The Spirit of God Hovered

I can't remember who, but I know it was when I was younger that I heard someone say that they wondered what those people did to conceive a mentally handicapped kid.  They made it sound like the parents committed an awful sin that they were summoned to life with this burden of a child they would have to take care of.  I never really understood why people had children with handicaps and why God would do that to people.   I never believed that the people had committed a sin, but growing up in the church I heard that often.

"If God's image implies personhood, then humanity,
indeed, the Church, seems to have interpreted human creation only in
terms of those considered the able bodied."

I agree with this you don't see many churches at all the have any type of ministry for the mentally handicapped.  The Church should be the ones helping and caring for people and they don't even considered the handicapped people. There are many homeless ministries and nursing home ministries, but really nothing out there for the mentally handicapped.  I don't know if it is because they believe there demonized or think they were created because sin, but the Church should help and make more programs for people that are mentally handicapped.

"If our pneumatology can
begin with conception and birth, then those who are not high on the
hierarchy of giftedness or significance in the way normally
understood can be appreciated for the way God has created them and
given them their unique 'life force.'"

I like that this proves how these people are not mistakes.  God doesn't make mistakes.  Mentally handicapped people are also made in God's eyes, just because they can't do everything others can doesn't mean God messed up.  Nobody is perfect, but that doesn't mean God forgot or didn't put His Spirit in us.  If people would just realize that everyone is made in God's image then maybe there would be more programs for the mentally handicapped through the church and people wouldn't have to worry so much about the funds coming into government sponsored programs.

Barry and Father

This Act was so sad.  I cried a lot.  It made me so sad when Barry's dad came.  I sort of felt bad for both of them.  I felt bad for Barry because he never sees his dad and was worried about impressing him and when he got there Barry went completely silent and didn't know what to say.  Then Barry's dad moved the sign and didn't really make it sound like it was a great job.  Then when his dad hit him Barry got so scared and then his dad quickly started to leave and right when he was leaving Barry said that he was a golf pro and it broke my heart.  His dad got so nervous and all Barry wanted was to make him happy and proud like he was so proud of his dad and all the big things he had done in his life.  I felt bad for Barry's dad because you could tell that Barry's mom was the one that took great care for Barry.  His dad even recognizes it a bit when he said his mother oved him so much and he meant so much to her.  But it was sad because he didnt say anything about how Barry was the treasure in his life.  I understand that must be scary to not know how to deal with your son being different and nervous to do anything different to him.  Thats why he sent him away I feel because his mom died and his dad didn't know what to do.  Also his dad does try to constantly send him a gift of the same thing and he does feel bad not bringing it 

I know the dad should have put more time and effort into Barry and if he had maybe Barry wouldn't be so alone, but it also must be so scary to have a child like that.  But there is no excuse to just not care for Barry

The Boys Next Door

So I haven't fully read the Act yet, but I have read about 7 pages.  So I am going to write on the characters and what i think of them so far and what I assume they are alike to see maybe if I am correct when finishing the full act.

Jack:  At first I had no idea Jack was not mentally handicapped.  When I read this I went back and read over his lines and I realized he didn't really show a sign of it, but it shows that he is really good with them and how to talk with them.  From his side monologue it sounds like he is getting worn down and I wonder if he will be able to stay with them any longer.  I am wondering if he will be the main character, I believe they all will, but if it will be centered more around him.

Arnold:  I love Arnold and it made me so angry when the shopkeeper told him that he would need that many Wheaties for one person.  He really reminds me of a fellow student in elementary school that I helped.  He says he is deeply nervous so he sort of sounds a little paranoid especially that he ahd to get 19 things at the store since they didn't have enough Wheaties.

Norman:  I haven't read a lot on Norman yet, but I like him.  How they open the door and he doesn't remember a box of doughnuts under his shirt.  I love his big key ring too, it sounds like he is very happy about this job and likes to show it off and seem like he works really really hard.  Hence him going to bed in the early afternoon.

Lucien:  Lucien seems more like a younger kid.  The others seem like they try and are more intellectual.  Lucien has his library card and gets all these yearbooks, which makes me think he can't read, but really wants to seem like he does.

Barry:  I haven't read barely anything on him, but he has this golf list and has people sign up on it because he says he is a golf pro.  I don't know why he is saying this, maybe he wants to have a skill and have people come to him for help or pay him for lessons.  I truly don't know a lot about Barry, so I am excited to see.

The beauty of nature

I went to Lake Bonny Park [or Circle B Bar Reserve] for this field trip, and I stayed there for at least 45 minutes.

The trees stand tall
looking down at me
Skinny and empty till the very top
filled with leaves
Our Father looking down at me
Filled with mercy and grace
while I on earth a sinner

Pine needles are gathered
and litter the sides of the pathway
grouped in some spots and
seperated in the others
God makes our path
and we break it apart
and walk our own way

Caterpillars building nets
to protect itself
while changing and becoming
a beautiful butterfly
The Lord weens us on
His spiritual milk and protects us
until we are ready to pull off and trust Him

When I went to Lake Bonny Park I went with Josh Morway.  I reread Hass's poem and it really didn't make a difference to me reading that poem putside.  The poem was more about places and things I couldn't see at Lake Bonny Park.  The pathway at Lake Bonny Park was very weird.  One side was beautiful trees and the other side was run down apartments.  At the end I sort of wished I went to the nature preserve where it would have been more surrounded by nature.  But it was cool because on the one side it was beautiful and you could see God's creation and on the other side to me it reminded me of Hass's poem that today we are dirty and mean to our environment and what God has given us.  I am not saying that because there was no like dump or anything it just wasn't the prettiest sight compared to the nature.  While walking on the path I was reminded of all the things that can symbolize God's love for us.  That is where the inspiration for my poem mostly came from.  I read all the directions from Professor Corrigans list of things to do, but I forgot to go in the evening or morning when it's cooler, so the sun was pretty hot on us, but other than that I enjoyed the park a lot! Also with the park it was right by the road so it was really hard to hear and I really love the sounds of nature and the silence.  So when we were asked to sit in silence and stillness it was really hard to tune out the noise around.  It could have also been thoguh that I was really distracted with the whole day in my head.  But it helped to clear my mind and concentrate on something other than what happened in the day and the night before.

wonder in nature

Nature.  I don't really like to be in it, but I do love the beauty of nature.  I liked how Professor Corrigan talked about how we have lost the wonder in nature.  I believe we have lost our wonder in a lot of other things too.  Our campus is beautiful and I sometimes think people take that for granted.  I feel like every time I walk around campus I am thinking about how much I will miss how beautiful it is here.  And I catch myself sometimes rushing and just walking and never looking around me.  I feel like people are always in a rush and just use technology all the time and forget to recognize the beauty of other things.  Like on the computer screen Professor Corrigan had that picture of all that green and a waterfall.  Its still on a computer screen and we can be in awe of it, but we can still never fully experience the wonder unless were out there and being in the nature.  In the poem State of the Plant, I feel as if the Richard Hass does want us to recognize the wonder in the world.  By describing all the things that are changing and things going wrong he wants us to appreciate nature and grow a new wonder for it.  By doing so maybe we will learn to be in awe of it again and see God through it. 

Also I knew one of my good friends in highschool and her family were exactly those kind of people Professor Corrigan described.  They said that the coming of the Lord would get rid of the earth anyways so why recycle and clean up the earth.  I asked her once about future generations like her children and she said that God would have favor on them.  I just thought it was so stupid because even if you think that God will have favor on your family aren't we supposed to love others and care for them.

STATE OF THE PLANET

So I really don't enjoy poetry especially 4 pages about global warming.  I did enjoy the somewhat snide remarks towards ignorant people who are ruining the earth.  But anyways here are examples of how I figured out it was on global warming:

1. In section 2 on page 50 it mentions the Pacific Salmon nosing against dams and then it says clever humans are now growing corn. This means that we are using that water and blocking it off to use for other purposes.  Waters absorbs carbon dioxide and by not  allowing it to stay and making it used we are getting rid of more that can be absorbing the carbon dioxide instead of causing more greenhouse effects.

2.  In section 1 on page 49 it mentions that the troposphere has retained emissions from cars like his.  This is greenhouse effect and the burning of fossil fuels (cars) adds to the raising the average global temperature.

3. In section 4 on page 51 it says "there's no life at all."  He was talking about the volcanic rock by the sea and in the desert.  Things that have no life cannot absorb carbon dioxide.  Also volcanoes when erupted add carbon dioxide into the air.

4. In section 5 on page 52 it talks about the Devonian coral.  During the Devonian era there were the most fish species and coral now because of global warming they are extinct and you can only find fossils now.

5. In section 9 on page 55 it talks about long-billed arctic curlews being burned in marsh fires.  People sometime burned marshes in order to get rid of disease.  By getting rid of marshes where these birds find their food and live it is getting rid of living things.  Living things also absorb or get rid of some of the carbon dioxide.

Poetry and Lectio

I truly do believe that you can learn from literature.  You can learn how to maybe see feelings and how to react to them from literature or maybe learn a new lesson about life.  It is hard for me to think about literature actually transforming your life.  Maybe if you read it in the way that you do want to transform, so you look for they ways you can learn and transform from it.  I think this too though is partly my fault.  I don't read this way, so maybe that os why I can't understand it.  I know we are supposed to learn how to live literature and learn that it is you, but I don't know if I can necessarily do that.  Especially with poetry.  Poetry is hard enough for me to get through when I actually find out the meaning of a poem I am so happy I found it and I am so sick of reading it I don't even think about applying it somehow to my life.

I still don't know what I thought about Lectio with Sonny Blues on Tuesday.  I really think of it as a religious practice with the Bible.  I don't think it is bad for people to do especially if you want to go very deep into your reading, but for me I feel that I will stick to just doing it with my Bible.  I really did see the difference on how I understood Sonny Blues afterward. After reading it so many times I was able to understand it more and being able to hear everyone's thoughts on it.  I will try it again in my life if I have the opportunity too because maybe I just put negative thoughts in my head and thats why I didn't fully embrace the activity.