Grandma would be proud.

I could never win a handwriting competition, but I do appreciate the art of good penmanship. The quote below is used for all entries in the World Handwriting Contest. If you get a chance, take a look at the way some of their previous winners can work the ink!

Hold your breath.

Christmas has passed- I hope you all enjoyed the time with friends and family. The holidays are wonderful because they are a legitimate excuse to spend enormous amounts of time with the people that I love. And we play card games! Has anyone out there ever tried the game called Set? It is a matching game based on visual perception, and anyone can play competitively with a little practice. I highly recommend it.

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2005 is almost over, but the New Year celebration is going to be a bit longer than last year. They (being the people who control such things) are adding a Leap Second to the end of December 31st in order to keep the atomic clock in sync with Earth's orbit.

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Who knew? Here's an interesting bit on the underlying correlation between dance and human attraction.

The weary soul rejoices.

Truly he taught us to love one another;
His law is love, and his gospel is peace;
Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother,
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we;
Let all within us praise his holy name;
Christ is the Lord, O, Praise his name forever.
His power and glory every more proclaim!

A verse from my favorite Christmas hymn, O Holy Night. May you and your loved ones be filled with peace and love this season.

Just think about it.

There have been many conversations lately about the intelligent design ruling that was passed down against a Pennsylvania school board, and I thought that I’d throw my thoughts into the mix. This has the potential of becoming a long post, but I’ll try to make it brief. I am tired, so I hope this makes sense when I am finished writing it.

I’ll start by saying that I agree with the judge’s decision to overturn the school board’s policy of including intelligent design in science classes. It seems fairly obvious that in this case their motives were not innocent. They were not working to promote a more open learning environment by including intelligent design in curriculum and placing conditional language around evolution; they were trying to create a forum in the public school system for their specific, religiously-guided ideas about origins. Their errors- and what I see to be the larger errors of this conversation from both sides of the issue- were in approach/means as opposed to the actual content of the discussion.

Intelligent design is a philosophical question at its core. The implications of the answer reach far beyond the bounds of science, and it seems petty to try and contain it in that classroom as though it fits under academic investigation. Placing the grand questions of “Who and Why are we?” in contrast to less-universe-altering theories of evolution (natural mechanisms of effect) gives evolution way too much credit. Darwin may have secularized science, but he didn’t secularize the human experience.

It kills me. Why evolution vs. intelligent design? How have we created these artificial enemies? These are not conflicting views of science. They are not even in the same genre of investigation. I feel very fortunate to have been raised in a home where my parents disagreed about the age of the universe. We had so many conversations about the nature of science and the role of Scripture; it created an atmosphere where dialogue was valued more than dogma.

But even though I disagree with teaching intelligent design in a science classroom, I think the debate does bring attention to a gap in our systems of American education- why aren’t students required to take philosophy courses in high school? Intelligent design theories are simply a bit of language around some of the big questions that we all ask, and they are just the tip of the iceberg. How can we ask students to study the history of the USSR and the Cold War without truly understanding the tenets of Marxism? How can we expect learners to discuss recent literature and overlook teaching about the post-modernism that drove its inception? And how can we present scientific data without ever allowing space to ask ourselves “why?”

The study of philosophy has a rich, deep history; I don’t think it could ever be taught well without significant time for study and conversation. I know that some secondary schools are able to offer philosophy classes, but- as far as I understand- it is rarely more than an elective. I realize that there are levels of cognitive maturity, and not all high school students would be able to grasp philosophical conversations. But it seems that we owe kids more than we have been giving them. We live at the height of literacy in the history of the world. We have great minds and ideas to study. Classic philosophy is behind every accepted academic subject, so why don’t we touch on the roots once in a while?

There you have some of the questions that have been floating around in my head about all of this. I’m not an educator, and I may be missing a major piece of the picture here. I’d love to hear some thoughts from you all on this whether you agree or disagree with me. Intelligent design is a real question and it leads to important conversations, but it will never fit into the small box of a science classroom. It certainly should not be used as a religious alternative to "secular" science. However we should create space to discuss the philosophy behind how we know ourselves and how we see the world. That can only inspire more true learning.

It only gets better.

Winter solstice has now passed. We are turning back toward the sun.

In the meantime.

This made me laugh and laugh. It reminds me a bit of an earlier post of mine. Ah, love and cynicism. But we all enjoy the sappy stuff in the right context, don't we?

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We are going to the airport tonight to pick up the last few travelers from our Lahash team. It will be good to see my friends.

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I have a post on intelligent design coming, but I haven't had time to write it out yet.

Pick and choose.

I have felt unsettled lately. I am not sure whether it is just the need for a change in routine or if it is an indication something more concrete. These winter months are dark, and I miss being able to spend time outdoors without the cold, wet weather.

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The snow and ice from yesterday barely lasted through the morning hours, and the unusual weather was all but forgotten by the afternoon. Snow is so rare around here that life-as-we-know-it comes to a grinding halt when those little white flakes appear.

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The two poems below are from earlier this year. The title of the second one is a reference to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

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Holding Grace

Soft skin,
small hands
overlapping my own.
These make me feel
maternal.

Intuitively
I-breathe-in
to absorb this life
into my body,
pulling it deep
inside, somewhere
-must be-
near my heart.

This unbirthing
somehow settles
into whispers
and a tight hug
for a child
not my own.

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Victor’s Progeny

It is heavy being you.
So many beautiful pieces,
but they never made a soul.

Consumed by what could be-
the potential, the projection-
I patched beauty into

incomplete patterns.

I wear you like a fine cape,
but the odor betrays the truth.

Four candles.

The fourth Sunday in Advent calls us to love. May we be filled with the purposeful and sacrificial love of Christ, and may that love create true change in the world.

This is another prayer reading from the PCUSA. Please join me in praying for and anticipating the advent of love in our world.

Reader: God is love. God created us out of love and redeemed us out of love.
People: O love divine, all love excelling, come and dwell in our hearts.

Reader: In this advent season we light the candle of love, not only in our church, but also in our hearts.
People: May your love sweep through us.

Reader: O God of love, we do not know how to love like you. We love ourselves more than our neighbors.
People: In this season reconcile us to ourselves. Teach us your love so that we love you and our neighbors as ourselves.

Reader: We pray for people and lands where the lack of peace kills your love.
People: Let your love shine as it did from the cross.

Reader: Maranatha, come Lord Jesus.

And since we've no place to go...

A little unexpected snow kept us all inside today. The thin dusting froze into a hard crust of ice that makes going out fairly difficult. Hopefully this weather will stick around for at least one more day.

We all feel the same.

Last night reminded me why I am so glad to live in Portland.

It was a full evening. Carolyn and I saw some of our mutual childhood friends at a holiday party, and then I met up with Dot to hear a few local musicians play at The Green Room downtown.

There are transcendent moments when the normal barriers of mind and relationship are lowered and strangers suddenly share more than physical space- we share emotional space. I've had that deep connection surprise me in a small class discussion while at university. It is part of what makes a church The Church. And sometimes it happens during a really good show.

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Just in case there is anyone left who has not seen this light display, stop what you are doing right now and watch it. I first thought it was a fairly well constructed hoax, but it turns out to be the real deal. You can read more about its creator here.

I would smell just as sweet.

All sorts of fun things coming up in (or near) the life of Erin. Among them:

• Seeing Christmas lights
• A sister sleepover (Bethany is on winter break)
• Making dinner with a friend
• The WEEKEND
• My brother and sister-in-law leaving for Thailand on Friday (JR and Jen- I am so excited and jealous)
• Meeting with my mentor from a former internship
• Belting Christmas songs with Celine Dion's CD

Yes, these good things and many more.

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Do you know what word I hate? The word "synergize."

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Sometimes I wish that I was more nicknamable. Throughout my life friends have valiantly attempted to make one stick, but I just lack some unspecified quality that attracts those terms of endearment. My siblings have had the most consistency with "Erinbird" and "Sissy," but they are used infrequently enough that the names still carry some element of novelty.

I've given this some concrete thought in my twenty-three years of being Erin. Part of the problem is that a four-letter name like mine doesn't give the potential nicknamer a lot to work with. Two short syllables don't invite many improvisations. And no one in my family really operates under a consistent nickname. The culture of pet names that I grew up in consisted primarily of adding the long "ē" sound to whatever we normally called each other (as in Erinee), unless of course you count my brother's initials-only name of JR (but that is not really a nickname since it is what my parents intended to call him from birth; he becomes JRee if we are feeling affectionate). Add this background to the fact that I don't have any distinct physical characteristics that set me apart in a crowd (like curly hair or a lot of freckles), and you have a tabula rosa of naming potential.

I suppose there is still time to be nicknamed, but I've begun to think that it may not be in the cards for me. The prime years of coining potential were over by the time I went to college, and I seriously doubt that I'll be nicknamed in the professinal world. It would seem that the only remaining option is criminal infamy. Hmm.

So if you are/were one of the lucky ones, what did they call you?

All on a Tuesday.

This evening was very relaxing. I made good use of hot chocolate and my down comforter while catching up on some of the reading that has been collecting on the coffee table.

My roommate Carolyn joined me, and we had a nice long chat about the nature of life, humanity and faith. I think we touched on every major philosophical, ethical and religious theme in the course of our hour and a half discussion. Just in case you were wondering, we did get the whole thing figured out. Right. 42, was it?

Half-formed thoughts in conversation, a blanket in wintertime, good reading, good people. These are important things. That much I know.

Funny how it feels.

We are swept along in joy and sorrow. Beauty runs so deeply through this world.

………

Have you ever had one of those moments? I did not recognize myself tonight. The girl in the mirror was a stranger; there was a distinct element of distance that is not normally present in my own reflection. It made me wonder if that brief glimpse was perhaps more true than how I have learned to view myself. I wanted to remember what I had seen, but it faded into the familiar so quickly…

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Ladies, in case you are still looking for a reason to start drinking tea, search no further. Raise those pinkies to your reproductive health!

Three Candles.

The third Sunday in Advent is a call to joy. Joy is irrational and unfair. It does not make sense in the context of a broken world, yet we reach out to feel it for ourselves and for others. Set as the third in Advent week, it is properly preceded by hope and peace.

When I think of joy, I think of the children in my life. They trust and accept. They love without proper introductions. These new humans are filled with innocence and expectation. May we be so open to the world this Advent season.

Let heaven and nature sing!

"O matter and impertinency mixed."

I miss winter break. It was so nice to have a three-week change of pace around the holidays. Even though I worked when I was home from university, the shift from mental to physical labor was a welcome reprieve.

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My friends that are still traveling in East Africa just updated the Lahash blog with reflections on their time in Rwanda. If you haven't been following along, go read it!

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I haven't posted any poetry here in a while, so here is a haiku from about three years ago. Please keep my web-publishing disclaimer in mind if you read it.


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And five points to anyone who can identify and finish the quote from the title of this post. Ten points if you don't cheat by using a search engine.

Something is broken.

I heard a very upsetting story on NPR as I was driving home last night. Please take a moment to listen to it if you have the chance. The report investigates the practice of "Honor Killings" in Iraq- a brutal tradition of killing women that have been sexually active outside of marriage regardless of circumstances. It made me so angry.

Such blatant injustice makes me wonder what I tacitly swallow under the shadow of my cultural expectations. And I am grieved by the knowledge that this is just one example among so many around the world.

It's a good day for a holiday.

The power went out at work this morning. A car collided with the telephone pole down the street (no one was hurt), and we were consequently left with the promise of no electricity for at least several hours.

No phones, no lights, no heat, no computers.

We declared it an unofficial holiday, and everyone went their seperate ways. Here is what I did with my unplanned day off:

• Went grocery shopping
• Watched an episode of Perry Mason
• Cleaned my house
• Returned my books to the library- on time
• Talked with a friend on the phone
• Made a spectacular chicken curry salad for dinner
• Wrote a poem
• Visited the local thrift store
• Bought two tea pots at the local thrift store

What a wonderful, unexpected day!

Two candles.

Today marks the second Sunday in Advent. Last Sunday was a focus on hope. I intended to post on it, but I never followed through. This week is peace, and I wanted to share a bit of responsive reading for the day courtesy of the PCUSA.

Reader: Peace, peace they say, and yet there is no peace.
People: True peace is not achieved by building walls and loading guns, but by loving one another.

Reader: We are called to be peacemakers.
People: Make us channels of your peace, O, Lord. For from you comes true peace.

Reader: We light this candle of peace to remind us that true peace is possible, because in Jesus we are reconciled to God and to one another.
People: Even in a violent and hurting world we trust in your great love, which is always stronger than our weaknesses, pride and fear.

Reader: O, Prince of Peace, come and grant the world your peace.
People: Salam, salam, salam. Maranatha!

Please join me in praying for peace this week. The hope of Advent is the possibility of reconciliation, the irrationality of love, and the promise of peace.

And for those that are interested:

I felt very up when I left the testing center this afternoon. Five hours of filling in bubbles on a pink form equals one score that is now officially out of my hands.

There were parts of the test that I genuinely enjoyed, and I did not feel like any section was too difficult. I found that I was irrationally more nervous about being direly interrupted by some really distracting and unexpected ailment while I was taking the test (like food poisoning or malaria) than I was anxious about taking the test itself. That probably stems from the time in high school that I got a nosebleed while I was taking the SATs.

I will find out my score in about a month, and I hope that I am accurately anticipating the general range of my results. Until then, I am just glad to have this little piece of life behind me.

Bring on the scantron!

I'm getting up early tomorrow morning to take the LSAT. I'll be cozy with my #2 pencil from 8:30 AM to around 12:30 PM. It will be nice to finally have the studying behind me and the real test in hand.

It is an interesting exam to prepare for because there is no set body of knowledge to review. The entire test is meant to gauge your ability to think critically and use logic. And we all know that standardized testing is the best way to measure that, right?

One way or the other, I am ready to have it over with. I'm not really nervous, but I do have the pre-test adrenaline that always hits the night before. I hope that I can sleep tonight.

It's not a four letter word.

World AIDS Day has come and gone. The reach and results of this disease are so devistating that most days we Westerners choose to forget it even exists. Please remember with me.

AIDS has barely scratched the surface of its potential. Africa is falling farther behind, and Asia has just begun to recognize how widely the disease has already spread through India and China.

The BBC online has a section devoted to AIDS education. It has plenty of useful facts and figures about the epidemic. If you don't know about AIDS, go learn. If you do, then please teach someone else.