My friend Kayla is spending this semester in Lithuania. It seems like everyone’s off doing cool international things this year. So on that note:
Stephen and I have finally started seriously looking at options for our trip to Africa next summer (2009, that is - he’ll be 18) I think we’ve settled on Cross-Cultural Solutions, specifically the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania. We are both STOKED. Time to start saving those pennies…
For two friends who are leaving this week.
Jen is going to Tanzania for at least six months to teach at a school. It’s been her dream to work in Africa and I am so excited for her. Her blog is: http://awayinafrica.org/
Meanwhile, Justin will be spending two months in Ghana working in a settlement of over 40,000 Liberian refugees. The refugees have been there for over a decade, and now that their country is stabilized, Ghana wants them out and Liberia wants them back. So Justin’s main role is going to be hosting discussions with the refugees about their country, what it will be like to move back, how they can be involved, etc. He’s also going to be using the time to finish his thesis.
While I’m just a teensy bit jealous, I really do hope that they each have great and rewarding experiences.
stolen from
:
I know very little about some of the people on my friends list. Some people I know relatively well. I read your journals, or we have something else in common and we chat occasionally. Some of you I hardly know at all. Perhaps you lurk, for whatever reason. But you friended me and I thank you for your interest in my words.
But here’s a thought: why not take this opportunity to tell me a little something about yourself. Any old thing at all. Just so the next time I see your name I can say: “Ah, there’s so and so…they listen in rapture to the love-music of she-turnips.” I might feel compelled to mock your musical taste, but I’ll certainly remember you.
It would be great if every single person who friended me would do this. Yes, even you people who I know really well. Then post this in your own journal and see what gems of knowledge appear.
While I was at Doug and Meghan’s house on Monday, we got into a little discussion on evolution. As I’ve posted before, I don’t hold to any particular opinion on how it all came to be, simply a firm belief that the earth and, in particular, humankind were crafted by the hand of God. The rest is really up to Him.
But there has come a point, as I told Meghan, where I am starting to bemoan my own lack of knowledge in certain areas, like models for the evolution of Homo sapiens. I mean, I’m taking Biological Anthropology this semester and I’ll be taking Human Origins in the spring. I am comfortable with not knowing. I am comfortable with leaving things up to faith. But what I am not comfortable with is avoiding a particular line of thought not because I don’t agree, but because I simply haven’t educated myself on the subject.
And how ironic that we should have this discussion the night before NOVA’s “Judgement Day: Intelligent Design on Trial” aired on PBS. It’s a 2 hour exploration of the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial over the inclusion of ‘Intelligent Design’ in the science curriculum. The program itself is not surprisingly a little biased in favor of evolutionary theory, but I thought that overall it gave a pretty fair account of the case. It did raise a lot of thoughts about the intersection of faith and science, and I’ll try to formulate some more coherent thoughts to post later.
In the meantime, Meghan let me borrow The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. I think now may be a good time to start reading it…
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