Invitation to partnership and to my new blog!

La Travesia de Mira = Mira's Crossing

From May 18th to June 2nd, I will be traveling with a group through Oaxaca, in southern Mexico, and Altar, on the US-Mexico border, to explore the root causes of northward migration that so many Mexicans (and Central and South Americans) have undertaken. Through conversations with farmers, activists, families and sojourners, we hope to better understand why so many are leaving home and how these migrations impact families and communities.

We will also walk for six days through the desert in solidarity with the thousands who have lost their lives attempting to cross and the countless others who make the dangerous trek seeking a better life.

Please check out my new blog for more information about my trip and to find out how you can partner with me in this work. You can participate by offering prayer, providing financial support, further educating yourself about globalization and migration, or signing up to receive updates and reflections.

Blessings,
Mira

Beautiful Day

Happy Easter!

Just a few lovely moments from Easter weekend...

A third of the congregation joining the choir in front to close out the service with the Hallelujah Chorus:


Easter dinner with Susan, John, Peder, Steve, Jodi, Dorothy and the other Steve (who was off in the other room). Susan and Steve planned to have us at their place, but the Easter bunny must have broken their furnace while delivering eggs... so we ate at John and Dorothy's place.


We spent Saturday morning with Mom and Jim in Naperville. Here we are after a delicious lunch at Whole Foods (which has the best salad bar, ever).




Moving backward in time... It turns out that Mexican food is the perfect post-Good-Friday-service meal! Trey, Jen, Andrew, Kristin, Erin and I were having such a good time that they started mopping the floor before we got the message that it was time to leave!


Could it be that we've seen the last snow storm for a while? I am filled with the hope of newness.

Good Friday Walk for Justice

The 8th Day Center for Justice coordinates a yearly Good Friday walk that is modeled after the Catholic process of walking the "stations of the cross." In this walk, the stations, which traditionally commemorate particular steps or moments along Jesus' journey to crucifixion, are connected with modern-day injustices. For example, I participated with folks from the Chicago New Sanctuary Coalition, who coordinated the readings and songs for the "weeping women" station. Our reflection focused on the immigrant women who weep for the separation from children, spouses and siblings as a result of economic migration and workplace raids.

It was a wild afternoon to be walking through the city... This first day of spring brought with it a fierce snow storm that still, several hours later, hasn't let up. The conditions have sure contributed to the dreary, hopeless nature of this day.


But hope is just around the corner....

5 years too long

Let us pray for peace.
Let us work for peace.

Always eating

A few weeks back, we had Community Meal at our place again. Vegan tofu enchiladas were followed by a very interesting dessert...fried (ahem, burnt) plantains with caramel sauce! Yay for community and for adventurous eaters!


Our Saturday visit to the Bleeding Heart Bakery. I only have eyes for you, vegan chocolate peanut butter cup cake!


On St. Patty's Day, we met Joseph at Kopi Cafe in Andersonville. We always enjoy their yummy guacamole and this time we ordered the dark sipping chocolate...divine. Oh, and it was good to see Joseph! Always is.


Palm Sunday was an early American folk music celebration at church. To give you an idea of the style, one of the songs we sang,"Angel Band" by the Stanley Brothers, is on the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack. Wow do we have some talented folks in the congregation. Not only were those who led simply amazing, the whole church just sang out. I really thought to myself, "This is what church should be like!"

Juggling a lot

It has been a full weekend! Eric spent three days planning for camping programs at Reynoldswood Camp (west of the city) and I had both a Starbucks training and a fabulous Urban Ministry Convocation. We visited Humboldt Park UMC, a loving and hospitable spanish-speaking congregation on the northwest side, for Sunday a.m. service, and then spent the after noon at Union Ave UMC. Union, near the old Chicago stockyards, has hosted an urban day camp the past few summers and today was the reunion! It was great fun to visit and eat with the kids and the youth group from Edison Park UMC treated us with a juggling performance! They were really amazing and they shared their talents with the little ones when they finished. Nathan, a 7-yr-old, said he was going to tell his mom to buy him some bean bags so he can practice juggling at home! Very sweet.

Hello old friends!

Eric has taken on a few shifts a week at the Blind Faith Cafe, where he worked for our first year in Chicago, and I made the trip to Evanston with him yesterday. Andy came up from Rogers Park and we visited over a delicious Santa Fe Salad, a cappuccino brownie and some coffee. It had been ages since we saw this old neighbor of ours!


Later, Andy dropped me off at a nearby coffee shop where I met Maiko and Joey--it had been even longer since I had seen them! Here we are after walking back to the BFC to meet Eric:


Pretty amazing--during the time that Eric worked a whole shift, I did nothing but visit with people. How great! Too bad I can't get paid for that.

After a wonderful service at church, we spent this afternoon walking through the Wicker Park neighborhood, window shopping and people watching. It is so interesting how different parts of the city are filled with such different kinds of folks. The 55-degree weather was so refreshing, but we could have snow again as soon as tomorrow. Please, spring, come back soon.

Aqui Estoy

Kristin invited us to an amazing performance last night called Aqui Estoy. This phenomenal two part play is based on the stories of two undocumented immigrants, one from Honduras and one from Colombia, who live in the Albany Park neighborhood. Several years ago, a couple of young people involved in the Albany Park Theater Project spent time interviewing day laborers waiting for contractors on nearby corners in the early morning hours. The first half of the play, Amor de Lejos, is based on one of those day laborers, who left his wife and children at home and, after four attempts to cross Mexico, reached the US. The second half, Nine Digits, is based on a young member of the theater project who immigrated at the age of six and becomes trapped and haunted by his lack of a social security number. I am so sad that, after multiple extensions, last night was the last performance of the run, because I would like for everyone I know to see this play. The pieces use music and dance so beautifully and effectively, especially Amor de Lejos, in which the story unfolds in the midst of repetitive, dangerous, difficult work. Check out their website for more about the play, to access immigration resources, and to see a piece that PBS did on Aqui Estoy.

Hello there!

We finally saw the sun today. Oh what a difference that big ball of fire can make! Here's the lovely view of the skyline we saw while crossing the bridge to Whole Foods:


The past couple of weeks have been fuller than any we've had in a long time. Our job total between the two of us hit six this past week, so that keeps us busy. Eric continues to coordinate programs part-time for the United Methodist Outdoor Retreat Ministries and to serve as the communications person at Glenview UMC, and he recently decided to take on a few shifts at a week at the Blind Faith Cafe, where he worked for our first year back in Chicago. I spend my mornings at Starbucks and my afternoons with fourth graders at a neighborhood charter school and I have recently taken on a very part-time position with the United Methodist Hispanic/Latino Ministry Center. All these jobs have been going well, but we do a lot of running around the city.

Our final ski retreat last weekend went pretty well. Coordinating over 100 people can be a bit hectic at times, but we always enjoy getting to know the youth and adults over the three days and, of course, we love the snowboarding!

Here are some girls making snowflakes to go along with our theme, "When Lots of Flakes Get Together":


Trent and Jeanne helped out again, which was lots of fun. The 12-yr-old girls though Trent was the coolest--one even said in the end-of-event evaluation that he is her BFFL. Trent was *amped* about his popularity. Who wouldn't be?


Upon returning home Sunday, we all took looooong naps.

Just before the retreat, I had a lovely lunch with Abby, who was passing through town with her rock star hubby. We both remembered our cameras this time, but no one was willing to take a picture of us (people in the city always seem to be in such a hurry!), so we took one of ourselves!


It was so great to catch up!

KrisMom comes to town

Mom came for a short visit this weekend and we had a great time, despite the ridiculous cold (it is currently -1 and painfully windy).

Shortly after she arrived, we set out for Ikea. Sometimes I think that Ikea is the number one reason for my mother's Chicago visits, with my presence here coming in a close second. We wandered the endless displays of kitchens and offices, sometimes even defying the instructions of the giant arrows on the floor. After a few hours, we were pretty wiped out.


Thankfully, the cafe area provided some nourishment for our continued shopping and we were able to remain in the store until after dark. Amazingly, Eric and I escaped with buying only $33 worth of doodads. Coincidentally, my mom spent $33 herself on a completely different collection of thingamajigs. Of course, we all left with a big list of things we will buy when we figure out our lives and make lots of money.

Everything about being at church this morning was good. The service was so great and seeing people we love was energizing. Eric met with Chris afterward and made progress on plans for some short promotional videos for the church--very exciting.

Lunch was at a great vegetarian place called the Chicago Diner. One of Eric's and my Lenten disciplines is to follow a vegan diet (it's gone well so far, except for one donut incident), so we were excited to be in a place with so many options that weren't necessarily healthy! I had the Polenta Fiesta (ole!) and Goose ate a seitan Rueben sandwich--very tasty. Mom had a delicious and nutritious salad and some miso onion soup. We finished up with an amazing vegan choco-mouse cake. Why don't we go to that place more often???

Before heading back to Michigan, mom shared her favorite health drink--a think green juice mixed with some sort of mysteriously, healthy green powder. It was surprisingly good.


It was, over all, a very restful weekend!

Ski Retreat #2

Our second ski retreat at Wesley Woods was great--lots more folks (over 100 all together!) and quite a bit more chaos, but it was lots of fun and my snowboarding skills improved dramatically (no visible lumps or bruises!)!

Trent (a Starbucks co-worker) and Jeanne, who live around the corner from us, and Candie, a Garrett student and Holy Covenanter, joined us in the leadership for the weekend.

Here are Candie and Trent leading worship songs the first night:


Again, I was not daring enough to take my camera out on the slopes, but we had a great time! The weather was much warmer and the sun was out--yay! I took a snowboarding lesson with Trent, who was trying it for the first time. Jeanne and Eric, the experts, went off for a while and left us to tumble down the hill for most of the afternoon.

After the band, Rufus Tree, we joined in the ritual "give youth tons of sugar before bedtime" snack--ice cream! Sorry leaders.


Yeah...we didn't work all that hard.


Eric didn't take off his new Wesley Woods bag the whole weekend.


On the way home, we just had to stop at the "Promise Land" restaurant, a Paddock Lake fixture that we've been making fun of from afar for years. It was smoky and a bit of a dive and a bit too patriotic for my liking, but the greasy diner food was delicious.

Friends and funny weather

We hosted Community Meal at our place yesterday and enjoyed some delicious spaghetti, salad and bread with amazing ice cream for dessert. Here are Mark, Megan, Goose, Greg and Lora:


It was the first time we had hosted in a while and always enjoy the excuse for cleaning up and--of course--the great company!

The weather lately has been so shifty, though I'm not sure why I am still surprised when things change. A week ago, the temperatures were below zero, the wind chill was even lower, and the snow fell and fell. In the past few days, we've had temperatures in the 40s (up to 49 today!), and nearly all the snow has melted, save for a few dirty went lumps here and there. Then today it began to rain. Eric said that the northern suburbs had a thunderstorm this afternoon.

Here's a shot of the rainy weather in our "yard":

An alley I passed today on my walk back from the Y:

And now, in these past few hours, the temperature has dropped to 9 -- a change of 40 degrees!!!! The wind chill is -12 and the forecast is for a low of 2 degrees overnight!

Here's another shot out the same window that I took just a few moments ago:


What you can't see is the force of the wind. It looks like a blizzard out there! I think I'm going to go curl up in bed and read.

For the Bible Tells Me So

On Saturday, Eric and I met Kristin and Carrie for dinner at Ada's, this great Jewish restaurant downtown where we had great food (mmm...potato pancakes!) and a great waiter--Piotr--and then walked to the Gene Siskel Film Center to see the documentary For the Bible Tells Me So. The film tells the stories of several families who espouse conservative Christian views and have a gay or lesbian child. Two families feature public figures, Dick Gephardt (former House Majority Leader) and Gene Robinson (an Episcopalian bishop in New Hampshire), but all are families who have struggled with how to reconcile the reality of their child's sexual orientation with deeply embedded teachings from their church traditions. The stories reveal the deep love that parents have for their children, and the way that loving relationships with individuals have incredible power to transform, as well as the very real damage that has been and continues to be done to GLBTQ folks by the Church in the name of God. While the film follows the personal journeys of the families, it also explores the Bible passages that are used to support the conviction of many that homosexuality is a sin.

One of the few critiques I have is that too much time was focused on the extreme right (Jimmy Swaggart and James Dobson) and not enough on churches and leaders who are more inclusive but still restrictive in the beliefs about the level of welcome that gays and lesbians have in the church. For example, the United Methodist denomination's stance is that gays and lesbians are "people of sacred worth" but it maintains that homosexuality is "incompatible with Christian teachings" and does not permit openly gay leaders to be ordained as clergy. This position has been a source of pain for so many. Many other traditions teach people to love gay and lesbian people, but maintain that homosexuality is a sin from which people need to be saved and healed. I wish that these kinds of teachings had been explored further in the film.

Overall, this was an excellent film and I highly recommend it, especially if you believe that the Bible teaches that homosexuality is a sin.

One of Eric's camp videos

Eric here. Here's a nice little video I made for camp (I know it may appear as if I am trying to sound ironically cute, but it really is a nice little video).

A New Road: Immigration Education Night

Sunday before last, while Eliser was here, we participated in Holy Covenant's evening of education and conversation focused on the immigrant experience in the US. There was a great turnout--around 45 people in all!


Eliser shared a bit about his experience of leaving Mexico and coming to the United States 3 years ago. Behind me is Hugo, who also shared his journey with us.


Jenny, from the Chicago New Sanctuary Coalition, talked a bit about how current US immigration policy impacts families.


Partway through the evening, we shared a delicious meal. Here is Caroline with the spread:


I love that people at Holy Covenant just love being together--lively conversation is never lacking!


After dinner, we gathering in small groups to reflect on the evening and brainstorm about next steps. I'm so excited to be part of this process in this community.


I believe that being in relationship with the "stranger" is such a gift and helps us to understand who we are--individually and as a human family. I truly hope that the next months will pull our small faith community into deeper relationship with our immigrant brothers and sisters, and that those relationships will be transformative for all of us. As people of faith, as fellow sojourners, we have an opportunity to be a voice and presence of grace and love in this twisty, often polarizing conversation.

Ski Retreat

This weekend was the first of three youth ski retreats that we will help lead this winter through the United Methodist camping and retreat program (this is one of Eric's jobs).

The enormous main hill at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin--ha!


Saturday was our day to ski and it just happened to be the coldest day in the history of earth (a high of 5 degrees). Thankfully, everyone bundled up well and people who wanted to got lots of time on the slopes. Faces got the coldest--fleece masks and scarves became crusted and cold with frozen breath and cheeks turned red and rough with windburn.

Eric and I snowboarded. It was the second time for me and about the 5th for the Gooseman. We experienced improvement from last time and progressed throughout the day, but we both had falls that banged up knees and butts a bit. We are both a bit sore all over today. I've heard that something called stretching can help with such soreness, but it did not occur to us to do it either before or after snowboarding.

Between falls, there were glimpses of mastery--those moments were so fun! Thankfully, we will have two more opportunities in the next month to get some more practice.

Back at Wesley Woods...

Here is Eric talking with the youth:


Danny (who Eric has known since his time at Twinlow camp in Idaho) and Rachel provided the music for the weekend. They were really great!


It was amazing that the air was so cold that the lake was giving off steam! This picture was taken through the front window of the building we stayed in:


Danny got this tiny old hat from Eric many years ago. Eric displayed the Conklin way to wear it:


The retreat went really well, I think. The youth were excited to be there and enthusiastically participated in everything, the adults were engaged and helpful, the music was great, everyone had fun, and people may have even gotten something out of it that will impact them in their lives at home. I have really enjoyed getting to know youth and their leaders through these retreats and have been happy to see some of those folks back from past retreats.

On our way home today, we stopped in Evanston to meet Erin and Matt and lots of other folks at the Firehouse. Skylar was baptized today (we were sad to have missed it) and their families and friends gathered to celebrate her, and for several family birthdays.


Andria and Justin came from Grand Rapids, and we were excited to meet Felicity for the first time! She is seven weeks old and slept for the entire meal. Here she is, not excited to be awake:


A long nap this afternoon made the weekend complete! Now we just need groceries and clean clothes!

Eliser's visit

Our good friend Eliser came this past week from Oregon for a visit. The second evening he was here, we went to a place we've been wanting to check out for a while: Decima Musa. It's a Pilsen bar and restaurant that has been around for 25 years. It's name, which means, "Tenth Muse," comes from Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, a 17th century Mexican nun who was criticized at the time for her participation in the intellectual world and is known by some as the first North American feminist (I did a *very cool* report on her in one of my college Spanish literature classes). Anyway, the nachos and wine were spendy but tasty, and the live trova music was amazing. I will definitely be back for more Luis Badilla (the guy who plays every Friday night). Here's another example of good trova.

Goose and Eliser on the walk home:

It was chilly:


A picture of the Chicago landmark that Eliser took on one of his downtown adventures (while we were both working). Unfortunately, the day we went to the Sears Tower observation deck, the weather was nothing like this-- a snowstorm was coming in and visibility was about 2 1/2 feet. The next day, the sun was out.

Eliser cooked for us two times during the week. Here is the first meal, with Mark and Julie. We had amazing cheese empanadas and homemade salsa.

In front our Christmas gift: some brass bamboo from the company where he works. His specialty is making iron gates, but he thought that might be difficult to fit in the overhead compartment.


We got him Cometas en el Cielo (The Kite Runner in Spanish) and he made quite a dent during his visit.

Dinner #2: potato tacos...mmm.... Mark and Julie and Sonja joined us that night and I drank orange pop for the first time since I was 12.

We are so thankful for the lovely visit.