It was a monster mash

Happy Halloween. My joke for the past week has been that I don't like celebrating Satan's birthday and therefore can't celebrate Halloween. It's not funny. But kind of. And it's my mom's birthday and I don't like the parallels that could be drawn there. It seems horribly unfair for a joke. And yet, I'm gonna use it again next year.

Happy Xmas.

This month's Relevant Magazine is good. There's an article in there about Africa which is a short synopsis of the state of the continent. A must-read for anyone who wants to.

Today I went to the LA Mission and interviewed a guy there who is in charge of educating "students" who go through their program. They have a pretty good program, it seems, where they provide both short-term solutions for the homeless (ie overnight housing, food, etc) and long-term as well (education, etc.) I didn't see where they approached the societal structures of homelessness, but I'm not sure that their ministry needs to. There are plenty of other ones out there that can.

It was an interesting trip. I realized that I still have some stereotypes that still need to be dealt with. I got lost on the way down and had to drive down what some people would call "bad" areas of town. I found myself struggling to decide to lock my doors or not to lock them. To drive fast or normal. Blah blah blah. I ended up rolling my windows down and driving slow, almost as a rebellion against my cultural instincts, the culture that "teaches us to read and write." (De La Rocha, 1992)

I guess I noticed that I am used to talking about the poor as a clinical group and how they should be treated as though they were a disease. And I know I'm being too critical of myself, but the disconnect in my mind with how to love them (as people) and how to view them (as potential threats). It's very odd and fairly disconcerting. Maybe I should do something about that. I'll look into it.

Not much else. Time for more class. Peace to all.

P.S. I still don't know what to do with my life. Teach or ministry?