and.....go

I'm a little amazed at how much my brain has been stretched lately, especially since being back. Not in learning new material, or even really in doing anything new. Just in relating. In keeping up with another thinking, speaking, acting human being. In conversing with another person of a completely different way of processing, way of seeing the world. In listening, then figuring out if/what to speak, then maybe even doing so. Or getting that order completely reversed. In attempting to love them and let them love me. In trying to remember what the heck we last talked about and what I'm forgetting to ask about. In trying to figure out this thing called "life" together.

And in doing that with multiple different persons, be it friends, students, family, housemates, acquaintances, folks near or far, etc.

I really do not mean to portray these things in a negative light.
I do mean to say that my mind is being used and challenged.
I like that.

while mindlessly scrolling around NPR today

I found this article. I had not previously heard of Milton Rogovin, so the news of his death was not heartbreaking to me. His pictures of the "forgotten ones" as he called them, however, struck a deep chord. The article says, "he allowed his subjects to compose themselves as proud people, not as victims, in front of the camera." And you can see it in their eyes. And they are beautiful.

While I have no experience with photographing people whom I don't know, and am not sure if I ever will, I certainly hope to be a noticer also the "forgotten ones."

I would also like to thank my current book, To Kill a Mockingbird, for heightening such emotions. Atticus Finch has won me over, again.

happy mlk day

This is my gift from me to you. It's certainly appropriate for the holiday, but also for cloudy, cold day we are having here in c'ville.

Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA6Q5-Ap3o8

there are a lot of places i like

but I like New Orleans better. - Bob Dylan

The sites, the sounds, the food, the people, the stories, the architecture, the river. I love it. New Orleans has always had a certain mystique, a certain pull on me that has only grown stronger over time. There's something about that place that makes my soul feel a little bit at rest. It's as if the unspoken invitation it offers is to come as you are, and sit down and stay a while. At least, that's how I perceive it. It's a place that knows its flaws and still celebrates. And asks you to join. I can buy into that.

Our group spent the week priming, trimming, caulking, and scraping at what will soon be a artist studio for neighborhood residents. The work was productive and the fellowship was sweet. We got to explore the city, go the a Hornets basketball game, listen to good jazz, watch the U-Singers (from UVA) perform, eat good food, and spend time with a few folks from Redeemer Pres, all of whom were great and gave VERY convincing arguments as to why every single person should move there at their earliest opportunity.

All in all, it was a good trip. Even the 16 hour car ride on Thursday. And that's saying something.

And, it's good to be back

today

I am going here.

 

New Orleans. One of my favorite places. I'll be there with these folks

RUF at UVA. for almost a week. We'll be working (and looking) like this

Here's to long drives, hard work, gas masks, beignets and coffee, the french quarter, redeemer presbyterian, jazz music, and gumbo. See you back in Charlottesville.

gets me every time

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,

vacation with pay. Want more

of everything ready-made. Be afraid

to know your neighbors and to die.

And you will have a window in your head.

Not even your future will be a mystery

any more. Your mind will be punched in a card

and shut away in a little drawer.

When they want you to buy something

they will call you. When they want you

to die for profit they will let you know.

So, friends, every day do something

that won't compute. Love the Lord.

Love the world. Work for nothing.

Take all that you have and be poor.

Love someone who does not deserve it.

Denounce the government and embrace

the flag. Hope to live in that free

republic for which it stands.

Give your approval to all you cannot

understand. Praise ignorance, for what man

has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.

Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.

Say that your main crop is the forest

that you did not plant,

that you will not live to harvest.

Say that the leaves are harvested

when they have rotted into the mold.

Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

Put your faith in the two inches of humus

that will build under the trees

every thousand years.

Listen to carrion - put your ear

close, and hear the faint chattering

of the songs that are to come.

Expect the end of the world. Laugh.

Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful

though you have considered all the facts.

So long as women do not go cheap

for power, please women more than men.

Ask yourself: Will this satisfy

a woman satisfied to bear a child?

Will this disturb the sleep

of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.

Lie down in the shade. Rest your head

in her lap. Swear allegiance

to what is nighest your thoughts.

As soon as the generals and the politicos

can predict the motions of your mind,

lose it. Leave it as a sign

to mark the false trail, the way

you didn't go. Be like the fox

who makes more tracks than necessary,

some in the wrong direction.

Practice resurrection.

Wendell Berry - Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

I think this might be my new year's resolution.

happy 2011

Hello dear friends, and welcome to this new blog of mine. I honestly don't know what it says about me that I have to up and move to a new site in order to want to write anything. Actually, there were a few reasons for the change, but I will bore you with none of these. Moral of the story: here I am, and here I (hopefully) will stay. Feel free to adjust you google readers accordingly, or not at all.

To sum up my break, I'll say that Mississippi has treated me well. I was and continue to be completely flabbergasted that Christmas (and my birthday, and new years, etc.) have already come and gone. that. was. fast. But it was good. I spent the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011 in Jacksonville, Florida....a place I barely knew of and certainly didn't really care about until a week ago. Now, it will forever hold a special place in this little heart of mine. Due to some incredibly generous folks, Amy and I got to go the the gator bowl (go dawgs) for free. What's even better is that we got to spare the entire trip with the Gulletts....one of my most favorite couples. Together, the 3 of them made fantastic travel buddies. The more time that has past, the more fondly I look back on our adventure.

What's even better is the fact that we got to visit 2 BEACHES. Did I mention how much I loved traveling with these 3? The first was to the gulf coast on new year's eve. Cold, but beautiful.

 

 

The second was to the atlantic on new year's day. We made the short drive after a very sweet mississippi state gator bowl victory. Oh how fun it was.

Finally, we got to ring in the new year with some good, good friends and lots of other semi-crazy alumni. 

It was a happy start to 2011, indeed.