Summer Travels

Setting the Stage
The semester has ended, students are gone, loose ends are being tied up, and I can now start to throw some mental energy forward to the summer. Jorjette and I are going on a little trip around the world, accompanying business students from Messiah College and a few other CCCU schools on a program called the International Business Institute. Forty-one students in total, one director, rotating visiting professors, and Jorjette and I filling in for the "program coordinator" positions, meaning we'll be in charge of checking students in at night, assisting the director in various administrative duties, and making sure everyone stays alive. Most importantly, we have the chance to spend some time with some adventurous students and travel the world. Because everyone loves lists these days, here are a few as it relates to the summer travels.

Cities/Countries to be Visited
We travel all over. By plane, bus, and ferry. Here's the rundown.

• Heidelberg, Germany
• Prague, Czech Republic
• Innsbruck, Austria
• Geneva, Switzerland
• Paris, France
• Rotterdam, Netherlands
• London, England
• Chennai, India
• Delhi, India
• Shanghai, China
• Dalian, China
• Beijing, China

Media
I've spent more time thinking about media than the cities we visit. Obviously, I need to do some research on where I'm traveling to but summer is my time to get my read on. Anyhow, I'll listen to a bunch of music and watch a lot of movies on planes. But here are the books/audiobooks* and Podcasts I've got lined up. And I definitely won't finish the list.

Books

• Praying Drunk by Kyle Minor
• The Martian by Andy Weir
• Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (ha)
• Yes Please by Amy Poehler [audiobook]
• The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova [audiobook]
• Fresh Off the Boat by Eddie Huang [audiobook]
• And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini [audiobook]
• Daring Greatly by Brene Brown [audiobook]
• Lila by Marilynne Robinson [audiobook]

Podcasts

• All Songs Considered
• Pitch
• Pop Culture Happy Hour
• TEDTalks
• This American Life

Miscellaneous Anecdotes

• Start date: June 1st
• Suitcase weight limit: 44 lbs.
• Packing for: business professional, business casual, casual, travel wear, cold Alps, hot Indian beaches, etc.
• Devices: iPhone 5s, classic iPod, iPad, external hard drive, old-school Kindle, Bose headphones
• Travel accessories purchased thus far: sink plug, clothesline, international outlet adapter, inflatable neck pillow, headphone splitter, packing cubes, remote charger
• Medication taken: typhoid, malaria, hep A/B, travel nausea, and any/everything else
• Number of cats traveling with us: zero
• Most excited about: Prague
• Plan to update: Twitter, Instagram, this blog (?), 
• Hashtag: #?????????? #InterHATionalSummer
• Return date: July 31st

Cool. That's all. Let me know if you have travel advice.

*How does everyone feel about audiobooks? I'm generally in favor when it comes to memoirs or other books that rely on personal story-telling. I haven't ventured into the world of non-fiction or more complex narrative. But the audiobook allure is strong to work through some books while taking a bus through the mountains without getting sick by reading.

Here's Hoping: A Civil Rights Tour Prologue

I’m thrilled to come together with colleagues and students from both Messiah and Geneva in order to witness, discuss, experience, and process the Civil Rights Movement on an eight day tour all over the South. There'll be lots of hotels, charter buses, museums, and interesting conversations.

As in any educational context, the hope is that the knowledge doesn’t just go in one ear and out the other. Working in residence life, my hope with my RAs and residents isn’t that they just survive dorm-life or stay out of trouble. Rather, I hope that my students encounter a transformational learning experience, stumbling upon the inherent value in committing to one another or carrying conversations from the classroom/chapel over into the lounges (or a plethora of other things).

Likewise with this trip, I hope to be changed. I hope to learn a lot about the movement but I also want to be renewed in my sense of understanding of what’s come before me on issues of diversity and reconciliation and what that looks like today. I hope to recognize subtle (and blatant?) forms of prejudice in myself and work against those. I hope to discover new ways to challenge the students I work with to be courageous and inclusive. I have a lot of hopes…

First Year Students and their Questions

The First Year students on Messiah's campus were recently given an assignment to ask other students, administrators, or faculty the following questions: 

‘What is an idea or tradition or body of thought or book that has especially shaped your thinking and that helps you engage the world?’ 

The assignment was in response to a New York Times piece encouraging students to back their passionate feelings up with bodies of thought, not just a passing feeling. 

One of my residents asked me via email and I thought I'd share my response publicly as well in hopes that the three readers of this blog might also ask themselves this question.

1. The Book of Common Prayer. My wife and I started going to an Episcopal Church a few years back (before moving to PA) and were greatly influenced by the liturgical and communal style of worship. The BCP was used as the framework of much of the service and it helped me recognize the connectedness of the wider church body, tying us to something larger than our temporary experience. There’s some type of reassurance knowing that not only is there a stable God, but a group of people that are also seeking that God alongside you.
2. East of Eden – by John Steinbeck. This epic gem of a book has pretty easily maintained its spot as favorite of mine. It tells a “modern” (late nineteenth century – early twentieth) tale of Cain and Abel, driving home the point that we are all given different traits, life circumstances, etc. but we are responsible for our actions. So much wisdom.
3. Garden State – The Zach Braff movie from a few years back. I view this movie as defining of my generation. As Braff (the protagonist) is faced with tragedy, romance, and awkward interactions with old friends, he’s forced to decide between distancing himself from others or choosing the hard road to deep relationships. This more or less typifies my hope in this generation; we may be sloppy and inappropriate at times, but we’re trying to be authentic.

I didn't include the Bible (although the BCP is a direct tie). The assignment was given on a Christian college campus, I'm assuming the Bible is a given. I also probably forgot some other major work that's been highly influential in my life but I did like the mix of ancient-ish, classic lit, and a modern work that all touch on major themes in my life.

Anything come to your mind for your life?

A Steves Weekend

This past weekend, my good friend and recent supervisor Steve Austin was in town/campus. He and Steve Ivester (from Wheaton College) flew in to have a conversation with Messiah's leadership director Ben Taylor on some best practices and sharing about how each other's schools conducted student programs. And yes, it was great to call them Ben and the Steves. And it was a pleasure to host Austin for the long weekend.

So while they were hard at work for a few days, it was great to talk in person with Austin in the evenings and then, on the weekend, to have a chance to spend some quality time with Ben, the Steves, and the entourage of friends.

Here we are at my new favorite Messiah area breakfast place, Home 231.
(photo credit to Amy Vanderwerf)

It was refreshing to have a close friend in town for a few days. Being in a new place, you adjust and are known in a specific context. But it's nice to converse with someone who has known you for a while. Steve has known me pre-marriage, as an undergrad and grad student, as a friend on the weekend, and as his GA working in TSO. In many ways, close friends can identify things in myself before I can even put a finger on it. It's a way of being known. And isn't that what we're all longing for?

So I enjoyed the weekend sharing more of my current life and being understood. And I look forward to more of that with friends at Messiah and the surrounding area.

For a few more photos, check out the Facebook album. 

Eric Metaxas - The Million Dollar Man

As a student described him after his chapel lecture, Eric Metaxas is the Million Dollar Man. I had a chance to hear Metaxas share last night (via video feed - I'm finding Messiah commonly has a "sold out" problem) about Bonhoeffer and his experience writing his biography and then this morning about the influence of William Wilberforce in the abolition of slavery in Great Britain. Metaxas speaks with a quick wit and isn't afraid to linger on a joke but he seamlessly moves into convincing and inspired accounts of Christ's work in his own life and in the lives of those he's written about. If you ever have a chance to hear him speak, make the effort to be there.

While I wouldn't quite label him the "Million Dollar Man," Metaxas does have a lot going for him. From a Yale education to writing for Veggie Tales to his biographies to being featured in national media outlets such as The New York Times and CNN, he's dabled in enough areas of culture to be well known, safe, and respected enough to be invited to lectures on Messiah's campus as well as the National Prayer Breakfast. In some ways, he may be championed by Evangelical circles as the guy that has a lot of influence and is a committed Christian. Thus, the Million Dollar Man.

But I think it goes deeper than that. In many ways, he's what we at Christian colleges salivate over, embodying what we hope all of the students we work with someday reach. He's deeply committed to his craft of writing and writing well. He's nominally interested in writing biographies but absolutely loves the ability to tell the stories of individuals who inspire him personally. He's unabashedly committed to Jesus being at the center of what he does but isn't suckering people into his works with a bait and switch way of sharing the gospel. His historical figures' stories stand alone and are impressive accounts of research, narrative, and inspiration.

So I respect Metaxas. I think he's good for our culture. I think he's good for curious college intellectuals who are trying to sort out their vocation and how it relates to their faith.

Oh, and as evidenced by his leading of Amazing Grace at the end of chapel, he has a really good singing voice.

A Few Things from the Last Month

Oh my. Well we've been here in Grantham, PA for the last month+. A new place always has its challenges yet the Messiah crew has been very welcoming. We tend to compare everything to our Taylor experience. I know this is a bad habit but it's hard not to when you've spent a considerable amount of time elsewhere. So there's a constant compare & contrasting, pro & con-ing of everything from the college campus, student affairs department, nearness to the closest Target, number of concerts passing through, etc. So while we're still adjusting, we're content where we landed. A few things of note include...

Our cat! We got Eleanor a few nights ago. She's a Maine Coon kitten (12 weeks), loves to cuddle, likes to explore, hasn't made any messes outside her litter box, and is only a little afraid of the dish washer. She also enjoys sitting on the keyboard of my laptop. Perhaps she can have a guest post soon. We miss her terribly when we go out and feel like new parents with a newborn more often than not.

As I mentioned before, we're in a first year hall*. Close to 300 students. I have 8 enthusiastic and delightful RAs. They're a different crowd than my hipster filled IFC group from the last few years but this year's group of students have their own set of lovable characteristics. I look forward to deepening those relationships. I also look forward to more time with the rest of the hall. It's a slight adjustment knowing that I won't be getting close to all of them... but I do want to make meaningful relationships... I just need to figure out where and how to do that. Oh, and all the first year students have some massive game day on the first weekend. Footage of the day could probably be used for some sort of Vizio TV commercial, emphasizing the color quality of the HD screen.

Lastly, we live close to Harrisburg, PA, the state capital (and about a Marion distance away). During the few visits we've made, we've enjoyed it's quirkiness without being totally sold on it's incredibility. At first glance, it seems it may be a city being gentrified by some cool, young 30-somethings who are passionate about urban renewal. But then we've realized that the row of bars/restaurants, well-kept cathedrals, and a few neat spots like Midtown Scholar (pic below) have been residing simultaneously along side rundown buildings and pockets of poverty for quite some time now and there's no real upswing on the horizon. All that to say, we're excited to explore the city, perhaps attend a church downtown, and become more accustomed with the occasional city life. 

There it is. A few snapshots of our life at Messiah. Obviously there's plenty more. But that'll come in future blogs or, more likely, future conversations. 

*We use the term "first year" for it's inclusion of both transfer students and the gender inclusive terminology as compared to "freshmen."

Keep On Moving

I'm very happy to announce that Jorjette and I will be heading out to Grantham, PA early next week to move to Messiah College and, more specifically, Naugle Hall. Messiah is pretty great - they have a fantastic Residence Life program, a kick-butt soccer team, they're near a number of East Coast cities, and they have an African elephant skeleton on campus. While moving can be stressful, we're excited to get settled into our new place on campus.


While the summer has been somewhat frustrating in that we didn't have very clear direction on what we would be doing in the fall, it has been a time where I have been reminded of the Lord's faithfulness to me. I suppose that may be easy to say now as I have a clear direction and plans. But even a month ago, when I was jobless and wondering what I would do if nothing worked out by the fall, the Lord was close and I had to continually repeat the ol' Scott Gaier-ism, "my value is in Christ."


That's not to say I have really enjoyed the process. I hated it, actually. It sucks not knowing what you're going to do. But then, in mid-July, I was in talks with two schools that would easily be at the top of my wish-list of schools at which to work. The term over-abundance often came to mind. 


So there you have it. It's onto a new place, new people, new traditions and stories.