-
Mercy is Entirely the Subject
I ducked into my favorite local coffee shop early this morning and ordered an Americano in a warm mug. Sitting down, I felt slightly naked because I didn’t have a book with me. I always carry something. (I think it’s like policemen who carry guns.) At least I had my little moleskine journal. Knowing that […]
Jenelle
November 21, 2007
-
Salsa in the Reference Section
Old books make me high. Tonight there’s this crazy four-hour art tour that starts at the Pasadena Central Library, and goes all around old-town. This is the same library that took my breath away as I first approached its welcoming old European fountain a few days ago. The children’s corridor is large and magnificent enough […]
Jenelle
October 12, 2007
-
The First Days
I flew into Burbank on Monday and found the lovely Kleins waiting to hug me. Going from airport to airport, I arrived just in time to find a seat in Dr. Kraft’s (somewhat infamous) class at Fuller. (And I’ve got the picture to prove it.) Smiling with me is Amy G. She’s been in my […]
Jenelle
October 3, 2007
-
No More Whiny Pants
I am moving to California in four days, and I feel like I’m growing up. Two days ago, an eight year old asked me, “Do you think there is still gold on the ground in California?” I smiled out, “I sure hope so!” For me, like history’s many, going West carries the hopes of a […]
Jenelle
September 28, 2007
-
Rest Now, Madeleine.
Dear Madeleine L’Engle died yesterday. She was 88. I read her classic tale (the one the publishers warned would probably fail), A Wrinkle in Time as a tween, and felt alive. So then I read A Wind in the Door, and Many Waters. Like C.S. Lewis, she had a way of dignifying children by writing […]
Jenelle
September 8, 2007
-
Interruptions on the Way
I’m traveling by train from Lisbon to Castelo Branco, on the way to spend a night at Barbara’s land. We’re stopped. The Portuguese lady on the recording calls it a brief “interruption on the way.” But the other passengers say there is a fire up ahead, somewhere near the tracks. Catherine is with me, and […]
Jenelle
August 22, 2007
-
Familiar Streets, Salinger on Family
Portugal is familiar as ever. And I do mean familial-er. The uneven stone streets of this land reach out and greet me as a sister because I, too, am uneven. And we will keep on walking, dear. I might start including scraps from my scrappy journal, as I write them. My tone betrays my own […]
Jenelle
August 6, 2007
-
Come to Me, All Ye Laden With Potter
This morning I discovered one of my possible contributions to society: Harry Potter Therapist. I was out getting coffee with Mackenzie last night, and we heard that the other coffee shoppes were staying open till 1am to accommodate the frenzied Potterites. For at midnight oh one, bookstores released Rowling’s, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows […]
Jenelle
July 21, 2007
-
“He Calls Me To Be A Life Again”
(for Rachel and her dreams) some re-discovered words from Buechner’s The Alphabet of Grace : Beneath the moonlit drifts of sheet, I turn in my sleep and draw up my knees…And with my knees drawn up, I dream I am sitting down. I am sitting on a stool at a bar, and my glass has […]
Jenelle
July 21, 2007
-
Fire at Simple Way House: Pray, Please
I just got word that this morning there was a 7-alarm fire at the Simple Way house in Philadelphia, home of Shane Claiborne. Shane recently penned The Irresistible Revolution, a book on his experiences of living in this new monastic community he helped to establish. Here’s what Billy from the Ashram just wrote about the […]
Jenelle
June 20, 2007
-
Mathspeak for Christians: Bounded-sets
[I’m going to start posting bits of what I’ve been learning in my classes, in case you’re interested. If my language starts sounding pretentious and annoyingly academic, please stop me.] Here is something I’m chewing on from a book by Paul Hiebert: What are the consequences of defining Christianity as a bounded-set? In the West, […]
Jenelle
June 15, 2007
-
To Play Like a Child Again
I am in a season of anticipation: trying to rest, learning to listen, and waiting on God. Right now I’m feeling like a mass of dots aching to be connected by a smarter crayon. But today it was nice to take an hour long road trip with my Mama to the Trader Joe’s in Old […]
Jenelle
March 1, 2007