“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”
-G.K. Chesterton
On routine and beauty:
February 7, 2010February 5, 2010
A while ago Heather found this bird for me when she went running. Last semester I started a project in ceramics working with the form of dead birds. I mostly made sparrows, but this semester I’ve started working with seagulls and maybe a few other birds TBD. Here are a few photos of the project (via Angi Welsch)
Scandinavian Dala Horse
February 3, 2010
(via Alline Luz)
This semester I plan to explore my Norwegian-American heritage and what it means to be completely American, yet raised with a strong European cultural presence during upbringing.
Tara Donovan
February 1, 2010Awe-inspiring, ethereal, mysterious, and poetic: these qualities appropriately describe the work of Tara Donovan. Accessible to elitists and to children, Donovan’s minimalistic sculptures and installations bring the viewer into a dream-like trance. Although many may argue against it, including the artist herself, I believe that Donovan’s work is a visual representation of the Holy Spirit. The subtle shades and hues and the complex organic patterns mysteriously connect with the soul, harmonizing with a spiritual frequency.
Tara Donovan’s art has ruined me forever. In fact, I may never be able to step foot in another museum again.
Goals Fulfilled
January 31, 2010- Started an internship
- Cleaned the ceramics room like crazy
- Explored LA
- Visited San Fran
- Tried Experimental Cooking
- Wrote Letters
- Applied for NYCAMS, and many other internships (haven’t submitted yet, but applied)
- Made new friends
- Enjoyed old ones
- Worked in SMU
- Played with clay
- Swam more
- Painted my nails too often (there’s just something about it that makes me feel so feminine)
- Was content with not finishing my interterm goals
Kent Hovind
January 29, 2010
If you were raised as a conservative evangelical you’re probably familiar with the name Kent Hovind.
Every Wednesday night when I was in Jr. High my youth group would cram into the church multipurpose room for a sanctioned hour of Hovindination. Like colonists, we claimed our place on the carpet and waited for the projector to fill the unexplored recesses of our minds with unchecked facts and bad jokes. Any free thinking 7th grader would write the films off as nonsense and enjoy watching a movie during church, but the adults hailed it as truth, using Hovind’s facts in debates with co-workers regarding Creationism.
Hovid is famous for his claim that dinosaurs still roam the earth, asserting that most of them exist in the far recesses of remote rain forests and other areas yet explored by man. In 1999 he opened “Dinosaur Adventure Land” near his home in Florida as a theme park for Creationists.
This week I learned that Kent Hovind is currently spending time in a federal prison after a series of court cases investigating his pronounced resignation as a US citizen (although born and raised in America), filing bankruptcy, and failure to pay income tax. His theories, and certainly his behavior, have been criticized by Creationists and Evolutionists alike. Unfortunately his son has taken up the responsibility of Creation Science Research in Hovind’s absence.
I’m not exactly sure how to respond to this yet. I always knew he was wacky but now I know that he’s also corrupt makes my existence as an evangelical even more awkward. Sometimes I wish I could be a Christian without the title.
Brothershipness
January 26, 2010“Brothershipness” is a phrase coined by a student I’m working with in an after-school center, through my new internship at Mika CDC. The title has nothing at all to do with this post but it made me laugh so I’m using it as a title.
Anyway, I started as an intern with Mika last week and it has been great. I work with about 10 of the most beautiful, amazing women anyone could ever meet. I get to work in a non-profit office, hang out with kids, practice my teaching skills, and speak a little Spanish. It is all great, except that I’m a little nervous because I’m getting thrown into the middle of everything (I think they believe in me more than I believe in myself). All I can say is that I’ll be learning a lot this semester from Mika…and I might need to read up on classroom management because I realized today that I’m not very good at being the bad cop.
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Also, today I went to an immigration reform march in Santa Ana. Here are my feelings about immigration:
Leviticus 19:34 “Foreigners living among you will be like your own people. Love them as you love yourself, because you were foreigners living in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.”
Bacon
January 22, 2010(a Monica and Amanda collaboration)
One day there was a bear who loved to eat eggplants. Not honey, eggplants. Because of this he was shunned by all of the boy bears, and all of the girl bears kept saying “it was just a phase”. So then the bear decided to open an eggplant bistro and serve gourmet entrees. The whole village was jealous of him because he was an instant success. Then they shunned him again.
The only friend he had was a squirrel who would be considered an anarchist. This squirrel believed in advocating for the unnatural behavior of animals. He was passionate for his cause and had a group called the ‘Organization for Unnatural Animal Behavior’, the OUAB. He was the only member and spent his time making button slogans. He ate the canned eggplant the bear made.
The bear and the squirrel decided to conspire against the majority. They began campaigning for eggplant advocacy and the OUAB, but nobody listened. They built an eggplant bomb and put it in in the middle of the town. It exploded and turned everything purple. Everything tasted like eggplant, so all the bears in the town were forced to eat eggplant. They grew tired and weary of eating eggplant and were even conspiring to eat the bear and the squirrel because they were sick of being called the “Vegan Bears”. People flocked all over the place to watch the Vegan Bears eat eggplant because it was so unnatural.
A change had to happen.
The bears decided to sue the OUAB for proselytizing their political agenda. The court, although sympathetic toward the “Vegan Bears” decided that eggplant was an environmentally friendly alternative to the bear’s natural diet and decided to form a compromise between the “Vegan Bears” and the OUAB. The court ordered for eggplant to be eaten at lunchtime while traditional bear food would be served for dinner.
Everyone was disappointed, but realized that this is what often happens with bear politics and decided to abandon hope of a normal life. At least they could eat what they wanted for breakfast.
