"More broadly, a good argument can be made that true, authentic selves are made more than found. It is arguably as much or more by making and keeping promises than by dabbling and deferring that we come to know who we as persons really are and are called to become."

--Christian Smith in "Getting a Life: The Challenge of Emerging Adulthood"

Read the whole article here.

Jeff proposed yesterday and I said yes :)

There was the beach, the boats, the gulls. Then all of a sudden there was a box, a ring, and a question. It all happened so fast that I am still processing. I accidentally called him boyfriend per usual later that day. Perhaps when I am wearing the ring it will seem for real. (My fingers are tiny; it will have to be resized.)

On another note, when making calls, I didn't realize how my gal friends can squeal so effectively. It was funny. I best be off to call the sister now. I'm behind.

You may already know that I am part Celt, and seem to have a natural affinity for the rhythms of Celtic culture. So it was interesting to me to take a look at this. Here is a thought:

"The Celtic way of mission is to plant the experience of Christ within the natural patterns of the people..."

Hello friends. I think that I shall soon move again...this time in cyberspace, sans the Uhaul. Many of my pals have made the leap to blogspot, and the blog that I manage for work is there. So, 'tis logical to migrate. This is how I shall inaugurate my new Mac, which is currently shipping to Beantown! I've never owned a laptop before. Let alone a brand new shiny Mac. This will be fun for my inner designer. Yayness.

One hundred years ago:

“Ah, Freda,” the young rebel and modern said as he kissed her, “What is morality? It is a convention of priests to oppress the poor.”

Fifty years ago:

“Ah, Freda,” the young rebel and hippie said as he kissed her, “What is morality? It is the love we feel in this new Aquarian age.”

Today:

“Ah, Freda,” the young rebel and post-modern said as he kissed her, “What is morality? It is a language game for the powerful.”

Aletheia represents at Theology on Tap!
My co-leaders make me look so small between them. Maybe because I am small. Ha. (We are the second photo from the top.)

http://www.friendsattheadvent.org/gallery/20070619/00/

If it weren't for attending this Dante lecture, I never would have become a D.H. sermon illustration the following Sunday. You haven't lived until you've become a sermon illustration. Amen.

In other news, I need to learn how to fall asleep at night and stay asleep. This insomnia stuff is annoying and is making my brain hard to use correctly. Blech.

The past two Sunday afternoons, Jeff and I walked around South Boston. (No worries, people mistake me for Irish. Just kidding. We didn't find the mafia.)

The little beach spread out into the harbor.

The water goes on and on, out further and further, and the waves lap in and in, one after another. Last week was a sunny day, so gazing out at this mass of liquid, the surface of the water appeared to twinkle. It was a symphony of light, one light ending as another two feet away began, each lasting a brief moment, many appearing at once. Hundreds of them.

It was like the heavens in the sea. It looked like the sea was calling out to the sky, mimicing the stars, calling to them and looking for them...the stars, of course, obscured by broad daylight's blanket of light but still out in space somewhere. They looked so similar: one set of twinkling lights in the sea, the other in the sky. (I could only observe the one in the sea; the one in the sky I observed from memory.) One for the daytime, one for the nighttime. Both present--one visible, one invisible. It looks like they would interesect and touch at the horizon, sea and sky trading off.

And at that moment, it was easy for me to understand why people believe in the doctrine of the communion of the saints.

Dr. Kreeft instructs: "Kill the TV."

Read about it here.

18 "For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;
the more knowledge, the more grief."

Wow, I got to meet probably my favorite living author last evening, Dr. Peter Kreeft!

I've started a philosophy group at the church where I work. It's called Aletheia and aims to embody "faith seeking understanding" in its activities. We had our first panel discussion last evening, "Good and Evil," and joining us were Drs. Kreeft, Broderick, and Sherry. I think it went off very well! At one point I was so happy as Kreeft was talking that I almost cried.

If you know me well, you may realize how infrequently I have emotional bursts, so this was highly unusual to become that glowingly happy in such a small space of time. Why does being around philosophers make me so happy? Most people seem to think that they [philosophers] are off in space. But I am an artist; I make things; I think about practical, mundane things; I enjoy nuts and bolts...and philosophy strongly appeals to me, not only in the "big questions" sense, but in a very practical sense. For example: How should we live? This isn't an esoteric question.

Back to work!

Your Score: Linear B

You scored

You are Linear B. Even those who can follow you think you're all Greek to them. Which, after all, is true - Linear B being the first known text for written Greek. To most people, you're incomprehensible. But what do you care? You're tough, hard, long-enduring and have greater nobility than most. Naturally, you don't admit to borrowing extensively from your brother Linear A.

Wow, it's been awhile since I blogged. A lot has happened. A lot continues to happen. Can I have a time out?

Just moved...again...I know. The commute is much better now but the landlord situation much worse. Long stories. (My life is a sitcom apparently.) Renting is just no fun in this city unless you're stinkin' rich. I painted the walls of my new pad great colors, though; I am very pleased with my decor and IKEA furniture.

I began a philosophy group--Aletheia--at my church. We have a good number of members, all bright and inquisitive. Looks almost certain that we will be able to meet Peter Kreeft and hopefully other New England philosophers and theologians.

The Celiac Disease is still not under control, according to a recent blood test. I think I will not be eating in restaurants for several months. This is a great opportunity to learn to be a masterful cook--that is, if the plumber fixes the gas appropriately so my kitchen doesn't blow up (long story). Jeff's favorite Jaimie-original-baked-good is the apricot muffins. I really don't understand why he won't eat chocolate chips in pancakes and muffins, etc...how can anyone reject chocolate in any form? J/K. Btw, we have gluten-free Communion at church now.

Things are getting even more busy at work, with the Fall season publications in full swing. I am toying with the idea of starting a magazine once I get all of these other details under control this year. Has anyone ever really filled in the hole left by re:generation's flump?

I think there is a trip to the beach coming up. I want to run into the ocean. (Then run out, because this is New England and it's frigid cold.)

I need to get back to work now.

Things not to do:

1. Park at Harvard (or within half a mile of the school) before class.
2. Provoke the Mystic River mosquitos with your succulent presence after dark.
3. Walk around my neighborhood alone (There is a rapist on the loose. Anyone know some self-defense techniques they could teach me?)
4. Forego grabbing that umbrella in the morning because it's sunny outside.
5. Try to answer questions about logical deduction in class while experiencing migraine brain.

In lieu of two bad days in a row, I shall take a blurty break and reminisce about the New York City Trip! Bullet point style...

* Red wheely luggage
* Leg room on the plane for Jeff
* Eating gf pound cake en route (i.e. making a mess)
* Aurora via elevated track
* Looking out over water at boats and up at skyscrapers
* The Guggenheim
* One-year dating mark
* Tea at breakfast
* David's as-yet undimished British accent
* Wall Street
* Torrential rains and soaking clothing
* Thank God for hairdryers
* Jon's inappropriate subway behavior
* Losing track of Jeff, then re-meeting
* Talking about old topics over dinner w/friends
* Redeemer Presbyterian and the the analyzing of Dr. Keller
* "God's silence is not His absence. His hiddenness is not His abandonment."
* Greenwich Village and my favorite pizza shop (gf!!!!)
* Jon's fake walls in his apartment and a deserted poker scene
* What is up with doormen?
* Starbucks hot cocoa (of course)
* Lots of Jeff time
* Lots of people speaking French
* Feeling a lot better about my rent rate
* Beautiful typography
* World Trade Center site
* Seeing Boston again from the sky

My newest resource: http://www.churchmarketingsucks.com. Everyone and their mom needs to read this.

In the midst of this total website redesign, I am trying to not make our church marketing suck.

There are a lot of ethical and philosophical issues that come up in "church marketing." I need to start blogging again so that there is an outlet for all of this mental processing.

Planning on purchasing a Mac this year...hollah designers.

Stolen from Tom :)

Remember my lunchbox?

Happy Easter.

I'll leave you with this link.

I have a fever and I have too many doctor appointments in my life.
A good sick day activity: quizzie. Brought to you from blurty's own "dekker."

There is a sweet, sickly, nostalgic feeling in my gut urging a reacquaintence with nature. (Perhaps it's a facet of Spring Fever. I was just driving down a relatively windy, tree-lined road to and from a press check in the 'burbs this morning.) The wild of woods, mountains, lakes, simple and quiet structures smattered here and there--or a small town sprung up in deference to its surroundings--I want to experience this again. What am I craving exactly? Pebbles underfoot on a dirt trail; the crisp, unpolluted air in a rural area beside a lake or a sea of farmland; biking to a picnic spot that I've never before explored; the smell of a campfire among still and towering trees; the calls of birds and crickets amid the stark quiet of vastness; the slow and poetic boredom of having nothing to fixate upon but the unending sky and the infinity of grasses and wildflowers covering the ground--the "boredom" that makes sense keen and is the blank backdrop that exposes the movement of the human heart (which is often obscured by the gaudy patterns of urban life).

Romanticism? Maybe. My friend Theresa says I am a city girl. But I still need "nature"--whatever that means.

This summer, I will be moving to the Fenway to live on my own for the first time (no roomies). At least there are clumps of trees there, and some trails away from the screeching roads and impatient car horns. When I look out the window, I will see flowers before I notice the gas station parking lot. Perhaps in the meantime, I will look into a trip to Maine or some such place.

I love the things that show up in my email box. Way to fight off a guy with a knife #244.7:

Dear Extension School Student:

COMMUNITY ADVISORY
Attempted Armed Robbery
Memorial Drive/JFK Street, Cambridge

On Sunday, March 18, 2007, a male undergraduate student reported to the Harvard
University Police Department that he was the victim of an attempted armed robbery
while walking on JFK Street. At approximately 1:15 AM as the victim approached the
intersection of JFK Street and Memorial Drive, he observed an unidentified male
smoking a cigarette and gesturing with his hands. As he got close the unidentified
male, who was holding a knife, demanded the student's wallet. The victim indicated
to the suspect that he was going to comply with his demand for his wallet. The
victim then resisted and threw his backpack at the suspect. As the suspect fell to
the ground the victim disarmed him. The suspect then fled over the Larz Anderson
Bridge into Allston. A search by the Harvard University Police Department and the
Massachusetts State Police failed to locate the offender. The victim was not injured
and did not require medical attention.

The Harvard Coop is a good place to go if you desire to spontaneously obtain a new book with equal parts intellectual appeal and imaginative appeal.

My eye was drawn to the enchanting design of one particular book. I picked it up to deliberately salivate over said design and the enigmatic title. I began to read the cover details and the first short story nestled within its beautiful covers. It was good and had sunk its hook in my imagination.

A few weeks later, I reappeared at the Coop when Jeff had a book hankering and decided to refind and buy this book. It's called the reasons I won't be coming.

I just finished the second to last short story and am sad that the experience is almost over. The book contains a collection of fictional stories, most told through the eyes of various unconnected narrators whose emotional and mental states we observe as the suspense of events slowly revealed presents a very human story.

The book shines both sides of the coin of hope and loss. It is one of those uplifting-depressing combos. It is uplifting because it subltely exalts what you most deeply admire, but depressing because it stages the most painful things that you have experienced in this world. However, the tone is very approachable. The author, Elliot Perlman, is obviously a clever man and very funny. His prose is slightly mystic, like poetry, but plainly comprehensible, like the daily news. The sentences are mostly short and uncomplicated. These tales are told, remember; this is not a collection of expository essays.

Here are some sample quotations:

"In infancy I was dropped by a nurse and ever since I have not been mystified by magic tricks." ("Your Niece's Speech Night")

"I have been alone before, but this is worse because now I have you to remember and nothing like you to look forward to." ("The Hong Kong Fir Doctrine")