7 quick takes on 7 links I can't stop thinking about this week

One of my favorite Frederick Buechner quotations.

source

| 1 | Nicholas E. Booth, 35: Sugar Creek, MO by Ahna Phillips at Lament for the Dead 

"All I can do is pray
that now you rest,
worn, worn-out man
in the able Hands
that eagerly cast on
again and again."

"Lament for the Dead is an online community poetry project which will mark the death of every person killed by police this summer, and every police this summer, and every police officer who loses life in the line of duty, with a poem."  So glad for this meaningful project and so impressed with my friend Ahna's thoughtful response to Nicholas E. Booth's life and death. 

| 2 | Solidarity with Greeks by Patrick Comerford

"Eating in Greek restaurants is a gesture of solidarity with the Greek community in any town or city. The restaurant probably sources much of its food locally, but wine, spirits and coffee may be imported from Greece, so your custom helps support Greek exports, and your custom helps a family here to send back money to Greece."

I read Patrick Comerford's blog for ideas about Ireland and Anglicanism so his mini-series on practical ways to support Greece totally got my attention.  Also, if eating Greek food helps anyone, I'm all in.

| 3 | I, Racist by John Metta at Medium 

"This is the country we live in. Millions of Black lives are valued less than a single White person’s hurt feelings. 

White people and Black people are not having a discussion about race. Black people, thinking as a group, are talking about living in a racist system. White people, thinking as individuals, refuse to talk about “I, racist” and instead protect their own individual and personal goodness. In doing so, they reject the existence of racism." 

John Metta's words are helping me toward even better understanding and reminding me again that, more than ever, we have an opportunity to repent.  By "we", I mean me and you. By "opportunity" I mean a charge for right now.  Will you join me?

| 4 | Literary Tours: Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center, Denton, Nebraska  by Michelle DeRusha at Tweetspeak

"We stood amazed as dozens of dragonflies zipped from one leaf to another, their iridescent wings glinting in the sun. They ranged from cobalt blue to malachite to charcoal black. We wondered whether the insects changed color depending on the angle of the sun, or whether there were actually three different varieties of dragonfly dipping in and out of the shadows."

I'm always a fan of Michelle DeRusha's photography, and I'm looking forward to digging through the Literary Tour archives at Tweetspeak.  

Of course, this reminds me of our own series of (international) neighborhood notes this year when a dozen of you shared your own local ground:  Walking Epiphany  

Brian and our scaredy-dog Leopold on a neighborhood tour, January 2015.

| 5 | Harper Lee's new novel: read the first chapter at The Guardian

"Jean Louise Finch always made this journey by air, but she decided to go by train from New York to Maycomb Junction on her fifth annual trip home. For one thing, she had the life scared out of her the last time she was on a plane: the pilot elected to fly through a tornado. For another thing, flying home meant her father rising at three in the morning, driving a hundred miles to meet her in Mobile, and doing a full day’s work afterwards: he was seventy-two now and this was no longer fair."

I can't decide yet if I'm going to read the new release.  Some things are best left unfinished, am I right?  Still I enjoyed the guilty pleasure of this gimicky animated first chapter narrated by Reese Witherspoon.  It kinda worked for me.

| 6 |  How I Fixed My Facebook Feed (And Made It Fun Again!)  at Epbot

You guys!  Why didn't I figure this out ages ago?  I literally can not deal with the herky-jerky of an untended FB news feed.  I can not watch a video of a sleepy meerkat in one second and read about a refugee crisis the next.  And, Lord have mercy, the photographs some of you people choose to share!  I'm so sorry you broke your toe, but I don't, for the love of God, want to see it! After reading the tutorial (with screenshots!) I made the following lists:  

• The Fam 
• Kindreds (by this I mean those who share an aesthetic je ne sais quoi, and as far as I know have never published a photo of broken appendages or the like.)
• Chrish Church (so I can stay up to date with the daily comings and goings my church community)
• Favorite Pages 
• Prayer list (At any given time, any number of friends are walking through a difficult journey in which they share updates via social media.  I try always (and fail often) to be in a prayerful mindset, but when I click this list I am especially intentional about praying through the updates posted.)

(I wish I could remember where I learned about this post.  Hat tip to someone!)

| 7 | Democracy's Messengers 

"In 2011, the House of Representatives made a controversial decision to end its 200-year-old "Page" program, which brought young Americans to Congress as messengers.  With a fly-on-the wall perspective, Pages witnessed the most extraordinary events in U.S. history.  Many have gone on to become senators, congressmen, presidential advisers, civic leaders, and successful entrepreneurs.

We're telling their story for the first time."

In the spring semester for 2011, our son Alex was part of the Congressional Page Program.  He lived in Washington, D.C. for six months and we're still pinching ourselves about the whole experience.  We didn't know it then, but his class would be the last after a 200 year run.  I'm so glad that someone is making a documentary about the quiet history of this extraordinary program.  

We found Alex a few places in the trailer!  

Alex's Page class with then newly-minted Speaker of the House John Boehner

The hand reaching into the shot to meet President Obama just before his 2011 State of the Union address.

.....

Hoping for a good and content weekend for us all, friends.

Peace....

*Linking up with other 7 Quick Takers.*

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

| a weekly capturing the contentment in everyday life |

| pretty |

Texas skies

I've been going on and on about the beauty of summertime in the Northeast. And it's true.  Summertime is not particularly pretty in Texas. About mid-July the sun sort of picks up an offense against us and glares it's high beams day and night. If you happen to have Texan facebook friends, scroll through a few of their recent photos and you'll see exactly what I mean.  We meet friends for dinner at some hip place and, naturally, want to record the moment.  We rummage around for about 15 minutes trying to figure out how to angle the camera so that the sun isn't obliterating the image of our faces.  In the end, we just smile and make the best of it, squinting into the camera like we're studying the surface of the sun.  Which, in fact, we are.  

To be fair, June was quite lovely.  For that I'm thankful.  This moment of the gorgeous puffy white clouds is a great example.  I risked my life to take the photo, driving up the expressway but it was just one of those moments I wanted to notice my new homeland and be grateful.

| happy |

carpooling to work on a summer morning

It's the first morning after returning from vacation and our vehicle just quit working (thankfully that happened AFTER we finished our 3,500 mile drive).  And we had to go to work and share one vehicle.  Don't we look happy?  

Truth is, I'm trying to enjoy these moments of having Alex and Kendra home for the summer.  It'll be Alex's last summer home before he gets married to the beautiful Rebekah.  So, actually, in spite of the goofy faces, we are all actually quite happy.  (Ignore the giant box labelled Fragile for now.  Maybe I'll show you the contents in an upcoming post.)

| fun(ny) |

my first karaoke experience

Somehow I've managed to make it 44 years in this world without ever entering a karaoke room.  Mind you, we've held our own private parties with some sort of electronic contraption when the kids were little.  And there was one fantastic story of Brian bringing down the house dedicating a song to me on a Caribbean cruise ship.  

Saturday night I was invited to join this fabulous group of women celebrating the dear Eva's upcoming marriage.  I spent half the time sitting in a corner laughing (and wondering what the heck they were singing since I missed about a decade of popular music when all we did was watch Barney all day long.

I managed to belt out a few tunes, though.  And, man, it was fun.

| real |

Jay Walker Studio street art comes to Austin

I met Jay at a Laity Lodge retreat years ago, but since he lives and works in Philadelphia I've never been able to see any of his work in real life.  A fun surprise, then, when he posted he'd make a quick stop in town to leave his mark on Austin's street art.  Alex and I stopped by on our way home from work and decided to have a bit of interactive fun.  (That is colored tape, not paint!) 

If you live in Austin, you can find this sweet photo opp on the corner of E. 6th and Brushy.

You can see the real reason Jay came to Texas by following @jaywalkerstudio and @laitylodge on Instagram (tag #seeingthroughitall).

Have you captured any contentment this week? 

 I'd love to hear about it!

| Join in at P,H,F,R to see other wonderful people practicing contentment. |

7 quick takes on 7 links I can't stop thinking about this week

This is true. 

Look for the grace and peace of Christ this weekend and let me what you discover.

| 1 | Grace is Everywhere: A reflection on Diary of a Country Priest at Englewood Review of Books

"And so in The Diary, nothing much happens. The conflict is not good versus evil, but rather “boredom” versus faith: the choice either to take for granted a world of habitual vice, moral compromise, and creeping death, or the choice to open yourself to love. And this conflict takes place in the pages of this diary – a diary kept with some misgivings."

Last summer I read Diary of A Country Priest and loved this reflection by Joe Krall as a follow-up. I kind of wished I'd read the reflection before reading the classic novel.  On the other hand, now I'd like to read the book again.  

   

| 2 | Inside Out and a theology of Sadness by Josh Larsen at Think Christian

"As most reviews have noted, Inside Out is about learning to reconcile joy and sadness, whether you’re a tween forced to move away from friends, as Riley is, or a parent who can no longer protect your child from life’s hardships. It’s a rich subject – one mined with Pixar’s usual combination of wit, intelligence and emotional resonance – and also one that echoes a Christian understanding of the human experience. Christianity, after all, is an expression of joy in response to - not in denial of - deep sadness."

This review is more like a snapshot into one aspect of the Pixar film.  For a lot more detail, listen to the Filmspotting podcast where Josh Larsen and Michael Phillips (Chicago Tribune) spell out what they agreed and what they agreed to disagree about Inside Out.  I've haven't seen it yet, partly because I have a big "mom guilt" trigger these days and this film seems like it might send me to the therapist's office.  Have you seen it?  What'd you think?

| 3 | The Bible and same sex relationships: A review article by Tim Keller

"Therefore, in one of the great ironies of late modern times, when we celebrate diversity in so many other cultural sectors, we have truncated the ultimate unity-in-diversity: inter-gendered marriage. " 

A reasonable, courteous, peaceful and Scriptural response.  I highly recommend this article.

| 4 | Photographs: The Gorgeous Simplicity of life as a Siberian Nomad at Quartz

I'm going to keep this link handy for all of the coming 200-degree summer days in Austin.  Somehow the Khanty people make cold look gorgeous.

| 5 | The Rule of Life by D.L. Mayfield at Image Journal blog

"As soon as I tell the students class is finished (see you on Monday, Insha’Allah) they gather around Maryan. They are blessing her. They run their hands down her, from the top of her head down past her belly. They gather around and lift up their palms. Salat, salat. I don’t know exactly what they are saying, but I know enough. I am blessing her too. My heart is aflame for her, for everyone gathered around her. I am so tired of pretending otherwise, of acting like making and understanding these tiny marks on the page are of any importance at all. I just want to touch her arm and say be blessed. I just want to see her be okay. I just want to know that there is someone watching over her, a love and a presence who is much more able than I am to see it all. I will pray, I tell my students. That the baby will be okay. That Maryan will be okay."

I can't read D.L. Mayfield's essay without thinking of my mother and sister who have taught (and blessed and loved) ESL to adults at the American Civic Association in Binghamton.  Sometimes my mother says to me, "If nothing else, I get to be a person who smiles at them."

| 6 |  Spotlight on Austin with these three links: 100 Houses of Brentwood and Crestview (website of images of our neighborhooed from a neighbor photographer), Jaws on the Water at CNN &  Getting Rid of Bosses The Atlantic

Houses in our neighborhood (the ones not gobbled up by greedy land developers), the innovative watching-film-as-experience scene in Austin and a spotlight of Austin cooperative business which includes our neighborhood pub the Black Star!  Just 3 more reasons we love living here!

We rent so we can't sign our house up for the 100 Houses project.  Here's a photo, though.

| 7 | Rectify is still television's quiet triumph at The Atlantic

"No television product wants the title Rectify has now claimed for two years in a row: the best show nobody’s watching. Toiling away on the Sundance Channel, the Southern Gothic tale of a man freed from death row after 19 years has received the kind of rave reviews that keep a show on the air despite desperately low ratings, and it’s back for a third season Thursday night. Rectify is slow and often hypnotic, but its deliberate style is all in the service of great storytelling, trading wild twists and turns for quiet poeticism."

For what it's worth I'll add my two cents:  Rectify is one of the best (and hardest-to-watch) of anything I've ever seen on television.  

.....

Hoping for a good and content weekend for us all, friends.

Peace....

*Linking up with other 7 Quick Takers.*

{pretty, happy, funny, real} there and back again

| a weekly capturing the contentment in everyday life |

It's taken me so long to share photos from our first trip home in the beginning of June that we've been there and back again!  Honestly, we didn't plan to go to the Northeast twice this summer.  Well, first we didn't plan to, and then we hoped to, and then we told ourselves we shouldn't, and then -- on the very first day of the annual Hill Family Vacation -- I was so sad to not be there (for the first time ever in my life) that Brian and I packed suitcases Sunday night and at 4:30 a.m. Monday morning started driving the 27 hour trip in order to rendezvous with the family in Pennsylvania, two days into the vacation. 

There were more reasons in the "Cons" column than the "Pros" when we tried to make this decision like grown-ups.  Among the negatives?  It was too much money to travel cross country twice in one summer, I don't get paid vacation time anymore, and for the first time ever, none of our own kids could join us. So we told ourselves this is how it needs to be sometimes.  And, maybe, it does.  My friend Andrea is moving to Africa at the end of the summer, and probably no matter how homesick she gets she's not going to be able to hop in a car or grab a flight off the continent.  So, maybe it was good that I tried to be willing to give up this annual tradition of together-ness.  

But it's even better that -- in the end -- I didn't have to.  As an added bonus, I also got to have a last chance to see Andrea, too.

| pretty |

road trip scenery (somewhere in central PA)

I am (almost) never happier than during a road trip.  I can stare out the windows for hours.  The Northeast in summer is a beautiful sight.  I kept thinking I should take photos of everything, but -- and I mean this literally -- all the views were so idyllic that I realized I could just find stock images to show you a red barn on a green hill with white clouds and a blue sky.  Or foggy mist covering mountain valley with pine trees.   Or Independence Day fireworks over major league ballpark while crossing bridge under full moon.  I mean, really.  It was that pretty.

| happy |

all the big surprises

Since we didn't even know we were going on this trip ourselves until the last minute it was easy to pull off a few fun surprises.  Among them, we managed a quick stop by to see our favorite summer camp lifeguard as well as my dear friend Andrea (whom I will now forever quote as she came running down the driveway toward me  "Shut! UP!")  

also, all the little people

catching fireflies!

| funny |

1.  My 2-year-old niece prepared for our arrival by inspecting all of the hotel bathroom toilet paper.

2.  We spent some time at an indoor water park and, friends, I have *never* laughed this hard on a water ride.  Ever.  (I've also never been completely underwater inside a chute before...)

3.  What my daughter told me when I tried to record her singing camp songs.  She's always excelled at clear communication

| real |

"In a key event of the American Civil Rights Movement, nine black students enrolled at formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in September 1957, testing a landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. The court had mandated that all public schools in the country be integrated “with all deliberate speed” in its decision related to the groundbreaking case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. On September 4, 1957, the first day of classes at Central High, Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas called in the state National Guard to bar the black students’ entry into the school. Later in the month, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in federal troops to escort the “Little Rock Nine” into the school, and they started their first full day of classes on September 25." (source)

Little Rock, Arkansas

When we make the trip home we try to see something new to us each time.  Normally, we just try to grin and bear our long drive through Arkansas (see my son's first impression of the state when we drove through on our move in 2011).  We decided it was time to get off an exit and see what better views we might find.  We've also always talked about seeing Little Rock Central High School.  The experience was more profound than I'd expected.  Something about walking on the grounds of a still-active high school and imagining my own children around the same age as the courageous nine teenagers who stared hatred in the face in order to attend high school.  My knees quite literally shook.  I was also struck by the juxtaposition of such a beautiful building housing such a grotesque view of humanity.  

May a beautiful reconciliation spring up from the ground in every place that so much hatred has been planted.  Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. 

| Join in at P,H,F,R to see other wonderful people practicing contentment. |