May 2012
7 posts
your strong hands shaped my world. like clay, it formed at your will. you were here, then gone, then here, then gone again. now you’re back, and I stand at the window, waiting, watching, wishing your train would come faster. because the day is here and we’re ready. the day is young, yet I am getting older. and I’m ready to meet you, to fall in love the way you fell- in love with...
in less than two weeks...
I will have to remove myself, coffee in hand, from the front porch of my extremely comfortable home in upstate New York. The blanket I spread out there, the book I’ve been reading, the delicious leftovers from my father’s homemade Italian feasts- they’ll all be memories as I board the 24 hour flight to Dar es Salaam. I will take a deep breath, and the adventure will begin.
I...
“this country is less human than any other,” he said.
he’s right.
you’re gone.
salmo 23
El Señor es mi *pastor, nada me falta; 2 en verdes pastos me hace descansar. Junto a tranquilas aguas me conduce; 3 me infunde nuevas *fuerzas. Me guía por sendas de *justicia por amor a su *nombre.
4 Aun si voy por valles tenebrosos, no temo peligro alguno porque tú estás a mi lado; tu vara de pastor me reconforta.
5 Dispones ante mí un banquete...
April 2012
9 posts
four nights in a row now, I’ve walked back in the mist.
those sprinklers turn on like clockwork and I’m left to fend for myself, trudging up the mountain carrying whatever I’ve collected.
it’s a long road and my bag is heavy; full of regret, far-away memories, your books and the t-shirt we bought on our road trip last summer. do you want it back?
why do they even have to...
Featured in Gordon College's "Notes Along the... →
Be Still, My Soul -Catharina von Schlegel
This is perhaps the most life-giving, peace-bringing piece I have experienced in a great while.
Be still, my soul; the Lord is on your side; Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain; Leave to your God to order and provide; In every change he faithful will remain. Be still, my soul; your best, your heavenly Friend Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end. Be still, my soul; your God will...
In boxes they moved you; your name stripped away.
||you’re his now, you know|| you perform. you obey.
You’re told where to sleep, how to lie, what to dream.
I would love to see these people respond to “their government” telling them who they couldn’t marry, what they couldn’t do to their bodies, what they couldn’t say, what they couldn’t follow… How much gas costs?
Did you take clean water for granted today?
I did.
I woke up, I walked about 10 steps and turned on the tap to brush my teeth. I went downstairs and drank a glass of cold, clean, and clear water. I took a shower without even thinking. I watered my garden this morning, and flushed the toilets in my house. I never said thank you, not once.
This morning was quite unlike the ones I spent in Tanzania, and the ones I’m looking forward to...
Human Rights Week: AKA- why I haven't been... →
March 2012
6 posts
possibly the best book ever written:
“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”
“Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.”
“This is what we call love. When you are loved, you can do anything in creation. When you are loved, there’s no need at all to understand what’s happening,...
!!! →
still I rise.
You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I’ll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? ‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I’ll rise. ...
February 2012
11 posts
“Todos los seres
tendrán derecho
a la tierra y a la vida,
a así será el pan de...”
– Pablo Neruda
some things I'd like to do in the near future...
finally get my hands on (& read) Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
learn some new Italian recipes from my Gram and Dad.
try Bikram yoga again.
write Spanish poetry like Mistral and Neruda.
knit a smallish thing.
write more letters.
watch a film that I can’t understand.
use Poppy’s film camera again, and develop it myself.
catch up on my school work in...
it's a wonderful life;
yet it’s one full of trials and pains. Somehow we see beauty. Some of us seek it out; chasing sunsets and scouting out shooting stars. Others relax and observe the simplicity of daily interactions: the hummingbird and the flower, and child with her mother…
Tonight as I stare up at the moon I remember your face. I run my fingers through the files, the archives of memories tucked away,...
be frightened
that the following quotes are considered “humorous”:
Lois Griffin: Peter tell Chris that women are not objects! Peter Griffin: Your mother’s right Chris, listen to what it says. Family Guy Animated TV series
I’ve yet to be on a campus where most women weren’t worrying about some aspect of combining marriage, children, and a career. I’ve yet to find one where...
The moment you find yourself enjoying writing that six page paper due in 8 hours…
that’s the moment you recognize the love for learning you had thought that you lost.
Thanks be to God.
January 2012
11 posts
“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am...”
– 2 Corinthians 12:9, 10 NLT
los que no danzan
Una niña que es inválida dijo: —«¿Cómo danzo yo?» Le dijimos que pusiera a danzar su corazón…
Luego dijo la quebrada: —«¿Cómo cantaría yo?» Le dijimos que pusiera a cantar su corazón…
Dijo el pobre cardo muerto: —«¿Cómo danzaría yo?» Le dijimos: —«Pon al viento a volar tu corazón…»
Dijo Dios desde la altura: —«¿Cómo bajo del azul?» Le dijimos que bajara a danzarnos en la luz.
...
why my job changes my life. →
It was too dark to see the time exactly. She gave him credit for his thoughts, although too many of them made the space seem crowded and claustrophobia came like a mosquito on a summer night; pinching and driving her to scream.
She looked out the window and her heart sped up, not long ago she was on the road nearby and nobody could even read her face, let alone her mind. Now she was stuck and he...
“Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to...”
– George Bernard Shaw
Dying for educational opportunity. →
Today: be thankful for the educational opportunities you are afforded. You can be sure that somewhere, someone is denied the same rights and resources that you take for granted. Practice everyday thankfulness for your education, stray from apathy and complaint.
at some point we must begin to remember how to forgive and forget and let go and start over. at some point we must learn to love ourselves again; because no matter how hard we try, we can never fully love others until we love the one most deeply connected to us: the self.
make the morning about a new beginning.
“there was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.”...
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow...”
– St. Francis of Assisi
Words to live 2012 by…
December 2011
12 posts
Love watching my girls in pursuit of a... →
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