It has been a while

I am very sorry that it has been so long since I've posted. I thought I would let you know what has been happening since the return from NOLA.

The trip to NOLA was amazing this year! I had the most wonderful group and I think everyone took something significant from the experience. I learned how much fun it is to be with a group of students that are learning new things and changing every day!

There was something I wanted to add about a trip that was taken the weekend before spring break. The Wesley Scholars (a group of students who focus on what social justice looks like in the average persons' life through study, reflection and action) took a trip to Washington D.C. There we participated in a vigil for peace by participating in the Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership's Peace Witness. We had a day of non-violent training and workshops about the war in Iraq and the possibility of Iran, supporting the troops, and many other really great subjects. Then each individual chose a worship service to attend based on their individual faith background. There was a woman in the service I went to whose son died in Iraq, he was in the Pennsylvania National Guard. Her words were truly powerful! We then proceeded to the vigil which was held at Upper Senate Park where we heard leaders from all kinds of religions, broke bread together and held up hundreds of feet of rope with prayer flags attached. Then we walked to the Senate Hart Building where we held a vigil outside the doors and then inside the atrium. 41 people risked arrest including nearly a dozen clergy members from nearly as many different faiths. All of the individuals were arrested. It was truly an amazing experience. As Martin Luther King Jr. said in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, “Disinherited people all over the world are bleeding to death from deep social and economic wounds. They need brigades of ambulance drivers who will have to ignore the red lights of the present system until the emergency is solved.” These ambulance drivers are people who are willing to break the law (run a red light) for the higher good. During the weekend we also visited the Vietnam War Memorial, The Museum of the American Indian, and the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Overall the weekend was truly powerful and absolutely something I wouldn't trade, ever.

The weekend after spring break I was able to take all three of my cousins to go to see Spiderwick Chronicles. It was a lot of fun to spend time with family and finally be able to start to connect with my cousins who I have always felt almost estranged.

The following weekend the Wesley Scholars took a trip to Anathoth Community Farm in Luck, WI. This was an awesome experience. Anathoth works on three pillars 1) environmental sustainability, 2) non-violence and 3) community. The community has been in place for nearly my entire life. We were able to spend a little time learning a lot about many of the simple technologies that they have put in place to reduce their footprint on this earth. Their goal is simple; to be prepared for the shift in culture that is going to come soon enough due to the extravagant use of fossil fuels and the way we use this earth, and to educate others on ways they can be prepared and things they can do to really make a significant difference. Perhaps I'll talk a little more about this experience later. It was a lot of fun and I hope to spend some more time with the wonderful residents at Anathoth.

Through all of this I have been working hard on my honors project. The project will allow me to graduate with honors in German (my second major). The project is on the Armenian Genocide and in it I focus on the influences of three major countries (America, Germany, and Turkey) on the genocide. It has been a lot of work but I'm hoping it will be worth it. I have had many bumps in the road on the way to defending this work however. The committee that I defend my work to must consist of four people. Three of whom must be Hamline professors and one who should be an expert in the field from outside Hamline. The first person who I was set on suddenly passed away which left us searching for another. The second person felt she could not participate in the committee due to a quote I included from an Armenian genocide denier, however this individual didn't inform me at all and only informed my committee two days before I was supposed to defend. Therefore my defense date was pushed back until I could find a third and hopefully final outside person. I have found that person and plan to defend this work tomorrow afternoon. It is very exciting and I look forward to updating you on the progress made. There are several possibilities for how tomorrow will turn out. Each honors defense can either be failed, passed with major revisions, passed with minor revisions, or passed with recommendation. I have never heard of anyone who did not pass with either major or minor revisions and I am hoping for minor ones.

Another really exciting endeavour that I undertook was to throw an art opening for my sister. This happened just this past weekend. There were over thirty people who attended and she made over $400 off of the evening. Overall it was a lot of fun to see all of her art on the walls in my apartment and a lot of fun to see my sister so admired. I think it was an opportunity for a lot of people to see what myself and my parents have seen for a very long time. I really enjoyed doing it and I hope she did as well.

I think that's all for now. I am down to 11 days of classes left and two finals and then it is graduation time for me! I am really excited but nervous about what it is I am going to be doing in the future.