Mealin' and dealin'

We made a peach raspberry pie on Saturday and Mark (ice cream in hand!) joined us for the tasting. Mark, displaying his full belly, is either very happy or in pain:

Eating was followed by a couple of rousing rounds of Yahtzee.

C'mon lucky fives!


Monday was our first turn to host Community Meal and we spent much of the day in preparation, as only those without proper jobs are able to. The cheese and spinach lasagne as found in the (highly recommended by us) Zen Monastery Cookbook was the best entree Eric has made to date. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

This was also our first time using our dining room table for dining. We've had it for 2 1/2 months, so it's still pretty new--ha. We also used some fancy paper napkins that we received as part of a wedding gift. Definitely a special occasion!

Goose, Susan, Julie, Mark and Juliana:



Another exciting event of the week was going downtown to the ginormous Harold Washington Library. We got five movies and eight books all together. I am so into this autobiographical piece by Luis Alberto Urrea (my new favorite author) that I read while walking to the Y this morning until I started to experience a bit of motion sickness from the blur of sidewalk and brick around me. I love when something grabs me like that!

A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City

Yesterday I visited the interactive exhibit currently in Grant Park, A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City. Staff of Doctors Without Borders took groups on guided tours around the "camp" and talked about refugee needs and how those needs are addressed by humanitarian organizations like theirs.


In refugee camps full of people who have crossed borders fleeing violence, groups like Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam provide and facilitate the provision of food, medical care, shelter, latrines, mental health care, and drinking water. The work they do is incredible and far-reaching, though the numbers--33 million people worldwide are currently displaced by violent conflict--and needs are overwhelming. We all know that Sudan has recently (and not so recently) produced insane numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons, but are we aware that Burundians, Palestinians, and Afghans, among others, have stayed in refugee camps and temporary shelters in neighboring countries for decades? My own awareness has been pretty limited.

I found myself incredibly impressed by the work being done and the level of commitment on the part of staff and supporters of these kinds of organizations, but I also left with lots of questions: Do the kids have any access to an education? Are there opportunities, in addition to working for relief organization, to earn a livelihood or practice a trade? What must it be like to live your entire life in a refugee camp? How does that shape your identity and sense of worth? How do we work toward a world where people can live safely and provide for themselves and their families in their homeland?

On my way back to the train station, I wandered through the garden in (or next to?) Millennium Park. I had never explored it before because, from the outside, it looks like an arborvitae fortress (something we had experienced quite enough of in Oregon), but it is quite beautiful and peaceful.


I also ran into Olivia, who was a member of my youth group at United Church of Rogers Park, where I served while in seminary. It was great to catch up a bit.


We have been having some incredible fall weather and I have very much enjoyed being outside!

Chicago Matters

Back in July, I wrote about two great books that tell important immigrant stories. Thursday evening, Luis Alberto Urrea, the author of one of those books, The Devil's Highway, spoke at our local public library--and I am so glad that I went to hear him! His appearance was part of the year-long public affairs series Chicago Matters: Beyond Borders program, which is put on by Chicago Public Radio and friends. The focus for 2007 is immigration.

Here he is reading a short excerpt from The Devil's Highway. He looks guero, but he was born in Tijuana to a Mexican father and an Estadounidense (United Statesian) mother:

On the day of his talk, I finished reading a second book of his, The Hummingbird's Daughter, which I thought was fabulous. The book is a novel based on the life of Teresita, Urrea's great aunt, who was a midwife and a healer. I would highly recommend it.

Luis Urrea's website is worth a look, but I especially like his blog. He just seems like a great person. Not only is an excellent writer who makes important observations about immigration and identity and life, but he is funny and (seemingly) authentic. I look forward to reading more of his books and short stories. If you want to hear excerpts from past public radio interviews with him and conversations about his writing, you can find them on the Chicago Public Radio site.

By chance, I ran into my mom's friend, Gerry, at the reading. She was sitting in front of me, and it took us a long time to figure out how we knew each other.


I love the view of the skyline from the Pink Line:

Orchestra of Tangier

After a small, but very nice, community meal at My Thai downtown, Eric, Mark, Melissa and I enjoyed a beautiful (and free!) concert by the Orchestra of Tangier at the Chicago Cultural Center. This amazing eight-piece ensemble from Morocco played as part of the Chicago World Music Festival (which will be going on for another couple of days--you should go!).

The Cultural Center was at one time Chicago's public library and is covered in incredible tile mosaics with literary themes. It's the perfect place for a concert (especially when you don't have great seats) because there's lots to look at while you listen.


For more about the Orchestra of Tangier and the fascinating history behind their music--and to hear them play, go here or here.

Hanging out in the lobby:


Joseph met us downtown and came south with us for a sleepover! He got his very own room--though the room doesn't have a single piece of furniture, unless you count the desk lamp on the floor or the pillow chair (just a pillow). It was great to see him and to have a house guest!

Always eating...

Jeff and Heather invited us over for dinner and, because we hadn't seen them in a year (even though they live less than an hour away!), it seemed to be the perfect occasion to try to make a pie on my own! We had these delicious tart apples from our trip to northern Michigan, and they made for a tasty filling. Though the pie wasn't as purdy as the one April helped us make for the wedding, it turned out pretty well. If you look closely, you can see a word hidden in the cinnamon and brown sugar: "YAY!"


Jeff and Heather made a yummy pot of vegan chili and Eric added his special tofu enchiladas to the spread. Everything was delicious! For dessert we had rice pudding and cheesecake in addition to the pie--and of course, we had to try a little bit of everything! Here is Jeff enjoying his treats and dessert wine...all precariously balanced on his lap. Eric pointed out that his mom would not approve of the arrangement--especially in a room with white carpet!


After dinner, we enjoyed some Wii bowling and cow racing. Here's Eric going for a strike:


This picture makes it look like a much wilder party than it was. It's the only way I can get rid of hiccups!


It was great to see the Clingers' home and to hang out with their cool church friends.

Tonight was our neighborhood's big celebration for Mexico's Independence Day and I stopped by to listen to some ranchero music and watch the folkloric dance groups for a while. It was a chilly evening, but tons of folks were out having a great time.


These guys were amazing! A little bit like Riverdance--but in cowboy boots!

Some favorite pastimes

Eating food and drinking wine!


And playing Yahtzee!


Goose destroyed me with his high rolls and winning attitude...


But I still had fun.

Into the Land of Slicers!

Eric here. We left the city this past weekend because I had been invited to preach for a week at LaPorte FUMC in Indiana while Pastor Hadley is on sabbatical. I realized that I have now been away from LaPorte longer than I had lived there (15 and 14 years--you do the math to find out which significant birthday is coming up!). It was a great opportunity to see a lot of folks responsible for making me the man I am today. I was really glad that Mira was able to come with She's good company (and handy with the camera!)

On our way out of town I decided to have the Sears Tower for a little snack:

When we arrived in LaPorte Saturday evening, we had some time, so we stopped at the Temple News Agency . I remember riding my bike here a few times to drink chocolate malts and read magazines. They have a collection of yearbooks from LaPorte High School (The Slicers) and the two area middle schools ...

...and while they didn't have any from my year, we found one with a picture of this cool dude in it (a lounging discus star named Scott Conklin):

We were blessed to stay with hospitable friends, Whitey and Jo Thornburg. In addition to letting us stay at their great place, they even organized a dinner gathering including some other dear friends (only slightly delayed because of an infamous NIPSCo power outage). I am always amazed at the kindness of people from my past, and now I know that their presence in my life has had a huge impact on me. Clockwise around the table, starting with me, Whitey Thornburg, Jim Edwards, Rose Philbrook, Syd Philbrook, Lorraine Miller, Jo Thornburg, and Christy Edwards:

Whitey and Jo live right across the street from where I spent those first fourteen years. Here is a picture of ye ol' house from the street:


To me it seemed "normal" to live in a home where the stairs appeared to float, where twenty south-facing four feet by nine feet windows let in sunlight, and where a large source of heat was water circulating through the black concrete floor warmed by sunlight coming through those huge windows--commonly referred to as "passive solar heating." Although we moved away from that beautiful place, my love and appreciation for practical design and quality craftsmanship continue to warm me like sun-bathed concrete.

The last time I was in the neighborhood, my friend Mark and I were traveling through to Ohio during seminary and I had to show him my home town on an impulse. So, here is a picture of Mark in front of the same house from Sept 2003 (four years ago!).


LaPorte FUMC has three distinct church services--all of which are worth a visit. The first is at 8:00 in the small chapel. When I was younger, we only attended "early church" if we had something going on (like Pop Warner football) that would make going to the later service impossible, but there were quite a few folks at this service today--they even have a choir at this service now! The new service is the 9:00 "powertrain" service. It is contemporary and laid back, with donuts and juice offered throughout the service, with the fellowship hall in the basement as the setting. That is the service where I am preaching in this picture:


Sitting in the services as a child, the pulpit in the sanctuary seemed like it was around 600 feet high. I'd say that's about right. The third service features a choir that sounds as great as ever with a beautiful organ. I was glad to see that the sanctuary has been made more accessible for people of all abilities (no more unnecessary awkward walks through strange doors and hallways!). Here I am making an unforgettable point about Jesus or something:


Thank you to LaPorte for helping to raise me and my brothers--and for always welcoming us back with open arms!

Holy Cov in the News!

Holy Covenant's U2 Eucharist was recently featured in the United Methodist magazine, The Interpreter:

http://www.interpretermagazine.org/interior.asp?ptid=43&mid=12302

The next one will be October 7th, so if you're in Chicago, you should come!

Pilsen murals

I brought my camera on our walk yesterday and took pictures of just a few of the amazing murals in our neighborhood.

On the side of St. Pius Catholic Church:


On a side street off of 18th, Pilsen's main drag:


The Chicago flag flying in front of Orozco Community Academy, whose face is covered in mosaics:


Next to the Damen stop on the CTA Pink Line:


On the side of a home:


It curves around the front of building, too.


"Let the children come to me":


Above John's Lavandaria--I believe these two and the one above are all on St. Pius buildings:


On the side of an old church that now houses The Resurrection Project, a great non-profit organization.

Wonderful Weekend in the North Woods

Goose and I enjoyed a nice tour of Michigan over the long weekend, during which we spent good time with my family and with friends we hadn't seen in a while and got to celebrate Carl and Anna's wedding with them! We left Chicago on Thursday and spent the night in Holland. It was great to see my mom and step-dad and Cessie and to allow my mom to practice some of her new massage moves she's learned since I've seen her last. Both Cessie and I got to try out her new massage table!

On Friday, we headed north to Gaylord, where I was born. We met my dad, grandpa and step-mother Jamera at the always-classy La Senorita (the only Mexican restaurant I've ever been to where I didn't see a single Hispanic person). We also visited my grandpa's new home, which is just two blocks from where Rose and Justin and I grew up. He's doing lots of work on the inside:


Eric patiently endured the tour of Gaylord..."and there's where I learned to ice skate....oh, my babysitter used to live there...that's Mooney's--that's where we got ice cream...right there is where they had the hula-hoop contest during Alpenfest..." It was all very fascinating.

Goose and I drove out to Boyne Falls where we shared a condo with some seminary friends in the appropriately named condo area, "Disciples Village." Carl was able to join us for dinner that night, which was really nice because we didn't get to see him a whole lot over the weekend (he was a little busy with the whole getting married thing). Goose, me, Mark, John G, Carl, Jeff, April and Vince:


Here's the whole condo crew on the last day--Yanela and Alejandro and Bridget and Casey completed the group! This photo was taken by our neighbor, Aunt Flash.


On Saturday, Goose and I met my dad and Jamera at a little campsite on Lake Marjory where my grandma and Uncle Justin were staying for the weekend. It was so nice to see them!




Carl and Anna invited folks to bring a pie to share at the reception, so April, who is an amazing cook, led Eric and me in the making of two pies--one apple and one peach raspberry!

Thankfully, someone pointed out that I was holding the salt and not the sugar.


The yummy-looking pies taunted us on the counter for a day before the wedding. Thankfully, we had lots of ice cream on hand to stave off the sweet tooth (I took full advantage of being "on vacation" by eating two bowls of ice cream every day). The peach raspberry actually turned out amazing and disappeared quite rapidly at the reception.


On the way to the church with the boys. After a freak tripping incident at the beginning of the weekend, Casey finally began to trust Eric a little bit.


Hanging out in the condo before the wedding:


John G and the boys:


It was truly a beautiful wedding. The chapel is surrounded by leafy trees and overlooks Lake Louise (in the picture at the top of the post)...and it was just so so nice to see Carl and Anna so happy.


They sang a beautiful song that they had written together:


Mark and Yanela with a sleepy Alejandro after the ceremony:


We shared a lovely dinner with some Albion folks--Rich, Heather, Zac, Kristin and Dan, plus Kat, Andrew and Amy. A bluegrass band played great music and, of course, we ate lots of pie!


That night, like every night at the condo, we played a couple of rounds of El Padrino ("The Godfather" in Spanish), a fabulous (and addicting) board game from Venezuela that involves making money and offing everyone else (by shooting, stabbing, poisoning, and blowing up cakes). It is quite the game.


On Monday morning, some folks gathered at Carl's family cottage for gift opening.


We decided to take the scenic route along Lake Michigan back to Holland, which was well worth the extra time and distance. We stopped at a neat little park on Torch Lake, number one on the list of clearest lakes in Michigan (Lake Louise is number three):


We drove along Crystal Lake and stopped at the Point Betsie Lighthouse. It is one of Jim's favorite spots and is also featured by this video reflection by David Gladstone, Carl's dad, who grew up in nearby Frankfort.



We also stopped at a scenic overlook a bit further south, where we climbed 124 steps for this incredible view:



The sunset was amazing, even from the car! We couldn't have asked for a better day to drive!


We had another nice night in Holland before heading back to Chicago yesterday morning. It was a lovely lovely weekend.