What a slacker I am - I haven't posted in a long time! Therefore, this posting has the potential to be extremely long and boring. Consider yourself warned.
Honestly, life hasn't been super eventful in the past week or so. I've done much less exploring and much more job hunting and getting other things squared away like opening a new bank account, getting textbooks, and other life-altering things like that. Most of you know by now that I've started working at Bed Bath and Beyond and it's just a thrill a minute! Although I enjoy the job somedays and enjoy the people I work with, I am still looking around for other job opportunities that might pay better. After working out my finances after loans are applied to my tuition, paying my rent/utilities/bus pass/groceries, my hourly rate at BBB is just going to keep me super tight financially. I know I can make it work but, of course, it would be nice to have a little bit more cushion.
I've been spending more time by myself lately, which is good for me. I have always been the type that needs lots of time to not only reflect but just to let my mind relax and wander off wherever it wants to go. For example, last week I took a trip downtown to Olympic Sculpture Park which is actually just a few blocks down from my school. It's an outdoor art museum and beach and was originally an old, gross gas and oil corporation. After the corporation shut down, the city proposed to have the area transformed into one of the only green areas in downtown. It's now owned and operated by the Seattle Art Museum. Below are some photos from the park - it's really beautiful and very unique. Only in Seattle, right?
This was my breakfast - a ham and cheese crepe with some crazy good potatoes, spinach, and some funky peppers. Me and my buddies also split a French press coffee three ways - which was incredible.
Dana and Amanda - very pleased with their breakfast selections: a strawberry cream crepe and some kind of apply crepe that tasted like pie.
So I start class in less than a week. I am so excited because I've been waiting for this day since I first laid eyes on Mars Hill last October. I am also, however, terrified, anxious, hopeful, and expectant. Part of me is worried because I have been building this place up in my head and am afraid that it will not meet my expectations. I expect transformation. I expect honesty and authenticity. I expect God to show up at Mars Hill and flip my life upside down in a way that I have yet to experience. I am waiting for these things to happen and yet am fearful that all of my expectations have only set it up for failure.
Last night, I went to a "community conversation" at school that took place because the staff and faculty of Mars Hill are undergoing some significant changes. For the first time in the 11 years of the school's existence, MHGS has a new president. MHGS is also without an academic dean this year because the man who formerly held that position is now the president. We have an "interim dean" who will aid in the process of finding a new, long-term dean for the coming years and serve that position for the school but only part-time. The conversation was reassuring, however, because as students asked these core faculty some major questions, I was reminded why I was drawn to Mars Hill in the first place. One student asked Keith Anderson, the new president, "Imagine a young person walking into your office that has just finished undergrad and is looking to start their higher education at any graduate school in the country. What would you tell them would be the reasons they should come to Mars Hill?" Talk about up front! But Keith's answer was so great. He explained that when MHGS was started 11 years ago, it was made up of a group of people who wanted a different kind of education than could be found in the U.S. They wanted to create an "education experiment" of uniting the fields of psychology, theology, and spirituality because everywhere else had a separate building for all of these departments. The founders of MHGS, however, believe(d) that these things were intimately interconnected and wanted to see what would happen if they were studied simultaneously. He said that, "You can go anywhere and get a masters degree that will put you on the fast track to a career." But what they do at Mars Hill is different - and not for everybody. They do soul work. You have to be prepared to share your story - even the dark and most painful parts - and work to be transformed within the boundaries of that story. It is not an education that can be held at arm's length, full of cold, hard facts, but instead, reaches deep inside each student to work through their spirits. That's why I picked Mars Hill. That's why it was the only place I applied and why I moved all the way out to Seattle to go here! Nobody else does it like they do.
Our first assignment is due on the first day of class - this coming Monday. Just to give you an idea of how MHGS functions, I wanted to share the assignment with you.
"It is an annual and meaningful tradition at MHGS that the
first assignment given to each incoming class is to introduce
themselves to the MHGS Community. And, as the
incoming class of 2009, this is now your assignment:
Your Personal Page: Using an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper,
answer the question, Who Are You? You may be as creative
as you'd like: collage, paint, sketch, color, write a poem, a
a song, a story, include your picture or a picture of those
people, places, or things you love...or don't. Your only
limitation is the 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper. Oh, and you must
include your name somewhere on the page - either front or back."
Haha - I'll let you know how it turns out.
And, as promised, the sweet Transformers van that immediately made me think of Thomas. I love you buddy!
The back end:
Kelsey, my mom has been really slack about reading your blog. She just showed me this awesome picture. Whoever those people are have good taste! Thank you for thinking of me. I love you and I will keep reminding my parent to make our plans to come to Seattle. I love you again. Thomas
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