As many of you know, I have a tattoo of a dove and olive branch. I got this during my first year of college, reasoning that I would never be anti-peace. But as I became more interested in issues of justice, I began to question the appropriateness of that particular symbol. We may recall that the dove was the bird that brought back plant life-- olive branch--to Noah in Genesis, thus indicating that God's flood which destroyed all of humanity except 8 people was over. After thinking more about that destruction and vengeance I began to explain that my tattoo had come to remind me of the cost of peace, often at the expense of justice. How could a just and all-loving god condemn all but 8 people to death? Was there no redemption for them? But, and new and supposedly better world was being created, and it would never happen again (by flood), so there was peace.I was glad to have that reminder, but I must admit, a little saddened that my God had done that and that I must remember those--dare I say cruel--acts.
But, last night, I was at a Presbyterian service--of all the churches, right!?--and the pastor spoke on re-creation (not the running kind). He argued that even creation was a re-creation because before God spoke there was the sea. And the sea was chaos incarnate. (Now, this is where is gets confusing between literal and metaphoircal interpretation.) I realized that while I decidedly do not take the creation stories literally, I had, to an extent, been taking the story of Noah and the Ark literally.
But what if we choose to believe in the flood as a flood of chaos, instead of literal water, and the death as a falling into chaos, instead of literal death? The Israelites, like the Presbyterians, were very concerned with order and without the order that God brings through constant recreation (which feels very chaotic) we drown in chaos.
**God, Please send us a booey of your new creation today that we might breathe in your spirit and find hope, joy, and love in this constantly churning and up-heaving world of chaos.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Law Schools and 25k
I am working on law school applications these days and have narrowed the search down to 8 schools:
Northeastern U, in Boston
Wakeforest, in NC
U. Wisconsin
American U. Washington School of Law in DC
Vanderbilt in Nashville
Cordozo Law (Yeshiva U.) in NYC
USC in Los Angeles
UC Davis, in Davis CA (like that wasn't obvious)
I am also going to look at Temple University, located in Philadelphia, PA.
It was hard to narrow it down, but I think I am happy with it. It takes a surprisingly lot work to narrow schools down when you don't care what state they are in, or how good they are. Not that I don't care, I just don't care for the attitude people have about ranks that will mean very little to me when I am trying cases. I hope that my skills as a lawyer are seen as the criterion for judging me as a lawyer, rather than the institution's name on the diploma. I recognize the correlation between ranking and teaching skills, but I can learn anywhere, and I will learn best in a hands on location. That is why my strongest criterion were: clinical programs, student publications and organizations, and student: faculty ratio. I had to eliminate a lot of "high ranking" schools because they fell short in these categories. I looked at over 50 schools. It was a long process. I say all this because I don't want to have to further defend my choices, but would be happy to send anyone who requests a list of all the schools i reviewed and their rankings and notes in each category; I took the search very seriously.
Now, on to a very different note. As all of you probably know, the reason I want to be a lawyer is becasue of my experience in the California Institution for Women, volunteering in an organic garden. The organization that started the garden, Claremont Colleges Criminal Justice Network, is in the running for a grant from Pepsi Corp. for 25 THOUSAND DOLLARS (pinki in mouth, evil laugh)! And we need your support! we have moved from 400th place to 41st! but we need to be in the top 10 to win. So, you can vote every day from your email (each email if you have multiple), and you can:
Text* 103652 to
Pepsi (73774)
*Standard text messaging rates apply.
You can vote every day until Nov. 30th. So, please, please please, please vote early, vote often and vote many times.
Part of the reason Pepsi uses this method to choose the recipients is because getting people to vote every day and multiple times a day shows that the organization can do large scale work and movement building. We need your help!
Here is the website:
http://www.refresheverything.com/cultivatingdreams
While you CAN technically vote for 10 different projects everyday, keep in mind that if you vote for a program in the same category as Cultivating Dreams which is ahead, you will kind of be canceling-out your vote. Wink!
Thanks!
Northeastern U, in Boston
Wakeforest, in NC
U. Wisconsin
American U. Washington School of Law in DC
Vanderbilt in Nashville
Cordozo Law (Yeshiva U.) in NYC
USC in Los Angeles
UC Davis, in Davis CA (like that wasn't obvious)
I am also going to look at Temple University, located in Philadelphia, PA.
It was hard to narrow it down, but I think I am happy with it. It takes a surprisingly lot work to narrow schools down when you don't care what state they are in, or how good they are. Not that I don't care, I just don't care for the attitude people have about ranks that will mean very little to me when I am trying cases. I hope that my skills as a lawyer are seen as the criterion for judging me as a lawyer, rather than the institution's name on the diploma. I recognize the correlation between ranking and teaching skills, but I can learn anywhere, and I will learn best in a hands on location. That is why my strongest criterion were: clinical programs, student publications and organizations, and student: faculty ratio. I had to eliminate a lot of "high ranking" schools because they fell short in these categories. I looked at over 50 schools. It was a long process. I say all this because I don't want to have to further defend my choices, but would be happy to send anyone who requests a list of all the schools i reviewed and their rankings and notes in each category; I took the search very seriously.
Now, on to a very different note. As all of you probably know, the reason I want to be a lawyer is becasue of my experience in the California Institution for Women, volunteering in an organic garden. The organization that started the garden, Claremont Colleges Criminal Justice Network, is in the running for a grant from Pepsi Corp. for 25 THOUSAND DOLLARS (pinki in mouth, evil laugh)! And we need your support! we have moved from 400th place to 41st! but we need to be in the top 10 to win. So, you can vote every day from your email (each email if you have multiple), and you can:
Text* 103652 to
Pepsi (73774)
*Standard text messaging rates apply.
You can vote every day until Nov. 30th. So, please, please please, please vote early, vote often and vote many times.
Part of the reason Pepsi uses this method to choose the recipients is because getting people to vote every day and multiple times a day shows that the organization can do large scale work and movement building. We need your help!
Here is the website:
http://www.refresheverything.com/cultivatingdreams
While you CAN technically vote for 10 different projects everyday, keep in mind that if you vote for a program in the same category as Cultivating Dreams which is ahead, you will kind of be canceling-out your vote. Wink!
Thanks!
Monday, November 1, 2010
So angry
I recognize that I have a hard job. But I must have envisioned working in a school in Philadelphia to be a bit more like working in a school more like in a school in Bellefontaine, Ohio. I certainly knew that it would not be like church camp; not much is like church camp. But it is painfully different. Today three sets of kids got into fights. Seventh graders, ok, kind of expected. Fifth graders, alright, I guess. But third graders?!?! Really?
The kids are so angry. I asked the 7-8th graders why they were so angry and they said it is because they are Black. Immediately after one guy said that we are all family: the entire world. Just moments after he said this he got into a fight.
The kids don't really respect or fear me, which I understand. I won't respect or fear me either. But I think they mostly like me, they just can't handle their emotions. They are just so angry.
Even the kids who recognize this, one requested leaving the room to cool down, (which I allowed, but he didn't end up cooling down) can't get passed it.
I don't do anger well. So, what do I do?
The kids are so angry. I asked the 7-8th graders why they were so angry and they said it is because they are Black. Immediately after one guy said that we are all family: the entire world. Just moments after he said this he got into a fight.
The kids don't really respect or fear me, which I understand. I won't respect or fear me either. But I think they mostly like me, they just can't handle their emotions. They are just so angry.
Even the kids who recognize this, one requested leaving the room to cool down, (which I allowed, but he didn't end up cooling down) can't get passed it.
I don't do anger well. So, what do I do?
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