New Project!

Hi friends :)  So sitting around last night w/ Mary P., I decided I was bored of being bored. I'm pretty sure I'm not meant to sit around all night playing Angry Birds while watching Jeopardy.  So what could we do with our time? This all started from one of Jenni's spirituality nights, in which an author went around asking people what a loving person looked like. We've developed this project, and I'd like your input. We're posting this on various outlets, and would love a variety of responses, regardless of their view, type, length, etc. Here's the generic posting, please repost as desired:

What is your soul?

We live in an era during which it is entirely possible to skate through life without contemplating who we are at our core. Having the world at our fingertips and the culture of instant gratification leave little room for reflection on the deeper meaning of our words, actions, and even our soul. Instead of being drawn to the center, we force our focus on those things that can be taken piecemeal and easily forgotten. With so many political factions, religions, and personalities, we tend to focus on our differences rather than our similarities. Stripped down to simply a soul, are we still as different as we think? Can we instead look into what connects us? And might that thing be our soul? Maybe, or maybe not. That's what we are here to find out.

After giving this question some thought, we'd like to hear your response to the question, "What is my soul?" Your response can be in any form you desire, whether it be a picture, word, phrase, poem, story, or anything else that captures your vision. Due to the abstractness of a soul, we are aware that there is no single definition, and that's kind of the beauty of this project. Your soul is entirely yours, and in sharing it, you have the capacity to draw others close to their own souls. We are not coming at this from any religious angle and we do not desire to press any of our own opinions. We simply want to hear the voices of individuals who have struggled to discover the deepest parts of themselves.

Our vision of this project is to receive responses from individuals across the country and across the world. If you have found any inspiration from contemplating your soul, please pass this along to friends, family, acquaintances, and even strangers who might be similarly impacted.

Keep in mind that we are not looking for a particular response or type of response, and anything that you feel expresses your definition of your soul is a beautiful thing. Please take your time in responding. We are not looking for quantity of responses, merely the result of your contemplation. Any and all responses are embraced, regardless of differing viewpoints.

Although we are not yet sure the manner in which your responses will be presented, it is important that you know that what you send in might be viewed by many people.

Responses should be sent to whatisyoursoul@gmail.com

Thanks for taking the time out to read about our project, and have a great day.

The Return!

Hello friends! After a very, very, very long break of sharing my experiences, I'm back! I'm so sorry for the hiatus; I know some of you ::cough cough:: Alex Miller ::cough cough:: will be happy to see something here other than the Election Day post!  Because it's been, what, 4 months since I last posted, there is no way I can provide an accurate update of my experiences. Just know that I have loved my experiences with my job, my community, and my time in Mobile :)

So what sparked me to return to the world of blogging?! Well, I have some something that I need to share with you all... dramatic pause....dramatic pause...I'm not pregnant or engaged....dramatic pause....Ready?! I have wonderful, wonderful friends. Big news, I know.

Really, though, I recently went back to visit Chicago, and was hit hard with this fact.  First, I'd like to apologize to all of you; I have done a pretty awful job at keeping in touch.  I think I was rationalizing with myself that I was "being present" to my community here in Mobile, but the truth is I was just being inconsiderately lazy. I was nervous coming back with the fact that I hadn't kept in touch, but I felt so loved and welcomed back :) All weekend, I kept thinking "this is how life is supposed to be;" loving & being loved well.  It seems like a simple realization, but it's stuck with me since I've been back.  With all the conflicts, confusion, & stress of the world & spirituality, this realization is my answer. When everything else is complicated, this is simple.  If nothing else, I know that I am loved, and at most I will try my best to love my community here, my community in Chicago, and my clients. 

So thank you, thank you Chicago for making me feel loved. 

HAPPY ELECTION DAY!

In light of election day:

"Instead of trying to strike an elusive “balance” between private piety and the social gospel, we must go to the heart of prophetic religion itself in which a personal God demands public justice as an act of worship. We meet the personal God in the public arena and are invited to take our relationship to that God right into the struggle for justice. Indeed, without that personal relationship we will lose the political struggle. That shift—bringing the personal God into the public arena—is at the heart of the prophet’s message and will transform both our religion and our politics."

(read the full article here: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/current-events/op-ed-blog/1474-is-there-a-politics-of-god). 

I realize that after my last post (over a month ago), it looks like I was swallowed up by the hurricane. As BA of a story that would be, the hurricane never came close and the reality is I'm just really bad at blogging. I'll try to give a recap of the past 30 days, but it has been a blur...

We got a chance to work @ Bayfest - Mobile's biggest (probably, only) music festival. Now, I was surprised to find out Mobile even had a music fest, and extra surprised when I found out how huge it was. Mobile is 400,000 people, and 250,00 were at Bayfest (a 3 block radius) We got to see Earth, Wind, & Fire, Lady Antebellum, Mary J Blige, Reba McIntyre, Nelly, Godsmack, & Motley Crue, as well as some pretty sweet local bands. We set up for meals and cleaned, but the best part was at the end of the festival, we got to take all of the bands' leftovers. I'm talking like 100 cans of Earth, Wind, and Fire's sodas, ha.

We headed out to New Orleans to go to a benefit concert & to spy on the other JV houses. They took us out to Frenchmen (sp?) st., an awesome park overlooking the Mississippi river @ Sunset, & a Tulane vs. Army game at the Superdome. The NOLA house came back to see us the following weekend, and we headed out to Pensacola for some October beach action (benefit of the South).

While we weren't rocking out/traveling, we've been busy @ work. I feel like I have a handle on work, but it's still ahrd not being from Mobile bc I don't have the connections other caseworkers do, but I'm working on it. I've become a professional beggar; I call places pleading for funding for clients. I'm a scrapper, and I must say I'm getting good at it. It's hard to not feel a bit burnt out at the end of the day; there comes a balance between leaving work at work and not becoming shut off from reflecting on it at the end of the day. It's never fun to have someone storm out of your office, but it's pretty great having people ask you for hugs.

I'm headed out to a conference on green living in North Carolina with a bunch of nuns, ha. My boss was supposed to go and I jokingly asked if I could, and she sent me instead (baller). As much as I like having roommates, it will be pretty baller to spend the night in a hotel alone AND watch TV! My TV access has been limited to 4 Jesus channels, an oldies humor network, football, & Glee. I think a weekend away will be good; I feel exhausted; not necessarily physically, but mentally. This intentional community thing is tiring. It comes down to either being tired of letting people know I'm frustrated or being frustrated that I'm too tired to let people know I'm frustrated. Where's the balance? I think the result has been me pulling away from community a bit: spending more time reading/playing Mandy Lynn (my mandolin).

Spirtually, we've been traveling so much, I just made it to my 2nd Quaker meeting on Sunday. It's so nice to sit in silence; it's something that I never really give the time/space for in my life, especially with 6 other roommates. They have some sort of study before their service, and I'd like to start attending. I think it will be really helpful to have something specific to meditate on before the hour of active silence.

I miss Chicago a lot. Because it's starting to get darker here earlier, it's reminding me of layering up in the city and living under my comforter back in the Rogers Park apt. I miss coffee shops & public trnasportation that comes more than twice a day. I miss having friends that aren't my roommates, ha. I think I'll appreciate my visits home/Chicago so much more now that I've been missing out on everything for 2 months. I'm figuring out when I'm going to be able to visit without screwing over my clients at work; so it probably won't be until next year. Please continue to send life updates/random occurrences.

Peace,
Emily

It's about time I got some action...

Please note the direction of the first '?' arrow.  Bring it.

Cliff Notes:

#1: I suck at blogging regularly.

#2: I want to be arrested for civil disobedience.

#3: I want to go to grad school. Loyola has a Magis program where I can live in an intentional community and get my MSW fo free! Wash U in St. Louis also has some scholarships... Ayy!

#4: I got to go to an Alabama Arise meeting; a lobbying group made up of 150 organizations who decide on what legislation to lobby for and which issues benefit the poor. It was awesome; and I got to meet individuals who have made worlds and worlds of change already on their own. It was so neat to be around that much passion, I felt like a bum, but a really excited bum :)

#5 I am looking into a life as a Jesus loving Quaker. For reals. They love peace and justice and all those good things, but (almost) more importantly, they're hilarious. Their official website states that:

We mostly don't dress like the man on the box of oats anymore, and today we hardly ever call people "thee."
(http://www.quakerinfo.org/)

Gotta love it. I'm going to check out a Quaker meeting on Sunday.

Peace,
-E

"Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the silence of cemeteries. Peace is not the silent result of violent repression.  Peace is the generous,  tranquil contribution of all  to the good of all.  Peace is dynamism.  Peace is generosity.  It is right and it is duty"

Work is wonderful and difficult all in one. I love, love, love sitting with people and getting to hear their stories. I've just come to realize how much I associate sitting and listening to someone with acknowledging their dignity and loving them, and I get the opportunity to do that every day! The hard part though is balancing that with actually "achieving" something (ie getting their bills paid) because there is lots of paperwork and I feel like I miss out on a lot of their story trying to get the necessary documents and information. It's a fine line. The worst though is when I forget someone's face and they see me and are like "don't you remember me?!" I feel like I really let them down and myself down by forgetting, and getting used to my mind's limits is rough. Anywho, I still love getting to tell people we get to turn their lights back on or pay part of their rent - I get to hug lots of people and hold their hands. It's wonderful :)

We didn't go gator spotting but we did get a chance to go to Pensacola for labor day which was awesome and relaxing and only an hour away! I saw a jelly fish AND baby sharks AND white sand beaches. We also went to a minor league baseball game, and we're on our way to becoming the biggest Mobile Bay Bears fans this state has ever seen.  We had first row tickets, and there was absolutely no one there. It was the first time I've ever been able to actually hear the players talking in the dugout, ha. Another family some of the roomies met at church invited us over for a picnic, and we got to go with two priests (driving w. a 78 year old, diabetic, ADD priest was hilarious after his birthday cake). The one priest was from Ireland and a little strange, but kind. Rather than asking us where we were from and such, he saw "what year did your parent immigrate here?" as a valid get-to-know you question, ha.  Regardless, both are cute old men, and when Fr. Klepac forgets that I'm not catholic, I think he really likes me, ha.

I finally got to a church on Sunday that I really enjoyed - it was sooooo different than anything I'd been to. It's a Presbyterian church, and there are literally like 25 people who meet in a room for a "contemporary" service. 6 or 7 of the people are from the L'Arche community (an live-in facility for people with special needs). Willie, one of the members of L'Arche gets to "play" up during worship (he just strums and mouths words, but it's the most beautiful thing ever). They created the service specifically for the L'Arche community because they weren't getting a chance to participate during the traditional service, so now they have instruments on all the tables and we join hands and sing together. The worship is completely off tune and unorganized, but it gave me a new perspective on what worship is - its not me singing certain songs/words/ in a certain style, but joining together with a community in Jesus' name. It's awesome and I'll definitely be back.

It's a "cool" 90 degree week, and we're still hoping for a baby hurricane. I feel completely out of the loop news wise bc I don't have my computer and rarely turn on the TV. I think someone could tell me that California broke off into the Pacific and I would probably have to believe them right now. All in all - send updates (truthful or hilarious).



Peace,
Em