Saturday Sept 22
Saturday's breakfast at Grace Cathedral was nice, but what beats the one man show on his speaker bike? Not much...
In the morning I attended two workshops.
The first workshop was on Episcopal Migration Ministries http://www.episcopalchurch.org/emm.htm. This session really opened my eyes to the great work our church and our individual parishes are doing to help strangers in a strange land. My parish, All Saints in midtown, has a strong Refugee Ministry and this session really encouraged me to get involved. In the session we learned a lot about the ministry of the church helping anyone from refugees fleeing violence in the former Yugoslavia to victims of hurricane Katrina who have chosen to relocatem, creating new lives for their families in new cities. In the session we also had opportunities to share moments when we have felt different from everyone around us, moments that helped us identify with the position of migrants and refugees upon arrival in the U.S. If you are looking for a parish level activity with an opportunity to create relationships with people from other parts of the world, a migration/refugee ministry is the place for you.
The second workshop I attended was on women's empowerment, a subject near and dear to my heart through my undergraduate and graduate studies and a very important part of my job at CARE. This workshop was more experiential and round-table discussion oriented. Out of about 15 attendees, one was male and I think we were all proud he was there. As an introduction we all stated why we attended the workshop and his intital response was for his girlfriend sitting next to him, but he also said that in his life he is looking for a partner, an equal, something that is not common in Latin America where he is from. So kidding aside, he was there to learn about improving the position of women within communities and households. The session included a lot of dialogue on the position of women in the developing world and what can be done to give women more opportunities. We talked some about grassroots, community level development, which felt more tangible to the group than top-down influence from government to government (well that is my opinion, but I think others felt the same way :-) ). The activities in the session included answering a survey about the position of women in the developing world regarding education, health, economic opportunities, etc. This was an eye opener for me (I made probably the equivalent of a C). In most cases I assumed women had more power than they actually do. Another activity was to draw, sculpt, write out what women's empowerment means to you. Common themes were around education and women presenting themselves as strong and capable. It was a cool exercise. http://www.nationalecw.org/
I'll get back to you on the rest of the weekend soon. I promise.
Sarah
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Thursday, September 27, 2007
4 Days Back From the City of Hippie Love
I have taken a little more time to get on the blog since I got home, so I am sorry for all of our millions of eager readers. I read a little of Lauren's blog, so I'll try to not repeat too much.
Friday Sept 21
When we arrived in San Francisco we had a little time to kill before activities started so we hung out with my aunt and uncle.
We took the trolly up and down a few hills, which was not as scary as I thought it might be. It turns out he trollies go pretty darn slow, but I guess that is a good thing with all of the people hanging off them. Fisherman's Warf was a busy and fun place to visit. Highlights are: the video-taping of pirate jokes by the pirate statue with my uncle playing along like a champ, trying to video tape Alcatraz and being unable to tell which building it was even though it was only giant yellow building that looked like a prison, being attacked with tree branches by a man who we all saw, but still scared us with his loud "boo" and tree branch waving, eating yummy chocolate at Ghiradelli, and walking the thousands of blocks back to the hotel.
Friday evening we checked into the conference, had a meet and greet Episcopal wine hour (which did not offer "an equally attractive alternative to alchohol" because there was only sparkling water and no Coke of any kind- I wasn't in Atlanta anymore clearly :-), but it was a good time. Dinner was as entertaing as anything I have seen in a while. Well maybe I should back up and set the stage. You think you are a decent dresser and moderately, well modern or at least not a grandma dresser, until you are in California and you realize you are not nearly as hip as most people around you. So surrounded by many hipper dressed people, and under the archways which served as a shelter from the sprinkling rain, we had a lovely dinner and of course coaxed our table into introducing themselves and sharing something funny. We made everyone say their name, where they are from (sound familiar DAYA people?), and then tell us what super power they would have if they could choose any. Running fast was popular as was the ability to manipulate others. Lauren Woody apparently wants to be able to make chicken salad out any ingredients presented to her, so that was an interesting insight into her world... I want to be able to breath underwater, like Aquaman, not Kevin Costner in Water World. We also had amazing entertainment during dinner, also known as the man with the awesome bike. The bike had a speaker systemt that only ran with someone riding it, which the entertainment man used to sing us magical rap songs about riding bikes, saving the environment, t-shirts, and Barak O'Bama. It was pretty sweet and hopefully my camera picked up some of the great songs.
After dinner we participated in "the stations of the MDGs" in beautiful Grace Cathedral, which Lauren explain in her blog so I won't reiterate, but it was an interesting time with some painting, sandwhich-making, and pretty good learning on the MDGs. Afterwords we had compline in the Cathedral and that was the end of the day (except for watching the waffle iron that can make anything infomercial on TV in the hotel room...)
More to come on the rest of the time in San Fran...
Sarah
Friday Sept 21
When we arrived in San Francisco we had a little time to kill before activities started so we hung out with my aunt and uncle.
We took the trolly up and down a few hills, which was not as scary as I thought it might be. It turns out he trollies go pretty darn slow, but I guess that is a good thing with all of the people hanging off them. Fisherman's Warf was a busy and fun place to visit. Highlights are: the video-taping of pirate jokes by the pirate statue with my uncle playing along like a champ, trying to video tape Alcatraz and being unable to tell which building it was even though it was only giant yellow building that looked like a prison, being attacked with tree branches by a man who we all saw, but still scared us with his loud "boo" and tree branch waving, eating yummy chocolate at Ghiradelli, and walking the thousands of blocks back to the hotel.
Friday evening we checked into the conference, had a meet and greet Episcopal wine hour (which did not offer "an equally attractive alternative to alchohol" because there was only sparkling water and no Coke of any kind- I wasn't in Atlanta anymore clearly :-), but it was a good time. Dinner was as entertaing as anything I have seen in a while. Well maybe I should back up and set the stage. You think you are a decent dresser and moderately, well modern or at least not a grandma dresser, until you are in California and you realize you are not nearly as hip as most people around you. So surrounded by many hipper dressed people, and under the archways which served as a shelter from the sprinkling rain, we had a lovely dinner and of course coaxed our table into introducing themselves and sharing something funny. We made everyone say their name, where they are from (sound familiar DAYA people?), and then tell us what super power they would have if they could choose any. Running fast was popular as was the ability to manipulate others. Lauren Woody apparently wants to be able to make chicken salad out any ingredients presented to her, so that was an interesting insight into her world... I want to be able to breath underwater, like Aquaman, not Kevin Costner in Water World. We also had amazing entertainment during dinner, also known as the man with the awesome bike. The bike had a speaker systemt that only ran with someone riding it, which the entertainment man used to sing us magical rap songs about riding bikes, saving the environment, t-shirts, and Barak O'Bama. It was pretty sweet and hopefully my camera picked up some of the great songs.
After dinner we participated in "the stations of the MDGs" in beautiful Grace Cathedral, which Lauren explain in her blog so I won't reiterate, but it was an interesting time with some painting, sandwhich-making, and pretty good learning on the MDGs. Afterwords we had compline in the Cathedral and that was the end of the day (except for watching the waffle iron that can make anything infomercial on TV in the hotel room...)
More to come on the rest of the time in San Fran...
Sarah
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Back from the west--Lauren DAY TWO
We woke up and got to breakfast around 8 am on Saturday. After breakfast was a chance for us to do two workshops on the MDG's. I chose a workshop on the 8th goal Create a global partnership for development and one on Fransiscan Spirituality which inbodies a few of the goals into one way of living.
The global development workshop was good. We talked about what the Episcopal Church is doing in Washington to help acheive these goals. We talked about the importance of using your energy to try and affect a change in the way the US approaches debt relief, aid and fair trade to developing countires.
Lauren
Lauren
Back from the West-- Lauren DAY ONE
So Sarah and I decided not to take a laptop while we were there because we didn't want to be blogging instead of hanging out, so here is my synopsis of the trip:
We got to San Fran a little after lunch on Friday. We took a shuttle to the hotel and ended up riding with Christy Beesley, a friend of Charles Shipp's from home. It took me a minute to remember where I knew her from, but then I remembered that she came to Sunday's Cool with him one month. I immediately knew it would be a great trip. YEAH-A DAYA!!! We got to the Hotel Carlton and were unable to check in, so we called Sarah's aunt and uncle and they showed us around the bay area. It was really pretty down there, but I was sad that I didn't get to eat any seafood!!! We got to go to the Ghirardelli chocolate house. Boy do they make delicious chocolate!! We ended up walking all the way back to the hotel which was about 8,000 blocks uphill all the while looking for a cab. I actually enjoyed the walk, despite the length. We checked into the hotel and freshened up, then headed to Grace Cathedral for our first dinner together.
I love walking cities. It is so nice to be able to jump on a train, bus, cable car, or taxi and get anywhere quickly. I wish Atlanta would jump on the bandwagon!!! When we go to the Cathedral, I was so excited to see Will Skelton!! It made my trip. He was so much fun to hang out with at the YAMNC in Colorado last year. Unfortunately "The Pepper" couldn't make it to San Fran. We signed up for our workshops the next day, and went to grab a drink before dinner. I was surprised at dinner that the only options for drinks were water and wine. I don't know why this surprised me, but it did. Who did I have to kill to get a Coke around there? During dinner, in true DAYA fashion, Sarah and I made the table introduce themselves, say where they were from, and then name what super power they wanted. It was great. The responses ranged from controlling minds to being able to make chicken salad from any ingredients (The latter was mine of course)!!
We had some interesting entertainment after dinner. There was a white guy who rode around on a bike and rapped. His bike powered the amp and mic, so someone had to ride the bike while he rapped. I can only remember one line and he somehow managed to rhyme t-shirt and Barack Obama. It was all very interesting!!! Only in San Fran could you find that guy and it was great!! After the rapping ended, a few of us walked to the grocery and got something to drink and then off to Stations of the MDG's.
For those of you that don't know anything about the MDG's, here is my brief synopsis. MDG's are goals set forth by the United Nations to eradicate extreme poverty in our lifetime and they have been adopted by the Episcopal Church as the number one thing the church should be focused on. I know this sounds like a hard goal to reach, but we all have a part in it and the more we know, the more we can help. Please read up!!
At stations of the MDG's we did little projects or listened to people talking about each of the MDG's. It was good to learn them all, because before that time, I could probably only name 3 of them. My only criticism was that the stations were too short, and some of the activities didn't make sense with what they were supposed to be talking about. We ended the day with Compline, and going to bed.
I had a very interesting experience during Compline. A man came in off the streets to join us, and stood next to me. He talked to me a little about love and handed me a rock in the shape of a heart that he had painted. It was a very sweet gift and I was glad to have a few minutes to talk to him. I saw him again on Sunday when he showed up for church and introduced me to his son. He was not a Christian but was eager to be around other people wanting to "change the world".
I love meeting new people, so I was looking forward to what the rest of the weekend had in store.
Lauren
We got to San Fran a little after lunch on Friday. We took a shuttle to the hotel and ended up riding with Christy Beesley, a friend of Charles Shipp's from home. It took me a minute to remember where I knew her from, but then I remembered that she came to Sunday's Cool with him one month. I immediately knew it would be a great trip. YEAH-A DAYA!!! We got to the Hotel Carlton and were unable to check in, so we called Sarah's aunt and uncle and they showed us around the bay area. It was really pretty down there, but I was sad that I didn't get to eat any seafood!!! We got to go to the Ghirardelli chocolate house. Boy do they make delicious chocolate!! We ended up walking all the way back to the hotel which was about 8,000 blocks uphill all the while looking for a cab. I actually enjoyed the walk, despite the length. We checked into the hotel and freshened up, then headed to Grace Cathedral for our first dinner together.
I love walking cities. It is so nice to be able to jump on a train, bus, cable car, or taxi and get anywhere quickly. I wish Atlanta would jump on the bandwagon!!! When we go to the Cathedral, I was so excited to see Will Skelton!! It made my trip. He was so much fun to hang out with at the YAMNC in Colorado last year. Unfortunately "The Pepper" couldn't make it to San Fran. We signed up for our workshops the next day, and went to grab a drink before dinner. I was surprised at dinner that the only options for drinks were water and wine. I don't know why this surprised me, but it did. Who did I have to kill to get a Coke around there? During dinner, in true DAYA fashion, Sarah and I made the table introduce themselves, say where they were from, and then name what super power they wanted. It was great. The responses ranged from controlling minds to being able to make chicken salad from any ingredients (The latter was mine of course)!!
We had some interesting entertainment after dinner. There was a white guy who rode around on a bike and rapped. His bike powered the amp and mic, so someone had to ride the bike while he rapped. I can only remember one line and he somehow managed to rhyme t-shirt and Barack Obama. It was all very interesting!!! Only in San Fran could you find that guy and it was great!! After the rapping ended, a few of us walked to the grocery and got something to drink and then off to Stations of the MDG's.
For those of you that don't know anything about the MDG's, here is my brief synopsis. MDG's are goals set forth by the United Nations to eradicate extreme poverty in our lifetime and they have been adopted by the Episcopal Church as the number one thing the church should be focused on. I know this sounds like a hard goal to reach, but we all have a part in it and the more we know, the more we can help. Please read up!!
At stations of the MDG's we did little projects or listened to people talking about each of the MDG's. It was good to learn them all, because before that time, I could probably only name 3 of them. My only criticism was that the stations were too short, and some of the activities didn't make sense with what they were supposed to be talking about. We ended the day with Compline, and going to bed.
I had a very interesting experience during Compline. A man came in off the streets to join us, and stood next to me. He talked to me a little about love and handed me a rock in the shape of a heart that he had painted. It was a very sweet gift and I was glad to have a few minutes to talk to him. I saw him again on Sunday when he showed up for church and introduced me to his son. He was not a Christian but was eager to be around other people wanting to "change the world".
I love meeting new people, so I was looking forward to what the rest of the weekend had in store.
Lauren
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Off to San Fran--Lauren
So I am just getting home from work and about to pack for our trip. I hear the weather is going to be in the high 50's while we are there which makes me sad, because I hate the cold!!! It is also supposed to rain, and I have been under the weather since Tuesday, so I hope that when I wake up in the morning I feel better.
I am super stoked about our trip. I can't wait to make our video and to hang out with Steven in another state I wonder if I will recognize anyone? I wonder if any of my friends from YAMNC will be there. I hope my friends from MS are there. Will and Father Culpepper made my trip to Colorado awesome last year. Also I would love to see how the Young Adult mission church in Jackson is doing. I would call and ask, but I am too embarrassed after the game that Auburn played last week. I am not sure I am ready to hear it from Miss. State fans!!
I am also really glad that I get to experience this with Sarah. I think we haven't had a lot of time to hang out in a while, so I know we will have fun. She was with me in the beginning of this whole DAYA thing, so it will be like old times before we had all this help and we trying to do it on our own. I will even let her wear flowers in her hair:)! I know, I am so generous!!!
Any ways, I have never blogged before, so I am not really sure what to write. I hope this suffices. I will try to write a lot while we are gone, and I hope you all have an equally fun and adventurous weekend!!
See you on the flip side!!
Lauren
I am super stoked about our trip. I can't wait to make our video and to hang out with Steven in another state I wonder if I will recognize anyone? I wonder if any of my friends from YAMNC will be there. I hope my friends from MS are there. Will and Father Culpepper made my trip to Colorado awesome last year. Also I would love to see how the Young Adult mission church in Jackson is doing. I would call and ask, but I am too embarrassed after the game that Auburn played last week. I am not sure I am ready to hear it from Miss. State fans!!
I am also really glad that I get to experience this with Sarah. I think we haven't had a lot of time to hang out in a while, so I know we will have fun. She was with me in the beginning of this whole DAYA thing, so it will be like old times before we had all this help and we trying to do it on our own. I will even let her wear flowers in her hair:)! I know, I am so generous!!!
Any ways, I have never blogged before, so I am not really sure what to write. I hope this suffices. I will try to write a lot while we are gone, and I hope you all have an equally fun and adventurous weekend!!
See you on the flip side!!
Lauren
Are you going to San Fransisco..be sure to wear some flowers in your hair...
It's the evening before the big trip to Camino in San Francicso. I'm so excited about the trip- seeing a new city, meeting young adults from around the country, and spending some serious quality time with Woody! I'm least excited about the flight (I seem to be scared of flying ever since my flight to Jacksonville, FL in a hurricane a couple of years ago) and most excited about hanging out with awesome young Episcopalians who are doing the Big Guy's work across this great land of ours. Ok, yes I know, it should be "the Big God's work" or something like that, non-gendered. I am a feminist and not sure that God looks or acts much like the men/guys on earth, but I do like to be able to say "him" every once in a while during a prayer in church (my church tends to replace the "Him"s with "God"s). I guess there is just some Baptist in me I can't shake.
Nice tangent, anyway on to bigger questions. Will I wear flowers in my hair- yes or no? I guess I will just have to see what Lauren lets me get away with. Maybe after holding my hand for four hours on the plane she will just be happy I am otherwise occupied, even if it is with finding flowers to put in my hair.
Seriously, I am really looking forward to this trip and sharing our experience with any readers who happen to check out the blog. We will also be putting together a sweet video, so keep your eyes peeled for that one.
Peace out,
Sarah aka Bliz
Nice tangent, anyway on to bigger questions. Will I wear flowers in my hair- yes or no? I guess I will just have to see what Lauren lets me get away with. Maybe after holding my hand for four hours on the plane she will just be happy I am otherwise occupied, even if it is with finding flowers to put in my hair.
Seriously, I am really looking forward to this trip and sharing our experience with any readers who happen to check out the blog. We will also be putting together a sweet video, so keep your eyes peeled for that one.
Peace out,
Sarah aka Bliz
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