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".

Can I pour it in the InterVarsity mug?

Danny asked me this the day after we moved into our new apartment. If the beverage had been coffee I would have said sure, even though the InterVarsity mug is not one of my favorites. We had just moved-in and were pulling our dishes out of boxes as we needed them. Drinking coffee out of my favorite mug was the least of my concerns. If the beverage had been milk, water, or juice, I would have agreed to consume my it from the blue, thick walled, mug. Shoot, even if I was handed a cocktail in that mug, I would have gladly accepted it at that point.

So why, when Danny asked this did I shake my head, pry my body, and slowly stumble (for I could barely walk from soreness) toward one specific box?

Because it was wine and it needed a wine glass.

Undiluted Joy

Mittersill, Austria 2005

Maybe it is due to the fact I got a part-time job that I am really excited about or that I got public recognition for a paper I wrote. Or maybe it is the fact that it is fall and I love fall. Or maybe because I feel as though I have finally let go. Or maybe it is because I am exactly where I am suppose to be. Or maybe it is due to the new adventures ahead. Or maybe it the fact that I love my friends.

Whatever it is, today I feel like skipping on the hills of Austria like I did so many years ago...undiluted joy.

Faith and Education Overlap

Honestly, I am still trying to find where this overlap happens. The other day, I thought to myself, FINALLY! My education and my faith are coming together...I should blog about it. But life happened and the seed was snatched off the pathway by the birds of busyness and distraction. Today, my papers and research project loom and as I contemplated more ways to procrastinate, a blog post presented a convient waste of time.

The fact that I still feel a tension between my faith and social justice theories in my education does not grieve me as much as it did last year. I am coming to see my Jesus in much of the theories that I study in my classes. He is everywhere. So much of what these great social justice educators theorize can be summed up in Jesus' ministry. So much of His ministry can be found in the lives of my friends who sacrifice their lives to serve those the world has forgotten.

For my thesis I want to make some general recommendations to teacher preparation programs. The goal will be to design a class that teachers in training would need to be better equipped to teach in urban schools.

My general recommendation for teachers in training? The "ghetto" is where you will be able to find a job. The "ghetto" is the place that needs good teachers. If you consider yourself a good teacher, you should teach in an urban area. It is not easy. Be prepared to die to all you think is the "best" and "right" way to do things. Be prepared to learn a new way of teaching and acting. Everything that you think about the world is about to be challenged. But if you teach in the hood, you will have more rewards than you can imagine. You will see students do things that no one thought possible. You will be apart of changing history. You will never be the same.

Sound familiar? If you say you follow Jesus it should:

• "Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men." Jesus in the Gospel according to Mark 1:17
• "He must deny himself and take up his cross (a symbol of humiliation, suffocation, extreme pain, and death) daily and follow me." Jesus in the Gospel according to Luke 9:23
• "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and lean what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Jesus in the Gospel according to Matthew 9:12. 
• When the disciples were arguing about who was the greatest, Jesus replies "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all" Gospel according to Mark 9:33
• The many miracles of healing and redemption. 

Basically, I want to write a curriculum that trains and empowers teachers:

to give some good news to the poor who can't afford to pay the high cost of teachers with low expectations and colorblindness any longer
to proclaim freedom for the children who are locked in the prison of schools' tracking systems
to give back the sight they have stolen so the blind may see a way out of their conditions
and to proclaim that high expectations and a true caring will be the norm in their classrooms.
(Luke 4:18-19 in my own words)


I am coming to see more Justice in the church as well. Believers who care and believe deeply in the helping right the wrongs in our society. They are willing to make huge personal sacrifices in order to do it.

Maybe that is the overlap. Jesus is in what I am studying ...even if Christians don't embrace all the hard parts of Justice and the academia doesn't embrace Jesus. Jesus is in me. The overlap is happening in me. May both sides see more of the other in me.

Summer Job

I have a summer job. Just like in the old college days. I am teaching science for elementary aged kids. Some days are hilarious and others are exhausting. Today was one of the entertaining ones. Some highlights from things kids have said to me are:

"When you make that face, you look cute"-1st grader

"You need to tell me at least five sentences about space, because I know you know that much at least"-same first grader.

An eye roll with the the wagging of the finger from a five year old boy.

I was teaching a girl how to make a friendship bracelet and she turns to me and says, "You have nice eyes". Never heard that one before.

Ah it is good to be around kids again!

Enough with the Serious Stuff

There has been a lot of "serious" things I have posted recently, so in an attempt to lighten it up, I wanted to share some of the fun things that Danny and I have discovered/done in the city since we moved here.

Weekend in Carmel

We needed a getaway after Danny was finishing up with Revolution Prep and working for CB2, the general contractor where he currently is a Project Engineer. Carmel was just the place. We went wine tasting and the wine culture is very similar to SLO so it felt "known" in the midst of all the unknown in our city life. On Sunday we went to the "downtown" area that is full of cutesy little shops and we had the best pizza! It was a smoked salmon with some sort of cream sauce. The restaurant had a real Italian vibe which we both throughly enjoyed. It was just the relaxing and literally quite weekend we needed.

Mr. Toad's Tours

Danny set this up around Christmas time when all the Christmas lights were out. We went for the night tour. It was so fun! The car has no windows, so it made for a chilly ride, but we could see everything clearly. We snuggled in the back as the guide explained about each neighborhood and shared his favorite place to eat in said neighborhood. That was our first exposure to how much San Franciscans love food. He said that San Franciscans talk about where they ate earlier, where they are going to eat later, and where they will eat in the future. We laughed at the time, but the reality is folks that we now do exactly that! With so much good food, who could resist? The ride was so romantic and a great night out on the town!

Biking to Golden Gate Park

We are blessed to live twenty minutes away, via bike, from Golden Gate Park. We ride down our hill to the beach and then ride along the Great Highway. We love just getting lost through all the meandering bike lanes and paths at Golden Gate Park. Coming home is a bit more of an uphill climb, but we have found the least steep route. 

Conservatory of Flowers

Spontaneously one Sunday we decided to visit the conservatory. There was a simple exhibit of found items creating the scenery of San Francisco for a toy train set. It was pretty interesting to see how artists had created famous landmarks with all recycled material.  For pictures check out my Facebook album "mobile uploads".

SF Vintars Market

Danny is a groupon fiend. He found this awesome deal to the SF Vintars Market. We paid a flat rate for an afternoon of tasting Napa and Sonoma's finest wines. It was a lot of fun for us to get better acquainted with the wine up here, since it is a bit different than SLO's wine country. However, it must be said that other than a one really good Sauvignon Blanc and a Pinot that rivaled a favorite from a vineyard in Edna Valley, the wine was really comparable to the Paso/SLO wine that we enjoyed while living there. It is true...Napa is hype, pricey, and no better than the central coast. Still it was fun to talk with some wine makers, taste some amazing olive oils, and drink wine all afternoon!

SFMOMA Membership

My favorite part of living in the city is all the art. The "formal" art, the street art, the performing art, that is available. Since October we have had a dual membership to the SF MOMA and I love it! Because of our membership, we have free admission and special preview times and events just members. This means that I can go downtown any day, breeze through a gallery or two, and head home. I have taken my school work and studied at the roof top cafe. Danny and I have gone late on Thursday night for a date night. And the best part is that we have been able to get friends and family in for free as well...two guest passes come with our membership!

On that note, I will invite you all to come visit this amazing city and come do some of these fun things with us!