Ok, ok, ok! I know I don't write on this thing very often, so I'm sorry. Especially to you Bret, who continually asked me about my blog, to which I would always courteously dodge answering. But, I'm back with promises, hopefully not ill-founded, of more blogs. I'll give you a quick update on life, then expound on that thought.
School is going well because I'm smarter than Uncle Bret at Brain Academy. I'm taking 15 hours which include: Prison Epistles of Paul (an inductive Bible study course), Biology (my most least favorite class), Church Growth (independent study, so I haven't so much started on it yet), Practicum for Pastoral Care (we go to the hospital once a week and visit sick people! I really like it), and Ethnic American Literature (LOVE). The RA thing is pretty breezy this semester thanks to all my hard work last semester of building relationships. Work is boring, as usual, and my favorite person on the job leaves in March. So, I'll probably quit after this semester. My birthday went well. I turned the big 2-1, and got crazy krunk...ok, not so much. My friends gave me a great day, and I was very thankful for them. That seems like that, in a nutshell, but let me move on to something else.
I need your help with something. For my ethnic american literature class I have to do a mulit-genre research project. To be honest, I'm pretty stoked about it. I love not having to write papers to explain how well I know something. Anyway, my research project takes the thematic idea of homing, or identity once you are away from home, and explores that on a personal level. The idea of homing is specifically Native American and says that you can come back home. The Western equivalent usually says that you can't. For research for this, I need "family artifacts." Letters, journals, I don't know exactly, but also your guys' homing experiences. This project isn't due until the end of April, so don't worry too much, but I would like to hear more about what you think your homing process was. Also, any family artifacts would be helpful. This goes with the idea that knowing your heritage is an important process of knowing yourself. Anyway, if you have any questions leave a comment or an email.
I love you guys so much! I can't wait for July!
Whitney
2 comments:
I have some great artifacts don't let me forget to give them to you when you are home. Also Heath and Sharron's email has changed. The last part is verizon.net. The first part is the same. Ok homing, I am going to have to give that some thought and you may even have to expand on the general concept a bit more, but my first thought is my identity outside of the home is nearly identical to my role in my family. It must have worked for me in an overall sense cause I am still the one trying to make things one big happy family. My choice of careers reflects this thought process as well as volunteer work. Now if you want to know about the breaking away process that is a different story. I think that is the one time I tried to be something I wasn't and it just wore me out. Anyway my artifacts are mostly clothing. Interesting to me because part of growing up is trying on different identities until you shout eureka this is the one. The Bible even says, "train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. I guess the clothing represents the trying on different things and keeping part of them. Another part is knowing I don't have to give up flair and pizazz to be a motherly type. Anyway we will have to talk more later. Family hertiage is best preserved by oral traditions and you have seen a life time of that happening around the table with extended family members. Most of our stories recall triumphs, humor, and a lot of love. mom
Listen. I now realize Big Brain academy can not be a measure of intelligence because I can't beat my 12 year old daughter. She's scored like 1,575 and has a B+. I'm still at C+ back at 1,3xx. I'm sorry I put so much trust in Ninetendo to fulfill me.
Now as for homing - I think everyone is proud of their backgrounds and heritage. How else do you explain people still eating lukfist (rotten fish) 500 years after it was necessary to store the fish this way for long voyages over the sea? It's like a celebration of our heritage and those who went before us. But "can't go home again" is more like a specific destination. And I'd argue its pretty dificult to "go home" if you are Indian (is that not politically correct now?) or whoever you are. Jesus said a prophet has no honor in his home town. And I'd say the Indians who "stay on the reservations" (i.e. home) aren't doing near as well as those who wonder off. that's my theory. bret
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