The Day The Day The

To Blog or Not to Blog

That is the question.

I'm just not sure what to think about blogging any more. I was excited about it for a long time. I've had this blog for over four years! I used to post consistently. I used to read other people's blogs consistently. Comments here and there used to ebb and flow like the tides of a shallow yet refreshing kiddie pool.

Well, now I just don't know.

With the dawn of online interactive social media sites like facebook and twitter, a new age of internet is upon us. There seems to be a lot more communicating happening on those sites, and I'll be honest - it's difficult for me to continue to give much energy to a blog without really knowing if and when and who may be thinking on the thing. I mean, if a blogger blogs in forest and no one is there to read it... ???

So, I guess I'm going to have to do some more pondering. Or not - and just let the natural weathering process unfold. Who knows, maybe there's beauty in internet decomposition.  Soil has to come from somewhere. Look Mom! Nutrients!!

Hot Butter

Recently, I just can't stop listening to Popcorn.

La Isla del Encanto

I can tell it feels like winter outside today because I caught myself singing Christmas carols on my walk to the post office.

Specifically, O Come, All Ye Faithful kept trumpeting through my mind, over and over again, on a loop.

And while I rather enjoyed my walk, with its stiff smell of hibernation, it also made me remember the deep pleasure of being in Puerto Rico last month, serenaded to sleep each night by a faithful choir of coquí, singing glory to their maker.

Like tree angels, those warm hearted amphibians croon, so joyful, so triumphant, and so full of adoration.

Why Interaction International? (A Piece)

A friend of mine recently asked what got me interested in Interaction International and Dave Pollock’s work with TCKs and internationally mobile families.  It’s a great and important question, and I think it needs to be answered in pieces.  What follows is a bit about my first meeting with Dave and the precious gift that is language…

I first met Dave Pollock at a seminar he gave when I was a high school senior at Seoul Foreign School in South Korea.  Initially, I didn’t realize the importance of what he had flown across the ocean to speak to us about that afternoon in Robb Hall auditorium.  How could I have?  I had yet to graduate from my existence, as I had always known it to be.  But when I boarded the plane a few months later, flying across that same ocean to the United States of America - my country of passport, with the idea that I would be stepping into university life and beyond… my perspective on the changes I was enduring began to vividly kaleidoscope.  I was transitioning like never before, and I was in a very unique brand of chaos.

My parents signed me up for a weeklong transition seminar for Third Culture Kids returning to North America.  Upon arriving, I found that the workshop was being led by the same white bearded man who had come to Korea a couple of months prior, sewing the seeds for what became in the seminar a week of offering us TCKs a language of our own, a language that described a heritage we could be proud of, a language with which we could think about and begin to tell our stories.

Language is a deeply precious gift.  Have you ever heard the somewhat legendary line of reasoning that talks about how Inuit people can think more deeply about snow because they have so many more words for the stuff?  Well, in my experience, the same thoughtfulness applies powerfully to contemplating the nuts and bolts of one’s personal understanding of cultural identity.  It is for this reason that the language that has been and continues to develop around TCK cultural identity has been such a remarkably rich offering.  With language, one can think about and share more deeply in one’s own cultural identity and the cultural identity of others.

While I believe this is important for all people, I believe this is especially important for Third Culture Kids, who so often feel a very profound sense of in-between, continually experiencing the many seen and unseen benefits and challenges that come with such a significant heritage.  I want to continue to explore and pass along this gift to others.  And that is one reason I am honored to step on board with Interaction International today.

There are other pieces to this unfolding story, and I will share them in the days to come.  In the mean time, I continue to raise the funding needed to support my work with Interaction International.  Thanks to the generosity of many already, I am about 30% of the way to meeting my annual financial goals.

(If you’d like to participate through a donation, please see the first comment below.)

Call to Worship from the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

(Part of yesterday's liturgy at Bethany United Church of Christ, Seattle, Washington)

Leader: So I say to you, seek God and discover God and make God a power in your life.

People: Without God all of your efforts turn to ashes and our sunrises into darkest nights.

Leader: Without God, life is a meaningless drama with the decisive scenes missing.

People: But with God, we are able to rise from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope. With God, we are able to rise from the midnight of desperation to the daybreak of joy.

Leader: Love yourself, if that means rational, healthy, and moral self-interest. You are commanded to do that. That is the length of life.

People: Love your neighbor as you love yourself. You are commanded to do that. That is the breadth of life.

Leader: But never forget that there is a first and even greater commandment,

People: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the height of life. And when you do this you live the complete life.

Leader: Come, let us worship God – as worship at its best is a social experience with people of all levels of life coming together to realize their oneness and unity under God!

Have I Killed My Blog?

Okay, it’s now been practically two months since my last update. Sadly, that’s my new record of e-silence. But one small fraction of reason lies in my not-so-silent twitter.com habit, where I routinely post thoughts like:

- Toilet started making loud clacking sounds at me. Do you think it's seeking out companionship? Also, I seem to have lost my nail clippers.

- Dear everyone who has never seen Star Wars, I’d like to meet you. And then I’d like to slap you in the face.

- What's all this talk of breaking our addiction to foreign oil? Olive trees won't grow in Alaska! And what about foreign balsamic vinegars?

But for my blog, I have higher hopes. And that is why I’ve decided to redouble my efforts, and dive back into the blogosphere. Of course, redoubling zero is not the most promising forecast. In any case, here’s to New Year’s resolve. Hope yours is starting out Happy.

Why I Can’t Stop Smiling

Lately, I keep catching myself smiling so big; sometimes tears leak out. For the past eleven days. I just can’t stop. It hasn’t gotten old. Not for one moment. And maybe it never will. Every time it’s mentioned on the radio, Internet, television, “President-Elect Barack Obama…” I catch myself breathing a deep sigh of long awaited excitement and thanksgiving.

I’ve known since it happened that I needed to write something here. If you’ve read my blog over the past two years, you know I’ve been enthusiastic about Obama for a long time. But now that this is official, it is difficult to know just what to say.

I think part of the struggle for me is my awareness of the sharp divides each political season can create between friends and loved ones, let alone strangers. I know many people who are beyond delighted about Obama’s nomination. And I know many who are not. There are such different opinions when it comes to politics, and many are sharply contrasting. Here is where I would invite you, no matter which way you find the winds of your enthusiasm blowing, to consider one of the reasons why I can’t stop smiling.

Obama’s worldview is wired for complexity. If you look at his family, you will find members spread out over three continents, each with vastly different viewpoints on how the world works. If you examine his life experience, you will find significant years lived in numerous dissimilar portions of this global community, all impacting who and what he considers as he makes decisions, speaks, and acts. And while the multiplicity of influences themselves have been profoundly important in shaping who he is today, it is the deep and honorable personal work he has done to integrate these differences within himself that brings me a sense of hopeful confidence that he can legitimately offer his value for respecting difference to the rest of us in a time when coming together to do good work is so needed and so badly required.

Obama’s ability to hold together vast differences, to stay present in the tension of conflicts and diversity of thought, to build bridges between others who see and understand things in remarkably divergent ways makes him just the kind of leader we need right now. For if we take him up on his commitments to lead us in this way, there is potential that he can be a remarkable leader for all, even and especially when we find ourselves with strikingly different viewpoints. Obama said something like this himself in his speech on November 4th, and he’s been laying groundwork for it in other quieter ways too. I believe our voices matter to him because he knows that our voices matter to one another. Soon, we may actually be lead by an administration that takes the transparency of government and the democratic process to levels never before considered, and I am very curious about all that lies ahead.

But for now, I will continue to savor this chronic smile. It has certainly been a long time coming.

Sandoz Fall Pledge Drive ‘08

Hello friends, family, acquaintances, and guests. I am writing this post today because I need to raise some financial support. How’s that for bottom line? Too bold maybe? Or do you appreciate the frankness? Either way, I’ve had some remarkable life developments since graduating from MHGS earlier this year, and I would like to ask for your help with a very dear next step. (Insert sound of drum rolling...)

For those of you who know me well, you know the passion I carry for Third Culture Kids and internationally mobile families. You likely also know of the ongoing volunteer relationship I have enjoyed with Interaction International over the past 13 years. If you don’t know these things about me, well, then, “Hi, have we met?” But seriously, if any of this does strike as news, I would love to tell you more – lots more.

In the mean time, I want to share with you that my relationship with Interaction International just became formal! As the new Director of Adult TCK Services, my part time commitment will mean huge involvement with the ongoing development and delivery of Interaction International’s summer Transition Seminars for TCKs entering North America, serving also as the point person for those who desire follow up after the seminars and beyond. There will be other things too. Much is in the works. So call me if you want to talk particulars, because... these are very exciting times.

For now, it is estimated I will need to raise about $1000 a month. Now, that could come from 5 people giving $200 a month, 10 people giving $100 a month, 20 people giving $50 a month, 100 people giving $10 a month, or really, any amount of people giving at any amount of money that would all somehow end up totaling exactly what is needed for the monthly costs of doing business. The question is: do you want to be one of those people? If you do, I have options for you.

Option 1: Go to Interaction International’s donor page on the website and make a financial contribution by credit card by donating through the Other category, being sure to indicate in the comment section that you’d like your contribution to be earmarked for me. (One day, I’ll have my very own donor link, but for now, I’m still an Other. Ah sweet otherness...)

Option 2: Send a check in the mail to P.O. Box 863, Wheaton, IL 60189. Make the check out to Interaction International, and in the memo line write that it’s designated for me.

That’s it! Now do what you will, and have a good time doing.

Third Culture Kids Everywhere: Now A Kiva.org Lending Team!!!

Kiva.org now has lending teams!!! Wanna join forces???

It’s been some time since I’ve blogged about Kiva, and the organization has made some remarkable developments since my first post on the subject back in March of 2006. In their 35 months of existence, Kiva has helped to raise $42,242,485 with an astounding 98% repayment rate. Lenders, approximately 333,396 of us, have partnered with 82,294 entrepreneurs, and now you can even watch the action unfold before your very eyes, live, in real time, right HERE. But better than watching, you can participate! And better than participating individually, you can now participate in teams!!!

I’ve created a lending team called Third Culture Kids Everywhere, because, well, TCKs are my people. I believe that as an international culture group, we know quite intimately the reality of our global interconnectedness. But whether you are a TCK or not, please consider yourself invited to join in the fun. Yes, this is me inviting you to join the Third Culture Kids Everywhere Kiva.org Lending Team. And again, right here.

And here.

And maybe just one more time, right here.

Birthday Boy

I spent many of my childhood birthdays swimming in the Yellow Sea, which is a portion of the Pacific directly West of the Korean Peninsula. One year, my eleventh, my uncle RB, who was a pastor visiting us from the United States, gave me an ocean baptism. In retrospect, I highly recommend salt-water baptisms. The tides so actively want to participate in the dunking. Symbolic? I think so.

Almost every summer that I can remember growing up in South Korea, I would go with my family to Taechon Beach, stay in a cabin, build sand fortresses, swim in the ocean, dig for clams, search for shells, and when the rains came, play indoor games like Clue and Monopoly with my brother and sister. Taechon Beach doubled as a military outpost for the South Korean army, and jet planes often roared overhead. Sonic booms became plain as wood rafters, and between the chatting sound of gunfire and the overhead buzzing of the remote control targets, the beach was an overall highly relaxing environment.

Sometimes I would play in the military foxholes, semi-hidden and fortified with sand bags, wondering what it would be like to spot enemy ships from the North. What if I were the first to see them? Who would I tell? Would it be scary or exciting? Sometimes I would walk into town and buy candy from a local shop or fresh peaches from a halmonie carrying my weight in fruit and vegetables atop her head. How did she hold so much at once? Did it hurt her neck? Why were peaches so fuzzy? Sometimes I would lie in a hammock in the back of our cabin and wonder about the pinecones and mushrooms I saw dotting the forest floor. Were they good to eat? Would I die of poison if I tried to find out? How did people safely even discover such things in the first place? Mostly, I went swimming, and when the waves were just right, I’d body surf again and again until the feeling of the water crashing all around me wouldn’t leave, even long after I was warm and dry, back in the cabin eating my mom’s spaghetti.

This year on my birthday I feel the urge to be near water again. Now living in Seattle, I can walk down by the Sound, a very different corner of the Pacific, still salty but with fewer waves. I’m twenty years older than I was the day my uncle immersed me in the waters of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But the tides continue their pull, and I can still feel myself, submerged in surf, crashing all around. Even now as I am warm and dry, preparing to eat kimchi and ramen noodles in my Queen Anne apartment, a part of me will always and forever feel at rest in a hammock amidst the sounds of target practice in Taechon, South Korea. My wondering continues, and like the tides of the sea, the currents of my heart team with a baptismal force that is buoyant and lively and well beyond my jurisdiction.