Uphill idealist

Image found at Virtual Tourist Dan Dan the shoe shine man approached us in a crowd. He said, “I’m Dan Dan the shoe shine man. I’ll shine your shoes. I bet I can guess where you got your shoes.” From his demeanor and appearance, Dan Dan the shoe shine man seemed street smart and determined. He spoke quickly and smiled wide. He implored to my husband, “You need a shoe shine! I bet I can tell you where you got your shoes. $10.00 a shoe if I tell you where you got them!” My husband smiled waiting for Dan to tell us where his shoes were from as he bent down to spray and buff his sneakers. Dan stood up tall and proud and said, “You Sir has your shoes on your feet! That will be $20.00!” As soon as my husband handed Dan Dan the shoe shine man his $20.00 he was gone into the crowd. Dan was a few dollars richer and we both were a little more street smart. Dan Dan the shoe shine man (and his muscular buddy who was watching from a few feet away to assure he got his payment), were devo...

A mash up is defined by wickipedia as "A digital mashup is a digital media file containing any or all of text, graphics, audio, video and animation drawn from pre-existing sources, to create a new derivative work[1]. Digital text mashups, for example, appear by the thousands every day as users of blogs and online forums copy and paste digital text in juxtaposition to comment on topics of interest, while fan-created video/audio mashups juxtaposing commercially produced video clips with favorite pop songs constitute a major portion of YouTube content." This last week was somewhat of a "mash up". For months I'd prepared to go to New Orleans with my youth group for six days of service, education and fun for the ELCA Youth Gathering . There was a great deal of fund raising that took place to make the trip possible, as well as reservations and what seemed to be thousands of emails. But, all that work done and over with, our group was off to the Big Easy. Our group was...

I'm home from the ELCA youth gathering in New Orleans. It's amazing to me that yesterday morning I was in that beautiful and now almost hopeful city and today I'm back to my small city, and seeing hopeful signs here too. I will have to take the next few days to unpack my physical luggage as well as all the experiences and opportunity our group had while we were the the big easy. So for today, I just wanted to tell you all a simple hello, that I missed you and that I already miss all the lovely people I met in New Orleans. You made a home in my heart with your stories, your determination and your hope.

It's been a hectic week prior to leaving for our group's trip to New Orleans for the ELCA National Youth Gathering . As I've been busily ticking things off my to do list this week, I've experienced a wide variety of emotions. I've had moments of frustration, worry, anger - yes anger, excitement, wonder, hope and joy. All these emotions and the wide variety of them have made me look at this scripture in John where Jesus asks what others think of him. “Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’” Mark 8:27-29 (NRSV) Who do you say I am? The other day, I had a frustrating situation while shopping for supplies for a project for this upcoming trip. My time was short and I was trying to ...

This Saturday the youth that are attending the ELCA Youth Gathering will be hosting a Car Dry and tire polish to help raise more funds for our trip to New Orleans July 21-27. We will be drying car washed cars and polishing tires for tips from 10am-2pm at ROBO wash directly off of Foote Ave. in Jamestown NY on Marion Street. Help ups reach our goal so that we don't have to find out what it means to miss New Orleans! If you would like to help sponsor our group of 10 to attend the ELCA Gathering , contact me at eastman_tara@yahoo.com or visit First Lutheran Church's website for more information.