telling stories

Today, my brothers and I headed over to the American Art Gallery and saw the new Norman Rockwell exhibit.  The exhibit is called, Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. 

I love Norman Rockwell probably just as much as the next person.  His paintings are warm and personal.  You feel like you could and would like to know most of the people in his paintings.  He gives you a sense that things are well or that they will turn out well. 

It was interesting to look at the collections from the perspective of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg since they are such successful film directors.  The emphasized that one of the things that they love about Norman Rockwell's paintings that he tells a story in one frame.  He captures details, emotions, and even action in a single picture.  

I love that idea and as I think about storytelling and wanting to be a better storyteller myself, there is a lot to learn from the idea of storytelling being like taking or painting a picture.  The writing of the story requires adding all of those details, the emotions, the movements, and the colors that make you feel like you know those characters or you have been in that place.  

I'd love to be as good of a storyteller as Norman Rockwell.

happy (lunar) new year!

I forgot to say "happy year of the tiger" to everyone on Sunday.  I've been enjoying the "lunar new year" stamps these days as I've been loving the snow break to write cards to my friends. I think this is going to be the best year of the tiger ever.

That being said, we went back to school today after our snow storm break.  We were thinking of all the snow related compound words like "snowman", "snowball", "snowflake"... I also had to respond to the principle's question about individual's intent to return next year.  

To be honest, I teared up as I was writing it.  I am going to miss it there.  I have had a very good experience and feel like I've learned a lot.  The people have been so incredible and I'm so thankful for such a wonderful team of people.  I know I'm not leaving yet but, I want to make the most of it.

Not that I'm completely sad.  The truth is that I'm mostly happy because in addition to having to say goodbye to lots of wonderful things in my life, this year is also going to be filled with new and wonderful things (like getting married) and hopefully experiencing and learning in another school setting.

what type are you?

I just took this witty test called "What type are you?"  It turns out that my type is Archer Hairline "a modern typeface with a straightforward appearance with tiny outbreaks of elegance and tiny dots of emotion".  Maybe there's something to it!  

This week I've been thinking about "outbreaks of emotion" and have found myself faced with my humanity and my inability to communicate well the complexity of my feelings.  I can be irritable and inconsiderate in ways that make me feel ashamed and yet, I admit that these are certainly areas where I've seen improvement which is at least a little bit comforting.

beauty

What more, you may ask, do we want? … We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words—to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.
—C.S. Lewis, "The Weight of Glory"

time to evaluate

Something is wrong when I don't have time for reading, writing, praying, studying, listening, being informed, playing and appreciating silence and beauty.

At the same time, I'm grateful for community, friends, family, food, generosity, travel, being known, and journeying with others.

worries and blessings

I've been a little more worried than usual in the past couple of days about what is going to happen to me next year. I know that I shouldn't worry. I know that God is good and will provide for me.

I also know that in spite of my worries I am so blessed. I live with wonderful girls. I am in an interesting city and am part of a really good community. I am really happy right now, in spite of my worries.

We loose sight of so many things when we worry. We miss out on the good things in life. So, I'm trying not to worry. With that thought, I think there were times during college that I missed out on some fun because I was worried about stuff.

One thing I will never regret is the time that I spent in the downtown East Side of Vancouver. I just found this video made by my university featuring one of the coolest profs at my school and the East Side. I have MUCH to be thankful for.

enchanted by the Word

First, I fell in love with the Word, and then the spirit in it --the Inspiration-- and then (was it inevitable?) I fell in love with the Author who cannot be separated from the words and the spirit of the words because they are all mixed up and yet, they are all separate. "In the beginning was the Word."

It all started with the words that I read and loved. At first, I thought I loved the words but then I realized that it was the spirit of the words that captured me and filled me with wonder. Later, much, much later I saw that the words had an Author and that the Spirit came from and filled the Author who carefully chose the words. Without the Author the Words would not have been filled with the Inspiration that moved me.

Tonight, I had such a lovely experience. I went to see a documentary film called PALAVRA (EN)CANTADA (The Enchanted Word). In Portuguese the title is much more powerful because the word "enchanted" so obviously has the word "sung" in it. The film was lovely, an experience filled with music and nostalgic reflections on the power of story, poetry, and music. I loved the tensions felt about drawing from the richness of history and literature and the beauty of the colloquial, improvised music that is filled with rhythm, and makes you want to live, to dance.

I hope that I will always be as easily "enchanted" as I was tonight. I often feel captivated by the unusual things around me. I am particularly interested in what it is that gives people inspiration to create. The desert can be a source of inspiration, literature, a city, the masses of people, solitude... all of them can give you something wonderful. A glance, a spoken word, music played softly... the come filled with Inspiration from the Author.

I'm in love with the Word and the words...

the maddening capriciousness of the creative process

Ok, I promise that I won't keep just posting videos but, this is also SO good!

rainy, beautiful, hopeful

Last night I stayed up until an unreasonable hour talking to one of my lovely housemates. "I am younger now than I was five years ago," I said after she pointed out how surprisingly complicated I am. (There are parts of me that are so calm and together and others that seem so insecure and out of place.)

The past 10 days have been so packed full of work, relationships, hopes, questions, etc. that I am feeling overwhelmed with the gifts in my life. I'm thinking through a pretty big decision right now about the type of work I want to pursue this next year and about trying to stay in DC for possibly a couple more years.

I am more than flirting with the idea of staying here for a couple of years and that emotional posture is obvious as I look around and see the needs in my community and wonder how we can be a part of doing something to help. That got me into a very intense discussion with a friend that ultimately made me realize that as much as I want to be detached, I genuinely care.

Then Easter came. Well, first we came to Dark Friday. It was not good, it was the darkest day, and it was deathly silent. Saturday was grey and rainy. We stayed up all night waiting expectantly for the rejoicing in the new day and returning of life. It was the most beautiful celebration that I’ve ever been a part of in my whole life. God became human, He identified himself fully with us, He loved us, and then we crucified Him. It was death like all others and yet unlike any death, it was the death of the Son of God, God himself? What an incomprehensible mystery.

Then He rose from death. He was dead and now He is ALIVE! Life was returned to where there was none. That is why I can be younger today than I was five years ago. Life can be restored. We can be renewed; hope can be found where it was lost. I hope for hope for my friend who lives on the streets because He lost everything accidentally. I hope for hope for my friend who has lost her best friend. I hope for hope and life.

Art in Common Spaces

lauren shea little

Last Friday evening I got to go with two good friends to an artistic event called Pictures at an Exhibit. It was based in reverse on the famous suite of ten piano pieces composed by Modest Mussorgsky in 1874. He walked through an art exhibit and then wrote his music based on his response to the paintings. This exhibit was my friend Lauren Little's personal journey in responding to the music.

It was refreshing to my spirit to listen to a beautiful piano piece and then engage the art. My friend Lauren Little gave a short statement about her show and her journey through pain, grieving, solitude, community, and healing to create the paintings. It was good.

I was surprised because the first real conversation that I ever had with Lauren became part of the direction she went with one of her paintings. "The Wounded Healer is at the Gate". It made me realize that I am so very blessed to be in the community that I am in right now. It is enriching to grow into each others lives in that way. It was beautiful.

so much on my mind

I have so much on my mind right now. I feel the need to start writing to untangle some of it. Some of it is good, some of it is confusing, some of it is just filling in all of the little spaces and doesn't make any sense. So, today, I had a good day. At work I actually got some work done on my main project, I was pretty excited about that.

I didn't have school this afternoon so I went to the National Gallery of Art to see a temporary exhibit called "Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans". The exhibit includes 83 photographs made largely in 1955 and 1956 while Frank (b. 1924) traveled around the United States. The exhibit was so good. I enjoyed seeing people's faces, moments being captured in photographs. You should look at some of the exhibit for yourself if you can.

enjoying every moment as much as I can

I love quiet Saturday's like today. It has been lovely. I guess it probably all started with a great Friday evening. I had dinner with some good friends at the new restaurant in the neighborhood. Then, we went (running!) to the opening night of an art exhibit at Touchstone Gallery where one of my friends from church has her art up. It was really great to see friends there. I enjoy art.

I have a friend who told me that given the excitement with which I re-tell my work at the Charter School that maybe I've found my "calling". I reminded them that I only spend 3.5 hours there and I am not sure if it would be my calling to spend all day in that type of challenging environment. I DO love the kids though. Later, I told someone else that I think my calling right now is to "enjoy every moment of whatever I am doing at the moment." Even so, education is certainly at the top of my list of things that I enjoy doing.

This morning I slept until the sunshine woke me up. I had random and pleasant conversations with my different housemates as they got up and started their days. I went for a little walk to the Franciscan Monastery up the street and went to the grocery store. After eating lunch and listening to Ben Harper, I went for another walk to the local branch of the library. I love being able to walk to the library!!

Going for walks, reading, studying for my Portuguese class, and doing some random writing has been the best way to spend this Saturday!

Hierroglyphic

"Frank Plant is a Barcelona based American sculptor." He has some interesting stuff!

Amelie

I don't know how many people have told me that I would LOVE the movie Amelie but there have been quite a few. The truth is, I have wanted to watch it for a really long time but I just hadn't had the opportunity. For some reason, tonight I told my brother that we should watch it and so we did.

Sometimes, when people tell me that I will love a movie, I'm not sure what they meant after I watch it but this time... oh my goodness. I haven't seen a movie that I identify with so much in a long time. Everyone was right, I loved it.

Enchantment with solitude, playful self-confidence, sweet independence, ridiculous imagination, pleasure in odd details, delight in helping others, fear of accepting what you give generously, peculiar bright colors, and French (I've been flirting with that language for years)... I loved it.

all over the place

Recently I've been surprised by the many twists and turns that our lives can take. I wonder if I will loose the wonder I feel about life, it is frightening and overwhelming at times but always interesting.

• I've been wondering how I ended up being the slight "intellectual" that I am. Remembering when I read René Girard a while back, I'm still wondering about violence.
• I have many blogging friends and they often find really cool stuff.
• Leah shared this video the other day and we all know how cool TOMS are, I'd like some for Christmas!

• I'm a big fan of random improv and making fun out of simple everyday kinds of things. That is why this made me smile.
• I've been reading a book called, La Última Guinda by José Rutilio Quezada. It is about the Civil War here in El Salvador. I was even privileged enough to meet the author of the book!
  

Remembering Romero

"The death of Monseñor Romero"

On Monday, I went to the UCA (Central American University, San Salvador) where on November 16, 1989 six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter in El Salvador were brutally murdered by members of the Salvadoran military.

At the University there is a small museum to remember the Jesuits who died (the pictures were so awful that I actually started crying and couldn't look at all of them) and also Monseñor Oscar Romero who was the Archbishop of San Salvador until March 24, 2980 when he was murdered just as he as he held the consecrated host up during Mass. Monseñor Romero was an interesting figure in the history of the war. He's probably the most well known name from that time.

He was chosen as Archbishop because he was known for being conservative, the church, government, and everyone else involved didn't expect him to become a problem for the government. Romero, however, as he started to identify with the situation that the poor were living in, he became "a voice to the voiceless". Soon, there was concern that his teachings would motivate the opposition, the guerrilla, and those with Communist tendencies and the order was given to assassinate him.

"If they kill me, I will resurrect in my people."

For those who have done any reading in "global theologies" you might find it interesting that as I was walking around the UCA, my friend pointed at a man and said, "That is Jon Sobrino." I was so suprised! I had forgotten that he was here in El Salvador. He is one of the current day "liberation theologians" and was given an admonishment by the Vatican for his work. I had looked at some of his work while I was in college, I didn't get to talk to him but it was kind of cool to see him from a distance.

El MARTE

Since I last wrote I've done quite a few random things, some I never expected to do when I came. This morning I went to the National Art Musem (MARTE) with Israel and our guest for the day, Ben (who was visiting from Honduras). It was amazing. I'll share some of the photos we took while we were there.


There's Ben!




Last weekend I went to the circus and had amazing fish. I was working on organizing content at work but, then I got sick. That got me off pace and I have felt the need to rest a lot. It has been raining a lot here in the evenings. To be honest, I like it. The weather is this precious cool but not cold temperature and everything is green, green, green. I am trying to be cautious about what I write about and how I say it. There will be more as I catch on to some of the cultural and societal nuances that I'm still trying to understand.