It Is Trish

Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres

January 25, 2015January 22, 2015Trish2 Comments

If you ever want to fall apart in an emotional wreck, this is the book for you. I sped through the first 200 pages, because as horrible as the story is, it’s addicting. I got distracted by vacation, and it was a good two weeks before I was brave enough to pick up Jesus Land again. I wanted desperately for Julia and David to have a happy ending, but I was terrified they wouldn’t. I won’t tell you what I found out.

Jesus Land is excellently written, a first-person memoir written in present tense, so everything feels immediate and emotional. Julia’s descriptions of growing up in an emotionally, physically, spiritually abusive family with her adopted black brother is horrific. That they both get sent to the Dominican Republic to a Christian camp for rebellious teenagers that is even more abusive makes their story all the more horrifying, pitiable, and desperate. Escuela Caribe has since closed, and I can only imagine that Jesus Land is largely to thank for it. I am so glad Scheeres is speaking openly about her experiences. Christianity has always been a home to people who would use God as a means to subjugate and intimidate others, and this has got to stop. Continue reading →

One Woman’s Story of Surviving the Sex Trade

January 24, 2015March 24, 2015TrishLeave a comment

I just read this new article about a 25-year-old English woman telling her story–a horrific one in which she fell in love at age 14 with a man who forced her into sex trafficking. When you read the article, you might disagree with my choosing to use the word “forced.” The anonymous woman referred to as Megan admits that she technically could have left, that she in fact helped someone else escape. So why say “forced”? Continue reading →

Travel Tip – Make Your Own Food

January 23, 2015January 22, 2015TrishLeave a comment

In general, I choose the easy way out. Is it more expensive and less healthy to buy fast food than it is to make your own dinner? Yes. Will I continue to eat fast food anyway? Yes.

I’m an idiot, but you don’t have to be!

Last year my brother and I roadtripped around the Washington and Oregon border. One of our AirB&B choices included the use of a kitchen, so we stocked up on eggs, potatoes, and zucchini. Before leaving Portland for a drive along the Gorge to explore waterfalls, we cooked everything on the stove. The rich salty smell filled the apartment, and we…looked for somewhere to store our breakfast feast. Here is the travel tip sub-tip: when making your own food for a trip, make sure you have something in which to transport it. Continue reading →

Change of Heart (Sia’s Elastic Heart Parody)

January 22, 2015February 11, 2015TrishLeave a comment

I recently wrote about how much I love Sia’s dance videos, and knowing that, my roommate burst into my room shouting about how I needed to watch this parody video. I recommend going to their website where they describe their motivation for making the parody as well as why they changed the title of the song. It definitely sets the mood for the hysterical video you’re about to see. And I do mean hysterical. I was screaming and weeping with laughter. These men commit to their roles and to the choreography in a way that astounded and impressed me. I hope this goes viral–they deserve it.

Hope in a Hurting World

January 21, 2015March 24, 2015Trish3 Comments

I am in my last semester of seminary, and I purposefully left my eschatology theology class until the end. That’s fitting, right, since eschatology is the study of the end times? My motivation, however, was more than a desire to make a (not so) clever joke. As I prepare to go to Greece and work with women who have been trafficked, I knew I need a solid grasp on what my faith says about ultimate redemption and restoration. My favorite professor at Union University said of Revelation, “The only message you must take away from Revelation is: God wins.” Anticipating this semester, I knew I needed a refresher on the hope that is found in eschatology. Continue reading →

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

January 21, 2015January 21, 2015TrishLeave a comment

I have been scorned multiple times for the fact that I have not read Anne of Green Gables. Well, no more! I picked up a copy for $0.50 at Half Price Books and read it through.

Of the two title characters, I unabashedly loved Green Gables (and the surrounding town of Avonlea). Montgomery is almost too good of a writer, describing the ponds and woods with such magic that the place sounds almost like paradise. I’m entirely sold, ship me off to Prince Edward Island at once! Continue reading →

Tricia Barely Learns to Speak French

January 20, 2015January 21, 2015Trish1 Comment

Fatick, Senegal – January 2010

Growing up in central Illinois, there was really no reason to learn any foreign language. High school required it, however, so I took Spanish. Naturally the only place I’ve lived overseas predominantly spoke French, the other option I didn’t choose. When I arrived in Senegal, I found that the other six members of my team spoke French fluently. Since my self-worth is entirely dependent upon my ranking as compared to others…I was not feeling so confident. No one had to know that, though, so off to my first French lesson I went! Continue reading →

I Guess I’m Not Suitable for Marriage

January 19, 2015January 21, 2015Trish18 Comments

My corner of Facebook has been fixated on this article by NYCpastor entitled “10 Women Christian Men Should Not Marry.” Since I meet more than half of the criteria that supposedly makes me unworthy to catch a Christian man’s eye, I thought I would spend some time interacting with the material. Feel free to read his article before continuing. I will list his 10 deal breakers, but the words after are mine.

1) The Unbeliever.
Alright, so on this one quality, NYCpastor and I agree. I think people do best to marry someone from their same faith, and even more, to marry someone whose faith is of similar importance to them. My Christianity informs everything I do and hope for, and is therefore a huge part of my personality, motivation, and time. Marrying someone who doesn’t understand or share that passion is going to make for an increasingly disconnected relationship. So sure, marry someone of your same faith (or lack of faith). I think that’s wise.

2) The Divorcee.
As a counselor, I have seen female clients who experienced abuse in their marriages. Two of my friends work at a domestic violence counseling center, and the women they work with have suffered horrifically brutal lives at the hands of their husbands. This is Texas, so often those husbands claim to be Christians. I’m not a fan of NYCpastor’s ignoring the very real fact that 1 in 4 women will experience domestic violence during their lifetime. Writing divorced women off as inherently unappealing when they might be escaped survivors of intense trauma bothers me. Continue reading →

If You’re More Adventurous Than Me…

January 19, 2015January 21, 2015TrishLeave a comment

I recently ran across this BuzzFeed list of 11 Travel Adventures That Will Make You Say “Nope.” And, uh, that is an insanely accurate title. The very first image is of hammocks suspended 164 feet above the ground. Granted, the scenery is spectacular, and I suppose the atmosphere could be peaceful…if I could ever convince my brain to stop screaming “I’M GOING TO DIE.”

The list is mostly composed of 1) heights, 2) underwater creatures, or 3) eating gross things. All of which I am perfectly happy to avoid. The one place that I might be brave enough to visit is Derweze, Turkmenistan, where you can walk right up to the mouth of hell (in actuality, a burning natural gas field). But you better believe that since there is no fence, I will be wide-eyed and interested from a long way away.

Check out the rest of BuzzFeed’s list to see how brave you are!

What is the bravest thing you’ve done while traveling? What is the dumbest? Is there a difference? Leave a comment and let me know!

My Favorite YouTubers

January 18, 2015February 11, 2015Trish1 Comment

I first became aware of YouTubers (people who regularly upload personal videos to YouTube, as opposed to people who post single unrelated videos) when I discovered the world of cute and clever British boys. I checked in with them regularly, and then I discovered the Vlogbrothers. These were my favorite YouTubers for years, and only recently did I discover Grace Helbig. Through her collaborations, I found Rhett and Link’s daily morning show Good Mythical Morning. It was a quick step from their to find their podcast, Earbiscuits, as well as Grace’s less intense spinoff, Not Too Deep. From there, the YouTube world opened before me, and I found several new people I wanted to subscribe to. Listed here in chronological order (because I could never rank them): my favorite YouTubers.

Charlie McDonnell (charlieissocoollike). This is where it all began for me. An awkwardly adorable British boy doing dumb things. Pretty much…my exact favorite thing in the world. Although he has lately gotten more professional and less spontaneous, his old videos never fail to make me smile.
Alex Day (Alex Day). A former roommate of Charlie’s, Alex is less cute but more hilarious. He is snarky and inappropriate, and I wound up looking forward to his videos the most. He’s disappeared and reappeared from YouTube for the last six months because of sexual misconduct scandal–I’m on the fence about his new stuff, but this old video remains my absolutely favorite as far as painfully awkward stories go (see also his “Alex Reads Twilight” series).
John and Hank Green (vlogbrothers). What began as a way for two brothers to keep in touch turned into a straight up Internet movement. Nerdfighteria has created charity drives and organizations based upon their commitment to “increase world awesome and decrease world suck.” They are intelligent, ridiculous, and passionate, and their videos immediately reveal this. The one below is an introduction to Nerdfighteria, but I also recommend their educational series Crash Course, which is so good teachers have started using it in classrooms. DFTBA!
Grace Helbig (Grace Helbig). Awkward, beautiful, dumb, and creative, Grace is everything I want to be. She turned her YouTube fame into a best-selling book (Grace’s Guide: The Art of Pretending to be a Grown-Up), a movie (Camp Takota), and several other side projects. She’s effortlessly cool, and her videos are consistently funny. Definitely check out her travel series collaboration with Mamrie Hart (HeyUSA).
Rhett and Link (Good Mythical Morning). Best friends since grade school, Rhett and Link host a daily morning show of skits, songs, and Internet lists. They have great rapport, they eat weird foods while blindfolded, and they seem like genuinely lovely people. Below is one of my favorite videos in which they test their friendship.
Natalie Tran (communitychannel). Natalie is one of the cleverest people on YouTube. She is the master of finding humor in everyday situations, and she creates skits that are nothing short of genius. She’s recently been taking time off to film some travel shows, which is of course right up my alley. Be careful with Natalie, her videos are almost impossible not to binge watch.