Gilmore Girls is a dangerous show, especially now that it is on Netflix and can go from episode to episode without requiring me to stand up and change DVDs. In the last two weeks, I have watched four seasons of the show. My obsession is just bad enough that I’m a little bit ashamed that I have not watched more. Spending so much time in a fictional TV world has messed with my emotions, sometimes for better, and sometimes for worse. Continue reading
Tricia Goes on a Float Trip From Hell*
Missouri – May 2015
*In Dante’s Inferno, the lowest circles of hell are frozen.
A couple months ago, Emily and I decided to meet up halfway between Dallas and Peoria. That meant southern Missouri, and Emily quickly suggested we bring more of our friends and have a Memorial Day Weekend float trip extravaganza. There were eight of us in total, and on Saturday morning we sat around the table in our rented cabin/one-bedroom-apartment checking our weather apps.
“It’s 55 degrees now,” Emily said, “but it’s supposed to get warmer as the day goes on. It’ll even get up to 80!”
“It’s raining,” Abby said, pointing at the window.
“It’s supposed to stop raining,” Emily assured us. Continue reading
Mad Max: Fury Road
Mad Max: Fury Road was not on my radar until I learned that Men’s Rights Activists were protesting it (sight unseen, mostly) because it was “feminist propaganda.” There aren’t many other phrases that will draw my attention quite so quickly. I knew it was an extremely violent movie, so I did a ton of pre-movie research. I quizzed a friend who had seen it, read dozens of articles about it, and googled “how gross is mad max fury road.” It wasn’t until a friend texted and said she was interested in seeing it (also because of its ties to feminism) that I decided to bite the bullet and go to the theater.
I needn’t have worried so much. It is definitely a violent movie, but I was relieved to see that the violence is mostly insinuated rather than shown. It also helped that, thanks to my research, I knew pretty much everything that was going to happen. Once I realized that the film wasn’t going to try to gross me out, I got lost in its story.
(So many spoilers ahead. You’re forewarned.) Continue reading
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
If the movie is anything like the book, I completely understand why Wild has been getting so much attention. Strayed’s story is amazing! It would be compelling enough as one woman’s journey hiking the PCT alone, or else to describe the grief of losing your mother at a young age. The fact that Strayed’s story does both at once is a testimony to the power of travel, the healing growth that comes from pushing your limits in a new, difficult situation that demands your full attention.
Strayed is a brilliant writer, balancing the introspective moments of hiking alone with humorous (or occasionally terrifying) interactions with fellow hikers. I loved getting to see the PCT culture that bonds disparate people because of a shared intense experience. I’m not sure I could ever hike the PCT, but Strayed does a remarkable job of making it sound appealing despite descriptions of lost toenails.
I loved this book, and I’m going to watch the movie so I can relive the experience. Nature, healing, endurance, learning who you are–the story is beautiful, and I’m so glad I got to read it. Continue reading
StumbleUpon Sunday (1)
StumbleUpon is a giant collection of the best pages on the Internet.
StumbleUpon is a great way to lose hours of your life. Luckily, I braved the Internet vortex so you don’t have to. This week I found these especially interesting websites:
- 29 Fascinating Photos You Probably Never Seen Before
- Pets That Don’t Understand the Concept of Personal Space
- These Innovative Ideas are Beyond Awesome
- How to be Well-Read in No Time: 40 Short Novels
- Turn a Scribble into a Drawing (video)
- There’s a Word for That: 25 Expressions You Should Have in your Vocabulary
- Incredible Small Towns You Would Want to Live In
- 4 of the Most Expensive Homes for Sale
- Night Sky Panorama – Bonneville Salt Flats
- We All Agree that Mad Max: Fury Road is Great. Here’s Why It’s Also Important.
Not With Haste
Listening to Mumford & Sons’ Wilder Minds has got me listening to all of Mumford’s albums and fangirling over their beautiful lyrics all over again. The line that gets me the most, every time, is from “Not With Haste” on their Babel album.
I will love with urgency but not with haste.
For a while, I wanted to hang a stylized version of this quote in my counseling office (whenever I get one of those). I like the vulnerability and healthiness conveyed in its sentence. It is boundaries explained in poetry. I love the idea of learning how to love deeply and fully while also being slow, letting the other person feel however they want, trusting that the love is enough without forcing it down someone else’s throat.
This is something I could learn in every relationship, but especially in romantic ones. When I like someone, and my word, especially during those beautiful moments when someone likes me back, I go crazy. I love with urgency and with haste. I am desperate for my love to be affirmed, desperate to be sure that they are still into me, desperate to move this thing along toward commitment so that I can stop worrying it will all fall apart.
Unsurprisingly, this doesn’t usually go well. For them, obviously, because that level of neediness is always unappealing to healthy people. But for me too! Loving with urgency and haste is a recipe for anxiety, and I definitely don’t need more of that in my life.
But to love with urgency and not with haste? That sounds lovely. To give of myself and expect nothing back? How remarkably refreshing. To trust that whatever happens will happen, but here in this moment I am open to love?
This ain’t no sham
I am what I am
I leave no time
For a cynic’s mindWe will run and scream
You will dance with me
Fulfill our dreams and we’ll be free
Searching for Sunday by Rachel Held Evans
It’s a cool thing to discuss why Millennials are leaving the church today, but it’s refreshing to hear from an actual Millennial. Even more so because Evans is self-professed obsessed with the church even while railing against its failings. This complicated relationship with God, religion, and the people who make up a local church makes for a compelling read, both for those who are leaving Christianity and for those who can’t understand why this is happening.
The book is divided into sections based on seven sacraments, and each section is made up of various vignettes, some of which fit the theme better than others. I found myself more interested in Evans’s personal story than the think pieces she wrote. Not that they aren’t good–I just think the most important part of this conversation is individual people telling their stories of heartache, desire, and frustration.
I love Rachel Held Evans because, well, honestly, because she reminds me of me. She thinks she knows best, and is therefore constantly thrown by the reality that she is not, in fact, perfect. She relies on her head knowledge and struggles to trust in her heart knowledge. She has a million ideas about how to make the world better, but she’s as much of the problem as she is the solution. I resonate so deeply with all of this, and I appreciate getting to live through her and learn alongside her. Continue reading
Sex Trafficking (3 of 3): Caregiver’s Perspective
The following information comes from information provided by Redeemed Ministries at their weekend conference on Aftercare Training.
Christians, if not careful, can let a healthy passion for ministry turn into a martyr’s complex.
In psychology a person who has a martyr complex, sometimes associated with the term victim complex, desires the feeling of being a martyr for his/her own sake, seeking out suffering or persecution because it either feeds a psychological need, or a desire to avoid responsibility. (Wikipedia)
In pursuit of pleasing God (as though he has not already given us his love), Christians can run themselves ragged, draining their own resources in service to the point that they are no longer useful. It is only with careful self-awareness that ministers can serve whole-heartedly…because they have made sure to keep their heart whole. The first step to healthy service is to examine the cost. Continue reading
Sex Trafficking (2 of 3): Victim’s Perspective
The following information comes from information provided by Redeemed Ministries at their weekend conference on Aftercare Training.
Sex trafficking: When an individual makes a profit by selling a human being in the Commerical Sex Industry by means of force, fraud, or coercion.
Before studying trafficking in more detail, I tended to think of the women and children forced into prostitution as victims of force and fraud. Forced trafficking is the obvious nightmare: someone is kidnapped, taken to an unknown location, and forced into sexual slavery. Fraud is also fairly obviously horrible, and it occurs when a woman is offered a job that doesn’t exist in order to create a dependency and desperation that leads to sexual slavery.
Coercion, however, is trickier. Women who are coerced into prostitution often believe that it was their choice. From the outside, these are the women who are often scorned and looked down upon by “nice” men and women in the Church. But the reality is not so simple. Women who are coerced into sexual slavery are manipulated and abused, and they deserve our understanding and compassion.
There are five stages of entry into commercial sexual exploitation. Although the way in which each stage plays out is different from woman to woman, all five are generally present if a woman is successfully coerced into sexual slavery. Continue reading
Sex Trafficking (1 of 3): God’s Perspective
The following information comes from information provided by Redeemed Ministries at their weekend conference on Aftercare Training.
I am 100% convinced that God hates the sexual exploitation of women. I am positive that he is grieved by the fact that 21-30 million people are trafficked, 80% of whom are women, and 50% of whom are children. Why do I know God hates trafficking? Because of how he has revealed himself in the Bible. Continue reading
It Is Trish 