by Roxanne -

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

This year, as most years, we are headed up to northern Minnesota and Lake Superior for a week of vacation. I will post a few pictures each day and you can see how our week unfolds.

We don’t normally make a plan, or if we do we change the plan as the day progresses. We tend to be pretty opportunistic and veer off the beaten path if something interesting presents itself. Come along with us.

We’ve arrived and here’s the view of Lake Superior from the cabin we’re renting for these next few days – right on the water.

This evening the sunset was dreamy –

by Roxanne -

Drinking Through a Fire Hydrant

As many of you know – I recently finished my doctoral course work. While it was a “deeper dive” into areas of real interest to me (social justice, ethics, critical thinking and teaching) it was in many respects like drinking through a fire hydrant.

To embark on a doctoral program is to focus on that which is of vital interest – something that can hold the student’s attention for many months. This is how I survived the reading and writing 😉 This is what made it so fabulous.

Imagine if you could stop working and begin a new life. In this new life you get up every day and read as much as you want – and only about – what you’re passionate about? How fabulous is that? This is what I did.

As I told DH, I’ve now read over 200 books, since many courses required nearly one book per week. Also I’ve read over 500+ articles with 5-7 articles required weekly for each class in addition to the textbooks. This doesn’t include the numerous speakers, films and presentations. On the “output” end I’ve written dozens of abstracts and papers – so over 400+ pages.

Now the question is how to synthesize all of this information in a way that helps me impact adult education and teaching. This will be an on-going process. Nevertheless, my dissertation – nearly complete – will be submitted in August for graduation in December.

Although it was a tremendous amount of work I would do it all again. It was a gift to myself – to my own personal growth and development. It was also a gift that will be used by the wider community. Most people never have the option to do something like this and the opportunity itself comes with responsibilities. Our education is never only for our own personal benefit. It is also for the benefit of the wider community.

Photo: ArtsJournal.com

In my own situation, it took the support of many, along with financial support from the university where I teach and the school I attended to be able to complete this program of doctoral study.

Where will it lead? Only the Spirit knows . . . I wait to see what the sequel presents. God’s vision is always so much greater than anything we can imagine – and so much more fun too!

Happy birthday T!

You may also like Deeper Dive and Authentic Living.

by Roxanne -

Secret to the Fabulous Life

Photo Curly Girl.com

Last Saturday I was in Gypsy Moon with a very good friend. Gypsy Moon is a quirky little shop with unusual things located on Randolph Avenue in St. Paul. You’ll find it across the street from the University of St. Catherine, in the neighborhood where I grew up.

If, when you are there, you go all the way to the back of the shop, past the rusting metal planters, beyond the antique armoire and the display of artisan jewelry, you will find an additional small room. There on the table I saw it. It was printed on a Curly Girl greeting card – what I learned from another very good friend – so I purchased it and sent it to her.

“What was it?” you might ask. It was the secret to a fabulous life. But it was short and sweet and summed up in very few words.

On the card was written this:

The real secret to the fabulous life

is to live imperfectly with great delight.

It is so very true! In the end, this is all we can do. Nothing is ever perfect and it is best when it is imperfect. It was all created this way, but not by us. We should accept the gift and delight in it. Give up our ideas of how we think our lives should be or should have been. Instead, embrace the life we have been given. Compassionate and forgiving theology – a gift, as modeled by a very god friend and now it seems, on a greeting card.

You may also like Authentic Living – Life Editing and Market Flowers – Fabulous.

by Roxanne -

Telling Stories

Listening to Minnesota artist Ann Reed’s CD “Telling Stories” (a gift from my friend L), I was thinking about the importance of telling stories in our lives.

Especially for women – telling our story and stories from our lives – is the only way to confront the “narrative of the lie” or the story our culture gives us. This story frequently confines women to certain roles, certain life paths and certain ways of being in the world that limit and restrict what women can do.

For example, believing that there is a “public sphere” and “private sphere” and relegating women to the private sphere, effectively removes our voices from public life. It also removes our rights since these rights are often considered not applicable to private sphere or home life. Thus, women who work at home may be considered to be doing less valuable work, typically aren’t paid, may be subject to emotional, physical or domestic abuse, may be inculturated to serve others even when it means denying one’s own education, development, talents or gifts.

Someone once admonished me to “stop telling stories.” It was interesting that the request was not to “stop lying” – because telling about my own experience certainly was not lying. But it was sharing a truth in my own experience that confronted the lie being told by the larger tribe, clan or group.

How have you confronted the lies told in your family, group or community?

How does your story differ from the story others relate about you?

In Christianity, gospel values hinge on our ability to tell the stories. We are not our stories. But scripture stories and our own stories can expand our ideas of who we are and what we can do.

Like Ann Reed, every chance you get – tell stories!

You may also like “What is Your Story?” and “Secrets.”

by Roxanne -

Wheat Belly

Part of our responsibilities as adults is to constantly question our assumptions. William Davis, M.D. does exactly this in his new book, Wheat Belly. From the book jacket,

Since the introduction of dietary guidelines in the 1970’s calling for reduced fat intake, a strange phenomenon has ocurred: Americans have steadily, inexorably become heavier, less healthy, and more prone to diabetes than ever before. After putting more than 2,000 of his at-risk patients on a wheat-free regimen and seeing extraordinary results, cardiologist William Davis has come to the disturbing conclusion that it is not fat, not sugar, and not our sedentary lifestyle that is causing our nations’ obesity epidemic – it is wheat.

In his book, Davis takes a look at all of the genetic modifications made to modern wheat within the past fifty years – and there are thousands. The wheat we eat today is not the wheat we had growing up. These modifications were made to increase the profit and efficiency of the wheat industry. Further, no one has been monitoring the impact of these modifications (made for better yield and resilience) on human beings. In fact, modern wheat spikes blood sugar far higher than sugar, causing an addictive cycle. It’s quite possible that we are a nation addicted to wheat.

Davis observes that the reaction of an addict is exactly what happens when he suggests to patients to give up breads, pastas and cereals. But after just four weeks of wheat-free eating he claims results are stunning: blood sugar, cholesterol and weight all significantly lower for most patients.

Davis notes how wheat is present in so many food products we know and love such as cereals, noodles, burritos, bagels and cookies. But wheat is hidden in many products which would seem to not contain wheat – such as salad dressings, beers & vodkas, artificial colors and flavors and nutrition bars.

Could he be correct? Could authority’s (like the USDA, American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) call to eat more whole grains actually be making our entire population sick?

Read it for yourself and then decide. In fact, why not try it for yourself? Removing wheat from our diets for one month will not cause anyone nutritional devastation. In fact, the book provides wonderful wheat alternatives – as I do on “Food or What We Eat” category to the left on this blog . Try eliminating wheat and watch what happens.

You may also like Salad in a Jar and Fresh, the Movie.