i’ll write more soon, no really, i will

i feel like the last few posts were mostly filler, without much actual substance to them.

i just decided this week that i’m not taking classes this summer, so hopefully i can catch up on my reading list. i’ve had the same pile of books sitting around waiting to be read for months now, and i’ve only read a few pages a week at most. so i’m looking forward to getting some time to get through all (or most of) that stack. so i’ll post about those as i get through them.

besides that, i’m hoping to take some time this week to post some thoughts about women in the church, as the video i posted a few days ago seemed to strike up a bit more discussion here than usual (as well as throughout the rest of the blogosphere).

so hopefully, i’ll get a chance to write more than just filler in the next few days and weeks, and make this a little more worthwhile.

displace me – after the event update

67,871 people showed up to displace me in 15 cities throughout the u.s.

if you didn’t read my previous posts (here and here) about the event, or click on the links, i’ll fill you in briefly.

invisible children is an organization that was started by three guys who went to africa with some video cameras after college. they ended up in northern uganda, and learned about a war, that has now raged on for 21 years, in which children were being kidnapped and used as child soldiers and killed if they refused. these guys made a video about these child soldiers, and what kids were having to do to avoid being kidnapped, and from there arose their organization which works to help these kids.

the war still rages on, though some of the circumstances have changed since the first video. for the last decade or so, people have been forcibly moved from their villages into involuntary displacement camps, where they have no work, no schools, and little food and water.

the goal of displace me was to draw awareness to this situation. a situation where an entire generation has no education. a situation where poverty, aids, and violence kill constantly.

you can learn more about invisible children and find out how to help on their website, and watch videos about the current situation on the displace me website.

or you can watch this brief video of theirs:

women in christianity

i’d love to hear some thoughts about this video from you.

[ht to emerging women - originally from Jennifer]

one day blog silence

displace me 4.28.07 – update

57, 644 people have signed up so far (14 just since i started writing this post).

3 days from now.

and, once again: if you live in (or near) atlanta, austin, chicago, denver, kansas city, l.a., nashville, new orleans, new york, orlando, phoenix, pittsburgh, san francisco, seattle, or washington d.c., i strongly encourage you to sign up and go to this event.

i haven’t posted anything else in the last few days because i want the posts about displace me to be what you see when you come here oh, that and the fact that i’ve got a lot of schoolwork to do, stuff to read, papers to write, by 4:30 this Friday afternoon.

but, fear not, after this weekend, i’ll make sure to write about something else (though i may blog about the event after the fact as well, as that will probably be more interesting than this post).

displace me 4.28.07

15 cities (across the u.s.).

49,512 people (to date).

8 days (from now).

in case you’re wondering about those numbers, or the new picture on the top right of the site (that will be there until the event is over), on april 28, 2007, 15 cities are hosting displace me, an invisible children event to help those displaced by the ongoing war in northern uganda.

if you live in (or near) atlanta, austin, chicago, denver, kansas city, l.a., nashville, new orleans, new york, orlando, phoenix, pittsburgh, san francisco, seattle, or washington d.c., i strongly encourage you to sign up and go to this event.

here’s the purpose, according to the displace me website:

The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has abducted thousands of children, subjected them to torture or sexual violence and forced them to fight in a violent guerilla army for 21 years—making it the longest running war in Africa. In hopes of providing protection from this rebel militia, the Ugandan government forcibly evicted its Northern citizens from their homes—giving them 48 hours to relocate into camps. Today, more than 1.5 million Northern Ugandans remain far from secure, suffering nearly 1,000 deaths per week due to inhumane living conditions in the camps.

Alcoholism, sexual abuse, HIV/AIDS, inadequate sanitation and lack of education have caused immeasurable damage to two generations and the near-total destruction of Acholi culture. Water is scarce and people are reliant on food to be delivered by foreign aid. If the food isn’t delivered, the people starve. This April, the already meager rations delivered by the World Food Program to the camps will be cut in half due to lack of funding—with school feeding programs and support for HIV/aids victims soon to follow. This will indisputably increase the number of deaths among those already suffering from severe malnutrition—mostly among women, children and the elderly. That is why the timing of this event, and your participation are so crucial.

“Displace Me” is the nationwide event giving Americans the chance to respond.

By traveling to one of our 15 camps and gathering together, the strength of our size will make a visible statement to our government and media that the citizens of the U.S. demand action in ending the war in Northern Uganda, in order to send the Acholi people suffering in the camps and the abducted children back home. The point is to travel; the point is to become displaced yourself.

do we recognize art?

if you haven’t already come across this, it’s worth watching.

the washington post’s article about it is long, but interesting.

** edited to add **
one of my favorite parts of the article was the following (i just love that the kid gets it):

“I had a time crunch,” recalls Sheron Parker, an IT director for a federal agency. “I had an 8:30 training class, and first I had to rush Evvie off to his teacher, then rush back to work, then to the training facility in the basement.”
Evvie is her son, Evan. Evan is 3.
You can see Evan clearly on the video. He’s the cute black kid in the parka who keeps twisting around to look at Joshua Bell, as he is being propelled toward the door.
“There was a musician,” Parker says, “and my son was intrigued. He wanted to pull over and listen, but I was rushed for time.”
So Parker does what she has to do. She deftly moves her body between Evan’s and Bell’s, cutting off her son’s line of sight. As they exit the arcade, Evan can still be seen craning to look. When Parker is told what she walked out on, she laughs.
“Evan is very smart!”

virginia tech

i was going to blog yesterday, but instead came across the news about the shooting massacre at virginia tech, the worst in u.s. history.

33 dead. dozens wounded.

bloodshed. anger. rage. fear. questions. fingers pointing. officials and politicians taking defensive stances. mourning. injustice. violence. pain.

for the dead, the wounded, their family and friends, for the students and staff, and for those who may see such violence as a solution to the problems they’re facing – let us pray.

belief-o-matic

beliefnet has a quiz that tells you what religion you are (or should be) or at least what your beliefs come closest to. it’s obviously not wholly accurate as they try to squeeze 27 world religions into about 20 questions or so. but fun and interesting anyway, and i’m curious to hear your results as well.

this is what the site says:
The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa. Belief-O-Matic then lists another 26 faiths in order of how much they have in common with your professed beliefs. The higher a faith appears on this list, the more closely it aligns with your thinking.

my results:
1. Orthodox Quaker (100%) <– cool. though i’m sure i’m not all that orthodox.
2. Seventh Day Adventist (85%) <– but i eat a lot of chocolate.
3. Eastern Orthodox (84%) <– didn’t expect that to rank so high.
4. Roman Catholic (84%) <– not that surprising.
5. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (83%) <– i’m not all that conservative.
6. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (70%) <– i might be just about that liberal.
7. Liberal Quakers (58%) <– curious.
8. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (54%) <– no.
9. Orthodox Judaism (52%) <– expected this to be higher. i guess my belief in the trinity knocked this one down a bit.
10. Hinduism (50%) <– how’d this make it to the top 10?
11. Islam (49%)
12. Bahá’í Faith (49%)
13. Jehovah’s Witness (46%)
14. Unitarian Universalism (45%)
15. Sikhism (44%)
16. Jainism (38%)
17. Reform Judaism (37%) <– would’ve expected this to be higher, too.
18. Neo-Pagan (31%) <– pagan? not really. heretic? probably.
19. Mahayana Buddhism (30%)
20. Theravada Buddhism (29%)
21. Secular Humanism (26%) <– that’s what i get for not being a strict creationist.
22. New Age (26%)
23. Taoism (22%)
24. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (21%)
25. Nontheist (17%) <– some days this is probably true.
26. Scientology (16%) <– ack. don’t want it on here at all.
27. New Thought (15%) <– what’s this?

google maps: cambridge to cambridge

in case you were wondering, here’s how to get from cambridge, ma to cambridge, england (please note step 12):

Google Maps

*it really is worth the click*