fourel's Xanga

Monday, July 16, 2007

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 13:20:08 GMT

Private contractors are paid signifcantly more than military troops, they are Americans who die just as often, and we hardly hear a word about them. I don't blame anyone for using them, or even for having so many troops in Iraq to start with -- but when they have such a huge our national budget, identity, and safety, why do we never hear about them?

For an in-depth look at what it's like to be a private contractor in Iraq, go to
http://thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1031

Monday, July 02, 2007

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:41:20 GMT

I spent the first week of the camping season helping the new Wilderness crew get settled... and I really loved every minute. I love being vital to something -- being someone who, if you're not there, the whole operation wouldn't be the same. I know, it sounds egotisical, but it's refreshing to be more than a drone... to be flown out to accomplish a task they wouldn't trust to anyone else. And, when all's done, to have done such a good job at training that I'm no longer the only one that can do it.

But then, I also just love camp itself. I don't how many times these past several days I turned to Andrew and said, "This is my favorite part of the week" -- because whatever is happening, it's my favorite at that moment.

I love waking up and hearing the birds outside my tent the first morning. I love watching the kids play teambuilding games, and then struggle to the top of the rock wall, and pack up for their overnights. I love setting up the GPS games. I love chatting with the staff at our campout at the ranch while we yell at the kids to go to sleep, and rising the next morning to Anita's coffee and cookies. I love seeing the kids at the beach, and on the slip 'n' slide, and down the Big Mtn Bike Ride, and up the ropes course. I love eating all fruit for lunch, and almost all meat for dinner. Looking back on past years, I even love when things go wrong, and we have to figure out "OK, how are we going to handle things THIS time?" Most of all, I love talking with the kids at meals and bedtimes, and hearing their questions in counselor Bible study, and sitting around the campfire telling them stories to help them understand our God and His love for them.

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Sun, 07 Jan 2007 16:50:01 GMT

I had a dream last night about one my favorite places, anywhere.

(Viewed in Microsoft VirtualEarth.)

Friday, October 27, 2006

Fri, 27 Oct 2006 13:01:35 GMT

I want to break things.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 12:27:29 GMT

Isn't it amazing what the subconsious mind can come up with? There's an old swing song that goes, "Conjuction Junction, what's your function?" and last night as I slept, my subconscious attempted to answer exactly that question: What was the function of the original swing scene, in the sense of social and economic significance?

Well, obviously, my mind began, swing dancing began in a time of deprivation. The Lindy Hop was named after national hero Charles Lindbergh, who was the first person to fly solo across the atlantic in the 1920s -- the "Roaring 20s", of course, being a time of organized crime, tommy guns, The Great Prohibition, and speakeasys. Swing clubs were mostly developed on coastal, port cities, notably Los Angeles and New York. The reason for this, given the social context, becomes obvious: they were fronts for the shipping and receiving of illigimate goods by the Mafia. They were deliberately designed with catchy music, high spirits, and pretty girls, in order to attract the attention of incoming sailors; these men, coming in from sea, would be desperate for some frivolity, especially in the company of the fairer sex, and would do anything to gain admission -- even arrange to help steal cargo from their ship, or allow themselves to be recruited in a grander scheme of smuggling. The flashier the club was, the more exciting it was for prospective customers, and the more willing they would be to cooperate; this explains the progressively more daring moves as the dance developed, until it culminated in the flips and throws that swing became famous for.

All of it, you see, makes perfect sense. Want to know what the real function was?

Who said it?

Thu, 31 Aug 2006 10:59:49 GMT

I quite agree:

"Instruction in world history in the so-called high schools is even today in a very sorry condition. Few teachers understand that the study of history can never be to learn historical dates and events by heart and recite them by rote... No, by the living God, this is very unimportant. To 'learn' history means to seek and find the forces which are the causes leading to those effects which we subsequently perceive as historical events."

Can you guess who said it?

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 12:29:17 GMT

Ladies and Gentlemen...

I'M BACK.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 19:14:19 GMT

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously
give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

a return to love - marianne williamson

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Tue, 18 Jul 2006 14:49:15 GMT

New 'do. The kids tell me that I look like I just got out of jail. Now for the tat...

Monday, July 03, 2006

Mon, 03 Jul 2006 20:11:08 GMT

Good week to start off the summer. Everything went smoothly, but camp was larger than expected: 19 boys and 7 girls. And we're still short a male counselor. ...a few more pics here.