Katie Go Now!

Detour:

2010-08-25T18:39:00.001-05:00

The reason nothing has been new here since January:

THE WORLD RACE.

I leave in 19 days! If you happen to enjoy things I write, they will all be here.

So ignore this blog, and go to that one!

-Katie

Spoiler Alert

2010-01-28T11:12:00.002-06:00

If you haven't read all 7 Harry Potter books, seen Slumdog Millionaire, or heard about last year's Oscars, I wouldn't advise you to read any further. If that's really the case, I'd also advise you to get electricity and friends. (That goes more for the Slumdog part than the HP part. I know I'm a geek there.)

The real title of this post is "What the heck does Harry Potter have to do with Bollywood music?"

You know me well enough to read this; you know how I feel about Jo Rowling's epic tale. I grew up with Harry. But, when I was not-so-secretly reading Goblet of Fire under my desk in 8th grade English class, neither Harry nor I grasped the depth of the story. There was the bad guy and we knew he had to be defeated, but no one knew how that would come about.

Not until one of the final chapters of Deathly Hallows does it all come together. There had been hints of it before, maybe it should have been obvious. In short, sacrificial love was the thing stronger than death. It saves Harry as a baby, and it saves everyone he loves once he chooses it himself.

Ok, seriously. What the heck does this have to do with Slumdog and its music winning Oscars?

You remember that scene. You probably cringed in fear and disgust.

Little Jamal's face, so determined to get to the one he loved, even if just for a moment. He almost didn't hesitate. It took a flying leap into excrement, but he met Amitabh Bachan. That scene stands as a metaphor for every choice Jamal makes for the rest of the film.

Teenage Jamal so determined to get to the one he loved, he burst into a room full of armed gangsters. Adult Jamal finally within reach of her, lying through his teeth to those same men just to get to where she lives. His character never wavers; his own safety is never his concern.

When "Jai Ho" won Best Original Song, giving Slumdog its 8th Oscar, composer A.R. Rahman said something I'll never forget. Rather than rambling a list of thank-yous, he stepped to the microphone and said,

"All my life I have been given a choice between hate and love. I chose love, and I am here."

That's it. Love wins. That's the story they all tell.

That's all I can do. That's the only story I have to tell. So let's go.

-Katie

A Big Picture

2010-01-17T14:07:00.004-06:00

Weekend Status: youth group purity retreat.

Happy reunion with the beautiful middle schoolers I worked with over the summer!

Insightful/awkward conversations about love, sex, and dating!

Dance parties!

And if I hear "Party in the USA" one more time... I really might throw up.

In the middle of all of these conversations and teaching, there's Haiti. We've been praying for quick aid and necessary rescue each time we get together with the students, and they've even raised money to send over. Even with that recognition, it's weird to me to have such a personal topic of focus this weekend. Before this morning's talk, we stopped to pray for our Haitian brothers again, and Casey (pastor) asked me to look up the death toll.

They've only found 50,000 bodies, but the highest estimate is that over 200,000 people died in the last 5 days from this one catastrophe.

The kids ended their prayer and the worship band started playing. I didn't sing; I read through that article...

...and looked at these pictures...

...and wondered what living a life of purity has to do with Haiti?

How can we focus on ourselves and our relationships when everything in those pictures is really happening right now?

God-centeredness. That's what these things have in common.

When it comes to purity, all I've really been able to tell these girls is that a focus on glorifying God will lead to right decisions in relationships.

When it comes to Haiti, hope, help, and compassion, a focus on God being glorified pulls us out of the "How could this happen?" despair and moves us to act, to pray, even to go.

In other words: we quit thinking about ourselves.

We start thinking about the end for which we were created.

We start loving. Really loving.

-Katie

Unity

2010-01-10T08:46:00.004-06:00

in the truest and deepest sense is so hard to come by.

Since I found my "family" in college (read: the people that I am, by default, always... always with), I've felt some level of belonging. It was occasionally clouded by the knowing in the back of my mind that we'd likely part ways as we graduated. I still resist that thought as strongly as possible. Read any of my past posts; I like to hold onto people I love.

As much as this group has given me a (fleeting) sense of belonging, it just occurred to me that something may be missing. Yes, we're all following Jesus. That's our foundation, that's how we all met, it's an unspoken truth of us being together.

It's the "unspoken" part that makes me think something's missing. Yesterday I was with about a dozen of those people for over 12 hours. I loved it, I love them. But Glory is still on my mind.

Passion is a rare thing (the event and the emotion). Being with 21,000 people I don't know still gave me a sense of belonging. First of all, we had matching wristbands. And t-shirts. Who wouldn't feel like a solid part of it? :P

What I actually mean is that there was a sense of purpose that brought us together. We heard of those who were oppressed, poor, in need, and as well as we could from Atlanta, Georgia, we fought hard to love them. And it worked.

I know that kind of excitement and effort is concentrated in an event and can't really sustain from day to day. But the purpose can. That's what is missing from our constant hanging out here in Manhattan. There's love, there's fun, there's even that important common ground, but unless we're at a leadership huddle on a Sunday night, our purpose is laid aside.

So I'm taking this and trying to apply it to what to do once I leave Manhattan at the end of this semester, maybe sooner. In the most basic terms, that's what I'm seeking: a clear purpose and those who share it.

I think most people call that a job...

-Katie

Why I'm Not Going to Grad School

2009-12-04T09:43:00.003-06:00

The Bookend Café in Hale Library is normally a happy place. This week, however, there's been a big, sad sign on the door that says "Espresso Machine Broken! No espresso drinks, sorry."

As I stood in an understandably shorter line with my Anthro friends for some pre-Theory soup, a normal K-State student walked up to the register (Uggs. North Face. Bump-It: 5 points!) She asked,

"So... does... a white chocolate mocha have espresso in it?"

The barista very politely answered her question while I rolled... my... eyes... so far into the back of my head that it actually hurt a bit.

Is there espresso in a mocha?

Are you alive?

I was on the verge of mocking such ignorance until I remembered a much more patient day of realization that the difference between espresso and coffee isn't actually common knowledge. That's why there's a name for people who know all those things. I just happen to be a snob. (Thank you, Bri.) I read a lot of things about the things I like. (Thanks, Dad.)

For a few moments, in my mind, Ms. Mocha was the most ignorant human being on Earth. In reality, she's just another consumer who buys what she likes and is not required to think about the anatomy of her sugary concoction. That is ok.

The more I read, the more I know, the more I rattle off on tangents about things that are irrelevant to most people, the more I think most people are really... really... stupid.

I'm already an impatient person. If I continue to rise up in the Ivory Tower, it will alienate me from people I could otherwise really love and really accept and kindly help understand that yes, Virginia, there is espresso in your mocha.

-Katie

Idealism

2009-10-29T09:19:00.002-05:00

...suddenly has a totally different meaning.

I've been called an idealist before because I wanted to do so much, all at once.

Learn another foreign language (or five).

Create things that would change peoples hearts and minds.

Inspire them to love.

Learn to love better.

At my advising appointment this morning, my professor asked where I wanted to be in five years. And I... had... no... idea. Just fear.

Forget idealism, the only important thing about that word at the moment is that it's the opposite of materialism. That consciousness determines existence, as opposed to existence determining consciousness. Now that I'm actually weeks away from graduating, the furthest I can see myself is Christmas break. I don't even remember what my dreams are, I just want to be done.

I just want to have time to clean my room. Or cook my own food. Or fix my clothes or buy new clothes. Or actually talk to the people I live with and love.

This is the most awful paradox I've ever found myself in: I'm too busy studying how to understand people to love any of the people around me.

I really... really hope this is temporary.

-Katie

Well, it's happened again.

2009-09-30T00:45:00.004-05:00

I can't get more than a few pages into readings for Theory before the weight of... life... just gets to me. The past 2 lectures add up to about 10 pages of notes and a very cramped writing hand, but I have a great grasp of capitalist ideology. And I hate it.

Check out part of this article on Indian assimilation in the 1800s:

"get the Indian out of the blanket and into trousers,--and trousers with a pocket in them, and
with a pocket that aches to be filled with dollars!" (from an 1896 legislation)

It goes on to contextualize this:

"Realist reform aimed, first, to grant Indians certain kinds of property rights, but also, second, to make them aware of the property that they did not have."

What the hell?! Our government worked to plant seeds of SELFISHNESS in these peoples minds so that they would become part of an American system. They previously had NO CONCEPT of personal property, and giving them one was apparently of the utmost importance. I hope that makes you feel as sick as it does me.

Look at that last quote again: "to make them aware of the property that they did not have." The worst part of that is that simple advertisements do this TO YOU every day. You may be perfectly fine with what you have, and really not wanting for anything until a clever commercial comes on, and suddenly your positive self-image is shattered and you need to update it.

I can hardly get dressed in the morning without running through these concepts of materialistic identity construction. When I say that I hate money, it's not just because I'm a codependent college student. That abhorrence has a lot to do with what I'm trying to say here.

Long story short... don't drink Coca Cola.

-Katie

(quotes taken from Elliot's article "Ethnography, Reform, and the Problem of the Real: James Mooney's Ghost-Dance Religion" 1998)

A Summary of Globalization in 20 Seconds (or, 3 TAs With Umbrellas)

2009-09-21T09:57:00.004-05:00

I have often claimed that my exceptionally awesome major consumes my life. It's always good to know I'm not the only one, that the other "TA rockstars" are... well... complete geeks. On this stormy day, we were armed with umbrellas and a perfect example:

Danielle: Your umbrella's totally colonizing mine!

Me: Baaaah! Usurping of natural resources!

Danielle: nooooooo! Reduced nutritional value!

Evan: Not a market economy!

Me: We're imposing our value system now!

Evan: Context collapse! Collapse the context!

Me: Anthropology joke! Anthropology joke!

...

Danielle: I wish we could have recorded that whole thing just now.

Evan: Mm, yes, for increased self-awareness via the language of video.

Basically, we love what we do, apply it to everything, make ridiculous connections where there might not really be any, and actually enjoy the prospect of a long study session for Prins' Theory class. Tonight will be the above conversation, x 7 hours, + pizza.

Prins has a crazy analogy about his theory class being like an aboriginal walk-about through the dark and treacherous Valley of the Moon. Tonight, we'll probably be trudging through it in rain boots. Here's hoping we can still find our way on Tuesday...

Don't you want to be an anthropologist now? :P

-Katie

My own '90s party.

2009-09-18T12:03:00.003-05:00

It may not be the most obvious thing about me, but yes: I did grow up on a corn farm in Indiana.

Well, it depends on what time frame you consider "growing up". And it wasn't our corn farm. But we're from here, and it's funny to see what things have changed in this town since we left in '96.

My cousins were smaller (so was their house). I got in town last night and tossed my stuff in Tony's room/Greg's place. Stacey offered to take me to McDonald's, so we hopped in her car and launched into a fiercely hilarious debate about how my 3-sibling boy band was better than hers... and finally agreed that we'd both pay money to actually see that dance battle. Wait... Stacey drives?!

Our church was smaller. It was a sanctuary and a few classrooms where I had preschool with Mrs. Verostko, and the youth group met in a trailer out back. I came up to the church with my aunt after lunch. She works in the new office next to the new foyer, which looks like a trendy coffee shop with high tables and wi-fi. Off to the side, there's the new youth room which looks like a trendy coffee shop with high tables and wi-fi... and an artsy wall rack full of old Jesus-pop CDs to be ripped. Oh, hey Delirious?. They sell books now too, so I probably won't get very far through the Wadi Rum today before Kelly comes here after school. Kelly... high school?!

And I'll never get tired of being updated about who works here at the church now, and being able to reply, "Yeah, that's my aunt/cousin/otherwise distant family." On top of that, I did get to catch up with Mrs. Verostko just now. She still teaches in those same classrooms.

Even though I see everyone here less than most of my acquaintances, there's never any awkwardness. It's the deepest level of comfort and familiarity. The trees are all bigger too, and I probably won't actually get to climb any while I'm here, but they're the same trees. All of this subtle growth and change happens constantly, but everything's still so familiar. It's nice.

So you guys can Hammer it up at that dance party all weekend if you want to... but this is where I experienced the '90s in all its Nickelodeon glory. Can't touch that.

I just had a thought that I could probably go catch up with my cousin Kyle this afternoon.

He lives in the house out back.

-Katie

Never Thought my Heart Could Stretch Atlantic-Ocean-Wide

2009-09-01T22:53:00.002-05:00

Depressing, right? PostSecret can be like that. It's not that you or I really care that this group of strangers didn't stay in touch after what looks like a memorable camping trip. It's that when you or I look at this picture with its caption, we probably see a different group, one with familiar faces, and know that

that

sucks.

This may seem redundant; most of my "deep thought" posts are about loving people and missing people and really appreciating people and being fascinated by people. That is the bulk of what I think about that compels me to write anything.

I'm watching Planet Earth: Mountains on DiscoveryHD, and (as usual) it gives me "itchy feet": makes me want to really SEE these places. But the places don't come without the people. They shouldn't. Any place I go (and eventually leave) I pick up a true heart friend. Seriously,

every

single

place.

They latch onto my heart like a snowball of amazing people, except they're never all in the same place at one time. It can be cause for great discontentment, but also for really exciting and fulfilling phone calls.

So when "Unknown Number" blinked at me on Thursday afternoon, I figured it was Rachel. I'd called her a few minutes before. In fact, when I answered, the person on the other end said, "Katie, it's Rachael!"...except it was in an English accent. Different girl, different place, but it was the same heart-ache happiness of hearing a long-missed voice.

And I love that. It doesn't suck.

The people who are really meant to stick around

just

do.

And that's always surprising and completely beyond expectations.

-Katie

Oh, Hope!

2009-07-06T15:06:00.002-05:00

Heard Two Seconds Away's song of the week yet?

They covered "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman. Possibly embarrassing confession: I'd never heard it before. I YouTubed the original before listening to Tim and Patrick's, which I then put on repeat while doing other things.

I must have listened to it seven times through before I realized why it made me feel a little sad. The story it tells is more-or-less parallel to Revolutionary Road: love breeds hope in a vague "something" better, and the heartbreaking emptiness when that hope is shattered.

My lovely neighbor Emily hated that movie: "After I watched it, I really thought, 'Should I go kill myself?'" I finally watched it (with a guy who really makes me smile), and found Emily's label of [MOST DEPRESSING MOVIE EVER] to be not far off the mark. It is unbearably sad.

But, like "Fast Cars", it's also heavily beautiful.

In terms of art, both pieces powerfully speak of hopelessness... and as depressing as that is, it resonates with us. There's something very real about it, something we understand.

That's what made the response to my Intimacy Among Strangers video so compelling: I kept hearing about hope being restored through those ideas. To everyone who watched it, I wish they knew how I had such hope to share in the first place. I hope their increased hopes are in things that will not shatter.

...hope is such a dangerous thing. It's reaching beyond what you can see, making every part of your life vulnerable. From what we can perceive, it's so incomplete, but still makes us feel full.

Be careful embracing such a paradox. If you feel so much that things are going to get better, good! "Let's start at ridiculous and work backwards." When you're reaching beyond yourself, reach towards what lasts. That's how I do this life thing, and why I can't do any of it without Christ.

♫I've seen enough to know that You're my only hope - I don't want to go if You're not with me♫

That's all I can really say.

-Katie

Brought to you by Peters Clothier

2009-06-08T22:13:00.004-05:00

You think a town like Overland Park would have more places with free wifi open after 8pm. That lameness (plus the church's VBS-only mode) has landed me in the parking lot of a clothing store. Why would a fancy clothing store have unprotected wifi? For me to sit in front of it at 10:30pm.

I meant to actually sit and think through a list of deep, thought-provoking ideas, and hopefully put them here in the form of literary beauty that would stir your heart to worship. Or maybe just make you smile.

I can't think in parking lots so well, so this is all I've got for now. Those big things are still on my mind, and they'll be here eventually, but for now I'm just reading through old Facebook notes. Hah.

This is great.

-Katie

Why I Heart thesixtyone

2009-06-04T18:51:00.002-05:00

Check out this piece of brilliance from Matthew Bridgman, one of the many underrated talents on this gem of a music experience:

"99.9% of my music is inspired by metaphor, by the feeling that everything is connected. Writing lyrics, for me, is like following the stitches on a baseball. No, I don't spend much of my time doing exactly that; allow me the illustration. At first glance, it's not apparent that the stitches connect at all, but as you follow them, you begin to get that feeling of "I think I've been here before". Not in a ho-hum, disenchanting sort of way, but in a way that feels like coming home - all within an idea. And if that one idea should happen to be True (that is, free of denial, pretense, or prejudiced fabrication) it hovers at the port of eternity, waiting to take you deeper into the sphere of that which is Universally True."

He goes on to say that if you aren't completely lost by that, "we should hang out more often."

Um... yes please. And if I hung out with Mr. Bridgman, I'd tell him that this hovering "at the port of eternity" is truer than he knows. Creation echos its creator, bears the mark of the hands that formed it, imitates it in character. That familiar feeling is your true home.

Maybe he does get that. If so, I hope he keeps sharing that Truth.

And once you DO sign up for thesixtyone, make sure you say that you were referred by LetterZ.

-Katie

Rant!

2009-05-31T21:57:00.002-05:00

A brief look at the trending topics on Twitter.

"Harry Potter" was one, so, of course, I clicked. And I smiled until I saw this:

(name withheld for painfully obvious reasons) damn that part when edward cullen dies in harry potter always makes me cry

Anyone who was at the EBC A-Team retreat knows this, so for their sake, I hope they don't read it. But freaking STOP thinking that Twilight has anything to do with Harry Potter.

The only thing the have in common is Rob Pattinson, who, contrary to the popular belief of obsessive 14-year-olds, is not actually a sparkly vampire or even a perfect gentleman. The two sagas are not even in the same genre of literature.

Call Twilight fantasty, but I argue that a more accurate term is "tween romance." All the emotional appeal without the details. Ew gross.

And not that I think J.K. Rowling is on par at all with the Inklings, but the HP series IS on par with Narnia and LOTR, at least in terms of the culture that has grown around it. It just is. It will linger as they have. (Yes, I know the movies aren't as good.)

Ok, I'm done.

Those Boxes in the Closet

2009-05-23T20:06:00.002-05:00

Being back in Wichita, for however long, always has an element of emotional strain.

The other day, I compared it to running into an old boyfriend.

"Oh yeah... that's why we broke up."

My actual family and my church family are still amazing and always worth the drive. But everything else (from the lack of pedestrian-friendly distances between anything to the lack of anything fun to do besides spend money) is only tolerable for a few days. But knowing that I'll only be here for a few days makes it almost enjoyable.

The puppy, the park, the political friends, Copper Oven breakfast, a Starbucks date, and the obligatory unannounced visit to the Galyardts. That's the good stuff. That's what keeps me from being suffocated by the empty shells of faded relationships.

Mom and I were trying (*ahem* yeah, trying) t0 clean out my old room today. I found a rather sparkly black purse tucked under some shoe boxes. Inside were five intricately folded notes, written in several different colors of gel pen. Wow...

I couldn't help but sit and read through them. Four were from Alli, and one was from Cara. The ones from Alli were all about how we were mad at Cara, and the one from Cara was her trying to figure out who was mad at her.

"Hello, 14-year-old self. Shut the hell up and find better friends."

I'm now fairly certain that, however much I cherish and learn from my memories, forgetfulness has to be a survival mechanism. If I still had any idea what that fight had been about (I really don't!), if I still felt the weight of those experiences, I'd have no capacity to process everything NOW that contains infinitely more value to me and others.

We have to forget. Forgetting must be part of learning. It's something I've always been afraid to let happen, which is why I still have so many t-shirts, pictures, books, notes, journals... but that past self (which wouldn't be bad material for a Project Mortified show) has so little to do with the person I have become.

Being reminded does nothing beneficial other than show me how much better judgment I have of other peoples' character, and how much confidence I have gained. There's proof of both in the incredible people who now surround me.

I guess those aren't bad things to find out.

But if you want to know anything about what I was like before I started living for Jesus, watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and pay lots of attention to Clementine. I'm serious.

-Katie

A Finished Project

2009-05-07T13:14:00.004-05:00

*This is from my research blog. Content from that usually doesn't make it to my "personal" blog, but this is cool.*

Tonight, "the d.ethnogs of '09will shamelessly and elaborately celebrate themselves" at the First Annual Diggie Awards potluck night of awesomeness, hosted by the Wesch family. I cannot wait. Our class has really accomplished something, and seeing it all together will be great. It helps that they're all just great people to be around.

Also, Tim and Patrick of Two Seconds Away have posted my video to their band's site, newmusicmonday.com! These guys are big fans of Dr. Wesch and were so great to work with in producing my video.

This is what I have asked them to post along with the video:

Dr. Wesch's Digital Ethnography class is the kind of thing you can't get away from. The ideas we threw around in discussing the concept Anonymity this semester seemed to apply to everything: my other classes, my relationships, random car commercials... life had become research. Researching pop culture does well to blur the line between work and play. In the arena of "play", Tim and Patrick had been faithfully posting their songs every Monday, and I couldn't get "In The Way" out of my head. In my part of the project, I kept noticing how much people needed to be known and understood. That seems pretty basic, but it still fascinated me that the knowing and understanding was sought from unknown people. In the song, that last line, "You see me" repeated as it was came to me as a triumphant declaration that being known was possible. I wanted that resolution in my project, and so built my script around the song.

Then we read a speech by David Foster Wallace in my Philosophy class. He says, "My natural default setting is the certainty that situations like [grocery shopping after a long day's work] are really all about me. About MY hungriness and MY fatigue and MY desire to just get home, and it’s going to seem for all the world like everybody else is just in my way."

The rest of the song clicked. It is about breaking the myth that we are so disconnected from one another. And I can't shake the feeling that the way Tim and Patrick's song fit so perfectly with a semester's worth of my research is a little bit beyond us.

So check out the video and let me know what you think!

-Katie

Don't Stress (A How-to)

2009-04-30T13:46:00.004-05:00

With three 700-level classes and amazing friends that occupy my time away from them, you think I'd be a bit stressed about everything I have to finish in the next two weeks.

I'm not. A bit frustrated from time to time when I hit the obligatory roadblocks (thank you Frank Warren...), but there has been relatively little freaking out on my part. I think this is an effective anti-freak-out recipe:

1. Turn off the computer.

2. Go outside and TAKE NOTICE of how amazing the world is. (i.e.: birds. mud. new music. centipedes that miraculously appear on your notebook during Archaeology lecture. yeah, that happened.)

3. Call somebody and make them smile. (Do NOT mention your impending stress. Do NOT call an exboyfriend.)

4. Bake cookies that contain everything sugary in your kitchen.

These recommendations are a product of the standard Radina's/BFF hangout procrastination. 100% Grade-A effective, kind of guaranteed. Well, maybe Grade-B. If you do this too much, you won't get As.

-Katie

A Standard Good Day

2009-04-28T22:47:00.003-05:00

and the quotes that added laughter.

8:20am- breakfast with Diana and Meg-o. Double latté by Frank and Jo.
"I'm a BLT, bitch!"
"These should go here."

9:30am- Intro to Archaeology. I finished the WHOLE Collegian crossword.
...I don't remember much that was said.

11:00am- phone call with mommy.
"I bought you Thumper pajama pants!"
"And I'll wear them!"

12:00pm- Language consultant meeting with my Kenyan friend Danvas.
"I wouldn't even say that. I'm not Swahili."

12:35pm- Discussion of Paul's missionary journeys with a couple of homeless, bearded missionaries who are hanging out on campus this week. They wouldn't shake my hand because I'm a woman.
"Look at how much kids are amazed with the world. Why are they like that? Because the world is amazing. We've just gotten used to it."

1:05- Philosophy of Religions with Andrew Arana. Bill next to me to say "Nietzsche fails" about a dozen times. And the prof asked me to hang out with his 8-year-old daughter and prep her for their move to France.
"An important philosopher once said that you can't step in the same river twice."
"Wasn't that Pocahontas?"

2:20- run into Erin Fisher. Hug!

2:30- Digital Ethnography. Videos and discussions and planning for the first annual Diggie Awards.
"So next week class isn't here, it's in the RV out back?"

4:30- Zumba!

6:00- Challenge worship practice. UCC's grand piano.
"Bob Dylan wrote it, Hendrix made it famous, and Dave Matthews did THAT to it. Whatever THAT is. But the Hendrix version is so... silk."

8:30- catch up with Chris.
"If you came to my graduation party, my grandpa would freak out 'cause you're white."

9:00- Geek fun on Google, and not a bit of homework.

This has been a good day. And if you have time, go find those bearded missionary guys! It'll definitely be the most interesting conversation of your day.

-Katie

Let a band or artist describe your life.

2009-04-25T12:55:00.006-05:00

Pick a band/artist: Disney
("What movie is that from?!" Click the links.)

1.Are you male or female: Kiss the Girl

2. Describe yourself: Supercalafragilisticexpialidocious

3. How do you feel about yourself: Stand Out

4. Describe your ex-boyfriend: Beauty and the Beast (kidding. kind of.)

5. Describe your current boy situation: Someday My Prince Will Come

6. Describe your current location: Not in Nottingham

7. Describe where you want to be: Just Around the Riverbend

8. Your best friend is: Never Had a Friend Like Me

9. Your favorite color is: Colors of the Wind

10. You know that: A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes

11. What’s the weather like: Topsy Turvy

12. If your life was a television show what would it be called?: Circle of Life

13. What is life to you?: The Bare Necessities

14. What is the best advice you have to give?: You Can Fly! You Can Fly! You Can Fly!

15. If you could change your name what would you change it to?: Belle

16. Your view of politics?: Just Can't Wait to be King

17. Your age?: Why Should I Worry?

18. Your religion: God Help the Outcasts/ I Wanna Be Like You

19. You at your worst?: Poor Unfortunate Souls

20. You at your best?: When You Wish Upon a Star

-Katie

While we're talking about strangers

2009-04-23T19:30:00.003-05:00

This week I did a rare thing and took the Jardine shuttle to the Union.

It was early in the morning and I was on the verge of being late to meet a friend for some project help.

Random guy next to me: backwards hat, huge diamond earring, awkward white kid peach fuzz, oversized "sk8r" shirt. (My thoughts: "tool." Again, it was very early.)

He smiled when I sat down and said, "Happy Monday."

How friendly! I smiled back and said thanks. He kept up the nice small talk, mostly about classes. And aside from responding to everything I said with "rock on, rock on." he really wasn't that much of a tool.

As we were getting off the bus, I noticed his iPod earbud in one ear.

"What are you listening to?"
"Ray Charles."

...I guess you never really know about people.

-Katie

So Pervasive! (An Outcry)

2009-04-14T11:40:00.002-05:00

Text,
call,
Facebook/Google/i/Chat,
Twitter,
Skype,
Blogspot,
Wordpress
... nine different ways to know where you are, what you're doing, how your day has been... not including the fact that, if you're reading this, we possibly live within the same zip code.

I just read an article about Twitter on Relevant Magazine. It was brilliant and very much in line with some things that have been on my mind lately. (Here it is.) Jon Starcke and I even had a conversation about this during the twilight of one of the best weekends ever. He refuses to participate in Facebook, seeing it as a narcissistic way of participating in life with others, of selfish one-sided community. He even used the term "relational masturbation", and then I realized how deeply he cares about truly connecting with others. In so many ways, he is right!

Texting and calling are on that list, but the frequency of my phone making any noise during the day is slowly dwindling. If my phone made a noise every time someone contacts me via chat, Facebook or Twitter (which you can do, of course!) that wouldn't be true.

I wonder how many of my friends don't feel a need to contact me "just to say hi", because they already know that I'm in the library listening to Mates of State and thinking about all of this. Maybe they feel a bit closer to me because my thoughts are constantly pinned up across their online dashboards.

(I really don't mind that this is the case with Jess, Rachael, Blandine, or Magali. They live in Europe.)

If that's the case with you, let me tell you something: I don't feel close to you right now. I don't know that you're reading this! (This is mostly directed to Jake, out of pure frustration that he never called or texted me back on the one rare weekend that we were both in Wichita. It could also be roughly directed to Haley, who I literally have to stalk if I want to spend any time with her.) There are several people like this in my life, and it kills the happiness of seeing them once I realize that everything I was so excited to share with them in person is already part of the cloud of social facts they've acquired when they don't have time to be in touch with me.

Read that Relevant article. There are so many ways that the pervasive awareness of your friends can be beneficial rather than distancing. Use it right! Share things! Be creative! If anything, just be PRESENT.

I'd really appreciate it.

-Katie

Don't Judge Me

2009-04-12T19:24:00.004-05:00

Some of my friends are... SO... republican.

And I love them.
Just as much as I love everyone who wished me a "Happy Zombie Jesus Day."

I'm loving the rain too. Really.

Mom commented (while running through the Westlink parking lot this morning), "The weather's not supposed to be like this on Easter!"

I replied with, "Mom, the date of Easter was arbitrarily chosen by the church about a thousand years ago, and it's mostly based on old pagan traditions. Maybe it never does rain on the actual anniversary of the Resurrection, but we'll never know, will we?"

She just glared at me.

Dad would have laughed.

-Katie

By the way... I HATE Warner Music Group. They disabled my YouTube videos! Jerks.

Dear April,

2009-04-09T11:49:00.002-05:00

I wish you knew yourself as well as I know myself.

When I saw one of those annoying quiz invitations on Facebook, I clicked "Ignore" as usual. Not just because it was annoying and I don't care, but the title was "What is your life theme song?" A Facebook quiz to tell you what song best describes your life? Psht. I'm very well aware of what song fits me.

"Far Far", Yael Naim. Regardless of the day or my mood, this fits. A random online quiz probably knows nothing about her except in reference to the MacBook Air. In short: you don't know my life.

So, April, what song would describe you? I bet you don't have any idea; you're clearly having some trouble figuring yourself out right now. But my guess would be something like Avril Lavigne, to keep it mainstream since everyone has to deal with your crap right now. But any moody, angsty, I-hate-my-dad, Chucks-and-neckties style female artist would fit. You're supposed to be pleasant and enjoyable, not some pre-teen with an overdramatic identity crisis.

If I want all 4 seasons in 2 days time, I'll watch the Travel channel.

Love,
Katie

This Tuesday Morning

2009-04-07T11:33:00.002-05:00

I must have gotten off on the wrong Tuesday foot today since there was no breakfast with Diana, but I cannot focus! Wait... I haven't been able to focus since last Tuesday. This could be problematic. I have a paper due in about 20 minutes, and I haven't started it. And I'm blogging. Oops?

For the fourth time this semester, random French guy walked by my table in the union chatting with someone on his little European cell phone. Freaking hang up and talk to me! I just want to know where you're from! But no, he just picked up his espresso and (once again) walked out of my life forever. *sigh*

Last night, I couldn't sleep. So I made garlic bread and went super-grammar-nazi on our collaborative essay for Digital Ethnography. Yeah, you'll thank me later. Now I'm listening to Beatles covers and wondering what the heck I'm going to talk to Danvas about for my Swahili research.

Woah! Matt Snow is here! Time to be late for class.

-Katie

Tout pres de personne.

2009-03-31T23:07:00.005-05:00

When I go stargazing, it's usually a very real time of worship and silence and awe and... well, you could just say "all things that are good." I went out after Perspectives, and it was not that.

Tonight, I just got mad at the stars for being so far away.

I got mad at GOD for being so far away.

I got mad at everyone who lives 5 minutes from me and who I never see for feeling so far away.

It wasn't even the crisp, clear sky that set it off. It was the song In Your Arms of Love. I don't know who wrote it. We sang it at Perspectives, and for about the tenth time in the past 300 days, I realized, "I know that melody, but the words sound wrong... I do not know this song in English." While everyone else sang what was on the screen, all I could hear was Dean and Audrey:

Je ne veux pas être ailleurs
Que dans tes bras d'amour
Dans tes bras d'amour
Tout pres de toi
Contre ton coeur
Dans tes bras d'amour.

I got mad at myself for being so far away.

Gender Panel

2009-03-29T00:05:00.002-05:00

For all of the Challenge kids who were at the things this afternoon, here are some of the questions that students submitted that they DIDN'T address:

*Why do girls like the rebellious bad boys? Don't they realize they are all shallow tools?

*How should you deal with women during that time of the month?

*Why do girls go on dates with guys they don't like? Isn't that just leading them on?

*Is it ok to rule out a girl because she isn't pretty enough?

*What do women want?

*What if I am attracted to a woman 40 years older than me?

*Why did girls come up with the whole "friend zone" thing just to torture nice guys like me?

And my personal favorite:

*Would all the single ladies put your hands up?

I'll let you guess how many of those were submitted by my brother.

-Katie

Syncretism

2009-03-21T20:32:00.007-05:00

I got exceptionally frustrated this morning when a certain professor I greatly respect informed us of how heavily the modern language/linguistic/anthropology departments are being targeted by budget cuts. Apparently they are "nonessential" fields.

Um... excuse me? Is money completely blinding the fact that the world is rapidly shrinking? That understanding of foreign languages, cultures and PEOPLE is now absolutely crucial to do anything in any other field?

Here's some random proof of the rapid-fire cultural collisions going on.

>sarcasm<
Remember that year I spent in France? You might've heard me mention it here and there.
>/sarcasm<

The regular occurrence of making and sharing Italian food with Moroccan guys while discussing Islam in French.

Watching an American movie with Greek subtitles, talking about it in French.

While cooking at a hostel in Barcelona, managing to explain to several German and Spanish guys that you can tell if spaghetti is done by tossing it onto the side of the fridge and seeing if it sticks. I don't speak a word of German or Spanish.

Buying things at a Vietnamese grocery store to make Korean barbecue the day after Thanksgiving in Wichita.

A Somali refugee recently escaped to India, where for some reason she contacted a U.S. senator for help with getting temporary residency in the states.

Meeting a 25-year-old former "Compassion child" at a conference who had grown up in Uganda, been supported by an Australian family, and later came to the states to get her degree in social work. She speaks Achouli, Luganda, a good bit of Swahili, and English. And she laughed and hugged me when I said, "O kwagala kwe kusingayuna!"

A British film set in India, the soundtrack of which features a Sri Lankan pop star who randomly sings in Spanish.

Or check out Andrew's life right now: "sometimes, I would just order my food in Russian and they would understand me. (and then they don’t think I’m an ignorant American tourist, just an ignorant Russian one. Or a weird American trying to speak Russian in Prague)"

Two Seconds Away cover of Apologize, and the microwave went off, beeping in perfect tune and time with the song. It was a very "August Rush" moment. (But really more of a wow-the-whole-world-seems-to-be-somehow-in-sync moment.)

Things from other countries are exotic and desired. When we find out about something that interests us, we long to be a drawn into it, to make it part of our lives.

"When people first encounter beauty, they tend to linger... even if they don't at first recognize it for what it is."

With all of the ways that the world is getting smaller, all the ways we're now able to understand each other, mix our lifestyles and traditions together and call it "multiculturalism", there's so much beauty. Sometimes I wonder if we're just rebuilding the Tower of Babel, and it will all come crashing down in chaos.

For now, I really really like it.

SB2K9

2009-03-15T19:36:00.004-05:00

Everybody, even if it's not written down, has a list of things they want to do in life.

Like touch a dolphin.
Or be on a first-name, numbers-exchanged basis with a really famous person.
Or take that one cliche tourist picture by that famous landmark or monument.
Or eat a Pronto Pup at the State Fair.

You know, those necessary experiences that you must have before you die.

Today, after making (*ahem* several...) wrong turns on the way back to the Man Cave from Neptune Beach, I stopped Tony's car on the side of the road and started yelling out the sunroof. A bright red streak of smoke rose on the southern horizon... FREAKING SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCH.

Ever since one summer night 11 years ago, when my dad woke me up at 4am to watch the Shuttle dock with the MIR Space Station directly over Kansas, seeing a launch has been on my list.

Check.

-Katie

Simply Couldn't Be Happier

2009-03-11T13:24:00.003-05:00

I think I'm still living under the fallout of the nuclear explosion of love and happiness that was my birthday last week.

My presentation for Wesch's class is falling together, accompanied by the Slumdog soundtrack and the ever-eclectic crowd of Radina's regulars. This includes my frequent table neighbor Mara, who couldn't have said it better:

"Society is too global for me to keep up."

But we're trying. There are some ladies speaking Chinese at the table by the door. I can't even try to keep up with that.

Maybe I seem unfocused. So many things are going on at once in my mind.
Art, humanity, technology,
steamed milk temperatures,
phonemes and morphemes,
connection and isolation.

St. Augustine and St. Patrick, Dr. Seuss and Starbucks.
Indian novels and tongue-in-cheek memoirs.
Laundry and Target, brother and pseudo-sisters.

Yes, this ALL has to do with my project. Holism is a lot to handle.

-Katie

2009-03-09T15:01:00.002-05:00

Don't tell me that a building is capable
Of holding all of the time that forms our bones...

We glow with whatever we've ever known.

(dustjacketproject.com)

-Katie

Karibu Coffee

2009-03-05T11:22:00.003-06:00

I'm in the union, waiting for a phone interviewer to call me. And suddenly there are lots of things I want to post here.

1. If you're speaking French on your phone as you wait for your appropriately strong espresso shot, stop and talk to me. The whole world should know that I am willing to converse with anyone francophone at any time. Come on now.

2. I'm really not a fan of people who go about their day/life with this mentality: "You only believe what you believe because you don't know what I know." How about another French idea: "Everyone is reasonable." I guarantee that people will like/respect/appreciate your existence more if you find out why they think the way they do and not the way you do.

3. I still can't figure out why the Swahili word for "you're welcome" is the same as a large mammal native to the Arctic Circle. What the heck?!

4. KC this summer is gonna be fantastic.

-Katie

So much dishonesty...

2009-03-01T18:13:00.004-06:00

Today, I found out that dozens of my friends have been straight-up lying to my face for several days.

Not only were they knowingly and willfully misleading me, but they were enjoying it. And it wasn't just my friends, it was my very own little brother. Come to find out, he was actually the mastermind of the whole thing.

When this all came to light, I just about cried. I didn't really know how to handle it.

So I just grabbed some french toast and strawberries and enjoyed my surprise birthday party.

Love you guys.

-Katie

A Tribute: Part 1

2009-02-28T14:27:00.001-06:00

I never sleep late!

Today was a fluke, I tell you. 1:15pm and I roll out of bed like I was up til 4 watching The Reader. (That might explain it...) And since Michelle is in town, I thought, "It's pancake time." That's what we do.

Two purple sticky notes greeted me. One said "Pancakes in the micro."

The other one (on the micro) said "Small: banana, Large: plain"

My heart melted like sweet cream unsalted butter. This is about the 6th time my beautifully precious roommate Katie has hacked into my brain and known what I wanted/needed and done it.

Breakfast when I'm sick!

Coffee when I'm burnt out!

Ride to class when I'm late!

Comfort when I'm upset!

Shares her food!

And her printer!

And her life!

I absolutely adore this roommate girl. She makes my life so so good.

-Katie

Ok, I'm going now!

2009-02-26T00:27:00.000-06:00

Hey friend,

After one of the most stressful days this semester, I was hanging with a sweet girl who (for no apparent reason) said, "You should start a blog."

I had a blog once. Remember Xanga? I had two. In the Maize class of '05, that means I was cool.

Not really. I was never cool at Maize. No further references to that school will be made here.

I might regret it in the morning, but I did name my blog after that game. Diana, this is your fault. Most ridiculous/incomprehensible/hilarious things in my life are your fault. Little more can be expected from someone whose cockroach allergies were discovered by Dr. Frick. I mean, really?

On top of that, these posts will probably have a likening to the words that come out of my mouth when I'm commanded to speak mid-laughter. Add that to the likelihood of late-night, post-homework, deep-style contemplations, and this could get interesting enough to read.

I should have done this in France when my everyday routine was worth talking about.

Stick around anyway!
-Katie