Day of celebrities.

And then, Law and Order SVU was filming on campus all day today and I went to Pilates tonight and Ice-T was hanging out and then I talked to him about Pilates. Um.

Katherine. Jefferts. Schori.

(Immediately after group meeting with KJS):

I
AM
TOTALLY
a) ENAMOURED
b) DAZZLED
c) IMPRESSED
d) ALL OF THE ABOVE
WITH
THE
NEW
PRESIDING
BISHOP.



More on this later. She knows my name! AHHHHHHHH! I Love Her.

She is clear and keen and kind and precise and GROUNDED and comfortable and God-centered and everything good.

YES!

Thanks-Givings.

Whew. I am sitting in a pretty room in pretty Philly where the sky is pretty pretty blue outside. Eventually I will make it outside to walk in it, loud music all up in my ears.

I am at Heath's, where we had very good vegetarian Thanksgiving last night with lots of lovely Philly people, and then watched Rize. It was very nice.

Except that I'm really homesick.

Don't get me wrong. I am in the right place at the right time doing the right thing. I am supposed to be in seminary, doing what I'm doing. I am supposed to be following this call and meeting the people I'm meeting. It's just...sometimes I miss the hills in Seattle, the way you can walk west and smell the water. I miss food that costs reasonable amounts of money and I miss kitties. I miss my most perfect apartment, and I miss my dearest little people. I miss my co-op and I miss Ecology/Spirituality. I miss grown-up people too (and you know who you are). I miss thrift stores that don't suck, and I miss Velella Velella. I miss being able to get where I need to go in 15 minutes or less. I miss being able to walk places and I miss affordable beer. I miss Seattle Yoga Arts. Yes.





Happy Thanksgivings, everyone. I am thankful for a great many things this year.

For example, not in order:
1. my excellent roommates
2. my nice room
3. Union
4. Fairway
5. heart-friends: Katy, Jerry, Carolina
6. work I like at ECC
7. Hebrew
8. Fr. Haight
9. occasional cooking
10. Olive Tree coffee (not Seattle-standards, but nice to go there)
11. learning how to do major life transistions in a grown-up and not (entirely) panicky way
12. being on the same coast as Heath
13. running in Riverside Park
14. Trader Joe's NYC
15. cobbling together a serious prayer life again
16. long city walks
17. finding Christian allies
18. living in a castle
19. the love and support I've gotten on this big big journey
20. my parents, always

A beautiful thing.

I received a check from the Seminarian Scholarship Fund of the Diocese of Olympia. I didn't even know there was a Seminarian Scholarship Fund. They state that they understand that as seminarians, we are putting ourselves at real financial risk in order to pursue the calls placed upon our spirits. Isn't that beautiful? Especially after that scary letter last year that informed us of the psychological exam, the physicals, and the cost of BACOM. Especially after hearing a well-loved middle-aged priest friend of mine from my diocese tell me that he was still working on paying off his school debt.

The letter states that I "can help by telling the story of what these gifts from the diocese mean to [me] and by raising the level of awareness in [my] sponsoring congregation and beyond to encourage ongoing contributions to the fund." So here I am: hello, St. Mark's and diocesan friends. This money matters. This money is real. Please give generously. Those of us in seminary are looking at around $20,000-$40,000/year in loans. It's a three-year degree. It's serious. I was fortunate enough to be granted a Union Scholarship, so that eases my burden some, but it is still a major, major concern.


Can I tell you how much this means?

It means not having to panic about all the $65 textbooks. It means having a cushion of food money. It means not having to obsessively tally the cost of transportation in this crazy city. I means mental rest, and ease. It means knowing that my communities care about me and about us, that we are loved and supported in tangible ways. It means a lot.



So thank you. Thank you to all of you who give to this fund, and to all those who support seminarians in various ways. It is a blessing, and we do feel it.


Love.

Bonus for the E/S Group.

I wanted to let my Ecology/Spirituality beloveds know that at Episcopal Church Center, the appliances are EnergyStar certified, and the lights are automatic in public spaces: they go out when no one is there and go on when someone walks in. They also have can recycling, which is not typical in NYC businesses. It must be specially requested, and our national offices do ask for it. Isn't that excellent?


Also, thank you all for your prayers for my friend Ingrid. She has been declared to have a very low chance on having cancer, but is still receiving some radiation therapy to make sure the tumor removed from her arm didn't leave behind some nasty cancerous cells.

Glee!

OK, can I just say BEST DAY ON CNN.COM EVER?


Can I get an amen?


Yes.



I am in Orlando, with the NCCC USA, as a delegate with the Episcopal Church. Two years ago, I was a steward, and last year I was a senior steward. This year I vote! Wahoo! I am excited about this work and about the opportunity to network with other religious young adults and with potential mentors and with my Anglican allies and friends. We passed resolutions and policies today on raising the minimum wage, reforming Wal-Mart, and human biotechnology. It was beautiful.


My Ecology Spirituality Group will be happy to learn that the NCCC (after a fuss made two years ago) is now only considering hotels with ecologically-sensitive programs for the General Assembly. Excellent. Honestly, it never occurred to me how many people are not on board with even basic ecological agendas until I moved away from Seattle. I know we have struggles on the West Coast, but we really do have the benefit of widespread understanding that the planet is worth protecting, enjoying and loving.




I am years behind in my reading, since my mom was just here and I entertained her, but I am trying not to think about it too much. I will catch up over Thanksgiving.


Jonie P., you will be happy to know that I am slowly but surely getting better at Philsophy. Thank you so much for your kind e-mail. I received very good grades on both my Augustine and Aquinas papers. Now I'm up against Kant. And then Schleiermacher. Jiminy crickets. Kant is a freaking battleground.




I watched the installation of Katharine Jefferts Schori (or, as we call her at Episcopal Church Center, "The PB") live on the webstream on Saturday morning and cried my eyes out. It was SO beautiful: her vestments were purple and blue and green, and her miter bore the image of a sunrise. God is doing something new in her, in the church, and in us. God is doing Some-Thing-New, and It Is Good.


It's 2:00 a.m. here and meeting begin again at 9:00, so I should get to bed. I realized that I have neglected this shamefully and wanted to share the joy of the elections. May we continue in the prophetic ministry God has given us. Amen!