I’m doing layout for the village of Duval centennial calendar. My brother Jeffrey sent me the pictures tonight and this one made me laugh out loud!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
press release: Stepping Stones
My friend Terri is organizing the concert in Courtenay this Friday. Below is a press release she wrote for their local newspaper, which will come out on Wednesday. I’m so honoured to be part of this (and another similar fundraiser in Victoria). On the wall of the Facebook invitation, Kim wrote, “We will be there!! Stepping Stones and all the staff saved my life I wouldn't miss it for the world :)
Love you guys!!!” Powerful stuff…
Benefit Concert for Stepping Stones Recovery House for Women and Our “Prairie Soul” Guest
Colleen Taylor comes to the Comox Valley this Friday evening, March 26, at 7 p.m. to share her gift of music at a benefit concert for Stepping Stones Recovery House for Women. Colleen describes herself as “a prairie soul with a heart for the world”. She is the founder of Siretona Creative which is a publishing and production company that empowers women in the arts to build community among generations and nations (the name "Siretona" comes from the first two letters of each word in the phrase: sing release to nations). Colleen is doing a weekend tour of various venues on the Island and the Vancouver, with two concerts in support of women’s recovery centers. This Friday’s concert will be held at River Heights Church at 2201 Robert Lang Drive, Courtenay. Tickets are $10 at the door with proceeds going to Stepping Stones Recovery House (dessert and coffee/tea will also be available at an additional nominal cost).
Stepping Stones Recovery House is a non-profit, faith-based residential program for women who are in recovery from alcohol and substance dependence/abuse. This recovery house was birthed two years ago by a few local residents with a vision and heart to see women set free from the grip of addiction. Come enjoy an evening of song, passion and praise. Show your support and raise awareness for this wonderful ministry that reflects the heart of our awesome community.
For more information please call Terri Czegledi 250-650-8255
Monday, March 22, 2010
Foraging for Words
Kathleen McMillan explores the idea of "Foraging for Words" in order to nourish the observation and communication skills of children.
This clip is part of a talk given by Kathleen McMillan, children's educator and author of BlueBeary, as the keynote speaker at an Early Childhood Education conference at Columbia Bible College in Abbotford, BC in November 2009.
TRANSCRIPT:
The reason I like words is because I think words are like—there’s a verse that I like: “a fit word is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” When you teach children beautiful words and words that describe things well, you’re giving them the opportunity to create something beautiful in their language. So I encourage you: talk, talk, talk, talk to the kids all the time. Sing and read and present new words. Don’t be afraid.
In my book I present the word forage. Does everybody know what the word forage means? It’s quite amazing, actually, sometimes I find that people don’t really think of it as a word that they understand. But I think of foraging as, well, you know what it means—gathering, gathering food generally. But when we are talking to children we can forage through the wealth of words that are out there and we can gather them and we can present them to them and we can feed them on those words.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Celebrate Easter: Resurrection Buns & Butterflies
I want to make these for Easter Sunday. And I’m hoping there will be at least one young girl to help me. They’re called Resurrection Buns because they “form a 'hollow' in the middle after baking. This hollow represents the empty tomb when Christ arose on Easter. They taste very much like cinnamon buns. YUMMY!”
The initial inspiration comes from Ann Voskamp’s blog: A Holy Experience. The recipe is here.
I would also like to make these butterflies, as recommended on the same blog post by Ann:
Ann knows how to “add to the beauty.”
transformed imagination
Of course they would be good quotes , but what’s going to hold them together?
Hmmm. Perhaps I’m trying to be too linear. This is a workshop not a lecture, so the aim should be interaction and discovery. I do have an outline in mind, some ideas for application exercises. Perhaps it would be okay if the handout didn’t go from one thing to another to another. Perhaps it would be okay to equip the students with a few pages of quotations, thus introducing them to a range of thinking on imagination, faith, transformation, and the arts—especially the literary ones. I want them to “meet” Eugene Peterson, Wendell Berry, Dorothy Sayers, Leland Ryken, Luci Shaw, Mary Oliver, Francis and Edith Schaeffer, Madeleine L’Engle, W. David O. Taylor, Betty Carlson, George MacDonald, Chelle Stearns, and more and more and more.
Yes, that’s what I’m going to do. Prepare a handout that could lead the holder in any number of directions. We all have to start somewhere.
Ah, but where do we start? As Christian artists, we start in the mind of God. Edith Schaeffer was apparently fond of saying, “The Lord has infinite imagination.” From the creation of the world, to the formation of Israel, to the kingdom of God, and the Good News of freedom in Christ Jesus. God created ex nihilo. We do not create something out of nothing: there is always some kind of inspiration behind our work. The work we produce reflects the objects of our attentions. Our imagination can be simply our own and misguided or downright evil, or it can be reclaimed for higher purposes, renovated, as Dallas Willard and Eugene Peterson say.
“If Christ is the King, everything, quite literally, every thing and every one, has to be re-imagined, re-configured, re-oriented to a way of life that consist in an obedient following of Jesus…A total renovation of our imagination, our way of looking at things–what Jesus commanded in his no-nonsense imperative, “Repent!”–is required.” ~ Eugene Peterson, The Jesus Way, 9
There. That’s a reasonable foundation. More later. Right now I need to make a non-linear handout.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Global Wonders: from slavery to beauty
A few years ago I made some new friends who had been involved in the early days of Servants Anonymous Foundation, a organization of new abolitionists that rescue women and children from sexual slavery.
As a Christian organization, the SA Foundation believes in the importance of vision that is based on servanthood, personal recovery and community while focusing on the long-term objective that no person be trafficked into the sex trade and remain trapped in a life of sexual exploitation. (from Who We Are)
Begun in Calgary, SA’s influence has spread into British Columbia, the United States, Nepal, and is being introduced to even more places around the world.
SA’s recovery strategy includes job skills training and business initiatives. One initiative out of Nepal is Global Wonders Handicrafts, which produces knitted wool products, two lines of jewelry, and home decor (esp. baskets).
Global Wonders jewelry now has an online store. Please browse and consider this:
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Destiny Dresses
“I am blown away by Destiny Dresses,” declares Brad Jersak, editor and contributor with Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice, author of Kissing the Leper.
To answer the problem of child poverty, especially among little girls, Destiny Dresses receives donations of special occasion dresses (wedding, grad, bridesmaids, etc.), which are lovingly remade by volunteer dressmakers.
Led by Carol Schafer from Athabasca, Alberta, “Destiny Dresses seeks to demonstrate the extravagance of God's love and grace and beauty by providing the poorest little girls in the world with beautiful dresses in Jesus' name.”
“I'm especially looking for dresses in light and bright colours,” says Carol.
“Carol's a friend, trustworthy,” Brad Jersak affirms. “She was inspired by the story of a little girl (10ish?) who sold herself to be married to an old man because he promised her a dress. That should never happen.” Confirming that the girl was 10, Carol says she heard about the girl from Barry Slauenwhite of Compassion Canada who actually said that the girl "agreed to marry a 72-year-old man for the promise of a dress."
“The story of Destiny Dresses began a number of months before I heard Barry tell of this girl,” Carol notes, “but it certainly confirmed that the course of action entrusted to me was to sew dresses for these precious and vulnerable girls wherever they live.”
The dressmakers “also remake other gently used articles of clothing into everyday clothes for boys and girls in great need.” On March 3rd, Carol reported to the Facebook group that she had sewn a pair of little girl's cullottes in just over 2 hours. “Feels good to do a quick project! The look of a skirt with the practicality of shorts. Love them!”
In addition to used clothing, Destiny Dresses receives donations of notions: fabric, buttons, lace, and thread. Volunteer dressmakers use the donations to “sew with excellence and purpose because they believe that children are precious, that they reflect the image of God, and that they have a future and a hope through Jesus Christ.”
Clothing by Destiny Dresses is distributed “by various means following ethical practices to ensure that no dress or other clothing is used to lure, entice, or in any way harm a child or any other person.” Individuals and groups get involved with this by taking clothing when they travel, or by donating money for postage and other mailing expenses.
Destiny Dresses cooperates extensively with Compassion Canada’s child sponsorship program. Carol volunteers with Compassion Canada as a Chidren's Advocate.
Contact Carol through Facebook if you want to donate resources or skills.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
my lizard brain
My first couple of weeks on this blog were so faithful, while experimental. It was too much to sustain. So I’ve thought. Now what? Well, first, overcome the resistance, as Seth Godin sees it.* How? Get back with the programs of noting important conversations.
“If you knew that people—even 5 people—were waiting every single day to read what you were going to write on a blog, your brain would rise to the occasion, it would notice things, it would find things to talk about.”
~ Seth Godin, interviewed on Small Business Marketing Podcast from Duct Tape Marketing, available on iTunes.
Conversation: email exchanges with Kathleen, Lynette, and Grant about BlueBeary, especially about the iPhone application. The voice-over is done and the sound files are now with PicPocket Books. Lynette says it sounds great and "we'll be working on the app full tilt starting tomorrow." And now, BlueBeary’s cover is on the PicPocket Books website. So excited!
Conversation: Lana Buschert of Keys to Music Studio here in Calgary. I start teaching Wednesday afternoon, one day a week for now.
Conversation: Ollie Rogers about an expanded role with Tutor Doctor (i.e. a promotion?). What will this look like? How long will it last? We’ll discuss this tomorrow at 11:00.
Conversation: Kevin & Stephanie started her memory verse for church kids’ club. Though we didn’t actually talk about it together, just the process of hearing and saying these words over an over again was thought-provoking and fits well with the lizard brain
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!7 It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,8 yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest-11 and poverty will come on you like a bandit
and scarcity like an armed man.
Proverbs 6:6-11
So many good opportunities. The trick is focus and hard work. Last week Rosie Perera recommended giving up certain high tech addictions for Lent, especially computer games like Settlers of Catan and Facebook’s Scramble. I was getting carpal tunnel anyhow. Fascinating the compulsion and confusion that rises to the surface without these to fill “empty” spaces and numb my brain. Good thing Easter’s still nearly a month away!
* “The idea of the resistance goes hand in hand with the lizard brain. And Steven [Pressfield] doesn’t talk about the lizard brain, but The War of Art … starts out as a book about how to overcome writer’s block, but it’s way bigger than that because writing isn’t the point, the point is shipping. And what the lizard brain does is when it feels you are getting close to something that could get you laughed at, it throws up roadblocks. Sometime those roadblocks are subtle like, “Well, I don’t really feel like writing today. I don’t really feel like doing something extraordinary. I don’t really feel like writing a blog post that people are going to read. And then, it can actually lead you to become an alcoholic, commit suicide, do all sorts of self-destructive things just to protect the lizard brain.
“If you are not shipping, if you are going to a lot of meetings, if you are whining about how your boss won’t let you do something, this is the work of the resistance, and you must call it up by name and you must follow really clear steps to find a path to defeat the resistance, because if you don’t, then you are on track to be mediocre, you are on track to be average, and you are on track—in this economy—to be trampled on and end up in a dust heap on the side of the road of failure.”
On stalling: “If you can spend 12 hours getting more efficient instead of 12 hours being remarkable, that’s 12 more hours that the lizard brain got to hide out.”
~ in 43 Folders – Interview with Linchpin author Seth Godin, available on iTunes.
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