There Is a Chinese Proverb

That says,

"If you only have two pennies, use one to buy a loaf of bread, and one to buy a lily."
Because a full belly means nothing without beauty.

Oh, and what beauty we have, all around us.

"Clap your hands all peoples!

Shout to God with loud songs of joy!"

~Psalm 42:1

In Retrospect

A while ago I contributed a rather lengthy rant about the SBOE and their recent decision about the "rewriting" of the textbooks. I'm still a bit bothered by my comments, even though I also made another post about the whole thing. After some more research on the whole topic, I find myself a little less heated (of course, that's what usually happens after more research, and it was my mistake to get like so).

What had triggered the whole post in the first place was a quote I had read from one of the SBOE members about evangelism that I completely disagreed. I still don't feel like I should retract my post.

However, I feel the need to observe (again) the fact that I am constantly frustrated by our government. Without going into another long rant, I will distill my thoughts thus:

Our world is broken, and government is led by broken people. It will never be perfect. Should we fight for it? In some instances, yes. However, my energies I think are better spent in other spaces more conducive to a ministry that I find more correct (biblical).

Another Day in the Life

You might or might not know that I'm spending my summer interning as a teacher in the city at a summer school. The experience has been, well, interesting. It's not always positive, but moments like these just inspire me to no end, this idea that maybe I'm making an impact on these kids' lives in return for their much larger contribution to mine.

So today the we learned about oil spills and my class simulated one of their own.

Over the past week, the kids have been learning about resources and have developed the concept that things are made from other things using other things. Today, I had made some simulated oil for our activity and had set it aside for the afternoon, when I noticed that it was missing midway through the morning.

Oh my goodness, I thought prematurely to myself, I don't want to get on to another kid. As much as they might not believe me, I really don't enjoy it.

I looked around and noticed Mr. Aviant hurrying to the door with the oil in hand.

"Aviant!" I shouted as I went to fetch him, "Where are you going with that?"

"I'm going to the place where they make bottles!" he answered nonchalantly as he continued out the door.

His answer stopped me dead in my tracks. You see, I had yet to tell them that this was oil (though vegetable oil wouldn't make very good plastic, but they don't know that yet), but Aviant had seen it, and applying what he had learned last week about plastic, bottles, and oil (and reading the book I've had lying on the shelf since the summer started), he decided he was going to go make bottles out of his newly found oil.

It's so wonderful being inspired by kids.

Watch It

Because I Think It's Important

I will be streaming select events from the World Science Festival from this blog. Or you can go watch it from the host site, livestream.com. I don't care, as long as somebody's watching it somewhere. I know I'm going to watch as much as I can.

Just press click on the video to watch live.

Watch live streaming video from worldsciencefestival at livestream.com

Throwback

I had a whim today; and I followed it.

I visited my old myspace (which I don't think anybody over the age of fourteen or an independent band uses anymore). Mostly I just wanted to remember how I was back in the day (I think the last time I used myspace was about two years ago, though it feels like a lifetime). I read my old blog, looked over my old profile, read my old bio.

I've grown quite a bit.

More than a bit. More than a lot.

There are a few aspects I do miss though. I don't write like I used to do (there was a time in my life when I wished to be an author), and I think this blog is riding the fumes of my brain's pen. Something has changed inside of me, something that's blocking my muse from the freedom of the past and I'm not sure what it is.

I have also forgotten how much I grew in high school. Of course college has nearly eclipsed it, but only because I'm much more "mature" now than I was then. I've nearly learned how to live on my own in less than a year, and that's a lot. I forget that high school, though, was where I learned how to develop myself. It's just become such a natural part of me now that I've forgotten about it.

Oh myspace. How I'm glad I don't use you anymore. And how I'm glad you haven't let me forget yet.

Quickly

I just want to say that, while I still don't disagree with anything I posted earlier (so what if that sounds weird, it makes sense to me), I do realize their bi-partisan approach to the problem of a bi-partisan situation.

Far left requires far right to balance the information.

Bi-partisan politics disgust me, and this is why I disagree with the SBOE's decision(s). And this is why I won't be a politician.

And why I probably won't have any money when I grow up (at least not much will change, right?).

On the flip-side, I should shed light on the fact that my owning a computer does make me among the richest of the world, so I'm not complaining, and I don't intend to take it for granted.