Sententia

We're going to New Orleans! Our group of 14 is departing tomorrow afternoon. As you can see, Kyle is pretty stoked. This picture was taken with a sweet point and shoot that Valpo gave us so we could take photos and videos for PR stuff (once we're down there of course, I just started early). We're stopping at a church in Memphis Saturday night, and then we'll finish the almost 15 hour drive Sunday morning. We're staying at a Lutheran Disaster Response facility in New Orleans. Until then. Peace.

I was on the job for the Torch (school newspaper) the other day snapping some pictures at a gospel choir performance, and the preacher had a clean cut button down shirt, jacket, nice jeans, and then these crazy kicks:



Just one of the things I love about losing the hold of time while taking photos.

Last night while walking back from frisbee practice I walked past a few other students, as usual. Three in a row we're talking on their cell phones and I was reminded of my love/hate relationship with cell phones. For me they allow easy communication with those I don't get to see much, easier organization of meetings etc., and an easy place to take a brief note. Seeing those students also reminded me of how whenever I set off on a walk that will be more than 5 minutes I usually think of who I need to call. It's only in the moments where my hate relationship for phones is present that I notice what a burden they are and how they keep me from enjoying the moment around me. There is no ordinary moment and I'd rather Be Here Now than Back There wondering what I "have to do" next.

Back in the middle of January, Valpo had a pretty big celebration of Martin Luther Kind Jr. weekend. One of the guests was poet Lawson Fusao Inada. I attended his reading, and his focus group the following day. At age 4 he and his family were unjustly "interned" (held in a camp-like prison) in Fresno, Arkansas, for the duration of WWII, as were most families with Japanese heritage. Inada read poems from his book Legends From Camp. I really enjoyed his style of writing and reading. All this description just to say that during the focus group at one point cell phones came up. Inada was describing a moment he had had recently in line at a pharmacy. The girl in front of him in line was on their phone, and Inada shared what he wondered in the moment "What do you say on the phone while in line? 'Hi mom, yeah, I'm at the store, yeah, I'm in line, yeah I'll be home soon.'" He then laughed uproariously which alone was quite funny to behold. His tone of honest amazement in the girl's need to call her mom made me stop and think. I asked myself "yeah, what do we say on the phone?" The image he imprinted on my brain was someone talking at (not to) a phone, just a piece of plastic with electronic chips in it, not a tool for communication. It was simply a visceral, basic, earthly, ideal feeling that made me realize just how fake cell phones are to our true experience of life on earth.

On a side note, it's moments like I had listening to Inada that I've always wanted to write about. I'm really happy I can do that here.

Ash Wednesday is a day for me to think about the many ways God has blessed my life, and how hopeless I would be without him. I decided to fast on water and juice for today, and it's been a good experience so far. When I get hunger pangs it reminds me to think of all the good in my life, and how much is provided for me. It reminds me how I usually take food and my meals for granted, despite that God provided it for me.

Also today, is my dad's 64th birthday. He's a trooper and I bet he's fasting as well (I'll check later when I talk to him on the phone). I learned the idea of fasting from his example, not his teaching, an important aspect of how my dad raised me. He's gaining on years, but not quite over the hill yet. He's still super healthy, and he's a great dad.

I'm not going to bother with any formal "welcomes" or all that jazz. Suffice to say I simply want to write and upload photos to place where I can log my experiences as a young student exploring vocation. I highly enjoy journaling and photography so I'm really excited for the potential for this kind of project.

Over the recent years while observing the progressive function of the internet I've found that blogs are a great way to keep in touch and share our thoughts in writing and photos. Google makes it very easy to write your own blog, and to keep track of your friends and other favorite journals. Google makes the experience integrated; thus I'm not writing to show off my life, I'm writing to integrate my life in text and photos with my friends and others in my community and those that share similar interests.

I expect that the majority of my posts will not be very long, and I hope that most will include photos. I'm starting this blog now because I'm excited to write and share photos of my experience in New Orleans next week, and in Chile this summer.