I grew up in a place where everyone I knew had jumped off at least one cliff. Generally, it was the same ocean cliffs everyone else had jumped off, and generally no one got seriously injured (I did belly flop once, but that's another story). However, when it came right down to it, your friends would eventually find a proverbial cliff (with un-proverbial water below) and tell you to jump. And, proverbially, I did.
Sometimes, God is especially nice, and lets us be born near the person we are made to make art with. In the case of the Moore brothers (well, twins), God was especially kind. The two grew up playing music together and had several well-deserved victories in Battles of the Bands. I saw them play live a few months ago and was amazed by their musical dexterity and playful unity. And, to bless us all, they released their first EP, Hallucinate.
Yesterday, the world heard the news: Harper Lee, the private author behind To Kill A Mockingbird and Go Set A Watchman, had passed away. Lee wrote two books and offered very few interviews and public appearances, but I feel that I lost a literary giant on what would have been an ordinary Friday. Many, many writers are offering tribute to Harper Lee; I am willing to join the crowd on this one.
DISCLAIMER: If you are not religious, this blog post will still contain advice for taking time off and making sure you are well-rested. I believe everyone is designed to rest as well as work. With that said, taking a Sabbath (a full day off) is not easy. There are whole books devoted to the subject of the Sabbath. If you do a quick google search, dozens of reasons to take a Sabbath, why the Sabbath was commanded, and why it is still relevant will pop up. I'm not going to expound on those reasons, not because they are irrelevant, but because people much wiser and much more in-the-know have already written those books and articles. Frankly, those reasons don't necessarily help with taking a day off. Making time is a deliberate and often difficult process, but in this case, it's absolutely worthwhile. With that being said, here are five tips for making time for a Sabbath.
Recently, I had the pleasure of reading Bandersnatch by Diana Pavlac Glyer, a professor of mine and a mind I admire greatly. The short review: the book did not disappoint. Bandersnatch
takes its title from a quote of CS Lewis' on his friend, JRR Tolkien: "No one ever influenced Tolkien. You may has well try to influence a Bandersnatch." Glyer argues that Lewis not only influenced Tolkien, but was one of the greatest forces behind the completion of The Lord of the Rings. Beyond that, she argues that collaborative creativity is the key to the success of the Inklings (the group of scholars and writers Tolkien and Lewis belonged to and founded). The book is brilliantly orchestrated and makes its points clearly; every concept is readily applicable for the creative mind.
The best part about having a little corner of the internet that belongs to me exclusively is being able to put down ideas - sometimes half-baked ideas - and see the way people react. My last blog post on this topic (which you can find here) is one of my more popular blog posts, so I thought I'd revisit the idea. Let me know what you think of this second set!
I hear a lot about forgiveness. As a Christian, it's a pretty big deal. In fact, it's such a big deal that it's commanded. If you don't forgive others, you will not be forgiven. The Lord's Prayer says "Forgive us our debts, AS WE FORGIVE our debtors." Apparently, there's no way around it.
Even so, I think that it's not necessarily understood in the same way that other commands are understood. I know how to not murder people, or so I think. Then, I remember that Jesus ups the stakes and says that hatred is murder. So, really, I don't actually know much about what to do. However, I do know a little bit about what forgiveness isn't. I say a little bit, because I am coming to understand this daily, and much more deeply. It's still a raw and fresh place in me; be gentle with the things I have gotten wrong or phrased incorrectly.
One of the great things about life is that it will, undoubtably, happen. The sun will rise, and I will have some kind of day. Some of those days will be good, and others will be painfully difficult. Realizing that life will carry on, and that the "with or without me" thing is metaphorical (and not quite true) has dramatically changed my outlook on life. After all, my life will always continue with me. I don't have a choice on that; I simply have a choice about being passive. If time is a river, I can be a stick or a swimmer.
I've been back in Hawai'i for about two and a half weeks, and I leave next Friday. Being on Maui (my home island) is always fun, and there a few things that I do my best to hit up while I'm here (I don't always succeed, because work happens). Obviously, there are a ton of things to do on any of the Hawaiian islands. This blog post is just a small sampling of things that I absolutely love to do on Maui.
I love Christmas. It's my favorite holiday by a long shot; I'm not even sure what holiday comes in second (it's probably Christmas Eve, if I'm being honest). The Christmas season can be difficult for people, and I know that I haven't had perfect Christmases every year. However, with that said, here are 12 Reasons I Love Christmas.
To be entirely honest, I wasn't sure what to write this blog about, and I considered just skipping this week entirely. I've been back in California for a few days, but I leave for Maui tomorrow, and the jet lag is still real. However, I was reminded of a concept I learned in sports, and again in theatre:
Show up. Do all you can.
Wow. Tomorrow, I return from England to the United States, and within a month or so, I will be starting my last semester of my undergraduate career. Time flew by. It does not feel like I got off a plane in Heathrow less than four months ago, eager and excited to start my Oxford experience. It feels like yesterday. Or a lifetime ago.
This week, I finished my poem-a-day challenge. Two hundred poems. Two hundred days of trying - and often failing - to say something meaningful. I'm not going to spend a long time talking about what the poems meant to me. I don't think I'll really understand what they really were until I have some real distance from them. What I do know is that I learned how to write. I don't mean that I learned how to write well, even though I know that my writing improved over the course of the project. I mean that I learned how to sit down and allow myself the space to be creative. It's only been a couple of days and I already miss it. In fact, you can see the final poem up on the site, and the first poem. Things changed, but I am glad for the difference.
Even though I've finished my notebook, the 200 Poems Project does not have to end. I would love it if some of you guys would pick up the challenge! If you do, let me know, and if a poem really strikes you as awesome, send it to me or upload it to your favorite social media site with #200poemsproject and tag me there.
One Poem.
Every day.
Take the challenge.
Being a teenager was fun and horrible, a disaster and a delight. I don't know if I would want to relive those years, but if I ever get the chance, I know I'll spend a lot of time cringing. I decided to write up a list of things I wish I had known as a teenager. Young uns, take notes. Or copy/paste. I know how this works.
Hey guys! I've pulled together five channels that are a riot to watch. Frankly, there's a lot of YouTube, and so even the most hardcore YouTube watcher doesn't watch everyone. None of these channels are particularly small, but this post is less to promote the channels that it is to promote entertainment for you, the people reading this blog. Without further ado, Five Great YouTube Channels. And no, I'm not putting my own channel here. Although you should totally watch my videos.
This week has been a bit of a jam, and even though my workload is slowing down, I don't have that much to say about any one topic, and certainly nothing I could throw together in a blog post. Thus, I will offer all of you (many of whom are older and wiser than me) some bits of advice that no one asked for, and in no particular order, on no particular topic. Enjoy!
One of my favorite biblical moments is the calling of Peter and Andrew as told in Matthew 4:
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
I can imagine the brothers leaping out of a boat and splashing through the shallows, swimming at moments for speed, because Jesus was over there, and they were not.
The days and hours tend to blur together around this time of year - midterms are no joke, Princess; the added pressure of the tutorial system has only increased the whirling feeling. For those of you who are not familiar with the tutorial system in Oxford, it works like this:
You meet individually with your tutor once a week. They give you a reading list and a prompt for a paper ("What importance did CS Lewis attach to myth?" - my paper two weeks ago). Each week, you produce a 2,000-2,500 word paper on that topic. Repeat cycle. This happens with two tutors. It's both incredibly taxing and incredibly rewarding. However, on both counts, it only adds to the whirl.
