i've been told my blog post with the pictures is confusing and weird...sometimes i forget that not everyone is a huge fan of "the waste land." sorry about that...
so there is this poem by ts eliot called "the waste land" and it is really long and super confusing and full of famous lines like april is the cruellest month and that corpse you planted last year in the garden/has it begun to sprout? and I will show you fear in a handfull of dust. My favorite lines are
My friend, blood shaking my heart
The awful daring of a moment's surrender
Which an age of prudence can never retract
By this, and this only, have we existed
Which is not to be found in our obituaries...
---
the other quote from that post is by Samuel Beckett, who wrote Waiting for Godot, a play in the absurdist style that is basically about the hopelessness and futility of life. Thia and I have been obsessed recently by this idea of being MAD FOR LIFE and I thought the quote about being born mad and *REMAINING* so was an excellent fit. i forgot that not everyone - anyone, really - is privy to our late night discussions about how we can live out our passion for life.
so. pretty much that post was about a late night walk in the mist that Meg, Clare, Thia and I took. we went and walked and soaked in beauty and lived in the present like ... good zen buddhists? like good Christians, really. but this is a discussion for a different day. hah.
we walked and talked and thought about how life is beautiful and vibrant and a gift and meditated on how we want to REMAIN MAD. and i thought about how the awful daring of a moment's surrender (to God, to life, to glorious aliveness) is the thing that matters and it is not what is going to show up in my obituary. when i die, someone will write of me my college and career and accomplishments, and they will in doing this miss the most important parts of my life. most important is those beautiful moments when i realize how lovely life is, how sharply sweet is the smell of fall, how piercingly wonderful is an hour with a friend, how deep joy can run if i just pay attention to what is going on around me.
most people go through life half asleep, yeah? i'm not going to be one of them.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Thanksgiving
I'm going to be home tomorrow!!!!!! AH!
Tonight I got to go to the most interesting coffeehouse...it was about US involvement in Iraq. And I don't even know how to explain it. Except to say that "God made all people. And the best way to honor him is by paying attention." I think it is quite possible that I might end up taking Elementary Arabic with Louis Yako this spring...
haha - you know it is worth it when I consider messing up my perfectly arranged schedule. :P
then I went to the Thanksgiving hymn sing. beautiful. that reminds me. we sang a hymn at the early church on sunday that i really liked and i don't remember its name. i think it was 610? in the blue Menno hymnal they all use down here. 600-something. eh, i'll look it up on the 6th i guess.
I CAN'T WAIT TO BE HOME. :) :) :)
Tonight I got to go to the most interesting coffeehouse...it was about US involvement in Iraq. And I don't even know how to explain it. Except to say that "God made all people. And the best way to honor him is by paying attention." I think it is quite possible that I might end up taking Elementary Arabic with Louis Yako this spring...
haha - you know it is worth it when I consider messing up my perfectly arranged schedule. :P
then I went to the Thanksgiving hymn sing. beautiful. that reminds me. we sang a hymn at the early church on sunday that i really liked and i don't remember its name. i think it was 610? in the blue Menno hymnal they all use down here. 600-something. eh, i'll look it up on the 6th i guess.
I CAN'T WAIT TO BE HOME. :) :) :)
Friday, November 20, 2009
by this, and this only, have we existed/which is not to be found in our obituaries
"We are all born mad. Some remain so." -Samuel Beckett
Monday, November 16, 2009
my life is beautiful
i had the best weekend. i feel sometimes like it cannot be possible for my life to be any better than it is right now. although i guess when i finally get to OChem and Developmental Biology and Ways of Knowing and [oh, i hope] the Dante class...
anyway, i just have a beautiful life.
i wish all my PA readers could come visit the early church with me. i love it SOOO much. i feel this huge sense of love and belonging and grace when i am there. yesterday i was at church and - i love how they pray. at the end of a service they have "the prayers of the faithful," where it is open for anyone to pray out loud, and when they are finished, they say "We pray to the Lord," upon which everyone else says [loudly] "Lord, hear our prayer!" Ron says - pray with excitement! You know what an exclamation point means! This is how God asks us to pray!
after church was over, we went to a house affiliated with Our Community Place to eat lunch. a man who is somehow involved with OCP [I think...i'm a little sketchy on details here] got an award from MMA. there are a few houses near each other and they have garden space around them. apparently people can come and help work the gardens and in return get some of the produce. and the one house has rooms inside for people to stay in and a little chapel...
there were so many people there. people from the early church and people from other churches who knew the guy getting an award. it was beautiful because it was so - odd. like - there was a girl there with bright pink hair. there were beautiful little kids. there were older people. i was listening to conversations and i heard these two old-ish men talking about the misconceptions they have held in their heads and hearts about the homeless. oh, it was so beautiful.
there was so much food! all of a sudden i felt like concepts from my confusing Ethics class sprang to life before my eyes. by this i mean: we all had enough. there was abundance brought out of scarcity. and the man who was sort of in charge of setting out the meal was speaking of the gardens and "putting them to sleep for the winter" - this reminded me of all of the times we have spoken of land care in Ethics.
so we gathered, sang a Jewish folk song that someone had learned in one of the New England states at a Passover Seder, and ate. Thia, Rebekah, and I ended up sitting with an older couple. You will NEVER guess who they were.
Do the names Joe and Hannah Lapp mean anything to any of you?
let me explain: FORMER PRESIDENT OF EMU. we had an entire conversation without finding out who they were. and then, casual as anything, he says, "Do any of you have a class in the President's room? You might see me there." And i was just like NO WAY. Ah! because i DO have a class in the President's room and I know that the portrait of every EMU president is hanging there. so i sort of did a very quiet freak-out and then i told him that i have a mug with his name on it. rinn gave me that mug; i told them that, too, and they remembered her! It was so awesome.
In other news: I'm sick. blech.
And sometime I need to write about "Morally Responsible Investment in Palestine" and Honors from last week: chirality
I can't wait for Thanksgiving.
anyway, i just have a beautiful life.
i wish all my PA readers could come visit the early church with me. i love it SOOO much. i feel this huge sense of love and belonging and grace when i am there. yesterday i was at church and - i love how they pray. at the end of a service they have "the prayers of the faithful," where it is open for anyone to pray out loud, and when they are finished, they say "We pray to the Lord," upon which everyone else says [loudly] "Lord, hear our prayer!" Ron says - pray with excitement! You know what an exclamation point means! This is how God asks us to pray!
after church was over, we went to a house affiliated with Our Community Place to eat lunch. a man who is somehow involved with OCP [I think...i'm a little sketchy on details here] got an award from MMA. there are a few houses near each other and they have garden space around them. apparently people can come and help work the gardens and in return get some of the produce. and the one house has rooms inside for people to stay in and a little chapel...
there were so many people there. people from the early church and people from other churches who knew the guy getting an award. it was beautiful because it was so - odd. like - there was a girl there with bright pink hair. there were beautiful little kids. there were older people. i was listening to conversations and i heard these two old-ish men talking about the misconceptions they have held in their heads and hearts about the homeless. oh, it was so beautiful.
there was so much food! all of a sudden i felt like concepts from my confusing Ethics class sprang to life before my eyes. by this i mean: we all had enough. there was abundance brought out of scarcity. and the man who was sort of in charge of setting out the meal was speaking of the gardens and "putting them to sleep for the winter" - this reminded me of all of the times we have spoken of land care in Ethics.
so we gathered, sang a Jewish folk song that someone had learned in one of the New England states at a Passover Seder, and ate. Thia, Rebekah, and I ended up sitting with an older couple. You will NEVER guess who they were.
Do the names Joe and Hannah Lapp mean anything to any of you?
let me explain: FORMER PRESIDENT OF EMU. we had an entire conversation without finding out who they were. and then, casual as anything, he says, "Do any of you have a class in the President's room? You might see me there." And i was just like NO WAY. Ah! because i DO have a class in the President's room and I know that the portrait of every EMU president is hanging there. so i sort of did a very quiet freak-out and then i told him that i have a mug with his name on it. rinn gave me that mug; i told them that, too, and they remembered her! It was so awesome.
In other news: I'm sick. blech.
And sometime I need to write about "Morally Responsible Investment in Palestine" and Honors from last week: chirality
I can't wait for Thanksgiving.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
shakespeare
thia and i got invited to go to a shakespeare play by lucas. this is probably going to be the best thing ever! at least of this week. :) what a beautiful life.
............edit.....
AH THIS WAS THE BEST THING EVER! AT LEAST THIS WEEK! :) deserving of CAPS LOCK awesome.
you will not believe this. ok. so it was me, thia, meg, lucas, nathan, and stewart [which by the way...these five people are some of the most interesting i've ever met in my life. ok]. we got there a little later than we planned and asked if we could get student price tickets and the person behind the counter was like, "Sorry, standing room only. you'll have to wait and see if there are any seats left." so we hung out for a few minutes and then lucas went up to ask again. And a different guy was there, and he said - well, how many are there? six? um...i think there are six seats left on stage...
I got to sit ON STAGE. and interact with the actors. and we had $11 tickets. and the theater was gorgeous -
ah. i can't even explain how awesome it was.
we were reading on the way there and back; we ran through the parking garage; i gave one of the villains a high five during the performance; thia told me that my new favorite song A beautiful world is the soundtrack to my life...
its so true. this is a beautiful life/and this is a beautiful world.
............edit.....
AH THIS WAS THE BEST THING EVER! AT LEAST THIS WEEK! :) deserving of CAPS LOCK awesome.
you will not believe this. ok. so it was me, thia, meg, lucas, nathan, and stewart [which by the way...these five people are some of the most interesting i've ever met in my life. ok]. we got there a little later than we planned and asked if we could get student price tickets and the person behind the counter was like, "Sorry, standing room only. you'll have to wait and see if there are any seats left." so we hung out for a few minutes and then lucas went up to ask again. And a different guy was there, and he said - well, how many are there? six? um...i think there are six seats left on stage...
I got to sit ON STAGE. and interact with the actors. and we had $11 tickets. and the theater was gorgeous -
ah. i can't even explain how awesome it was.
we were reading on the way there and back; we ran through the parking garage; i gave one of the villains a high five during the performance; thia told me that my new favorite song A beautiful world is the soundtrack to my life...
its so true. this is a beautiful life/and this is a beautiful world.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
when it is rainy and cold outside
...the most unappealing thing in the world is to bike to your workstudy. ugh.
but thia made me some peppermint hot chocolate...i have the best roommate ever.
but thia made me some peppermint hot chocolate...i have the best roommate ever.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
New Favorite Song
My new favorite song is [gasp, NOT by Jars of Clay] a song by my mom's cousin Keith. Its called A Beautiful World.
After the 8 or 9th time listening to it tonight I sort of lost track...
If you have a copy of his cd Permanance and Motion you should definitely listen to this song right now. For the rest of my readers I have carefully listened to the song many times and transcribed it below. :) All mistakes are mine. All awesome lyrics belong to Keith Hershberger. [particularly awesome is: Don't get me wrong, I'm not falling for you - I'm just falling in love with my life.] :) :) :)
Driving into Pittsburgh
From the country at night
Watching the stars disappear into city lights
And I'm sitting shotgun
Priscilla's at the wheel
Tell me now what you're thinking
Tell me now can you feel
Can you feel...
Feel the magic in moments like this
The glow of a good conversation,
The pause before a kiss
The hour after sunset when the sun still lights up the sky
A car and a road and a full tank of gas
And a good friend by your side
Its a beautiful moment
I'm watching you drive
Don't get me wrong, I'm not falling for you -
I'm just falling in love with my life.
And you're here in it
And you're a beautiful girl
And this a beautiful life
And this is a beautiful world
And I know there's magic in moments like this
The taste of a good cup of coffee
The pause before a kiss
The hour after sunset when the sun still lights up the sky
A car and a road and a full tank of gas
And a good friend by your side
[guitar...]
I feel the magic in moments like this
The glow of a good conversation
The pause before a kiss
The hour after sunset when the sun still lights up the sky
A car and a road and full tank of gas
And a good friend by your side
Driving into Pittsburgh
North on 79
Watching stars and passing cars
And falling in love with my life
It's a beautiful feeling
And you're a beautiful girl
And this a beautiful life
And this is a beautiful world.
After the 8 or 9th time listening to it tonight I sort of lost track...
If you have a copy of his cd Permanance and Motion you should definitely listen to this song right now. For the rest of my readers I have carefully listened to the song many times and transcribed it below. :) All mistakes are mine. All awesome lyrics belong to Keith Hershberger. [particularly awesome is: Don't get me wrong, I'm not falling for you - I'm just falling in love with my life.] :) :) :)
Driving into Pittsburgh
From the country at night
Watching the stars disappear into city lights
And I'm sitting shotgun
Priscilla's at the wheel
Tell me now what you're thinking
Tell me now can you feel
Can you feel...
Feel the magic in moments like this
The glow of a good conversation,
The pause before a kiss
The hour after sunset when the sun still lights up the sky
A car and a road and a full tank of gas
And a good friend by your side
Its a beautiful moment
I'm watching you drive
Don't get me wrong, I'm not falling for you -
I'm just falling in love with my life.
And you're here in it
And you're a beautiful girl
And this a beautiful life
And this is a beautiful world
And I know there's magic in moments like this
The taste of a good cup of coffee
The pause before a kiss
The hour after sunset when the sun still lights up the sky
A car and a road and a full tank of gas
And a good friend by your side
[guitar...]
I feel the magic in moments like this
The glow of a good conversation
The pause before a kiss
The hour after sunset when the sun still lights up the sky
A car and a road and full tank of gas
And a good friend by your side
Driving into Pittsburgh
North on 79
Watching stars and passing cars
And falling in love with my life
It's a beautiful feeling
And you're a beautiful girl
And this a beautiful life
And this is a beautiful world.
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