When one blogs as sporadically as I do, one is bound to have tons of ideas for blog posts that never made it online. Lucky you, I've decided to post again - but the cheap and easy way by clearing out my blog idea folder. It is a very big folder that only grows and never shrinks... here is one small step toward the shrink.
- Eberhard Arnold's free .pdf version of the sayings of early Christians, including Polycard, Origen, Clement, and other people with fun-to-say names. Yes, a free .pdf book. What are you waiting for?
- The best article from issue 6 of theotherjournal.com of Mars Hill Graduate School. Issue 6 was all Africa, the best article was by Emmanuel Katongole, and The Other Journal is good to read. How this didn't ever merit a post, I have no idea.
- Born, raised, and married in a refugee camp - the title pretty much sums up this story. This is real life, and I have no idea how to communicate this reality to Americans.
- A short article on controversial "slum tourism" in Kenya. This hits us as well - we don't take visitors to the shacks, slums, and townships "just to look." Well meaning, kind hearted, caring people want to see what it looks like in the informal settlements, but it's hard to find a way to let them know that it isn't cool to drive through and look at poverty. Another dilemma.
- I found the rejesus "Faces of Jesus" gallery fascinating, which led me to plan to explore the rejesus site. Turns out I never did that, although I was interested enough to plan to do it and then blog about it. So maybe someone out there will figure out what rejesus is all about and let me know. Thanks.
- I've read lots and lots about our old home, New Orleans, which as you may have heard, had a bit of water around just before we left for South Africa. Amy and I loved most everything about New Orleans, which made articles like this one (from almost two years ago) really sad and worth blogging about.
- I also wanted to write more about Juba, South Sudan, which led me to this article describing the money changers under yellow umbrellas with big stacks of lots of different kinds of money. I've told lots of people my stories about these guys with stacks of money under umbrellas, and I finally found a legitimate news source to back me up. I thought that was worth a blog post. Alas, it only got a bullet point.
Seriously, that didn't make a dent in my "want to blog about" pile. And that pile doesn't even include actual original ideas, which is a whole separate pile that I keep avoiding because you'll all be mad at me when you find out what I really think. :)
Which leads to this question - did anyone actually read anything linked in this post? If so, what? And why did you choose that link? I'd love to know, because I'd like some help rethinking this blog. Until then, I'll just keep digging through that folder of old ideas that never made the cut.
i just read a few links. it's 1:00am and I should really go to sleep, but I couldn't help but click on a couple first!
I read the one about living in the refugee camp because I was curious how much it described what that life might look like... I can't imagine how that must feel. And it's sad to think of the millions of people throughout the world who have been forced into these camps...
I also read the one about "slum tourism" because I had heard about something similar happening in Delhi. It's pretty disturbing if you ask me... I thought this quote from the article put it well: "Kibera does not need pity tours, it needs action." Being a photographer myself, it is certainly difficult sometimes to photograph certain things, hoping that the people will believe that I genuinely care about their stories, and don't just want to snap some "National Geographic" photo... But that trust can often only be earned with time...
And lastly, I read the one about the money changers because it reminded me of the ones I saw in Yei, Sudan. It was crazy to see those guys just sitting there with stacks and stacks of money just lying right there! Wild...
Posted by: Blanca | February 23, 2009 at 09:21
"And that pile doesn't even include actual original ideas, which is a whole separate pile that I keep avoiding because you'll all be mad at me when you find out what I really think. :) "
Pull 'em out!
Posted by: Sally | April 24, 2009 at 01:03