Aging

How do you age gracefully?

My 27th Birthday is quickly approaching and while I don't feel old, a recent magazine article about aging made me wonder how I am going to age gracefully in this day and age. This article was similar to  the what to wear in your 20s, 30s, 40s and beyond articles, but it was for cosmetic surgery and botox. There were recommendations for every decade and I was left wondering if I should be getting botox...And I'm not even 30 yet!

I couldn't finish the article. I was considering a cosmetic change that was more than just lotions and creams. I was considering "procedures" that I used to think only movie stars and the elite underwent in the attempts of clinging to the fountain of youth. Will botox and face lifts be the norm one day?

For a girl who has a hard time contemplating dying her hair when the grey takes over, going under the knife seems impossible. So that is why I pose to you, how do you age gracefully when media is telling you look old when you are 26?

Occupy Marin

In Solidarity with Occupy SF, Occupy Oakland, and Occupy Cal, Robyn and I decided to occupy Hawk Camp in the Marin Headlands. Some highlights from our trip...

We departed the SF Ferry Building headed for Sausalito...

Then we stopped at Lighthouse Cafe for a delicious breakfast. Robyn got a huge

blueberry pancake!

Our backpacks rested like upside turtles in front of the many steps we had to climb... but at the

top the view of the Bay was fantastic!

Finally we arrived at Hawk Camp overlooking the Marin Headlands and SF to the south. Robyn kept warm with her stylish wardrobe of socks while Danny set up the stove for some delicious Mac N Cheese N Sausage under the full moon.

In the morning we packed up, headed down the mountain and caught the 76 bus back across the Golden Gate Bridge, all in time for church at 11am! It was a great escape from the city for the weekend.

Dead Week

SF state doesn't really have a dead week and as a grad student I don't really have finals. I just am writing papers as finals. So, the week before finals isn't really a "dead week" by Cal Poly definitions. However, this week, four weeks from the end of the semester, is a dead week for me. A presentation today, a ten page lit review is due tomorrow, and a six page proposal is due on Thursday. Oh, and I should be doing the reading to go along with all of these classes... approximately 10-12 articles/chapters ranging from 10-20 pages each.

So, why am I writing a blog? Because it is my dead week and procrastination is as much a part of the tradition as little sleep.

Easter on Halloween

Last night we watch Practical Magic to participate in Halloween. In short, Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman bring back a man from the dead and are haunted by his spirit. I won't give away the ending just in case you desperately want to see this C+ movie, but as we were going to bed, it struck me that ghost stories are about letting the dead stay dead. Danny responded that there seems to be something innate in us that knows that it is unnatural to bringing the dead back to life. If we do disturb the dead, scary things happen.

Then, Danny said that there is one story where someone coming back to life isn't scary.

This one story would be the story of Jesus' resurrection. My first response was to agree. Of course Jesus' raising from the dead is a good thing and a happy thing. All the pastel colors, smiling faces, and soft and cuddly bunnies of Easter usually invoke joy in my spirit. Fear for my life and shaking at seeing a dead man alive are not my responses at Easter.

But maybe they should be. With all the images and feelings of Halloween night in my head, the resurrection did not seem that warm and fuzzy. It was actually kind of terrifying. No wonder the first thing Jesus said was do not be afraid. I mean, he was a DEAD MAN literally walking! Now, we can intellectualize that he was neither ghost nor zombie, but a human again. BUT he was no longer human in the same sense as we are human today. He did look different. I am truly surprised that S**t is not recorded as Mary's first word when she saw Jesus. She was coming to anoint a dead body and instead encounters one that is very much alive. Sounds like a Halloween movie to me.

Shouldn't our reaction be similar to a scary movie when we encounter the only person in history who has died and come back to life? Shouldn't we be fearful of what this person could do to us if they can't die? Shouldn't we be shaking and terrified?

Well, no. Why? Because Jesus, in his utmost compassion, says don't be afraid. It is a good thing he is alive. It means that we won't die if we believe in his sacrifice. It means that we don't have to pay for all the wrong things we have done. He welcomes us under his sacrifice and we no longer have to be afraid...of anything.

But, the fear and awe that Mary and the Disciples felt when they first saw Jesus is lost on us during the Easter season. For me, I enjoy the celebration part of Jesus' resurrection. I like the candy, dancing, and happiness. The truth is that Jesus does have a ton of power. It isn't that he never died, but he died and came back to life. A man that can do that is more than a man and that kind of power is scary. I need to be a bit more reverent when I remember this incredible (and a bit creepy) miracle.

Maybe we should reflect more on the resurrection during Halloween in order to restore our awe of the only man who has come back from the dead. Maybe we should be reminded of the scary part of the resurrection. Maybe we should carefully consider someone doing what we know is not "natural".