Hillcrest at Halloween

Hillcrest is a fairly well-known street by which we live.  I make my way down a portion of this street every day on my way to work, church, and class.  It's a pleasant street with some precious houses, lovely trees lining the sidewalk, and some cute little gardens.  There's even a Gator flag (yes, folks, it is good to be back in the land of the SEC) hanging off one of the porches.  It seems like a quiet and modest place to live...

Until the beginning of October.  Because these people go all out for Halloween.  I mean it- all out.  We heard about Hillcrest at Halloween from a friend who has lived in Louisville for the past few years.  Apparently, there is a marked increase in traffic accidents because so many of the drivers are 'rubbernecking' as they pass through the street.  I have witnessed this first-hand; just the other night on my way home, I was driving two miles an hour.  Two.  I wanted to get out of my car, walk up to the vehicle in front of me, and tell the person driving said vehicle, "If you would like to see the houses and the decorations, why don't you consider parking on the side street so I can get home before midnight?"  I didn't do that, but I wanted to rather badly...

At first, just a few houses had any decorations at all, but as the month went on, it became insane.  See evidence below (it is a long slideshow, but in my opinion, the best pictures are towards the end):

The Journey of a Refugee

For those of you who don't know, I am once again gainfully employed.  A few weeks ago, I began working with one of the resettlement agencies in Louisville.  When we left Missouri, I didn't know if I would be able to continue working with the refugee population simply because resettlement agencies aren't found in every city and even if they are, attaining a job with them can be difficult since they tend to be smaller and receive less funding than other social service agencies (not that most social service agencies receive adequate funding to begin with).  So I was fairly amazed when this job popped up; I had been getting very frustrated because I was having difficulty finding a job, but God is good (as always) and provided me with this opportunity to continue working with the population which I so love.  Currently, I am coordinating services to older refugees and also working in development a few additional hours each week.

If you've been reading my blog for any amount of time, you've probably figured out that my blog mainly consists of a few things: books, life happenings, refugees and international issues, and the occasional funny video or random tidbit.  It's important for me to point out that what I write on my blog does not reflect the opinions of my place of employment, but don't be surprised if I tell stories (maintaining confidentiality) or advertise pertinent fundraisers and events.

I thought I would pass along this video I saw recently; it gives you a glimpse of the journey of a refugee.  The IRC (International Rescue Committee) is one of the national voluntary resettlement agencies (volags) which provides resettlement services to refugees throughout the nation; the agency for which I work is affiliated with a different volag, however.  All refugees resettling in the United States receive services from an agency affiliated with one of the national volags. 

Enjoy the video and consider the journey of a refugee and how you might help them successfully complete their journey...

The BBC Big Read

A few months ago, I posted about a list making its way around the internet through various social networking sites and blogs.  This list contained one hundred books; apparently the BBC determined the average adult has only read six of the one hundred books listed.  What I couldn't figure out is exactly how the list came about- the books were so varied from one another that is was difficult to determine the criteria for admittance to this list.

I did some more research and found out more about the BBC Big Read, which differs from the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read here in the States.  In 2003, the BBC (oh, how I love thee) began its search for the nation's (meaning Great Britain) best-loved novel and asked for patrons to nominate their favourites (because they did indeed ask for 'favourites' and not 'favorites', being British and all).  By the end, over three quarters of a millon votes were received, and The Lord of the Rings officially became the best-loved novel of the British people.  You can see the list of the top two hundred novels here.

This list differs somewhat from the list I posted about before.  I never could find out where that list originated, so if you happen to determine the source, please let me know.  At any rate, I thought I would post the correct top one hundred novels from the BBC's Big Read for you today.  I used the same system as with the previous list, bolding the books I've completed and starring those I am currently reading or have partially read.  Which do you think is the better of the two lists?

1 The Lord of the Rings* by JRR Tolkien
2 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
3 His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
4 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
5 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling
6 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
7 Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne
8 Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
9 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis
10 Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
11 Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
12 Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
13 Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
14 Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
15 The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
16 The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
17 Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
18 Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
19 Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
20 War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
21 Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
22 Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling
23 Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets by JK Rowling
24 Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban by JK Rowling
25 The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
26 Tess Of The D'Urbervilles* by Thomas Hardy
27 Middlemarch by George Eliot
28 A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving
29 The Grapes Of Wrath by John Steinbeck
30 Alice's Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
31 The Story Of Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson
32 One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
33 The Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follett
34 David Copperfield* by Charles Dickens
35 Charlie And The Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
36 Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
37 A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
38 Persuasion by Jane Austen
39 Dune by Frank Herbert
40 Emma by Jane Austen
41 Anne Of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
42 Watership Down by Richard Adams
43 The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
44 The Count Of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
45 Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
46 Animal Farm by George Orwell
47 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
48 Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
49 Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian
50 The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
51 The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
52 Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck
53 The Stand by Stephen King
54 Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
55 A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
56 The BFG by Roald Dahl
57 Swallows And Amazonsby Arthur Ransome
58 Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
59 Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
60 Crime And Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61 Noughts And Crosses by Malorie Blackman
62 Memoirs Of A Geisha by Arthur Golden
63 A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
64 The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCollough
65 Mort by Terry Pratchett
66 The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton
67 The Magus by John Fowles
68 Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69 Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
70 Lord Of The Flies by William Golding
71 Perfume by Patrick Süskind
72 The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell
73 Night Watch by Terry Pratchett
74 Matilda by Roald Dahl
75 Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
76 The Secret History by Donna Tartt
77 The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins
78 Ulysses by James Joyce
79 Bleak House by Charles Dickens
80 Double Act by Jacqueline Wilson
81 The Twits by Roald Dahl
82 I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith
83 Holes by Louis Sachar
84 Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
85 The God Of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
86 Vicky Angel by Jacqueline Wilson
87 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
88 Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
89 Magician by Raymond E Feist
90 On The Road by Jack Kerouac
91 The Godfather by Mario Puzo
92 The Clan Of The Cave Bear by Jean M Auel
93 The Colour Of Magic by Terry Pratchett
94 The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
95 Katherine by Anya Seton
96 Kane And Abel by Jeffrey Archer
97 Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
98 Girls In Love by Jacqueline Wilson
99 The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
100 Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

Honestly, there were a lot more of novels on this list that I haven't heard of before, and I don't know how the voting process worked from beginning to end.  There seem to be quite a few children's books on the list as well, so if the BBC determined any qualifications or particulars for a book to make it to the list, I'm not sure.  I wonder if we did a project like this in the States, what would be our nation's favorite novels?

My New Obsession

There are two types of people in the world: cracker people and chip people.  Personally, I'm a cracker person all the way.  It's not that I won't eat chips occasionally- because I will, especially if those chips happen to be SunChips or Baked Cheetos- but I much prefer crackers over chips on a consistent basis.  Saltine crackers, Triscuits, Townhouse crackers, Ritz crackers... you name it, and I'll most likely thoroughly enjoy the delightfulness of that particular cracker.  I'm a connoisseur of crackers, if you will, and I'm willing to try just about every variety of cracker available on the market.  Enter my new obsession:

These.are.so.good.  We had them at our Elder Refugee program last week; I tried one to make sure I wasn't going to feed my precious refugee elders crappy crackers.  Holy Moses, they are good.  And they are really good with a chunk of cheddar cheese on top.  I promptly went out and bought a box for my personal consumption.  Mmmmm....  

So what about you?  Are you a cracker person or do you side with the chip people?

Life With Jeeves

Life With Jeeves is actually a volume of three separate books from P.G. Wodehouse's collection of stories concerning his famous characters, Bertram (Bertie) Wooster and Jeeves.  Isaac and I always enjoyed checking out both the audio books (for traveling) and the DVDs (starring my two favorite British comedians Hugh Laurie as the blundering Wooster and Stephen Fry as the impeccable Jeeves) from our most excellent public library in Columbia.  But alas!  The Louisville Free Public Library has no such things, so I will simply have to content myself with reading the tales directly.

You'll remember a few weeks ago, I mentioned my belief that I should have been born in Britain, in part due to my love of British humor. When I read the Jeeves books, I realize how wonderful it would be to say, "Yes, yes you know that Wodehouse bloke? Well, he and I both hail from Surrey. Wonderful, yes? Cheerio!" I like Wodehouse's work because it is so light, enjoyable, and just down-right funny. I literally laugh out loud when reading just about any story centering around Bertie and Jeeves, and I often find particular scenes so amusing that I must read them aloud to whomever is sitting in the same room as me (consider this fair warning if you are ever in the same room as me while I'm enjoying a Wodehouse book).  The great thing about these stories is that if I'm not having too happy of a day, I opt for these light-hearted stories and find myself chirping up quite a bit.  They provide a great pick-me-up for the bad days and enhance the good days.  So if you're in the mood for some quality reading, but don't necessarily feel as if you could handle anything too heavy at the moment, run to your local library and pick up any Jeeves book- you don't have to read them in order- and then sit back, relax, and allow yourself to be entertained by the characters created by the masterful P.G. Wodehouse.  I guarantee you'll be returning to the library for more of Bertie and Jeeves! 

Kabul 24

Kabul 24 recounts the story of twenty-four individuals who worked for the non-profit Shelter Now International (SNI) in Afghanistan. In the weeks before September 11, 2001, these coworkers (eight foreigners and sixteen Afghans) were arrested by members of the Taliban and taken to prison for questioning. While some of the other employees of SNI were able to leave Kabul in order to find safe haven in the SNI offices in neighboring Pakistan, these arrested individuals were interrogated, transported to multiple prisons, faced squalid living conditions, and dealt with a great amount of physical and emotional trauma. Eventually, the eight foreigners were rescued by US Special Forces after the invasion of Afghanistan by the United States military in response to the events of 9/11.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I don't take issue with the individuals from Shelter Now International or their work among Afghanistan's widows, orphans and street children, but I don't think this book necessarily presented the best representation of the events, the Afghan people, and the individuals involved. The authors, Henry O. Arnold and Ben Pearson, seem to focus more on the sensationalism of the events than on focusing on the courage and faith of the SNI eight. There are many books that relate similar stories of believers being arrested, kidnapped, tortured, and even murdered for their faith in Jesus, but in those books, the authors seem to focus more on the Lord's provision of strength and faith and courage, rather than on the horrible actions being committed against the believers. This book, however, focuses on the Taliban and their actions. I am not defending the Taliban in any way, shape or form or any of their actions committed againist the employees of SNI, but I am also aware that the Western world is already completely prejudiced against anything Muslim. In addition to our prejudice, most of the West simply does not know or understand enough about the history of Afghanistan, its culture, or its people to combat our prejudice against Afghans and their religion. I wrote about this before, but I honestly believe if we were brutally honest with ourselves, we would agree that when we hear "Afghan" or "Afghanistan", we will automatically (perhaps unconsciously) connect this entire nation and population with "terrorist".  Just as every religion has its own sects that twists the core beliefs into extremisim, so does Islam. Not every Muslim is a terrorist, just like not every Christian lives in a cabin secluded in the woods and stocking up guns. The problem is that the authors of this book failed to emphasize this understanding enough- that yes, these individuals experienced something horrendous that no one should ever have to experience, but that the SNI eight and the authors realize that the Taliban and al-Qaeda is in fact a very small percentage of individuals practicing the Muslim faith, and that regardless of who these people are and what they have committed, they are just like everyone else in the world- sinners in need of Jesus the Christ.

The title of Kabul 24 is actually a bit of a misnomer; the '24' refers to the twenty-four individuals employed by SNI who were arrested by the Taliban. Eight of those individuals were foreigners from the United States, Germany, and Australia, but sixteen of them were native Afghans who worked with SNI in the various projects in Kabul and around the country. All of the sixteen Afghans remained faithful to the Muslim faith while working with SNI and yet were accused of converting to the 'infidel' religion; they were kept separate from the SNI eight and most likely faced much more difficult and harsh treatment than the rest of the SNI eight. Truly, the book does not mention these individuals and their experiences enough for the title to be Kabul 24. Of course, I understand that many of these Afghans chose to remain employed with SNI after their release, and the lack of attention paid to them during the book may be simply an attempt to protect them from further duress.

One of the most encouraging things about this story is that several of the SNI eight chose to come back to Afghanistan to continue working with SNI.  They responded to the call of God on their lives, regardless of the circumstances and situations and regardless of the risks.  This book is good to read if the reader is able to recognize their prejudice against Muslims and individuals residing in a world so different than our own. Otherwise, I'm afraid more people will come away thinking, "Thank God the US Special Forces rescued those people from those evil Muslims" instead of "Those people were doing some great work in a country that desperately needs the light of Christ- I pray that God was and will continue to be glorified through these events and what is going on in Afghanistan..and I will commit to praying for the nation of Afghanistan and the work that is going on there."

The Glory Days

In college, several of my male friends formed a new Independent (as in non-Greek) group our freshman year and dubbed themselves 'The Onions'.  My roommate Kayla and I cheered them on at their first intramural game (volleyball) and were loyal supporters of virtually all the Onion efforts over the course of the next few years.  We were close to a number of these...ahem, how shall we say...interesting guys.  None of the Onions fit the same profile; they were all uniquely different, and eventually the small group expanded to become one of the largest non-Greek groups who competed in the various competitions on campus throughout the year.  We got official Onions shirts, and the term 'Onion' become commonly heard on campus.  The guys even won the Intramural trophy our senior year, and there is still an active Facebook group of Onions today (we can't let the glory days go, you know).

Our sophomore year, The Onions decided to compete in the annual Variety Show sponsored by the Student Activities Council (SAC), of which I am proud to say I was a faithful member during my tenure at Union.  Basically SAC was the 'non-fraternity fraternity'; we were totally the cool kids on campus, and there is a Facebook group to attest to that fact (yes, Facebook groups apparently provide some form of validity).  The Variety Show was pretty much the most anticipated event of the Fall semester (although they have since moved it to the Spring semester- lame!); it served as the culmination of Family Weekend and set the tone for the remainder of the year in terms of which sorority would be able to brag because they won the large group competition. Variety Show was a big deal, and it was a blast to plan.

The Onions entered themselves into the small group competition.  This history-changing performance happened seven years ago this month, so you can imagine how these guys' lives have changed.  Many of them have completed seminary (or are currently attending) and are pastors, some are working on their doctorate, most of them have established their professional careers, and a good deal of them are married...But oh my dear friends, what you are about to witness will change your life forever.

Behold, some of my dearest friends in college, in their shinning moment of infamy (original footage courtesy of the one and only Trae):


Onions Variety Show 2002 from Jenny Johnson on Vimeo.

Needless to say, The Onions won the small group competition of Variety Show and cemented themselves as a formiddable force on campus.  And oh yes, you can thank Amy and I for making sure their 'C' wasn't backwards during the YMCA; we had to keep correcting them during dress reherasal...