I know it has been a long time since my last blog but I think it is time for an update. I have been pretty busy recently. In February, I was in a play. It was ridiculous. I’ve never really been in community theatre before, so that was an interesting experience. The show was Agatha Christie’s A Murder is Announced and I was Mrs. Blacklock, the woman of the house where a murder takes place. It was lots of fun to be a classy older woman. I dyed my hair grey every night, wore sweet dresses straight out of history. There was a photographer, so if you are so inclined, check them out: http://thebagonline.org/Bethel_Actors_Guild/The_2011_Season/Pages/A_Murder_is_Announced.html There are a ton of pictures, but don’t be deterred, definitely make sure to look at the pictures at the end. Yes, that is me, the classy English woman, trying to stab someone with scissors and then getting stopped by the police.
Anyway, the play was basically my life from when I got back in January until the end of February. Then, once I survived that ridiculous experience of people quitting, people on script during the dress rehearsal and just general craziness, I found something new to get excited about. Broomball! I know that I have written about broomball in the past, I’ve been playing since last winter, but its for real now. See, everyone has gotten really into it, we have special broomball shoes, we have new broomball sticks and in two weeks, I will be heading to Homer to represent Bethel in the Alaskan Broomball tournament. It will be another interesting experience, I’m sure. I’m not that good but I’m definitely getting better. I scored my first goal ever a few weeks ago and then I scored another one yesterday. I think my goal for the tournament should be to try and score a goal. We shall see how that goes. I’m not incredibly optimistic but it will be fun to get out of Bethel and have one last fun Alaskan experience before I leave.
Yes, I am leaving Bethel. It has been a wonderful experience but it is time for me to move on. I don’t yet know where I am going to be moving to, that is too much decision making for me, but I know I won’t be in Bethel come next fall. I don’t know when I am going to leave, I might spend part of the summer here, I might move to wherever I am planning on attending grad school, who knows. Oh yea, I think I am going to grad school. Yay! I got into the University of Denver’s school of Social Work, I am also waiting to hear back from the University of Montana. Those are my two top choices. Denver or Missoula? I don’t know which I prefer quite yet. Meh, I have some time. Haha. Nothing like putting off decisions!
Anyway, other exciting things happening in the life of Jill: I am still obsessed with food. My current love = sweet potato gnocchi. Try this recipe out and fall in love. Its easy, its delicious and it is actually relatively nutritious. I like it with a little bit of pesto. http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/sweet-potato-gnocchi/Detail.aspx I have made it twice in the past 2 months (and since I like to try new things all the time, that actually means something, I only repeat awesome recipes)
I have also been reading some of my roommate’s theology books. I often get bored and start reading whatever is around me and recently that has meant reading Ariel’s books. They have definitely raised some questions for me. The first book was Proverbs of Ashes. Basically, this book is part theology and part memoir and the premise is that the belief that Jesus was crucified in order to forgive our sins perpetuates a cycle of violence. The authors use stories from their own lives and stories from others to illustrate this. One of the most striking examples for me was the story of a woman who was beaten by her husband but counseled by her priest to stay with the batterer. His explanation: your struggles bring you closer to God, you understand Jesus’ agony on the cross. WHOA. That just sounds ridiculous to me. The authors of this book had actually touched on one of my biggest issues with Christianity, the idea that this great, loving God, would send his own son to be tortured and killed. What kind of person does that? What kind of God does that? All my life, I have struggled when people have said, “God sends us these troubles to test us or to make us stronger.” In my head, I’ve always said, “What the heck? Why? Why does God have to bring us pain?” The authors of Proverbs of Ashes don’t believe that God wants us to be punished. He doesn’t send us pain and problems, he sends us love and the ability to withstand our pain and problems. Yes. This is what I have been looking for! Someone to tell me that our great all-powerful God is not some punk who gets off on people’s suffering (yes, that sounds sacrilegious, but tell me you haven’t heard stuff like that before). Anyway, that was a really interesting book. It definitely got me thinking. If you are interested, you should totally read it too!
Ok, whew. That was deep. Deeper than my blogs usually get. Let’s end on a lighter note. I got my work evaluation on Friday. It was a 2 minute meeting with the Assistant Principal. He said that I was great and I got top marks on everything. My favorite category: cleanliness. Apparently, I am very well groomed and presentable. Sweet. So take that, everyone who judged my every 2 to 3 day showering schedule. According to Bethel Regional High School, I exceed cleanliness standards.
Anyway, time to head home! I hope everyone is doing well!
Lots of love,
Jill
