Dispatches from the end of the semester

[Photo from 2-Dog-Farm; this is what came up when I searched for "Ahhh!"]


This is the last week of classes, and I am afraid. I'm not nearly finished with everything. Even though I'm banking on somehow passing and graduating, I'm not really sure of what will happen.

So, to keep myself from despairing, here are some good things in life...

I've been accepted to the placement process for Lutheran Volunteer Corps!!! Yay!!! This is the phase of the process in which I interview
with three social justice/social service agencies and then LVC determines if I'll be placed with one of them. Here's the break-down, with blurbs from their websites (in no particular order):

• Open Arms Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN)-- "Open Arms of Minnesota offers a unique model of care for people in our community who are sick, need nutritious food, and have no where else to turn for assistance. We are the only nonprofit organization in the state that prepares and delivers free meals specifically tailored to meet the nutrition needs of individuals living with serious and life-threatening diseases. "
  
• Nativity House (Tacoma, WA)-- "Nativity House is Tacoma's only daytime drop-in shelter for the homeless. We offer a refuge from the dangers of the streets to all who come to our doors. Whether our guests need a meal, clothing, referrals to social services, or just a smile, the staff at Nativity House is there to provide it. Our mission is to create trusting relationships with our guests, so that they may be challenged to greater life."
  
• Our Savior's Housing (Minneapolis, MN)-- "Our Saviour’s Housing began as a program of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in south Minneapolis in the winter of 1982. The basement of the church was opened to provide a warm space for people seeking shelter from harsh weather. Today, Our Saviour’s Housing is a program of Our Saviour’s Outreach Ministries and operates two forms of housing, overnight emergency shelter and transitional housing."

I'll be finished with the interviews by May 4th, but I won't hear back from LVC until the 14th.

Here's some other random goodness that I've stumbled up recently:

I met this really neat guy on the Interwebs whom I would really like to meet in the Outerwebs (has anyone coined this yet? this could be my claim to fame!), but he isn't going to be in DC this summer because he is biking across the U.S. spreading support for Alzheimer's research. Really! He and some friends are going to be travelling to nursing homes and elderly care centers and signing for the folks with dementia there, collecting memories and wisdom in return. They're calling it The Unforgettable Journey (do you see the play on words? isn't he/aren't they brilliant?), and you can check out their website here. Seriously consider donating something to their cause; it's beautiful, but also a little crazy, and they could use all the help they can get.

Check out this post that Philip Clayton wrote for the Plurality 2.0 series that Adam Walker Cleaveland has running over at Pomomusings. Among many insightful essays, his stuck out to me. Maybe it was his grasp on how we have "interwoven identities."

I've re-discovered what a mind-blowingly fabulous cover of Jai Ho the Pussycat Dolls have done. Apparently someone else has, too, since embedding be disabled for their video on YouTube. Look at it here and dance. Seriously, dance.

I'm looking forward to the upcoming first episode of The God Complex: where fully divine runs smack dab into fully human, the internet radio show hosted by Presby rock stars/geeks Carol Howard Merritt and Bruce Reyes-Chow. Listen for it at 12 noon on May 4th. I'm a little bummed that I won't be able to listen live since I'll be in an LVC interview, but I'm looking forward to some really insightful and silly conversation about what's happening in church and society. It looks like Decently and in Order has gone fallow, so God Complex is filling a void in my life (yes, that's "a" void-- no scintillating words about faith and practice could fill the other void in my life for good Mexican food. Or the void reserved for graduating. I'm very void-ful, apparently).

Right, 4:50am. Let's spell check this and hit publish. Grace and peace and good morning, y'all!