I wanna dance the tango with chance
I wanna ride on the wire
'Cause nothing gets done with dust in your gun
And nobody respects a liar
So goodbye for a while I'm off to explore
Every boundary and every door
Yeah I'm going north
I wanna know where children would go
If they never learned to be cool
'Cause nothing's achieved when pushed up a sleeve
Till nobody thinks you're a fool
So goodbye for a while I'm out to learn more
About who I really was before
Yeah I'm going north
Up where the hunted hide with ease
Under the arms of eye-less trees
Up where the answers fall like leaves
Oh and your love is all I need
Yeah I'm going north
I'll be back October 31st...
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
The Center for Nature and Christian Spirituality
Hello friends and family!
It’s been over a month since starting my program at Westminster Woods called The Center for Nature and Christian Spirituality and today I think I might be at a place to start informing you of what we are doing here.
Our first month was a month of observation as seen in the Permaculture design process. The idea of Permaculture (or sustainable agriculture) seems to be one that engrosses all of the many things we are doing here. The Wikipedia page says that “Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that mimic the relationships found in natural ecologies.” Why fight against nature when you could work with it? In designing anything with a Permaculture approach, you first observe to see what is already in motion. That’s what this month has been.
So in the list of things we are doing, Permaculture is one of them. We are being certified in Permaculture in February but are getting some foundations now. Part of that is because we are looking at creating a teaching, herb garden at camp (next to Vernon by the cobb oven and vesper). We want to make a place where we can teach the campers about organic and sustainable food and why that is important and, for summer camp, how that fits in with our faith. This is one of our big projects. We have written for a grant and doing some big fundraiser, also.
A similar but separate project that we are working on is bringing more organic food to camp. This is a big project that will take many years but we are taking a stab at the ground work that needs to happen for that. We are already getting veggies from a local small farm where one of the EE naturalists works/lives. Westminster Woods is their first whole sale and provided them with more customers so they can plant more. This year we would like to get the whole salad bar to be organic and local.
So that’s a little of the nature aspect. The majority of our spirituality part is coming from our classes at San Francisco Theological Seminary. Every Tuesday night, we drive an hour down to San Anselmo and sleep on campus. Then wake up in the morning and go to our Contemplative Listening class. We also have our community class in the afternoon. This is the class that is for people in this program. We are reading books about how to live a life of spirituality and faith. We also process our community living. This is our time to be slow and “take a long, loving look at the real.” There is a lot of synthesis that happens in these classes and good conversations.
I’ve already talked about how we are learning Permaculture. Along with that, there are other skills we are learning. We’ve been going into Windsor for a weekend here and there. We are learning holistic financial planning. What a great thing to learn about while I’m still a young adult!
We’ve also been spending time in Windsor doing work exchange. A lot of what we are doing here is done on work exchange. Instead of money exchanging hands and making our program cost more, we are doing work for the different companies involved with the center. In order to pay for our housing at camp, we are helping with the environmental education program and guest groups. That’s great because we can help the camp so they don’t need to pay people for the work we are doing and we are also learning about the EE program, etc. We are also helping at the ‘ranch’ where we are learning Permaculture and holistic financial planning. The other weekend we helped build a rain garden. We finished that in a weekend which would not have been possible without us but we also were learning the Permaculture process and some strategies for working with what nature was already doing. Win win, right? We are also taking out invasive species of plants on the hillside at SFTS and there was a lot of work that was done outside of the four apprentices to make everything work with the seminary. Awesome, revolutionary stuff.
And there’s more. We are doing more individual projects around camp to help bring in revenue or help fill in gaps that are around. Also, next week we are doing a Sacred Quest where we go out on our own for four days and pretty much have some awesome Jesus times. We are living in community and learning with each other in that.
I’m so happy to be here. Even as I sit here after a day of watching Food, Inc., learning about the pollutants in our air and the negatives of our consumer economy, I am happy to be in a place where I can look at what is happening in our world in a contemplative way, taking a long, loving look at the real with people who have hope and want to make a change, too. I’m happy to be taking a year to become a renewable resource, to learn what it means to love my neighbor and what that would look like if I started viewing nature as my neighbor.
It’s been over a month since starting my program at Westminster Woods called The Center for Nature and Christian Spirituality and today I think I might be at a place to start informing you of what we are doing here.
Our first month was a month of observation as seen in the Permaculture design process. The idea of Permaculture (or sustainable agriculture) seems to be one that engrosses all of the many things we are doing here. The Wikipedia page says that “Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that mimic the relationships found in natural ecologies.” Why fight against nature when you could work with it? In designing anything with a Permaculture approach, you first observe to see what is already in motion. That’s what this month has been.
So in the list of things we are doing, Permaculture is one of them. We are being certified in Permaculture in February but are getting some foundations now. Part of that is because we are looking at creating a teaching, herb garden at camp (next to Vernon by the cobb oven and vesper). We want to make a place where we can teach the campers about organic and sustainable food and why that is important and, for summer camp, how that fits in with our faith. This is one of our big projects. We have written for a grant and doing some big fundraiser, also.
A similar but separate project that we are working on is bringing more organic food to camp. This is a big project that will take many years but we are taking a stab at the ground work that needs to happen for that. We are already getting veggies from a local small farm where one of the EE naturalists works/lives. Westminster Woods is their first whole sale and provided them with more customers so they can plant more. This year we would like to get the whole salad bar to be organic and local.
So that’s a little of the nature aspect. The majority of our spirituality part is coming from our classes at San Francisco Theological Seminary. Every Tuesday night, we drive an hour down to San Anselmo and sleep on campus. Then wake up in the morning and go to our Contemplative Listening class. We also have our community class in the afternoon. This is the class that is for people in this program. We are reading books about how to live a life of spirituality and faith. We also process our community living. This is our time to be slow and “take a long, loving look at the real.” There is a lot of synthesis that happens in these classes and good conversations.
I’ve already talked about how we are learning Permaculture. Along with that, there are other skills we are learning. We’ve been going into Windsor for a weekend here and there. We are learning holistic financial planning. What a great thing to learn about while I’m still a young adult!
We’ve also been spending time in Windsor doing work exchange. A lot of what we are doing here is done on work exchange. Instead of money exchanging hands and making our program cost more, we are doing work for the different companies involved with the center. In order to pay for our housing at camp, we are helping with the environmental education program and guest groups. That’s great because we can help the camp so they don’t need to pay people for the work we are doing and we are also learning about the EE program, etc. We are also helping at the ‘ranch’ where we are learning Permaculture and holistic financial planning. The other weekend we helped build a rain garden. We finished that in a weekend which would not have been possible without us but we also were learning the Permaculture process and some strategies for working with what nature was already doing. Win win, right? We are also taking out invasive species of plants on the hillside at SFTS and there was a lot of work that was done outside of the four apprentices to make everything work with the seminary. Awesome, revolutionary stuff.
And there’s more. We are doing more individual projects around camp to help bring in revenue or help fill in gaps that are around. Also, next week we are doing a Sacred Quest where we go out on our own for four days and pretty much have some awesome Jesus times. We are living in community and learning with each other in that.
I’m so happy to be here. Even as I sit here after a day of watching Food, Inc., learning about the pollutants in our air and the negatives of our consumer economy, I am happy to be in a place where I can look at what is happening in our world in a contemplative way, taking a long, loving look at the real with people who have hope and want to make a change, too. I’m happy to be taking a year to become a renewable resource, to learn what it means to love my neighbor and what that would look like if I started viewing nature as my neighbor.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
How the idea 'the customer is always right' is ruining our society
I've been working at Starbucks for 5 months now. This is my last week since I am moving to camp, but with that, I have some thoughts from a customer service worker point of view.
We are told that the customer is always right. We have to do as much as we can to make the customer completely satisfied. That means, the ruder you are, the more you get. The more you bitch about your coffee (or whatever the situation might be), the more likely you are to get free stuff.
Is it so important that we keep this one piece of crap costumer that we make the policy of 'the costumer is always right'? This teaches people that whining and being rude will get you everything you want.
When making rules and guidelines for how employees are to act (or any other type of rules) you can't leave grey. You can't say, 'do whatever you reasonably can do to help a customer who is giving you the opportunity.' There's too much wiggle room. Any jackass who doesn't want to work can claim the customer was being rude or asking too much. So we say the customer is always right. Always.
So here's my answer, what I think we need more of. Gratitude. As a customer service worker, I want to make sure you get what you need, I want to do whatever I can to make you smile. But I need some recognition. Be thankful and aware of what I'm doing. If I make something wrong or someone wants a little something special, I am 100% more happy to do it if that person acknowledges my effort.
The moral of the story is be observant of how people are serving you and be grateful for that.
We are told that the customer is always right. We have to do as much as we can to make the customer completely satisfied. That means, the ruder you are, the more you get. The more you bitch about your coffee (or whatever the situation might be), the more likely you are to get free stuff.
Is it so important that we keep this one piece of crap costumer that we make the policy of 'the costumer is always right'? This teaches people that whining and being rude will get you everything you want.
When making rules and guidelines for how employees are to act (or any other type of rules) you can't leave grey. You can't say, 'do whatever you reasonably can do to help a customer who is giving you the opportunity.' There's too much wiggle room. Any jackass who doesn't want to work can claim the customer was being rude or asking too much. So we say the customer is always right. Always.
So here's my answer, what I think we need more of. Gratitude. As a customer service worker, I want to make sure you get what you need, I want to do whatever I can to make you smile. But I need some recognition. Be thankful and aware of what I'm doing. If I make something wrong or someone wants a little something special, I am 100% more happy to do it if that person acknowledges my effort.
The moral of the story is be observant of how people are serving you and be grateful for that.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Quotes for Grad School Apps
Instead of asking yourself what the world needs,
ask yourself what makes you come alive,
and then go do that.
Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
-Howard Thurman
Vocation is where our greatest passion meets the world’s greatest need.
-Frederick Buechner
ask yourself what makes you come alive,
and then go do that.
Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
-Howard Thurman
Vocation is where our greatest passion meets the world’s greatest need.
-Frederick Buechner
Maybe I should do this some more...
Opps...life happens.
I feel as if there is too much for me to write now but it is better to put anything than to just let the heap keep growing like the pile of clothes on my floor that are so unclear as to whether they are clean or dirty that I think they have invented a third option of which I am unaware of.
So here is a list of things I should write about and that you should want to hear about :)
Starbucks
Physics
Thailand
Grad School Apps
and the best of all:
The Center for Nature and Christian Spirituality
So I move in just under a week. TO CAMP! What?!?!?!? I know, right? I'll give a short overview. I'm living in intentional community with three other apprentices. We are taking spirituality classes at the San Francisco Theological Seminary. We are involved in the environmental education and challenge course happenings at camp. We are doing a sacred quest. And oh so much more. In reality we don't know exactly what it will look like because it's the first year. WHEEEEEEE!
Here's the website if you care to take a peek:
http://westminsterwoods.org/cncs/
But I should write in this more often. I will give it a try, old pal.
LOVE
I feel as if there is too much for me to write now but it is better to put anything than to just let the heap keep growing like the pile of clothes on my floor that are so unclear as to whether they are clean or dirty that I think they have invented a third option of which I am unaware of.
So here is a list of things I should write about and that you should want to hear about :)
Starbucks
Physics
Thailand
Grad School Apps
and the best of all:
The Center for Nature and Christian Spirituality
So I move in just under a week. TO CAMP! What?!?!?!? I know, right? I'll give a short overview. I'm living in intentional community with three other apprentices. We are taking spirituality classes at the San Francisco Theological Seminary. We are involved in the environmental education and challenge course happenings at camp. We are doing a sacred quest. And oh so much more. In reality we don't know exactly what it will look like because it's the first year. WHEEEEEEE!
Here's the website if you care to take a peek:
http://westminsterwoods.org/cncs/
But I should write in this more often. I will give it a try, old pal.
LOVE
Friday, February 19, 2010
So I quit...
I worked at the restaurant for a month and found that I didn't like how it was ran and felt like nothing there was helping me be successful. I felt like my only option was to tell my boss that I didn't deserve to be spoken to so condescendingly and that the complete lack of organization in serving was not something I could take.
So not I'm looking for another job and in between listening to this song by Weezer to try to remind myself to take it easy on myself.
There will come a day
When we transcend our pain
Until that day
Take it easy on yourself
Love is the answer
Makes no difference what you have heard
Love is the answer
You have got to trust in the word
There will come a day
When we can finally rest
Until that day
Take it easy on yourself
Love is the answer
Makes no difference what you have heard
Love is the answer
You have got to trust in the word
Brothers and sisters
I know you try so hard sometimes
You're gonna find your happiness inside
Love is the answer
Makes no difference what you have heard
Love is the answer
You have got to trust in the word
So not I'm looking for another job and in between listening to this song by Weezer to try to remind myself to take it easy on myself.
There will come a day
When we transcend our pain
Until that day
Take it easy on yourself
Love is the answer
Makes no difference what you have heard
Love is the answer
You have got to trust in the word
There will come a day
When we can finally rest
Until that day
Take it easy on yourself
Love is the answer
Makes no difference what you have heard
Love is the answer
You have got to trust in the word
Brothers and sisters
I know you try so hard sometimes
You're gonna find your happiness inside
Love is the answer
Makes no difference what you have heard
Love is the answer
You have got to trust in the word
Thursday, February 18, 2010
I'm a free bitch, baby!
Lady Gaga. Everyone has an opinion. Mine? I LOVE HER! How do I love her? Let me count the ways.
As you know, I love to dance. Recently that could be changed to I love to dance to Lady Gaga. I got her Fame and Fame Monster cd for Christmas and until recently, I really haven't listened to anything else since that. Thank you Matt Clower for burning me Radittude by Weezer so I could have a little diversity in my cd's in my car. Her music has great beats with enough diversity to make dancing to them fun but not to disrupt the flow. Also, girl can sing! She studied classical voice in college and you can tell.
Beyond having awesome music, I just love Gaga. There's no denying it. I truly believe in what she stands for. I've come to realize that it is all about being yourself. It's so obvious to me when someone is being fake and it's the most unattractive quality. That's what she preaches. Be yourself. Be free to be yourself. LOVE IT!
I also love how she expresses herself and sees everyday as an opportunity to get what she believes out to the world in a creative manner. It feels very community theatre-esque.
I've seen a couple of interviews with her recently like on Oprah and some morning show. On Oprah she talked about being who you truly are. On the morning show she was with Cindy Lauper (LOVE her!). They talked about safe sex, of all things to talk about on a morning show. But I was so glad to hear it. For myself I believe in no sex til marriage but I'm not one to push that on others much. However I do see an issue with the society we live in today and was glad to see these two women felt the same way. They were preaching to be prepared and not just us twenty-somethings who go out to the bars to pick up hunks all the time but also the recently divorced mom. Know yourself and know yourself better than to not be prepared and end up getting pregnant. Abortion wouldn't be such a huge issue if we were better with contraceptives.
So the long and the short of it is I LOVE LADY GAGA!
As you know, I love to dance. Recently that could be changed to I love to dance to Lady Gaga. I got her Fame and Fame Monster cd for Christmas and until recently, I really haven't listened to anything else since that. Thank you Matt Clower for burning me Radittude by Weezer so I could have a little diversity in my cd's in my car. Her music has great beats with enough diversity to make dancing to them fun but not to disrupt the flow. Also, girl can sing! She studied classical voice in college and you can tell.
Beyond having awesome music, I just love Gaga. There's no denying it. I truly believe in what she stands for. I've come to realize that it is all about being yourself. It's so obvious to me when someone is being fake and it's the most unattractive quality. That's what she preaches. Be yourself. Be free to be yourself. LOVE IT!
I also love how she expresses herself and sees everyday as an opportunity to get what she believes out to the world in a creative manner. It feels very community theatre-esque.
I've seen a couple of interviews with her recently like on Oprah and some morning show. On Oprah she talked about being who you truly are. On the morning show she was with Cindy Lauper (LOVE her!). They talked about safe sex, of all things to talk about on a morning show. But I was so glad to hear it. For myself I believe in no sex til marriage but I'm not one to push that on others much. However I do see an issue with the society we live in today and was glad to see these two women felt the same way. They were preaching to be prepared and not just us twenty-somethings who go out to the bars to pick up hunks all the time but also the recently divorced mom. Know yourself and know yourself better than to not be prepared and end up getting pregnant. Abortion wouldn't be such a huge issue if we were better with contraceptives.
So the long and the short of it is I LOVE LADY GAGA!
Monday, January 25, 2010
I have a job!
...and a list of things to write about.
That's a good sign. For the past 3 months I've been looking for work. I figured out a couple weeks after Europe that I wasn't going to apply for grad school this year. I needed more time to get everything together so that is scheduled for this summer. So since then all I was really doing was looking for work. It's not that good of a story. So catching up with people was boring on my side and honestly, depressing. I didn't like where my life was so I dreaded having to tell people about it. "I'm applying to grad schools for 2011 and am looking for a job." And if I was a good mood I could talk about helping with the high school youth at my church. But after awhile of repeating my rehearsed speech, I just started avoiding it. I would not contact people to see how they were because the conversation would inevitably get to what I was up to and I didn't want to go there.
But now I have a job and things to share with people. And I'm surprised that not only has the job itself given me something to talk about but it's also gotten me thinking more, hence the list of things to write about. But for now let's talk about the job. I'm working as a server at an Italian restaurant in downtown Livermore. It's a 5 minute drive 2 miles from house. The restaurant is much smaller than the last restaurant I worked at, fancier, and is as far from a corporate restaurant as possible (this is a good thing). The people I work with are all characters. They are all super entertaining to me and I hope it stays that way and I don't get sick of them. As with most work places, schools, or groups of people in general, it would make a great reality show.
So this is my life now. I'm gonna go back to getting some Physical Therapy observation hours once I get settled down at work. I'm still looking for a PT aide job in case something opens since that is the line of work I want to go into. I might try to get into a physics class at a local community college but I don't know if it will fit in with my work schedule. I've decided I'm not gonna do camp this summer even though I have the time. I need to keep my progress of entering "the real world" moving forward. And I'm going to Thailand this summer for Anna's wedding. That's about all I've got right now. But who knows how anything will actually end up. God's got a funny way of making what needs to happen happen and it doesn't always look like my plan.
That's a good sign. For the past 3 months I've been looking for work. I figured out a couple weeks after Europe that I wasn't going to apply for grad school this year. I needed more time to get everything together so that is scheduled for this summer. So since then all I was really doing was looking for work. It's not that good of a story. So catching up with people was boring on my side and honestly, depressing. I didn't like where my life was so I dreaded having to tell people about it. "I'm applying to grad schools for 2011 and am looking for a job." And if I was a good mood I could talk about helping with the high school youth at my church. But after awhile of repeating my rehearsed speech, I just started avoiding it. I would not contact people to see how they were because the conversation would inevitably get to what I was up to and I didn't want to go there.
But now I have a job and things to share with people. And I'm surprised that not only has the job itself given me something to talk about but it's also gotten me thinking more, hence the list of things to write about. But for now let's talk about the job. I'm working as a server at an Italian restaurant in downtown Livermore. It's a 5 minute drive 2 miles from house. The restaurant is much smaller than the last restaurant I worked at, fancier, and is as far from a corporate restaurant as possible (this is a good thing). The people I work with are all characters. They are all super entertaining to me and I hope it stays that way and I don't get sick of them. As with most work places, schools, or groups of people in general, it would make a great reality show.
So this is my life now. I'm gonna go back to getting some Physical Therapy observation hours once I get settled down at work. I'm still looking for a PT aide job in case something opens since that is the line of work I want to go into. I might try to get into a physics class at a local community college but I don't know if it will fit in with my work schedule. I've decided I'm not gonna do camp this summer even though I have the time. I need to keep my progress of entering "the real world" moving forward. And I'm going to Thailand this summer for Anna's wedding. That's about all I've got right now. But who knows how anything will actually end up. God's got a funny way of making what needs to happen happen and it doesn't always look like my plan.
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