Tuesday, August 10, 2004

It's my birthday!

Goodness gracious, I've heard bad news in recent days - the death of a Bethel student, the hospitalization of a friend, depression and sadness in another... but good news about Dave Jiang after hard times - he's hoping to be back at church next week. I'll send around an update to our small group. If you're not in small group but want info, e-mail me and I'll pass his message to you.

And, good news that it's my birthday! James gave me a card, and Opal gave me a box full of shit. It's looking like a good day so far. Would you like to give me a present? Let's see, what would fit in a comments box? You could give me a link, or a haiku, or dedicate a letter of the alphabet to me today...

Being 31 didn't really work out so well for me, but maybe being 32 will be super. Being 31 was hard, but it actually was probably the most real year of my life - being most deeply in touch with the reality of the world. Conceiving three lives, losing them all, grieving, loving, delving deep, healing. I hope to be a real and true person in the coming year, but maybe I could just learn and grow from the hard parts of last year, and not experience any new harshness for awhile. (As if God reads these blogs and grants our wishes!).

// posted by Jenell Williams Paris @ 9:19 AM 16 comments

16 Comments:

  • hats of meat

    By Blogger pete, at 9:46 AM  

  • Happy Birthday Janell! I declare every August 10th in the blogosphere Janell Paris Day! Hopefully someone will give me tomorrow for the same reason...Hint Hint. :)

    Thanks again for having us over the other night.

    -Jeff

    By Blogger The Accidental Buddhist, at 10:00 AM  

  • a birthday haiku:

    To my friend Jenell,
    I always knew of your wit!
    Now the others enjoy.

    Happy Birthday! love, Colleen w.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:05 AM  

  • cuddle parties?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:06 AM  

  • it's carla.

    Happy birthday dear friend. I'm sorry we missed the festivities on Friday night. I would like to dedicate the letter R to you today. May your 32nd year bring: relief from sorrow; reflections on your good, good life; rejoicing in relationships; relaxation and release; romps with your hubby; rebeccia in your garden; recipes you want to share with your friends; an abundance of rhubarb.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:24 AM  

  • Jenell,
    Happy Birthday! I wish I could honor you with more than a blog comment, but regardless of Opal's birthday dump, I hope you feel loved and special today. Your 32 years have held so much...I marvel at your life and your entire personhood! You are a beautiful woman, both inside and out, and I celebrate your life today!
    love,
    Rachel

    By Blogger Rachie Rach and the Funky Bunch, at 11:11 AM  

  • Not sure if I can top the Hats of Meat.....
    I'll give you a link....www.cardcow.com
    A vintage ecard site - Nifty huh!
    H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y to J E N E L L !!

    By Blogger Laura, at 4:08 PM  

  • Happy Birthday!Hope it was a wonderful, Miz J. :)
    -Rachel L.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:28 PM  

  • Um- how about a field of purple floweres?- http://qxzlool.blogspot.com/

    By Blogger Ben, at 6:31 PM  

  • Feliz Dia!! If we were together upon hearing the news of your BIRTHDAY, I would give you some lovin', so...turn your cheek in my direction, listen for the smack of my lips, feel the rush of wind as I blow it in your direction, and sense the love that flows from me to you via the internet! As I say to my kids when blowing them kisses over the phone, "Got it?" I hope your day was a good one!
    shelley

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:16 PM  

  • ah! the happiest of birthday wishes ever!
    only 32?? you are so wise and accomplished, i pray 32 will be exceedingly lighthearted, playful and free from all the worries of someone so clever.
    blessings to you!

    By Blogger jen lemen, at 12:48 AM  

  • Happy birthday a day late. Hope it was a great day and that year #33 will be a blessed one for you. :)

    By Blogger Mumcat, at 10:51 AM  

  • Happy Birthday! Anj

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:19 PM  

  • I'm late to the party, but happy birthday anyhow. Here's a haiku:

    trees drop odd green fruit
    we don't know what to call it
    gabe, don't eat it, please!

    By Blogger Stacey, at 11:29 PM  

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    By Blogger ghkj, at 4:09 AM  

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Monday, August 09, 2004

Color is Free

I'm painting part of my house, and it feels so good. Deep-toned colors feel lush and rich, but they only cost the same as light, flimsy colors! Bringing color into my life brings pleasure and beauty, and it's affordable for everyone. I hope you have some good color in your life today.

What was the consensus on The Village? It was discussed on blogs, but I didn't read it because I didn't know what it was. Now I know it was a movie, which I learned on the way to the movie theatre. I loved it. It was very unrealistic, but I appreciated the insight that humans can't escape suffering - it comes to us no matter where we live, and no matter what our efforts to insulate ourselves.

I'm doing too many things at once. I need to figure out what really matters, and focus on that. Maybe painting is that thing.



// posted by Jenell Williams Paris @ 1:57 PM 4 comments

4 Comments:

  • I'm trying to keep some color in my life via my blog. Trying to get something new, or something old & special to me, added every few days.

    By Blogger Ben, at 3:47 PM  

  • I am so glad you are taking up this discussion on your blog. John wanted to have it on mine, and I kind of ignored him. Wandering Fisherman, I send apologies in your direction.

    How apropos to have it on the posting about color. Eric didn't like MUSTARD as the neutral color...I just think mmmmNight (not mmmmBop, mind you) is getting more than a leeetle predictable with the red.

    And ask Carla: I called Adrien Brody as the first to die.

    By Blogger kp, at 5:51 PM  

  • No worries KP.
    I am having trouble remembering a lot of details about the movie. The village really got me thinking a lot about fundamentalism and how it tends to build up walls around beliefs so that they become almost untrumpable.(probably not a word) The little village they lived in was based out of fear the elders put in the hearts of those surrounding them. The leaders of the community had a choice to keep the curtain where it was or pull it, those who saw the movie, know what they chose; but the elders did end up getting exposed. The part where the elders were arguing about if the blind girl could go to the city to save the mans life was really incredible. To see how gut wrenching it was for the elders to loose control when the happenings went beyond their control was such a glimpse of what our world often looks like these days.

    John Bradley

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:17 PM  

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Saturday, August 07, 2004

I Miss You

It's really hard when you have to go to work. I worked three days (24 hours!!) this week, and didn't have time to blog. I just read around the blog circle to catch up a bit. KP uses hip slang that I don't understand, Jimmy is planning his run for school board, Rachel remembers her time in Italy, Jeff and Stacey started blogging...and much, much more. I added Jeff, Stacey, and Dan to my links - am I missing anyone else. I wonder if there is any other church in the country, literally, who has so so many bloggers.

All I really want to let you know today is that President Bush has been asked to stop blogging.



// posted by Jenell Williams Paris @ 8:42 AM 3 comments

3 Comments:

  • OK-so I did not realize that that was an Onion article until I read the screenshot of his blog.

    Freakin' hilarious!

    By Blogger Danny Stratford!, at 12:40 PM  

  • I miss you! So glad to see you back in the universe of blogging!!
    (What slang do I use that you don't understand???)

    By Blogger kp, at 11:40 AM  

  • I admit I didn't realize it was an Onion article, and I was typing the URL address in my window to access the blog. Am I a dummy or what?

    By Blogger Rachie Rach and the Funky Bunch, at 4:31 PM  

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Monday, August 02, 2004

It's Not Cool to be Anti

OK, OK, so you don't want to be an evangelical anymore. But what are you? It's not enough to just be anti-something or post-something or not-something. You need to be someone, not just not-someone.

In his memoir, Jesus Sound Explosion, Mark Curtis Anderson explores his upbringing as son of the pastor at Central Baptist Church (the church at Snelling and University right behind the cheap-ass furniture barn). He's also a Bethel grad, and he used to work at the Electric Fetus. Now he's not a Christian, and he teaches writing at the U of M (I don't think those two phrases are connected). He writes stories that are painful and funny at the same time about the unusual world of evangelicals - praying, converting, going to church, not dancing, not drinking, not having sex, and not doing drugs. Anderson also loved rock music (he's a drummer at House of Mercy), and tells his life story by tracing his evangelical experiences and his experiences with rock music.

I hoped for an interesting read about how and why a man chose to leave his relationship with God. Instead, it was a story about how a man saw through the bullshit of evangelical religion, and then left the religion altogether. He refuses to write about his experiences of God and his life with and without God, instead writing about the easier subject of organized religion and its flaws. I agreed with nearly all of his critiques of evangelicalism, church, and Bethel. But for me, those flawed venues were important pathways to God, and I make a strong distinction between God himself (not messed up) and organizations that try to represent him (always messed up). I looked at the cover and said to the book, "In decades of church experience, did you ever meet God? What was God like? Or did you find him absent? What was that like?" Being already published, the book gave no answer.

He also rants about Bethel being a parental college with meaningless behavioral regulations and a mainstream student body that is silly and shallow. I recognize the Bethel he describes, but it's just a caricature. Bethel has some really good aspects to it, and a myriad of flaws beyond regulating student behavior. He spent four years there, but his description could have been written after the first week of freshman year. I wanted a real description of a student's personal and faith journey through this institution, not just a caricature that supports his anti-evangelical identity.

And then, on one of the last pages, he says he is a drummer at House of Mercy! AAARRRGH! What kind of radical, ex-Christian rock-and-roller attends a church populated by Bethel students, Bethel profs, and Bethel seminary grads?!?! I'm glad he's part of the church, but he could have said so sooner. I've visited House of Mercy, and it seems like a great place for people who love Jesus, but don't love evangelicalism (one type of organization that tries to help people find Jesus). It's a great church for people who have been hurt by church. It is, however, closely linked to that which it negates.

Anti-evangelicals can't exist without evangelism as a foil for their identities. Being anti- is fine if you're a disaffected post-adolescent - such people need to wrestle against their socialization (parents, church, hometown) in order to define themselves as adults. But even with disaffected college students, I still ask the affirming questions - Who are you? What do you believe?

This book irritated me. And after this review, I bet none of you will read it and talk about it with me! Kevin (a former student of mine) liked it - you could see his kinder comments.

Is anyone still reading? If so, I have two questions:
1. I'm not saying I did this, but if I had gone to Laura and Dustin's wedding without a gift, but now I have a gift, how should I deliver it? Do they live on Pillsbury or Chowen? If Laura's reading this...can I drop it by on your back step early this afternoon?

2. Does anyone want an older couch that's in good shape? It's sort of white/green/pink in a textured pattern - people make suitcases and carry-ons with this fabric, but I can't remember what it's called.





// posted by Jenell Williams Paris @ 9:06 AM 12 comments

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Wednesday, July 28, 2004

My Thoughts are Fascinating

I'm so energized by writing my paper about the integration of faith and learning in anthropology.  I plan to seek critique from some Christian anthro friends, and then publish it.  Of course, if I do seek critique, then when it's published, there won't be any Christian anthropologists left to read it (there are precious few of us)!  But it's expressive and enjoyable to write, and it feels good enough just to create it.  I didn't do my homework for my essay writing class tonight, because I've been doing academic writing.  I'm pretty sure, however, that they don't give grades at the essay writing seminar, so it shouldn't affect my G.P.A.

I would tell you more about 19th century anthropology, or missiology, or the origins of pietism, but it might just be so fascinating it would render you ineffective for the rest of the day.  Let's write a limerick instead.  Here's the first line.

There once was a Christian named Larry ...

You're next!

 

// posted by Jenell Williams Paris @ 8:23 AM 8 comments

8 Comments:

  • Whose back was really quite hairy

    By Blogger Jimmy, at 9:43 AM  

  • He went to the pool

    By Blogger pete, at 9:55 AM  

  • which caused him to drool
    Anj

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:02 AM  

  • And his TestaMint wasn't quite dissolved yet

    By Blogger Brian, at 1:55 PM  

  • There once was a Christian named Larry
    who back was really quite hairy
    He went to the pool
    which caused him to drool
    at the women he neither wanted to court nor marry.

    He was now a man at a loss for words
    But wanted to do all the dirty things he had heard
    So at the pool, he turned his back
    And purposefully dropped a few tracts
    Then raced home to cleanse himself in the Word.

    (I'm going to hell.)

    By Blogger kp, at 3:17 PM  

  • Okay - I come back to this post because I love the title - Your thoughts are truly fascinating! Now, I love the limerick. Anj

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:43 AM  

  • Jenell,

    Speaking of Christians and anthro, have you read any of Susan F. Harding's (Anthro - UC Santa Cruz) anthro work? Fantastic stuff. Her anthro "subject" is American "fundamentalism". Participant observation at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA, her most recent book is entitled The Book of Jerry Falwell. I was a TA for her back in '91 -- she has a very engaging style.

    Best,

    Brian Auten
    bauten@csusb.edu

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:08 AM  

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    By Blogger Clickbank Mall, at 8:23 PM  

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Monday, July 26, 2004

If you don't do daily devotions, you're going to hell

     I spent Saturday morning at my friend's mom's funeral in Iowa and Saturday night at Laura and Dustin's wedding.  I gave myself over to strong emotion in both situations, and it made me tired.  I woke up Sunday morning preparing to go to a friend's house to feed her.  She's a few weeks further along in her high-risk multiple pregnancy than I was when my babies were born, and she's on total bed rest and needs people to come sit with her and feed her.  I felt like it might be hard for me, and indeed it was.
      I meditated before going over to her house, to center myself and prepare for the day.  I focused on accessing the now.  What are my surroundings right now?  How does my body feel?  What is my breath like?  After figuring out what my "now" was like, I breathed and experienced the now for a few minutes. 
      The now is always OK.  I always have breath, and I can return to the experience of my body - my embodied life - at any time.  I was worried that being around my pregnant friend would make me live in the past, and be sad about what happened in the past.  I was worried I would live in the future, being anxious about what I won't have in the days and year ahead.  When I don't meditate, I experience much more sadness (past) and anxiety (future), and forget to live in the present.
      Last winter and spring, when every day was so difficult, I worked my mind/body program like an addict.  I meditated, listened to tapes, wrote, and exercised like a fiend.  But now I feel better sometimes, and I want the ease of a relaxed life.  I don't want regimented spiritual exercises - I want to wake up, feel OK about the day, walk around the yard and greet my plants, and just live.  I know I would experience more peace, more relaxation, and more presence if I would meditate and pray and read Scripture regularly, but I don't.  I'm satisfied with a little bit of peace, and I'm not striving for more.  It has been such hard work to stay alive, and I am enjoying a respite.
     Yesterday's meditation brought such good results, however, that I'm feeling a little hungry for the deeper spiritual life.  I suppose each of us have favorite spiritual practices that bring good inner results.  I wonder whether I'm typical in pursuing spiritual practices with more intensity when life is more difficult.  I'm always open to receiving and noticing God in my daily life, but sometimes I run around with binoculars, searching out God in the distance and magnifying his presence with my efforts.  And sometimes I don't - I just live in God's beautiful world in a relaxed way and receive his gifts as they come.  As far as I can tell, God seems to be OK with this, and so am I.
       If you'd like to comment, tell me about your favored spiritual practice at the moment, and how regular you are with your use of it.

 
P.S.  Thom went to the Saturday writing class for me, and I learned lots vicariously.
P.S.S.  Colleen revealed to me that IKEA does have tongs for non-stick pans.  It looks like a tweezer that a giant might use on his eyebrows.


// posted by Jenell Williams Paris @ 9:12 AM 3 comments

3 Comments:

  • I'm inspired to write about how I do/don't experience God. The danger being, of course, that I'll do it later and assume I'll still be moved. But for starters, the flowers bring me to a good place. Thanks for moving me to a place I rarely want to go.

    By Blogger Jimmy, at 12:34 PM  

  • These days I mostly experience God in nature, which doesn't surprise me; it's what first showed me there was a god. I notice things around me as I walk to & from my car, admire the flowers in my garden, marvel at sunsets, rejoice in cooler sunny days. -Rachel

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:17 PM  

  • I'm into centering prayer these days, since I seem to have run out of things to say to God. As for how regular I am - not very - it depends on what week it is. I used to be rigidly disciplined about the whole "Quiet Time" thing, but at one point, I was such a mess I couldn't keep up the pretense. Now, I figure that the fundamentalists of my youth would think I'm headed straight to hell for so many different reasons, what's one more? so I don't worry about my lack of discipline too much.
    Christy

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:18 PM  

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Thursday, July 22, 2004

Free writing seminar?

I am registered for a workshop on Inspirational Writing at the Loft Literary Center (downtown near the dome).  Unfortunately I have to attend a funeral instead.  The workshop is this Saturday morning from 9-12.  Is anyone interested in going?  If so, I could get notes from you, and you could learn some good stuff.  If not, I'll just get a refund.  

Here's the description:
Inspirational Writing TodayA108 with Linda AndersonAre you a writer who could comfort and inspire others? This workshop will explore possibilities for writing and publishing self-help, spiritual, meditation, and personal story books and articles. You’ll learn the forms, elements, and current markets for inspirational writing. You’ll get tips, writing exercises, and practical information to help you tap into your key life experiences and give service to others who are going through the same things you did. We’ll also talk about a system to help you frame chapters in a book-length work or to organize an article. You may also schedule a 20-minute afternoon individual consultation with the instructor as noted below.

// posted by Jenell Williams Paris @ 4:20 PM 1 comments

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What an essay isn't
 
I learned last night in my Essay Writing class that what I wrote wasn't an essay.  An essay should use personal narrative and detail to make a universal point.  I think my thing was just a vignette.  But it made a few people cry, so I guess it still served some purpose!

Does anyone know whether or not IKEA (or anyone else) sells tongs for nonstick surfaces?  My tongs are metal, and I'm going to wreck my nonstick pan using them.

I also wanted to let you know that I made the chicken salad with rosemary and cinnamon (thanks, KP), and it was lovely.

 
 

// posted by Jenell Williams Paris @ 10:23 AM 0 comments

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004

First, second, and third

First of all, I apologize for the lack of clarity on the spongepainting issue.  My garage is not spongepainted with hanging vines.  There is such a garage in my neighborhood, however.  Sorry about that.

Second, I found all your comments (in haloscan).  I can't get them back into this blog, but at least I have them all saved.

Third, here's my creative writing piece.  If you read it, it must be because you don't have anything else to do.  Whatever.  And if you think I dwell on death alot, you'd be right.  So be it.

 
My Smelly Boyfriend
 
        My boyfriend smelled like a man.  Seventeen years old, he wore Grey Flannel, a cologne marketed toward seasoned men of esteem.  He was, in fact, a man of a boy.  He was smart and responsible, and he owned professional clothes.  He also smelled of Indian spices.  Mixed with the American cologne, the smell sort of made sense, but sort of didn’t, just like his Indian-American identity.  A few weeks after he died, I went to Dayton’s and walked the cologne aisles looking for him.  When I sprayed Grey Flannel on my wrist, I inhaled the memory of him.
        He died smelling of car exhaust, which still pisses me off.  It’s not how I would prefer to remember him.  I remember him tipping his head back and drinking an entire glass of water without gulping, something he said all his Indian friends could do.  I remember him being kind to his mother, who wore decadent saris even around the house.  I remember him telling me he loved me. 
        He said he wanted to be with me always, but his parents forbade him from dating or marrying a white woman.  To me, high school boyfriends were for kissing, not for marrying, but Lakshu saw things differently.  So did his parents, obviously.  He said, “It’s so painful to love you so much.”  I think what he meant was that it was painful to live in two worlds, the white world of American high school, and the Indian world of home.  I think he also meant that he really loved me a lot. 
        Lakshu said he didn’t want an arranged marriage with a near-stranger from India, but he was confident that his older brother would say “no” to his own arrangement.  If Udaynath resisted, then Lakshu could follow suit.  During our summer of love, Lakshu’s brother accepted an arranged marriage, seemingly with gratitude and happiness.  Lakshu was devastated.  He had the strength to imitate his older brother in parental disobedience, but not the strength to initiate it himself.  In considering his future, he discovered other strengths he lacked, like the strength to keep living. 
        I recently went to the bank to set up a line of credit.  It was recent by calendar time, just a few days ago.  But it’s been 14 years since his suicide, 14 A.D.  The suit sitting behind the desk was named Ashman Miyan.  I wondered about his life.  I hoped his mother made him curry for dinner.  I hoped he was in love.  I leaned forward and hoped for the scent of curry and Grey Flannel.  I caught nothing but air, and remembered how much I still miss him. 
  
  
  
  


// posted by Jenell Williams Paris @ 4:07 PM 8 comments

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Tuesday, July 20, 2004

Voracious
 
I'm taking in so much information... learning about essay writing, reading The Bone Woman, reading about pruning, experimenting in my garden.  It's wonderful.
 
Has anyone read The Bone Woman?  Clea Koff is a forensic anthropologist who works in mass graves in Rwanda, Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo.  Amazing.  I'm planning to use it in Intro to Anthro.  It's scary and gory, but very human and important.
 
Also, I can't find my old comments from the previous blog.  A grad student (graduate from Wheaton) contacted me via comments, and now I can't reply.  If she still reads this blog, she should e-mail me again.
 
Are you learning today?  What's something you know today that you didn't know yesterday?  I know that the right and left calf bones of children are nearly indistinguishable - they distinguish themselves right/left more as adults.

// posted by Jenell Williams Paris @ 9:21 AM 28 comments

28 Comments:

  • I am learning still more about the complexity of closing costs (this is the fifth time I've been through a refinancing in six years, but they always have somethin' new). I am learning a lot about bicycling: in the Tour de France, they talk about riders being "on the large chain ring", which sounds to me like the sort of hard labor that has been deemed cruel and unusual punishment in federal courts.

    I am also learning that my body does not metabolize fat as well as it did a decade ago. This is not exactly new news, but I learn it over and over again.

    By Blogger Hugo, at 12:41 PM  

  • Your comments were hosted with haloscan.com. I suspect you might be able to log in to your account with them & see a list of comments that way.

    They were in the format below, so depending on your browser history, you might be able to scroll through a list of comment pages that you visited.
    http://www.haloscan.com/comments/jenellparis/108963695784027256/

    Let me know if I can help you figure it out. - Rachel

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:47 PM  

  • i think that since you only recently changed your format, you ought to be able to do a google search for the comments. they would show up as cached by Google. usually Google updates about once a week, i think.

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Monday, July 19, 2004

A Blogger is Born
 
Has everyone seen Rachel Stratford's new blog?  (She's a small group friend who recently moved to Colorado).  It's kind of like she's still with us, but we just can't hear her loud laughter!
 
The comments section from last Friday revealed that IKEA is not the place to go if you want to enjoy children.   I babysat my nieces on Saturday afternoon, and Anna screamed so much that I got totally frustrated and then didn't go to Marlene's party.  I was disappointed, but trust me, I would have been even less the life of the party than usual.
 
Anna was born three weeks after my sons died, so she reminds me of the age they would be if they were living.  I have been observing the fullness of life in each living thing.  Each plant, each animal, and each person has the full force of life within them.  So much power within each small thing.  In every living thing, life struggles to survive, insists on being fed, and asserts its own self-expression.  I saw this in Anna and thought, "How could I have lost life, three times over?"  In their brief lives, each of my boys had that same life force, and they expressed themselves in movement and appearance as best they could.  The driving paradox of my life right now is that it is so abundant and so empty, so full of life and full of death, so joyous and so grievous.

// posted by Jenell Williams Paris @ 9:52 AM 2 comments

2 Comments:

  • Thanks for the adverstisement for my new blog site. I appreciate the free marketing! Though for different reasons, I totally resonate with the paradox of life at various stages of my existence. Following God often leaves me in a paradoxical puzzle--to find your life you must lose it, out of the violence and suffering of the cross comes redemption, the kingdom of heaven suffers much violence, etc (and no, this isn't related to my Flannery O'Connor treatise on violence!)...contemporary Christianity has really taken the "violence" out of faith. Picturing Jesus in white robes with a halo around his head is not the image I get from reading His stories. We have sanitized the paradox of Christianity to the point of making it so sterile that it is unrelatable. That's my soapbox for the day.

    I am sorry Anna didn't behave like a good little niece. Doesn't she realize how fantastic her Auntie Jenell is??

    By Blogger Rachie Rach and the Funky Bunch, at 11:01 AM  

  • Thanks, too, for posting Rachel's blog. She has been added to the Roster O'Love.

    What you said in your last few lines reminds me of how i have been thinking in the last year or so about BALANCE. i think there is constantly a weighing-out of life that goes on that we cannot see: there is more to yin and yang than we know. i certainly do not mean to diminish any grief to black-and-white paisleys, but when i am able to pay off school bc of deaths in my family, when i lose my job and have the time to write a book...etc etc, i have to wonder if the scales balance after all.

    By Blogger kp, at 11:29 AM  

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Friday, July 16, 2004

The Old Arm Wrestling Injury is Acting Up
 
I am not an athelete, and I'm OK with that.  But I did arm wrestle a boy when I was 14 (he was about 11), and permanently damaged my right wrist.  I've learned to appreciate its ability to cry out during times of stress - my body usually recognizes stress before my mind does.  But it also limits me.  Yesterday I removed all the wallpaper from the kitchen, and then trimmed a tree in my mom's yard with an extension saw.  Now I can hardly squeeze a tube of toothpaste or write with a pen.  Typing is OK for now, THANK GOD!, so I can still blog.  I'll be pecking these manifestos out with my nose before I give up blogging.
 
I am taking a 4-week essay writing class at The Loft, Mpls' creative writing center.  There are 17 people in the class, and almost all of them seem interesting.  We have homework, and critique each other's writing.  The homework this week is to write a 1000 word essay that involves smell.  I'm working on something about the blend of Grey Flannel cologne and curry spices, which is what my high school boyfriend smelled like.  Much of what I write is for publication, so it feels really good to just write stuff every week that is creative, and not intended for sale.
 
Right now I'm going to play with my niece Katherine.  She's at the stage of asking "Why" to questions that have no answers, like "Why do you eat like that?"  "Why did you put on that shoe first?"  "Why are your eyes brown?".  I take the questions seriously and really consider them, and it's pretty amusing.
 
Question for today:  Will you interact with children today?  And, if so, is it in a setting where they are enjoyable, or irritating?
 

// posted by Jenell Williams Paris @ 9:02 AM 4 comments

4 Comments:

  • I love your new format!

    It's Saturday, Jenell, and I am off to Santa Barbara with my gal to meet my newest cousin, who is not quite six months old... so it will be a very small child with whom I interact today!

    By Blogger Hugo, at 12:07 PM  

  • regarding the kid question, i would have to say extremely irritating.
    i was trying to shop in ikea with grace & madeleine (big mistake) & madeleine could not stop talking. (grace said she gets it from her mother) anyway, it was driving me crazy because i couldn't hear grace or concentrate & we finally just had to leave.
    in the car she cried & said, "i just thought it was gonna be" (looking for the word) "inclusion. that i was going to be included. and you just talked to grace the whole time. i couldn't talk to her AT ALL."
    oh well. it was a funny conversation but still ON MY NERVES. now, i've gone & written too much. sigh. i love the idea of pecking the keyboard with your nose if need be.
    jenlemen

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:21 PM  

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Thursday, July 15, 2004

A Moment of Silence

Today my blog will be empty, as a moment of blogsilence for Rudy, Kafi, Sam, and the new baby. Though I don't know why some prayers "work" and some don't, I keep praying anyway, especially in crisis.

// posted by Jenell Williams Paris @ 8:18 AM 1 comments

1 Comments:

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Wednesday, July 14, 2004

The Pool is Shallow

Foreword: I was at a bridal shower last night (and noted that Laura Towle's waistline doesn't fill out her woven blouse like most Guatemalan peasant women do). Someone asked me how long I plan to stay at my job. I said, "I love my job, why would I not work there?" She looked surprised, and said she rarely hears such words around Solomon's Porch. There is just too much unemployment. What is worse than a season of unemployment at our church? I've got three: bubonic plague, scabies, or raining frogs. Feel free to add to the list.

Blog: I don't think so deeply during the summer. I read other blogs, and realize that I've been thinking about trimming a hedge, when to take a shower, and whether to put tarragon or rosemary in the chicken salad. It's great to have a month or two that doesn't require deep thought.

I'm writing, however, an article about how I integrate my faith with my anthropology. I have to submit an essay to the tenure committee this fall, and I don't want to write something just for them, so I'm writing for publication instead. Christians in academics mostly talk about the "integration of faith and learning", a perspective that typically involves identifying the underlying philosophy of the discipline, and comparing it with Christian philosophy. Anthropologists tend to not do this, so it appears that we don't integrate our faith with our science (if you believe anthro is a science, which I don't, but that's another essay). Anthropology is relativistic, mostly atheistics, non-conversionary, secular humanist, and evolutionary - what room is there for integrating Christian ideas? Plus, almost all of them -- I mean us -- no, I mean them -- despise missionaries and their associates (Bible-believing people). So what's the point? If we integrate at the level of philosophy, no one will publish or read what we say except for maybe InterVarsity Press.

I'm arguing for viewing anthropology through a lens of love, not faith. Love, defined as faith in action, is what many Christian anthropologists do. We love our colleagues, we love ideas (basic research), and we love other people (applied anthro and missions). Many Christians in anthro see potential for using and development cultural knowledge to advance God's kingdom, in many diverse ways. We don't try so much to reform the discipline itself - we just accept it and then appropriate it for our purposes.

And who even thinks propositionally anymore anyway? This essay is grounded in my emerging postmodern faith understandings in many ways. I'm going to try to refuse to do a foundational philosophical analysis of the discipline, and look at it instead in action, in intersections, and in appropriations. This is much more the way my theological understandings work, too.

Maybe I'll found the "emerging village of anthropology", of which I can guarantee you I'd be the only member. Unless this article is a best-seller and I go on Oprah to discuss it... you never know!

Comments today? Just a few ideas:
1. Tell me my ideas are brilliant.
2. Say what is worse in a church community than rampant unemployment.
3. Tell me whether to use tarragon, rosemary, or both in chicken salad. (Answer this by 11 am, or else don't bother).


// posted by Jenell Williams Paris @ 8:28 AM 0 comments

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Monday, July 12, 2004

My Husband is a Lurker

James has been reading my blog! I thought he never did. And just when I thought I had carved out some privacy in cyberspace. I think he should at least say 'hello' in the comments section, but he probably won't.

I don't have anything to blog about, but I'll tell you what I'm doing today. I initiated a tenure writing group at Bethel for faculty (about 5) who are applying for tenure. We have to submit essays regarding our understanding of what it means to be a Christian in our respective disciplines. I started the group so I would actually write something by creating real deadlines, and so I could submit my essay for publication later.

Today we're meeting, and mine is the least-developed of the lot. Because I don't really want to write it, and I'm not doing very well.

What are you doing today?

// posted by Jenell Williams Paris @ 8:51 AM 0 comments

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