I just finished reading Tracy Kidder's biography of Dr. Paul Farmer, Mountains Beyond Mountains. What an inspiring story! Farmer is a doctor who lives to serve the poor, living out the social gospel curing one person at a time. He also works to improve the living conditions of his patients, giving him/her a tin roof, paying the children's tuition, in other words preventing the conditions that permit the disease to happen in the first place to happen again. His work has given me a new way of thinking about how public policy, which tends to focus on cost-effectiveness and tends to rely compromises to achieve the so-called greater good. This stands in stark contrast to work that impacts one person at a time, without consideration of cost. Of course, there are still decisions to be made, and helping one person necessarily means not helping another at the same moment of time. But as Farmer said, it's all a long defeat we fight and the victories along the way is just gravy.
This books goes well with two others I just finished, Danielle Allen's Talk to Strangers in which she used the event of school desegregation in Arkansas following Brown vs the Board of Education to illustrate how social change happens via private negoations, one conversation at a time. My husband and I were at a book reading which was part of a week-long Martin Luther King celebration at which Danielle read her new book. I was happy to get an autographed copy of this elegant little pale green book. The other work was good old "Walden", by the old curmudgeon Henry David Thoreau, in which he of course lived a private revolt against all the trappings of so-called civilization in mid-19th Century New England. I skimmed this old favorite quickly before hearing Paul Friedrich's talk about three weeks ago, in which he discussed, ostensibly the poetics of "Walden" but of course got into the politics of it as well. All three stories are revolutionary and prophetic, and all elicit wonderful reflective moments that are fitting to this Lenten season.
Talking about reflective teachings, I must go back to Paul the great apostle himself. I read chapter 14 of Romans today, in German, and wrote out the following verse for reflection for the week. It fits amazingly well with the service of Paul Farmer to the poor, the calling of Danielle Allen to political friendship, and the devotion of Henry David Thoreau to only the things most essential in life.
Romans 14:9
Denn hierzu ist Christus gestorben und [wieder] lebendig geworden,
daß er herrsche sowohl über Tote als über Lebende.
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Monday, February 21, 2005
Trip to the ER
Saturday morning we had to take our youngest son to the ER because he had a seizure. Fortunately all the tests came out normal except that he had very low blood sugar and ketones in his urine. As soon as the ER got his blood sugar level up, he was his old happy and active self again. We saw his regular pediatrician today and will follow up with a metabolic geneticist soon. Hopefully it's just an isolated episode of not having eaten much for a few days because he had a cold.
We had a long day on Saturday and our weekend schedule got kind of thrown off. It will be a little while before my body and my brain catch up with each other again.
We had a long day on Saturday and our weekend schedule got kind of thrown off. It will be a little while before my body and my brain catch up with each other again.
Saturday, February 12, 2005
People are funny
I had a day off today, thanks to Abe Lincoln. So I spent the morning shopping.
I started out in Chinatown looking for traditional Cantonese breakfast of rice porridge and thousand year egg, and stumbled upon a traditional Northern Chinese restaurant. So for a mere $2.75 I got dou jang (kind of a thick soy milk) and you tiao ( like a long john donut, but without filling). Ah the simple food of North China. The shop was small but tidy and very simply adorned with handwritten signs advertising menu items and prices and a couple of photographs of 1920's and 1930's Shenyang. Shenyang is the fifth largest city in China and is located way up on the Northeast, in former Mongolia. It had been both a Mongolian and a Manchurian city in the past. Today it's a science and technology hub, thanks in part to the Russians, who had great influence in that area of China at the turn of the century.
After breakfast, I bought a few bakery items, some frozen food, and some dried meat. All Cantonese stuff. After I finished shopping for Chinese groceries, I stopped by at Target to buy cake decorations for my son's birthday party tomorrow and craft supplies for Sunday School. Target was as much modern America as the little restaurant was rural China. What a contrast!
On the way home, the radio was playing an old interview of playright Arthur Miller, who died yesterday. Coincidentally I attended a lecture on the Poetics of Walden last night. Miller and Thoreau were both ardently humanist in their own ways, and fiercely independent. They would have much to talk about. The world is ever changing but people are always more interesting that things.
I started out in Chinatown looking for traditional Cantonese breakfast of rice porridge and thousand year egg, and stumbled upon a traditional Northern Chinese restaurant. So for a mere $2.75 I got dou jang (kind of a thick soy milk) and you tiao ( like a long john donut, but without filling). Ah the simple food of North China. The shop was small but tidy and very simply adorned with handwritten signs advertising menu items and prices and a couple of photographs of 1920's and 1930's Shenyang. Shenyang is the fifth largest city in China and is located way up on the Northeast, in former Mongolia. It had been both a Mongolian and a Manchurian city in the past. Today it's a science and technology hub, thanks in part to the Russians, who had great influence in that area of China at the turn of the century.
After breakfast, I bought a few bakery items, some frozen food, and some dried meat. All Cantonese stuff. After I finished shopping for Chinese groceries, I stopped by at Target to buy cake decorations for my son's birthday party tomorrow and craft supplies for Sunday School. Target was as much modern America as the little restaurant was rural China. What a contrast!
On the way home, the radio was playing an old interview of playright Arthur Miller, who died yesterday. Coincidentally I attended a lecture on the Poetics of Walden last night. Miller and Thoreau were both ardently humanist in their own ways, and fiercely independent. They would have much to talk about. The world is ever changing but people are always more interesting that things.
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Ash Wednesday
Having the first day of the lunar new year coincide with Ash Wednesday created a bit of cognitive dissonance today. Do I celebrate Chinese New Year, or do I celebrate Ash Wednesday? I decided to do both. On the food end, it was easy. After the traditional rich feast shared with family last night, the Cantonese Chinese tradition is to eat simple vegetarian food on New Year's Day itself. So that actually went well with the tradition of fasting and spiritual preparation on Ash Wednesday.
My work day started out with a phone call from a woman who works in another division wishing me happy new year. She is also of Chinese descent. She also wanted me to post a new year message on our internal website. It will mean a lot to the few Asians working on our staff, she said. So I did the posting, and received a few more happy new year messages during the day.
After work, I went to Ash Wednesday service at church. My Christian background encompasses quite a bit of diversity--Catholic school education, evangelical church upbringing, then later Episcopalian and Lutheran musical education, and still later ecumenical youth group experience, and now a socially active progressive Baptist church experience. What a mixed bag! I end up celebrating pretty much all the important rituals from many, if not all of these traditions. I enjoy the Ash Wednesday litany for all its solumnity. Even though service tonight was very small--the pastor couple, two deacons, and two others--it was no less meaningful. It is sobering to begin Lent with the reminder that we came from dust and to dust we will go.
My work day started out with a phone call from a woman who works in another division wishing me happy new year. She is also of Chinese descent. She also wanted me to post a new year message on our internal website. It will mean a lot to the few Asians working on our staff, she said. So I did the posting, and received a few more happy new year messages during the day.
After work, I went to Ash Wednesday service at church. My Christian background encompasses quite a bit of diversity--Catholic school education, evangelical church upbringing, then later Episcopalian and Lutheran musical education, and still later ecumenical youth group experience, and now a socially active progressive Baptist church experience. What a mixed bag! I end up celebrating pretty much all the important rituals from many, if not all of these traditions. I enjoy the Ash Wednesday litany for all its solumnity. Even though service tonight was very small--the pastor couple, two deacons, and two others--it was no less meaningful. It is sobering to begin Lent with the reminder that we came from dust and to dust we will go.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Chinese New Year 's Eve
No matter how hard I try, I don't seem to find time or energy to post every day. Oh well.
Today is the day before Chinese New Year. Traditionally, families gather together to have a big feast at dinner time. It just so happened that we have enough leftovers from previous dinners to put out quite a spread tonight--broiled chicken breast, roast duck with orange sauce (kind of a light version of Duck l'Orange), broccoli and steamed rice, pork roast and rice with a tad of hot sauce, mussels with garlic black bean sauce, and boiled brussels sprouts. OK, it's not all Chinese food, but with the composition of our family, an international flair seems appropriate for an end-of-the year dinner.
We also put up decorations for Chinese New Year. There are the red decorations full of traditional sayings of blessings, happiness, and spring. We also put up some paper lanterns, a traditional decoration for the 15th day of the lunar new year, knowing that we probably won't find time to change decorations in two weeks!
Today also happens to be Mardi Gras, and tomorrow Ash Wednesday. It's interesting when these holidays are juxtaposed. I like celebrations of all kinds, so we'll end up celebrating all these special days, in big and small ways. It's fun to have fun, and to remember the stories and histories that are important to different people groups.
Today is the day before Chinese New Year. Traditionally, families gather together to have a big feast at dinner time. It just so happened that we have enough leftovers from previous dinners to put out quite a spread tonight--broiled chicken breast, roast duck with orange sauce (kind of a light version of Duck l'Orange), broccoli and steamed rice, pork roast and rice with a tad of hot sauce, mussels with garlic black bean sauce, and boiled brussels sprouts. OK, it's not all Chinese food, but with the composition of our family, an international flair seems appropriate for an end-of-the year dinner.
We also put up decorations for Chinese New Year. There are the red decorations full of traditional sayings of blessings, happiness, and spring. We also put up some paper lanterns, a traditional decoration for the 15th day of the lunar new year, knowing that we probably won't find time to change decorations in two weeks!
Today also happens to be Mardi Gras, and tomorrow Ash Wednesday. It's interesting when these holidays are juxtaposed. I like celebrations of all kinds, so we'll end up celebrating all these special days, in big and small ways. It's fun to have fun, and to remember the stories and histories that are important to different people groups.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Crazy Weather
It's been two weeks since my last entry. Where has the time gone?
In any case, the title says it all. The weather around here is crazy. Two weeks ago, we had a snow storm, followed by some freezing temperatures. This weekend it's busy 50 degrees and sunny. Go figure. There was an ice-skating outing at church that got changed to a movie trip because of the unusual warmth. Unfortunately Coach Carter is neither a preteen girl nor an 8-year-old boy's cup of tea.
So, instead of Coach Carter, I took the kids to get take-out pizza from Pizza Hut instead, using two of the Book-It coupons for two personal pan pizzas. It's a great idea to give pizza for reaching reading goals. As much as I shun fast food, the children do love it, and free pizza is a great motivator for children.
In any case, the title says it all. The weather around here is crazy. Two weeks ago, we had a snow storm, followed by some freezing temperatures. This weekend it's busy 50 degrees and sunny. Go figure. There was an ice-skating outing at church that got changed to a movie trip because of the unusual warmth. Unfortunately Coach Carter is neither a preteen girl nor an 8-year-old boy's cup of tea.
So, instead of Coach Carter, I took the kids to get take-out pizza from Pizza Hut instead, using two of the Book-It coupons for two personal pan pizzas. It's a great idea to give pizza for reaching reading goals. As much as I shun fast food, the children do love it, and free pizza is a great motivator for children.
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