didn't know then/And give me something to believe in...]

07. Gotta Serve Somebody—Bob Dylan—The Best of Bob Dylan
[Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord/But you're gonna have to serve somebody... Amen.]

08. I'll Believe You When—Matchbox Twenty—Exile On Mainstream

09. Last Night On Earth—U2—Pop

10. The Investigation—Hollywood Studio Symphony—John Powell—The Bourne Identity Soundtrack

~
Musical notes image, from familyofgodduluth.org.

Top 10 Most Played, Monday, 7/6/09

2009-07-06T13:29:00.000-07:00

It's Monday again! Time for me to post the 10 songs I listened to most from the week before along with notes about some of them. You can reply by commenting on my listening choices or by listing your own 10 most-played songs. Hopefully, we will discover new music and start some interesting discussions through this. :)

[Song/Artist/Composer/Album or Source]

01. Darkness On the Edge of Town—Bruce Springsteen—Brixton Night
[This is the first Springsteen song I've ever paid attention to. I'd listened to some of his before, but this one just caught my attention. I think it's the intensity of the guitar. At any rate, I'll be looking up more of his music soon.]

02. Every Grain of Sand—Emmylou Harris—Bob Dylan—Wrecking Ball
[Something about this song just means so much to me. I'm currently working on finishing a dance to it that I've choreographed for my sister and myself. There's no deadline for when I must finish it, so I've really gotten to enjoy getting it as close as possible to what I want to see.]

03. That Where I Am, There You May Also Be—Rich Mullins—Rich Mullins: His Life and Legacy: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven
[More wonderful guitar. This recording was made as part of a demo session just before Rich died in an auto accident. As such, it's not completely polished and I love the slightly rough sound that creates. It's like you're in the room with him as he's working it out.]

04. Growing Old Is Getting Old—Silversun Pickups—Swoon

05. Star Spangled Banner—Jimi Hendrix—Francis Scott Key—Live at Woodstock DVD
[Still more guitar! I'd only heard part of this until recently, and I must say, I can understand why this version is so famous.]

06. Marco Polo—Loreena McKennitt—The Book of Secrets
[Deliciously Eastern.]

07. Breaking the Silence—Loreena McKennitt—Parallel Dreams
[Somehow, this song, with its themes of war and peace, despair and hope, seems like a perfect song for the 4th of July... or maybe it's just me. Anyhow, it's beautiful. May the spirit never die/Though a troubled heart feels pain/When this long winter is over/It will blossom once again]

08. Coming to America—Neil Diamond
[Ever since I first heard this song, I haven't gone a 4th of July without listening to it. Such a classic.]

09. Fragile—Sting—Top 1000 Pop Hits of the 80's

10. Walk On—U2—All That You Can't Leave Behind
[Yet another freedom song, in its own way. I've spent quite a bit of time lately thinking of Aung San Suu Kyi (who it is dedicated to). While America celebrates independence, others are not so fortunate.]

~
Musical notes image, from familyofgodduluth.org.

With Liberty and Justice for All

2009-07-04T12:20:00.000-07:00

I love the freedom we have in America. The ability to live and believe as I do without being drastically punished for it is a powerful incentive to appreciate independence. So is the ability to have a real say in the way this country is governed. Many people have fought and died for the freedoms we enjoy and while I do not agree with every conflict they entered, I firmly agree with the liberty most strove for.

However, I also think independence can be taken too far. “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken,” the scriptures say (Ecclesiastes 4:12). Too often, it seems, we disregard that proverb and act as though we don't need those around us. I think we’re guilty of confusing size and power with virtue and true strength.

Perhaps that’s why we’ve been given a “thorn in the flesh”. Maybe this present economic trouble will serve to remind us that we are fallible. Cities in the Third World may have tent camps of homeless edging them—but so may cities in America. In fact, they do, at the moment. Our liberties and privileges do not inoculate us against hard times. They only make it easier to avoid them—and to forget our neighbours.

On this Independence Day, I hope we rejoice in our freedom and honour those who gave so much to purchase it for us. I also hope that we emulate Lady Liberty who stands at the gate of our nation and raises her lamp to light not only our land, but the rest of the world as well. “From her beacon-hand/Glows world-wide welcome,” wrote Emma Lazarus in her poem The New Colossus. May it be so!

~
Photograph of the Statue of Liberty from purplewren.com.

Quotes for Thought—For the 4th

2009-07-04T11:55:00.000-07:00

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), 16th President of the United States of America, in his Gettysburg Address

“To the leaders of the world; know that your people will judge you not on what you destroy, but on what you build.”
—Barack Hussein Obama II, 44th President of the United States of America, in his inaugural speech, 2009

“What brings us together as Americans is that sense of hope; the audacity to believe that the way the world is today is not the way it has to be.”
—Barack Hussein Obama II, 44th President of the United States of America, from The Audacity of Hope

“We Americans have no commission from God to police the world.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1889–1893), 23rd President of the United States of America

“America is an idea, but it's an idea that brings with it some baggage, like power brings responsibility. It's an idea that brings with it equality, but equality even though it's the highest calling, is the hardest to reach. The idea that anything is possible, that's one of the reasons why I'm a fan of America. It's like hey, look there's the moon up there, lets take a walk on it, bring back a piece of it. That's the kind of America that I'm a fan of.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2, from his Commencement Address at the University of Pennsylvania, 5/17/04

“James Otis was on his feet, his head close against the rafters that cut down into the attic, making it the shape of a tent. Otis put out his arms.
‘It is all so much simpler than you think,’ he said. He lifted his arms and pushed against the rafters.
‘We give all we have, lives, property, safety, skills... we fight, we die, for a simple thing. Only that a man can stand up.’”
—Esther Forbes, in Johnny Tremain

“My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
—John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1961–1963), 35th President of the United States of America

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
—Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Power without love is reckless and abusive. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice.”
—Martin Luther King Jr.

“Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!”
—Patrick Henry

“What kind of nation we will be, what kind of world we will live in, whether we shape the future in the image of our hopes, is ours to determine by our actions and our choices.”
—Richard Milhous Nixon (1969–1974), 37th President of the United States of America

“If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”
—Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States of America

“The American dream is not that every man must be level with every other man. The American dream is that every man must be free to become whatever God intends he should become.”
—Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States of America

“[T]here is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest.”
—Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States of America

“The history of liberty is a history of resistance.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), 28th President of the United States of America

~
Photograph of American flag, from eastcoastflagandflagpole.com.

The New Colossus, by Emma Lazarus

2009-07-03T11:44:00.000-07:00

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset fates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

~
Photograph: Lady Liberty, by Mike Wong of www.ononesoftware.com.

More Prayers Appreciated!

2009-07-02T17:56:00.000-07:00

Apparently, when medical problems rain, they pour...

My eldest younger brother (codename: Pip) just left for the ER. He was kicking a soccer ball in our backyard and hit his cleat really hard into the grass. We think he might have broken his big toe. Any prayers would be much appreciated. Thanks. :)

Quotes for Thought—Money, Wealth & Poverty

2009-06-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

“[M]oney doesn’t talk, it swears.”
—Bob Dylan, from It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) (song)

“It gets easier and easier to call a truce with the world when you are well off. Why wouldn't you? But you musn't. And in a way you're then... you're in the best position to ask the hardest questions, because the thing that people are fighting and you know, trampling on each other for, you have. And you can tell them, that it's not enough. It's something. It's uh, it's better than nothing. But it's not everything.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson), of U2, from a Rolling Stone interview podcast, 11/3/05

“'If your brother becomes poor,' the scriptures say, 'and cannot maintain himself, you shall maintain him. You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.'

This is such an important idea, Jubilee, that this is how Jesus begins his ministry. Jesus is a young man, he's met with the rabbis, he’s impressed everybody, people are talking. The elders say, he's a clever guy, this Jesus, but you know, he hasn't done much public speaking.

When he does, his first words are from Isaiah: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,' he says, 'because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.' And Jesus proclaims the year of the Lord's favour, the year of Jubilee. I think that’s Luke 4.

What he was really talking about was an era of grace - and we're still in it.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2 at the Presidential Prayer Breakfast 2/2/06, (references from The Bible: Leviticus 25, Isaiah, Luke 4: 18)

“[A]ll that we call human history-money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery-[is] the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”
—C. S. Lewis, from Mere Christianity

“Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.”
—The Bible: Ecclesiastes 5: 10

“[W]e brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.”
—The Bible: 1 Timothy 6: 6–10

“Ain't no prize money worth a man's life, the way I see it.”
—Viggo Mortensen as Frank Hopkins, in Hidalgo

“Everytime Bono comes to America he starts talking to the politicians about Africa and my taxes go up. Love the music but I think this guy has cost me a lot of money.”
—jamo387 (username), comment on a youtube video

“Fortune does not change men; it unmasks them.”
—Suzanne Necker

“He who loses money, loses much;
He who loses a friend, loses more;
He who loses faith, loses all.”
—reportedly an Irish proverb

“Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate.”
—Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Barbossa: There's not been a gatherin' like this in our lifetime.
Jack Sparrow: And I owe them all money.
—Geoffrey Rush and Johnny Depp, in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

Dracmus: We have tried everything, I assure you.
Mara Jade Skywalker: Have you tried cash?
Dracmus: I am begging your pardon?
Mara Jade Skywalker: Cash. Money. A travel case full of credit notes. You know. A bribe. Or make it sound nice. Call it a consulting fee.
—from Star Wars EU [Mara Jade, offering a unique perspective on persuading Selonians to aid the New Republic]

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold it would be a merrier world.”
—J. R. R. Tolkien, from The Hobbit [Thorin Oakenshield speaking to Bilbo Baggins]

"All that is gold does not glitter..."
—J. R. R. Tolkien, from The Lord of the Rings

“They got money for wars, but can't feed the poor”
—Tupac Shakur, from Keep Ya Head Up (song)

“And so we are told this is the golden age
And gold is the reason for the wars we wage.”
—U2, from New Year’s Day (song)

Prayers Appreciated!

2009-06-29T17:29:00.000-07:00

My grandmother is in the hospital today, recovering from a heart attack and surgery to put in two stints... My grandfather is also not in good health, at the moment. Any prayers would be much appreciated.

Top 10 Most Played, Monday, 6/29/09

2009-06-29T16:58:00.000-07:00

Top 10 Most Played, Monday, 6/22/09

2009-06-22T06:48:00.000-07:00

It's Monday again! Time for me to post the 10 songs I listened to most from the week before along with notes about some of them. You can reply by commenting on my listening choices or by listing your own 10 most-played songs. Hopefully, we will discover new music and start some interesting discussions through this. :)

[Song/Artist/Composer/Album or Source]

01. Growing Old Is Getting Old—Silversun Pickups—Swoon
[A new group to me, discovered through World Cafe. They have a rather unique sound.]

02. Love Rescue Me—U2—U2, Bob Dylan—Rattle and Hum
[Just when I think I've heard all the U2 that's been recorded, I run across a song like this new favourite that they wrote with Dylan. It's such a beautiful song and seems like a prayer to me.]

03. Ain't No Rest for the Wicked—Cage the Elephant—Cage the Elephant
[Another group discovered through World Cafe. The sound of this is what caught my immediate attention; then the lyrics provoked thought and I wound up listening to it quite a bit.]

04. Spanish Eyes (Live)—U2—The Joshua Tree tour (Madison Square Garden)
[This is my second-most recent U2 "find", and a song I fell in love with at once. It has a sense of half-desperate longing mingled with perseverance and joy.]

05. Fix You (Live)—Coldplay—LeftRightLeftRightLeft
[While I really, really like the original album version of Fix You, this live version from LeftRightLeftRightLeft (free download from Coldplay's website, BTW) takes it to a new level. The audience becomes a beautiful accompaniment to Martin's voice and the rest of the band's music.]

06. Los Manolos (from La Musica Notturna delle Strada di Madrid)—Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Erich Kunzel—Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805)—Masters and Commanders: Music from Seafaring Film Classics
[One of my tests of whether a song is a favourite, is if I can spend the large amount of listening time it takes to choreograph and rehearse a dance to it, and still like it. This piece falls in that category. I choreographed and performed a solo to it a couple years ago, yet it remains one of my favourite classical pieces. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Boccherini is one of my favourite composers...]

07. And I Thought My Jokes Were Bad—Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard—The Dark Knight Soundtrack
[The title of this piece is misleading, IMO. It's much deeper and more dramatic than you'd expect from its name. But then again, this is from the soundtrack to a dark film with more depth to it than you'd expect from the average "superhero movie".]

08. Coda—Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Erich Kunzel—Tchaikovsky. Peter Ilyich (1840-1893)—Nutcracker: Favourite Selections

09. Castaneda's Boogie—Shadowfax—Magic Theater
[A fun, light-hearted piece that I'm quite enjoying, at the moment.]

10. Holding Out for Grace—Tait—Lose This Life
[This song embodies my life, right now.]

~
Musical notes image, from familyofgodduluth.org.

Love rescue me/Come forth and speak to me...

2009-06-21T17:07:00.000-07:00

I’m tired—stayed up too late last night listening to a Rolling Stone interview of Bono that I hadn’t heard before. It’s a long, seven-part podcast and I thought I’d just listen to the first half of the first part. Right. I wound up listening to the whole hour-long section.

Bono was talking about his life before U2. His words painted a picture of growing up in a lower-middle-class Dublin neighbourhood, with family, friends, religion, school, crazy street gangs, and all the rest. It’s a picture I’d seen glimpses of from reading about the band and watching their TV appearances, but this was much clearer and more personal.

Hearing Bono tell the story of his youth was further confirmation of how and why I connect with him. However, what really resonated with me were two things I’d never heard him talk about before...

“[I]n my teenage years,” he said, “I went through a sort of awkward phase of thinking I was stupid. My schoolwork goes to s—; I can't concentrate. I started to believe the world outside.”

That’s exactly where I am. It’s no fault of my education, but by the standards of our schools, I’m not exactly what you’d call academically smart. In the past, I’d depended on the arts to make up for that. Now I know I have too many artistic interests and not enough experience or skill with any of them to decide which to pursue seriously. I want to make art great enough to have a real impact on the world, yet I can’t figure out what I’m good at—if anything. It’s hard not to feel stupid.

But then I look at U2... Four kids from the north side of Dublin. Boys who couldn’t really play, sing, or songwrite. Christ-followers in “the rock ‘n’ roll circus”, as Bono calls it. Band members who grew into world influencers. It breaks all the rules of how art is supposed to work.

That tension between what the the world is telling me and my hope that great things happen with persistence and the grace of God is driving me mad. I feel like I’m fighting a battle for hope on a very steep hillside. Fear and despair are hovering like black moths in The Hobbit.

However, there’s the second thing Bono said...

“[I]n the months leading up to this [the forming of U2], I was probably at the lowest ebb in my life. I was feeling just teenage angst. I didn't know if I wanted to continue living—that kind of despair. I was praying to a God I didn't know was listening.”

I’m trying to hold on to that. I’m not the only person who ever stood in the shoes of uncertainty; who didn’t know where in the world they were going, or if they were going anywhere at all. If Bono made it through, maybe I can as well, God helping me.

But oh, it’s not easy.

We still don’t have the house situation worked out. No one has stepped forward to rent our home which has to happen or... there’s a very troubled financial situation. We also don’t have a house secured yet in Ohio, though we’re working on renting a three-bedroom one. (Yes, I wrote that right, three bedrooms+six people. Should be fun.)

My study for the GED has gone about as far as it can go. Short of going back to school for math and science (not gonna happen), I’ve done all I can. Now it’s time to schedule the ridiculously expensive exams. Oh yes, and you have to go to the office (an hour away) in person to do so. Our government is so encouraging when it comes to people getting an education... [/sarcasm]

On 5/25, I wrote that GP&R told me I had ten students in my ten-adult ballet class... turns out they were way off. I have two. But they’re good students and both have studied dance before, so we’re getting quite far in the few weeks we have together. I like teaching them.

Current mood: Tired and Hopeful.
Current musica: Love Rescue Me, by U2/Bob Dylan

~
Icon, by larahewson of livejournal.

Quotes for Thought—Lyrics

2009-06-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

“[H]e not busy being born is busy dying.”
—Bob Dylan, from It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

“When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose.”
—Bob Dylan, from Like a Rolling Stone

“Sometimes you’ve got to close your eyes to see.”
—Bon Jovi, from Complicated

“Run the earth and watch the sky.”
—Chris Rice, from Nonny Nonny

“From the top of the first page
To the end of the last day
From the start in your own way
You just want
Somebody listening to what you say”
—Coldplay, from Square One

“We'll fight, not out of spite
For someone must stand up for what's right
'Cause where there's a man who has no voice
There ours shall go singing”
—Jewel Kilcher, from Hands

“You want to save humanity
But it’s people that you just can’t stand”
—John Lennon, from I Don’t Wanna Face It

“Same old song
Just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do
Crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind”
—Kansas, from Dust in the Wind

“We hold in our hearts the sword and the faith
Swelled up from the rain, clouds move like a wraith
Well, after all, we'll lie another day
And through it all, we'll find some other way
To carry on through cartilage and fluid
And did you come to stare or wash away the blood?”
—My Chemical Romance, from Desert Song

“If life’s a battle, the invasion is complete
If it’s a rhythm, I have found the perfect beat
If it’s a renaissance, I have a new birthday
The world don’t give it
And the world can’t take it away”
—Newsboys, from Joy

“When the hour is upon us
And our beauty surely gone
No you will not be forgotten
And you will not be alone
No you will not be alone”
—Rob Thomas, from Now Comes the Night

“Maybe God can be on both sides of the gun.”
—The Fray, from Say When

“They got money for wars, but can't feed the poor”
—Tupac Shakur, from Keep Ya Head Up

“Every generation gets a chance to change the world
Pity the nation that won't listen to your boys and girls
’Cause the sweetest melody is the one we haven’t heard”
—U2, from I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight

“It was a beautiful day
A beautiful day
Don’t let it get away”
—U2, from Beautiful Day

“I was there when they crucified my Lord
I held the scabbard when the soldier drew his sword
I threw the dice when they pierced his side
But I've seen love conquer the great divide”
—U2, with B. B. King, from When Love Comes to Town

“I need you and I miss you and now I wonder
If I could fall into the sky
Do you think time would pass me by?
‘Cause you know I’d walk a thousand miles
If I could just see you... if I could just hold you
Tonight”
—Vanessa Carlton, from A Thousand Miles

Top 10 Most Played, (Almost) Monday, 6/16/09

2009-06-16T06:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was too busy for me to find time to post, so this is a day late... Anyhoo, it's time for me to post the 10 songs I listened to most from the week before along with notes about some of them. You can reply by commenting on my listening choices or by listing your own 10 most-played songs. Hopefully, we will discover new music and start some interesting discussions through this. :)

[Song/Artist/Composer/Album or Source]

01. Wandering—Ben Folds
[A new artist and song to me, I found this last week through a member of atu2.com and really liked the sound.]

02. Blow Your House Down—U2, Bono, Edge—The Golden Unplugged Album
[This is an early version of a U2 song that as far as I know never become a full song, though it morphed into other songs—Wake Up Dead Man, for one. It's patterned somewhat after the Biblical story of the man who built his house on sand and I can't get it out of my head. Oh how I wish they'd finish it out and play it live...]

03. Heartland—U2—Rattle and Hum

04. They Can't Take That Away from Me—Frank Sinatra, Natalie Cole—Duets
[This is such a fun, swinging song; just perfect for summer days.]

05. Mothers of the Disappeared—U2—The Joshua Tree
[In a word: heartbreaking. To think that it is based on actual events makes it even more so. Yet it's a beautiful song.]

06. As Time Goes By—Billie Holiday
[Some things never really change... especially love.]

07. Should I Stay or Should I Go—The Clash—Combat Rock
[This is such a saucy relationship song and too much fun.]

08. Adagio, from Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No. 8 In G Minor, Christmas Concerto—Corelli—Master and Commander soundtrack
[One of my favourite classical pieces ever.]

09. Imagine (Remix)—John Lennon—Peace, Love & Truth
[While I don't agree with Lennon's "no heaven, no hell" philosophy, there's a lot in this song that is right on. I can see how his music helped influence young Paul Hewson to grow up into Bono.]

10. The First Time—U2—The Best of 1990-2000 & B-Sides

~
Musical notes image, from familyofgodduluth.org.

Choruses from ‘The Rock’, by T. S. Eliot

2009-06-12T07:08:00.000-07:00

The Eagle soars in the summit of Heaven,
The Hunter with his dogs pursues his circuit.
O perpetual revolution of configured stars,
O perpetual recurrence of determined seasons,
O world of spring and autumn, birth and dying!
The endless cycle of idea and action,
Endless invention, endless experiment,
Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;
Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;
Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word.
All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,
All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,
But nearness to death no nearer to God.
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries
Bring us farther from God and nearer to the Dust.

—from Choruses from ‘The Rock’, by T. S. Eliot

~
Art: Eternity, by Inga Nielsen, from leafingout.wordpress.com.

It's gonna itch and burn and sting...

2009-06-11T17:07:00.000-07:00

6/9/09

Dad and Mom made another trip to our new homestate—Ohio—last week, to look for housing. While they were gone, my siblings K and A continued soccer practice and games. My summer dance classes also started.

Jason [a colleague and friend of my father's] drove me to the studio on Thursday, so I could teach. Because he’s the station manager for an Americana station, I’d thought that he wasn’t the sort to listen to U2. However, when I somewhat casually mentioned trying to get to the Chi-Town concert this fall, it sparked off a whole conversation. Jason said he’d “grown up on” Boy-October-War and we had a good time comparing U2’s older music to their latest album.

Dance went fairly smooth, with smaller class sizes and mostly attentive and good-natured students. There was one mom, though, who seemed determined to teach my class (or at least her daughter) for me. She was literally in the middle of the studio demonstrating at least twice. *shakes head* It makes me wonder what she was paying me for....

When dance was over, Jason drove me over to the soccer fields to meet Pip and my younger two siblings. At the fields, we found out that Pip’s game later that evening had been canceled. Thankfully, Jason had stayed to watch his son’s practice, so we borrowed his cell phone and called Mom and Dad.

Between us, we worked things out so that Jason took us home instead of the couple who were originally supposed to. He was really nice about it and since we’d been talking U2 on the way over, he decided to “rock out” (as he said) to Get On Your Boots on the way home! When we got home, he had Seconds playing, which my brother and I identified immediately. Jason seemed impressed that we knew the older stuff and left blasting the song loud enough we could hear it from the porch! Too much fun.

The house trip, unfortunately, was not fun. In fact, the whole housing situation is rather grim. We still don’t have anyone to rent our present house and Ada and Mom didn’t find any real options while in Canton. Trying to find a house large enough for six that isn’t insanely expensive is proving almost impossible. We’re wanting a rental, because we don’t know the area well enough yet to buy, but that’s not making it any easier.

The stress is wearing us all thin and there’s been no lack of short tempers lately. *sigh* We really need all this to get settled—soon.

Night before last, we went to the river preserve. We had a mostly good time, with Pip and I doing a photo shoot; then all of us eating supper (and s'mores!) heated in a burn pit. However, there were bugs everywhere because of the rain we’ve had lately. Before we could retrieve the bug spray we’d accidentally left at the house, I got bitten thirty times by mosquitos. I’ve been miserable since then, though I’ve started using a new topical medicine and it seems to be helping a bit.

This morning, we all had dentist appointments—except Ada. I spent my time out of the doctor’s chair skimming through People and going over my poetry. It was my first real appointment since I got my braces off, so it was fairly deep and intense. My mouth is still sore. *sigh*

I submitted my first poem to Teen Ink's site this morning when we got home. Together will have the honour of being my first published piece if it makes it that far. I think it may at least be on the Teen Ink website. *meep*

Current mood: Thoughtful, Hungry and [Itchy] Where’s the mood icon for that one?!?
Current musica: In God’s Country, by U2

~
Icon, by sapphires13 of livejournal.

However Influential: On Presidential Power

2009-06-11T16:32:00.000-07:00

I’ve lost count of the articles I’ve read recently in which President Obama is fearfully portrayed as the “Antichrist”. I’ve also read numerous editorials that optimistically claim he is America’s “Savior”. Both views seem exaggerated to me.

Coming from a Christ-following, moderately conservative point of view, I understand how certain of Obama’s stances and actions make some of my fellow citizens nervous. They concerned me to the point that I didn’t use my first election vote to help put him in office. Now that he’s there, I’m still concerned about those issues.

However, Obama has brought new hope to many people. He seems to combine a certain brand of idealism with realism and a genuine appreciation for equality. Perhaps he will be able to lead us effectively. Only time will tell.

In the meantime, no matter what our view of the president is, we should not forget that he is mortal. Obama is neither deity nor devil and he does not have unbridled power. The future may very well be changed during his time in office, but America’s values and impact on the world will not be shaped entirely and only by one man, however influential.

Our own actions will also speak quite loudly. Therefore, I refuse to fear or idolize Obama. Instead, I strive to stand for what I believe is right, pray for our president and try to give him the benefit of the doubt, because, as Tolkien wrote, “[E]ven the very wise cannot see all ends.”

~
Photograph of President Obama at his inauguration, from porhomme.com.

Top 10 Most Played, Monday 6/8/09

2009-06-08T09:50:00.000-07:00

It's Monday again! Time for me to post the 10 songs I listened to most from the week before along with notes about some of them. You can reply by commenting on my listening choices or by listing your own 10 most-played songs. Hopefully, we will discover new music and start some interesting discussions through this. :)

[Song/Artist/Composer/Album or Source]

01. Things Have Changed—Bob Dylan—The Best of Bob Dylan
[This song just fits my mood (at least a lot of the time), right now.]

02. The Show Must Go On—Queen—Greatest Hits III
[I first heard this on the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack and liked its darkly operatic sound. Then I heard this rockier version (the original) and liked it even better.]

03. Old Time Rock n' Roll—Bob Segur
[Today's music ain't got the same soul/I like that old time rock n' roll... That's just about how I see most music on the radio right now. I blame it on one too many accidental hearings of Poker Face while channel-surfing on my boom box.]

04. Twilight and Shadow—Renée Fleming—Howard Shore—The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King soundtrack
[While trying to choose one favourite piece from the LotR soundtracks is like trying to choose a favourite sunset, IMO, this track is one that I find myself listening to quite often. There's just something especially haunting and beautiful about it.]

05. Electrical Storm (William Orbit Mix)—U2—The Best of 1990-2000 & B-Sides
[If the sky can crack/there must be some way back/to love and only love... This song seems to be about a relationship "on the rocks". It's melancholy in its imagery; yet not without hope. Of the two versions I've heard, I like the Wiliam Orbit Mix best because there's a beautiful floating quality to it.]

06. Waiting On the World to Change—John Mayer—Continuum
[Another "fits my mood right now" song. John Mayer might not have written this with me in mind, but I think he knows my age and situation pretty well.]

07. It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)—Bob Dylan
[I'm still trying to figure out this long piece of musical poetry, but the one line that really stands out is: He not busy being born is busy dying. Amen.]

08. Funny the Way It Is—Dave Matthews Band—Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King
[A new song (2009) and little-known group, to me. I like the musical sound of this quite a bit. It really stands out from the rest of the songs on the radio.]

09. Wave Rider—Govi—Mosaico
[If one could take a lazy summer afternoon at the beach and put it into musical form, it might sound something like this instrumental song.]

10. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own—U2—How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
[Probably the most wrenching song from the whole HTDAAB album, this has long been a favourite U2 song of mine.]

~
Musical notes image, from familyofgodduluth.org.

Top 10 Most Played, Monday 6/1/09

2009-06-01T15:55:00.000-07:00

It's Monday again! Time for me to post the 10 songs I listened to most from the week before along with notes about some of them. You can reply by commenting on my listening choices or by listing your own 10 most-played songs. Hopefully, we will discover new music and start some interesting discussions through this. :)

[Song/Artist/Composer/Album or Source]

01. Lucille (Live)—The Dalton Brothers—The Golden Unplugged Album
[If you don't know who The Dalton Brothers are, THIS page will tell you just about all you need to know. I've had Lucille stuck in my head for weeks, ever since coming across it for the first time. Too much fun. ;)]

02. My Shadow—Keane
[This is the first and only Keane song I've heard, but I plan on finding more. I like their sound. It seems a bit like Coldplay or U2, but different.]

03. Drowning Man—U2—War
[If I was to make a playlist of songs that equal faithful love to me, this one would definitely make the top twenty or so. Take my hand/You know I'll be there/If you can/I'll cross the sky for your love/For I have promised/For to be with you tonight/And for the time that will come.... Beautiful.]

04. Keep Ya Head Up—Tupac
[Broad as I like to make my music collection, I don't listen to much hip hop. The reason? I haven't managed to find enough artists who have fairly positive and clean lyrics yet. This is the only Tupac song I know, but it's a new favourite of mine.]

05. A Day Without Me—U2—Boy

06. One Safe Place—Marc Cohn—Marc Cohn Live 04/05
[This song is a bit melancholy, yet beautiful in a gentle, almost understated sort of way. How many roads you’ve traveled/How many dreams you’ve chased/Across sand and sky and gravel/Looking for one safe place...]

07. Never Let Me Go—U2—The Million Dollar Hotel soundtrack

08. Flora's Secret—Enya—A Day Without Rain

09. Arlington—Wailin' Jennys
[The Wailin' Jennys are a Canadian/American folk group that my ada introduced me to. I don't know much of their music yet, but like the little I've heard.]

10. Flower of Scotland—The Corries—The Compact Collection
[One of my favourite Scottish songs ever. :)]

~
Musical notes image, from familyofgodduluth.org.

Justice & Equality—Bono's Speech, National Prayer Breakfast 2006

2009-05-26T08:43:00.000-07:00

(A full transcript of the speech can be found HERE.)

Don’t Stop Believin'

2009-05-25T11:35:00.000-07:00

Spring is short lived here. It seems only yesterday I was noticing the first buds on the maple out my window; now it’s fully leafed. I’ve been wearing shorts, t-shirts and nothing on my feet, whenever I can.

With the return of warm weather, I’ve also started practicing longbow archery again with my recurve (who’s elvish name shall remain secret). The first evening I practiced, I shot a round of six arrows and got only one to hit the hay bales. I was sore all through my shoulders the day after, but I’m gradually getting back into it, my aim is improving and the ache is starting to go away.

My last practice. I am by no means an expert archer and I was not in my best form ever, so please don't use these photos as guides for your own practice. ;) Photography by my ada. :)

(Click for full size views.)

There’s a sense of urgency to my practice, because if we wind up moving to a house in town, I may not have room to shoot for a long while. If I wind up living on campus, that’s almost certain. I’ve already looked up the university's policy on weaponry and found that I’d have to negotiate with them to get my equipment, small though it is, stored on campus.

Mom’s finally done with her job at the greenhouse tomorrow. Ada’s teaching has also wound down, though he’ll still have some of his publicity videography role to do this summer. I’m mostly enjoying them being home. Of course, we’re so busy preparing for the move that we don’t get much time to just “hang out”. *sigh*

I have a seemingly impossible list of things I have to finish up before fall. The biggest things on it are getting my GED, learning to drive, getting tickets for U2 360º and figuring out what in the world I’m going to study at college. That last one is my biggest trouble. I made a list the day before yesterday of all the careers I’m interested in or have some experience with and it has fourteen separate ones on it. *SIGH*

I’ve had another offer from a kind member of @u2. She’s willing to sell me a “rafters level” ticket at face value plus the TM fees. EBay’s prices are still ridiculous so I may take her up on her offer. Being there would be better than nothing. She said she would like to know whether I’ll buy from her by the end of August, so I have a bit of time left to decide, thank Eru.

I’d thought I wasn’t likely to get any students for the summer session of GP&R. Then on Thursday last week, I found out that I have one student for each of my younger ballet and tap classes. Unless they fill up more, I won’t teach them. But I also have nine students enrolled for the ten-adult class! I’ve never had that many for that age range. I’m hardly daring to believe it, but oh if it’s true... I’ll be so happy. :D

30-Hour Famine has taken place now. Not being in youth group anymore, I couldn’t take part in the event itself, but was able to donate toward it. The government has given a number of matching food grants so the money this year is reaching five times farther than it might have otherwise. Yay! :D

Political leader and Nobel Peace Prize holder, Aung San Suu Kyi and her fellow lovers of democracy in Burma continue to be persecuted by those in power. I read about it in the NPR newsletters I get; then went to u2.com, thinking they might have something about it, as their song Walk On was about and dedicated to her. They did. The main page has a link to a petition for her release, which I’ve signed. The more I read about her, the more I think I have a new “heroine” in Aung San Suu Kyi and I know I have a new prayer subject.

The situation in Burma reminds me of a Martin Luther King, Jr quote I found a while back... “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” So true.

I've been reading Reformation Thought: An Introduction, by Alister E. McGrath and as of yesterday, I’ve gotten to the section on predestination. I’ll probably read it today or tomorrow, but I’m waiting till I have a nice, quiet time to do so. The problem of predestination has been in the back of my mind ever since the sermon I mentioned here a while ago. I’m not as freaked out by it now as I was initially, but I can’t ignore it, either. The closest to helpful thought I’ve had about it, is that if God can bring life out of death, it might be possible for Him to be a just, loving deity and yet predestine some to eternal damnation. Both of those are definitely paradoxes.

Current mood: Hopeful.
Curren musica: Don’t Stop Believin’, by Journey

To a Dead Soldier, by Kendall Harrison

2009-05-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

[In honour and remembrance of those who defended justice and freedom. May we never take their sacrifices for granted.]

Though all the primrose paths of morning called
Your feet to follow them, and all the winds
Of all the hills of earth, with plucking hands
Wooed you to slopes that shone like emerald,
You might not go. The thin green grass that binds
Your feet had Earth and Death to forge its bands.

The rain's wet kiss is on your lips, where lay
Once the live pulses of a woman's soul;
Your eyes give back unto the quiet sky
Only the sheen of stars, the glare of day,
Or darkness when the kindly shadows roll
Up from the sea to hide you where you lie.

No woman's whisper holds your strong heart spent
And breathless. All the silver horns that blew
While legions cheered, are still. These things are done,
But these you have: a death for monument,
And peace you died to buy, and after you
The laughing play of children in the sun.

~
Photograph of Arlington National Cemetery, from myspace.com/markcook_38.

Top 10 Most Played, Monday 5/25/09

2009-05-25T08:16:00.001-07:00

It's Monday again! Time for me to post the 10 songs I listened to most from the week before along with notes about some of them. You can reply by commenting on my listening choices or by listing your own 10 most-played songs. Hopefully, we will discover new music and start some interesting discussions through this. :)

[Song/Artist/Composer/Album or Source]

01. Desert Song—My Chemical Romance
[New to me; from a group I know very little of. This is a darkly haunting song. "And did you come to stare or wash away the blood?" is the line that keeps sticking in my mind.]

02. In a Lifetime—Clannad, duet with Bono—In a Lifetime (The Best of)
[This duet between Moya Brennan and Bono weaves life and love with a thunder storm. It's as complex (I know from attempting to write out the lyrics) as it is beautiful.]

03. Don't Stop Believin'—Journey—Greatest Hits
[Another new group for me; I'd heard this song once or twice long before, but never found out what it was until I heard it on the radio a couple days ago. I see it as the story of people looking for love in various ways—some valid and some not so valid.]

04. Vi Luz Y Subi—Carlos Libedinsky—Neo Tango: Nu Electronic Fusions
[I've no idea what the title translates to. Meh. Anyhoo, this is my "get out of the chair and dance" song at the moment. :)]

05. The Life of a Country Boy—Kennedy's Kitchen—Pocketful of Lint
[Kennedy's Kitchen is a local treasure of a celtic trad. group. This song is acapella, with harmonies that are too beautiful to believe. Hopefully, I'll get to hear Kennedy's in concert before we move.]

06. I'll Believe You When—Matchbox Twenty—Exile On Mainstream
[Upbeat angst seems like an impossible contradiction in terms, but that's how I'd have to describe this song.]

07. Summer Days—Bob Dylan—The Best of Bob Dylan
[Another "dancing song".]

08. Vivaldi's Rain—Celtic Woman—A New Journey
[Beautiful, beautiful song. That's all I can really say about this one. I've had it for a while, but only recently begun to listen to it.]

09. Trip Through Your Wires—U2—The Joshua Tree
[Something about the sound of the recording space seems to have seeped into this song. Or maybe it's just the way they played it. Either way, it feels to me almost like I'm in the room with the band. Very neat. :)]

10. Bono's Speech at Presidential Prayer Breakfast 2006—Bono
[Yes, this isn't technically a song, but it made my top ten, so I'm including it. More a sermon, in some ways, than a speech, I've listened to it often enough that I've got whole sections memorized. It's very somber, uplifting, and humourous by turns, but even more important, it gets me out of my own little world and thinking about others. If you want to understand why I joined the ONE Campaign, the reasons given in this speech would be the best answer I can give you. :)]

~
Musical notes image, from familyofgodduluth.org.

If Hitler Was a Child Drowning, by ltrig7 of livejournal

2009-05-21T13:23:00.000-07:00

[Note: there are mature (ie PG-13ish) subjects mentioned in this poem.]

if Hitler was a child drowning
and you knew what he would do
would you lend him a hand anyway?
holding it out
to a child drowning
to Hitler drowning
to the holocaust drowning
to world war two?
or would you keep on walking
or stop to watch with glee
as history rewrote itself ...
and if that history was responsible for you
what would you do?
if you knew that your grandmother
came to America only because her country was in flames
and she would have never met your grandfather
without coming to America
and they would never make love to the sounds of Frank Sinatra
and conceive your father
who would never meet your mother that day by the pool
and go on a honeymoon
whose little surprise
happens to be the sum total of hair blood bones and skin
that is you?
life isn’t easy
like slogans and promises
it’s not a physics experiment
every variable controlled for
and accounted
so here it is
not as I willed it
but as it happened to be
by the virtue of chance and a thousand wills
free rubbing against each other
writing a bloody history
where sweet melodies
can be heard over gun fire
and words of love
stand side by side with the rhetoric of hate and fear
here is where I stand
holding hands
moment to moment
acting with the knowledge
that I can’t always make the right choices
but I choose to stand here anyway
and hold out my hand to the men drowning
hoping...

~
Art: Drowning, by ~DrakengardNight of deviantart

Quotes for Thought—Life

2009-05-20T08:57:00.000-07:00

"And in the end it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
—Abraham Lincoln, 16th US president (1809-1865)

“Do not pursue what is illusory - property and position: all that is gained at the expense of your nerves decade after decade and can be confiscated in one fell night. Live with a steady superiority over life - don't be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn after happiness; it is after all, all the same: the bitter doesn't last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing.”
—Alexander Solzhenitsyn

“Let a man in a garret but burn with enough intensity and he will set fire to the world.”
—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

“Most people find it hard, as they grow up, to deal with friction. But the friction is a sign of being really alive.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of rock band U2, in 2000

“Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather that it shall never have a beginning.”
—Cardinal John Henry Newman

“Trying to plan for the future without a sense of the past is like trying to plant cut flowers.”
—Daniel Boorstin, former National Museum of American History director

Patrick Harper: There's no sin to bein' born in the dirt, boys. But 'tis a terrible sin to want to stay there.
—Daragh O’Malley, in Sharpe’s Eagle (TV series)

“Let the excellence of your work be your protest.”
—Dr. William Lane (singer-songwriter Michael Card's mentor)

“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.”
—Edward Everett Hale

“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.”
—Galileo Galilei

“Even if you are in a minority of one, the truth is still the truth.”
—Gandhi

“Back? There is no back. There is only forward!”
—George Lucas

“One is not born into the world to do everything, but to do something.”
—Henry David Thoreau

“‘The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.’”
—J. R. R. Tolkien, from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (novel)

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold it would be a merrier world.”
—J. R. R. Tolkien, from The Hobbit

“You want to save humanity
But it’s people that you just can’t stand”
—John Lennon, from I Don’t Wanna Face It (song)

‘“Don’t worry. We all learn here by the honorable path of horrible mistakes.”’
—Katherine Paterson, from The Master Puppeteer (novel)

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge.”
—Martin Luther King Jr.

“It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow.”
—Robert Goddard

Hontar: We must work in the world, your eminence. The world is thus.
Altamirano: No, Señor Hontar. Thus have we made the world... thus have I made it.
—The Mission (film)

“Infinity's a great place to start.”
—U2, from No Line on the Horizon (song)

“Never give up what you want most for what you want in the moment.”
—unknown

“People who brag about having an open mind should close it occasionally and think.”
—unknown

“If you have tried to do something and failed, you are vastly better off than if you had tried to do nothing and succeeded.”
—unknown

“It's a cliché - but true - that life is not a dress rehearsal. You get to do it once, so do it well.”
—Yanni, Greek composer-musician, from Yanni in Words (autobiography)

Top 10 Most Played, Monday 5/18/09

2009-05-18T10:37:00.000-07:00

It's Monday again! Time for me to post the 10 songs I listened to most from the week before along with notes about some of them. You can reply by commenting on my listening choices or by listing your own 10 most-played songs. Hopefully, we will discover new music and start some interesting discussions through this. :)

[Song/Artist/Composer/Album or Source]

01. Never Let Me Go—U2—The Million Dollar Hotel soundtrack
[This one is a new favourite for me. It's a beautiful love song and I enjoy hearing Bono's voice out-of-context, as it where. He can sing quite well in certain genres besides rock.]

02. Summer Wind—Frank Sinatra, Julio Iglesias—Duets
[A melancholy song, but one I'm really liking, right now. For some reason, Sinatra's and Iglesias' voices work nicely together.]

03. Dance of the Prince and the Sugar-Plum Fairy—Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Erich Kunzel directing—Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)—Nutcracker: Favourite Selections
[Yes, I'm listening to Christmas music in May! I know I'm supposed to love this music, being a ballet dancer and all, but usually, I can hardly stand it. I suppose it comes from hearing and performing to it every year for years on end. However, this recording by the Cincinnati Pops is a great one and the pas de duex is my favourite piece (probably because I don't hear it as often).]

04. Gloria—U2—October
[Young U2 at their best—vulnerable, enthusiastic, and worshipful. Gloria in te domine...]

05. I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier (Remix)—John Lennon—Peace, Love & Truth
[This song goes on and on forever... but the sound got stuck in my head.]

06. These Thousand Hills—Third Day—Offerings
[My brother's actually more into Third Day than I am, but I've been listening to them more, recently.]

07. Ultra Violet (Light My Way)—U2—Achtung Baby

08. Under the Sea—The Little Mermaid soundtrack
[Another piece from the GP&R recital. I am *not* a Disney animated-movie fan, but I do like some music from them.]

09. Ray of Light (Ambient Worship Mix)—ACIDplanet—The Uninspired
[This is an interesting blend of music, voice and electronics that I found online by accident a long time ago.]

10. Symmetry—The Blue Cliff Ensemble—Feng Shui
[Instrumental with just a hint of Asian sound. I got the CD at Goodwill a while ago for a couple bucks. It had never been opened. *grin*]

~
Musical notes image, from familyofgodduluth.org.

Picture Time! Part 2 (GP&R 10-Adult Ballet Class)

2009-05-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

My dad took these photographs of my final 10-adult Classical Ballet introductory class, yesterday morning (Thanks ada!). It was the end of nine weeks of classes together.

(Click each photo for full-size view.)

Warming up feet and legs.

The first combination at barre—pliés and tendus.

Balancing in 5th sous-sus.

Correcting coupé derriere.

Practicing temps levé.

A fairly new combination in center—petit jeté.

The last combination before reverence (curtsies & bows)—balancés.

Picture Time! (GP&R Dance Recital 2009)

2009-05-17T10:22:00.000-07:00

(Click each photo for full-size view.)

The program (locations covered for privacy). Photograph by myself.

Homeschool Pre-Ballet in their First Flight costumes. Photograph by my ada.

Rhythm Tap I in their Sunshine costumes. Photograph by my ada.

Barbara, myself and Tricia. Photograph by my mom.

Myself and Rosanne. Unfortunately rather washed-out. :(
Photograph by one of my parents. :P

Myself in my Andante costume, in poses from the dance. Photographs by my mom.

Flowers—a surprise gift from the P&R staff. :) Photograph by myself.

Three Mother Hens & All Their Chicks or The Dance Recital Circus

2009-05-14T07:31:00.000-07:00

5/13/09

Today, I feel rather "disinclined to acquiesce" to writing in here, but so much has happened that I must record it or risk even more work later. So, I’m journaling out of duty. Meh.

Intense work on GP&R recital began (for me, at least) on Monday the fourth. I was in the studio rehearsing my solo every day until the following Thursday. Beside that, I was writing countless tiny e-mails to the other teachers on everything from program acknowledgments to finale plans.

With all my other work, my costume for my solo was way behind schedule. At the beginning of the week, I hadn’t even sketched it out, so I hurriedly came up with the idea for a black skirt, hunter green sash and hair tie and e-mailed it to Rosanne (my costumer and seamstress). She went to the fabric store and found the right fabric for my skirt, but couldn’t find the colour I wanted for my sash and trim, so I told her to just go with black.

Then I started having second thoughts. An all-black costume on a plain stage with a black background curtain was going to be really, really boring. I tried to e-mail Rosanne, but couldn’t get to her before she bought the fabric, I thought.

Depressed, I decided that I’d have to find some kind of trim on my own to add to what she was buying. Ada and I hit about five stores looking for something that would work without being permanent (as I was wearing my normal leotard as a base). By the time we got to Jo-Ann Fabric in the mall, I was really starting to lose hope of finding anything that would get even remotely close to what I’d envisioned.

As a last resort, I borrowed Ada’s cell phone and called up Rosanne at her work, but couldn’t get through. Then I tried her home and got her husband. He said she wasn’t home, but was on her way. I asked how long he thought she’d be, as I planned to call back and he replied that she was going to stop by Jo-Ann Fabric on her way home! “That’s so funny!” I said with a laugh, “Because guess where I am?!?” To make the rest of the story shorter, I met Rosanne moments later and we had a wonderful time picking out a beautiful bright, flowy, green fabric with gold threads. :)

Rosanne was an absolute Godsend and a rare bright spot in the craziness of recital week. She’s a former beauty pageant contestant (finalist for Rose Queen of Pasadena)—and little wonder, because she’s a lovely woman. But better yet, she has a personality to match her looks. During the entire time I worked with her, she was prompt, friendly, encouraging, creative and completely dependable. For example, on Thursday, upon seeing First Flight onstage, we decided that it would look better if I had wings to match my pre-ballet students, so she went home, sewed up a beautiful costume and brought it to the theater for me to perform in the next day!

With costumes taken care of and many other things still unsure, Thursday arrived—and insanity to accompany it. The sound and lighting technician who watched our two days of rehearsing and performing told my dad (who was our videographer) that it was like watching three mother hens (the dance teachers) with all their chicks (ninety-something students). He got that right. There wasn’t much coordination between the other instructors and me. That’s what happens when everyone is an independent contractor, everybody’s in charge and by dint of that fact, nobody’s in charge.

Thursday rehearsals were hectic and rushed. Three of my tap students got confused and went to the studio instead of the theater, hence they arrived after we were done rehearsing their dance. None of the stage moms could help out my dancers, as they were assigned to the other two teacher’s classes, so I got to be dance instructor, rehearsal director and stage mom to fifteen young dancers.

Oh, and did I mention that I had to squeeze in time at the very end of the exhausting hours of chaos to rehearse my own solo? Two run throughs were all I got and both went *badly*. Probably needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep that night.

Friday performances were almost as chaotic, but a little better. Originally, we were supposed to have a dress rehearsal followed by a show, but the show sold out, so the dress rehearsal became a show as well. We only had about fifty people in the audience for that one, but we lost important practice time because of it. *sigh*

Before rehearsals started, there was a rather busy time of getting doors unlocked that weren’t supposed to be locked and sorting out students. Thankfully, my mom decided to help chaperone my students, as did several of my dance moms. That helped make the rest of the craziness much more sane, but I was still so short on time that I barely got my own make up and costume done. I was in the middle of applying fake eyelashes when the one minute “call” for rehearsing our finale came! (Usually, I’d have done that about an hour and a half before.)

We ran through the finale a couple crowded and messy times. The students then went out into the auditorium to watch their fellow dancers until it was their turn to perform. It was definitely an “informal show”, as the other teachers called it, with classes walking up onto the stage and interrupting the flow, but it could have been worse.

Performance Order
Video clips for some of these will hopefully be forthcoming.
('*'=my classes)
Penguin Cantina—3-4 year olds—Creative Movement
*First Flight—4-5 year olds—Pre-Ballet (w/me)
Toot Sweets—5-6 year olds—Pre Ballet/Modern
Lion Sleeps Tonight—4-5 year olds—Pre Ballet/Modern
Under the Sea—4-5 year olds—Creative Movement/Pre Ballet/Modern
Viennese Musical Clock—5-7 year olds—Pre Ballet/Modern
*Sunshine—5-9 year olds—Rhythm Tap
Hello Dolly—5-8 year olds—Musical Theater
Cinderella—7-9 year olds—Modern (balletic style)
Pied A Terre—10 year olds–teen—Modern
*Andante—myself—Classical Ballet
Finale—all dancers

First Flight–my pre-ballet students’ piece–was second in the program and it went fairly well, though I had to whisper a few prompts. Sunshine–my rhythm tap students’ piece–was about halfway through the show. One of my dancers tripped and fell towards the end, but she and her classmates recovered quickly. Considering that they had never performed with everyone present on the stage, I think they did very well.

I was so busy with my students that I didn’t have much time to be nervous before Andante–my own solo. Given my soreness from standing on hard stage floors most of the day before and my lack of a proper warm up, it went surprisingly smooth. My technique was no better than usual, but at least I didn’t lose my balance, or forget anything important.

After the first rehearsal-show we had a very brief breather, during which time I congratulated my students, ate a few crackers, drank some water and retouched my make up. Then the second, “real” show began. All students were backstage for that one, either in the classrooms we were assigned as dressing rooms, in the hallway outside the wings, or in the wings waiting to go on stage.

Since First Flight was second on the program, we were in the wings right from the beginning—or that was the plan. What actually happened was that one of my student’s loops that held her costume wing onto her finger broke. So I got to make a fast little trip down the school hallway to find someone who could repair it in less than two minutes. Thankfully, one of the stage moms from another class had some sort of tape, so we improvised a fix and went right onstage.

First Flight seemed to go even better the second time, except for one part when three of my students forgot their steps. The audience really seemed to like it, because we had silence for most of the dance (save the mistake) and loud applause after. It was a lot of fun to see the girls’ faces when they heard it. :)

Sunshine also went even better the second time, from what I could see from my place in the wings. There were no falls and my students were more familiar with the stage space, so their spacing and timing were improved. They also had some good applause and appeared mostly pleased with how they’d done.

Andante wasn’t as strong, in my opinion. I wobbled a bit in some steps, which would be a direct result of my loss of stamina. It’s been too long since I was dancing at least an hour and a half, six days a week. That said, I’m not ashamed of it. I’ve done better, but it wasn’t bad.

When we’d done finale and the show was finally over, we took some informal group photos onstage, cleaned up and headed home. For the second night in a row, I got next to no sleep, probably more from exhaustion than from nerves. And then—who’s great idea was that?—I got up the next morning to teach my preteen-adult beginner ballet class. :P

In other news, I’d been so absorbed in GP&R recital, that Ada's job offer is just now starting to fully sink in. He accepted it today, though it’s not completely official yet. The worst things about it so far are dealing with our house, July and August without pay from either college (I foresee no air conditioning this summer) and the hassle of moving. The best things seem to be the increase in his pay, decrease in his work, full (!) tuition benefit for my college courses there or at many other CCC/CCCU colleges and money for Ada’s (required) further degree study.

Current mood: Drained.
Current musica: Summer Wind, by Frank Sinatra with Julio Iglesias

Top 10 Most Played, Monday 5/11/09

2009-05-11T09:32:00.000-07:00

From now on, each Monday, I plan to post the 10 songs I listened to most from the week before along with notes about some of them. You can reply by commenting on my listening choices or by listing your own 10 most-played songs. Hopefully, we will discover new music and start some interesting discussions through this. :)

[Song/Artist/Composer/Album or Source]

01. She Loves You—The Beatles
[This is a new song for me, discovered via Bono tacking a bit of it onto the end of Vertigo during U2's BBC Broadcasting House balcony gig this spring.]

02. The Lion Sleeps Tonight—The Lion King soundtrack
[I got this one stuck in my head because a fellow dance teacher used it for her students' piece in our recital.]

03. Hawkmoon 269 (Live)—U2—Love Town tour music video
[I love the desperation and poetry of this version (more so than the album one). To me, Hawkmoon 269 is U2's "Unchained Melody".]

04. Stateless—U2—The Million Dollar Hotel soundtrack
[U2 did a movie... U2 did a movie? Yeah, they did, and this is from the soundtrack. It's another new one to me, found through the wonderful folks over on @u2.]

05. Endlessly—Muse—Absolution

06. Elvis Presley and America—U2—The Unforgettable Fire

07. Landing on Teth—City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra—Kevin Kiner after John Williams—Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

08. Viva la Vida—Coldplay—Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends

09. Cry/Electric Co. (Live)—U2—Vertigo 2005 // Live from Chicago DVD

10. The Fly (Live)—U2—Vertigo 2005 // Live from Chicago DVD

~
Musical notes image, from familyofgodduluth.org.

You are such a fool to worry like you do...

2009-05-06T08:33:00.000-07:00

My dad (otherwise known as "Ada") just got an offer yesterday from the university he last interviewed at. It looks like we'll be moving sometime this summer. The house still has to be rented or sold, but this is a relief. I'm nervous, yet cautiously optimistic. Gloria in te domine. :)

Three Things Meme

2009-05-05T07:07:00.000-07:00

Found randomly online...

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE ME:
01. losing those I love
02. failure
03. major world war/environmental troubles
THREE PEOPLE WHO MAKE ME LAUGH:
01. my brother Pip
02. U2
03. myself
THREE THINGS I LOVE:
01. God
02. grace
03. art
THREE THINGS I HATE:
01. indifference
02. intolerance
03. extreme poverty
THREE THINGS I DON'T UNDERSTAND:
01. math
02. science (mostly where math is involved)
03. US political system (at least not completely)
THREE THINGS ON MY DESK:
01. a photo I took of Lake Michigan at sunset from the deck of the S. S. Badger car ferry
02. a peace lily in a woven basket
03. Modern American Poetry/Modern British Poetry: Complete Edition
THREE THINGS I'M DOING RIGHT NOW:
01. listening to I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (Live), by U2 and The New Voices of Freedom Gospel Choir (from the Rattle and Hum DVD)
02. nodding my head to the music
03. typing
THREE THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE:
01. make a real difference for good in the world
02. create art that is worth remembering and helps people view life in a new and better way
03. visit Ireland
THREE THINGS I CAN DO:
01. ...write?
02. dance (sometimes)
03. dream
THREE WAYS TO DESCRIBE MY PERSONALITY:
01. INFJ
02. artistic
03. perfectionistic
THREE THINGS I CAN'T DO:
01. drive
02. waste money
03. go without music for a long time
THREE THINGS I THINK YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO:
01. U2—almost anything U2—including interviews and speeches
02. Yanni—his older music (like Acropolis era) in particular
03. Rich Mullins
THREE THINGS I DON'T THINK YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO EVER:
01. I’ve no idea—I only listen to things I think you should ;P
02.
03.
THREE OF MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE FOODS:
01. grains—I could almost live on homemade wheat bread alone
02. fresh garden vegetables and fruits
03. chocolate
THREE THINGS I'D LIKE TO LEARN:
01. guitar—both acoustic and electric
02. horseback riding
03. multiple languages
THREE BEVERAGES I DRINK REGULARLY:
01. water
02. milk
03. fruit juice—probably pineapple juice most often
THREE SHOWS I WATCHED WHEN I WAS A KID:
01. The Prairie Nutcracker
02. Children of Eden
03. Riverdance (And yes, all those are either plays or dance performances—I didn't watch much TV, lol!)

I tag:
(blogger)
Jaime
Margaret W.
Unveiled Hope
The Second Mirror
Dew of Hermon
(lj)
adriana_is
cicci1000
striped_bouncer
...anyone else I forgot or who wants to do this. :)

When I look at the world...

2009-04-30T17:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was cleaning day—all day. I had the kitchen and main bath to deep-clean, plus the carpet in the living room and hall. Needless to say, it was long, exhausting work, but it had to be done, because we’ve been too busy to keep it up properly and the realtor was over for a meeting with my parents last night.

His assessment of our situation was not unexpected, but not encouraging, either. Basically, we have no chance of selling our house the traditional way for many years, as in this market we couldn’t break even with what we bought it for and we’d have to go deeply into debt to “sell” it. Yay for the economy here! [/sarcasm] Our remaining options are a “short sell” (not good for our credit score) or renting it until we can sell it (annoying, but better for our credit score).

If neither option works, we’ll be facing foreclosure. Please Eru, it won’t come to that, but it’s definitely possible. Two other families in our neigbourhood have already had that happen to them.

No one is safe from the hand of the economy here. Our realtor lives in a more affluent neighbourhood than we do and he was telling us that half of his neighbours have lost their jobs. Hard times are touching the highly skilled, the not-so-skilled, the US natives and the immigrants almost equally.

The more I look toward the future, the more it looks like seeing U2 (or even getting into college, at this rate) isn’t going to happen... *SIGH* It’s overwhelming and depressing, but when I think of less fortunate neighbours or the situation over in Africa, I feel ashamed to even mention my “troubles”.

My solo has gone from getting absolutely nowhere to slowly starting to come together. I’m not thrilled about it, or my technique, but it could be worse. At least I’ve lost some weight, recently. The last two Monday nights of walking/jogging/stretching at the rec. center are starting to show some effect, I think.

I can't wait any longer
I can't wait till I'm stronger
Can't wait any longer
To see what you see
When I look at the world

I'm in the waiting room
I can't see for the smoke
I think of you and your holy book
While the rest of us choke

Tell me, tell me, what do you see?
Tell me, tell me, what’s wrong with me?
—from When I Look at the World, by U2

Current mood: Melancholy.
Current musica: Wake Up Dead Man, by U2

~
Icon for this entry, by myself.

To Dance Forever

2009-04-28T06:32:00.000-07:00

The life of an aspiring ballet dancer is demanding but worth it, says Collegiate student Ryan Vetter

by Courtney Schwegel (Volunteer)

Sometimes one single experience can shape the direction of the rest of our lives. Such is the case with Ryan Vetter, who after seeing Singin’ in the Rain at age five, was changed forever.

Click here to read the rest...

Ryan studied at the same studio I used to study at in South Dakota. I remember him as an 8 or 9 year-old mischievous "Fritz" when I was the Maid in The Nutcracker. He's grown up just a bit since then. ;)

Stand Up to Rock Stars

2009-04-27T06:52:00.000-07:00

U2's Personal Lives Influencing Their Popular Art

As anyone paying attention to pop culture can tell you, Irish rock band U2 released their latest album, No Line On the Horizon, this spring. Previous U2 albums have often met with love/hate receptions and this one is no exception. Musical sound and unusual lyrics (did he sing “cockatoo”?) aside, the complaint I’ve heard most often is that U2 have allowed their extra-band lives of activism and affluence to colour too much of their music.

Compared to earlier albums, No Line On the Horizon does seem more openly self-referential at times. Lines like “I don’t want to talk about wars between nations” (Get On Your Boots), or “the right to appear ridiculous is something I hold dear” (I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight) sound like direct quotations from their lyricist, Bono. This, some people have said, is what turns them off.

But is being openly self-referential in your art such a bad thing, even if you are multimillionaire rock star activists? During a Whistle Test interview conducted in the ‘80s, U2 were asked about that.

“Let’s talk about songwriting,” said their interviewer. “You said onstage tonight... ‘we were a garage band and we came from garage land’, but nowadays you’re doing these massive gigs and you’re actually driving around in limousines. How do you stop yourself writing about that lifestyle and alienating your audience?”

“Oh yeah,” guitarist The Edge replied with a smile. “Good point. I suppose it creeps in, and why shouldn’t it? because we’re dealing with our own feelings, so obviously that’s gonna creep in.

But I think we’re actually quite down-to-earth as well. You know, we don’t, as a band, we don’t let the other members get away with taking on any of the sort of egocentric trappings of rock and roll. We give each other a good kick up the arse if any of us start getting out of line in that respect. So anything that does come in, I think is valid.”

In my opinion, The Edge’s answer is interesting and important. He points out two things, both of which are helpful in understanding how U2 look at their lives influencing their art.

The first point is that an artist’s personal life “creeps in”. When artists create, no matter how much they may try to avoid it, they inevitably leave something of themselves in their creations. To completely erase an artist’s unique personality, beliefs and life experiences from their art would reduce it to the level of an emotionless, machinelike production. Thus themes U2 care about—doubt and faith, despair and joy, lust and love, war and peace, apathy and activism—are evident even in their more abstract songs.

The second point Edge makes is one of humility. “I think God gets annoyed with the gifted,” Bono said in 2004. “We should know that our work is no more important than a plumber's or a carpenter's.” This attitude is reflected in U2’s ability to poke fun at themselves, both in public appearances and in songwriting. Many of the self-referential lyrics from No Line On the Horizon are sung in a playful spirit, with lines like “Napoleon is in high heels” (Stand Up Comedy) alluding to Bono’s short stature.

This element of humility also carries over into U2's ability to think outside of themselves. In songs such as Unknown Caller, Moment of Surrender, White as Snow and Cedars of Lebanon, Bono sings from the view points of fictional characters. These characters vary from a police officer in France, to a soldier dying in the Middle East, to a homesick war correspondent. While U2 may reference themselves more openly in their latest album, they are still able to put themselves into someone else’s muddy boots.

After thirty years of making commercially successful art, it would be easy for U2 to disappear into private jets and designer clothes. Instead, they are making an effort to stay engaged in life and art. “It would be very boring if you just found your cruising altitude and stuck at it,” drummer Larry Mullen Jr. explained in a Fuse interview. Bono echoed this on The Culture Show. “It is indeed a spoiled rotten life,” he said, “but it has come by not surrendering to being crap.”

So, have U2 allowed their lives to colour too much of their music? In The Edge's opinion, it depends on whether we can accept them humbly creating from their unique perspectives, feelings and experiences, because activism and affluence are part of those. As one U2 song goes, “All I’ve got is a red guitar, three cords, and the truth. All I got is a red guitar. The rest is up to you...”

~
A/N: This is one of my first attempts at writing a non-fiction essay/article. Critiques and comments would both be very welcome. :)

Either halfway drowned or halfway 'round the pier...

2009-04-25T10:49:00.000-07:00

4/24/09

The university on the east coast didn’t work out. Even though they did a phone interview, Ada literally got a “dear-applicant” e-mail from them. So that’s that. *SIGH*

On the other hand, the place Ada last interviewed at seems to be a decent option—at least to my parents. The schools’s been doing enough research on Ada, checking his references, etc. that we think it might be a real possibility. I’m not sure about it, especially since I’ve never been there, but there are a few encouraging things about the college—namely their philosophy of education, art, and Christianity. But of course, those things can often be made to look good from the outside...

GP&R recital prep is down to the last push. I dropped almost all the technique part of tap class last night so we could just focus on the piece. It’s a bit depressing for me to watch, because I can’t help thinking that if we’d had a whole school-year like we normally would have, it could have been much better. That said, there are definitely some students who are doing very well.

I’ve finally settled on a piece for myself to dance to—Andante from Symphony No. 6 in C "Little", by Franz Schubert; performed by London Symphony Orchestra. It’s a lovely piece, with a nice range of tempo and intensity. Now I “just” have to choreograph something worthy of it. Oh yes, and did I mention design a costume so the costumer has time to make it? Not that I mind having real costumes for once.

Current mood: Rushed.
Current musica: Can’t Break Her Fall, by Mat Kearney

~
Icon for this entry from an unknown source.

Miss Sarajevo

2009-04-25T10:30:00.000-07:00

Dici che il fiume
It is said that a river
Trova la via al mare
Finds its way to the sea
Che come il fiume
And as the river
Giungerai a me
You'll come back to me
Oltre i confini
Beyond the borders
E le terre assetate
And the thirsty lands
Che come il fiume
You say that as the river
Come il fiume
As the river
L'amore giungerà
Love will come back
L'amore...
Love...
—from Miss Sarajevo, by U2

The School I Once Attended

2009-04-22T15:01:00.000-07:00

This video was likely shot right after I left last December (over injury and life-related issues), so it's pretty close to how it was when I studied there five days a week. Several of the students featured in this were fellow classmates. The artistic director and artistic associate have since moved on to teach at the Joffery school in Chicago.

Seven Songs Meme

2009-04-14T13:38:00.000-07:00

from morning_aura of livejournal

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your LJ along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they're listening to.

1. Strawberry Swing, by Coldplay
“People moving all the time/Inside a perfectly straight line/Don't you wanna just curve away?/When it's such, it's such a perfect day...”
This is sunshine-sweet; yet there’s an undertone of just enough longing that it doesn’t rot my teeth. I fell in “like at first sight” upon hearing it for the first time the other day.

2. Stranger In A Strange Land, by U2
“And I really don't mind sleeping on the floor/But I couldn't sleep after what I saw/I wrote this letter to tell you the way I feel...”
I’d actually kind of skipped over this song when I first heard October (the album it’s from), but recently, the subtle keys part caught my attention and it quickly became a new favourite.

3. Not Dark Yet, by Bob Dylan
“Shadows are fallin’ and I’ve been here all day/It’s too hot to sleep and time is runnin’ away...”
I’m not sure why this song is so compelling to me right now. Perhaps it’s just the combination of the dark melody and Dylan’s voice.

4. Rock the Casbah, by The Clash
“As soon as the shariff had cleared the square/They began to wail/The Shariff don't like it/Rocking the Casbah, rock the Casbah...”
The Clash is a new band to me, “discovered” via U2 interviews. (Bono’s said they were “The Clash in baby clothes” during their early days. :P) This song is too much fun and I like the attitude it embodies.

5. Nach Deutshland, from The Bourne Supremacy soundtrack
More new music. Gothic beauty seems unusual for an action film, but that’s how I’d have to describe this piece.

6. Your Love Is Better Than Life (Live), by Newsboys
“I don’t know when I got it right or wrong/I don’t know how one can rap it in a four-minute song/But I know my grip is better when I'm not hangin' on/Your love is keepin' it strong all along/Your love is better than life...”
I first heard this while watching the Houston We Are GO concert DVD a week or two ago. It’s a rockin’ song, with lyrics that I really identify with.

7. Both Sides Of the Story, by Phil Collins
“And the lights are all on/the world is watching now/people looking for truth/we must not fail them now...”
Could there be a more fitting song for these times?

Runners up...
I Don’t Wanna Face It, by John Lennon
If You’re Gone, by Matchbox Twenty
Stranded, by Plumb

I tag:
(blogger)
Jaime
Margaret W.
Unveiled Hope
The Second Mirror
Dew of Hermon
(lj)
adriana_is
cicci1000
striped_bouncer

Don't you wanna just curve away?

2009-04-14T07:34:00.000-07:00

4/13/09

Ada didn’t get the job he interviewed for, though the people there liked him enough to agree to give him a review on his job-interviewing skills as he’s requested. We’re not heartbroken or thrilled about the loss of that option, but the more options we have, the better, of course. At least we have another interview in its place now.

Late last week, Ada heard from a different university that they wanted him to come interview. This one’s a Christian school, but larger than anywhere we’ve been save Wheaton. Ada and Mom will be traveling to the interview this week—over my dance class days. We’ve had to beg transportation from three different people so I could get to the studio to teach. *SIGH* This job-hunting is stressful and tiring.

Today I reset all my U2 music to zero plays on iTunes and deselected them so they won’t play (gasp!). It’s time to give teh Irish boys a break, or I won’t enjoy them properly come fall. To keep from going into U2 withdrawl, I’ve been listening to other rock groups instead.

Since yesterday, I’ve really fallen in like with Strawberry Swing off Coldplay’s latest album, Viva La Vida. I hadn’t heard it yet (due to lack of library cards), but came across it online by accident. It’s such a beautiful song and upon the first listen, I found myself thinking of Songbird, by Oasis. They both have a similar "sunlight" feel to them.

Now I’m wishing that I could somehow hear the rest of Viva La Vida. I’ve only heard three songs so far—the title track, Violet Hill, and Strawberry Swing. I can’t wait until we get another library card. *sigh*

Anyhoo, I’m suddenly finding Coldplay quite interesting again, so I’ve been listening straight through X&Y as I write. It was the first rock CD I ever bought and I’ve never regretted spending my money for it, but I’d been in such a U2 mode lately that I hadn’t listened to it for a long while. This time ‘round, I’m noticing more of the lyrics and the meaning behind them, rather than just letting the sound wash over me. Perhaps it’s the effect of listening to Coldplay after delving so deeply into U2.

Current mood: Frustrated.
Current musica: Speed of Sound, by Coldplay

~
Icon by delerial of livejournal.

Quotes for Thought—On Faith, Life and Activism, by Bono of U2

2009-04-09T07:50:00.000-07:00

“If I could put it simply, I would say that I believe there's a force of love and logic in the world, a force of love and logic behind the universe. And I believe in the poetic genius of a creator who would choose to express such unfathomable power as a child born in "straw poverty"; i.e., the story of Christ makes sense to me.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2, from The Rolling Stone Interview: Bono, by Jann S. Wenner, Nov. 3, 2005, Rolling Stone magazine

“As an artist, I see the poetry of it. It's so brilliant. That this scale of creation, and the unfathomable universe, should describe itself in such vulnerability, as a child. That is mind-blowing to me. I guess that would make me a Christian. Although I don't use the label, because it is so very hard to live up to. I feel like I'm the worst example of it, so I just kinda keep my mouth shut.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2, from The Rolling Stone Interview: Bono, by Jann S. Wenner, Nov. 3, 2005, Rolling Stone magazine

“You hold onto religion, you know, rules, regulations, traditions. I think what God is interested in is people's hearts, and that's hard enough.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2, 2002

“I don't see Jesus Christ as being in any part of religion. Religion to me is almost like when God leaves -- and then people devise a set of rules to fill the space.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2, 1982

“I'm the sort of character who's got to have an anchor. I want to be around immovable objects. I want to build my house on a rock, because even if the waters are not high around the house, I'm going to bring back a storm. I have that in me. So it's [the Bible’s] sort of underpinning for me.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2, from The Rolling Stone Interview: Bono, by Jann S. Wenner, Nov. 3, 2005, Rolling Stone magazine

“I always thought smack in the middle of a contradiction was a good place to be.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2, from an interview with Bill Hybels, Vertigo Tour era

“Even then I prayed more outside of the church than inside. It gets back to the songs I was listening to; to me, they were prayers. "How many roads must a man walk down?" That wasn't a rhetorical question to me. It was addressed to God. It's a question I wanted to know the answer to, and I'm wondering, who do I ask that to? I'm not gonna ask a schoolteacher. When John Lennon sings, "Oh, my love/For the first time in my life/My eyes are wide open" -- these songs have an intimacy for me that's not just between people, I realize now, not just sexual intimacy. A spiritual intimacy.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2, from The Rolling Stone Interview: Bono, by Jann S. Wenner, Nov. 3, 2005, Rolling Stone magazine

“So as you can see, what was once a dream is now very real. But understand that underneath the gloss there is a lot of hard work ahead, and I hope a lot of fun. I miss home, you, Alison Stewart (future wife), sausages, and even the occasional disagreement. You should be aware that at the moment three of the group are committed Christians. That means each day offering up to God, meeting in the morning for prayers, readings, and letting God work in our lives. This gives us our strength and a joy that does not depend on drink or drugs. This strength will, I believe, be the quality that will take us to the top of the music business. I hope our lives will be a testament to the people who follow us, and to the music business where never before have so many lost and sorrowful people gathered in one place pretending they're having a good time. It is our ambition to make more than good music...”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2, from a letter to his father, 1980

“If you do God’s work, God maybe does yours. But it feels like that, because it shouldn’t be this good... It is just a strange thing, if you go—if you look after other people, your own shit gets looked after. It seems to be the way it’s working in this band. And now if the album’s really shit—next album’s really shite—don’t blame God.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2, from 50 Minutes, U2 interview

“I'm a believer in God, but that does not mean I don’t get angry.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2, 1997

“It's not enough to rage against the lie... you've got to replace it with the truth.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2

Hybels: I read somewhere, that when you say The Lord's Prayer, there's one phrase that really grips you. Which one is it?

Bono: "Thy kingdom come, on earth, as it is in heaven," is the phrase that I use.

Hybels: And why, why does that one grab you?

Bono: Because a lot of people are happy with "pie in the sky when they die". But I don't think that is what is our purpose. Our purpose is to bring heaven to earth—in the micro, as well as the macro. In every detail of our lives, we should be trying to bring heaven to earth.

Have the peace that passes understanding at the center of yourself. But do not be at peace with the world, because the world is not a happy place for most people who are living in it. And the world is more malleable than you think. We can wrestle it from fools.
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2, from an interview with Bill Hybels, Vertigo Tour era

Bono: Ideas, you see, are like melody lines. Great ideas have the same inevitability as a great melody.

Hybels: Tell me about that.

Bono: Clarity. They have a resonancy. An instant memorability. There is something about it—an idea whose time has come, and that has a moral force way beyond your own...

When I'm throwin' the punch, it is not my strength. It is the strength of an idea whose time has come—whose time, in one sense, was always there—but now, there's some momentum behind it. The momentum of a movement. The momentum of people who are waking up to realize that the world does not have to be the way it is, and we could actually change it.
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2, from an interview with Bill Hybels, Vertigo Tour era

“To be one, to be united is a great thing. But to respect the right to be different is maybe even greater.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2

“The world is more malleable than you think. We can bend it into a better shape. Ask big questions, demand big answers.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2

“God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house... God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives... God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war... God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2

“There's a truly great Irish poet. His name is Brendan Kennelly, and he has this epic poem called the Book of Judas, and there's a line in that poem that never leaves my mind, it says: "If you want to serve the age, betray it." What does that mean, to betray the age? Well to me betraying the age means exposing its conceits, its foibles; its phony moral certitudes. It means telling the secrets of the age and facing harsher truths.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2

“What are the ideas right now worth betraying? What are the lies we tell ourselves now? What are the blind spots of our age?”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2

“When the story of these times gets written, we want it to say that we did all we could, and it was more than anyone could have imagined.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2

“When you’re sixteen you think you can take on the world... and sometimes you’re right.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2

“It's your future. The only limits are the limits of your imagination. Dream up the kind of world you want to live in - dream out loud. At high volume!”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of U2, at a concert in Dublin, New Year's Day, 1990

~
Photograph of Bono writing, from U2 Rattle & Hum - The official book of the U2 movie, from home8.inet.tele.dk.

With or Without You

2009-04-08T05:53:00.000-07:00

4/7/09

I’m thinking of a quote I can never quite remember—something about there being two types of people: those with time to write in their journals, and those who are too busy living. Unfortunately for my journal, I’ve erred in that latter category more often than not. Time to attempt an update....

Ada and Mom went shopping again, and Mom finally found something to wear. They left for the interview on March 24th (Tuesday evening) and got back late on Thursday, right before my tap class. While they were gone, Pip and I did our best to “hold down the fort” and chatted with them via iChat in the evenings and mornings. We did all right until the last day, by which time everyone was tired and out-of-sorts.

Ada spent most of his time on the interview before the “inquisition” and Mom drove around the area with a realtor from the E-Free church there. They aren’t ecstatic about the whole thing, but don’t think it would be hell-on-earth, either. I wish I’d been able to go with them, as the idea of possibly moving somewhere I’ve never seen makes me a wee bit nervous, but it couldn’t be helped.

I haven’t mentioned it here, but Mom’s back at her seasonal greenhouse job. It makes the lives of me and my siblings a bit rough, as it seems we hardly see both her and Ada now. I also get to make more meals (not my favourite thing) and everyone gets to help cover the extra household chores.

Mom’s good at what she does there and I think she sometimes enjoys it, but it’s also a necessity. This summer promises to be a difficult one financially with Ada’s job ending before most positions he’s looking at will begin, so we’ll need the extra income. *sigh* Money. “I can’t live with or without you...”

It snowed yesterday morning—to almost grass-covering depth—and then it all melted away. We had some more flurries this morning, but they didn’t even stick. I’ll be very glad when we finally get some summery weather.

GP&R recital prep continues. We’ve almost finished both student pieces, but I’ve yet to start on my own. I’m leaning towards doing a ballet solo at the moment. We’ll see.

I’ve tried twice now to get GA (or any) tickets for U2 360º in Chi-Town, but it didn’t happen either time. MEH. Time to initiate plan numero tres: getting them at face-value from somebody in the fan community. I’ve had an offer of two upper-deck tickets from a kind member of @u2, but I’m really hoping for GAs. That said, just getting in would be a-mazing, so I may take him up on his offer, depending on exactly where the seats are and how much he wants for them.

I’ve also heard from an acquaintance that they might let Pip and I stay at their place in Chi-Town. That would make life a lot easier, as we wouldn’t have to worry about the Southshore Line not having a departure time after the concert gets done. We could just crash in the city and come home on the train the next day.

I saw the new 360º Tour logo for the first time this morning. I like it better than the original concept. It has a sort of modern, soaring grace—more in line with the album cover, I think. The shape reminds me of a peace symbol, or a bird flying over the earth—either one of which are neat ideas.

Current mood: Working and Nervous.
Current musica: Rock the Casbah, by The Clash

~
Icon, by mesnica of livejournal.

What I've Been Watching...

2009-03-27T05:41:00.000-07:00

Justified till we die, you and I will magnify...

2009-03-23T08:39:00.000-07:00

3/22/09

Thank God, the weekend is finally over. (Yes, I meant that!)

Yesterday, we went to a nearby city to get Ada’s interview outfit completed and pick up the pants he’d had tailored. That was a long, tiring, boring process, but we got the things we needed.

This morning, we went to church, as usual. The sermon was on Justification and Sanctification. I’ll write about that later if I have time, but I’ve had Justified/till we die/You and I/will magnify from Magnificent stuck in my head since then because of the theme and some things the pastor said. U2’s Christianity is certainly in their songs for those with ears to hear. They’re the closest I’ve found to modern-day parables.

After church, we went shopping again, this time in hopes of finding a dress for Mom to wear when she goes out to dinner on the interview (not something we’d usually do on Sunday, but we were badly pressed for time). The shopping took basically all my free time, as I got to play “fashion consultant”. That wouldn’t have been so bad, except that it’s now 9:45pm, we’re home, and after hours of searching, somewhere around six stores, and upwards of twelve dresses tried on, we still have... NO DRESS. Blame rests on immodest, unflattering, and trendy styles. Meh. I’m not sure just what Mom will be wearing, but she and Ada have to leave Tuesday evening regardless.

After the shopping, I went to youth group with Ada and Pip, did the worship part with them, then hung out while Pip was in small group. I wanted to see Pip play, as I haven’t seen him and the band for a while, plus they were playing 40—how could I pass that up? They did a good job of it, too. :)

The talk at youth group was a thought-provoking one about the problem of hunger—both here and internationally. It was a precursor to 30-Hour Famine, which the students will participate in this May. 30-Hour is an event of World Vision (partner of the ONE Campaign) and like the name suggests, the students will spend thirty hours without food to get an idea of what an empty stomach truly feels like and raise money that will be used to help feed the poor.

The theme of the evening contrasted sharply with our afternoon. As often happens when I spend too much time around expensive, pretty things, I’d spent too much time lusting for stuff I couldn’t afford and cursing my “poverty”. But this evening, while watching pictures of infants who are so malnourished you can count their bones, I was struck by remorse over my discontentment and also by a bit of anger.

We (myself included) have become far too dependent on things of little lasting value. Our neighbours are sleeping on the streets in this area and lining up at the bus stops for food handed out by compassionate college students. Four thousand men, women, and children have now died in Zimbabwe from Cholera—the worst outbreak in nineteen years. And more people die of hunger around the world than died during the Holocaust.

Meanwhile, the mall today was packed with worshipers like a temple to Possessions. New sundresses were popular “bargains”, with the dressing rooms full to bursting with women on shopping sprees. I was jealous of those women until I realized tonight that the price of a single dress could have paid for clean drinking water for a child for years—literally. (tapproject.org)

Suddenly, a new pair of unnecessary boots feels incredibly selfish. I may have to abandon that dream. I got Master and Commander last night on DVD for $5—a decent price, and one I won’t regret. But that’s going to be my only extra purchase for a good while, I think, especially since I’m going to see U2. The ticket price alone will be enough “pleasure spending” to last me a year or more.

Sales for U2 360º in Europe are doing very well. They’ve added more concerts already and last time I checked seven were sold out. American tickets aren’t on sale yet, but I keep checking.

Natasha Richardson, Liam Neeson’s wife, died suddenly this last week after hitting her head in a ski accident. My heart is aching for him and their two sons. May God hold them in His loving hands during this terribly difficult time.

U2 360º in Chicago: half a year
The Hobbit: forever

Current mood: Drained.
Current musica: One (Live), by U2

~
Icon, by araglas of livejournal.

Albums that Changed the Shape of Your World Meme

2009-03-19T10:16:00.000-07:00

from pop_daisy of livejournal

This is harder than you may think! Think of 15 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of musically shaped your world. When you finish, tag 5 others.

I honestly tried to come up with fifteen, but couldn’t. So here are my top seven, in rough chronological order:

1. Live at the Acropolis, by Yanni
This album was the instrumental soundtrack to my early years. I spent countless hours dancing to it till I was literally breathless. Later, I came to appreciate the keyboards, orchestras, ethnic instruments and cinema-like soundscapes his music incorporates.

2. The Jesus Record, by Rich Mullins and a Ragamuffin Band
My appreciation for the modern-monastic music of Rich Mullins goes as far back in my life as Yanni’s. He knows life, and the midwest of America, like few others, and being a prairie girl at heart, his music is like a whisper in my soul. This album came at just the right time to help me through a difficult move.

3. Celtic Twilight 2, by various artists
Another album from my early years, this one was probably responsible for my love of Celtic trad. music as well as a good bit of my interest in Celtic culture.

4. The Lord of the Rings (all three), by Howard Shore
So much sheer beauty and emotion are woven throughout these, not to mention the attention to detail and dedication to Tolkien’s work. Each time I listen, I’m transported to Middle Earth.

5. X and Y, by Coldplay
Coldplay was my introduction to the world of secular music. I remember lying awake past midnight, listening to this album for the first time after buying it.

6. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, by U2
Though it’s not my top favourite of U2’s albums, Dismantle began my love for their music, as well as U2's influence on the way I see life, art, Christianity, the world, and myself. It was the beginning of a process that took me from, “the world does not have to be the way it is,” to, “we could actually change it,” as Bono says.

7. Josh Groban, by Josh Groban
Being a student of both ballet and modern dance, I appreciate how Josh uses his beautiful, classically-trained voice to sing contemporary as well as classical songs.

I tag...
(blogger)
Jaime
Margaret W.
Unveiled Hope
The Second Mirror
Dew of Hermon
(lj)
adriana_is
cicci1000
morning_aura
striped_bouncer
Anybody else who wants to do this. :)

A barometer measuring how much we love God...

2009-03-17T05:02:00.000-07:00

3/16/09

The job hunt saga is picking up pace. Ada has a phone interview for the east coast university position on Friday, an in-person interview with a university in MI next week, and the TV station in KS is currently deciding who they’ll interview. Mom and Dad have spent a lot of time lately getting him properly (and expensively) outfitted for all of this, and I know they’ll be glad when everything’s settled. So will I.

U2.com has the tour dates out for the first part of the U2 360º Tour which kicks off June 30 in Barcelona. It will get to the US on September 20—which just so happens to be the Chicago performance. They’ll be playing at Soldier Field, and I’ll be buying tickets for that show, God-willing, as soon as they go on sale to the public.

The reason I’m taking the risk and buying them, is that even if Ada gets a job right away, we still have to sell the house, so all of us but him may be here until it’s sold. I’m almost hoping that will happen. Not that I want our house to go unsold—or to be separated from Ada for so long—but I really want to get to a U2 concert, and if I don’t get to go here, only Eru knows if I’ll ever get to.

Mom was saying she doubts she could get me to Chicago by herself, but I’ll find some way—hitchhike if I have to. It would make such a lovely twentieth-birthday celebration, to see U2 live for the first time. But more than that, I feel I need to do something like this on my own. It’s a step toward living an independent life, you could say. And how better to do so than dealing with the craziness of getting to an international-level rock band’s show, with a good spot, good clothes, and my sanity intact? :P

I heard the Congolese language spoken aloud for the first time last Sunday morning. Pastor Nubako Selenga, who’s from the Congo, and part of the EFCA gave our sermon. Hearing his native tongue was notable in itself, but his message was also very good, and his personality and heart shone through the inevitable separation that came from speaking through a translator.

This is Pastor Selenga’s first trip to the states, and our church was the first one he’s spoken at. We heard that his wife would have come with him, as the original plan was for him to study English at a school here for a while, but the government assumes that if you bring a spouse, you’re planning on moving here permanently, so it didn’t work out. It must be hard to be here and not know more than a few phrases in English, but he seemed enthusiastic about what he’s come to do—building bridges between his homeland and ours, and promoting missions.

Pastor Selenga’s sermon was based on the final words of Christ in Matthew 28: 18-20: “Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."”

It’s a familiar text, oft-quoted by those trying to guilt-trip Christians into giving their lives to missions, and I have to admit that I’ve often been a tiny bit annoyed about it. But Pastor Selenga’s message hit just the right mix of chastisement, challenge, and encouragement, that I’ve found myself thinking differently since hearing him speak.

Pastor Selenga’s main points...

+ The “great commission” has two parts: a very serious command—go [to others], and an equally serious promise—I [God] will be with you. To disobey the command is to disobey God.

+ There are many ways to obey the command. As an example, Pastor Selenga spoke of Exodus 17: 8-13: “The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, "Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands." So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill.

As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up --one on one side, one on the other --so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.”

Pastor Selenga pointed out that though most people would have been looking at Joshua and his men fighting on the bottom of the hill, they weren’t the only ones helping to bring about a victory. Moses with his hands held high, and those who were assisting him were also involved. So too, are there places for people who pray, give money or time, and go to others, in the pursuit of leading them to Christ. All are important.

+ Missions is most effective when it is a group project. “If there’s any victory in Christ,” Pastor Selenga said, “it is as a result of a community effort.”

+ Jesus’ command is still relevant—even should we refuse. Pastor Selenga used the story of Jonah as an example of how it is important to follow, despite the difficulty it may mean. “Our obedience,” he said, “is like a barometer measuring how much we love God.”

He closed his message with a reminder of the two parts of the “great commission”. “Go”—which is our part, and “I will be with you”—which is God’s.

Afterward, I got the chance to meet him. Our family communicated a bit through his translator, whom my parents know from the Congo missions group they’ve worked with in Chicago. We couldn’t say much to each other, but just seeing Pastor Selenga’s obvious passion, and letting him know we’d be praying for him and his work was enough.

Unfortunately, our congregation that morning was rather sparse. I wish more had been there to hear Pastor Selenga’s words, because we need to hear them. This part of the US may be in an economic slump that’s put us in the eyes of the national media, but there are others who need far more than even our poorest do.

It seems all too easy to forget the Africans when we are out of work or struggling to survive, but they’re still our brothers and sisters, and whether it be a need for medical assistance, debt cancellation, fair trade, or spiritual sharing, we must do our part. “Where you live should not decide whether you live, or whether you die.” The ONE Campaign is one way to make a difference. The EFCA in Congo is another.

Almost forgot to say—how could I?—that I’ve done my practice GED exams for both writing and social studies now. I missed one problem on the writing one, and ran over on the essay time, but otherwise did fine. I had plenty of extra time on the first half of the writing exam, so I told Mom if I could take the time from it, and shift it to the essay time, I’d be happy. *sigh*

It’s not that I can’t write an essay, but I’m going to have to be faster about it. I don’t like writing with deadlines—especially when the topic is “privacy in the info age—true or false?”. Yuck. I don’t even own credit cards, and I hardly deal with the government, so that was difficult to answer decently. I wound up using examples from my online participation, and the illness of Edge’s child. It wasn't the strongest thing I’ve ever written, but I guess it was alright.

Current mood: Determined, and Hopeful.
Current musica: Library of Congress, from National Treasure soundtrack

~
Icon for this entry, by me.

How to Make a Youtube Hit (In 10 Easy Steps... or So)

2009-03-11T09:20:00.000-07:00

Blame for this craziness rests on myself, my brother Pip, and boredom. ;)

Post it on Youtube.
First make it.
Post it on Youtube.
No plot.
No acting.
No costumes.
No props.
No lighting.
No music.
No camera—never mind.
Yeah, we know we said ten, but we can’t count, so...
OMg!!! OVERHYPE IT!!!!
Assuming you have actors, have them lipsynch their lines to the dialog track.
Make it *really* obvious.
*Tell* everyone you had the actors lipsynch their lines.
Have the first three minutes be meaningless babble—like Wookie-ese.
Subtitle everything in a random foreign language.
Bonus points if you don’t speak/read/write said foreign language.
Make sure the subtitling has *nothing whatsoever* to do with what the actors are actually saying.
Put the actor’s lines and thoughts in cartoon-style balloons.
CrAzY—>CuTs aNd DiZzYiNg∞CaMeRa MoVeS!!!
Frame the camera *anywhere* but on the actors. Decapitation, yay!
Don’t focus the camera on anything in particular.
Don’t focus it at all.
Call it “great art” because the whole thing’s unfocused.
Make it out of “recycled” videos, that just so happen to be very popular Youtube videos.
Stop in the middle of the video.
When people ask why it ends so abruptly, tell them it was the end.
If they persist, tell them that you’re a sensitive artist and ask why they can’t just leave you alone?!?
Have a hissy fit about it in your comments thread.
Credit no one.
Credit EVERYONE—including your dog. Make the credits 3x as long as the video.
Sell it on eBay.
For a million dollars.
Have a premiere for it.
On the front lawn of the White House.
During the Easter-Egg Hunt.
Invite Barack Obama.
And John McCain.
And the Department of Homeland Security.
And a water buffalo.
And a murder of flamingos.
And a punk rock band.
Bonus points if it’s a lousy punk rock band.

Good luck (you're gonna need it)!

Are you ready to rock?

2009-03-06T18:01:00.000-08:00

3/5/09

Dad just heard he's got a phone interview with one of the colleges he's applied to. They’re serious.

I’ve got three older/adult ballet students I’ll be teaching starting Saturday morning. One of the students is pregnant—that’s a first—and another is a ten year-old ice skater—also a first. I’ll be (unofficially) teaching CCA grade I, because I like it, it’s proven, and I need to keep it in my head. Should be good. They won’t be in the recital, though.

Today’s been spent in more prep for said recital—namely the letter to parents/students about all the rehearsal week details. I’ll be so glad when it’s all settled, and I can get back to just worrying about everything else. Meh.

No Line On the Horizon has been on my iTunes almost constantly the past couple days. My opinion of the songs is going from “like at first hear”, to a deeper sense of appreciation. From rock-out tracks, to gentle, more meditative ones, there seems to be something for almost any mood I’m in right now.

Much of the discussion in the U2 fan communities, lately, have been arguments about the quality of the music. It seems to be an album that people either love or hate (come to think of it, that’s pretty usual for U2). Some have said this album is a total divergence from U2’s “sound”. Others claim there’s nothing new. I think it’s actually closer to a blend.

Certain elements of the music and lyrics are familiar. How could they not be? After all, it’s still the same four people, and you can’t change that—nor would I want to.

But there is new territory as well. Bono’s experiment of writing from the POV of fictional characters has brought a different angle to several of the songs. There’s also a different texture to the music, both in the instrumentation, and in Bono’s voice. It’s somehow quasi-rough sounding, yet not grating, at least to me.

On a more humourous note: U2’s on Letterman all week (they’re the first band to do so). Yesterday, they had a “Ten Things U2’s Learned Over the Years” thing that was too funny. *dies laughing*

U2 tour dates announced: 5 days
The Hobbit: forever

Current mood: Stressed.
Current musica: Fez: Being Born, by U2

~
Icon, by myself.

Stand Up!

2009-03-06T17:55:00.000-08:00

3/4/09

I’VE GOT THE NEW ALBUM!!!

It’s everything I’d hoped it would be, and more than I could have imagined. U2 strikes again, oh yeah!

Pip and I bought the deluxe edition from iTunes and had a “first listen party” last night. It took long enough to get the album downloaded and my iTunes updated that it was ten or so before we could start, but I was not about to wait another day. So once we had the music, we made tea, I wrapped myself in an afghan and shawl, and we sat in my dark bedroom with headphones on to listen. Despite the fact that it was eleven-something by the time we finished, we went through the entire thing. Each song is so good, and leads so beautifully to the next, that it would have been nigh-sacrilege to do otherwise.

U2 tour dates announced: 6 days
The Hobbit: forever

Current mood: Happy, and Relieved.
Current musica: Stand Up Comedy, by U2

~
Icon, by endlessdeep of livejournal.

Squee!

2009-03-04T06:43:00.000-08:00

I've got the new album!!!

[/squee] ;)

~
banner, by endlessdeep of livejournal

Magnificent (and Not so Magnificent)

2009-03-01T12:21:00.000-08:00

2/28/09

Whatever doubts I’d had about U2’s new sound (and Bono’s voice aging), just went out the window. The reason? Watching the youtube clips of them playing on the Broadcasting House’s roof above the London streets for BBC Radio 2.

The set list was Get on Your Boots, Magnificent, Vertigo, and Beautiful Day (an encore). Each sounded good, and GoYB was the best it’s yet been, in my opinion. But best of all was my first listen to Magnificent.

At the risk of sounding cliché, I’m going to say that it sounds like its name. The music is beautiful, and the lyrics equally so. As I told Pip, it’s the most “singy” of the new songs so far. NLotH and Breathe have almost spoken/rapped sounds, but Magnificent gives Bono a chance to let his voice soar. And soar it does, despite the fact that he’s turning fifty this spring. I think if he can adjust well, his voice will age gracefully.

I was born to sing for you. I didn’t have a choice but to lift you up...
—from Magnificent, by U2

I was supposed to take the first section of the first GED practice test today. This morning I had a splitting headache, though, so I laid down in the dark and rested instead. It’s annoying, because I was ready to get it over with.

The tap class’s dance didn’t go very well this week. To make up for a canceled class, I had an extra fifteen minutes added on both my classes (I will next week, too). I used the time to work on the dance more, but what I tried didn’t work, and so after much shuffling around of dancers, I wound up reverting to what I’d already done. *sigh* We only added on a little bit of new steps at the end. At least that dance is the one further along.

The ballet piece went better. For some reason, the girls were more attentive, so we got a good bit more added on. They also remembered the part I’d already taught quite well. It’s a good thing, because if ballet had gone as bad as tap, I would have felt a bit depressed.

Dad’s given me a theology book, and pointed out the section that deals with predestination. I’ll have to find time to read it tomorrow, because the questions are still driving me nuts. Hopefully, it’ll help.

No Line on the Horizon: 4 days!
The Hobbit: forever

Current mood: Excited.
Current musica: U.93

~
Icon for this entry, by me, from a photograph of Bono performing on the Broadcasting House balcony.

Quotes for Thought—Art & Creativity

2009-02-28T16:57:00.000-08:00

Some of my favourites...

“Art is an expression of the profoundest thoughts in the simplest way.”
—Albert Einstein, theoretical physicist

“Countless unseen details are often the only difference between mediocre and magnificent.”
—Anonymous

“Yes, I sometimes fail, but at least I'm willing to experiment.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of rock band U2

“Duality is the mark of a lot of great art—and it's one of the things missing, for instance, in a lot of Christian art, 'cause there's no tension. And you have this great tradition of worship, and music worship, which is, you know, awe-inspiring in the Christian churches. But music that expresses a personal journey, and an attempt to wrestle truth to the ground—we don't see much of that coming out of Christianity. There's a fear of duality.

So one half, you have this part of us which is going, "Yeah, I want to put this music—I want this music to do something positive, in a very negative world." But on the other hand, you know, you want to be honest and own up to your earthly desires and your confusions that everybody—that everybody has.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of rock band U2, from an interview with Bill Hybels

“The key that great art has in common with Christianity is, "Know the truth, and the truth will set you free." I've held onto that very tightly.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of rock band U2, from an interview with Bill Hybels

“It would be wrong for me to say, 'Yes, we can change the world with a song.' But every time I try writing, that's where I'm at. I'm not stupid. I'm aware of the futility of rock & roll music, but I'm also aware of its power.”
—Bono (Paul David Hewson) of rock band U2

“[A]rt can teach, without at all ceasing to be art.”
—C. S. Lewis, writer and scholar, from a letter to I. O. Evans

“Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.”
—C. S. Lewis, writer and scholar, in Mere Christianity

“Take your work seriously, but never yourself.”
—Dame Margot Fonteyn, danseuse

“Simplicity is the essence of the great, the true, and the beautiful in art.”
—George Sand, French novelist

“Creativity takes courage.”
—Henri Matisse, French painter and sculptor

“It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.”
—Herman Melville, U.S. novelist and short-story writer

“Aft-for-art’s sake [and] art-for-people’s sake are equally ridiculous. I suggest art for God’s sake.”
—Jean Cocteau

“When the music and dance create with accord their magic captivates both the heart and the mind.”
—Jean Georges Noverre, French choreographer and dance theorist

“With any part you play, there is a certain amount of yourself in it. There has to be, otherwise it's just not acting. It's lying.”
—Johnny Depp, actor

“With real acting, true acting, there's nothing to hide behind. These fighters are there with all their strengths, and all their weaknesses. They can't act at what they're doing. And I just always think, great performance in acting is something similar to that, you know. That it's not all technique. Of course, boxers have technique. The great ones have extraordinary technique. But there's something else there, and it's, it's that strength, and weakness, and that incredible vulnerability, makes for the wonderful skill and... poetry. When it's done well.”
—Liam Neeson, Irish actor, speaking about boxing and acting, from a Charlie Rose interview, 1997

“The only way to do it is to do it.”
—Merce Cunningham, U.S. dancer and choreographer

“He who works with his hands is a labourer. He who works with his hands and head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and head and heart is an artist.”
—St. Francis of Assisi, Italian monk and founder of the Franciscan order

“A play should give you something to think about. When I see a play and understand it the first time, then I know it can't be much good.”
—T. S. Eliot, British poet, critic, and playwright

“If you're trying to please everyone, then you're not going to make anything that is honestly yours, I don't think, in the long run.”
—Viggo Mortensen, Danish-American actor

“All people can live artistically, even if they never paint a picture or make a movie. For me, to be an artist is to live as one, to remain open to your surroundings. To observe things and accept that they are impossible to replicate. It’s worth understanding, even if it’s to describe it to yourself. To be an artist is to remain conscious of your surroundings, and I believe that we all have that capacity.”
—Viggo Mortensen, Danish-American actor

“I replenish myself through time alone. By freeing my mind of all other distractions, I can concentrate on getting to the place where creativity dwells. Creativity really exists in the void. It is in silence where music lies.”
—Yanni, Greek musician and composer

“As soon as you put your art out there for people, someone will say, 'Because it is blue, I love it', and, for the exact same reason the next guy will say, 'Because it is blue, I hate it.' Once you understand that, there's freedom in the creative process. Otherwise, your creation is just a reaction to criticism.”
—Yanni, Greek musician and composer

“Passion is the fuel.”
—Yanni, Greek musician and composer, from Yanni in Words

Every day I have to find the courage...

2009-02-25T13:58:00.001-08:00

2/24/09

Moments ago, at 6:16pm, I watched a youtube clip of U2 premiering Breathe on a French TV show—and ergo heard it for the first time. The intro took some getting into, and I’m not sure about Bono’s half-spoken-half-rap sound. That said, once they hit the middle of the song, I was definitely liking it. The music overall is great, and the last lines are just beautiful. Breathe seems like a song that may become a new favourite, upon more listening.

Every day I die again, and again I’m reborn
Every day I have to find the courage
To walk out into the street
With arms out
Got a love you can’t defeat
Neither down nor out
There’s nothing you have that I need
I can breathe
Breathe now
—from Breathe, by U2

On another note, Bono and teh boys seemed more comfortable on stage. I think they’re getting back into the swing of things.

With the horizon line for No Line on the Horizon appearing in a week-and-one, it’s all starting to seem very close. I can hardly believe how fast the time’s gone. If you’re in Britain this week, you can see or hear U2 on radio and TV almost every day, it seems, from a schedule I got off the official site. They’ll also be on TV and radio over here, of course, and U2.com has been revamped; buffed and shined for the new album (though they’re still “breaking in the boots” and working out bugs). I’m in the process of updating my account on there.

I spent a good two hours today, working out schedules and details for my dance students’ spring recital. My students will be performing along with Barbara’s and Tricia’s. Together, we have somewhere around ninety dancers in all, which means a lot of coordinating to do.

Sorting through three people’s e-mails to make sure I got everything worked out was what took forever. It’s enough to make me feel like swearing off ever running my own studio. Except if it was my own school, I’d have more control over what and how I do things. I don’t mind the work, so long as it’s neat and organized, but this is just a wee bit messy. *sigh*

There’s a GED prep book lying on my bed like a skeleton. I don’t want to even look at it, but I’ve got to—just like I have to study the driver’s manual. Meh. I wish I could fastforward through this part of life—at least when I think of school.

Mom reminded me today that tomorrow is the one year anniversary of my double-jaw surgery. I don’t know how I could forget, but I did! During the process of correcting my jaws, I spent years in braces, eleven hours in the operating room, many days in the hospital, and many months in recovery (I still wear retainers). But it truly has been a wonderful blessing, and I am forever grateful to my unknown benefactors who donated so generously that I might have healthy teeth, gums, and an even smile. :) May God bless them as they have blessed me.

It’s strange. Some days, that all seems like yesterday, but most of the time, it feels a lifetime ago. How much and how little a year can hold...

No Line on the Horizon: 1 week+1 day!
The Hobbit: forever

Current mood: Grateful.
Current musica: No Line on the Horizon, by U2

~
Icon for this entry, by me. :)

Berlin, Kansas, and Contradoctrine

2009-02-25T13:31:00.000-08:00

2/23/09

U2 played in Berlin the other night. While some people online are saying they liked Boots best at the BRITs, I think it’s gotten better each time I’ve seen it. The only parts that still seem rough are the “you don’t know” section, and Bono’s movements. I think he’s getting into the flow of being on stage again.

Then again, he still looks fairly at ease to me, whereas Chris Martin just looks jumpy and awkward every time I’ve seen him lately. (Coldplay seem to be stalking U2 or something, as many concerts as they’ve both played recently.) I like Coldplay, but I’m not sure I’d go see a concert of theirs. And not just because of their stage presence. I haven’t heard enough of their new album yet to say if it would be worth the ticket cost.

Dad and Mom were on the laptop last night, looking at a job opening at a TV station in KS. It’s in a really tiny town, fairly close to where we used to live. I’m not sure about living in that small of a population right now, nor am I sure Dad would really like leaving teaching entirely. But of course, we can't rule out too many options. Meh. I’m sick of hearing about jobs and moving in general.

Heard the most disturbing sermon I’ve ever heard yesterday. It was first in a series our pastor is preaching on redemption, and the theme was “Election”—or predestination. I knew the concept, of course, but I’d always kind of assumed it was something misinterpreted, and erroneous.

But then he started laying out Bible verses in support of it, and it just shook me to the core. If he’s correctly interpreting it, predestination is real. And that means it’s a direct contradiction to free will and grace. How the heck can everyone be saved, if God has preordained that those he chooses are damned to hell or saved for heaven before the creation of the world?

I swear, I’ve never felt so messed up. It’s worse even than questions about “those who’ve never heard”. At least there, I’d come to believe that God would care for them, and that all who truly seek would find.

But if predestination is now in the picture—can I trust anything? How can John 3:16 be true if some have no power to choose Christ? And how can a loving, and just God condemn people who aren’t even created yet to eternal punishment?

It’s giving me a horrid headache, just trying to figure it all out, and I cried twice yesterday. I’ve never felt so close to abandoning Christianity completely, except my belief in God is too strong still. But how in the world to reconcile saving grace and predestination?

Our pastor’s answer was basically “He’s God. We’re not. Deal with it”. Which is the furthest thing from remotely helpful. If what he said is true, that puts to question the central claims of Christianity, and I can’t just shrug my shoulders and say, “I can live with that”.

Dad brought home a book of theology from the church. He said he knew while listening to our pastor’s sermon that it would raise questions, and that the Church has fought, argued, split and debated over predestination for hundreds of years. Great.

We talked some on the way home, Sunday, but we didn’t really get anywhere, so Dad said he’ll read and think about it some more; then talk to me. I hope he’ll have some helpful insights... because I don’t have any.

No Line on the Horizon: 1 week+2 days!
The Hobbit: forever

Current mood: Sick, and Tired.
Current musica: Erin Grá mo Chroi (Ireland Love of my Heart), by Cherish the Ladies

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Icon by sapphires13 of livejournal.

Beautiful Day

2009-02-25T13:08:00.000-08:00

2/17/09

The first song I heard this morning was Beautiful Day. U.93–the local rock/pop station was playing it. They’ve finally got Boots on their playlist, too. Whoever wants to say U2 is obsolete, obviously isn’t paying attention. *grin*

It was a beautiful day, don’t let it get away.
Beautiful day...

Mom and co. commandeered my beat-up old radio for school this year, so I hadn’t listened to it for a long time. That was alright at first, but even my 8-day iTunes library was feeling old after listening to it seven days a week for months on end. I got thoroughly bored with it the other night, so I took my radio back to my room for a bit. It’s good to have a change of music. I’m still listening to my standbys of U.93, B100 (country), 91.1 The Globe (GC’s Americana) and Pulse (contemporary Christian), but I’ve added older rock stations to them, because I actually know some of the music now. :)

Last night, I read through the Indiana Driver’s Guide for the first time. It’s long, written confusingly, and not exactly encouraging. Somehow, I’ve got to memorize it all so I can take the test and get a learner’s permit. I need that so I can learn to drive a car that I don’t own, and don’t want. With L.A. (or some other good-sized city) probably in my future, I have no choice. Oh how I wish sometimes that we could just do away with cars en totale!

Get on your Boots, at the Brit Awards: 2 days!
No Line on the Horizon: 15 days
The Hobbit: forever

Current mood: Hungry, and Hyper.
Current musica: Burn for You, by Toby Mac

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Icon for this entry, by me.

Something I Found Thought-Provoking

2009-02-16T15:45:00.000-08:00

Duality and Christian Art
as transcribed by myself,
from a Bill Hybels interview of Bono (Paul David Hewson)

[Bono speaking]

"Duality is the mark of a lot of great art—and it's one of the things missing, for instance, in a lot of Christian art, 'cause there's no tension. And you have this great tradition of worship, and music worship, which is, you know, awe-inspiring in the Christian churches. But music that expresses a personal journey, and an attempt to wrestle truth to the ground—we don't see much of that coming out of Christianity. There's a fear of duality.

So one half, you have this part of us which is going, 'Yeah, I want to put this music–I want this music to do something positive, in a very negative world.' But on the other hand, you know, you want to be honest and own up to your earthly desires and your confusions that everybody has.

The key that great art has in common with Christianity, is, 'Know the truth, and the truth will set you free.' I've held onto that very tightly. That's how I start my day as a writer, because if I start a lie—and a lie can be, being the person that you'd like to be–rather than the person you are. A lot of gospel music for me is lies, because they're people pretending, that this is–everything is great, and it doesn't ring true to other people. Now I accept it's a step of faith, I understand why people—but I don't relate to that.

I relate more to the blues. The blues is more like the Psalms of David. You know, 'Where are you when I needed you? Call yourself God?' I'm interested in that kind of music."

Boots, Snow & Singles Awareness Day ;)

2009-02-16T14:43:00.000-08:00

There’s snow on the ground again. It started falling yesterday before we left church. I knew the nice weather couldn’t stay—it’s February in Indiana—but I’d hoped we’d have it a bit longer.

We took our library things back for the last time yesterday afternoon. Our card’s run out, and there’s no point in renewing it if we might wind up moving this summer. It’s going to be a long while till we get new books to read and CDs to listen to. *sigh*

After we returned the library things, we went shopping for shoes for Mom and my sister. They each got what they needed, thankfully without much trouble. I found some boots on clearance for about $20–$30. They fit me, but I didn’t care for the style, so I didn’t get them. I’ve got this vision in my head of what I want—tall, close-fitting, graceful, simple, not too high or unstable of a heel—and I’m waiting to spend my hard-earned money until I find a pair like that, if such a thing exists.

From some of the articles I’ve been reading about No Line on the Horizon, it seems that U2 is planning on releasing another CD after it comes out, and before the end of ‘09. If it’s true, this really will be the “year of U2”. Time will tell...

The title track and second single from NLotH is out now—at least on Irish radio. Thanks to the wonderful fans on U2 livejournal, I’ve heard it. :) I’m not sure I like it as well as Boots, but I don’t have the lyrics yet, so I’m not entirely sure. The music is good, but perhaps just a teetoncy bit too twangy for me. It would be interesting to hear it in concert; to see if it changes any.

Of the track descriptions for songs I’m still waiting to hear off NLotH, White as Snow in particular sounds intriguing. It’s sung from the POV of a soldier dying in Afghanistan, and the music is O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. I’ve also read that it has an Irish trad. feel, which makes it even more interesting to me. Despite their Irishness, U2 really doesn’t have much of that sound in their music.

“Singles Awareness Day” passed uneventfully. The only real reminder I even had that it was near February 14th this year was that one of my ballet students brought Valentine’s cards for her class members and myself. :) I also listened to NPR’s All Songs Considered “Lesser-Known Love Songs” podcast the other night. There were some strange songs included—I can understand why they were “lesser known”—but a few were actually pretty neat.

Pip just pointed out that not only is today President’s Day, it’s also Procrastination Day. Lol! :P Politics and procrastination... It’s sort of sadly fitting that they’re on the same day.

And I must be an acrobat
To talk like this and act like that...
—from Acrobat, by U2

Most encouraging news recently? Burundi’s debt has been canceled. Yay! :)

Get on your Boots, at the Brit Awards: 3 days!
No Line on the Horizon: 16 days
The Hobbit: forever

Current mood: Tired, and Thoughtful.
Current musica: Always a Catch, from The Dark Knight soundtrack

~
icon for this entry from an unknown source

For Valentine's Day, a Day Early...

2009-02-13T05:55:00.000-08:00

When Love Comes to Town—U2 & B. B. King

A Reflection on the Water

My Life and This Journal

Quotes for Thought - Love

Éowyn, Hermione, and the “Secondary World”

Christmas Bells, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

Be Still and Know

Finding a Balance

The Same People

The Official Raleigh Trip Story Part 2 [SPOILERS]

The Official Raleigh Trip Story Part 1

Finally...

Washing At Dark, by Rich Mullins

Quotes for Thought—Work

Top 10 Things I Learned During My First Week at University...

Top 10 Most Played, Monday 8/24/09

Smack In the Middle of a Contradiction

Top 10 Most Played, Monday 8/17/09

A New Song

Hello from Ohio!

Slow Dancing

Sneaky Poem, by unabridgedone of livejournal

Top 10 Most Played, Monday, 7/27/09

From Fireworks, to GED, to Celtic Fest

Top 10 Most Played, [Not Really] Monday, 7/22/09

Top 10 Most Played, Monday, 7/13/09

Top 10 Most Played, Monday, 7/6/09

With Liberty and Justice for All

Quotes for Thought—For the 4th

The New Colossus, by Emma Lazarus

*More* Prayers Appreciated!

Quotes for Thought—Money, Wealth & Poverty

Prayers Appreciated!

Top 10 Most Played, Monday, 6/29/09

Top 10 Most Played, Monday, 6/22/09

Love rescue me/Come forth and speak to me...

Quotes for Thought—Lyrics

Top 10 Most Played, (Almost) Monday, 6/16/09

Choruses from ‘The Rock’, by T. S. Eliot

It's gonna itch and burn and sting...

However Influential: On Presidential Power

Top 10 Most Played, Monday 6/8/09

Top 10 Most Played, Monday 6/1/09

Justice & Equality—Bono's Speech, National Prayer Breakfast 2006

Don’t Stop Believin'

To a Dead Soldier, by Kendall Harrison

Top 10 Most Played, Monday 5/25/09

If Hitler Was a Child Drowning, by ltrig7 of livejournal

Quotes for Thought—Life

Top 10 Most Played, Monday 5/18/09

Picture Time! Part 2 (GP&R 10-Adult Ballet Class)

Picture Time! (GP&R Dance Recital 2009)

Three Mother Hens & All Their Chicks or The Dance Recital Circus

Top 10 Most Played, Monday 5/11/09

You are such a fool to worry like you do...

Three Things Meme

When I look at the world...

To Dance Forever

Stand Up to Rock Stars

Either halfway drowned or halfway 'round the pier...

Miss Sarajevo

The School I Once Attended

Seven Songs Meme

Don't you wanna just curve away?

Quotes for Thought—On Faith, Life and Activism, by Bono of U2

With or Without You

What I've Been Watching...

Justified till we die, you and I will magnify...

Albums that Changed the Shape of Your World Meme

A barometer measuring how much we love God...

How to Make a Youtube Hit (In 10 Easy Steps... or So)

Are you ready to rock?

Stand Up!

Squee!

Magnificent (and Not so Magnificent)

Quotes for Thought—Art & Creativity

Every day I have to find the courage...

Berlin, Kansas, and Contradoctrine

Beautiful Day

Something I Found Thought-Provoking

Boots, Snow & Singles Awareness Day ;)

More Prayers Appreciated!