MOVING!

Sara and I have taken a lease on a new apt just up the street from our current one. Our lease will start Oct 1st on this 2-bedroom third-floor walk-up and we are VERY excited. We were looking for a place where we could settle down for a few years and really get invested in our neighborhood. The apt is circled(?) in purple in the image above. All of those windows are ours and face west for some beautiful sunlight. After we move in and get things situated I'll try to get more pics up. One exciting development is that the additional space should give me a full-time sewing/creating space.

Pierre Boulez conducting the final movement of Janacek's Sinfonietta

Thursday morning fun

Yesterday I had an extravagant experience: sitting in on a rehearsal of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pierre Boulez. They were doing the final run-through for the evening program featuring, among other things, Stravinsky's ballet with songs--Pulcinella.

It all started when one of Jon's senior associates gave him a pass for 2 to attend a CSO reshearsal. This was a perk given to contributors to the orchestra. Jon and I were very excited and my boss very cheerfully granted me a few hours of vacation when she heard about the opportunity. We had grand plans of breakfast together and then 2.5 hrs of joyous listening in the lovely Symphony Center.

As the plans grew, so did my excitement, until it all came crashing down. Monday morning Jon informed me that he had a conflict on Thursday--a meeting at work that he was convening and directing, and which was taking place at the same time as the second half of the rehearsal. To say I was disappointed was an understatement. Not only could Jon not be with me, I wouldn't even be able to go. He had the pass and we were not going to see each other before the Thursday morning meeting.

Jon, being in need of a computer and an internet connection, decided to come into the city on Wednesday night. Not only would I get a chance to see him, but he was bringing the pass;-) I tried to find someone to take his place, but in the end it was just me.

I showed up at the concert hall after a long morning (that is another post) to be greated by a lobby full of gray heads. Being firmly in the non-ageist category, I don't mind gray heads at all. However, it is a bit unnerving to find yourself the youngest person in a group by several Decades! How could I forget that the primary audience of mid-morning events is the retired crowd? Not to mention that this was an event open to donors only, which also requires you to have some spare change. Not my usual crowd, but an interesting one, nonetheless.

One of the best things about this performance/rehearsal was that it was open seating through out the hall except for a couple of reserved boxes. I was able to listen to the entire event from Box J! That is the box above and slightly to the left of the double doors in the picture above!

Pierre Boulez was French to the core and an entertaining conductor. It was a bit disconcerting to hear such beautiful music coming from men and women dressed in everything from tracksuits, to flannel shirts and jeans, to business casual wear. However, one of the highlights was from the first piece, Janácek's Sinfonietta. It calls for 12 trumpets lined up in the back of the orchestra. In both the first and fifth movements they are supposed to stand up when they play. Boulez was very picky about when and how this would happen: it must be all together, and it must NOT look like jack-in-the-boxes! They went over which measures it was supposed to take place, and how they were to rise. We saw/listened to that several times:-)

The weather was sunny and warming, the music was amazing and it was REALLY hard to go back to work! I can't wait to until summer and all the marvelous free music in Grant Park.

photo compliments of margotat at InstantEncore

Total Church Conference recordings

These past few months I have been involved in the Vision Team at my church. It was a small commitment as far as meetings go, but I felt privileged to be asked to help out. As a small urban church plant, Cityview leadership (mostly Pastor Peter) has been working to refine the vision of the church and clarify where we're going, how and why. The presbytery has been helping and the Vision Team was a result of their combined efforts.

I am posting the link to the Total Church Conference recordings because I think they would be valuable for me to listen to while I consider my role in an urban context and as part of an urban church. They are here so I can find them, but some of you may be interested in them as well.

Thanks to The Resurgence!

From the Desk of Rebecca: Random Friday Thoughts

Fridays seem to be the best time to collect random tidbits, so here are mine. Like my earlier post, it seems more fun to share those things that have provoked thought, laughter or... as referred to earlier today, lust. Have fun!

Erik Redmond at Irish Calvinist often has interesting or provocative posts, but I really enjoyed his brief reflection on the irony that he spent his single life being macho with his guy friends only to marry and have a woman for a best friend:-)

Good ole JT had another great post that led me to an online PDF about loving God with your heart AND your mind. I am looking forward to exploring this at greater length.

As if I didn't already have enough to read, Practicing Writer pointed me to an online community of readers and writers that looks like it should yield some interesting reads... Maybe I'll even comment if it is worth it...

Some of you know my passion for godly marriage--eventually my own , but mostly the support of marriage-mindedness in singles and marriage-committedness in my married friends. Boundless provides another interesting post about why they are so vocally in support of marriage.

JT had a post earlier on Nichols' book on the Blues and what an African-American pastor thinks of this exploration of a minority view of Christianity. Recently J and I were discussing what it feels like to be a minority when there are a very small number of Christians in a setting where there are systematic thought patterns that keep people from even seeing their prejudice. We discussed how it requires much grace, patience and genuine love to help someone see their faulty thought patterns and systematic beliefs for what they are.

It made me think of those unconscious prejudicial patterns in my own thinking that I rarely see because they seem so natural. I have been repenting daily since then. There is no way around it... my heart harbors prejudices, particularly racial and intellectual ones. Now I am struggling to change those patterns, but I can see it will take a lot of grace and patience on the part of those who are the objects of this prejudice and a great work of the Holy Spirit to redeem my thinking.

That leads me to Parchment and Pen's interesting post on one argument against atheism that may not be very effective.

Finally, I close with my friend April's ode to her beloved father. Her attitude, if not her specific examples could all be spoken about my own father. I don't know what I would do without his love and loving relationship with me. He has taught me much about what a man can be by the grace of God. In addition, my sisters and I experienced some of adventures in the company of April, Stacey and their incorrigible dad:-)

Enjoy the weekend! It should be beautiful weather here in the Chicagoland area, and hopefully good weather for the Marathon. May God be with anyone who thinks running 28 miles is a good thing:-D

From the Desk of Rebecca

http://techbuddy.us/images/womancomputer.jpg

I have gotten in the habit of emailing Jon my favorite blog posts every few days, occasionally wishing I would have bookmarked them so I could go back and read them again. Then I hit upon a wonderful idea: if I write a blog post every time I email him, I'll have them right there:-) I scan a lot of blogs via my RSS feed on google reader, but I only read a few. Here are some that actually were read today!

Jon and I read the first chapter out of Abolition of Man by CS Lewis on our way home from MO over Labor Day and had some lively discussion about worldviews and the training of young minds to be prepared for answering difficult questions. Justin Taylor over at Between Two Worlds posted some links to more interesting dialogue about worldviews here.

Another interesting post from JT concerned adhering to Biblical truth even when you may have emotional disagreement with it. This is not something you hear about very often and is definitely worth thinking about. What do I believe even though it doesn't resonate with me? What do I NOT believe because of the way it makes me feel, rather than because I have a firm conviction that it is not true? It reminds me of some of the conversations that I have had with non-believers and believers alike who don't believe in hell. They just don't think it fits with the idea of a good God.

Finally, any conversation about theology or philosophy eventually leads Jon back to naturalism, which he loathes. My own forays into worldview studies and my interest in philosophy and the understanding of truth was one of the first things Jon loved about me;-) He also finds that sort of conversation very romantic, so I like to make sure it is in good supply! Here was an interesting article on Parchment and Pen that makes a good argument against naturalism's ability to provide a foundation for morality.

There is always more to write, but that will have to wait for another post.

Some fun times this summer

My friend Andrew was kind enough to download the pics from my camera, shrink them on his computer, and burn them to a cd for me so that I could FINALLY add some to my blog. I am going to be working backwards through some but first up is my own picture of me with the beloved physicist. Unfortunately, life jackets are never flattering:-( and I look like I am attempting the pirate/biker chick look... But otherwise it is quite a good pic. J and I spend A LOT of time smiling and laughing together. It is one of the great joys of our relationship. My good friend Rob and Andrew made up the balance of the crew of a boat we rented from Belmont Harbor and sailed out just in time to catch the Blue Angels buzzing the lake! The day was gorgeous and it was a veritable maze of ships parked outside the harbor mouth. We couldn't have asked for better weather or a more fun time. Being out on the lake always takes my breath away. I am actually considering shelling out the money to take sailing lessons next summer. I've only gone out 3 times this summer, but I wish it could have been more. Sailing, by and large, is still accessible since the fuel is primarily muscle and wind... all renewable resources;-)

Cool stuff: my version

Was wandering around the blogs I like to frequent and came across this post from Random Musings. I always enjoy what she has to say, and her name is Rebecca, so she must be cool ;-) It seems like I wrote just yesterday and it has already been almost 2 weeks... YIKES!

Cool stuff:

• Thunderstorms that crash so loudly they make me jump... even if I have my earphones in.
• Changing the hem on $0.80 pants from the thrift store and having cute office wear.
• A best friend who will sit and listen to me verbally process my relational experience without yawning once.
• Thumb-wrestling with an extremely intelligent man and considering it just as fun as deep conversation.
• The fragrance of clothes fresh from the clothesline.
• Anything that combines mushrooms, spinach and good cheese.
• Standing in front of A Sunday on La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat with someone who has never seen it before.
• Living over a year without a car.
• Working with interesting people at a job that really only requires 35 hrs a week from me and still pays me a livable wage.

There is always more that could be added. I am hoping to have a book list/review post in a few days. Just finished Chesterton's Orthodoxy and am in the midst of Till We Have Built Jerusalem by Philip Bess.... an interesting collection of essays on New Urbanism and its ties to the sacred. So much to think about (and write about)-- so little time!

Accidental Poem

This one came up in an IM today at work. This is what happens when you IM with your coworker while he is sitting next to you in class.

sorry... can't help it
at least I don't screech
my sleep deprived brain can't handle Indigo being smart
its just too much
It is like Jonatan being a good ole boy
overloads the synapses

A little background: Indigo regularly laughs and talks so loudly in class that she disrupts everything. The other instructor reprimands her regularly. So I laughed at a face another instructor made and Indigo informed me, very properly, that I was being too loud. It was too much, coming from her, so I just busted out again. Then my acerbic co-worker IM'd that my laugh was as bad as Indigo's singing, etc. Then the above poem happened. Oh, and Jonatan is one of my very sly 9th graders that will look me in the eye and insist that he is working hard when I just saw him playing cards with another student.... Then today he shakes my hand as if there was never a conflict betwixt us regarding his work or any other possible issues. Just too much!

Poem #22

This prompt was for Earth Day and as with other Tuesdays there was the choice between two prompts: write an industrial poem or write a nature poem. One day a few weeks back I decided to take pictures all the way back from the school where I tutor to my apartment. That takes me through some rather sketchy industrial areas, Chinatown and the fringes of South Loop gentrification. I was going to include a couple of the pics in this post to more artistically illustrate it, but I can't find the cord to my digital camera, so this will be up to your imagination.

Gentrified

Crumbled factories, Ayn Rand
Facades in empty lots: 45,000
Square feet for rent lie only blocks
From the newest highrise on south
Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
Rusted ironworks bridging the brown
Sluggish river no longer dyed green
Testament to languishing industrial
Glories now lead to former tenements
Cum studios for the poor intelligentsia
Paving paths for the bourgeoisie
To invade the ethnic enclaves
Urban is chic and concrete pours
For Eco-Friendly Resort-Style Living
Where formally public housing stood
The sprawl has turned upon itself
Rushing home from the suburbs
To refurbished brownstones and the hope
That their righteous urbanity will restore
Life to the fretful deities of mangled nature