BEACHES!!! ....I'm dreaming of beaches...

I'm in finals week right now. I have a lot of work to do for my European Union class. One problem: I repeatedly find myself losing focus on the European Union and how it is contributing to world peace. Where is my focus going? I'll tell you. BEACHES.

I want to go to the beach.


A WARM BEACH.



I miss palm trees.

And warm sand. There's a enormous difference between cold sand and warm sand. I miss the warm, dry sand and how it feels under my feet.

...Well, now that I'm thinking about it I kind of miss the wet, muddy sand too. You know, the kind that gets in between your toes. . . It can be found right at the edge of where the tide comes up. You stand at the tide's edge, just close enough to where the ocean comes up over the top of your feet, maybe it gets your ankles too, and when the water receeds, you can feel the gooey sand under your feet rushing back out to the ocean with the fast-moving water. I adore that feeling.


This morning I even put on my swimsuits before got dressed to go to our Evergreen gathering! I think I was conviced that it would make me feel a little more connected to the beach. It just made me realize how much I look like a Pacific Northwesterner - I'm so pale!!! :) I don't think that we Italians were meant to have this little exposure to the sun. It doesn't look good on us. The Mediterranean people - Greeks, Italians, Portuguese, etc. - we just look better when we have gotten a little bit of sun. All of my friends of Northern European descent look great pale. Not me. And my dark-skinned friends, well they just look great all year long!

Ok, enough dreaming about soaking up sunshine...now back to the European Union...

I'm inviting you into the conversation - about conflict, that is!

Hey there friends,

Over the past few weeks, I have come to realize that I do a very poor job at letting the fascinating things I'm studying trickle over into the rest of my life. I'm learning some pretty amazing things. It doesn't do anyone much good if I take in all the fantastic things I'm being exposed to and keep them for myself. So, I'm going to try to make an effort to blog more about Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies. You are invited to the conversation. Get your conversation bubbles ready!
AND, I'm going to try to post more photos. I think that they make my blog pretty. Don't you?

My Work: These Numbers Have Faces

What's new with me?
Well, one of the most significant changes in my life has been joining the team of people who work for a non-profit called These Numbers Have Faces.



Why am I so excited?
There are several reasons:
1. We work in post-apartheid South Africa. I am learning a lot about South Africa as I'm pursuing a Masters in Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies. I have a great admiration for all that the Rainbow Nation has overcome, AND I recognize that the country has a long way to go before blacks in South Africa are truly free.
2. I'm passionate about social change in post-conflict areas. There is a lot of "cleaning up" to do after a society has been ravaged with violent conflict. In the case of South Africa, nearly ninety percent of the resources are still in the hands of about ten percent of the people. This means that the resources available for black South Africans are not always adequate for them to meet their basic needs. Resources are even more lacking for those with the ambition to earn a college degree.
3. TNHF is based on individual relationships and partnerships. The idea is that we are friends with the people with whom we partner. We work on small-scale projects. Our work is deep rather than broad. Our partnership works to provide a small group of youth in the township of Gugulethu with AIDS education, mentoring, character development, sports training, and educational resources. We know these kids.
4. Even though TNHF has only been established for a little over a year, a lot of great things are happening! TNHF's partnership in South Africa is with a high school-age soccer team called JL Zwane Football Club. The team has had a great season, and they are being cared for and mentored by Coach Eric. The MOST exciting part for me has been that our first student, Anda Sozawe, has graduated from high school, gotten accepted into college, and is now in his first term at Northlink College in South Africa. Anda is studying Sports Management at Northlink and hopes to return to his home community of Gugulethu better equipped to mentor other future leaders through soccer.

This photo was taken of Anda while he was practicing.

5. I'm going to South Africa this summer! Yeah, that's right. I'm going to Capetown this summer with TNHF. We will check in with JL Zwane FC and Coach Eric to reassess what comes next. I might explore some opportunities to bring young South African women into TNHF. :)

I just started working with TNHF, but I'd appreciate your prayers and encouragement for what lies ahead for me and for us. Check out the website. It might get you excited too!

its ok to be extraordinary...in fact, it is worship

I have a bad habit. Well, the truth is that I probably have a lot of bad habits. One that I have become aware of lately is that I think that I have a fear of being extraordinary. What I mean is that there are times that I realize that God has made me very special and wonderful and he is changing and growing my heart in beautiful ways. The unfortunate thing is that often I want to downplay the ways in which God is doing a great thing in me. SI mislabel it 'humility'. I don't want to seem too extraordinary to others and when I am blown away by the good work God is doing in my inner being, I shy away from celebrating it.

I spent this past weekend gathering with a group of women who have quickly become some of my heroes. We gathered together because we all share a relationship with Jesus and a desire to come alongside others in our faith communities to lead them in the way of Jesus...whatever that means in each of our contexts. I found that it looks profoundly different from woman to woman and from community to community. The retreat/conference was called Convergence. It was encouraging.

The women who surrounded me at Convergence were extraordinary. There is something indescribably alluring about women who celebrate the ways in which God's image is manifested in them. I found that although the women who attended represented a wide spectrum of backgrounds, appearances, and interests, so many of them had a sort of glow that comes from being yourself and being treasured for it.

Let me just say that I am thankful and proud to be a woman!

I found myself feeling treasured. I felt an appreciation for being me. And I realized that I am extraordinary, in my own way. And acknowledging that I am extraordinary does not mean that I'm not humble. Rather, the acknowledgment is celebration of how extraordinary God's love is. He chooses to take silly and ordinary people like me. And he does things. Within us. And that makes us extraordinary.

I turn twenty-four tomorrow. I'm ready. I want to begin living my life in a way that celebrates how wonderful it is to be myself. When I downplay the beautiful things that God is doing in me, I am taking away from an opportunity to worship him.

This is my hope: Twenty-four will be about thanking God for how he has made me, trusting that he made me the way I am for specific reasons and that I will be able to love others in unique ways as a result. I think that the twenty-four year-old Dominique will be courageously obedient to the person she is becoming, despite how much she might want to blend in with others.

I'm ready to be extraordinarily and courageously true to the person God has made me. May God be glorified.

public attention to this "great awakening"

There is an interesting little op-ed article that I read in the NY Times. In the article, the author draws special attention to how evangelicals are caring for the poor and oppressed. He calls them "Evangelicals A Liberal Can Love" - which is funny to me because although I understand the seemingly great divide that exists between people who stringently adhere to the labels "evangelical" or "liberal" I feel like I flirt with both evangelicalism and liberalism [for different reasons].

I think that following Jesus in some ways has less to do with political categorizations and more to do with critically thinking about how, as followers of Jesus, we are to engage with the world in which God has placed us. Jim Wallis is coming out with a new book called, "The Great Awakening." The book discusses trends with an emerging generation of Christians and how [they/we] are taking the teachings of Jesus in practical light and doing remarkably creative things in order to serve and care for the poor. I'm looking forward to reading it.

If you can, read the NY Times article and let me know what you think. It is brief. I found it refreshing to read an article by an author from "the American coasts" (more liberal-minded, like my neighbors here in Portland) who is trying to build a conversation of sorts between these often opposing religio-political camps.

Check it out. Enjoy. :)

Temporarily In Need of A [Fake] Husband.

I am in no hurry to get married, but every now and again, I get in situations where I realize how useful a husband would be. I have a fun-filled and satisfying single life, so these occasions are rare. Nonetheless, being married has its advantages over being single in some situations.

More specifically, yesterday I went to have my car looked at. Let's face it. Car dealerships and auto mechanics treat women differently than they do men. They treat men better than they do women. And, as we know, I am a woman.

In January, when I returned to Portland, the radio in my car had stopped working. I turn it on and can change the radio channels, but the volume won't go up or down and the CD player is unresponsive. When I took my car in to get an estimate, they asked me to sign a paper saying that they would charge me $100 to examine it. I paused and asked the man behind the counter if the fee was nonnegotiable. He then dropped the fee to $50, explaining that it probably wouldn't take an entire hour to check it out, so they would charge me half. (Initially, I was proud of myself having knocked off half the price. I later found out that my male friends get these sort of estimates for free.)

After waiting over an hour in the waiting room, I went back into the office to see about my car. They assured me that they would know details soon and asked me to continue waiting. Keep in mind that they are just checking on the radio. After about twenty minutes of waiting by the service desks, the man finally came out to talk to me. My radio was broken. When I asked questions, he said that he did not know the answers to my questions. Ten minutes later, he returned with a sheet, a bill, detailing what it would cost to replace the radio. In it, I was given no options for upgrades, used radios, or recommendations.

I have to admit, I felt very alone. Was I asking the right questions? Was I receiving the answers that I deserved? I felt very grown up in a way that I kind of resent. How am I supposed to know what to do with my car if my mechanic, who I trust to diagnose the problem, will not fill me in on all the significant information. I think that one has choices in how to replace a car radio. And I think that I should also be educated by my mechanic on exactly what he has found after AN HOUR of examining the radio.

I decided to get some more opinions. I'm not even sure if it is indeed my radio that is broken. When I think about the symptoms, it seems to me that instead it is my speakers that need to be replaced. Mostly, I wish I knew how to find out more information. I wish I knew a good honest person who knows about these things and can diagnose my car. I wish that I had a fake husband so that when I go into situations like these, I will have an advocate of the preferred gender. And I wish that I lived in a world where one gender did not receive preferred treatment over another.

For now, I'm driving around town with no radio. I think that the silence is good for me. I'm not ready to fix the radio. It is too exhausting. Maybe a good fake husband will come along in the meantime. One that likes silent car rides.

Remedies for S.A.D. days

Part of life here in the lovely Pacific Northwest, especially here in the valley, is the soggy, gray days. The climate is such that on days when it is sunny, Oregon is gloriously beautiful. However, when the soggy days go on, one after another, one begins to forget how beautiful Portland is and how it looked when the sun was out. After a beautiful sunny day, a couple of gray and wet days are not too hard to bear. When three or four - or even ten - soggy days happen in a row, one's temperament tends to be affected. Some people even develop Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.). It is a real fact of life here. My dad seemed to be concerned about it when I visited Texas in December.

January has turned out to be a bit more soggy than my previous months in Portland. So, I've decided to take on preventative measures. There will be no S.A.D. days for me, if I can help it. In order to prevent the onset of S.A.D. I have developed a few of my own remedies to ensure that I'm getting my quota of S.A.D.-defeating joyfulness each day. Here they are:

1. Eating lots of hot soup. I have been collecting soup recipes and making lots of new soups. Maybe it is true what they say about chicken soup.
2. Cooking great meals. Delicious food adds greatly to contentedness.
3. Spending quality time with friends.
4. Meeting new friends. There is something about meeting new people that adds a nice amount of unpredictability to my day, and I just get a kick out of some of the really quirky people I meet.
5. Prayer and quiet time to consider the important things and people.
7. Working out! My body's circulation is stimulated and my heart rate goes up and it feels great!
8. Eating oranges in the shower.
9. Looking for ways to bless and serve others. This does much to add joy to each day!
10. Laughing.
11. Taking advantage of every opportunity to enjoy the days when the sun does come out. Go for a walk, or, if it is too cold, sit by the window. Take a mental note of how beautiful everything looks in the sunshine.

So, I spend my January (and now February) days eating tasty soups, laughing with my new acquaintances, and eating oranges in the shower. Oh, and I think that my new galloshes (or "rain boots" as they call them here) help counter the S.A.D. as well. Aren't they incredible? For now, I think I have this S.A.D. thing beat. I am sure with the coming seasons that I might discover some other great secrets to Northwest winters - something else I am looking forward to.

An Orange in the Shower

A few weeks ago my friend, Gregory, enthusiastically shared with me one of his quirky and beloved pastimes: eating an orange in the shower.

His eyes opened wide with child-like exuberance as he explained the process to me. I sort-of giggled inside as he spoke, but I was curious enough to try it out for myself.

On your way to the shower, grab an orange and take it with you. Set it on the side of the tub as you lather, rinse, repeat. When you are nearly done with your shower and the steam has filled the bathroom, the time has come. Enter, Orange!

When you break open the peel, the heat of the shower releases the natural oils in the rind and the entire bathroom is filled with the scent of fresh orange. While rinsing all the suds out of your hair and off of your body, you begin to peel the orange. The peel can be thrown on the floor of the bathtub – making a mess is part of the fun!


When you first bite into the first crescent, the refreshing contrast between your body heat and the cold juice of the orange delights the tongue. In the shower, the flavor and juiciness of the orange is full and satisfying in a way that one cannot compare when eating an orange in any other place. According to Gregory, “A bad orange is a good orange in the shower, and a good orange is phenomenal!”

I have started eating an orange in the shower every few days, and, I must say, it has made showering even better! I think that everyone should try it at least once.

A few things I have learned about oranges in the shower:
1. Small bathrooms with low ceilings (like the one in my apartment) are most hospitable to oranges in the shower because they corral the steam into a close space.

2. Small oranges work best because otherwise one stands in the shower for a bit too long peeling and eating.

3. If one forgets to clean the peel from the shower immediately afterward, the bathroom begins to smell like a compost pile.

4. Stocking oranges in one’s shower seems good in theory, but is bad in practice. A bad orange is a good orange in the shower, but a moldy orange is still disgusting and should not be eaten. Eeeew!

writing and meeting

I went to a party last night at the home of a very talented writer. I was a little hesitant o go to the party, worrying that I would not know very many people. Yesterday morning, I got a call from one of my friends who was throwing the party. He called just to make sure that I'd be there. His kind phone call reined me into their plans.

So I went. The writer was a very pleasant host with a beautifully decorated and inviting home. I was hesitant to talk to him. I think I was a wee bit intimidated by being new to the group and not knowing him well. Also, I was a bit overwhelmed, wanting to get to know him as the person that he is, aside from the writer that many know him to be. He has an unassuming but attractive air about him, and I did not find him intimidating at all once he began to talk to me. In fact, I found it very easy to be myself around him.

When he found me searching for something in his apartment, he quickly came to my assistance and showed me where I could leave my coat and scarf for the evening. Leading me into his bedroom, he pushed a wrinkly pile of clean laundry to one side of his bed and, taking my coat, laid it down on the other side. I liked him more for having a dishevled pile of unfolded laundry in full view. He was in the middle of opening a bottle of wine, but as we walked back to the kitchen, he seemed uninterested in continuing to open it. We walked into the living room and then he began asking me a few questions about myself. Before I knew it, we had entered into a very enjoyable conversation about our Texan backgrounds, our appreciation for the neighborhood he lives in (my favorite one in Portland!), and assorted topics related to church and women and culture and personal vocation.

It wasn't an intense conversation, but the topics weren't light. Admittedly, I was quite taken aback with how easily we conversed and ten minutes must have passed before I became aware that it was the writer I admire that I was conversing with. I found myself really appreciating the man I was getting to know, coincidently also the man behind the artfully juxtaposed words. In a way, I wished that he were two men and that I could befriend only the man I was conversing with, ignoring the well-known writer. I wondered if he sometimes desires this as well. If I were him, I might tire easily of being known as the talented writer and miss being known apart from that part of my life. While we were talking, however, it occurred to me that one of the reasons why the man in front of me was so pleasant in conversation was his proficiency as a writer.

I left the house last night marinating on questions he asked me in our little ten minute aside. They were great questions. It is a fantastic thing to talk about something which you are tired of talking about and because the person with whom you are talking thinks uniquely about things, the tiresome subject now somehow seems intriguing and perplexing and has a new depth to it. Great writers ask great questions. Great question askers are great conversationalists.

And so, I have renewed vigor as a life-long student of writing. I see anew the value in asking unique and daring questions. Why not?

And I have a new friend in my favorite Portland neighborhood. I'm thrilled! Perhaps his skill in asking great questions and telling artfully constructed stories will wear off on me.

I think Solomon was onto something.

I've been reading the One Year Bible. In my case, however, it is more like the "Two Year Bible." I began on January 1, 2006, and I am currently reading the entry for July 22nd. Let us not forget, however, that the tortoise beat out the hare in the old fable by La Fontaine . . . I'm taking inspiration from that little guy. Slow digestion of the Bible has its benefits. :)

I have a special attachment to 1st and 2nd Samuel. When I read them in the early fall, I was overjoyed to return to fascinating narratives of these dynamic men. As of late, I have been reading 2nd Chronicles in the Old Testament and Romans in the New Testament. Until recently, I had never read the two Chronicles. Much to my surprise (and my delight!), they retell the stories of David and Solomon!

Yesterday, I read the passage where David gives the kingdom over to Solomon. Solomon receives a mighty kingdom - an immense amount of land, tremendous riches - and he rules over hundreds of thousands of people. Furthermore, he is the leader of God's chosen people. In the passage, God appears to Solomon. Solomon has pleased God, and he lets Solomon ask anything that he wants and God tells him he will give it to him. (Can you imagine!) Solomon, thankful for all that he has and overwhelmed with the responsibility that he faces, asks God for wisdom that he might rule Israel with godly wisdom.

What struck me when I was reading this passage is that I too am like Solomon. I have been entrusted with a lot. I am overwhelmed with the bountiful blessings God has bestowed upon me. I have been given not only plentiful material possessions, but I am also receiving a great education and have a lot of friends and peers that I encounter each day. Like Solomon, each of us has a sphere of influence. When he took account of all that he had been given, Solomon responded with thankfulness, humility, and a recognition of his shortcomings. He recognized that in his abundance he was in need.

It is true that when we have, we need. I have much, therefore, I am in need of God to humble me and make me wise. It would be a waste for Solomon to have all that he had and to lack wisdom in what to do with his kingdom.