Boys Will Be Boys...

It's called "buck-buck." That's all I know. I'm a girl, I don't get these things. But it does make me laugh!

"What Would Bob Marley Do?"

Hilltop News

(Corban's newspaper)

[Jake Zufelt (the husband of my RA from last year!)
Freelance Writer

I made it a point this summer to become cultured. My plan was simple: listen to NPR, read a New York Times best seller, jam to Bob Marley, hang out with heathens. To carry out this brilliant plan, I picked up a weekend gig at the coffee shop. “Free coffee and culture,” I thought to myself. “Perfect.”

I was eager to reconnect with my colleagues and learn about what’s been happening at our town’s central hub. First there was Amirah, my half Middle Eastern manager who practiced a loose form of Islam and drank boxed wine on the weekends. Next was her sister, Lyla, whose father jokingly tried to sell her in Iran for a herd of camels when she was ten. She was my fellow Bob Marley enthusiast. Then there was Erika, a 6’1 lesbian who always spoke her mind and would have contributed greatly to a sitcom. Finally, there was Taylor, a seventeen year-old rebel who drank heavily and wore men’s shirts and a sign on her forehead that said, “(fill-in-the-blank) off!”

The initial conversations were basic: Joe “Dirt” and Joe “Clean” were still getting their tall Americanos, the building owner is still screwing with the doctor’s wife who works next door, and the Christian camp staff still doesn’t tip, doesn’t smile, and calls the headquarters every day if the “Artist of the Month” hangs a suggestive painting.

As the summer progressed so did my conversations with co-workers, specifically about Christianity. I learned from Erika that she grew up in church, but phased out when she didn’t comply with the teaching anymore. Taylor was content with rebelling against her alcoholic father and passive mother, and preferred drinking away her problems rather than dealing with them. Amirah and Lyla were well liked and goal-oriented; a complete life change seemed unnecessary.

My cause received no help from across the counter. Sunday mornings were filled with people who were upset because they were late for church, a group of conservative twenty-somethings would sit around in exclusivity and read their Bibles to each other, and the Christian camp staff would demand that Bob Marley be turned off whenever they were in the coffee shop. For the first time, I saw the Christian culture from the outside, and I was ashamed.

Erika and I were preparing to close when we noticed that Laura was the only customer left. She hid her face as she hovered over a weathered notebook, writing furiously.

“You think she’s okay?” Erika asked. I shrugged. As my co-worker approached the table, I noticed a steady stream of tears coming down Laura’s face. Erika listened intently for several minutes before giving her a hug and returning to the other side of the counter.

“She’s dying,” Erika said solemnly. “Some rare influenza. The doctor is giving her just under two years to live.”

“One love / one heart / let’s get together and feel all right / hear the children cryin’ / sayin’ give thanks and praise the Lord and I will feel all right / sayin’ lets get together and feel all right.”

I was challenged to evaluate my faith that night. It’s hard not to when a lesbian does the work of a Christian, and Bob Marley sounds a lot like Jesus.]

This article really challenged me too. I'm not sure quite how to respond. Or quite sure what it looks like to be authentic and real. How do we pop this Christian bubble?

"Once we have found someone whom we can love, we are nourished by the overwhelming satisfaction that brings. We glimpse in that satisfaction something that has eternal merit and is more profound than anything we have ever known. We are lifted out of our daily lives into an experience that transcends life itself."

Edward Ford

OIT Meet in Klamath Falls

"Take my feet and let them be

Swift and beautiful for Thee"

On Friday afternoon our cross-country team took a 4 hour bus ride up to Klamath Falls, Oregon, for a Saturday meet hosted by OIT (Oregon Institute of Technology) at Steen Sports Camp. This was the first meet I got to compete in and our teams first 5k meet, although they'd run a 3k meet two weekends earlier. I was nervous. The race was awful. I ran a 22:33 which I'm pretty sure is worse than anything I've ever run in high school! The course is TOUGH! It had hills, parts in thick mushy grass, and parts in sandy/dusty/powder. You couldn't settle in strong and find rhythm because the whole time you were working. The only good about it was everyone ran slow. The first place girl usually runs in the 17s and she ran a 19:01! And I did still place with the top 5 for my team! I'm ready to conquer the next race! More pictures to come!

Questions and Observations

Right now I'm sitting in a coffee-shop doing homework with Mel. It serves Stumptown coffee, supposedly the most amazing coffee ever. I think it tastes SO delicious. She thinks it tastes like cough syrup. How can we have two vastly different experiences? We even have the same drink...

This Is What I Miss...

College 101:

College is a never-ending cycle of being exhausted mentally and physically. They have a secret plot of not letting you get any sleep and of pushing your limits!