March 30, 2006

Reasons to celebrate.

Happy Birthday Bethyboo! Welcome to your twenties. I'm proud that you are my sister.

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Jill Carroll has been freed. I am so glad to hear the good news.

March 28, 2006

All at once.

The phone kept ringing at the next desk, so I finally answered it.

“Hi, um, I have a question,” the voice of a middle-aged woman sounded obviously stressed, “If a seventeen year old girl gets pregnant by her boyfriend, and he’s a few years older…” She trailed off.

“What I mean to say is that they’ve been in love for three years, and they’ve had a crush on each other since she was eight. Anyway, if she got pregnant, and if I say it’s okay that they get married, will he still get in trouble because, you know, she’s young?”

I’m not sure why she called our number to ask her question.

“Well,” I told her, “I can’t give you legal advice since we are not that kind of office, but I can take a guess. I think it will only be a problem if the girl or her parents decide to press charges with the police. But you can’t take my word for it. You’ll need to follow up with someone who deals with these cases more directly.”

I suggested other agencies that might be more helpful to her.

“Oh,” she breathed out for the first time, “I’m so glad you said that. See, they really love each other. And they are just so young.”

March 27, 2006

Slide over that way.

Monday snuck up on me again. Weekends always seem to owe at least one more day.

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This article provides an interesting possibility for the future of stem cell research. No matter what one’s opinion is on the issue, I think everyone would like to find an agreeable way to move forward.

March 24, 2006

Must be March.

When it rains, it pours.

March 23, 2006

On the hinge.

Spring tiptoes into the earth and the heart. Maybe the wind shifts. Suddenly the bare branches are lined with pink blossoms. Birds become our loudest neighbors. Green pushes at the seams of soil, and the sun lingers a little longer each day. What a difference a week can make.

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Headlines of good news for two days in a row! I am thrilled to hear that the CPT hostages have been freed. What an answer to prayer. In our celebration, let’s be even more aware of Jill Carroll and the other Iraqi nationals and foreign aid workers that still await release.

March 22, 2006

The high threshold.

When I saw the headline article on BBC news this morning, I thought that the picture of masked ETA members was going to be more bad news. It turns out to be quite the opposite. How great is it to hear that a group known for civilian violence has called for a permanent ceasefire in order to focus on democratic solutions? I know if is not a complete resolution to all that has gone on in that region, but it is certainly a giant leap in the right direction.

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Things in Sudan continue to fester.

There is a strange separation in my mind between the Sudan that I visited last November and the Sudan that I read about on the news. Sometimes it is hard to believe that they are the same. When I think about being there, I smell the thick air and green valleys. I picture kids from the villages running out to greet us, and I remember the peaceful feeling of waking up to the early sun outside the hut at the orphanage. These things are what I know in Sudan. They are my experiences. My memories are full of friends.

The scars on children that sat in my lap are also real to me. I can trace the outlines of their injuries in my mind, and I know they are evidence of the war that still lingers around them. I hear the echoes of stories from my friends about being forced to be a child soldier, seeing their houses burned, being separated from families, and much more. These things also shape how I know Sudan.

But when I read about Sudan on the news, it seems like it could be on a different planet. It becomes a giant mess of issues that earns second-tier story status. The problems are huge and vague, and they tell us that there is some work being done somewhere by someone to help. There is no connection to a person, there are just masses of people. It is a low priority on the big lists that are weighted by oil and the immediate feedback of approval ratings.

My relationships with Sudanese friends become the lens through which I view the conflict and understand the reports. That is hard work; it is easier to just not process it. Thinking of these stories in a personal way makes for a very tangible feeling of powerlessness. I cannot reach that far, and I cannot stop the conflict. I can’t protect the innocent. But I know that I am responsible to what I have seen, and I am motivated to make those abstract concepts a concrete reality for others because of my friends in Sudan.

In the midst of the dichotomy in my mind, I am glad to know that there are many, many people calling for action. There is a huge rally coming up in April to draw specific attention to Darfur, and many nonprofit and social justice organizations are banding together to keep the developed world accountable to recognizing human equality. I am not so naïve that I expect these issues to just go away silently, but I pray that someday I will wake up to read another story of unexpected good news- this time from out of Sudan.

March 20, 2006

Lose those walking blues.

Friends, road trips, improvised saunas, remote cabins and tall trees. That's how lucky I am, folks. Here are some pictures from my weekend away:



March 17, 2006

A two lane highway.

With friends in town and my hours at work running late, I haven’t had much time to think about blogging in the last couple of days. Sometimes I wish that my life had more downtime, but I can’t pick who or what I would be willing to give up.

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We just finished up a large grant proposal at work. It was a great learning experience for me. I have wanted to understand more about the process of project funding since I started in nonprofits, and this was my first chance to be part of the writing effort. It was not as difficult as I expected, but it was time consuming. Hopefully we will get the grant.

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Today I met with a financial aid advisor about paying for law school during these next three years. So.much.money. I’m glad life is made up of more than loans and interest rates. You can take numbers out of my bank account, but you’ll never take my soul!

I am still waiting for an illusive benefactor to pay for my education and leisure travel out of his/her sheer interest in my well being. Right.

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I’ll be out of town this weekend. Life keeps flying by at about 70 miles per hour, and it looks like I’m on this particular track until at least May. I guess that means it is time to roll down the windows and enjoy the wind in my hair.

March 15, 2006

Playback: Repeat.

In the typcial pattern of almost-spring, it has been a tedious couple of weeks in Erinland. It is nothing desperate; I have a lot to be happy about, and I am grateful. My emotional resources just seem to be running on the low end. I’ll dutifully accept a dreary week or month once in a while, but I’m looking forward to the upswing.

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Perhaps this is a naïve question, but if the Israelis were so concerned about Palestinian militants being freed from prison within the next few days, why didn’t they just wait to arrest them when they walked out? It seems like it would be a lot easier than conducting a highly controversial prison raid.

I know international relations are usually a bit stickier than that, but I just had to ask.

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Speaking of conflict, I’ve never been very keen on navigating the vast realm of unspoken female politics. I work with a staff of all women, and while I try to avoid making sweeping statements about an entire gender, there is a lot of nuance in the way that women interact within systems of power. Confrontation often becomes a series of hints underneath smiles of assurance that everything is fine. It can be exhausting to try and stay on top of it all.

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Happy 31st anniversary to my Mom and Dad! You rock.

March 13, 2006

There is such a thing.

I am happy to report that jokes from four months ago are still funny. I spent a majority of this last weekend with friends from my Africa team. We watched video clips from our trip, ate delicious Ethiopian food, and talked late into the night. The six of us piled easily into a five-seater car to get around town, and I couldn’t help but remember the matatu rides through Kampala with similar seating arrangements. All we were missing was a pile of luggage, a few curious strangers to squeeze in with, and the buzz of African radio.

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My full weekend left me absolutely exhausted, and I went to bed at 9:30 PM last night. I slept for ten hours, and my dreams held people dancing and something like summer and an underlying feeling of expectation.

March 11, 2006

No standard inflection.

There is something sublime about sharing poetry until one o’clock in the morning. I don’t get to do it often enough. Those lines which birthed us into adulthood still cradle deep moments of “Ah.” Read a poem aloud. It draws in the walls of a room and ignites the human spirit. Oh, the art of that line, that still true observation, how each word dangles in the air! The archaic and modern hold their own within the post-postmodern, and the great poets preside lightly in their aural monarchy.

March 10, 2006

Measure it in miles.

Disa is here to visit from California. She was one of the team that I traveled with in East Africa!

Disa and yarn.     Disa and Erin in Africa

Speaking of East Africa, Relevant Magazine just published an article on Lahash International and my friend Dan. Go check it out.

March 08, 2006

It could be contagious.

Something about today has been unbelievably dreary. Daylight never quite caught on. Cold rain has kept everyone scurrying between dark doorways like beetles exposed under a log. The day seems to have given up on itself, and frankly I’m in agreement with the decision.

There was one bright spot in all the gray. This flower popped up outside my window at work.



Did anyone have a good day today?

March 06, 2006

Something like a contented sigh.

Color me happy with life.

Tonight was lovely. I accomplished all of the little chores that I had planned to do- right down to the laundry. I was in my pajamas by 7:30 PM, and Carolyn and I shared a late dinner. My days are full of good relationships with wonderful people. How did I get to be so fortunate?

March 05, 2006

Five senses on Saturday.

I saw new neighbors moving in. Three white vans brought a household of things and the bustle of a family with at least two little girls. Our meeting was short, and the language barrier made it a bit awkward, but I’m looking forward to sharing the space of our lives.

I felt the warm sun streaming through windows. I had to reach for my sunglasses as I drove toward the light. The hint of spring tempts me to wear sandals when I know that I’ll regret it, but I can feel the promise of long summer days to come.

I heard a compliment from someone that I respect. I’m sure he didn’t realize the importance of his words to me, and it was couched in the menial small talk of coworkers. But it was the kind of unexpected gift that makes me blush in the moment and smile to myself on the way home.

I tasted my favorite breakfast cereal in the entire world: Corn Pops.

I smelled the pages of a book that I’m reading. That scent of ink and paper is the one consistent sensation that ties together the words that have shaped my life. I can simply close my eyes and feel the invitation to join in.

March 04, 2006

I spent Friday reading.

"In 1998, it was determined that it would take only thirteen billion dollars to eliminate starvation in the world. In 1999, the American church spent six billion dollars just on new buildings. How would the rest of the world react if they saw churches committing themselves to feeding the world instead of building luxurious sanctuaries, gyms, and family life centers?"

"The solution to world hunger is not forcing the poor to work harder; it is for the rich to work for equality."

Quotes from Praying Like Jesus: The Lord's Prayer in a Culture of Prosperity by James Mulholland

March 02, 2006

Ah-h-hem.

I'm in.

March 01, 2006

Eyes toward Canaan.

Memento homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.
Lent is here, and I am filled with anticipation. The next six and a half weeks will be time to prepare for the most significant celebration in the Christian tradition.

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And just for fun, here are some links for you all to enjoy.

Every day is a purposeful day. The creative ideas at this site are not to be missed (and it is updated daily). Props to Dot for first sending me to this page.

There are days at work when I would much prefer this to a keyboard.

Then there is this bit of musical inspiration. Is it wrong that I'm curious to hear how it would sound?

And finally, if you are a bored adolescent, you might as well cause trouble in one of these original ways.