Wow. I've been looking at that picture (at the top of the page) and only saw the four of us. Just now I noticed that guy by the microwave. I am, literally, laughing out loud, because I'm remembering how crazy that guy must have thought we were. We are of course, more awesome than crazy, but I really like how that guy is just bumming around in the background of so many of the pictures from that night.

Sorry about the e-mail you all received from Blogger Support. I logged on and it said I wasn't a member of any blog, and I got confused. But it's all worked out now. One of the problems with having two Oberlin e-mail addresses is that I sometimes forget which one I'm using for different things.

I preached in church today, and I talked about how God loves bodies and all that. I even talked about Jesus' sexuality. I quoted you anonymously, Linden, as one response I had received when I talked about Jesus' sexuality (I quoted you as saying AAAAAAHHHH!).

I got a lot of comments like "That gave me a lot to think about" and "It's nice that you shook things up a little." I don't know whether or not they agreed with me, but they were at least proud and supportive. One person commented to my dad that "I guess Oberlin has really radicalized Kathryn." I took that as a compliment. I only had one person tell me that she disagreed with my proposition that Jesus was a sexual being (of course, more people might have thought it).

This was a very important step for me, because I really wrote this theology for my home church communities like First Baptist Madison and PCC. At the end of the day, they didn't even throw me out of church like Jesus' home church members did. I guess I'll have to try harder next time. :)

I went to see Sweeney Todd yesterday. Since the movie was so hyped, I expected to really love it or really hate it. As it turns out, neither was the case. I liked the acting, though it was a little odd how much Alan Rickman's character and the guy who played the Beadle resembled their respective roles in Harry Potter (Snape and Wormtail). Helena Bonham Carter was more able to separate Mrs. Lovett from Bellatrix Lestrange. I was a little sad that they cut the chorus numbers from the show. No "attend the tale of Sweeney Todd/he served a dark and a vengeful god" to be had here. But I thought the boy who played Toby was stellar.

That had absolutely nothing to do with cupcakes. Neither does this: I went to Half-Price Books (20% off everything sale!) and got Teenagers from Outer Space for $4, which I then watched and enjoyed with a friend. As it turns out, they watched TfOS on Mystery Science Theater 3000. It may be necessary to find that episode (404).

While I was poking around H-PB, I looked at this book called 'Picture Knitting' and read some of their instructions for colorwork. When I went home and worked on that thing I'm making for Danielle, I did the color changes correctly, so there are no little nubs of color in the wrong places! I have always been really terrible at knitting when it comes to colorwork. So it's really cool that I sort of understand it at little bit better now.

Also, I got an iPod for Christmas! Any ideas on the coolest knit case I could make for it? I made a friend one that looked like a squid...

Speaking of cupcakes... I went to the doctor to see if we could figure out why I had so many episodes of diarrhea and vomiting last semester. She had me collect a stool sample, which I at last was able to successfully complete tonight. It's rather fascinating to dig out pieces of my poop to put into little containers. In a, you know, disgusting kind of way. And then I got to seal the containers in plastic Ziploc bags that had orange warning signs and BIOHAZARD written on them. It tickles me that I regularly emit biohazards into the world.

i got got 'vegan cupcakes take over the world!' for christmas. be prepared. there will be cupcakes. it will be joyous. stay tuned for pictures.

Also, website = amazing.

So... Merry Christmas!!!!!!

How is everyone doing?

Also, I have been sick(ish) and do not have to go to an onerous family party where I am made very conscious of the fact that I am not, actually, a blood relative and should go hide my face in shame. However, my brothers will bring me cookies. So everything is perfect.

I heard "Last Christmas" by WHAM! in the doctor's office yesterday, and thought of you guys.

Hey all - the blog's lookin' shiny!

Things are going well in Minnesota. There's a sufficient amount of snow to justify it being the end of December. Two of the three services I played in this weekend went well. The third (the Christmas Eve service last night) would have been great...if I'd been miked on either of the two songs my dad and I played. Oh well.

My dad's new 12-string guitar is really neat. Everything played on it sounds really Beatle-y. (The recognizable jangly sound in the Beatles songs is due to the 12-string guitars they played.) Since that's the new guitar, I no longer feel quite as scared to play my dad's other really nice 6-string (normal) guitar. So I've been playing that a lot. And, of course, practicing 'Girls Just Want To Have Fun' on his mandolin.

I hope you are all having a merry Christmas!

I like what you've done to the site, Linden.

Okay, team, so I've sent you all my Capstone project. I have to turn it into a 12-minute sermon by Sunday. I would appreciate any ideas you might have.

Merry Christmas!

also, i started knitting my mom's christmas present. which is this:

http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall07/PATTneiman.html
bethany, i know you've already seen it.

so yeah, hopefully i will have it done before february. also, if you guys want anything special for february presents, let me know! especially with post holiday sales and all that.

my friend allie is flying in from texas tomorrow and i am super excited to see her. she's going to be here for like two weeks. it will be intense. sadly, though, esther is going to france on january 2. lame face. i mean, actually, it's pretty awesome that she's going to france, just lame that i won't see her for a long time.

it was also cool to be at church today and it's really great to be able to walk around outside without a jacket on.

sweet.

i'm going to go watch christmas movies or go to goodwill now. or both. hmmmm.

So... As you all may have noticed, I missed our breakfast on Thursday, reason being that I slept until 11:30. Yeah. So... thanks to Cassie I didn't miss my actual flight, but I did miss you guys. :(

I'm currently in Missouri, listening to my brother (Sam, the older one) and Elly play catch with a Nerf football, which I told them was wimpy, but apparently Sam actually broke a lamp with it, he threw it so hard. Seriously, how hard do you have to throw a *nerf* football to break a fixture reinforced with metal?

Also, am trying to study for Orgo. It's easier here than it ever was at school, which makes me wonder how condusive to anything productive that whole atmosphere is. Like... here, everything is much clearer and easier to focus on. That might just be because my mom is here or I'm home, but for whatever reason, everything academic simply makes more sense. Arg. So, yeah, really glad I took an incomplete.

Um... that's basically all I have to say right now. Everyone should post, and then we would all, you know, kit. And such. So... yeah, merry christmas!

well, friends. i have again successfully traversed the vast wilderness that is our dear country to return to my humble point of origin. within the first few hours of being home, i met friends from church i haven't seen in ages and went on a slurpee run, my parents made vegan chocolate chip bread, my uncle flew in from portland (oregon, thank goodness) and my brother left his scythe, his phone and his computer in my room after trying to chop me up and showing me clips from episodes of scrubs. (the scythe was actually plastic). and then i slept for a long time. and now i am having a difficult time spelling words correctly, but due to the miracles of modern technology, it is probably difficult for you to tell. also, listening to regina spektor a lot.

so i'm psyched to be home, but also miss you guys already. so, keep in touch already! also, if you send me your addresses, i promise i will send you weird postcards. :D

sincerely, l. face, esq.

Huzzah! I have joined. Now I am one of the elite.

If you've had access to news coverage, then you probably heard about the collapse of the 35W bridge in Minneapolis at around 6:05 last night, where Intersate 35W crosses the Mississippi River. 35W is one of the main freeways in the Twin Cities; about 50% of the time when I drive, I'm on the chunk of that road that's in the northern suburbs.

I'm okay, as is my family. To the best of my knowledge, everyone I know is safe. I was working at the Metrodome (base/football stadium) during the collapse, and my carpool to work drove over the bridge about 2 hours before it went down. The Metrodome was really close to the site of the collapse, and it sounds like the only reason the game was played at all was to keep the 20-25,000 people off the roads for a few hours.

Fortunately, my parents both work in the suburbs, so they won't have to deal with the extra traffic (there's tons of road construction going on everywhere), but getting to the Metrodome to work at the games in the next few weeks is going to be interesting.

I hope it doesn't take too long to find and identify the people who are still missing. I can't imagine how it would feel to not be able to contact someone who's often on that stretch of road. Also, it appears that this might be drawing the needed attention to older and weaker infrastructure across the country that needs repair. Despite the inconvenience of huge construction projects, this is definitely worse.

It's kind of scary. My dad, brother and I went to the Twins game on Monday night, and we crossed that bridge at around 6:05. If it had been two days earlier, it might have happened to us.

I've been back in Oberlin for about two weeks now, working at the admissions office. I've met some pretty neat prospective students. Whoever thought "fearless" would totally change the demographic of students applying to Oberlin was off their nut.

The National Council of Churches Faith and Order Conference in Oberlin went down last week. I was fully expecting to be reminded just how much of a
low church/congregational polity fan I am, but I was not expecting the
number of people on panels reading papers full of high churchy and academic jargon. In short, it was a lot of creed and a lot of tweed. It concerned me how disconnected the
papers were from the practical realities of living ecumenically. A lot
of the discussion centered on theories of ecumenism, which I often found
somewhat behind my own experience of relating to people of both
different denominations and different faiths. It made it difficult for
me to wrap my mind around questions like, for example, does pursuing
interfaith dialogue interfere with Faith and Order's ability to work for
"visible Christian unity?" Since to some degree both tasks are simply
unavoidable parts of my everyday life experience, I don't understand how
they could be at odds. I also found I was much more comfortable with the idea of there being no overarching Truth that applies to everyone than many of the older (50+) members of
the conference.

I also felt like the ecumenical and interfaith dialogue that I am
currently defining myself within was rarely present in the dialogues
they were talking about. I'm defining myself within the crossroads of
racial, faith, and sexual identity. My denominational identity, if
anything, is subordinate to these.

I was actually surprised how many white men were presenting. Out of
about twenty-five presenters, there were only three women and perhaps
five people who weren't white. There would have been four, but
Jacquelyn Grant couldn't make it at the last minute. I was more than a
little disappointed, since I was looking forward to her presentation
more than anyone else's.

We were told in orientation that we were not there to represent
ourselves, but our denominations. Luckily, I avoided the complex
ethical question that presents because my denomination has no beliefs of
its own. Later on, though, a National Baptist minister in my discussion
group pointed out how we were being asked to separate our denominational
identities from our personal identities. As an African-American woman,
she could not separate the history of her people from her theology, and
her cultural identity and religious identity were similarly inseparable.

I had a delightful conversation with an Australian scholar named Jione
Havea. He gave a presentation about viewing the Bible as storytelling,
a la Kwok Pui-lan and Musa Dube. He affirmed my suspicion that a Watson
Fellowship might not best suit my goals for going abroad.

I learned that the proper term for denominations that don't play well
with others, like Assembly of God, Southern Baptist Convention, and
Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, is "ecumenically cautious." I also
learned that Hebrew is easier to learn than Greek because Hebrew
translates directly into ebonics: "God be in this place."

I agree with Kathryn about Daniel Radcliffe, though I must say, I'm quite partial to Rupert Grint myself. In fact, I recently watched Driving Lessons, which is a very Harold and Maude-like movie from 2006 that Rupert is in with Julie Walters (who also plays Molly Weasley). It was pretty good.

I've (sort of) found a job! I've been working at the Metrodome, the stadium where the Minnesota Twins (and Vikings) play. It's been okay. For some reason they scheduled me to work Friday night, but I've expressed that I'm not available. There will be no Bethany Draeger in existence Friday evening, only Charlie Weasley. Needless to say, I'm psyched.

Speaking of awesome Harry Potter-related events, on Monday my dad, brother and I went down to Minneapolis and saw Harry and the Potters live! WOO! It was awesome. They're really funny guys, and they were really happy to see so many wizards and Muggles rocking together. We decided that Voldemort never went to rock concerts. Apparently, 7th year Harry inherited his guitar from James via Dumbledore, who used to go and see James' band play in the basement of Hogwarts every weekend, back in James' school days. 4th year Harry inherited Lily's tenor saxophone (she played in the school band). I was worried that they didn't have music classes at Hogwarts. Now I feel better.

I've still got to reread Half-Blood Prince, and knit a few various things before Friday. And make some Chocolate Frogs. Perhaps I'll bring the frog molds to school with me this fall, and we can get some chocolate from Gibsons, melt it down, and pretend to have visited Honeydukes.

My mother is coming home today from Maine. She's been visiting her mum and two of her brothers. They went on a puffin watching trip a couple of days ago! Too bad she forgot the camera.

If you want to watch the Harry Potter movie completely without bias, don't read this....

I declare that Daniel Radcliffe is now officially old enough to be eye candy. I sympathize with the decision to cut out most of the Harry and Cho relationship, but unfortunately it precludes the possibility of creating a decent "Human Hosepipe" fan video for youtube. I was a little disappointed by Harry's general lack of Emo-ness. I was hoping for some truly inspiring angst.

University Presbyterian Church in Austin, TX wrote a show called Taize: The Musical. Thereby combining two of my favorite things ever.

Oh the awesomeness. Words fail me.

Happy Independence Day, Linden!

Unfortunately, it's too late to wish the same to Kathryn, seeing as how it's 1:50 A.M. CST/2:50 EST. So... happy Thursday? I hope your Independence Day was enjoyable and that your neighbors aren't setting off fireworks right now. I think mine have (finally) stopped for tonight. Not that the one's they're shooting off are even legal in Minnesota...

I got a new retainer. It's bright pink with orange polka dots. It makes my mouth happy.

I've decided that whenever I lose the connection when talking to someone on a cell phone, it's because the person suddenly had to fight a demon.

It takes away the frustration.

PS: In my effort to recover from my infatuation with Firefly, I've started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy definitely used "Scully" as a verb in this one episode to mean, as far as I can tell, to refute the suggestion that something is supernatural with the use of logic and historical evidence. Rock on.

I just got back from the Fund for Theological Education Conference on Sunday. It was fantastic! I greeted this guy by saying "Hi, you're David Reese's friend!" and the conversation proceeded from there. When I told people I went to Oberlin, some of them said "I hear they have really good mozzarrella sticks there." And they'd never even met David! It turns out he and Andy told the mozzarella stick story at the conference talent show last year, and the story percolated through the ranks of some of the older FTE Fellows.

Speaking of modern and improv dance class, Bethany, I got to do liturgical dance at a couple of the worship services. We danced to a psalm that we semi-choreographed, and I added the obligatory Kate Bush bow and arrow move to the choreography. It went over well. I also got to dance in with a jug full of grape juice for Communion. It was a little scary, but I'm glad we covered props in improv dance! It was a really worship-tastic experience for me.

I left feeling very reassured about the future of America's churches. I found 200 passionate, intelligent, visionary individuals committed to dialogue with others with diverse beliefs and experiences. They came from various denominational, theological, and geographic backgrounds, and yet they had a lot of the same questions, concerns, and hopes that I do. It was a thoroughly empowering event.

I also got to visit Adalberto Methodist Church, which has become famous in recent news for sheltering an illegal immigrant named Elvira Arellano and her American-born son Saulito so Elvira won't get deported. It was the most unique Methodist church I've ever visited. It was started by a group of Mexican Catholic immigrants who were not accepted at the local Catholic Church, so they asked the UMC if they could start their own Methodist Church. They asked one of those who left the Catholic Church with them to go to seminary to become the minister for their little storefront church. It's the only Methodist church I know that has an icon of the Virgin of Guadalupe in it, where people come to pray the rosary. They have also developed their own liturgical calendar based on the life of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and their ministries and focuses follow that seasonal rotation. I thought that was a really powerful idea. The Christian tradition in which I was raised did have a liturgical calendar, but aside from individual days like Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, plus Advent and sometimes Lent, the vast majority of the ministries and worship in the Christian year was not defined by a season. Adalberto's method shows a cyclical understanding of time and ministry that I think sounds healthier, and it also shows the influence of Native American thinking in this church's theology. It sounds healthier to me because it recognizes that substantial time needs to be devoted to just praying, and discerning God's will. Sometimes I think that I have so little time to accomplish my ministry on Earth that I always have to be doing, doing, doing, and I forget that God calls us to pray, and pray A LOT. Like the time I spend praying should seriously rival the time I spend acting. I've resolved to do more nothing next semester, if I can help it. It's hard: Americanized, consumerized Christianity tells me that successful ministry can be quantified, and more is better. Backing away from active ministry to spend time in prayer is downright countercultural. I have to remind myself that Jesus only needed three years of active ministry out of 33 to make his lasting contribution to the world.

I also learned about the dangers of the octopus church that has one tentacle chasing after everything but never actually gets anywhere. That's another reason it's important to pray a lot for vision: realizing the kingdom of God often means doing one thing, and doing it well. Adalberto Methodist is proof of that.

In other news, I've finished my coursework (finally!) and I feel much better now. I'm going back to Oberlin on July 14.

I have fairly exciting news. Or, at least I'm excited about it.

So in modern dance (it might have been improv, I forget) we did this motion sort of like going into a handspring, but we didn't flip over, we just sort of went forward onto our hands, our feet hang out in the air for a couple seconds, and then come back down onto our feet from the direction we came from. It's pretty fun, so I do several of them from time to time.

Friday morning I started to do one of these motions, but I put a little too much energy into the first one of the day, and my left arm kind of collapsed. I fell on my head. I hit the floor sort of above my left eye/that side of my head, and my left shoulder. I was fine. However, the left bow of my glasses (the side part) got bent upward at about a 35 or 40 degree angle. I spent a long time trying to fix it, and eventually went to Vision World. The guy there tried to fix it, but either the hinge was going to be REALLY weak or he had to tilt the lenses slightly, which disrupts eyesight, since I'd end up looking through the lens at a different angle. Fortunately they were having a sale on frames, so we stuck the old lenses in new (identical) frames. What a day!

In other news, I still don't have a job, but I've been planning my actions for this Harry Potter release! The Borders stores in MN are each having a Grand Hallows Ball, where people can come in costume, or dressed up for a ball, and enter the costume contest! I'm totally planning a Charlie Weasley costume so Awesome the adjective needs capitalization. People can also participate in the Great Snape Debate (Friend or Foe?)(Answer: Friend!), so I'm refining my main arguments. I also have some frog shaped candy molds from a couple of years ago, so I think I'll get some chocolate and make myself some Chocolate Frogs, too!

Also, there's this really cool book called 'Charmed Knits', full of projects inspired by the HP series. I'm getting around to finishing that Ron Weasley Animal Cracker hat from the PoA movie. Woo! I also made a hat that looks like watermelon. It has black pony beads for seeds.

And X Files Season 9 Disc Four came in the mail today. I'm kind of scared to watch the end of the season, to be honest. Reaching the end of Harry Potter and X Files all in the same summer? I better wait to watch more Firefly with you, Kathryn. I don't think I can handle this many things being over.

first day of camp is over!
nuts man.
i feel this is going to be an intense summer.
i am pretty excited.

As you know, I've been thinking a lot about resurrection this year. I'm not exactly sure why. But in the process of writing my 17-page paper about it, I decided something. I can work for resurrection in this life, and hope for it after death. Or I can work for resurrection in this life and try to find peace in the thought that I sow the seeds of peace that will lead to resurrection for my community one day. On a practical level, the difference boils down to facing my own death and the deaths of others stoically, or facing it hopefully. I choose hopefully. It may be in part in light of the fact that if I become a minister I will be dealing with death and mourning on a fairly regular basis. It's also partly due to the fact that I want to be able to hope and love and be vulnerable unto death. I can only make myself vulnerable unto death if I do not fear it, and I will only not fear it if I can find hope in it.

I've finished my paper about crucifixion and resurrection. Yay! Now it's back to figuring out my paper about holy sex. I have a sneaking suspicion that it's going to turn out that my resurrection paper is more scintillating and passionate than my sex paper.

bah. i'm bad at updates!

i just got back from the ashland oregon shakespeare festival! we saw four plays and they were: the tempest, the taming of the shrew, tom stoppard's on the razzle, and a new musical about san francisco and coffee and the 1950s called tracy's tiger. they were all super amazing. kinda makes me miss theater. especially the musical, since sometimes i forget that not all musicals are stupid. this one was like, lifechanging.

i bought too many things! but they were all really really amazing. there was this store that sold all kinds of things made from recycled products, like bowls and clocks made out of old records, doormats made out of flipflops, and jewelry made out of forks. maybe i'll post pictures someday of those too. also, in most of the little stores hung out the owner's cats or dogs so we got to play with animals while looking at pretty things i probably shouldn't have spent so much money on. kind of like the ginko gallery (but, of course, no cats are as cute as those cats).

i got this cd by the puppini sisters, contemporary singers who specialize in 1940s harmonies a la the andrews sisters, and they do a rendition of wuthering heights that pretty much completes my life.

bethany, there were two amazing yarn stores that we went to. i took some pictures for you. they had yarn made out of bamboo and yarn made out of corn and yarn made out of soy and yarn made out of all kinds of things. and it was called "llamas and llambs." i think you should work there, personally, but you would have to relocate to jacksonville, oregon. it IS a pretty cool random little place though!

gah! i have to go pretty soon.
so, quickly.
i'm going to camp on monday: way super exciting!
but i have to pack, and i'm bad at that.

and, i'm really hoping to be done with the tmnt sweater before i go to camp. i've finished all of the main pieces and stitched down the pockets and done the neck and pocket borders and connected the front and back pieces. mainly left to do now is the front borders with buttons, the embroidery on the big turtle picture (but i wove in all the freaking ends! be proud!!) and sewing the sleeves and side seams. okay, that's kind of a lot. but it's starting to look like a real garment, which rules.

so do you guys!

kathryn, i hope your paper writing is going better. please know that there are few people i have more faith in to write good papers than you.

i may or may not check in again before rushing off to camp... love you guys!

~linden :D

I have good news, and some more good news and some bad news. The first good news is that when both my parents were gone last week (my mother was in St. Cloud for Minnesota Annual Conference, and my dad was, and is until this Saturday, on business in Houston) and my brother and I were alone in our house for three and a half days, things went well. We saw an awesome baseball game at the Metrodome on Tuesday night, and the Twins beat the White Sox 9-2. (Though next time I talk to Andy, I'm going to have to break it to him that Joe Mauer is no longer my second favorite Twins player. The Canadian, Justin Morneau, is, how shall I say, FANTASTIC.) The rest of the week was pretty good. I bought the new Nine Inch Nails album, which is pretty good. Also, the disc is heat sensitive: when you take it out of the case it's blackish, and taking it out of a cd player when it's still warm, it's more tannish. This was extremely startling at first!

The other good news is that the good news lasted through most of the weekend and even Monday morning. On Sunday, I met a United Methodist bishop from (Sweden, but currently serving in) Russia. I also read this brilliant little story in the paper Monday about how this railway worker in Poland went into a coma in 1989 and he just woke up and thinks the world is 'so much prettier after communism'. Even my work, which was canvassing for U.S. PIRG's clean energy campaign in Minneapolis, went okay Friday and early Monday.

Aaaand the bad news. After the first two hours on Monday, work sucked. I didn't raise any money, and could hardly get anyone to stop and talk to me. We decided at the end of the day that it wasn't a good fit for me and I shouldn't stay with them. Which was okay. Kind of expected. However, I went outside to find my (dad's) car, and couldn't. It was drizzling off and on, and I wandered around for over an hour looking for it before calling my mom to come drive around and help me. She did, and we still couldn't find it. We ended up calling the local police, who confirmed that it had been towed. I guess I parked in a no parking 9-5 zone, even though I parked it not more than ten minutes before 9 and the whole no parking 9-5 zone was full at the time. My not paying enough attention cost my mom $138 to get it out of the impound. And there's a $34 parking ticket. I was supposed to leave work at 5. I didn't get the hell out of Minneapolis until almost 8:30. And I have to find another job now.

Uuuugggghhhh.

I still can't write a paper without being plagued by the fear that this will be the one that I simply fail to finish. This will be the one that completely doesn't make sense and causes the Oberlin College Religion Department personified to say, "I'm very disappointed with you, Kathryn."

I have completed the work for my survey courses, and have embarked on my 15-page endeavor to sex Jesus. I shall start from square one, "Jesus did, in fact, possess a penis" and work from there. I think I'm going to argue something along the lines of understanding Jesus as a sexual being who had sexual relations is crucial if one is going to engage in fully loving divine-human and divine-human-human relationships.

If you have any ideas, please let me know.

i just got my driver's permit! woohoo!

i can legally drive now.

Oh, and the song that everyone processed in to was the tune to the hymn "Thine is the Glory." While I realize that Handel wrote the piece a good long while before someone came up with the lyrics to the hymn, I don't think it will stop me from belting out next year as I process (because it's one of those songs that can only be belted):

Thine is the gloooory
Risen conq'ring Son
Endless is the Viiiict'ryyyyy
Thou o'er death hast woooon!

It's been a rather eventful weekend. Saturday evening, I attended a benefit concert featuring Oberlin students singing Broadway songs. I left at intermission, partially because I was tired and partially because a butchered rendition of The I Love You Song from Spelling Bee, a song near to my heart, left me disinclined to return.

On the way out to the show, I thought I saw what may have been alumni painting a rock. It said "Fear this!" and had "war" written in the middle. I thought that was pretty awesome if they were alumni. Then on the way back I saw that they hadn't been painting that, they'd been painting over it and it said "Many died for our freedom."

On Sunday, I got to sit on the stage in Warner Concert Hall for the entire Baccalaureate service in order to read four verses from Philippians. I felt a little silly. I read Philippians 1:3-5, and I was sad because I didn't get to read verse 6, which is something like "I am confident that the one who started a good work in you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ." I asked the Catholic chaplain why the reading didn't include verse 6, and she said "Let me see it and I bet I can figure out why." And then I realized it's because it drops the J-bomb (which, when dropped, by the way, does not explode but bursts into a puff of little flowers).

It seemed kind of silly to me that we were trying not to use the name Jesus when the service was so very clearly Christian. Rashid did read from the Qur'an to offer wisdom from a Muslim perspective on environmental issues, but that alone cannot make a service interfaith. The music was entirely jazz gospel hymns. Muslims never sing to worship God. They think it's a distraction. And have you ever been to a shabbat that picked out Christian gospel songs that didn't mention Jesus to use in their worship? It just seems like a bit of a useless pretense to avoid the name of Jesus.

Anyway, the music was great. Andy wrote some songs for it, but I honestly can't tell you how good they were because the performers and the guest vocalist could have made the Sesame Street theme sound great as jazz. In the excitement of the music, I think we totally skipped over Fred Lassen's closing prayer. He made up for it by doing a nice long invocation at commencement this morning.

After a two-hour nap following Baccalaureate, I proceeded to Steve and Mary's open house, where Heather KirkConnell told us about her work on Tent Watch. It was actually her job to sit in Wilder Bowl from midnight until 8 in the morning to make sure no one tried to steal the tent or, you know, light it on fire.

Sunday night was Illumination, which according to Steve Broadwell is the climax of the year for the town of Oberlin. They string up Japanese lanterns all over Tappan Square, and everyone comes out to mill around and listen to an orchestra and eat pie. He told me that it was the time when he gets to see all the people from high school that he really hoped he would never see again. It was pretty amazing, though I only made it through about twenty minutes before my body announced that it was time for bed. I've never seen my professors, classmates, and town friends all in the same place before. It never occurred to me that they all dwell in the same plane of existence, to be honest.

Sunday morning, I executed the plan that I'd plotted all week. At 8:00 in the morning, I tapped lightly on Stephen's door, then ran in and started jumping on his bed, shouting "STEPHEN! Wake up you silly sleepyhead! We're going to Candy Mountain. Candy Mountain, Stephen! It's a land of sweets, and joy...and joyness!"

I think he was really glad I did it. I then asked him if he enjoyed Illumination. He said he did, and he didn't see nearly as many people that he didn't want to see. He sounded disappointed.

I then went to the beginning of commencement, mostly to see everyone all dressed up, and especially the professors, in their academic regalia. I can only hope that I one day assume a profession that will allow me to wear a big, fancy, ridiculous robe. I saw one student who had a duck hat on underneath his motorboard. A professor I didn't recognize wore a pirate hat along with her academic robe. There were lots of pretty colors and fancy hats. I approved.

And then I drove back to Madison with my dad. I passed the time by reading him stories from David Sedaris' book, Me Talk Pretty One Day. I had to censor it a little. Some of the stories just aren't appropriate for parental ears.

And now I'm home. THE END.

happy pentecost!

besides christmas, i think pentecost is one of my favorite days at church. partly because we get to wear all red! and it's like a birthday party for the church! awesome!

what have i been doing lately? let's see.
there are some pictures on facebook documenting some of my activities, if you're interested.
i've been spending a lot of time in san francisco in various capacities. mostly eating, buying things and walking around. i've been to three different goodwills. i also got my cpr recertification which was long and tedious, but fortunately my friend hannah came to the same class so it was not as bad as it could have been. plus we found this palce with tasty organic and vegan soups for lunch. yesterday esther and i went to a park near her house and made a chalk mural celebrating the summer and some kids came over and helped us. i'll probably put pictures of that up soon too. that was way fun but i'm still getting sunburned despite liberal application of sunscreen. dumb skin.

in knitting news, the purple sweater is FINALLy officially finished, zipper and everything. i've finished the front pieces of the tmnt sweater, and am now starting the sleeves. i'm also hoping to make some hats for the camp staff auction before i head up there. but that's not for a while.

also, i'm getting my drivers permit on wednesday! (provided i pass the test). woo hoo!

~linden

I've been getting a healthy amount of sleep lately - I can tell because I've been having dreams. And I actually remembered one, somewhat, or at least part of it:

I was in Oberlin, still, and it was during reading period. I was in this building that was supposed to be Peters (it looked an awful lot like it and had languagey things in it), standing in an entryway, by some stairs, next to this person who in "real life" I knew was in 2nd year Russian (I don't know if this person actually exists), but was somehow in the other section of 102. Anyway, we saw our teacher, who had foofy curly hair, slightly Trelawney-ish (not a real Russian Dept. faculty member). She started talking to us. Then, (one of those weird dream transitions where I'm instantly somewhere else - kind of like electrons?) the three of us were in this computer lab that was on the east side of Peters, not actually in a separate room, but just a bunch of macs and desks over by a wall. And some potted plants. There were several rows of two computers each, and I think there were Russian students at all of them. The teacher was walking around them explaining things to us. I was in the computer in the back corner, next to the wall, and she came over and stood behind me. And all of a sudden - this is the exciting part - Linden came in and walked over, smiling, with her arms out, carrying my stuffed pig. Everything paused for a moment, and she handed Piggy to me, and I probably smiled. Then I woke up.

Hm.

On an entirely different note, this article was on the front page of the St. Paul Pioneer Press today. I think the swap registration is closed. Dang. Here is what it said:
KNIT IF YOU LOVE HARRY POTTER
The boy magician's tales inspire a community of tribute knitters
BY MOLLY MILLETT

Harry Potter fan Catherine Mandle is sure glad she's a knitter: Her knitting needles are helping her pass the time until "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" is released July 21.

The Minneapolis Muggle has joined an online Hogwarts Sock Swap, in which knitters from around the world are knitting socks for each other that are inspired by author J.K. Rowling's magical series. They're part of a growing community of Harry Potter tribute knitters.

"We're knitting socks in preparation for Book 7," Mandle said. "Everyone is so excited. It's something to keep our hands busy while we wait."

Right about now, you might be thinking: Harry Potter? Knitting? Huh? But knitting references are woven throughout the series:

Molly Weasley, the mother of Harry's friend, Ron, gives hand-knit sweaters as Christmas gifts.

Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore enjoys reading Muggle knitting patterns.

Harry's friend, Hermione, knits hats for house elves.

In the movies, the characters wear lovely, hand-knit scarves, sweaters, socks and hats.

"Knitting is an ancient craft, and if you go back to a magical, historical environment like Hogwarts, it makes sense that you would find knitting and hand-knit things around," said Mandle, a 33-year-old stay-at-home mom.

The Harry Potter knitting niche began building slowly and has only recently exploded, thanks to the growing online knitting community. In the early years, knitters had to search hard to find published patterns. Some of the more dedicated crafters began designing Harry Potter tribute knits, especially the striped scarves and the oversized monogrammed sweaters featured in the movies.

"I was a knitter before I was a Harry Potter fan," said Alison Hansel, a popular knitting blogger and author of the new book, "Charmed Knits: Projects for Fans of Harry Potter" (Wiley Publishing Co., $14.99). "But then I just happened to see the first two Harry Potter movies on cable TV. As a knitter, I really wanted to make those letter sweaters that Molly Weasley makes.

"I found a small site on the Internet that had posted images from the films and made suggestions about how certain sweaters were constructed. Then I found that one of the large yarn companies had published an 'official' pattern for the sweater. I bought it, and then that pattern went out of print, which is I why I wrote my version and put it on my Web site."

Hansel began to develop a reputation as a Harry Potter tribute knitter, especially because of her Harry Potter knit-alongs, in which knitters work on Harry Potter projects at the same time and share their patterns, progress and finished garments online. Her book, which was published May 7 and includes a number of projects from contributors, is already in its second printing.

"I went through all the Harry Potter books again and looked for knitting references, like the socks Dobby the house elf gave Harry for Christmas - one is green with broomsticks and the other is red with snitches," Hansel said. "From there, you have to come up with the details. I also searched the movies. For a Harry Potter fan, any excuse to reread the books or watch the movies is good."

Knitters don't just watch the movies - they study them.

"The knit items in the movie are really nicely made, and knitters will go back and pause scenes to see how the items are constructed," Hansel said.

Still, they're apparently hungry for more information. Locally, knitters asked about Hansel's book at yarn supply shops long before it was released. Yarn suppliers have been answering Harry Potter queries and stocking Harry Potter colors for years.

"When the first movie came out, it took yarn stores by surprise," said Karen Rumpza, owner of Needlework Unlimited of Linden Hills. "People would come in and say, 'I'm making a scarf like in Harry Potter - do you have this color or that color?'

"Now, they make a lot of other things, too. We just had a group of younger, college-age girls come in who were looking to make some sort of hat they saw Ron wear in the trailer for 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.' They want to wear it to the premiere."

The tribute knitters also make socks - there are Quidditch socks as well as different socks for the four Houses within Hogwarts School of Witchcraft Wizardry - House sweaters, House mittens and more ornate projects, like the frilly housecoat that Molly Weasley wears.

Harry Potter projects and knitalongs are heating up along with the buzz for the July 13 opening of the fifth movie, "Order of the Phoenix," and the release of the seventh and final book a week later.

"The knitalongs all start cropping up when a book is about to be released or a new movie is coming out," Hansel said. "Folks want to wear their items to the premieres and parties. It's a way to show they are excited about the books ... It's this secret world that you can be a part of, even though you look like any other Muggle."

Randi Arnar, 36, of Excelsior, had been making Harry Potter-inspired clothing for her three kids when she recently discovered the Hogwarts Sock Swap while searching online for Harry Potter knitting patterns. In the swap, members are organized into Houses and then knit socks for an assigned pal, sending along their creations with other small gifts, such as knitting needles.

"I thought it was hilarious that there were other people out there who would think that this was fun," said Arnar. "I am now knitting the ugliest pair of black-and-yellow Hufflepuff socks for my pal, and I need to get them to her before the book comes out on July 21, because we all want to dress up in our geeky socks when we pick up our books."

Molly Millett can be reached at mollymillett@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5505.

It's currently pouring and sunny outside. I love Oberlin

Team Kamitsuka has expressed concern for my capacity to take care of myself (buy groceries, do laundry, etc) in my present condition. After talking it over with my parents, I've decided to go home for awhile. I'm sad to leave Oberlin. I feel much more isolated in Madison because my community there is so spread out. I like being able to walk over to people's houses when I'm in the mood for a visit.

I really hope I can be back in Oberlin in time to carpool to the Peace Conference, because Rita Nakashima Brock, a leading feminist theologian, is going to be there, and she's agreed to meet with me to discuss her work. Linden, she's the one I was talking to you about in the hospital, remember? My seminar papers both draw heavily on her work. It's an opportunity I really don't want to miss.

So I've decided to use this time to rest, recover, and become more Emo. Let me know if you have any advice.

I just received my new Oberlin College Religion Department T-shirt. Because of a minor puffy paint mishap, I have to add a phrase to the front of the T-shirt. It currently says "Oberlin College Religion", and underneath there's a row of various religious symbols. I need to put something underneath that. My current ideas are as follows:

Oberlin College Religion: It takes all kinds.
Oberlin College Religion: Hedge your bets. [or "Hedge your eternal bets."]
Oberlin College Religion: Glory be to Jeebus [kind of leaning against that one, as no one will understand]
Oberlin College Religion: Keeping your eternal bases covered.
Oberlin College Religion: Get your ya-yas any way you can get them.

I think I'm leaning towards "Hedge your bets."

Just for context, on the back of the T-shirt it says "Eff the ineffable." I plan to cross out the "in" to make it "Eff the effable," and then add a little addendum that says "Because if it can be expressed with words, it's probably not worth expressing at all."

I also made it home safely, though I guess I'm lucky: I had two days in the car to transition between Ohio and Minnesota, a much shorter distance than Ohio-California. I got home about 6 pm (central) on Saturday, got up in time for church on Sunday. It was lovely. I watched Borat and Shrek, and started a couple of books and a new knitting project.

Blaine has a lot of new developments these days. Every time I come home there are all sorts of new buildings. The best of all of the changes though, is the addition of a new restaurant on Highway 65:

Space Aliens Grill & Bar.

Apparently there's six of them, three in MN and three in ND. I hear the music isn't as sci-fi-y as one might expect. There was a complaint that, like many other bar & grill joints, they had baseball on. But, of course, we know that baseball has quite a bit to do with aliens. Perhaps they've done more research than the populace expects? I shall (hopefully) venture within and find the truth. Or at least a tasty meal. (They're well-known for their ribs?)

grace and peace,
Bethany

Hi friends!
Happy summer!
WOOOOOOOOO!

well, i made it home safely. i made it to the lct just in time, and was the only person on it, aside fromt the driver. and i made it to the plane somehow, dragging my overflowing carryons, including a plastic bag filled entirely with yarn. then i fell asleep. hooray for direct flights! pretty much i slept the whole time, just waking up when we started the descent. it was so relieving to see bay area city lights as the plane landed. i think told kathryn this yesterday, but it's so weird and disorienting to know that in a matter of a few hours i can travel most-way across the country and be in an entirely different place with entirely different people. in some ways, it's convenient, but in some ways i wish there was more time to transition. plane trips are a pretty lame way to transition.

so yeah. my larger checked bag exploded on the plane, but they were kind enough to duct tape it up for me. literally, the seams split. everything was poking out of the sides when it came down onto the baggage carousel. but whatever! i made it home! my brother is a crazy nutcase. we watched charlie the unicorn together and recited most of the lines. and woke up really early because i'm still on east coast type time. now i'm bumming around and listening to the new tori amos album and unpacking and reading and it's really great to have nothing to do.

love!
linden