Family Photo - Christmas Edition

Since my camera was stolen this summer I haven't blogged much, and haven't uploaded any pics. But Wanda took some great "family photos" tonight, and I borrowed her memory

card before she deleted stuff. So here we are, the Stevens House (Valerie, Noel, Wanda, Katie, Holly) and Theresa!

This is maybe the first photo of Holly, wow!

Christmas-y Links - Justice, Gifts, Emotional Health and COOKIES!

Hope your advent is going well.

I haven't blogged much over the past month I've been otherwise distracted ...

... speaking of, Richard has started his Christmas list of organizations to support as a gift to him this season. Which I think is an awesome idea. I need to do some thinking before I create my own list.

But on Sojourner's today, I learned that you can add non-profits and charities to your Amazon Christmas wish list. It doesn't even have to be from the Amazon website. Any online giving site anywhere on the web can be added to your wishlist. AMAZING!

Lynne Hybels wrote a description of what I think is a really emotionally and spiritually healthy take on Christmas.

I've started making Christmas cookies, starting with two VERY different food blogs.

"SnoWhite" is a friend of mine from High School who blogs anonymously. She is in her final year of a PhD program in Biology Education, married, active in her church and has the most detailed, organized cooking/menu planning blog I have EVER SEEN! She is sort of amazing. These cookies are the bomb! Mint chocolate cookie crunch.

101 Cookbooks is really cool too - vegetarian. But again these were AWESOME - Sparkling Ginger Chip Cookies. Yumm!

My sister is coming over today to help with Christmas baking part 2. Today is the day I get in touch with my ethnic heritage - krumkake (Norwegian), almond rusk (Swedish), potica (Slovenian, which I count as close enough to Croatian to count) and candy cane cookies (Candy Cane cookies have more to do with getting in touch with my [Great] Aunty Ann, who is really really tiny and quite old and adorable, not so much our ethnic heritage).

Repentance

Repentance.

It means to turn.

To recognize that you were going one way, the wrong way.

To turn around and make a change.

When I lived in Saint Louis my boss would ask me, "Katie have you repented today?" When we would make home visits to members of the congregation he would shout from the front yard, "Maria, repiente te!"

Day after day, we walk towards injustice, towards laziness, towards hatred, towards greed. EVERY day there's and invitation to turn back.

I LOVE it!

Today, executives at Zondervan made a public apology and turned from a book and curriculum that used inappropriate images and language that was based on offensive Asian stereotypes.

Read the letter here.

Hockey In The Hood

Literacy

My volunteers and I have been wrestling with the idea of planning curriculum and activities for a classroom full of kids who have a really wide range of abilities. Last week, in my 4th and 5th grade classroom my volunteers had 2 students (English speakers) who couldn't read from the kid's Bible in the classroom (writter supposedly at a 2nd Grade Level). In the same class were 3 students who read regularly from the adult translation of the Bible at home and are testing in the 9th or 10th grade reading level at school. Same grade, remarkable different worlds before them. Literacy will most likely make a difference.

Before Bethany moved to Taj. she was working for the Minnesota Literacy Council. She posted this YouTube video on facebook today and I started to cry watching it. (It may be that I'm missing Bethany a bit this week after talking to her or maybe because I recognize many of the student's faces or maybe because I still really believe in the power of education). This is the power of literacy and education in the lives of children, native English speakers and English Language Learners.

Watch it, be inspired.
(I'm having a hard time copying the code for embedding, so you'll have to click on the link instead either up above or here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-BWlwdQGL4&feature=player_embedded )

she must be silent

Let me tell you a story from when I was 10 years old:

I came home from school one day totally depressed that there were so many problems in the world. Rather than going outside to ride bikes in the alley with my sisters and friends, or pulling out toys or a book, or even turning on Nickolodeon, I pulled out a notebook and listed every problm I could see in the world.

I don't know how I got to this point, I remember circling things and drawing arrows, writing and re-writing the list*, but eventually I decided that racism was the worst problem in the world. That was what I would focus on and solve it. I didn't really take any concrete action that day, but racial and ethnic justice has been an important part of how I see myself and how I filter the world for a long time.

I have spent very little time considering issues of justice for women and girls. I would get angry when I heard statistics about income, and my heart would break for girls sold into prostitution by their families, but justice and gender were never quite the same level of importance to me as racial and ethnic justice.

And then I started Seminary, and a couple of things happened.

1. I was given a couple of opportunities to preach at church and discovered that I was fairly decent at it for a beginner and that it was something that I really really loved to do. Before it hadn't bothered me too much that there were sections of the church who argued that women shouldn't preach (based on a reading of 1 Tim. 2:12 without taking into account the unique cultural context it was written for). But now, that I was discovering this gift in me, and really feeling God's joy as I was preparing and preaching, I could no longer accept this position.
2. I mentioned casually to a guy friend of mine that I sometimes thought of getting a PhD. His response was so enthusiastic and empowering and unexpected that for the first time it became a real possibility in my life and I began to see how I had used my own gender to limit my possibilities.
3. Working for a Methodist Church and attending a Baptist General Conference (aka Converge Worldwide) school that draws from dozens of denominations I began to overhear a wide spread of views on women in leadership. But I was honored in my first quarter of sem to help plan a Community Forum on Women in Ministry and delighted that the question of the night wasn't, "should women be in ministry leadership?" but rather, "what challenges do women still face?" and "what has helped you thrive and persevere as a woman in ministry?"

This weekend I attended the inaugural meeting of a group for women in Christian leadership, Here's Sara's introduction to the group:

...I have noted a rising up in both in myself and in others around me the questions about what type of leaders we are, who we are becoming and who we will be. For many who are navigating systems that for various reasons may be either unsure, limiting, or exclusionary of women's gifting and leadership there is a sense of need for support, encouragement and/or empowerment. Thus began some reflections about what a group would look like whose mission was solidarity and support for women leaders.The dream is to be a space of support, mutuality, creativity, courage, and hope for more justice and love in the world...

The stories of the women in the group were unique. For some, they always believed that they could be anything, and seminary was the first place that they were told otherwise. For others, they had always assumed that being a woman meant being in a lower level of leadership and service and seminary was a place that they first empowering place in their lives. For some there were elements of both. I'm looking forward to finding my voice as a Jesus loving feminist.

I've been helping Steven with the High School youth group the past two weeks, talking about archetypes of men and women in dating. We used this clip from the Little Mermaid to talk about the voice that many women give up in order to get their man.



In the socially engaged evangelical blogging world over the past weeks the Deadly Viper book has been the most blogged about issue. The pimping out of Asian cultural images and ideas to tell a book about moral character has moved many to speak out against the cultural insensitivity and orientalism.

Sojourners today published an article today "walking, chewing gum" that gives voice to the sexist aspects of this book and asks the question: Is it possible to fight for racial and gender justice at the same time as we strive for the 'beloved community' or the 'kingdom of God'? I'll admit that once again, I missed this element and it's got me thinking.

The same friend who encouraged me towards getting a PhD or a Doctorate posted this on his facebook page this weekend enjoy!




*I still LOVE making lists and prioritizing and organizing ideas

Things I Never Knew Existed - Only in the Neighborhood

#1
Yesterday, driving down Lake, when I noticed a store offering a sale on baby blankets with this image on them Yes that's right, Scarface baby blankets, only $20.

Because you want your baby to learn to shoot guns while smoking a cigarette perhaps? I'm not sure.

#2
Also on Lake is a new store advertising Hambuguesas y Hotdogs en estilla Mexicana. I will be checking this out, because I have no idea what a Mexican style Hotdog is, but I love pork products and Mexican food, so I'm sure it will be delightful.

Not within our realm of thinking

OH...........MY...........GOSH

My coworker just showed me this. Costco stores are pulling "Lil' Monkey" brown skinned baby dolls from their shelves. I am working on being less judgmental, but HOW DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND WHY THIS IS OFFENSIVE!?

Mary Gustaff, CEO of The Brass Key, said her company did not intend
to offend anyone.

"It's not within our realm of thinking," she said.
"We just don't think like that."

This is why, in the 21st century we NEED to be surrounded by people who have different life and cultural experiences than us. Some things are beyond our natural "realm of thinking." We'll make fewer stupid mistakes like this if not everyone thinks in the same realm as us. Churches, schools, businesses, and non-profits NEED diversity to survive.

Chris Rice's lament for Detroit

Chris Rice (the author of Grace Matters, More Than Equals and Reconciling All Things) published a lament for Detroit on his blog today.

In the article, Rice referst to teaching the art of lament in his college class.

Lament - it's not a word we like. We don't like feeling sad, we don't like sitting with the hard things. We want to move on.

Read Chris's post, and the Time Magazine photo essay that inspired it.

A Story From Chicago - Violence Prevention

I saw this on Soong Chan Rah's blog:

Hi!

On Labor Day I met the boys who stand in the window and say, "Hi."

Somehow, before I met them, the two brothers and I started a game where we say an animal name to each other and then make the sound. This often happens 4 or 5 times a day. The younger one really like monkeys and frogs, and the older one loves ducks and dogs.

Mom came outside with the boys on Labor Day when I was home by myself and I walked across the street and met her, her brothers-in-law and the boys. It felt nice to make an actual connection (not that, "I'm a duck - quack quack quack" isn't super meaningful and grown up, it just was nice to use multiple word sentences).

They're moving in less than a month. Which is kind of sad to me.

It's not like I became bff with this mom, or her kids for that matter. But I am sad that we've moved rapidly from saying: "Hi!" --> "I'm a frog, ribbit ribbit, ribbit" --> actual grown up conversation in the last month that they'll be living here.

I want to build community in our neighborhood. It's hard though. Our neighborhood has one of the highest turnover rates in the city (which is partially why I waited in line for more than two hours to vote on election day, everyone was new to the neighborhood and needed to register). When a community is constantly in a state of change, how do you create a sense of belonging and community ownership?

One of the best protective factors for kids against drug use, teen pregnancy, gang activity, delinquency and crime, is a sense of connection to their school and neighborhood. I don't have the resources or the know-how, to help parents not have to move so much. But I do like to help people get to know one another and create a sense of welcome and belonging. That's something that fits with my personality and gifts.

So the question I'm thinking about is, how do you instill pride and connection in a community that may only be your community for a short time? Do you have any ideas?




PS - This is related to the animal sounds, not so much community.

I'm trying to squeeze in as much Spanish practice as I can before classes start on the 28th. Today I was listening to this podcast, "Showtime Spanish" while I was doing data entry at work, and I learned that dogs in Spanish say, "guau guau" not super useful, but fun.

Peaceful Dwelling Places

My (twin) coworker Steven loves to quote Isaiah 32:18:

My people will live in peaceful dwelling places
in secure homes,
in undisturbed places of rest.

That's my prayer for our house on this day after Labor Day, for the school year, that this house will be a peaceful dwelling place, secure and undisturbed, a place of rest.

We all have somewhat stressful lives outside of the house: work, school, clients, ministry students, and customers. We do important work, we often work long hours, our hearts often have a hard time leaving work.

But this house is a place of renewal and rest.

Thank you God!

Noel's First Soundbite

Noel, Theresa, Wanda, and Valerie went to the fair together today.

I was hanging out with High School work friends so I missed the fun, though they brought home Sweet Martha's - YUM! (and a pronto-pup hat, and a can holder from Chevy, (2 other things I've always wanted ;o))

Noel got interviewed by KTSP, he sounds pretty intelligent, like maybe he's in policy school or something. Here's a link to the story:



KSTP TV - Minneapolis and St. Paul - GOP Gubernatorial Hopefuls Debate at State Fair

Shared via AddThis

Saying Goodbye

I'm on my way to Bri's funeral. I thank God for the gift of her life.

Bri - You were too young. We love you and we miss you. One of the sweetest kids we'll ever get to know.

one year down - 9 million to go

Since my last post (from this morning) was kind of on the negative side, here's a positive post:

I'm done with my first 12 months of seminary!

The paper is turned in!

Two of the books that we read for this class were really good, and for many of you blog readers (Harmans, Kelsey, Richard, Harvey, Karla, Leah . . . I'm not sure who else does urban ministry or urban education and reads this:) ) really relevant to our work and life.

The first is Code of the Street by Elijah Anderson. It describes the moral code that lies behind some of what is seen as senseless violence and behavior in innercity Philadelphia. While the culture and the code is somewhat more concentrated in Philly than in Minneapolis or Saint Paul, the information is good.

The second is is Unequal Childhoods by Annette Lareau, which describes class differences in childraising and differing parenting styles in middle class, working class and poor families and how these parenting styles prepare kids for adulthood in the class that they were born in. This was a particularly interesting read for me, working in a ministry that is so diverse socio-economically. What I liked about this book was that Lareau surveys and tells the story of African American and White families at each income level.

There's a benefit of my seminary education, book reviews for you!

I have no idea if I have two years or four years or six years left. I don't know what I want to be when I grow up and whether I'll be Mastering the Art of Community Ministry Leadership(MA), Mastering Divinity(MDiv), or getting PhD or DMin. (of all the initials D.Min. sounds the stupidest). But it feels good to be done with a year!

So Holly and I are on summer vacation (from school our professional lives are kicking into high gear).

I'm off to bring Matt and Em to the airport, then Kassie and I are going to Garrison Keilor at the fair!


Peace,

Katie

Are People Crazy? A sort of angry rant.

So, I'm generally a fan of the President. I don't think that that's a surprise. I get that not everyone is.

That's OK!

But are people crazy?

President Obama is going to give a speech on September 8 telling kids to work hard in school. Seriously, not a very controversial topic as far as I can tell.

Yet people are calling this "Socialist Brain Washing" I don't understand it.

I didn't know that "work hard in school" was a leftist message.

Then, this morning I saw a post on Soong Chan Rah's fb about Southern Baptist Pastors praying for the President to die.

WHAT!?!?!

Disagree with the President. This is ok. This is good. Disagreement and dialogue refine us and make us more wise.

But to wish someone dead. . . and to publicly say that this is God's will that you're just praying in agreement with him. WHAT!?!?

These two stories make me so sad, angry and sick.

Back to School!

Kids in Minneapolis went back to school today. Pray for teachers, parents, kids, social workers, coaches, advisors, administrators, and the school board everyone in the school system.

We have two brothers that live in the first floor apartment across the street from us. Each day when I go out to my car or walk to the garden they stand at the window and say, "Hi!" It's really sort of odd. These two little boys, who have a tv and lots of toys in the apartment spend most of their day looking out the window hoping that one of the people outside will say "hi" back to them. Wanda told me that last week, a squad car slowed down as it drove through our neighborhood, and that the cop inside the car rolled down his window to say "hi" to the window boys. It's become a game that every adult in our neighborhood plays.

It started with just the big brother, then the baby came along, now Mom even comes to the window sometimes. I don't know their names, they never play outside. When we try to engage them in more conversation the language barrier gets in the way. The oldest brother has got to be kindergarten age or close to it now. I'm excited to see how school impacts him and his family.

I also promised about 2 months ago that I was going to do some research on performance pay for teachers, which is something that I haven't done yet, but will do. I have one more paper to write for Street Culture, The Poor and Urban Ministry , then I get my "summer vacation" from seminary (we don't start fall quarter until the end of September!) So forgive me and know that I haven't forgotten.

tangent: I was doing homework at the global market on Saturday and discovered "Obama Scented" lotion. It kind of smelled like Old Spice. Weird.

Tomatoes

Wanda said to Noel last night, "What do you think tomatoes grow on trees or something?"

Kinda.

Our garden (and Wanda's) is lousy with tomatoes. (I love that phrase "lousy with," we really ought to use it more).

I filled a large shopping bag with tomatoes this morning, skinned about half of them and filled 3 gallon ziplock bags with skinless tomatoes to put in the freezer. There are more tomatoes in the house than we can keep up with. We have made salsa, spaghetti sauce, margarita pizza, salad, curry, caprese salad, BLTs, and fried eggs on toast with tomatoes.

The harvest is PLENTIFUL! But the laborers are few, with Bethany settling in in Dushanbe there are fewer hands to harvest and weed and water.

Last week was a busy week for me professionally and academically, and a hard one personally. I've been working a lot of overtime and trying to finish my last summer school class. I had my 10 year reunion from High school on Saturday night and spent too much emotional energy feeling nervous about that. I didn't get much downtime last week.

One of my 17 year old students passed away on Monday and I've been struggling with my own grief and trying to be there for some of my friends and students that are also grieving.

So some of the tomatoes rotted in the garden on the vine. Getting to the garden just wasn't my priority last week.

Jesus, in the book of Luke (10:2) says, " "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

There are kids in Minneapolis who are ready to know that they are important, that they are a reflection of God's glory, that God loves them and that they can change the world. But if adults in the church don't take the time to teach it. . . I'm not sure what happens.

A week ago I had 80 volunteer positions to fill for Children's Ministry to launch well in three weeks. I sent out this prayer request to the women who pray for my ministry. Now with 2 weeks to go, 30 of those positions have been filled and there are many more people who have said that they are interested in serving, they just want to hear more.

I am blown away by the abundance.






*ps - we have a new roommate moving in - her name is Holly, she's in my bookclub and in the class next door to mine at seminary. I'll tell you more about her later.

Bethany's Blog again

Hey, the hyperlink to Bethany's blog wasn't working, but I fixed it, so incase you weren't able to get to it, here's B's blog http://www.bcgustafson.blogspot.com/

Tornado

We're all ok and the house is ok.

The tornado today touched down close to our house, but most of the damage seems to be on the other side of 35W. The Wells Fargo Mortgage building looks like it got a bunch of damage and there are a ton of trees uprooted and branches on the ground especially along 4th 5th and Portland Avenues.

But according to RT Ryback's facebook status (yeah, I'm one of RT's 5000 fb friends) no one was hurt and no one was killed. Praise God!

Three Things

I was at camp last week, and am still slowly regaining my strength and energy. I'm having computer issues, and my camera was stolen last week, so while there's a lot going on at our house I have no images :(

• Josh and Alison's Wedding (2) Noel, Theresa and I made the trek up to North Branch for Alison (one of the original Steven's house crew) and Josh's second wedding reception (the first, along with the ceremony, was in Florida early this summer). It was great to meet Joshua (super quality guy) and talk with friends we don't get to see often enough, besides Alison, Mandy, Annie, Pat, and Kendra. It was a very fun and holy afternoon. We were able to have some great conversations and it was a balance of total silliness and completely profound conversations.
• Bethany is in DC After our hike to North Branch, we came home for a quick Indian Food take out dinner, then moved B's luggage out to the car and said very tearful goodbyes. She's made it safely to DC, from there it's off to Istanbul and finally Dushanbe. She gets to stay in this gorgeous hotel a block off the National Mall for her training.
  
• The garden is exploding with produce. I filled the bowl to our salad spinner to the top overflowing with zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, chard and beets today. I am cooking dinner this week and am plotting what I can make using so much produce. Our friend Richard is bringing curry-tortilla chips and either mango chutney or mango salsa, so I think we need some sort of Indian/Caribbean/Latin fusion type of food (but maybe we're looking in the wrong direction) any ideas?
  

Tajikistan - or Tajiki-where? or Taczecherstan

So, have you always wondered what life is like in Tajikistan?

Probably not. If you have please leave a comment below, because I'd like to know who you are.

Most people ask, "Is that a real country?" when I tell them Bethany is moving to Tajikistan. (Or, if you're DJ* you say, "That sounds like a hood baby boy name.")

Well if you are wondering and don't have $4,000 laying around for a flight from Minneapolis to Dushanbe, now you have a great option :) Introducing Bethany's Tajikistan Tales blog.

Bethany leaves for DC one week from today, then she spends 5 days in Istanbul (this I'm sort of jealous of) then she's off to Dushanbe. This is our sad face :(

I leave tomorrow morning for camp with Park Avenue, Dinomights, Banyan and Christ's Children. I'm sad that I'm missing so much of B's last week, but also grateful to have a distraction from the sadness of saying goodbye.

*I tried to find a good picture of DJ so that you could get a good sense of where this comes from, but I didn't have much luck. Just believe me that it's even funnier coming from him.

Bye bye b!

Last night we had a party (#1) to say goodbye to Bethany before she leaves for Tajikistan. Party #2 was this afternoon, party #3 will be tomorrow.

We had a potluck then we laid hands on B and prayed for her. It was beautiful to pray in Spanish, English and Korean. (Later Evelyn gave her a blessing in French).

This picture is Ian, Ina, Kaori, Jay and the newest member of their family Lia. She's six days old. So tiny and cute! Jay used to spend a few nights a week at the Stevens House basement while he was in rotations for nursing school at Mankato. Kaori was pregnant with Ina at that point so it's been awhile since we saw them regularly, but it was great to see them.

Aren't we cute?

"I like me 'cus He likes me"

I have had great times with friends this week, Indian Buffet with Leah, a walk with Jenny, Vietnamese "salad" with Pa Kou, and tattoo shop with Rachel. One thing that came up in each conversation with these women was the fact the growing sense that we like who we are. Our confidence in God's love and the confidence that we've gained through our life experiences have given us a sense that we are becoming the people we were meant to be.

Today I was at a training for camp. We were asked to choose an image that served as a metaphor for our leadership style. I picked up a picture of a tree on a mountain. I know that when I'm "rooted and established" in love and in the solid rock of God's love, my leadership rocks. When I'm being blown in the wind, unsure of myself and of God's feelings for me, my leadership suffers.

This is a song by Kirk Franklin and Da' T.R.U.T.H. that has been one of my anthems since I heard it at camp last year. Enjoy.

A wedding story / How to build community - Buy from local merchants

My good friend Sara got married this weekend. She is one of the women that I admire most in the world and a huge part of how I became who I am.

Sara and I have been friends for almost 10 years now and she is a woman who embodies and values community. When she married Mr. Andrew Garbers this weekend it was so community oriented, from the invitations, to the preparation, to the ceremony, to the reception it was all about community. Their intimate community, their extended network of friends, family and colleagues, their geographical community, and even the global community.

One of the ways that Sara and Andy "built community" at their wedding was by keeping it local. The wedding was at an antique store just blocks from their house. The caterer was from their neighborhood too.

Andy and Sara "built community" at a global level too by purchasing fair trade coffee that is supporting important redevelopment work in Rwanda as their wedding favor.

My friend Katie posted this on the power of shopping local a couple months ago. I have to confess that it's really easy for me to shop online or in chain stores more often than I shop locally or independent.

But here's a toast, to Sara-Lynn and Andy. Your passion for each other, for God and for community at all levels is real and inspirational. Congratulations!!!!!!

Public Schools

Mad TV did a funny spoof on the "Dangerous Minds," "Freedom Writers" type movies, called "Nice White Lady" Eugene Cho includes the clip then talks about this stereotype, and then gives an example of a teacher in the Bronx.

Before I started teaching I thought that people like "Nice White Lady" were what was lacking in the public schools. But then I spent time in the schools and found teachers in the urban public schools that were more interested in professional development and improving their skills as teacher than I had ever found in the suburban, rural and small city schools. I found teachers who gave students their home phone number so that kids could call them at any time of day with homework or life questions. I found teachers who went to sporting events, baptisms, and 15aneras. Teachers had high standards for behavior and for work in their classrooms. I had expected to walk into Minneapolis Public Schools and find more bad teachers than good, and yet what I found were adults that were deeply committed to kids that had a lot of other factors working against them.

Now, it wasn't all rainbows and unicorns, I found some teachers and administrators who I was not impressed with, but over all, these were some of the most committed, hard working, loving, professional people I have ever met.

Minnesota has one of the highest achievement gaps between white and non-white students. I have heard it argued that this is partially because of the extra high standards that Minnesota has. (So we could theoretically close the achievement gap by lowering the standards for passing the tests, or making the test easier). But regardless of this, we have a situation where our white students are testing better on the state standards. This is not ok.

But, it doesn't seem like it's the teacher's fault, at least, not from my experience.

The Education secretary challenged the NEA last week to stop resisting pay for performance contracts for teachers. I deeply believe that we cannot allow the achievement gap to continue. It is not ok that we have a system that prepares kids differently depending on their ethnicity or race.

But I don't know that paying teachers more or less based on their students test scores will change that. I need to learn more. I don't know everything there is to know about pay for performance, but I know that it will need to be fairly complicated and nuanced.

I sat in my car and wept, last week, thinking about the achievement gap, and teacher pay. I wept for students who have more risk factors in their lives than I can count. I wept for teachers who are too often the scapegoat and stereotyped as either "Nice White Lady" or "uncaring/burntout/racist beurocrats."

My goal for this week is to learn more and to write letters. Then to pray for kids and teachers at Green and Whittier, and Jefferson and all the schools in our neighborhood. I don't know what the next step is, but I'll start there.

Lord have mercy.

NPR says Haters are gonna be haters

Well, not really, but. . .

I love NPR, no secret.

I also love Jay Smoothe of Ill Doctrine.

So imagine my delight when I found an "All Things Considered" story about Smoothe and Ill Doctrine. (This is the guy who brought us "How to Tell Someone The Sound Racist.")

Check out the story You will hear the word "hater" in a story by Neda Ulaby. WOW!!!!

el Shaddai - guest post by Bethany

Bethany will be leaving the Stevens House on August 17, to take a teaching job in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Below is a story she wrote connected to the garden we're a part of here and her teaching there.

The garden is a huge blessing in my life—it’s a source of recreation, fresh vegetables, green space in the city, and Christian fellowship through my friendship with L, another gardener. I had asked L to pray for me before and during my time in Tajikstan. About 10 days ago I was outside as she was walking by. The conversation went like this:

L: Bethany, I have to tell you something.

B: What’s up?

L: Well, I’ve been praying for you, and I couldn’t get the words “El Shaddai” out of my head. I did some research, and I think it may mean “God of the mountain.” Are there mountains where you’re going?

B: Yes, actually, Tajikistan is home to the 3^rd highest mountain range in the world, and it’s very mountainous.

L: Well, He’s there.

I found out later that Tajikistan is 93% mountainous, and that another meaning of El Shaddai is “the God who is enough.” That was a huge encouragement to me, and I thought about my conversation with L and El Shaddai for the rest of the week.

Then on Saturday I received a Tajikistan travel guide I had ordered. I eagerly began to read the section on Dushanbe, the capital city, where I will live. I was scanning the restaurant section for places I could go when I’m hungry for food from home, and I came across an entry for the Morning Star café, which according to the guide is a great place to buy American bakery items like brownies and cinnamon rolls. The guide goes on to say: “Run by customer friendly Americans and local staff. Café is a faith based partnership between local NGO El Shaddai and an evangelical Christian NGO. Their stated aim is to train impoverished young woman to be financially independent.” The guide also mentions that the café is located near the Pedagogical University where I will be teaching, which is also near my apartment. That was about as clear as God could get to tell me “I’m there, I will be there, and my people are there too.” I’m eager to see what God has in store for me there.

How does your garden grow

We're starting to have some success in our garden!


















Tomorrow there's a garden bbq/potluck/party. I'll have another update then, in the mean time check it out, we've got cherry tomatoes, cauliflower and purple and green cabbage thriving! The zucchini have blossoms. I had some of our basil and oregano on my dinner last night. YUMM!!!


We're so impressed with the garden community. Vietnamese American, African American, and European American. Young, not so young and old. Men and women.

Neighbors who we knew only by description (the guy who walks his cat each night) now have names (Dave).

I was nervous about not knowing how to do this gardening thing, but Luanne the garden coordinator offers her wisdom and reminds us that gardens need to be watered. Plus she shares produce from her garden (think the sweetest warmest sun ripened strawberry you've ever eaten).

Are you kidding?! I get to go to camp! Awesome!

This child is definitely excited to go to camp. Camp started last week at Park Avenue, and the summer staff has started a blog to share the story of what is happening at Park Avenue Youth and Family Services throughout the year. Check it out and pray for them.

Vacation part 3.2 Photos from DC

After our tour of the Holocaust Museum we hit the National Museum of American History, this probably was poor planning since we had just spent 4 hours reading and learning and feeling deeply the injustice of the Holocaust, but there are some really funny things at the American History Museum so we checked them out.

For example, here's Rosita with Oscar the Grouch and Seinfeld's "Puffy Shirt"

And, since word is (at the Stevens House at least) that I was raised by Muppets, here's me with my guardian/godfather Kermit, no offense to my actual Godfather, Wayne.


And this joke never gets old. (We're not actually related to them, we don't think, but if we were I probably wouldn't have to work anymore, those Matson's have money).

Vacation part - 3.1 photos from Baltimore

This first picture is me at the American Visionary Art Museum. A museum dedicated to artists with no formal art training, so Rabbis, engineers, surgeons, seamstresses and the severely mentally ill. Really really cool.

Here's the "Homicide Life on the Street" building, I wish that I was more familiar with the show, but I ate a crab cake and coleslaw across the street and it was delicious.


This is from the Basillica in Baltimore, it's done in a Neo-Classical style, like the Capitol and White house, which is kinda cool. This was actually the slave balcony, which struck me. I haven't ever considered the Catholic church's role in slavery but I guess on the Mason Dixon line at the turn of the 19th century this is an issue.
Here's Rosita, best hostess ever, grilling out by the pool at her apartment!


And finally, here I am in the Inner Harbor, by a Civil War era boat, very Baltimore, but I didn't pay the entrance fee, so I can't tell you much about it. :)

vacation - Part Two Washington DC

Oh DC!!!!!

As soon as Rosita and I got off the train in DC I was smiling. Like not just my usual, positivity in my my top five on strengths finder smiling, like smiling to the point where it hurt. Like, where it required concentrated effort to stop smiling.

We were in DC!

You see these buildings on TV, or in text books, or even in movies your entire life, and then you come out of a train station and there they are, in front of you. WOW!

You hear about people making policy and making speeches, and there's the actual, physical capitol building. So cool. It sounds super cheezy, but I feel like I have a better sense of Politicians as actual people doing actual jobs after being there, and I have a better sense of our ability to communicate and contact and influence those actual people after being there.

The first thing that we did in DC was a trip to the Holocaust Museum. Because Rosita is a federal employee, we were able to enter the exhibit right away. (Tip, you should always travel with federal employees and students, lots of deals).

The Holocaut Museum was beautiful, educational, and so sad. I was struck by a couple of different things.

• The Nazi's didn't start out with much power, but once they got some power they took more. I'm not sure what the implications are for us today, but it seems that we ought to be very careful about allowing people who have a platform of hate to take any degree of power.
  
• The United States, and other countries had many chances to take Jewish refugees, they even held a conference in Evian France about what to do with the refugees. A conference which ended with all of the nations saying basically, "wow, this Jewish thing in Germany and Austria and Poland is really bad, someone should do something about it, but we can't" There's one tragic story of a ship leaving Europe with the promise of being able to settle in Cuba, but by the time they got to Cuba they were denied entry, they then sailed to Florida, where they were again denied entry, only to sail back to Europe. Again, I don't know what the right lesson is for us today, but it seems that history will judge those who don't take action and don't welcome those who are suffering injustice and I think that our immigration and refugee policies probably could use a little work to make them more just.
  
• Most of the churches became, or maybe already were tools to indoctrinate people in anti-semitism, but those Christians and churches that courageously criticized Hitler, or sheltered Jewish children and families are remembered well. Andre and Magda Trocme in France, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the confessing church in Germany. Once more, I'm not sure what courageous action we are called to take, but I believe that courage and resistance gives the world a more accurate picture of Jesus' heart than quiet acceptance of what is going on around us.
  
• I was there on Friday, June 5, I was back in Minneapolis on June 10 when Officer Johns was shot, but it shook me up a little bit. Between the murder of George Tiller and the shooting at the Holocaust museum, I worry that this may be the summer of hate crimes. Let's pray that it's not. Let's speak up when we hear hateful speech, let's make sure that our own language is "rooted and established in love."

Vacation - Part One Baltimore

Baltimore was relaxing. I stayed with my friend Rosita, who is perhaps the kindest soul that you'll ever meet and the best hostess. She showed me fun neighborhoods, fed me good food, let me swim in her pool and watch cable tv. I needed some downtime. I went to an art museum, ate crab cakes and sushi, toured a neo-classical bassilica, wrote in my journal, drank coffee, it was slow and peaceful and pretty much what was needed for the start of my time away.

One of the most startling things about Baltimore is the homicide rate, and how it almost seems to be celebrated. For instance, one of the famous "tourist" destinations is the building where "Homicide Life on the Street" was filmed. And have you seen "The Wire"? Wow!

The first two nights that I was in Baltimore the lead story on the evening news was that Baltimore was now the city in the U.S. with the highest homicide rate. The third night, they reported that Detroit had reported their numbers incorrectly, so actually, Detroit was number one, making Baltimore number two.

Someone, I'm guessing that it was Brian, Allison's old boss, once told her that each city has a sin that grips it. An injustice that pervades the culture and the landscape of that city. Whether rage, or greed, or arrogance, or sloth. If that's true, what would Minneapolis' biggest stronghold be? St. Paul's? Duluth's?

Soong Chan Rah!

Soong Chan Rah was here while I was on vacation :( I didn't get to go, but some of my coworkers went. He has two great new posts on his new blog this week, one on "the fatherless" and another on "new media and cross-cultural communication"

Martial's going to borrow my book and read it, and I'd like to read it when I get my second summer vacation. Has anyone read it?

Sound of Music

This has nothing to do with our house, except that we're often singing songs from musicals and that we're a little quirky. I like the joy, whimsy and spontaneity of this:




Happy Wednesday.

Does your hair feel like mine?

Check out this picture of President Obama with a little boy in the Oval Office. The little guy (whose skin tone is about the same as the President's) wanted to know if their hair felt the same.

I don't pretend to believe that Obama's presidency now opens the doors for every child to be
whatever he or she wants to be, BUT I do think that moments like this, feeling that the President's hair feels like your own hair, might expand the possibilities.

Speaking of the White House, tomorrow I'm off to visit my great friend Rosita in Baltimore and we're going to go check out the DC hot spots too. Don't worry, I'll tell Keith and Amy and Barack "What's up!" from Minneapolis!

coming to homerica

Anyone see The Simpson's episode, "Coming to Homerica?"

A flood of Norwegian immigrants come into Springfield.

Between the Norwegian/Minnesota Vikings jokes, and the commentary on immigration policy, it is worth watching, I know it's old school, but I still love the Simpsons. Find it on Hulu.

wordle

I've seen these before, but never made one. Here's a wordle word cloud using the text of my final paper on Deuteronomy 6, the Shema.

It's good to know that I used the words, "Love" "Lord" and "God" a lot in the paper.

Genesis to Ruth

Today I finished my first year of seminary. My brain is F-R-I-E-D. But, vacation is now 3 work days away.

I took the final exam for my "Genesis to Ruth" class this morning. Judges and Ruth were my two favorite books. Judges because it's super dramatic and twisty (think telenovella's for the Ancient Near East). Left handed judges, killing kings with copious amounts of belly fat, sex-addicted nazarites, sweets out of lion carcasses, a woman who pretends to be taking care of a guest to her tent only to stab him in his sleep. So much drama! Ruth because it's really compassionate, brave and tender. The book of Ruth is a short four chapters, but the story is beautiful, and this immigrant widow becomes a matriarch to both King David and Christ.

Speaking of Ruth, today starts the festival of Shavuot in the Jewish community. It's a time when the Ruth narrative is read. Rabbi Arthur Waskow asks the question, "What if Ruth came to America?" It's worth a read.

Two very different, yet equally holy meals.

Memorial day was fantastic! Noel cooked 3 kinds of meat (four if you you count saucy ribs and not-saucy-ribs as separate meats) on the grill. A family of five, that we've been friends with for a long time came over. It was fun to have kids in the house again, eat lots of meat and talk honestly about our experiences in the neighborhood. It was sunny, we played croquet, we ate a lot of meat and chips and watermelon. We even got drumstick ice cream cones and scooby-doo pushups for desert. I wish that we had pictures, our faces were pretty awesome covered in sauce. It was Holy, it was community, it fed my soul. Thanks LeMays for coming over, you made our days!

This afternoon, I went to lunch with my friend Leah. Leah has a gift of being able to balance the deep conversations with the funny ones. It was cloudy, I was moving slowly and we went to St. Martin's Table, by Riverside and Augsburg. The servers at St. Martin's table are volunteers. The food is simple, there are seven options on the menu, it's vegetarian. Things take awhile to get to your table, and you pay for your meal in a Christian bookstore, filled with resources about Justice, prayer, worship, environmental activism and multiculturalism. Our meals were delicious and simple. The tips from our meal went to support an East African woman's organization. The waitress was a gentle volunteer in her seventies. It was Holy, it was community, it fed my soul. Thanks Leah for going to lunch, you made my day.

Meals are one of the most spiritual things we can do with one another. With three whole years of public ministry to report on, the gospel writers spend a lot of that paper writing about meals. Jesus feeds huge crowds (twice), He changes water in to wine at a wedding feast, there's the last supper and the breaking of bread after the resurrection on the road to Emmaus, He makes Peter and the disciples a fish breakfast on the beach, Zaccheus invites Him over for lunch. You'd think that with just three years to save the world the Messiah might have eaten on the road. But he chose to take the time to eat and to build community.

I remember being at a meeting at church on a Tuesday night. A longtime member of the church said something that offended me deeply. I was mad. I confess, my attitude towards him was not exactly Christlike when I went home that night.

The next night, I was late to our church meal. There really was only one obvious open chair left in the room when I got downstairs. I piled my plate with fried chicken and salad and sat down next to him. Something happens when you share a meal with someone. Rather than seeing them as an adversary in a debate, they become your brother, your uncle, your mom, your niece. Rather than seeing this man as an offensive "other" I was able to see him as a father, a husband, someone who deeply loved his family, whose faith was real. I don't remember what the issue was we were debating at that Tuesday night meeting. It clearly doesn't matter too much anymore. I do remember him talking about how much he loved his kids that night. Which is probably more important anyway.

Congrats Valerie

Thursday Valerie graduated from St. Kate's with a Master's Degree in Organizational Leadership.


So, if you're looking for an HR professional with expertise in diversity initiative tracking and accountability. . .

How much do you love this photo?

Thanks Wanda.

Happy Birthday Bethany

Today is Bethany's birthday.

Happy Birthday to the most courageous, committed, caring and compassionate person we know!

We're already starting to miss Bethany, who will be moving on to big things across the globe at the end of the summer. (More on that later).

This is a picture of Bethany taking a minute to stop and watch some Bald Eagles soar above the Twin Cities on hike this spring.

Here's a Psalm of Praise for Bethany's birthday!

Psalm 103
1 Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
6 The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.

Pastor-in-Chief

Last night Tessa and I scored free tickets to see Krista Tippett from American Public Media's "Speaking of Faith" interview Joshua DuBois, the director of President Obama's religious outreach in the campaign and now director of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

I was excited about the night, and almost purchased tickets for the night. I've got to say, that I'm glad that I got the tix for free, it was interesting, but not $18.00(MPR member rate) interesting.

This Joshua DuBois is an impressive guy, 26, Associate Pentecostal Pastor, Masters Degree in Public Policy, Cabinet level position in the Executive Branch. I mean, I kind of feel like a slacker compared to him. I mean, c'mon, I'm 28, and what have I accomplished? ;)

I admire President Obama and Mr. DuBois', ability to broaden the religious/political conversation in America. I think that one thing that the campaign did really well was listening to people's stories, and then making sure that language was inclusive to people of all faiths and non-faith.

The convesation last night had some interesting points, but in general it was so "Washington" it was so, "these are my talking points and what I'm allowed to say." So I was kind of disappointed. Even the brilliant probing questions and über tranquil and wise voice of Krista Tippett couldn't get him away from a series of formulated answers.

The most shocking point of the night came at the end though - Larry Jacobs, the moderator of the audience questions asked Mr. DuBois about his basketball game.

I can only assume this is because he is a young black man, and I'm a little shocked that someone who teaches political science at the University of MN would ask such a stupid question. I mean, Mr. DuBois is already an Associate Pastor, has a Master's in Public Policy and has worked on a super successful presidential campaign. Do you think he's had a lot of time to work on his game lately?

Why in 2009 are we still assuming that every black man plays basketball, AND even if they do play basketball, why do we make it a part of our discussion about RELIGION and POLITICS. He would not have asked a white person this question, nor would he have asked this question to an African American woman.

Geez!

Here's a link to the Newscut blog, which live blogged the conversation.

Stop littering!

Our house is on the corner.

People often sit in our front yard as they wait for the bus.

People often eat snacks and partake in *ahem* beverages as they wait for their busses.

People often leave the wrappers and bottles from these snacks and beverages in our front yard.

We have a lot of trash in our yard.

Wanda may have found a way to help the problem.

Through the city of Minneapolis she signed us up for an adopt a trash can program. The city provides a trash can and bags, we commit to emptying it regularly. They commit to taking care of any damage to it.

Another great reason to love Minneapolis! Go city of lakes!!!!

Tending chives (a somewhat posed photo of Bethany)

We've got a lot of our plants and seeds in the dirt now. It's been a fun process, though with the spring pollens allergies have slowed me down a bit.

Here's B at the garden last night. We put in two woodchip paths to help us get around the garden a little bit, tomatoes, peppers and zucchini are in the ground. I've met a few new neighbors and even learned that there's a tool shed (who knew?)

It's a week of transitions and changes:

B and Noel are on their way to Allison's (one of the first generation Steven's House girls) wedding in Florida. My sister graduated with a civil engineering degree last week. Noel is working on his last paper of the quarter on the plane. I've got 7 papers to write still :( but the school year is almost over. School year programming is almost done at Park Avenue and the summer staff is almost hired.

Happy Friday!

Empathy / Enabling

We've been reading about "empathy" for my Personal and Spiritual Formation class.

One idea that has challenged me is the idea of empathy sometimes being the worst thing that we can do for someone. That in our desire to be merciful repeatedly we end up enabling destructive behaviors by constantly coming to the rescue.

As Christians we are called to show mercy to the hurting, and we believe that it is not our job to judge but God's.

Yet we need boundaries in our life. Being taken advantage of stinks. Plus, coming to the rescue can teach patterns of irresponsibility and does not create long term transformation, but rather short term satisfaction.

But aren't we supposed to love our neighbor as we love ourselves and give to everyone who asks?

Why aren't answers easier?

Bart Campolo* told a story on the God's Politics blog today - he describes the struggle of loving a neighbor who knows how to manipulate him:

Lately I find myself wondering about that bargain, about whether the ‘grace’ my friends and I give our neighbors here is anything like the real thing. I mean, on one level offering our love without condition to broken people in a hard place sounds like a righteous thing to do. Moving into this neighborhood to establish genuine friendships across seemingly insurmountable barriers of race, class, and culture sounds more authentic than just dropping in to establish food, clothing, medical care, education, or housing programs. . .

. . . Giving grace? Maybe. But if it is grace at all, it certainly isn’t the same kind that God gives. God, after all, is no sucker. He may make all the goodness in the world available to anyone who wants it, but as far as I can tell, you have to actually want that goodness in order to actualize it. God makes the first move, over and over until you respond, but it takes two to tango. The gift is being shown the way, and being allowed to learn how to dance in good company, so you show up in shape for the party.

I don't know how to resolve this tension, maybe you do.

I think though, that it's like the Donald Miller book Blue Like Jazz says, "I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. . . . I used to not like God because God didn't resolve."

Sometimes we are invited to live in the place of the unresolved.






*Bart gets a star because:
1- He used to work at Park Avenue;
2 - He wrote a chapter in one of his books about a friend of mine;
3- I hear that when he led 6th Grade Traveling Camp he lit his chest hair on fire on the beach on Madeline Island (This is something that I never did when I was leading the trip.) ;o)


**if you google image search "empathy" you get really weird things, try it

some seed

Cool! We got a shout out on Emily's blog, welcome to anyone who found us from there.

Our neighbor Jorge tilled our garden plot at the community garden this afternoon. We'll start planting tomorrow I think. It was great to be over there this afternoon for a few minutes to meet neighbors and see the plot again.

Our porch right now is an awesome place. In little peat pots and plastic containers all over our front porch filled with seeds and plants in various stages of growth.

I planted broccoli and cauliflower seeds most recently and they sprouted so quickly. I was so happy to see them come up.

I planted banana peppers a couple weeks ago. I have 3 of the 12 plants up, but mostly they're just barely coming out of the dirt. I'm not sure if I'll get anything from these seeds or not.

Jesus told a story about seeds:

"Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times." (Mark 4 TnIV)

This week some friends of mine discovered that some young people we have been spending a lot of time with, praying for and speaking truth into their lives had seriously wronged people in our community. It certainly felt and looked like we were planting seeds. It felt like we were seeing growth. The day that the incident took place I had just spent time bragging about one of the kids involved. I had seen change in the life of this youth and I had seen hope. Yet. . . who knows? The God who has a plan with a future and a hope for these young people is not done doing this work.

I cannot control the outcome, yet I long for good things for these three young people who I care deeply for.

I don't know how many of the vegetables that Noel and Bethany and I plant we'll be able to eat. I don't know how long it will take for my banana peppers to bear fruit. I don't know, part of being a gardener, especially, I suspect a new gardener is that you just have to try what you know, ask questions, long for the best and see what happens.

May you bear a lot of fruit.

we're internet sensations

This is silly:

Kinda Fonda Wanda?



Why doncha come on over Valerie?



What is so maybe about Katie?

cinco de mayo

Maria (former roommate) and Roel came to visit this weekend. We celebrated Maria's birthday at Pancho Villa on Saturday night (Parilla Combo a.k.a $40 meat pot, and 2 kinds of shrimp and octopus coctels, YUM!!!)

Sunday night we hit Cinco de Mayo on Lake and 27th for some Elote. Elote is perhaps the most delicious food you will ever eat. Grilled corn on the cob, lime juice, mayonaise, parmesean cheese and chile pepper.

I love this, we all look so happy, well, Roel either looks like he's got the "don't mess with me face" on or he is in a lot of pain, (he was actually in a lot of pain and left almost as soon as this photo was taken in order to go to the hospital).

I want to write more about how the Latino community in our neighborhood has blessed and shaped me, but I've got three papers to write before I go to class tonight so that will be a later post. Happy cinco de celebracion.

Thanks Theresa for taking the picture, and Wanda for the use of the camera.

Shalom,
Katie

Emily

Emily, our former roommate, professor and author has launched a blog full of book reviews, reflections on human rights and teaching. I've included some of Emily's poetry here before.

Emily is one of the most talented writers you will ever meet. I am looking forward to reading her thoughts.