tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77589871916679594002024-03-13T21:15:00.393-07:00Fish Paste for BreakfastReflections on life together with Karen refugees from Burma resettled in the United States.Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-8272272545366310362013-05-08T07:36:00.001-07:002013-05-08T07:36:54.271-07:00Sowing to the Spirit
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-language:JA;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pwee tah luh tha a ghaw, pwee tah goh mu nee, pwee tah tha ga nyaw
klee, pwee luh gleh daw boh… </i>Sow to the spirit, sow everyday, sow the seeds
of mercy, sow on every road… As we finish singing, Reverend Tha Hgay launches
into a long prayer remembering his family, the Karen community in Sweden and
around the world, and even his travelling companion, myself. His grandchildren
stir about the room eating their late night snack of sliced Swedish meatballs
microwaved on flat rounds of white bread. At the conclusion, he scolds them for
their lack of attention and stillness during the family prayer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
This 19<sup>th</sup> century hymn
is Reverend Tha Hgay’s chosen anthem for our trip here in Sweden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We sing it every evening before bed. Here I
am asked to give up the control of my own time, which is usually a treasured
part of my work in Comer. When we are to go to someone’s home for prayer or
there is a Swedish elder or church leader coming to visit, it is expected that
I will be present on short notice to share about Jubilee and the Karen
community in Georgia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Beyond those obligations I have
plentiful free time to rest, run on the trails around Alingsås, and read in
little coffee shops around town. There is something so freeing in doing nothing
and giving up ownership of your time. As at odds as coffee and baked goods in a
Swedish café feels to my usual lifestyle it is somehow becoming a birthplace
for compassion. One month without the dreaded frequent phone call, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Na kluahh—</i>Are you free?” is such a gift,
and yet it makes me realize how hardened and short on patience I have become to
such requests. With distance I see the savior complex that generates the fear
of saying no.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">…Luh pa meh nya ga htee plaw boo pweh daw bu…</i>We will soon see the
field full of rice.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I wonder how these 19<sup>th</sup> century hymns sound to
the Karen youth coming of age eating pizza and speaking Swedish. Is there any
nostalgia to rice paddies and casting seeds on the side of the road for those
who might come after you fleeing through the jungle? Their new life of
Scandinavian affluence and education feels quite distant from this simple
worldview.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 269.0pt; text-indent: .25in;">
Masanobu Fukuoka
writes in his agricultural classic: “To the extent that trees deviate from
their natural form, pruning and insect extermination become necessary; to the
extent that human society separates itself from a life close to nature,
schooling becomes necessary. In nature, formal schooling has no function.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
I hear via email about my garden
growing thousands of miles away with several good friends turning on the
irrigation occasionally and pulling weeds while I am away. I remember the
stressful rush to get everything planted before our departure, and give thanks
now that plants do not grow with such grasping but by the miraculous gift of
life bestowed by God slowly and without notice unless we take the time to see
the genesis unfolding before us (or imagine it from overseas). Our indulgence
of our ego is the greatest thing that separates us from our nature. Really we
are not so important. Our work is not so much important as is our ability to
receive the gift of life. The garden is one very good place to see this.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Reverend Tha Hgay’s priority is
maintaining a unified Karen church across the new diaspora. These are the seeds
he is planting here in Sweden, and they are certainly good news to many of the
people here desiring connection with their family and friends in America.
Agriculture and community are certainly a significant piece of why he settled
with his family in Vesta, just a thirty-minute drive from Comer, but the larger
vision is a new generation of Karen Baptists keeping the faith from Thailand to
Scandinavia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">…Pwee tah luh tah hkee lah, pwee du mu law nu, pwee daw oh bwee ta
ghay, du luh tah mah wee—</i>Sow that which is good, sow until the sunset, sow
and do not rest until the work is finished… “The younger white brother must
guide us on the big steel bird,” Reverend Tha Hgay tells me, “this is the Karen
proverb.” I look at him incredulously.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
I want to see the Comer Karen community
be able to thrive from a life giving agricultural livelihood. These are the
seeds I want to plant. Whether or not they germinate is another matter. In
order to plant these seeds I will orient my life in Comer more around the
garden and community organizing and less around assisting families finding
housing, accessing social services, and going to appointments. So much of this work
is wound up in an economy that works against a simple agricultural livelihood.
In order to invite the Karen into such a livelihood here I need to move more
towards it myself.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Though it is ultimately the choice
of resettled refugees themselves what culture they grow into, third country
helpers play an important role in sowing these seeds. This is evident in the
difference between Karen culture in Sweden and in America. It is important for
those of us in these roles to be cognizant of our sowing and plant the seeds of
a better society that we want to see grow rather than the seeds of our own
cultural effluence (e.g. debt, materialism, workaholism, individualism, etc.)
We cannot decide the germination of these seeds, but we can use the waste of
our civilization to fertilize the ground for resettlement, and the emergence of
a new culture. “To be here, caring for a small field, in full possession of the
freedom and the plenitude of each day, every day—this must have been the
original way of agriculture,” writes Fukuoka.<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-39643321451072373102013-04-25T14:16:00.000-07:002013-04-25T14:22:32.559-07:00Karenska
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-language:JA;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Beads of rain stream down the
outer pane of the airplane window. I lean over the person in the middle seat to
gaze out into the gray. The letters STOCKHOLM ARLANDA stand on a precipice,
dimly illumined by backlighting and the glow of the sun rising behind the
clouds. As a child I used to slide my finger down the nondescript gray terminal
diagram of Arlanda in the back pages of the airline magazine. I would imagine
myself coming down through the clouds in Sweden, with IKEA as my reference
point. Perhaps it was this childhood fantasy returning to the surface when I
said yes to Reverend Tha Hgay and his wife’s invitation to accompany them on
their month-long trip to Sweden to visit their children and grandchildren resettled
there.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
We make our way through customs and
board our connecting flight to Göteborg. When we arrive in the airport an Asian
man with a Bluetooth earpiece stands waiting at the bottom of the escalator. “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A weh may ya po kwa duh—</i>He is my son!”
declares Reverend Tha Hgay as he steps from the escalator and rushes towards
the man. This is the first time he has seen his oldest son Ler Wah in seven
years. A clean-cut young Asian man in a pea coat stands off to the side. “…And
this is my grandson!” The young man holds out his hand to me, “I am Solomon.”
“Zac,” I reply, thankful to meet someone my age who will be around for our
stay.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Solomon came to Sweden with his
family in 2008 at age twenty. The Swedish government placed them in Övertorneå
in the north of Sweden along the border with Finland. He now lives with his
uncle’s family in Alingsås, just outside of Göteborg in the south of Sweden.
There are about five Karen families living in this quaint Scandinavian town of
25,000. Thirty minutes away in the neighboring town of Vårgårda there are
another five or so Karen families. Solomon’s uncle works as caretaker for an
incapacitated elderly man, however most Karen adults in the area are not
working but, attending practicums in hopes of soon being hired. The Swedish
government covers their living expenses. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
We pull up in their Chevrolet
hatchback to a dreary public housing complex. “Most of my friends from the camp
who live in the U.S. are already married and having children,” he says. Most
young Karen people in their twenties here in Sweden attend special schools to
learn Swedish, vocational skills, or prepare for college. Educational
opportunities in the U.S. are much more sparse for refugees resettled as young
adults. Mostly if you are over 18 when you arrive in the U.S. it is straight to
the chicken plant. Solomon can already speak Swedish and so after working for
sometime in a school in the north, he is now training to be a taxi driver here
in Alingsås.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
We ascend a spiral staircase to
the third-floor and enter a small, but tidy European apartment with two
bedrooms and one bathroom. A toddler rushes to the door and gazes up with big
eyes for the first time at his grandfather and grandmother. Ler Wah’s youngest
son, Daniel, was born here in Sweden just two years ago. As Tha Hgay and Paw
Hser settle in and delight in their newest grandchild, I follow Solomon and his
two school-age cousins, Naw Ga Mwee and Thaw Eh Mwee out to the football yard
behind their apartment building.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Black soil shows through the bald
spots in the olive-colored winter grass. As we enter the field and begin
kicking the ball around, a young African girl wearing a hijab comes to join us,
followed shortly by a Congolese boy and two Serbian girls who look at me
strangely. Solomon tells them something in Swedish. “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vad heter du?</i>” the older Serbian girl asks me. “I don’t speak
Swedish. I’m sorry,” I tell her. “What’s your name?” she asks again.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
There is no Karen church in Sweden
and so with a Karen pastor visiting the country, he naturally must visit every
Karen home in Alingsås and Vårgårda to pray with the families. On Sunday Ler
Wah’s family hosts a thanksgiving worship service in celebration of the
birthdays of two of their children. Something they have not been able to do for
quite some time. Solomon and I offer two songs for the service, one in English
and another in Karen. Tha Hgay stands and preaches passionately to the living
room full of Karen from the two neighboring locales. After the service there is
a meal served. Solomon hands me a prepared plate with boiled potatoes,
vegetable salad, and stewed beef with mushrooms. “No rice?” I ask in amazement.
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Svenska a ta aw</i>—Swedish food,” he
responds with a smile, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Na aw beahh—</i>Is
it delicious?” “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">May, ya aw beh ra—</i>Yes,
it is very good!” I reply, “I have just never seen Karen people in the U.S.
serve food like this.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Just a few days before our
departure from the U.S., Rev. Tha Hgay presided over a thanksgiving service at
Hei Nay Htoo and Baw Baw’s house in celebration of Wisdom and Hae Tha Blay’s
birthdays. The fare was typical of a Karen celebration. Hei Nay Htoo spent all
day Saturday acquiring and butchering a pot-belly pig and a large goat, then
stayed up all night next to the fire grilling pork and tending to bubbling
cauldrons of goat meat and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">meh teh leh
aye kah</i>—goat shit soup. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
A Karen man with a long face and a
goatee sits on the couch across from me and picks at the marzipan and whipped
cream on a slice of birthday cake. He looks at me sternly for a moment before
starting abruptly in immaculate English, “After we get Swedish citizenship, do
you know how difficult it is to get a work permit in the United States?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-16913258384343161092013-04-24T10:33:00.001-07:002013-04-24T10:36:36.632-07:00Jubilee Neighbors Summer Camp 2013Now recruiting campers, counselors, junior counselors, and volunteers...<br />
Contact me for registration and application forms.<br />
See the flyer below for more information.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d_WMkUL6eD0/UXgW9oAa_-I/AAAAAAAAATY/Yzs8-A0v-vs/s1600/Camp+Flyer+13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d_WMkUL6eD0/UXgW9oAa_-I/AAAAAAAAATY/Yzs8-A0v-vs/s640/Camp+Flyer+13.jpg" width="494" /></a></div>
<br />Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-62674529300369520642012-12-21T06:58:00.002-08:002012-12-21T06:58:33.597-08:00Advent Sermon
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-language:JA;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Isaiah 9:2-7<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Psalm 19:1-7<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">John 1:1-9<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I recline on the damp gray carpet next to Hei Nay Htoo, the
traffic of North Indian Creek Drive rushing like a gasoline brook outside of
the open French doors. Thick summer air pours in from the balcony. Baw Baw lies
sprawled on the dilapidated couch, provided by some church or resettlement
agency, and now the primary home of several colonies of roaches.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Can I make a doctor’s appointment for you?” I ask. She has
been quite sick and not her usual self for the past few weeks. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No. I will not go yet. I sick like this with Wonderful,
Blay Blay, Hae Tha Blay, Ga Pu… <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ta blaw
nya ee dee tho tho.</i>”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You’re pregnant?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Uh. Ya duh lee.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Floored, I run to my room to find my English-Karen
dictionary, thinking of all of the chaos of the past months while both parents
were working, the many challenges of managing four kids, let alone another, and
their intention to move back to Comer in just a few months. I flip the
dictionary open to the C’s, and finding the page, I turn the book to face Baw
Baw, pointing to the Karen word.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Na thay nyaahh? </i>Do
you know?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Slightly insulted, she nods her head, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ya thay nyaehh. </i>Yes, I know. But we will have one more here. An
American.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is the second Sunday in the season of advent, a time of
anticipation for the arrival of our anointed one, our liberator. In Isaiah we
hear a coronation liturgy for a new king who will restore Israel to glory. The
text from Isaiah reveals a culture of expectation for an ideal worldly king,
and God meets this expectation with the surprise of a helpless baby born in a
feeding trough.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> The people who have
walked in darkness</i>, the darkness of domination, subjugation, and exile, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">have seen a great light</i>, but perhaps not
the light they had in mind. Though this baby is a king, his kingdom is not of
this world and so we are not to prepare ourselves as such. The poet Rilke
admonishes us:<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
We must not portray you in king’s
robes,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
you drifting mist that brought
forth the morning.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Once again from the old paintboxes<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
we take the same gold for scepter
and crown<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
that has disguised you through the
ages.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Piously we produce our images of
you<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
till they stand around you like a
thousand walls.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
And when our hearts would simply
open,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
our fervent hands hide you.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We hear in the Psalm the way that all of creation proclaims
the glory of God. Like the radiant heavens, an infant captures the attention of
a people in the way that no politician ever will. As we prepare for Christmas
we should be as expectant parents: eager, joyful, and terrified. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">For a child has been born for us, a son
given to us.</i> Before we know it the creator of the universe will be helpless
in our arms, crying to be nursed, waiting to be nurtured into being. The birth that
we anticipate is inseparable from its inconvenience. The news from the Angel
Gabriel announcing Mary’s pregnancy, no doubt surprised her. She knew that this
pregnancy would cause her great embarrassment as a young betrothed woman. But
she received this news joyfully, as though pregnant with hope itself. She had
faith that this unlikely humiliation would become her salvation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our scriptures this evening invite us to contemplate Christ
coming into the world as a rising sun. The prologue to the gospel of John is
reminiscent of God’s speaking the world into being in Genesis. This new light
coming into the world illumines everything, enlightens everyone. “Nothing is
hid from its heat,” the Psalmist sings. We can rejoice for this new warmth and clarity
of vision, but this sun also exposes us as we are.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thomas Merton writes, “The Advent mystery is the beginning
of the end of all in us that is not yet Christ.” It is a time of preparation
for our journey with the infant king into Lent. The birth of this child will
completely reorient our lives, much as it did for his parents. We will grow
together with this child. He will become a mirror for our condition and perhaps
as he learns to crawl, walk, and speak, so will we also rediscover these simple
pleasures and forget the complexities of the world with which we tire our
spirits. A new parent can anticipate a kind of death in the arrival of a new
child, but how much greater is that new life. Through this imminent birth, we
realize a new reciprocity in our relationship with God. We are with God as day pouring
into day, night pouring into night.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To love the one who comes in this season we must love the
way in which he comes: poverty. The message coming to us this advent is one of
a simple hope, an affirmation that life is sacred because it opens up infinite
possibilities for human love and creativity. The holy interruption of a newborn
reminds us of that even in the most impractical of circumstances. How much more
so should our God who becomes our very own child, our Isaac, our lamb, our
liberator, who in his vulnerability invites us to union with him. We who have
become disenchanted with humanity must embrace the spiritual poverty of an
infant and search for Christ crying out for us in the stable, the street, the
dingy apartment. As we hold him in our arms we are invited into a new reality
that Mary knew well. The creator of the stars at night dwells in us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On Saturday April 14, 2012 I wake up late in the morning
still caught in the slump of humiliation from being fired from the chicken
plant the day before. Leaving my phone behind, I wander over to the Farmer’s
Market. I arrive at Corey and Lauren’s market table and pick out a bundle of
asparagus.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Baw Baw is trying to call you. She said something about her
stomach hurting,” Corey says.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I walk over to their little white house behind the gas
station and open the door. Baw Baw comes into the kitchen, just barely able to
walk, four excited children in tow.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ya gaw na ta blu law
lee. Na ta paw fone bah duh—</i>I called you many times already, but you did
not pick up your phone.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Sorry. I left it at home. Did you call Sue?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Yes, but she come 10:30.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Ok. I will call her again.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sue pulls up in a van and helps Baw Baw in. We gather towels
and clothes for them to take to the hospital, and the four kids and I watch as
the car drives away. Russ and Christina agree to watch the kids while I call
the chicken plant, and teave a message with Human Resources to deliver to Hei
Nay Htoo, who is working overtime, that his son is being born and to wait
outside for me to take him to the hospital.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">Leaving the kids at
Jubilee, I take off towards Athens. Upon arriving in the parking lot at the
plant on Barber Street, my phone rings. Pa Saw Paw says Hei Nay Htoo is at her
house in Comer looking for me. After uttering some frustrated words, I tell her
to tell him to come back and meet me at the chicken plant, since the hospital
is only a few blocks away. Twenty odd minutes later, we caravan to Athens
Regional and find our way to the third floor. There, tightly packaged in a warm
blanket in his mother’s arms, is Wisdom.</span><!--EndFragment-->
Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-84387592762512466662012-12-21T06:29:00.000-08:002012-12-21T06:29:33.305-08:00Tolerance
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-language:JA;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
President Obama made a historic
visit to Burma in November as the first U.S. president ever to visit the
country. The streets filled with people to welcome him and sing his praises for
spending six-hours in their long-closed country. Somehow he managed to make a
speech at Rangoon University, meet with Aung San Suu Kyi in her compound, and
make an offering in the famous Shwe Dagon Pagoda within these six hours. His
speech included an emphasis on the work ahead of deescalating ethnic conflicts
and embracing ethnic diversity within the country, comparing the situation in
Burma to the United States.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
I recently read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To the Golden Shore</i> by Courtney
Anderson, a biography of Adoniram Judson. Judson was the first American foreign
missionary and spent his life translating the Bible into Burmese and preaching
the gospel in Burma. He departed with a fairly imperial attitude, bent on “converting
the heathens,” but even from the beginning there is something quite profound
about what he takes on. When he departed in 1812, he offered his entire life to
Burma, expecting, quite reasonably never to return to the United States of
America.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
As a young man before the
emergence of his Burma fixation, he was raised in a conservative
Congregationalist culture in Massachusetts. In his studies however he came to
consider himself a Deist and for a while had little interest in the church,
until finally driven from doubt he returned to study theology. He later
converted and became a Baptist.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Every page of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To the Golden Shore</i> details seemingly yet another hardship. Judson
endured the deaths of his loved ones and closest companions time and time
again, yet remained steadfast in his mission. His imperial impulse to “convert
the heathens” certainly dismissed the spiritual grandeur of Buddhism, but
Judson’s life work cannot be dismissed as such. While his language is offensive
in our modern pluralist society, his mission was certainly a conversion
experience for himself also. His spirituality took on a markedly mystical tone
after the death of his first wife, Nancy. He often read the works of the French
Catholic mystic Madame Guyon, and perhaps under this influence, withdrew into a
dark and ascetic period of his life aimed at self-annihilation. At his most
extreme he dug a grave and spent hours sitting in it contemplating his own
death.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
In the center of the monks’
quarters at Pathom Asoke, a Buddhist lay-monastic community in Thailand where I
spent a month during college, there is a glass casket with a decomposing corpse
and various gruesome photographs of bodies in the throws of death. This
horrific shrine functions as an emblem of the three marks of reality: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dukkha </i>(suffering or dissatisfaction), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">anicca</i> (impermanence), and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">anatta</i> (no-self).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Before the death of his first wife
Nancy, Judson also spent a couple of years in the horrid conditions of a
Burmese death prison during the war with the British because the Burmese became
suspicious of all foreigners. While imprisoned, he concealed his Burmese
translation of the Bible in his pillowcase.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
What motivated his steadfast
commitment to such a hostile land? It seems the same faith that smacked of
intolerance grew within him a great love and intimate knowledge of the Burmese
language and people, so much so that he was willing to suffer immeasurably for
his mission. This is perhaps closer to the original meaning of the word “tolerance”
from the Latin <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tolerantia</i>, or
“endurance.” The casting of one’s entire life away for the cause of a people
not one’s own has a great deal to speak to us today of tolerance.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Our pluralist society offers the
easy temptation of relativism, which propagates the myth that we can live
together without really knowing each other: a dangerous path of intolerance. Christian
and Buddhist tradition alike are meant to cultivate the practice of endurance:
endurance for the suffering and dissatisfaction that we necessarily incur by
living in community, by existing in relationship with other human beings.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Two centuries later, Adoniram
Judson’s Christianity is returning to the United States with the Karen and
other ethnic groups from Burma resettling as refugees. I sit on a frigid metal
folding chair in a clearing in the pine forest gazing forward towards the stage
built of from pine logs for the occasion and elaborately decorated with colorful
garlands and streamers. Reverend Tha Hgay stands reading scriptures in Karen
and English, his voice blaring over the poorly adjusted PA system. There are
over two hundred people in attendance today for this year’s Christmas
celebration.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
The Karen own almost forty acres
of pine forest off of a dirt road in the Vesta Community of rural Oglethorpe
County. On this poor land, Reverend Tha Hgay, the chair of the Karen Baptist
Church in the United States, dreams of establishing a mission school to raise
up young Karen leaders to engage in ministry to their people here in the U.S.
and abroad. Currently the land has four family homes and countless small shacks
and cabins erected from felled pines. It is quickly developing into a village
of sorts, with doublewides and singlewides rather than bamboo houses. In July
of 2013, in recognition of the 200<sup>th</sup> anniversary of Judson’s arrival
in Rangoon, Reverend Tha Hgay intends to enact his dream with the support of
Karen communities nationwide and a faculty from as far away as Burma. He is
personally inviting me to be a student.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 4.5in; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 4.5in; text-indent: .25in;">
While excited
about the Karen self-empowerment of this project. I also fear it regressing
into some kind of backwoods fundamentalism. With the bloody and exploitative
history of Christendom, what space is there for missions? Yet we who would
practice Christianity in the West and travel the road of tolerance will be sent,
perhaps not to a foreign land but instead to our own neglected backyard. There
is in post-Christendom perhaps a space for a negative missiology: a sending that
positions us to receive.<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-11532488506287661952012-11-15T05:07:00.000-08:002012-11-15T05:07:38.483-08:00Weeding
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-language:JA;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
I rest my bicycle against the
water tank and gaze out over the meadow, where there were once watermelons and
tomatoes. I suppose if you want to be a gardener you cannot leave the country
for a whole month during the summer. After tilling with the tractor, I set to
work digging a trench around a fifty by fifty foot section and hoeing up wads
of grass. Using twine and sticks, I lay out a path down the middle and several
raised beds. Karen gardeners walk by on their way to pick chilies and plant
daikon radishes in the freshly tilled soil and offer puzzled looks at my tired
face and sticks with string. It is already mid-September and soon it will be
too late to put fall crops in the ground.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Na ku ra. Na mah ga oh kee gha—</i>You are very hardworking. You will
have <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">two</i> wives!” a voice calls from
down the path.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
I look to see Naw Say back from
fishing in the pond and gathering her things to return home for the evening.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mayahh? Naw oh ah geh soh, ya bah ma dee ee</i>—Really? There is too
much grass. I have to make a garden like this,” I reply.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
I return to forming a second bed
with a hoe and picking out clumps of Bermuda grass. With the daylight fading, I
know that I will not be able to plant seeds yet tonight and resign myself to
finishing the bed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
In the spring I spread seeds
sporadically, too enchanted by the simple mystery that a little particle could
later yield abundant food to plan out beds and such. This seemed to be the way
Naw Say planted as well, without a plan, creating more of a food forest than a
garden. This chaos yielded a bountiful harvest, but always in competition with
encroaching grass, which eventually overtook many of the crops planted.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
I cannot plant a fall garden in
this same way. It seems that intentionality is a necessity for effective
agriculture, from crop rotation to weed control. So I will start with setting
aside an area to patrol for grass with designated beds, walking areas, and
mulch. This will be my fortress from which I can wage war against Bermuda
grass.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
The word “apocalypse” pervades our
pop-culture as though indicative of the ominous end times, providing the
subject matter for countless Hollywood films and even the occasional less than
historical special on the History channel. The original Greek word refers to an
uncovering, or revelation of something hidden. The early Christian worldview
revolved heavily around this mystery of apocalypse. Living with an apocalyptic
worldview for the early church meant living in an uncovered reality, rejecting
the asserted permanence of empire and the powers that be, and embracing this
fragility as fertile soil for the coming Kingdom of God.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
The Karen arriving in the United
States do not know the experience of imperial security, only imperial
persecution. Like the early church, many Karen Christians along the Thai-Burma
border live in tumultuous times, the day and hour unknown when their village or
camp might be massacred, or they might be taken by a third country. Such
instability cultivates a radically different worldview than the average
American, feeling secure with our well established, though certainly not always
agreeable, government, economy, infrastructure, etc.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Karen refugee gardening is shaped
by this experience. Decisions are made promptly and seeds are planted for quick
yields to feed many. As Eh Kaw recently told a reporter from the Athens Banner-Herald,
the Karen planted seeds along their path while fleeing through the jungle,
hoping that others did the same before them. This is gardening for the end
times, embracing the impermanence of the surrounding civilization.
Intentionality here becomes not so much a means of establishing something
permanent, but of preparing for an uncertain future.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Coming from the experience of a
comfortable stability within the empire, I perceive this as chaos. In the
summer I grew very frustrated with the many volunteer tomato and amaranth
plants which Naw Say opposed pulling and yet were shading out the watermelons I
planted. The idea of removing a food producing plant seemed unthinkable to her
even if it would prevent other yields later in the season. Weeding is seldom
practiced among the Karen, because they enjoy many of the wild plants in stir
fry or soup almost as much as the planted vegetables. There is a strange sort
of food security in this agricultural chaos that is difficult for the Western
mind to comprehend. Dale, my herbalist friend, claims that wild plants actually
offer us the most strength and “life force.” “Chickweed will grow up through
pavement. You don’t see garden vegetables doing that.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
With the advent of Food Stamps,
however, more and more processed foods are becoming a part of the daily Karen
diet. As families become more established here, owning their own homes and speaking
fluently the language of America, the Karen gradually transition from survival
mode into a newfound stability. If they are like most other ethnic groups that
have immigrated to the United States, much of their agricultural tradition will
melt away after only a generation or two. The memory of fleeing through the
jungle will fade. Wild plants will become weeds to be pulled from gardens and
trampled on paths.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
There is an incredible pride in
the Karen nationality among newly arrived refugees here. The challenge before
community leaders is to preserve this identity as a distinct voice within the
cultural conversation of America. As our politicians speak we can recognize an
empty pride devoid of values and meaning, too drunk on corporate sponsorship to
stand for anything. Among the Karen, there is certainly a different kind of
pride, but what is to keep the empire from crawling in like Bermuda grass and
taking over the garden? Four generations into the experiment, I can say there
are certainly some weeds to pull.<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-75513332180091911782012-10-30T19:55:00.002-07:002012-11-15T04:57:51.109-08:00Athens Banner-Herald<a href="http://onlineathens.com/features/2012-10-20/madison-county-burmese-refugees-build-new-home">http://onlineathens.com/features/2012-10-20/madison-county-burmese-refugees-build-new-home</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://onlineathens.com/features/2012-10-27/comer-refugees-apply-old-traditions">http://onlineathens.com/features/2012-10-27/comer-refugees-apply-old-traditions</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://onlineathens.com/features/2012-11-03/faith-family-and-community-flourish-karen-refugees-madison-county">http://onlineathens.com/features/2012-11-03/faith-family-and-community-flourish-karen-refugees-madison-county</a>Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-45809947756145101992012-09-27T17:59:00.001-07:002012-09-27T19:00:21.177-07:00Motherland<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-language:JA;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Sbvy8PinR6U/UGUDvi1uwhI/AAAAAAAAATA/CktcgeYG83k/s1600/Europe44.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Sbvy8PinR6U/UGUDvi1uwhI/AAAAAAAAATA/CktcgeYG83k/s320/Europe44.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
“Rothenburg ob der Tauber 4 km,” a
sign announces as the car drifts to as stop at a “T” in the road. Samuel puts
the car into gear and I rouse myself from a nap as we lurch forward and turn
left. I crank up the seat to an upright position to catch a glimpse of the
rolling hills of corn and wheat.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
One century ago, a great
grandfather of mine emigrated from this town according to my cousin’s research.
My late grandmother’s stories placed her father’s hometown as Nuremberg, which
with the approximations of an elderly memory suggest the little town of
Rothenburg, about 80 kilometers to the west, as a probable place. Both of her
parents immigrated to the United States as adolescents together with their
families, leaving the rolling hills of Bavaria far behind for a new life of
economic opportunity in Baltimore.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
As a child, I obsessed over this
distant ethnic identity as a German. It was one of my fascinations I fell into
with a deep, though ephemeral intensity. I acquired a German flag for my
collection, a book that I never read on Adenauer, the German leader during the
reconstruction after World War II, and a pocket-sized German dictionary, which
fit conveniently into my pencil box so that I could look up important
vocabulary like “<i>geschlecht</i>” during
the school day. I repeated the few German phrases that my mother taught me like
mantras passed down from her grandparents:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“<i>Sprechen Sie Deutsch?</i>”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“<i>Ich spreche kein Deutsch</i>.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
The town emerges from the farmland
first as a gas station and set of shops, then in its medieval splendor,
complete with town wall, moat, and watchtowers. We park on the side of the road
and follow a path around to the main gate where a cobblestone street flows in
lined with old Tudor houses with signs indicating restaurants and shops. We
walk into a restaurant and order a pizza to go. We have 15 minutes to explore
before the pizza is ready and then we must return to the road. Samuel amuses
himself by playing the role of tour guide and pointing out various sights of
supposed relevance to my family history. “…And this is your great grandfather’s
house, here the well where he drew his water…”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Samuel tried to talk me out of our
detour here while we were stuck in traffic several times on the autobahn around
Stuttgart, but I tried to convey its importance to me, which he found a little
funny, since I have no living relatives here. He graciously accommodated my
desire however by making the one-hour detour on the way to his family reunion
in the north.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Rothenburg ob der Tauber was
founded in the 12<sup>th</sup> century and prospered until the Thirty Years’
War when the Count of Tilly, commander of the Catholic League, decided to
quarter his troops there. Rothenburg was a Lutheran city, but easily overcome
by the troops who left it empty and impoverished after their several month
stay. The Black Death arrived a few years later and virtually wiped out the
remaining residents, leaving the town as a fossil not uncovered until the 19<sup>th</sup>
century by artists and tourists. The Nazis adopted Rothenburg as the archetypal
German hometown and the state leisure organization arranged frequent day trips
for the masses from all across the country.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
We walk down the hill to the black
stained stone of St. James Church before turning around to meet a hoard of
Japanese tourists about to attack the gothic structure with their cameras. We
sneak around them and climb back past the numerous gift shops, restaurants,
bars, and inns inviting us in with multilingual chalk signs placed on the
cobblestone street towards where our pizza waits for us. I snap a few
photographs and we take our pizza outside of the city wall where we find a
bench to sit and chow down. I gaze back at the city as we walk to the car and
prepare for the long journey north to the Sauerland, where Samuel’s family
still lives.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
The next morning we arrive at the
wooden gate of his uncle’s retreat. There are two fish ponds fully stocked with
trout fed by the stream at the back of the property and a small lodge in
between with its door open and several people loitering outside. Smoke issues
from a charcoal grill and the scent of freshly grilled sausage wafts through
the cool air. The people approach us with handshakes and hugs and I am
introduced to a series of aunts, uncles, and cousins as a friend visiting from
America. We set up our tent beside the stream and settle down to a meal.
Samuel’s elderly grandfather is eager to try his broken English out on me by
telling stories from his life, much to the amusement of the others. After
eating and taking a rest, I decide to go for a run in the countryside.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
At my grandfather’s funeral the
priest called my cousins and I up to the altar for his homily. He explained the
symbol of the candles on the altar representing Christ.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Candles provide light just as Christ
was the…?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Candle!” I blurted out.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Not quite,” the priest said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Light of the world!” said my
Catholic school educated cousin.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
A dirt path adjacent to the stream
eventually pours into a paved road. I follow the road as it meanders between
sloping pastures without a car or person in sight. I breathe in the fresh air
warmed by the afternoon sun and continue to a “T” in the road. A small white
chapel sits in the grass across from the intersection. I enter through a gate
and look through the open door of the chapel. There are two or three candles
flickering before an image of Mary holding the infant Jesus. I lower myself
onto the kneeler and fold my hands intending to pray, but no words come. I
stare at the rather uninspired icon of the holy mother for a moment before
standing up and turning to a bag of tea lights placed on a shelf on the right
wall. I strike a match and place the candle on the altar, silently departing to
continue on my way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-76796886060454995422012-09-27T10:29:00.001-07:002012-09-27T10:31:11.134-07:00Jubilee Neighbors Summer Camp 2012<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; line-height: 115%;">This summer the first ever
Jubilee Neighbor’s summer camp, hosted 28 young campers from Comer and the
surrounding area. Held at Comer United Methodist trough the great hospitality
of the parish, the camp welcomed children ranging in age from 3-12, from diverse
backgrounds, many being the children of refugee families from Burma. The camp ‘theme’ was centered on gardening
and God’s goodness as witnessed through nature. Activities also included a
strong emphasis on language learning. Each day the campers sang songs and read
scripture in three different languages: Karen, Spanish and English. Additionally
campers took part in phonics based language classes in these three languages.
Memorable activates of the week included playing cooperative games with a giant
parachute, ‘field trips’ to Jubilee neighbor’s field to observe nature using
the five senses and collecting trash and natural materials to creatively reuse.
Campers used their artistic abilities to help construct a sign for the
neighbor’s field and took part in the creation of a tradition Karen- style
bamboo compost basket for the field.
Throughout the week campers learned the importance of caring for the
land and one another through songs and scripture activates. As culmination, on
the final day campers performed the songs they had learned, in Karen, Spanish
and English, for an enthusiastic audience at the Comer Farmer’s Market. Many thanks to the community of Comer United
Methodist for making this wonderful week of fun, learning and friendship such a
success!</span></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div>
Terese Gagnon, Camp Counselor<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GrJ0y7FjHdU/UGN-K6u9RRI/AAAAAAAAANc/cUOG8nrYSEE/s1600/JNeighborscamp201201.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GrJ0y7FjHdU/UGN-K6u9RRI/AAAAAAAAANc/cUOG8nrYSEE/s320/JNeighborscamp201201.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_c_BGUqRDnI/UGPXWALpxlI/AAAAAAAAASo/jRcg4dxq6-Q/s1600/Girls+in+the+field.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_c_BGUqRDnI/UGPXWALpxlI/AAAAAAAAASo/jRcg4dxq6-Q/s320/Girls+in+the+field.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oumXdm-HW10/UGN-0ZIpVOI/AAAAAAAAANs/z7ZeIBg85Jo/s1600/JNeighborscamp201203.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oumXdm-HW10/UGN-0ZIpVOI/AAAAAAAAANs/z7ZeIBg85Jo/s320/JNeighborscamp201203.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yAP7O2Jky_U/UGN_IfFrn6I/AAAAAAAAAN4/lFvj791cZ-w/s1600/JNeighborscamp201204.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yAP7O2Jky_U/UGN_IfFrn6I/AAAAAAAAAN4/lFvj791cZ-w/s320/JNeighborscamp201204.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BFlsoe_GpWo/UGN_eSB4HpI/AAAAAAAAAOA/ZksML3oQnK4/s1600/JNeighborscamp201205.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BFlsoe_GpWo/UGN_eSB4HpI/AAAAAAAAAOA/ZksML3oQnK4/s320/JNeighborscamp201205.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w-dgXXlupgU/UGN_sMwfmYI/AAAAAAAAAOI/BqTXxbCM714/s1600/JNeighborscamp201206.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w-dgXXlupgU/UGN_sMwfmYI/AAAAAAAAAOI/BqTXxbCM714/s320/JNeighborscamp201206.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LwXlT8bZ6jw/UGN_8qk3miI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/IvCqK3i5JO4/s1600/JNeighborscamp201207.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LwXlT8bZ6jw/UGN_8qk3miI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/IvCqK3i5JO4/s320/JNeighborscamp201207.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OKfcs-lZwk0/UGOAIY05y2I/AAAAAAAAAOc/6_23Rcynm3E/s1600/JNeighborscamp201208.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OKfcs-lZwk0/UGOAIY05y2I/AAAAAAAAAOc/6_23Rcynm3E/s320/JNeighborscamp201208.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gqk4VOHCUcg/UGOAXhyzkfI/AAAAAAAAAOk/45Lug1ix0BU/s1600/JNeighborscamp201209.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gqk4VOHCUcg/UGOAXhyzkfI/AAAAAAAAAOk/45Lug1ix0BU/s320/JNeighborscamp201209.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vqRx2OUFI_M/UGOAkr-9V7I/AAAAAAAAAOs/pbLwEGnt2Hw/s1600/JNeighborscamp201210.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vqRx2OUFI_M/UGOAkr-9V7I/AAAAAAAAAOs/pbLwEGnt2Hw/s320/JNeighborscamp201210.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Tdj2lt7Xucg/UGOAy6ZetII/AAAAAAAAAO0/fJgXnYHad30/s1600/JNeighborscamp201211.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Tdj2lt7Xucg/UGOAy6ZetII/AAAAAAAAAO0/fJgXnYHad30/s320/JNeighborscamp201211.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qYbFNz7ThEc/UGOBBasPhmI/AAAAAAAAAO8/xZyxx8UlCKU/s1600/JNeighborscamp201212.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qYbFNz7ThEc/UGOBBasPhmI/AAAAAAAAAO8/xZyxx8UlCKU/s320/JNeighborscamp201212.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kz2Qq5N8Nik/UGOBP5iYzBI/AAAAAAAAAPI/-T-dhZdz_r0/s1600/JNeighborscamp201213.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kz2Qq5N8Nik/UGOBP5iYzBI/AAAAAAAAAPI/-T-dhZdz_r0/s320/JNeighborscamp201213.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mJzYtMer0sg/UGOBlNLxl8I/AAAAAAAAAPQ/B8jvy1UgfQg/s1600/JNeighborscamp201214.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mJzYtMer0sg/UGOBlNLxl8I/AAAAAAAAAPQ/B8jvy1UgfQg/s320/JNeighborscamp201214.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Eu2brtViazc/UGOB_K7iucI/AAAAAAAAAPY/Pj5fsJOD4vM/s1600/JNeighborscamp201215.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Eu2brtViazc/UGOB_K7iucI/AAAAAAAAAPY/Pj5fsJOD4vM/s320/JNeighborscamp201215.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tDr1ncQmTrw/UGOCPqqvcxI/AAAAAAAAAPk/0T7GLx4_IO0/s1600/JNeighborscamp201216.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tDr1ncQmTrw/UGOCPqqvcxI/AAAAAAAAAPk/0T7GLx4_IO0/s320/JNeighborscamp201216.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zyEX5IYfqqI/UGOCiNCbC0I/AAAAAAAAAPs/5D3jrYEbaNQ/s1600/JNeighborscamp201217.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zyEX5IYfqqI/UGOCiNCbC0I/AAAAAAAAAPs/5D3jrYEbaNQ/s320/JNeighborscamp201217.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Do0DmR-Z_PI/UGOCvUh-jCI/AAAAAAAAAP0/m51rd2PcKns/s1600/JNeighborscamp201218.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Do0DmR-Z_PI/UGOCvUh-jCI/AAAAAAAAAP0/m51rd2PcKns/s320/JNeighborscamp201218.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xkq3cWT_wtw/UGOC_V8fDlI/AAAAAAAAAP8/tkyiVEAItZ8/s1600/JNeighborscamp201219.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xkq3cWT_wtw/UGOC_V8fDlI/AAAAAAAAAP8/tkyiVEAItZ8/s320/JNeighborscamp201219.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CzKZJzDgRmE/UGODOBZWa3I/AAAAAAAAAQI/3uIwvX95pt8/s1600/JNeighborscamp201220.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CzKZJzDgRmE/UGODOBZWa3I/AAAAAAAAAQI/3uIwvX95pt8/s320/JNeighborscamp201220.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lo68YyfFos8/UGODf7rv48I/AAAAAAAAAQQ/Jxy5XrY7bZ4/s1600/JNeighborscamp201221.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lo68YyfFos8/UGODf7rv48I/AAAAAAAAAQQ/Jxy5XrY7bZ4/s320/JNeighborscamp201221.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RXWo3oUCRkM/UGODyF41xZI/AAAAAAAAAQY/kiWGkEA6pLQ/s1600/JNeighborscamp201222.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RXWo3oUCRkM/UGODyF41xZI/AAAAAAAAAQY/kiWGkEA6pLQ/s320/JNeighborscamp201222.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Awkip3ytVvk/UGOED2VgJTI/AAAAAAAAAQg/5FVBB4EthKM/s1600/JNeighborscamp201223.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Awkip3ytVvk/UGOED2VgJTI/AAAAAAAAAQg/5FVBB4EthKM/s320/JNeighborscamp201223.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UjrodtByuL4/UGOEbqljOhI/AAAAAAAAAQs/AXcql6CsIlU/s1600/JNeighborscamp201224.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UjrodtByuL4/UGOEbqljOhI/AAAAAAAAAQs/AXcql6CsIlU/s320/JNeighborscamp201224.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m3p_MkmELBY/UGOE7RN7wYI/AAAAAAAAAQ0/jqzu7zEt4sA/s1600/JNeighborscamp201225.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m3p_MkmELBY/UGOE7RN7wYI/AAAAAAAAAQ0/jqzu7zEt4sA/s320/JNeighborscamp201225.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6qliPvtntFM/UGOFPBobHxI/AAAAAAAAARA/SHfeC5Qz6aM/s1600/JNeighborscamp201226.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6qliPvtntFM/UGOFPBobHxI/AAAAAAAAARA/SHfeC5Qz6aM/s320/JNeighborscamp201226.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wQWoRBBkiL4/UGOFigZmQvI/AAAAAAAAARI/-VT7ygTr5xA/s1600/JNeighborscamp201227.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wQWoRBBkiL4/UGOFigZmQvI/AAAAAAAAARI/-VT7ygTr5xA/s320/JNeighborscamp201227.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jO5YyN6Exn8/UGOF-awa7PI/AAAAAAAAARQ/eA7gRvQBitI/s1600/JNeighborscamp201228.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jO5YyN6Exn8/UGOF-awa7PI/AAAAAAAAARQ/eA7gRvQBitI/s320/JNeighborscamp201228.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nTk0RifHXJI/UGOGOqXZa8I/AAAAAAAAARg/s4iMGluvs-0/s1600/JNeighborscamp201229.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nTk0RifHXJI/UGOGOqXZa8I/AAAAAAAAARg/s4iMGluvs-0/s320/JNeighborscamp201229.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zLxU-VGBAys/UGOGb6RhapI/AAAAAAAAARo/3-95Lv6fofs/s1600/JNeighborscamp201230.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zLxU-VGBAys/UGOGb6RhapI/AAAAAAAAARo/3-95Lv6fofs/s320/JNeighborscamp201230.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oWRIbyCS3yc/UGOGr0pXE1I/AAAAAAAAARw/ksqNNS7VgSg/s1600/JNeighborscamp201231.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oWRIbyCS3yc/UGOGr0pXE1I/AAAAAAAAARw/ksqNNS7VgSg/s320/JNeighborscamp201231.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oOh13pfAPmE/UGOG7oynOqI/AAAAAAAAAR4/KQ5qT-k_P2M/s1600/JNeighborscamp201232.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oOh13pfAPmE/UGOG7oynOqI/AAAAAAAAAR4/KQ5qT-k_P2M/s320/JNeighborscamp201232.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1KAE5Y9GdYY/UGOHMe7-XeI/AAAAAAAAASE/R8qoSW4nRWc/s1600/JNeighborscamp201233.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1KAE5Y9GdYY/UGOHMe7-XeI/AAAAAAAAASE/R8qoSW4nRWc/s320/JNeighborscamp201233.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QaX_JfvAEa4/UGOHbUzHF8I/AAAAAAAAASM/3Ev2G2u0El8/s1600/JNeighborscamp201234.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QaX_JfvAEa4/UGOHbUzHF8I/AAAAAAAAASM/3Ev2G2u0El8/s320/JNeighborscamp201234.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OrRmR_7RqGs/UGOHpGCuh9I/AAAAAAAAASU/vhcG1oxAPXg/s1600/JNeighborscamp201235.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OrRmR_7RqGs/UGOHpGCuh9I/AAAAAAAAASU/vhcG1oxAPXg/s320/JNeighborscamp201235.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dw88nO-8akXLEVRpvcbKplvoBaqBE7sep6DsAaAMu1iS3QtfzonTSWQs2e0zOZZG8QGNR--F2hgQO98XHXeyw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<i><br /></i></div>
Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-84730275108799716192012-07-01T11:44:00.003-07:002012-07-01T11:45:19.921-07:00Value<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“That will be five dollars,” I
say, handing the woman a plastic shopping bag of straight-neck yellow summer
squash. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
She turns up her nose a little
bit, hesitating before pulling a bill out of her wallet, and holding it out to
me. These are the first fruits of the season, finally harvested after hoeing up
the ground into mounds, pulling grass, planting seeds, watering, mulching with
horse manure, and hours of squishing squash bugs and scraping clusters of eggs
off of leaves. I look down at the waxy yellow squash in the bag fondly as
though they are my children, finally mature and ready to send off into the
world. I want to admonish this woman holding out Lincoln’s bony face to me: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I hope you can cook. You better not leave
these unattended on the stove. You better not cook them in the microwave. Deep
fry them. Grill them. Bring out their best flavor</i>. I sullenly hand over the
bag and take the bill from her as though trading my livelihood for a piece of
paper.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
I initially intended to start
selling produce from the Neighbor’s Field at Jubilee at the new monthly
Clarkston Farmer’s Market on the last Sunday of every month, where many of the
growers in the field already have friends and potential customers who would be
a good market for some of the specialty crops they grow and could purchase them
on EBT. However, as I talked to the growers about the possibility of selling at
this new market, many were excited about the idea of selling their surplus
produce, but adamant that they did not want to sell anything on a Sunday. One
woman told me, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sah Yay Shu ta eh bah—</i>Jesus
doesn’t like it.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
There is great wisdom in the
practice of taking a day of rest or refraining from certain practices for a one
day every week, but in the world I come from the idea of stores being closed or
transactions ceasing on Sunday is an antiquated fantasy. It feels like a
tragedy to turn away from such an opportunity as the market simply because of
the day of the week. I want to tell my friends in the Neighbor’s Field that the
world of no selling and buying on Sundays is dead and that they should
assimilate to the modern world. However, If I recall all of my attempts to set
aside a day of rest with any consistency, I run up against the reality that all
have failed and I often rather fall into the tendency of many Americans to
overwork myself and dismiss mindfulness and gratitude as unnecessary luxuries. I
decided to start selling at the much smaller and low-traffic Comer Farmer’s
Market on Saturday mornings. Several growers contribute their produce to the
market table but no one seems to quite share my excitement about the idea of
selling their vegetables for supplemental income and perhaps eventually in lieu
of the chicken plant.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
After bringing in a meager sum at
my first market, I return to Atlanta to spend the weekend with some of my
closest <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gaw lah wah </i>friends. Although
all of us would claim to be critical of the consumerism in our society, but we
spent much of our time together shopping: wandering around downtown Decatur,
stocking up at the natural food store, REI, and wrapping it all up with a late
night ice cream run. It is as though this demon is wired into our nature. It is
the primary skill we possess and the practice that we fall back into unless we intentionally
avoid it. We lost something of the intimacy of friendship and time spent
together while filling our empty baskets.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Shopping as recreation is the most
explicit manifestation of the disease of consumerism. As we give ourselves over
to this disease, we surrender ourselves and all of creation at the feet of
Babylon. Our economy is no longer based on the simple exchange of goods and the
valuing of unique skill sets and resources, but on the lust of corporate
empires. We must to find new creative ways to share our resources and abilities
with each other in recognition of the relational value of these things, in
recognition of the human dignity of the participants in the economy. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
The garden welcomes me back at the
beginning of the week with new Bermuda grass to pull from the mounds and many
more ripe squash jutting out from under the leaves. I kneel in the unkempt dewy
grass and pull weeds up by the root from the squash mounds. I pull out a
kitchen knife and sever the ripe fruits from the plants, refilling the empty
basket from the market with plump yellow squash, which might be fried,
marinated, grilled, perhaps even pickled. This is a labor of love which never
be compensated by the dollar, but only by the deep peace that comes from
willing the land to spring forth with good food.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
An old Karenni man meanders down
the hill, his head wrapped in a stocking cap and a watering can swinging in his
hand, as he does most every morning. I know he cannot speak a even a little bit
of English, so I simply wave and smile as he enters the gate and he holds up
his hand in return before loosening the spigot to fill his watering can. We
come to this field with unspeakable wounds, but in working this soil, there is
healing.<o:p></o:p></div>Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-33977615953254881382012-06-04T04:22:00.003-07:002012-06-04T04:25:30.818-07:00Partner<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
He holds up his index finger to
show a deep jagged cut across the tip marring his distinctive pattern.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Chicken bone,” he says,
chuckling.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>“Green card office <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ta eh weh bah</i>.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Ya bah leh ga dah gay luh kee ta blaw—</i>The green card office did
not like this. I have to go back again later.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Na hay na supervisor lee ta bay nayahh—</i>Did you give your supervisor
that paper?” I ask pointing at the excuse paper from the green card office.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Yes. She say ‘I don’t want.’ Very
angry.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
During orientation at the chicken
plant, new hires are referred to not as employees, but “partners.” “Partners”
share in the wealth of the company with their hourly wage and share in the
common mission of creating “product.” They are partners in the work and the
wealth of an industry continuing to boom despite the economic downturn.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
I first recall hearing the word
“partner” in elementary school when assigned to work in conjunction with
another student. This meant completing a science experiment together or
peer-editing each other’s writing. It was sometimes a relationship of
unfortunate dependence. We later learned its sexual connotation, which never
failed to be a source of humor in the classroom.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Partner” originates from the Old
French word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">parçener</i>, meaning “a
joint heir.” The French word is derived from the Latin <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">partitionem</i>, from which we get the English word “partition,” expressing
separation or division. Carrying such an etymology, words cleverly probe
employee’s perception of their position, not as exploited labor, but as
bourgeois recipients of a shared inheritance. The usage of such language
incarnates the exploitation by attempting to disguise slavery as dignified
work.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Welcome to America. We want you
to be our slaves!” So expressed one of my close friends as the experience of
resettlement in the United States. Yet he punctuates such statements with a
fertile gratitude, often, much to my dismay, referring to the United States as
“the land of opportunity.” I have a right to my cynicism given the history of
oppression and exploitation in this country in the name of “opportunity,” just
as my friend is justified in his anger at the subjugation of his people despite
promises of a new life of dignity, yet these sentiments are only of creative
value if they are used to fuel the creation of a new economy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
We need to recover the notion of
our country as “the land of opportunity,” as a hopeful notion of this place as
a realm of creative possibility. The land itself, refusing to become desert
despite years of cotton monoculture proclaims this hope. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Opportunity” comes from the Latin
phrase <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ob portum veniens</i>, which means
“coming toward a port.” It is no wonder that the immigrant would imagine
America as “the land of opportunity” while coming into harbor in New York or
landing at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. We who would refer to
ourselves as Americans are obliged to remember the circumstances of our arrival
in this foreign land. The demon who drives us into despair, forgetfulness, and
inattention is the demon who exploits the newly arrived with inhumane labor. Let
us retreat from our fluency to unknowing and see our surroundings with new
eyes, humble eyes, which cannot fathom ownership. Let our speech become silence
that we ourselves may come into port, arrive in our own milieu. History is
writing itself as we speak. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
The great Sufi poet Jelaluddin Rumi
speaks thus via contemporary translator Coleman Barks:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Out
beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">there
is a field. I’ll meet you there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">When
the soul lies down in that grass,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">the
world is too full to talk about.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Ideas,
language, even the phrase each other<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">doesn’t
make any sense.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
This inheritance refuses by its
very nature to be partitioned. To be an heir of opportunity is to share in the unbounded
creative possibility of fertile land. We construct our fences, but without fail
the wires will rust and crumble. Our divisions in the face of time prove
themselves to be only figments of our imagination, property markers to make us
feel separate and secure. In this field, there can be no boundaries, no partnership,
only union.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pa ga oh peh ee du luh pa say oh, pa ga pway hee ta pluh peh </i>Comer<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">—</i>We will stay here until we have money
and then we will buy a house in Comer.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pa ta tha law tah ta mee mee ah ah, bah hsa pa loh bah hee ta pluh</i>—We
don’t want many things, but we need a house.”<o:p></o:p></div>Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-76734450383764304922012-05-09T04:57:00.000-07:002012-05-09T04:58:51.211-07:00Tourist<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Excuse me, but are you from
Asia?” the African-American guy sitting next to me at the lunch table asks with
a confused look on his face.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Haha, no I just speak a little
bit of Karen, their language.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Oh. I was gonna say. You didn’t
look like you were Asian. What is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that?”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Mung bean sprouts,” I say popping
one of the crunchy little white shoots into my mouth, “Do you want to try one?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Nah…well…I suppose I oughta try
just one,” he says, putting down his bag of Doritos. He picks up one of the
little plants and looks at it as though it is an alien larva before taking a
bite. “Mmm. Alright. I have never had anything like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i> before.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Right now the best food is in the
woods,” Eh Kaw chimes in, “green briars.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Say what?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Green briar shoots: the young
tips of the thorny plants in the woods that are coming in right now. They are a
tender and a little bit sour. Very good,” I explain.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
A bowl of young sweet gum leaves
and green briar shoots makes its way down from the other end of the table for
the man to try.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Nah… I think I am ok.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“You sure?” Eh Kaw asks, “At least
try the green briar.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“OK,” he says, nibbling on one of
the shoots, “Hey, not bad! Thanks.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
RINGARINGARINGARINGARING! Everyone
stands up and prepares to return to the floor.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
The chicken plant is a strange
patchwork of tight-knit cultures. Karen friends are often eager to share with
me the several words of Spanish, Kiswahili, or BVE colloquialisms they acquired
during their labor in the meatpacking plants of Georgia. Employees maintain the
most ardent allegiance to their own group, yet many practice a glib comraderie
that transcends those boundaries.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Perhaps the strangest thing about
my sojourn at the chicken plant to my co-workers was my seeming membership in a
group visually not my own. Everyone has their niche and for many it is their
cultural niche that secures their employment at the plant in the first place. I
arrived as a participant-observer of sorts, which was not unapparent to my
co-workers. I arrived unable to blend into my group, unable to lose the
attention attracted by my individuality.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
I framed employment at the chicken
plant as an experiment in solidarity, an intentional move out of love for my
Karen brothers and sisters, and certainly a new experience. Yet participating
in this new milieu necessitated seeking a sense of belonging. I in fact relied as
a recipient on the solidarity of my Karen friends with their younger white
brother.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
I often hear of mistreatment by
black and Latino co-workers and witnessed first hand several incidents in which
black and Latino workers would interact congenially with one another or me as a
white man and then turn around and issue caustic treatment to internationals.
My black supervisors were also not hesitant to treat me rudely, established in
their position of superiority. Feeling drawn into membership in the Karen
community at the chicken plant, I myself began to feel some of the disdain my
friends have expressed to me for their black and Latino co-workers because of
mistreatment.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
My educational and cultural
background trained me to regard racism as a folly of the ignorant, yet stepping
out of my “white-as-anethnic” sensibility it becomes a real demon to contend.
When your own individuality is dissipated by membership in a close-knit cultural
body, it is not reasonable to regard consistent mistreatment by others
belonging to another cultural body as individual aberrations. There is indeed a
culture of abuse. Yet to regard all people with a particular physical
appearance as culprits in said culture would also be in error. This is the
error of racism: failure to discriminate between distinctive cultures.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Is it ethical for me to consider
“joining the tribe?” Is this a failure to discriminate between my experience of
comfortable affluence and the refugee experience of the Karen? Certainly there
is a gargantuan gap to be acknowledged here, a seemingly irreconcilable void,
yet to regard it as essential is this same failure, which deems cultures as
absolute. Our memory is always available to the mediation of new experience.
This is our essential human freedom—the invitation to the path of salvation
(healing).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
I can never truly know the plight
of the Karen because I have the freedom to leave. My foray into the working
class was insulated by the fact that my termination was of little consequence
to my quality of life. But even when a tourist comes across fertile ground, he
must criticize the conditioned impulse to capture it in a snapshot and return
to the rocky soil where produce comes in on trucks and gets sold in
supermarkets. As ludicrous as it may seem, he must consider the possibility of
throwing away his passport and planting some seeds just to see what germinates.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
In wake of the sudden end of my
employment at the chicken plant, Naw Say invites me to follow her to pick
strawberries for a local farmer in the evening. We drive up a dirt road to the
gate and she gets out to open it. I drive into a verdant enclave of trees and
shrubs where we are greeted by two smiling faces. “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ha luh ghay</i>?” the man tries.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Uhh, Ha luh a ghay</i>” Naw Say replies, laughing in appreciation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
He hands us each a stack of
shallow boxes and we follow him down the hill to the strawberry patch.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Where is Pa Saw Paw today?” he
asks.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“She had to stay at home with her
kids, so I came in her place,” I tell him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Well thanks for coming to help.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Sure. I am happy to be here. This
place is beautiful.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Yeah. We really lucked out. What
kind of work do you do?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“Well I worked at the chicken
plant in Athens for one month, but I just got fired for being too slow.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“That’s a hard place to work,” he
says.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
Words like “solidarity,” “intentional,”
and “downward mobility” swirl about my brain, but I cannot seem to put them
together in a sentence to show that I have a college degree, so that he will
recognize that I am not actually a low-class worker. Solidarity undoes itself
when it is approached as a purpose unto itself. Buried beneath my shame is the
only wealth I have.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
“So pick only the berries that are
completely ripe…No yellow or white,” he instructs me. Naw Say is already a
quarter of the way down her first row as I begin searching under the first
plant.<o:p></o:p></div>Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-25013909434426529912012-04-24T05:27:00.003-07:002012-04-24T05:29:21.281-07:00Eggs<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I plunge my hands into another green
plastic tub of nuggets and pull up with pieces of chicken hanging from my fingers like fleshy rosary
beads. I fling the product back down into the tub in disgust. No yellow dot for
this one. I pull a hold tag out and scrawl “CUT THROUGH” in all capital
letters. I am on a crusade against strung-together nuggets. My supervisor told
us that the customers are complaining about this, so we are to tag any tub we
find with more than two connected pieces. I make it my mission to save the
reputation of the chicken plant and impress my supervisor with my high
standards and unrestrained holds. I carefully mark another tally on the hold
log, trying to save the white paper from the raw chicken goop on my glove.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“YOU’RE TAGGING EVERYTHING MAN!”
yells one of the runners, angrily pulling the tub I tagged off of the line.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“IF IT LOOKS BAD, I TAG IT. I AM
JUST TRYING TO DO MY JOB!” I reply. I want to say something to him about how
this whole place is built on taking advantage of people and the way to subvert
that is not through carelessness but obedience, but all he seems concerned
about is the extra work I am creating for him by placing so many holds. One of
the unanticipated effects of this is the extra work I create for myself: a
steady stream of rejected tubs coming back for rechecks, keeping the line
backed up at DSI 5. My co-worker, Roberto, appears suddenly beside me and
begins pulling product to weigh at my station.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“HILDA TOLD ME TO TAKE OVER LINE
FIVE HERE. SHE WANTS TO TALK TO YOU IN THE OFFICE.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I take off my gloves and walk up
the steps of the foot bridge over the conveyor, through the series of plastic
flaps, past a giant crate of discarded chicken dyed pastel blue, and into the
QA office. I am relieved to have a break from the constant work of the line,
where my brain was struggling to keep up with my hands, but unnerved by my
assistant supervisor’s sudden interest in talking with me. Most days she does
not even reply to the “Good morning” I greet her with in the office at the
start of the day. Most of my questions regarding work or the location of needed
supplies are typically met with a rude response implying that I should have
already known the answer to my own question. I walk into the office where she
is making more hold tags. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Roberto said you wanted to talk
to me?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Without looking up from her work
she says, “Go back to the line. I will come and get you. Just stay off of line
5.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Caught in the familiar gap between
obedience and initiative, neither of which are sustainable traits in this
place, I return to the line in frustration. DSI 1 is the only unoccupied
station, where there is only one tub awaiting inspection. I stir the product,
weigh thirty fillets, affix my yellow dot, and slide it onto the line. I lean
against the counter, waiting anxiously for my assistant supervisor or another
tub to inspect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Hilda strolls out onto the floor. After
five or so minutes of socializing with fellow supervisors, she calls me with
her hand. She maintains her usual morbid silence as she leads me back to the
office. When we arrive, she tells me to sign in my pen and thermometer and
watches impatiently as I do so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Follow me,” she says. We cross
the production floor again and exit to the front part of the building where we
turn into the human resources office. Hilda escorts me to a room where my
supervisor and one of the human resources personnel sit waiting for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“As you know, the first forty-five
days are a probationary period. It seems as though you are not a good fit for
the QA position, so we are going to have to let you go… I am going to need your
ID card. Your supervisor will clock you out,” the man in human resources tells
me in a practiced voice. I turn to my supervisor, remembering the many times I
asked him for feedback to no avail.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Can I ask why?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Well, speed. The line was always
getting backed up. I got called out to the floor five times because of you! And
you failed to fill out the weight histogram correctly.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">By this time everyone is on lunch
break and so I go into the cafeteria, but cannot bring myself to sit down to
lunch just yet, so I go into the bathroom, shut myself in a stall, and surprise
myself as I fill the toilet bowl with tissues full of snot and tears. It hurts
getting fired, even from such dismal work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 111.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 111.0pt; text-indent: .25in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The next day was supposed to be my first mandatory Saturday overtime in my month-long
career at the chicken plant. Instead, I take my usual morning stroll
to the Comer Farmer’s Market where Corey tells me Baw Baw has been trying to
call me because her stomach hurts. Knowing she is nearing nine months, I walk
quickly over to her house, knock on the door and walk in. Baw Baw stands in the
living room clutching her belly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 111.0pt; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 111.0pt; text-indent: .25in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“My baby brother
is coming!” Blay Blay says.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 111.0pt; text-indent: .25in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ya gaw na ta blu blaw leeeh. Na ta paw phone
ba ma nu leh</i>—I called you many times already! Why didn’t you answer?” she
asks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 111.0pt; text-indent: .25in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Did you call
Sue already?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 111.0pt; text-indent: .25in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Uhh. Ya te aw he luh a na ree ta hsee ta
kaw, bah hsa ya hso ga moh Wisdom ga oh pleh hsoo nya—</i>Yes, I told her to
come at 10:30, but I think Wisdom will be born very soon.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 111.0pt; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 111.0pt; text-indent: .25in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I quickly call
Sue at Jubilee and tell her to come now to take Baw Baw to the hospital as I
prepare to watch the other four kids and try to get in touch with Hei Nay Htoo
at the chicken plant. Russ and Christina at Jubilee volunteer to watch the kids
so that I can take Hei Nay Htoo to the hospital. I agree to take over watching
the kids Sunday morning until their parents get back from the hospital.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 111.0pt; text-indent: .25in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Wisdom Yoha Htoo
is born 8 pounds, 11 ounces on Saturday, April 14, 2012 at 10:58 AM at Athens
Regional with no complications. Hei Nay Htoo and I arrive shortly after the
birth. I am then sent on a mission to find rice and Mama noodles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 111.0pt; text-indent: .25in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The next morning
I drop scrambled eggs into hot oil and watch the yellow mixture puff up as it
fries. I place the fried eggs on the table with rice, Sriracha, sliced fruit,
and five plates. Wonderful, Blay Blay, Hae Tha Blay, Ga Pu, and I sit down on
the floor around the table to eat breakfast as we wait for Wisdom to come home.</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-38287700638453075982012-04-16T06:43:00.003-07:002012-04-16T06:44:43.848-07:00The Secret<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">The bell rings continuously for a minute to ensure that absolutely everyone knows their precious fifteen-minute break is almost over. We stand up and file out into the crowded hallway leading to the production floor. I retrieve my smock from the hook and hustle between machines to my station where five seventy-pound tubs of product have already accumulated on each side of the computer terminal, awaiting my inspection. I slowly ease back into the rhythm of scooping handfuls of fillets, depositing them on the counter, weighing them piece-by-piece, and quickly tossing them back into the tub after the weight registers in the spreadsheet.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“YOU NEED TO PICK UP THE SPEED A LITTLE BIT, OK?” my supervisor surprises me from behind over the rumble of the sizers. “THIS AFTERNOON WILL BE YOUR FIRST TEST WITH ONLY THREE PEOPLE ON THE LINE. WE’LL SEE IF YOU CAN DO IT!”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">I reprogram the computer for the next variety of fillets and quickly scoop a larger handful of fillets, hoping I can save some time on having to pull the sample of thirty pieces multiple times. As I lift the gloppy pile, two fillets slip from my grasp and fall on the floor. I place the rest on the table and begin recording the weights in the computer stretching the smaller pieces out to check that they fit the template. I toss the already weighed pieces into the tub with haste sending several sliding off the edge of the counter.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“EXCUSE ME!” a voice calls. It is one of the line supervisors. “DID YOU DO THAT?” she asks accusingly, pointing to the fillets on the floor.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“YES…”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">JUST</i> CLEANED THIS AREA! BE CAREFUL! THE CEO IS COMING HERE TOMORROW AND I KNOW HE DOES NOT WANT TO SEE THAT!”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“OK. I WILL.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">Tesfaye comes over with the ice cart and with his grabber retrieves each fillet that I dropped from the floor and places it neatly on top of the ice.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“GOOD MORNING, ZAC! HOW ARE YOU?”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“I AM FINE! HOW ARE YOU, TESFAYE?”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“GOOD!”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“HAVE YOU WORKED HERE A LONG TIME?”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“ABOUT A YEAR AND A HALF. IT IS MY FIRST JOB IN AMERICA! I LIKE IT!”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">He smiles at me as he drags the cart off to the wash station. The rollers on either side of me are again full with tubs for me to inspect. The line runner arrives with two more tubs on his cart and glares at me as I grab a handful of nuggets to weigh. We are supposed to inspect thirty pieces per lot. A lot can include one to three tubs according to our discretion. The assistant line supervisor from the other side leans over to me and says,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“THE SECRET TO THIS JOB IS KEEPING YOUR OWN SECRET. YOU CAN’T DO IT HOW THEY TELL YOU.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">I laugh as he gestures to indicate that I should just place stickers on all the tubs to keep the line moving. He slides the tubs I have already marked with my yellow “Q.A. Inspected” sticker onto the conveyor for me, nodding his head towards the uninspected tubs.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“C’MON MAN. IT IS ALMOST YOUR BREAK AND THERE IS A LOT OF CHICKEN HERE!”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">I do a hasty sift through each tub, affix my yellow dot to the tags, and walk away for my lunch break a minute late.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">My employment at the chicken plant is padded by financial security and an unacknowledged college degree, which allow me to frame it as a short-lived sojourn. Yet for most of my Karen friends and I would speculate the vast majority of the hourly workers here, this is far from a new experience. It is the means by which their families are surviving in this twisted economy. The first forty-five workdays are a probationary period, a time wrought with anguish for someone who relies on this income to make rent. The company can let you go at any time unless your performance meets their standards, throw you away under the counter to be dyed blue and discarded.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">I return to my post for a moment to re-sheath my hands and then off to check the wash stations where all product that makes contact with the floor is sent to be cleaned with water treated with some special chemical for sanitizing chicken. New tubs appear on the rollers as I walk off towards the far corner of the production floor. I pick up the washed chicken and move it to an adjacent tub as I glance at it for dirt or hairs. I count ten pieces then reach up for the clipboard to indicate that the washer properly cleaned the product for this hour.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“ZAC,” a voice calmly interrupts. I turn to see the USDA lady whom I met in the morning staring straight at me.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“YOU ONLY CHECKED ONE SIDE OF THE FIRST SEVEN PIECES! I WATCHED YOU! I AM GOING TO HAVE TO TELL YOUR SUPERVISOR ABOUT THAT.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">Before I can say anything she walks off towards the QA office. My hands shake as I pull another ten pieces and check them thoroughly. The assistant QA supervisor comes out to scold me.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“EVERYTIME YOU CHECK THE WASH STATIONS, YOU NEED TO CHECK TEN PIECES! THE USDA LADY JUST CAME BACK AND TOLD ME YOU ONLY CHECKED THREE PIECES! RANDY IS NOT GOING TO BE HAPPY WHEN HE HEARS ABOUT THIS IN THE MORNING!”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">Trembling with worry, I finish the last hour of work mindlessly weighing nuggets, unsure whether tomorrow will be my last day. I surprise myself with the realness of the fear, my attachment to the position. My presence here no longer feels to be an experiment in subversion, but my actual life.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">If I focus my attention on what could be, my eyes close to the beauty in present circumstances and the very way to “what could be” functionally closes. Beauty arises from charming fear and gratitude into coalescence. Fear, volatile as it may be, keeps me attuned to mystery. It is an invitation to the practice of gratitude. On this dynamic path to contentment, everything is pregnant with possibility.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">I emerge into the warm afternoon through the turnstile and hop in the passenger seat of Hei Nay Htoo’s van in the parking lot. My muscles sink into the car seat, giving thanks that they are no longer required to maintain my frame standing erect. Sweat pours under my sweatshirt and long underwear as my body adjusts to the new climate of Northeast Georgia spring. I watch the giant fans outside the plant whirl above an intricate buttress of pipes as we pull away. I am now a denizen of this strange cathedral.</div>Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-7047336741925297272012-04-04T19:31:00.001-07:002012-04-04T19:32:23.967-07:00Quality<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“NO SPITTING ON RESTROOM FLOOR,” a sign declares in all capital letters from the wall. I search awkwardly for the lever to turn on the water in the long trough sink as seasoned workers hurry about the bathroom on their break. The man next to me gestures down below and I finally see a pedal which I lean into with my knee and send scalding water cascading from the faucet and splashing onto my sweatshirt.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I yank open the bathroom door and walk out into the cafeteria. The lunch line is off to the right and vending machines line the far left wall. The long sidewalls are covered with small gray lockers. Long fold out tables with bench seats fill the center of the room in rows of two. It is as though I am walking out of the smoky bathroom of my high school back into the crowded cafeteria. I feel as though I need to have a pass to prove that I am allowed to be here. I glance nervously among the tables and breathe a sigh of relief as Eh Kaw waves me over to the Karen table where there are already many Tupperware containers of curry spread out between bowls of rice.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It is my first day as a Quality Assurance Technician at the chicken plant, which is mostly spent watching the others quickly weigh random samples of “product” and place holds on seventy pound tubs of chicken nuggets which contain too many pieces several grams too heavy or connected together by fat or cartilage. “The most important thing is speed,” my supervisor tells me as he sits me down in his office to read company and department policies to me, after which I am to initial off on several items on a list.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Quality assurance as it turns out is mostly a matter of quickly collecting data to keep “product” moving along the line. While I am required to stick my sheathed hands and arms into the tubs and stir around to look for foreign material, mostly my purpose is to ensure the homogeneity of fillets and nuggets to keep Chick-fil-A and Zaxby’s from making too many complaints. I am to report any defects, or signs that the product originated in a living creature: cartilage, excess skin, fat, bloodspots, or worst of all, bone.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">My first day is relatively easy and I question the suggestion made by the representative from human resources during the classroom orientation the previous week, that you take a couple of over-the-counter painkillers before work everyday for your first week. The second day, however, I am to report at the regular time and so I carpool with my Karen friends in Comer already working at the plant. A silver SUV pulls up outside the house at 6:35 am the next morning, roughly ten minutes after Eh Kaw knocks on my door to wake me up.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I sip on my thermos of tea as we cruise down 72 towards Athens in the darkness before dawn. The headlights illuminate a large tractor-trailer stacked high with cages in the lane adjacent to us. Gloomy white shapes squirm inside the squatty cages and feathers rush in the headwind. We are caravanning from Comer together with our product.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Quality can never be evaluated by adherence to a particular model, because quality exists only relative to particularity. If you eat the same identical piece of chicken every day for lunch, eventually the distinctions of “good” or “bad” lose their meaning because no experience is unique. There is only one experience: chicken. The chicken plant is the industrialization of our oblivion. Without the mindfulness with which to actually make distinctions between experiences, we become the all-white meat fillet that fills our belly. As we genetically engineer ourselves into machines, we make our world into a place where consciousness is a scary thought. What is the purpose of all of these people working in a cold and noisy factory under fluorescent lights to produce low-quality food to fatten the drive-thru patron? What are people for?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">When my great-grandparents immigrated to the United States from Germany they were poor working class people living in Baltimore city. My great-grandfather established a bakery in his new country and this was the means by which he supported his family. After my grandmother completed the 8<sup>th</sup> grade, she went to work in her father’s bakery also. As the story told many times at her funeral in January goes, this is where she met my grandfather, who kept coming back for doughnuts. This is my most recent relative whom I have heard of employed in the work of food production.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We encounter low quality when we are unable to conceive of the existence of multiple realities: rich and poor, delicious and bland, life and death. Our memory becomes bleached by monoculture. As my psychiatrist recently reminded me, “Depression is not good for you. There have been studies showing links between depression and all kinds of health problems, especially memory loss.” The symptoms are perhaps a sign of the disease.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">My second day I begin working alongside one of the other technicians who kindly teaches me all of the different tasks and tricks associated with the job. Tub after tub of chicken comes on the rollers to be processed. My lower back begins to ache from standing and pushing the tubs as 4:15 PM approaches. The lines show no sign of stopping. The product continues to appear without notification from anyone as to what time the machines will be shut off and the birds will be finished so that we can go home for the day.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">I am faced with the challenge of remembering the distinctions between the days of my toil, of countering the temptation to classify my new work as monotony and follow this to its logical conclusion of meaninglessness. I must frame my new position as an act of anamnesis for my middle class mind to accept it. If I am to pursue quality I have to counter my journalistic judgment of the chicken plant. To find joy to in my work I search for a melody for a line from the morning psalm so that I can sing it to myself as I work. <i>I will sing of your salvation! I will sing of your salvation!</i> The chicken plant is an absurd venue in which to sing of God’s healing, but it is precisely for this reason that there is quality to be found here amidst the roaring portion sizers, plastic tubs of raw poultry, and wet concrete floors.</span>Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-19477108389552884912012-03-07T18:41:00.003-08:002012-03-08T20:04:43.314-08:00Disappear<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Have you been here before?” the woman asks from behind the desk.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1; text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I look around the office nervously. Sterile tables and chairs float like islands on the expanse of green carpet. The security guard glances up at me from his desk at the back of the room.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1; text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“No. Well… not for myself,” I say, remembering my trip here last year with Hei Nay Htoo and Tha Htaw. Blay Blay and Ga Pu were in tow since Baw Baw was still working at another poultry plant. We had to make a stop halfway to Athens because Blay Blay got carsick all over himself.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Fill this out to complete your registration,” she says handing me a pen and packet of forms.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 13.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I sit down at one of the many empty tables and begin filling in my contact information on the top of the generic form. I hesitate at the line for college or university education. Cautiously I scrawl out, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">St. Mary’s College of Maryland</i>, check the box indicating that I graduated, and then write in my major: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Religious Studies</i>, hoping this compensates for having a bachelor’s degree in the first place. I find comfort in the thought that I am only at the Georgia Department of Labor, and know the person with whom I am meeting.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 13.5pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 13.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">A short black woman comes out from the office area and calls my name with a thick West African accent. I hardly recognize her, but know this must be Sola, so I get up to greet her. She smiles at me and asks jovially:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 13.5pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 13.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“So how come this time you are here for yourself? You are looking for a job?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 13.5pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“I just moved in with Eh Kaw in Comer and am looking for a job at the poultry plant,” I say as I follow her into her office in the back.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Did he start there already?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Yeah. I think they wanted him in H.R. but he insisted on working as a wing cutter on the line.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“It is very slow right now. They really are not doing very much. Maybe if you go with Eh Kaw…”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Yeah that is what I thought I would do, but he told me to come through you because usually the people he brings are given the hardest jobs. He has seen me try to cut meat before and is pretty sure I would sever a finger if I worked as a wing cutter.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Well, I will do what I can, but I never know when they will come to us and ask for people. You might have to wait several months…”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">She points to a stack of applications in a tray: all people waiting for work at the plant.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Home Depot is hiring right now if you are interested in that… or since your last job was as a tutor, what about this preschool teacher position?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Feeling discouraged about the possibility of the chicken plant I let her tell me about the other job openings in her database. A middle aged white woman comes in to the office and starts talking to Sola about some video series on job searching to show for an event at the labor department. I gradually tone out there conversation in spite of my impatience and try to imagine myself with an orange apron unloading freight from trucks. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“…And this is Zac. He worked with Jubilee Partners and now he is coming to me to look for jobs,” she says with a chuckle. I smile at her co-worker.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“What kind of job are you looking for?” she asks.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“I want to work at the chicken plant.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“I have been telling him about other possibilities, but he wants to work there,” Sola chimes in.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“You don’t want to work there,” the woman says, “I went for a meeting there once and it… it was horrible! I knew someone who worked there once who told me they could never get the smell of dead chicken out of their car! It’s not for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Are you sure you can handle it?” Sola asks.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Well… I want to try… So many of my friends are working there and I feel like I need to know what it is like… Eh Kaw asked it of me.”<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“So you just want to experience it? How long do you want to stay there? Six years? You think it is worth you just going in there to see what it is like when there are so many people waiting for jobs there?” the woman barks at me.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“It’s not for<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> you</i>. It’s for… who it’s for,” Sola agrees.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Who is this dastardly group that the chicken plant is for? Most Karen certainly have a knack for butchering meat and the plant does provide necessary employment and decent wages to many much more skilled with their hands than I. However, as ragged white-feathered chickens, unable to walk if they are kept alive too long, are brought in by the filthy truckload in order to please our hungry consumer society like a demon child being suckled by the boneless breast, we must acknowledge the reality that we are all being processed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">If the chicken plant vocation is intended for anyone, it is meant for the people who have taken and eaten. We the processed meat, are called to the line. We must without hesitation hop on the conveyor to our deconstruction. James writes:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Let the brother in humble circumstances take pride in his eminence and the rich man be proud of his lowliness, for he will disappear “like the flower of the field.” When the sun comes up with its scorching heat it parches the meadow, the field flowers droop, and with that the meadow’s loveliness is gone. Just so will the rich man wither away amid his many projects.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> “If you really have it in your heart to work there we will see what we can do, but I am telling you it might be several months,” the woman says leaving the room.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Sola hands me an application.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Make sure you omit your college degree on here. Can you fax this to me by tomorrow?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Yes. I will.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The next day I return to the work of watching my niece and nephew in the morning for a few hours while Baw Baw goes to English class. Blay Blay and Ga Pu follow me outside of the K-House and I direct them to edible weeds for a wild salad.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Blay Blay, can you pick the little umbrellas?” I ask, pointing to a patch of thriving cranesbill.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Oh yeah!” he says, scampering towards the foliage, carefully snipping off the tops of the umbrellas and placing them in the metal bowl.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Ga Pu looks at the cranesbill with apparent disinterest and hops over to where I am picking violet. Her eye catches a tiny lavender-colored flower, which she delicately plucks from the ground. She hits my arm forcefully, to pull my attention from the violet leaves.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Zac! Zac!” she calls. I finally stop pulling the leaves and look to see why she is so excited. She holds the wild pansy up in the air for me to see, eyes big with wonder. I find another wild pansy growing close by and pop it in my mouth, pleasantly surprised by the subtle burst of floral wintergreen. Her brow furrows.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Can you put the flower in the bowl?” I say, picking more pansies, in hopes that she will follow suit. Her lips curve into a smile as she places the flower in the bowl and hunts for another. With each pansy she picks, she comes over and hits my arm again, holding the single flower up as high as she can before placing it carefully in the salad.</span><o:p></o:p></div>Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-77654140873359296342012-02-16T05:54:00.002-08:002012-02-27T07:19:48.522-08:00Passing<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Oyyy!” Hei Nay Htoo yells from the passenger seat, charged with anxious energy. A large beige mound approaches on the right shoulder.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ghay deeahh</i>—Is it still good?” I ask.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ghay deeehh</i>—Yes!” he replies.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">I quickly turn around on the next dirt driveway and pull over on the side of the road. We hop out of the car like a swat team and run behind the van. I open the back hatch. He shakes his head up and down virulently from beside the animal, calling me to come. Each grabbing a leg, we hoist the dead doe into the back of the van. “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Na ga mah noh ga a tah mah gwa ba daw ta ha nya ee na ga aw da ho nya a beh—</i>You are going to pass the driver’s test and tonight you will eat delicious venison!” I tell him as we get back in the car and zoom up 72 into Comer.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">While Hei Nay Htoo goes inside and gets his I-94, I deposit the deer carcass on the ground by the front door and retrieve two bikes from the shed, setting them up on both ends of his minivan. Baw Baw looks at me like I am crazy. Hei Nay Htoo told me in the car that he had never practiced parallel parking, and so before we return to the DDS in Athens for his road test I instruct him and let him practice backing into the simulated parallel parking place between the two bicycles. Baw Baw stands on the side shouting, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Na ga taw seh beh nay—</i>You are going to hit the bicycle!” He glares at her and proceeds to back in to the space almost perfectly two times. Baw Baw agrees to put away the bicycles and we race back to the DDS.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">Six months ago, I allowed Hei Nay Htoo into the driver’s seat of my 2010 Corolla for the first time. I sat in the passenger seat trying to slowly breathe in the new car smell, intermittently barking directions at him in the simplest English I could muster as he jerked the car around the shopping center parking lot off of Memorial Drive. Since then, he purchased his own minivan and soon will have his license.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">I watch from the top of the hill as Hei Nay Htoo drives methodically through the course, stopping at each stop line, backing up perfectly, mastering the three-point-turn, and gliding neatly into the parallel parking space between cones. Chills run through my squatting frame as though I am watching my own son try for his license. The van pulls out of the course and onto the highway, accelerating out of sight. I lean forward from my chest as if to follow, but remain in place, feeling abandoned. Ten minutes later, the van pulls back in to the parking lot. The two faces are both fallen and somber through the windshield.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">The van slows as we ride up the ramp to merge onto the Athens loop. “Faster! Faster!” I call to him and eventually he speeds up. We continue on to Atlanta to move my bed and larger things out to Comer in the back of the van. Every once in a while, Hei Nay Htoo lets out a sigh of frustration and says something in Karen, which I do not understand. As we approach Clarkston I tell Hei Nay Htoo to stay on 78 until the exit for I-285. “This will probably be the hardest thing you have ever done. The exit comes in on the left and you have a half a mile to cross four lanes of traffic to get over to the exit for Ponce on the other side.” I am not sure if he understands, but cars are already zooming past us on our right side as the exit winds adjacent to the interstate.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Na bleeahh</i>—Are you scared?<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">”</i><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ya ta blee bah</i>—I’m not scared.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nyaw nu pe gleh ta boh ee yeh ya blee ah do ma</i>—Usually on this road <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I</i> am very scared. Get over!”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">I look back at the oncoming traffic. “Get over!” I call again. Before I know it we are passing into the exit and gliding up the hill to the stoplight on Ponce. I clap my hands boisterously, declaring: “YEAH! <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Na noh ga bahehh</i>—You can drive!”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">We fill up the back of the minivan with my bed, desk, boxes, and clothes from my room in that house on Casa Woods where I spent my past few months. Bernard and Amber moved out a few days earlier to live with Maung Soe and Kmoo Paw’s family in their apartment on North Indian Creek. By the end of the afternoon after visiting friends and seeking a seemingly unattainable closure, I am sprawled out on the floor of Lay Moo’s apartment, completely exhausted. I have the keys to the van, but Hei Nay Htoo holds out his hand. “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Na mee luh ga boo thay</i>—You can sleep in the car.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">We so easily conflate our sense of place and the order of life that we create for ourselves, with the fleeting nature of reality. Our plans, ideas, and concepts bring order to the formless void, allowing our brains to play at comprehension while the great cloud of change broods over us. We can only speculate from memory.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">Solomon, when standing before the altar in the newly built temple declared, “Can it indeed be that God dwells among men on earth? If the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you, how much less this temple which I have built!” God is a wanderer, telling tales of perpetuity. In transition, we realize that the corners in which we disguise eternity are small, and as the walls come crashing down we are forced to look that great judge death in the face and state our case.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">I awaken as we roll in to a stoplight somewhere on 78. I look over at Hei Nay Htoo as a little child emerging from sleep. He meets my gaze, his brow furrowed with fatherly concern, overtaken by confusion at the strangeness of this situation. We look at each other curiously, brothers from opposite jungles, and then turn back to the road, passing endlessly into the twilight.</div>Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-88632198515998821202012-02-02T15:22:00.000-08:002012-02-02T15:28:14.228-08:00Ora et Labora<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">The kitchen emits a bright glow and the faint drum of voices emanates into the living room. My eyes squint at this unwelcome interruption to sleep. My arm extends out across the plastic mat and I push the button on the side of my phone to see the time: 3:45 AM. I elevate my upper body on my elbows to scope out the situation.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">Last night Bi Kan No told us to go to sleep early because we would wake up at four in the morning to slice cucumbers. I assumed this was a joke, because why wouldn’t one do this the night before, or at least at a more humane hour? But sure enough, there is Bi Kan No with his machete, launching cucumber discs into an aluminum pan. With somewhat of a struggle I perch on my feet. I hear Bernard begin to stir on the floor next to me, and mumble, “What is going on?”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Cucumbers,” I mutter.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Ummm…”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Good morning!” Bi Kan No calls, looking up at us momentarily from his task as we meander to the threshold of the kitchen. This day marks one year since Bi Kan No’s family arrived in the United States, and there is much to be done in preparation for the party. I pick up another machete from the counter and squat next to the bowl that Naw Dee Poe places on the floor before me. The blade slides slowly through the cucumber in my left hand and sends one rather uneven disc slipping into the bowl. My pace increases gradually as I come to consciousness and the probability of sending a shard of finger into the bowl declines.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pa mah tah a weh ee keh ee bah mah nu leh—</i>Why are we doing this now?” I finally ask.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pa nyaw nu gheh htuh peh lwee nah ree law—</i>We usually get up at four o’clock,” Bi Kan No replies.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">I realize that he leaves early every morning for his shift at the poultry plant and feel foolish for questioning his daily rhythm. He offers a carefree smile and seems still amused by me as I struggle to retain consciousness. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">After the cucumbers, apples, and Asian pears are sliced, Bi Kan No returns the massive pots sitting on the carpet mat adjacent to the kitchen one by one to the charcoal stoves outside on the back porch of their apartment. I stop slicing and pick up one of the pots, removing the lid just slightly to see what kind of meat is in each. I pick up the pork curry pot and hobble to the back door and into the cold black morning and wait for him to direct me towards the appropriate stove. The largest of the pots remaining inside contains what Bernard and I refer to as “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">meh teh leh tah eh a htee</i>—goat shit soup.” When Karen people butcher a goat, meat typically goes in one pot and organs in the other, including part of the small intestine containing partially digested material, a black ooze that we watched spurt out of the intestines as they were slit open in the pot the previous evening.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">I dread work at the poultry plant and the haunting thoughts of a life confined to the toil of such dismal labor, yet my soul cries out for repetitive work that will drag me out of bed early, and call me into rhythms of gratitude for the luxuries I unconsciously misuse. It was after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden that they were assigned to the tedium of manual labor. And so work is an act of repentance, a prayer to teach us gratitude for the confines of circumstances. In her book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Acedia & Me,</i> Kathleen Norris writes:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The Presbyterian pastor John Buchanan believes that passivity and indifference that make us less able to engage in vital occupations and concerns are as problematic today as intentional evil. But they are also an ancient curse. The Judeo-Christian story places it in Eden, where the primal sin involves refusing to take responsibility. Put on the spot, Adam tries to excuse himself by blaming Eve, and Eve then blames the serpent. Neither cares where the buck stops, as long as it rests with someone else. God responds to this display of sloth by sending the first people, who had been intended for the holy leisure of paradise, into a land where they must labor for their sustenance.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">My eyes open again and there is light coming in the window and a middle aged woman with bad teeth who I have never met before looking curiously at me lying there on the floor. It is a little bit after seven. I wait for her to walk into the kitchen before emerging from under the blanket in my long underwear and wrapping the longyi around my waist.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">The living room fills with people sitting on the floor patiently awaiting the beginning of the worship service. The pastor and the young man who will be preaching both sit on the sofa at the head of the room. One of the elders starts off with a short speech and then the congregation sings a song from the hymnal cued by the pastor. Before long they are signaling to me to sing a song.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">I was honored when Bi Kan No invited Bernard and I to come over the night before and help with preparations for his one year celebration, and even more so when he asked me to offer a song for the worship service. I strum a G chord on the guitar and begin to sing:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">God will make a way<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">When there seems to be no way<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He works in ways we cannot see<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He will make a way for me<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">Norris describes Benedectine monk David Steindl-Rast’s definition of faith as “‘an intensive listening,’ whose opposite is the acedia that recognizes life’s absurdity but chooses to remain ‘deaf to its challenges and meaning.’” I probably would not care for this upbeat catchy God song aside from the story that it emerges from and invites me into. My friend James taught me this song almost four years ago at Jubilee. James was one of my first Karen friends, but he taught me this song in English. It remains in me along with my peculiar attraction to his obscure ethnic group. God makes a way for us by overturning our work with prayer. It is by this means that cucumber slicing in a kitchen before dawn and placing chicken on a conveyor in a damp factory become paths to paradise.<o:p></o:p></div>Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-20123065525441367592012-01-20T16:03:00.000-08:002012-01-20T16:03:42.469-08:00Resolution<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> <w:UseFELayout/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276"> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-language:JA;}
</style> <![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“<i>Ha luh a ghay!”</i> I call into the microphone.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“Good Afternoon,” Eh Kaw echoes into his mic next to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">He launches into a rapid Karen explanation of the petition we are asking everyone to sign for Derek Mitchell, the ambassador the United States recently appointed to Burma subsequent to Hillary Clinton’s visit. People are spread across the gymnasium like a fan, decorated with multicolored garments, many red, blue, and white, the colors of the Karen flag. Around the edge of the fan, the remaining space is packed with standing spectators. It is the Karen New Year celebration in Clarkston, and this year, the year 2750, the turnout is larger than ever before, with five hundred or six hundred people in attendance.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">…Tablu,</i>” Eh Kaw finishes his speech and walks off the stage, leaving me standing by myself, hoping that I tied my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">longyi</i> tight enough that it will not fall off as I stumble through this unanticipated bout of public speaking.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“The United States has not had diplomatic relations with Burma for some time now, but following Hillary Clinton’s recent visit to the country, we appointed an ambassador by the name of Derek Mitchell. A Karen woman in Washington, D.C., created a petition charging him to meet with ethnic minority leaders and not only the central Burmese government and in spite of reforms, to respond to the unceasing violence in the ethnic areas. We have the original version of the petition designed for resettled refugees from Burma to sign, with copies in Karen and Burmese, as well as a modified version for American citizens to sign over there at the table on the side. Thank you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The words flowed from my mouth with only one or two interruptions of “umm<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.</i>” With no preparation or warning that I would have to mount the stage to speak about this, I am amazed that I did not stammer through the whole thing with a mess of nonsensical phrases. I descend the temporary stairs to the hardwood gym floor feeling the weight drop from my chest as I flee the spotlight. My shoulders relax and I know a deep peace. “The words came as I needed them,” I realize.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">One of the most important things I have gleaned from Karen culture is intentionality submersed in the unpredictability of experience. There are few certainties in the lives of many Karen, and so decisions are typically made quickly. Structures are built within a day. Marriages take place after less than a year of courtship. Deliberation takes on a different shape when you are not in control of your own time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I come from a culture where planning is essential for survival. Your planner quickly fills up with appointments. People have lengthy meetings to discuss future possibilities. With the luxury of stability and infrastructure, we tend to think of these plans as concrete realities rather than visions for the future. But it is precisely in vision: anticipation rather than expectation, that intentionality finds its proper expression. Vision is the coalescence of collective values and circumstances. It unravels our sense of entitlement, whether to pleasure or suffering, and transforms our present reality. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Vocation finds its place only within the realm of vision. The word “vocation” when it first came into usage in the 15<sup>th</sup> century referred to “a spiritual calling.” It came from the Latin verb, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vocare</i>, which means “to call” and shares its etymology with the word “voice.” To find one’s vocation is to find one’s voice in the choir of creation. However, this concern becomes largely irrelevant if vision, or corporate vocation is neglected. Cacophony quickly takes over if everyone is using their voices in service of themselves and fails to engage in the larger vision. Culture collapses because there is no longer a cult in which it can be cultivated. Isolation and despair wave their batons to conduct the dirge of fear. We are left with the challenge to listen for overtones of hope in the discord.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I stand behind the long folding table as people pour over to sign the petition. Eh Kaw and I spread sheets across the table so that four people can sign at once. The petition for American citizens to sign receives some attention as well with the surprisingly large number of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gaw lah wah</i>s in attendance. Several people ask me what organization I am with or what kind of work I do.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“Umm….”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Eh Kaw leans over and tells me, “You work for the Karen!”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“I am with the Karen?” I reply hesitantly, and then go on to talk about my work as a tutor, my “freelance social work,” and my background at Jubilee Partners. I wish that I could have an easy answer to this question, but it seems as though my answer is becoming more and more complex.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">What do <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you</i> do? This question is thrown around so much and I am as complicit as anyone in this, but how often does it become a bastion of performance-based esteem? We must recognize this as the demon of despair, which is forcing us to define ourselves in convenient categories as though to show our resume to each acquaintance. Vocation takes on a different connotation when many of your close friends labor tirelessly in poultry plants in support of our abandoned sense of vision. Vocation is indeed what we do, but it is what we do with our whole lives, not out of concern for financial security.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Matt. 13:44 NRSV). We recover the fullness of vocation when we give the entirety of our livelihood in pursuit of an ordinary field, its grasses waving wildly. Such a field would be perfect for grazing, but without any leftover money with which to purchase livestock, we must simply lie down beneath that ancient Oak standing strong and lonely in the pasture, and rest in the quiet joy of knowing we have found treasure.</span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><!--EndFragment-->Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-57045633489772335272012-01-13T08:37:00.000-08:002012-01-20T16:04:43.573-08:00Sweet December<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I tape one end of a thin strip of red, white, and green striped wrapping paper to the hula-hoop for Wonderful Htoo, pleased to discover that it coils nicely around the gift. I look down to see that I have only covered a small fraction of the hoop and realize how long this process will take. <i>Why not just give it to him? He’ll throw away the paper instantly!</i> The thought fires in my mind that this is incredibly inefficient, a waste of time. This thought is quickly defeated however by the meticulous and absurd pleasure of winding strip after strip of paper around the blue plastic hoop, the rhythmic task somehow saving me from the inner grinch.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">There is a Karen holiday known as “Sweet December” which is something like American New Year, but for the month of December. Traditionally, Karen people stay up all night on November 30 to greet the sacred month of Jesus’ birth. People go from home to home, singing songs, exchanging gifts, and eating together. Baw Baw told me very excitedly about Sweet December several times: how enjoyable it was in the camp in Thailand and in Karen state, with sometimes even more festivities than Christmas itself. A friend recently told me that when she came here from Thailand, it was no longer Sweet December, but “December <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">a kah</i>,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">” </i>Bitter December. Here, everyone stays inside and keeps to themselves, even her Karen friends. She still stayed up until midnight with her daughter to greet December 1<sup>st</sup> in prayer though.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">According to an article in the New York Times, 6.8 million mobile devices were activated on December 25, 2011, up from 2.8 million last Christmas. After families finished unwrapping their new gadgets, they went on to break records for app purchases, with 242 million downloads on Christmas Day. In the recesses of our memory is the incarnation of Christ, the human hope offered in the birth of a child. To set aside this day yet mark it with such practice is rolling our soul out like sugar cookie dough ready to be lacerated by that ugly Santa Claus cookie cutter that keeps appearing year after year. It is not difficult to imagine everyone sitting around on the couch Christmas day playing with new iPhones, while the turkey burns in the oven. No wonder “the most wonderful time of the year,” has come to breed such feelings of emptiness and hopelessness, when time spent with family becomes like time spent with zombies possessed by their new technology.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The more I learn about countering my tendency towards depression, the more I learn about the importance of rhythmic activities inviting me into mindfulness, recharging me in order to recognize the “bad thoughts” or “demons” that seek to pull me into despair if I follow them. We must acknowledge the desire to do away with or escape our holiday traditions as a “bad thought,” the same thought fueling the rampant consumerism and the distraction of mobile devices on a day set aside to remember our spiritual membership in the birth of the Christ child. The exchange of gifts is a sacred act, which though perhaps crushed to death under the weight of consumerism, can be revived through creative energy instead of credit cards. The holidays are meant to be a time of holy inefficiency when we eat together, give gifts to one another, sing together, and other activities which cannot be expedited by an iPhone.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Let us resurrect the miscarried infant Jesus by caroling in the streets, those same old songs that we sing year after year, declaring this as a time of joy, not concerned about offending the neighbors. This is the despair of relativism. I have a friend who often refers to “the tragedy of diversity,” which I think points to the truth that in diverse areas such as Clarkston, there is a brokenness that has brought all these people to this place from their homelands and an impending danger of losing their unique ethnic identities, boiling their culture alive in the melting pot. Diversity jargon and iconography often neglects this reality in favor of imagining peaceful coexistence. If the uninviting urban landscape of the apartment complex is keeping us from caroling or the iPhone is keeping us from real conversation, we must seek ways to recreate Sweet December.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Christmas is a time to remember who we are, for better or worse, to remember our origins, the places that have shaped and created us and to move forward with these memories fresh, as we engage a new year of life. Christmas may not always be a time filled with comfort and certainty, with the warm fuzzies of loved ones and familiar things all around. The first Christmas was spent much like many of my friends from Burma have spent many of their Christmases, fleeing persecution in makeshift shelters, separated from family, and uncertain of what is to come. But as I hear the stories of Christmas celebrations in the confines of the camps in Thailand, I cannot help but want to see the fullness of that joy at the birth of hope into the world here in my country, where we have succumbed to sloth with regard to so many of our traditions from caroling, to giving meaningful gifts and making holiday foods from scratch. These are the things that help us to remember who we are and why we are.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I rediscovered delight this Christmas in giving toys to my nieces and nephews, distributing a trunk full of live chickens, guineas, and rabbits as gifts, playing volleyball over a septic field at a Karen Christmas celebration in Vesta, and even caroling at one stranger’s house in Comer. We cannot rationalize this time of year, but must let it overtake us on our terms. Human beings are incredibly inefficient, and we commit corporate suicide when we deny the sanctity of this exuberant celebration with technologically facilitated isolation. Come together. December is sweet.</span></div>Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-61276656182187117692011-12-11T21:26:00.000-08:002011-12-11T21:28:23.734-08:00The Wolf<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">Dusk blends skeletal trees with the sky. The roar of Interstate 285 rushes through the empty spaces. Light pours from the porch light over the front lawn. This little brick house is not mine, but it feels so familiar. It is not strange that I am here, yet I do not know where I am. I step over the curb and walk into the yard. There are two cars in the driveway and a woman standing on the porch who must have just arrived home after a long day of work. She calls to me and I am unsurprised, but cannot make out her words.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">The dogs, all puppies really, scamper about the yard playing with one another like little kittens. There is a brown dachshund, a beige cocker spaniel, and a gray one with icy blue eyes that glimmer in the porch light. The little dog with blue eyes looks directly at me. His gaze lingers sending a sudden shudder of fear through my body. “I think that one…” I start. Then he lets out a piercing high-pitched howl. He looks away and then his eyes meet mine again. I am captivated by the clarity. His pure blue eyes like translucent pools, his bark crisp and clean like a hymn, yet with a hint of what he might become if nothing gets to him first, which surely nothing will while he is being swaddled like a newborn by these people, in this house.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“My God,” I mutter under my breath. I try to speak again and say, “Not that one! I think that one is a wolf!” The woman is unfazed and opens the screen door, holding it open with her large backside, accentuated by her puffy black winter coat. I want to look her in the eyes and talk some sense into her before it is too late, but I cannot even see her face. It is as though she refuses to look at me. Her pudgy cream-colored hand turns the doorknob and the dachshund and the cocker spaniel race into the dark house. The little wolf turns again to look at me from the cement porch and lets out another yelp, slowly crossing the threshold as the woman coaxes him.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">My eyelids slowly open to the darkness of my bedroom. Dawn diffuses through the purple and red batik curtains. I roll over and pull the blanket over my head, drifting carelessly back into oblivion.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">Something came over me as I left Comer after the Thanksgiving holiday: a deep gratitude and a sharp sadness, yet a sadness one can take delight in, a sadness within the realm of joy. What an awesome relief to move away from the coldness of heart, the numbness of depression which has hung over me these past couple years. The whole ride back to the city, in the quiet of my car, I wondered at the warmness, the feeling of inseparable connection: the assurance that without any vows or monthly payments that I will always share a special love with this energetic family of six, soon to be seven, perhaps even eight. It may be a queer love, but I know it to be real.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">Jesus teaches with clear and offensive words because he is not restrained by fear. Fear is what moves us into relativism and indecision. Surely, easy answers do not meet the complexity of suffering, but neither does language that mystifies its causes. For too long I have allowed myself to become lukewarm like the water around me. We live in a world governed by fear itself. Life is found in the visions that freeze and boil, which embrace the dynamism of ecstatic love.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">On Sunday night I knew with a clarity I have not known in a long time, that I must go to Comer next year to continue this journey and that I must now finally out of love for my Karen brothers and sisters seek employment at the poultry plant. I tremble with fear at the thought of taking this step alone, but know this thought to be a fear-driven lie, which denies the reality of the spiritual friends I already have who are putting down roots in this bizarre little town where I find my search for God taking me. I will leave behind some of my best <i>gaw lah wah</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> friends in Clarkston by making this move, but I am subject to a spirit of exodus larger than myself, and know proximity can be motivated by fear just as much as love.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">St. Francis of Assisi once stayed in the town of Gubbio where everyone feared a wolf that was terrorizing the town, killing animals and even people. Francis went out into the forest to meet the wolf one day. When the wolf saw Francis, he charged at him, but Francis calmly made the sign of the cross and he ceased. He spoke to the wolf, saying, “Come to me, Brother Wolf. I wish you no harm.” The wolf laid his head at the feet of St. Francis like a lamb. Francis negotiated peace between the people and the wolf and the wolf placed his paw in Francis’ hand in agreement. Then they walked through the town together while the people looked on shocked. From that day forward the people fed the wolf as he came to their doors. He lived the remaining two years of his life peacefully among the people of the town, loved by all.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">While staying with Hei Nay Htoo and Baw Baw’s family in their new house over the Thanksgiving holiday, I was reading Dorothy Day’s autobiography, <i>The Long Loneliness</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, one afternoon in the bedroom with the door closed. The door opened rather suddenly, and unsurprisingly, there stood Blay Blay Htoo with a slightly mischievous smile on his face.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“What you doing?” he asked, coming into the room.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Reading. Do you want to read with me?”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">He sat down on the floor next to me and leaned in to look at the page. I started reading out loud to him, “<i>Body and soul constitute human nature. The body is not less good than the soul. In…</i><span style="font-style: normal;">” I stopped for a moment to cough and clear my throat.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">Without pause, he helped me to the next word, “MOTORCYCLE!”<o:p></o:p></div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">I glared at him as he offered me his usual flamboyant smile. The text continued, “<i>mortifying the natural we must not injure the body or the soul</i></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">,” but I decided to heed his suggestion and continue reading: “<i>In MOTORCYCLE the natural we must not injure the body or soul. We are not to destroy but to transform it, as iron is transformed in the fire. Most of our life is unimportant, filled with trivial things from morning till night. But when it is transformed by love it is of interest even to the angels.”</i></span>Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-10472579424917081372011-11-30T17:58:00.000-08:002011-11-30T17:58:25.613-08:00Halloween<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E-ruZML4Akw/TtbbNxLerOI/AAAAAAAAAJY/pV9DT34c0DI/s1600/fishpastehalloween1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E-ruZML4Akw/TtbbNxLerOI/AAAAAAAAAJY/pV9DT34c0DI/s320/fishpastehalloween1.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8PUxs9aWjCk/TtbbVtOZJRI/AAAAAAAAAJg/EsuJJTlgkNY/s1600/fishpastehalloween2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8PUxs9aWjCk/TtbbVtOZJRI/AAAAAAAAAJg/EsuJJTlgkNY/s320/fishpastehalloween2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_kIKIQAQQ6Q/TtbbmhkxOcI/AAAAAAAAAJo/TFolcuI9fSo/s1600/fishpastehalloween4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_kIKIQAQQ6Q/TtbbmhkxOcI/AAAAAAAAAJo/TFolcuI9fSo/s320/fishpastehalloween4.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BoH43lJBDlM/Ttbbt8eSQNI/AAAAAAAAAJw/vMFvEST1v1Q/s1600/fishpastehalloween5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BoH43lJBDlM/Ttbbt8eSQNI/AAAAAAAAAJw/vMFvEST1v1Q/s320/fishpastehalloween5.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8XqOuULVJg0/Ttbb2EBgPsI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/FK3s7ZqVufs/s1600/fishpastehalloween6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8XqOuULVJg0/Ttbb2EBgPsI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/FK3s7ZqVufs/s320/fishpastehalloween6.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zv3JOBa-a5E/Ttbb8yL_YNI/AAAAAAAAAKA/dwkusii9mWw/s1600/fishpastehalloween7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zv3JOBa-a5E/Ttbb8yL_YNI/AAAAAAAAAKA/dwkusii9mWw/s320/fishpastehalloween7.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BHDAASZ8O6c/TtbcCwBIOyI/AAAAAAAAAKI/30_S6T-3sEg/s1600/fishpastehalloween8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BHDAASZ8O6c/TtbcCwBIOyI/AAAAAAAAAKI/30_S6T-3sEg/s320/fishpastehalloween8.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FPLck34Xbv8/TtbcJ38PKMI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/UEBHRN-BXec/s1600/fishpastehalloween9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FPLck34Xbv8/TtbcJ38PKMI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/UEBHRN-BXec/s320/fishpastehalloween9.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MEF17JKTBm8/TtbcPM0lzqI/AAAAAAAAAKY/Boa_gBGuP0A/s1600/fishpastehalloween10.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MEF17JKTBm8/TtbcPM0lzqI/AAAAAAAAAKY/Boa_gBGuP0A/s320/fishpastehalloween10.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--7JUOQkUGBA/TtbcVuYy2lI/AAAAAAAAAKg/g0oxwDb0TGI/s1600/fishpastehalloween11.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--7JUOQkUGBA/TtbcVuYy2lI/AAAAAAAAAKg/g0oxwDb0TGI/s320/fishpastehalloween11.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kdb96rYfgqs/TtbccIseWVI/AAAAAAAAAKo/P-NPM1j0GHA/s1600/fishpastehalloween12.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kdb96rYfgqs/TtbccIseWVI/AAAAAAAAAKo/P-NPM1j0GHA/s320/fishpastehalloween12.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zjp0YeqiVKk/TtbchaHrl_I/AAAAAAAAAKw/PXOvyIpzUgk/s1600/fishpastehalloween13.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zjp0YeqiVKk/TtbchaHrl_I/AAAAAAAAAKw/PXOvyIpzUgk/s320/fishpastehalloween13.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UqrL6UfBeFw/Ttbcp3SSAPI/AAAAAAAAAK4/ZS9exWG1mCs/s1600/fishpastehalloween14.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UqrL6UfBeFw/Ttbcp3SSAPI/AAAAAAAAAK4/ZS9exWG1mCs/s320/fishpastehalloween14.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OgpKPE8iNo4/TtbczqrgVII/AAAAAAAAALA/NKmmwticTlI/s1600/fishpastehalloween15.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OgpKPE8iNo4/TtbczqrgVII/AAAAAAAAALA/NKmmwticTlI/s320/fishpastehalloween15.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AKaefoNvpgs/Ttbc41PPplI/AAAAAAAAALI/YFFrmOSPZ2k/s1600/fishpastehalloween16.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AKaefoNvpgs/Ttbc41PPplI/AAAAAAAAALI/YFFrmOSPZ2k/s320/fishpastehalloween16.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2k8ib7I6tPs/TtbdBmoXzaI/AAAAAAAAALQ/N6Og-ocoUDg/s1600/fishpastehalloween17.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2k8ib7I6tPs/TtbdBmoXzaI/AAAAAAAAALQ/N6Og-ocoUDg/s320/fishpastehalloween17.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ScFxU2_S11g/TtbdJ2I-ASI/AAAAAAAAALY/E3Ztvk6lkfY/s1600/fishpastehalloween18.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ScFxU2_S11g/TtbdJ2I-ASI/AAAAAAAAALY/E3Ztvk6lkfY/s320/fishpastehalloween18.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jnv4gclpwww/TtbdQfKREtI/AAAAAAAAALg/wJQFc-ZCass/s1600/fishpastehalloween19.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jnv4gclpwww/TtbdQfKREtI/AAAAAAAAALg/wJQFc-ZCass/s320/fishpastehalloween19.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gfPS4O62SjE/TtbdYRFZ6xI/AAAAAAAAALo/v8rgv5ffgJU/s1600/fishpastehalloween20.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gfPS4O62SjE/TtbdYRFZ6xI/AAAAAAAAALo/v8rgv5ffgJU/s320/fishpastehalloween20.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bBpFp2ZE6H8/Ttbdhvs_clI/AAAAAAAAALw/jxkf_KrAgwE/s1600/fishpastehalloween21.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bBpFp2ZE6H8/Ttbdhvs_clI/AAAAAAAAALw/jxkf_KrAgwE/s320/fishpastehalloween21.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6RNNz3H-NGI/TtbdqSbM7vI/AAAAAAAAAL4/l9IvaMDFwJk/s1600/fishpastehalloween22.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6RNNz3H-NGI/TtbdqSbM7vI/AAAAAAAAAL4/l9IvaMDFwJk/s320/fishpastehalloween22.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qol6Bh99ZDg/TtbdyjJSgnI/AAAAAAAAAMA/8d_QZiIyDwM/s1600/fishpastehalloween23.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qol6Bh99ZDg/TtbdyjJSgnI/AAAAAAAAAMA/8d_QZiIyDwM/s320/fishpastehalloween23.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ojLEmlC82Ok/Ttbd57_hGRI/AAAAAAAAAMI/5wveUg1VIoQ/s1600/fishpastehalloween24.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ojLEmlC82Ok/Ttbd57_hGRI/AAAAAAAAAMI/5wveUg1VIoQ/s320/fishpastehalloween24.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0TeIIQG23xs/TtbeArnMlAI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/QI0i46MMVQc/s1600/fishpastehalloween25.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0TeIIQG23xs/TtbeArnMlAI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/QI0i46MMVQc/s320/fishpastehalloween25.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V37SUPmTVxI/TtbeIfT6whI/AAAAAAAAAMY/tY09pJrcRjY/s1600/fishpastehalloween26.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V37SUPmTVxI/TtbeIfT6whI/AAAAAAAAAMY/tY09pJrcRjY/s320/fishpastehalloween26.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7L63blMa8Qo/TtbeQk9Hp5I/AAAAAAAAAMg/d8px09QdldE/s1600/fishpastehalloween27.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7L63blMa8Qo/TtbeQk9Hp5I/AAAAAAAAAMg/d8px09QdldE/s320/fishpastehalloween27.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Kdn0bOqmJiY/TtbeXagFAxI/AAAAAAAAAMo/4eHvko5pzfM/s1600/fishpastehalloween28.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Kdn0bOqmJiY/TtbeXagFAxI/AAAAAAAAAMo/4eHvko5pzfM/s320/fishpastehalloween28.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Iv6ypM_nvzQ/TtbedJQ0RyI/AAAAAAAAAMw/gc_z95zLs8A/s1600/fishpastehalloween29.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Iv6ypM_nvzQ/TtbedJQ0RyI/AAAAAAAAAMw/gc_z95zLs8A/s320/fishpastehalloween29.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GiQ4Z4pVLPo/TtbeiJTijHI/AAAAAAAAAM4/3jfmC0N0vKE/s1600/fishpastehalloween30.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GiQ4Z4pVLPo/TtbeiJTijHI/AAAAAAAAAM4/3jfmC0N0vKE/s320/fishpastehalloween30.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ts-k1j9w27s/Ttbeo4EQJNI/AAAAAAAAANA/Z22VMLUHfyc/s1600/fishpastehalloween31.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ts-k1j9w27s/Ttbeo4EQJNI/AAAAAAAAANA/Z22VMLUHfyc/s320/fishpastehalloween31.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tx9Ezl2aEEU/TtbfI60mDwI/AAAAAAAAANI/16bk4qCXGeY/s1600/fishpastehalloween3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tx9Ezl2aEEU/TtbfI60mDwI/AAAAAAAAANI/16bk4qCXGeY/s320/fishpastehalloween3.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><span id="goog_1461275783"></span><span id="goog_1461275784"></span>Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-65803683803370122592011-11-30T16:34:00.000-08:002011-11-30T16:34:20.736-08:00The Holiness of No<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“I cannot bring myself to say congratulations when I see one of my friends get married, because they haven’t done anything yet!” Chico preaches flamboyantly under a big tulip poplar at Jubilee Partners on a brisk November day. My friends Corey and Lauren sit at the front of those gathered, listening to this challenging wedding sermon. “Marriage is a call to suffering! It does not save us from ourselves as our culture supposes, but rather is a school for conversion in which to learn the way of love in a world so filled with violence.”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">The monastic impulse can take on a variety of expressions, but it is something we all possess. Feelings of anxiety are often described as feeling “unsettled,” and what truth this speaks to our physical life and our need for stability and limits. The monastic impulse is a response to the unsettled feeling we all hold inside when things do not quite line up in our lives, when we functionally believe that we are without limits. This creed is so much a part of the culture in which I was raised. Parker Palmer captures it well when he writes, “Like many middle-class Americans, especially those who are white and male, I was raised in a subculture that insisted I could do anything I wanted to do, be anything I wanted to be, if I were willing to make the effort. The message was that both the universe and I were without limits, given enough energy and commitment on my part. God made things that way, and all I had to do was to get with the program.”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">How often my thinking has fallen in that track and misplaced my agency as a human being. The monastery is the place where we settle. “Our hearts are restless until they can find peace in you,” St. Augustine writes in his <i>Confessions</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. By placing the limits of place, people, and practice upon one’s life the voice of God, our vocation, becomes gradually clearer. The monastery is the place where we learn that our freedom comes from the confines of orthopraxy, the holy drone that becomes the foundation of the creative project of God speaking into our lives. The psalter sings to us: “Be still and know that I am God.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">Later in the afternoon I take Hei Nay Htoo and Baw Baw to look at a house in Comer, the small town where Jubilee is located. They have been eagerly anticipating moving here for months. A man from the local Baptist church is the landlord and comes over in his pickup to opens up a little white house behind the Kangaroo, the largest gas station convenience store in town. It is small but nicely finished inside with new carpet, freshly painted beige walls, and not a cockroach in sight. They look around for barely two minutes before nodding at me.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“<i>Na hso ga mo dee leh—</i><span style="font-style: normal;">What do you think?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“<i>Ya hso ga mo bah—</i><span style="font-style: normal;">I think it is right.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">They sign a yearlong lease the next day and we plan the move for the next weekend. A deep joy unfurls inside of me knowing that my brothers and sisters will be in this quieter, safer place where they will be seen as people. Just the previous day I thought there would be no housing options here for them to look at as I had promised we would this weekend, but here they are to my surprise committing their lives here for the next year. Just a few blocks away in Comer, my friend Eh Kaw and his family recently purchased a home where they will soon move.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">We often deny ourselves the things we need most. It is my Karen friends who are signing leases and putting down roots, while I wrestle with an eternal spiral of questions regarding vocation and relationships. Yet I desire to discern these things in community with my Karen friends working in poultry plants, most of who are married with several children, and offer a much different perspective. I want to crucify this white savior complex I possess and vanish into obscurity, embracing the holiness of “no.” At what point are we ready to say enough already, leave the world of the mind, lay down on the earth, and let the Kingdom rise out of our hearts and come into consciousness like a cloud shape?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">I am staying with Lesley, a gracious friend who opened up her house in Clarkston to me while we are figuring out the next step.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bernard and Amber, my friends from Jubilee who recently moved back to Georgia are staying there also. There are quite a few of us former Jubilee volunteers, now in the vicinity wondering what we are doing with our lives, most of us jobless, yet knowing there is life in our connection with the Karen people whom we know, knowing that there is something true growing in the places we inhabit.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">I made the decision not to move to Comer with Hei Nay Htoo and Baw Baw at this time because of my own limits—my need for fellowship with my cultural peers, as unsettled and frustrating of a bunch as we might be. I am not the same person as when I moved in with Hei Nay Htoo and Baw Baw five months ago. I have learned courage and hope in the face of uncertainty from the love of their family. Baw Baw speaks much more English and I much more Karen now from countless hours of joking and conversing.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">The first week living with <i>gaw lah wah</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> again, I purchase my first ever package of monosodium glutamate. Bernard and I go into Kroger together dressed in our Karen longyis. I will never be Karen, but my life speaks the desire to commit to this obscure ethnic group, to bring meaning to such jargon as “Christian” and “American” through a life together. </span></div><!--EndFragment-->Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-84113325820433053202011-11-30T15:47:00.000-08:002011-11-30T15:47:20.835-08:00Simple Living<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“This month Georgia Power is too much!” Baw Baw says showing me the paper statement that just came in the mail. I look at the bill and am surprised to see double what they usually pay for one month. “<i>Weh…</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> too much!” I agree, “We did not turn on the heat or air.” There appears to be a remaining balance from the previous month.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Did you pay last month?”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Yes!”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“It says you didn’t pay last month.”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">Baw Baw rummages through the file box I gave her and produces a money order receipt for the exact amount. I brace myself for another phone adventure of talking to robots, holding to fuzzy elevator music, and arguing with inept employees.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Press two for billing…<i>bawp…</i><span style="font-style: normal;">Press 1 for your current account balance, Press 2 to make a payment…Press 9 to speak with a representative…</span><i>bawp.</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><i>Doo boo dee bop shoo boo doo dee bop bop. Dee doo wop shop mop wee woo wop</i><span style="font-style: normal;">…”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Hello, can I have your name please?”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Yes, Zachary Cooke, but I am calling on behalf of your customer Hei Nay Htoo.”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Can I speak with him?”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“He is not here, but his wife, Baw Baw, is here. She cannot speak very much English though.”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“I am sorry, but her name and your name are not on the account so I cannot discuss anything with you. You will have to call back later when he is available.”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Really, his wife can’t speak with you?”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“No, he is the only name on the account.”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“He can’t speak English. Do you use language line?” </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Yes.”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Ok. Thank you.” <i>Click.</i><span style="font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“GRAAAAAH! They can only talk with <i>Wonderful Pa</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“<i>Mayahh?—</i><span style="font-style: normal;">Really?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">(Two days later)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Press two for billing…<i>bawp…</i><span style="font-style: normal;">Press 1 for your current account balance, Press 2 to make a payment…Press 9 to speak with a representative…</span><i>bawp.</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><i>Doo boo dee bop shoo boo doo dee bop bop. Dee doo wop shop mop wee woo wop</i><span style="font-style: normal;">…” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Hello, how can I help you?”<br />
“I am calling regarding my friend Hei Nay Htoo’s account, but I believe you have his name as HEL Nay Htoo.”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Is he present, sir?”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Yes, but he does not speak much English.”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Ok. What language does he speak?”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Karen. K-A-R-E-N. Not Korean.”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Hold on just a minute while I get an interpreter on the line. <i>Doo boo dee bop shoo boo doo dee bop bop. Dee doo wop shop mop wee woo wop</i><span style="font-style: normal;">… Ok, sir. I have the translator.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">I pass the phone to Hei Nay Htoo and he says hello. The faint murmur of the interpreter’s voice travels across the room. A perplexed look slowly encroaches upon Hei Nay Htoo’s face. The wrinkles intensify across his forehead as he shakes his head and passes me the phone.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“<i>Na may pwa ga nyawahh—</i><span style="font-style: normal;">Are you Karen?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Sorry sir, this is Korean,” the woman’s voice says, “I’ll get a Karen interpreter on the line. Please hold.”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">The interpreter evidently encountered this situation often enough that she could understand this Karen phrase. A Karen interpreter finally gets on the line and the Georgia Power agent confirms Hei Nay Htoo’s identity and gets permission for me to speak regarding the account. I explain that they paid last month, but were charged again this month.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“The payment was never received. It must have been lost in the mail. They have to send their payment before November 17<sup>th</sup> or their power will be cut off.”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">I turn to Hei Nay Htoo and Baw Baw who are looking at me intently.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“They never got it,” I say sullenly, “The mail man must have lost it. You have to pay again before November 17, or no more electricity.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“<i>Mayahh—</i><span style="font-style: normal;">really?” they say in unison. They discuss this in Karen for a while before Baw Baw to ask, “In Comer the same Georgia Power as here?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Yes. I think it is the same.” They discuss again.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">Hei Nay Htoo slows his speech to ask, “<i>Du pa leh luh </i><span style="font-style: normal;">Comer, </span><i>pa duh a thaw a meh oo ta oh bah thayahh</i><span style="font-style: normal;">—When we go to Comer, can we not have electricity in our new house?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">A smile creeps across my face as I imagine them living in a carpeted and enclosed Western home as though it were a bamboo hut—the primitive occupation of our overly complicated society, an integral demonstration of simple living, Occupy Wall Street as second nature. Baw Baw says she can cook over a fire outside; they did like that in Thailand “No problem. We don’t need,” she says, looking somewhat defeated.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“I guess you could not have power out there. You really don’t want electricity anymore? <i>Na meh oo may ta oh bah na tha ku nay meh oo ohahh—</i><span style="font-style: normal;">Are you happier without electricity than with it?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">They seem perplexed by this question, which was perhaps expressed with strange syntax. Hei Nay Htoo is looking very serious and says, “I don’t know.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Do you still want a car?”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“<i>Ya da tha law gah luh bah. Ya ga pghay ga boh yoo</i><span style="font-style: normal;">—I don’t want a car anymore, I will buy a plane!”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“<i>Na ga leh peh leh</i><span style="font-style: normal;">—Where will you go?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“<i>Ya ga gay luh ya gaw</i><span style="font-style: normal;">—I will go back to my country.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“<i>Ya gay tha goh na thayahh—</i><span style="font-style: normal;">Can I go with you?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“<i>Uhh. Na ga noh gab oh yoo</i><span style="font-style: normal;">—Yes, you will drive the plane!”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“<i>Pa ga thee—</i><span style="font-style: normal;">We will die!”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">A couple days later I see Pa Saw Paw, a good friend of myself and Hei Nay Htoo and Baw Baw.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Wonderful Pa told me he hasn’t slept in two days because you told him they can’t have electricity anymore after November 17<sup>th</sup>.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">I break into laughter, unable to believe what I am hearing.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“I told them if they don’t pay the bill again before then, it will be cut off. I thought they didn’t want electricity in Comer?!”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Haha. I told them that it is no problem; they can still have power. But Wonderful Pa was very worried.”</div><!--EndFragment-->Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7758987191667959400.post-63098942331049103722011-11-01T14:16:00.001-07:002011-11-01T14:16:16.495-07:00Refuge<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">A young man holds up a colorful zippered case. “Maybe they thought there was money inside,” he says, opening it to reveal the crisp white pages of a Karen Bible. His sister was carrying this, walking home from a worship music practice at a neighboring apartment with another young Karen woman, when three men attacked them. Thorns snagged their flesh as they fled from their aggressors into the woods. They went to the hospital later that day for their injuries.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“<i>Thara, aw may</i><span style="font-style: normal;">—Teacher, eat rice,” the brother tells me. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“<i>Ya aw may wee lee</i><span style="font-style: normal;">—I’ve already eaten.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">The mother, father, and younger brother sit at the table eating rice with some kind of fried meat and bamboo shoots. I recognize the younger brother from the guitar class I sometimes assist with at the Community Center.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“You went to the guitar class on Friday, right?”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Yes. I saw you there,” he says smiling.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Do you go every week?”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Yes. Every week.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">I gradually realize that I know the older brother as well. He taught me a Karen praise song just last week while I was visiting another friend’s apartment, but at the time I had thought he was a relative of that family. He talks quickly and calmly in Karen with Tha Htaw, my friend who brought me to their house, I listen attentively as though I can understand. Waiting for a pause in their conversation, I interject,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“I am sorry about what happened to your sister. Let me know if you need anything. Especially a ride to the hospital.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Yes, yes. Ok. Thank you.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">I follow Tha Htaw out of the apartment and thank him for leading me there. We walk together towards his apartment several buildings over and I say goodbye to him at the base of the stairs before commencing the ten-minute walk back to the apartment complex where I live. The sun is lazing behind the trees creating a soft white glow in the sky. The temperature is dropping and the cool evening air nips at my exposed arms. I pass by the unoccupied wood and red plastic playground adjacent to Tha Htaw’s apartment, and stroll down the hill towards the gate. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">By the mail pavilion at the bottom of the hill there is a large gathering of children. In the center of the circle, a Karen boy stands across from an African-American boy roughly the same age. They are no older than ten or eleven. A slightly taller African-American girl stands between them, asking the Karen boy in slow and simplified speech, “Do you want to fight him?” I slow my pace and watch them conspicuously from the sidewalk, stopping at the corner feeling a sudden sense of responsibility to prevent this from escalating. I fiddle with my phone there for a couple minutes and then decide to take another lap around the building in order to pass the gathering again. As I approach a second time, a bold woman arriving home at her apartment shouts to them, “Go home all of you! You are too smart for all of this! You think you’re too young to go to juvie?”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">The children slowly disperse. “Go on! You’re too smart for all of this!” She looks my way for a moment and shakes her head. I watch the Karen boys walk away towards the gate of the complex and the African-Americans in the opposite direction. I walk slowly behind the Karen along the drive leading to the exit. I feel this burning in my heart to dissolve distinctions, yet feel utterly apart from all of this as a silent observer, an outsider.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">The white experience is characterized by a particular uncertainty. It is a search for ethnicity. In a town like Clarkston, for me it is an experience of otherness. In the past two generations, my family gradually migrated further and further outside of Baltimore city. As distinctive European ethnicities dissolved into a racial label, white became a unifying color, the absence of color. Thus my people fled the ethnic infusion of the city to seek refuge in a more homogeneous environment.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">This is a natural tendency, which becomes perverted when we think in terms of race. The word, “discriminate,” literally means, “to make distinctions.” Author and journalist Christopher Hitchens states, “It especially annoys me when racists are accused of 'discrimination.' The ability to discriminate is a precious facility; by judging all members of one 'race' to be the same, the racist precisely shows himself incapable of discrimination.” Our brains automatically create distinctions between people because of superficial differences. It is part of our instinct for self-preservation. We are meant to know and love our own distinctive ethnicity, and in so doing recognize that this is a universal human experience.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">I recognize in myself the need to recover this healthy psychology, to know myself as an ethnic person, a German Catholic American. It is only from this distinctive place that I am able to enter into the human arena, to carry on a corporate desire for preservation. I enter with a desire to do something positive in this place of interethnic tension and to engage in the recovery of my own ethnicity as I am immersed in Karen culture. I seek the knowledge that I am not blind.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">A boy on a bicycle calls out behind me, “Here they are!” Several other children on bicycles follow them. I turn to him with a stern face and say, “Leave them alone.” I hear the woman call out from the distance, “HEY! GO HOME!” The children gradually turn back down the drive, and gravity carries them down the hill and they glide away into dispersion among the trees and brick buildings.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">My cell phone goes off in my pocket and I look at the screen to see the name of the brother of the girl who was beaten. I am surprised he is calling me already, but assume they need a ride to the hospital or something. I flip open the phone and say, “Hello?”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">“Hello. You left your bag at my house. If you have free time, you can come and visit. Next week we will have thanksgiving, worship God at my house, if you can come.”<i><o:p></o:p></i></div><!--EndFragment-->Zachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12177799897510593058noreply@blogger.com1