The Old Man and the Sea

This book had a pace and style unlike any I had ever read. I could definitely sense the journalistic tone in the writing and could see how Hemingway's past career influenced this novel. The Old Man's unwavering drive to achieve amazed me more and more as hurdle after hurdle blazed toward him. His will was so strong that nothing, no pain, no exhaustion, no discouragement could phase him. I began to believe he'd never catch the fish but die trying so I was surprised when he did. However after the first shark attacked I predicted that by the time he made it home, there would be nothing left of his prize. His reaction to reaching the dock with nothing but a skeleton shocked me. Rather than lamenting over his broken achievement, he picks himself up and presses on. I guess it makes sense. Failure never daunted him before because he always clung to hope. I believe in character he is much the same yet this experience was a point of no return and never again will he tackle a struggle quite so titanic no matter what he could prove through it.

A glimpse of my summer

A video was made of the last week of camp. You guys should definitely watch it cause it'll give you a taste of the fantastic campus and the incredible people. Seriously, if any of you want an awesome experience before you head off to college, come to Camp Orchard Hill next summer. Lord willing I'll be able to go back. So here's the video- https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AQCZruFgaco

This place in time

    Saying goodbye to camp, the other counselors, and the campers was depressing and difficult. After pouring so much of myself into this summer, it was painful to wrench myself away. I feel stuck between wanting to stay and wanting to come home.
    The truth is however that right now I belong in Romania with you guys. I'm so thankful for this summer and all the beautiful, wonderful memories but I'm just as thankful for you guys. I can't say how excited and blessed I am to spend another year with you. I feel like you are part of my family and I know God has great things prepared for us and for our senior year. If we're listening and following him faithfully I'm confident that we'll all grow throughout this year, becoming closer to each other and closer to Him. I love you all and can't wait to see you!!!

Hershey Adventures

      For our last Saturday together at camp a group of us decided to drive to Hershey, PA to visit the free-entrance chocolate world at Hershey Park and go on the ride that takes you on a tour through the factory. We drove up in two cars and a few hours, indie songs, and Taylor Swift shout-alongs later we arrived at the park. The air itself breathed Hershey cholatelyness. Perhaps the worst part of the trip was seeing the tantalizing summits of roller coasters just over the fence at Hershey Park. We had decided to take the poor camp-counselor/college-kid route and content ourselves with the free attractions rather than splurging on 200$ tickets to the amusement park. However looking around the enormous Hershey store, at racks of 10lb chocolate bars, rows of every imaginable flavor of Hershey kisses, plushy Reese's shaped pillows was delightful in of itself. It really made me think of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
       For the tour we sat four to a car which leisurely lead us through Hershey-making magic. During the ride we were taken through the process of mixing, forming, and packaging the numerous Hershey delights (kisses, peanut-butter cups, almondjoys, kitkat, etc) and throughout the tour we were serenaded by singing stuffed cows. It was childish, but nonetheless enjoyable, and to top it off we got complimentary chocolate at the end of the ride.
      After we had exhausted all the free attractions we drove to my friend, Amanda's house. There some of us cooked up Mac and Cheese, steak, broccoli, and peanut butter no-bake cookies while the other watched a movie. After eating together we headed home, thoroughly exhausted.

The Heartbreaking Truth

      Last week I was holding hands with one of my seven-year-old girls, Holly, as we walked down the hill from the pool to the gym. She slows down, looks up at me and asks me how old I am. I told her "17". Looking crestfallen she hung her head and said, "awww, dang-it". When she didn't elaborate I asked her what was wrong. "I really wanted you to marry my dad," she said, "but he's 40."
At first I had to bite back laughter because the idea was so ludicrous and Holly was so sincere, but a few minutes later it struck me how sad it actually was.
      The horrible truth is, Holly's parents are divorced and her mom is barely present in her life. She adores her dad but he himself struggles with drug-addiction. And Holly is one of countless campers who come from broken homes and families. So many parents send their kids to camp because they don't have time to take care of them. These children grow up without experiencing true love and they grow up believing lies about themselves, and thinking themselves worthless. It's really tragic and I just pray that the campers will remember the love they experienced at camp and that they will have tasted God's agape and goodness. I ask that you'll also pray that they were touched by the truth this summer and that they will be certain of their own value and significance.

My power is made perfect in your weakness

     This summer God's made His presence apparent. I've always loved 2 Corinthians 12:9 "But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." But this summer Gods been brought my understanding of this verse to a completely new level.
We are so inadequate and so undeserving of the responsibility of representing Christ and being his instruments. Yet God delights in using us and placing us in the places we can best grow. His glory shines so brightly in contrast to our meekness.
      The minute I stepped into Camp Orchard Hill I was daunted by my own gross inexperience. The majority of the other counselors had grown up with camp and many of them were in college or just starting. I had never been responsible for so many children or for children with special needs, I had never lead group activities, or had to improvise games on rainy days, I had never gave Bible lessons. I came into this experience utterly empty handed and without God I would have drowned under the pressure and the demands.
       But God's grace is astounding and abundant. In the midst of my countless mistakes, my ignorance, and my insecurities, God was at work. He surrounded me with patient, loving friends and examples who came beside me and helped me, and he blessed me with ideas and the words to say when I needed them.
      I know I've learned so much this summer, and it's all from what I've seen God do, and how he worked wonders through all of us who are so unqualified and so lacking.

Rickets Glenn

The Saturday after the 4th of July, some friends and I decided to go hiking at a place called Rickets Glenn. We hadn't thought through holiday-weekend crowds and consequently spent a half hour searching for a parking spot. But once we found one, we grabbed a map from an information desk, and set out. The hike took us past almost ten waterfalls of various sizes. It was absolutely lovely. The weather was pristine. We were hemmed in by this dark, slated rock, and mist rose softly up from the falls. The hike took us from the top of each cascade, to the bottom. So we could revel in every angle. My favorite views were the ones from outcroppings at the top of the falls, where you could step out and look down and the tumbling, fizzing water. There were many people out on holiday hikes, but that didn't prevent us from basking in the glory of God's complex and vibrant creation.

Relaxation at its Finest

     Lazy shadows cast by the noon day sun rippled gently as the wind sifted through the grass. After the rumble and roar of one of our fullest weeks of camp (250 campers) the serenity of a Saturday seemed to saturate every bone and ligament of my body.
I sat outside at the best picnic bench at camp with my friends Derek, Abby, and John. The only sound was John playing the Ukelele and our cheerful banter. We took turns recommending songs for John to strum as Abby and I made bracelets. After an hour of this beautiful relaxation we decided to do something active before tackling work (most of us had been procrastinating with school-related assignments). So we dashed up to the soccer field which is the highest location at camp. We tossed around the frisbee, us girls tried and failed to learn forehand throwing, and the guys attempted to fling the frisbee with their feet and throw it between their legs. We spread farther and farther apart so eventually we were chucking it with all of our strength and we were having to sprint after wayward tosses.
        Abby then had the brilliant idea to take advantage of the fact that Derek had all the camp keys. So we walked up to the archery field and broke into the shack that held the bow and arrows, the tomahawks, and the blow darts. We all had our area of expertise. Abby was a boss with the blow darts and she declared it her weapon of choice if she was in a survival situation. John not only was the only one who actually managed to get the tomahawks to stick in the wood, he was really talented at it, and Derek and I had the best shots in archery.
It's not like we did anything incredibly special but that Saturday was so perfect. It undoubtably numbers among some of my favorite moments of the summer.

Angelina

    Two weeks ago I had a camper who had special needs but no TSS worker. Her name was Angelina and she had a form of Autism that made her easily irritable and difficult to guide and instruct. I had to keep a constant eye on her because the minute I would turn away she'd vanish. I actually lost her on multiple occasions for this very reason. So to say in the very least, I was frustrated, and exhausted. Throughout all of this I wrongly assumed that she wasn't benefiting much from her camp experience because she was so aloof.
      But on the Friday before she left I was taking her to the bathroom and she spoke to me, the first time she said something to me that wasn't out of irritation at me for telling her what to do. She said to me, "I used to go to another camp and all the kids laughed at me and made fun of me. But here it's so different, the people are so nice to me. I love this camp."
I didn't know what to say, I had to fight back tears because after all the stress and difficulties and after struggling with my own faults and my own impatience, I could clearly see the evidence of God's work and I could see how He is bringing about change in spite of our own failings.

Ernest Hemingway

 I was interested in the fact that Hemingway's writing career was launched through his journalistic experience. I've always felt that journalistic writing is so vastly different from writing novels and that switching between the two would be extremely difficult. I want to read some of the articles he wrote early in his writing career and see if I can recognize some parallels between the books he's written and the articles he wrote before hand. I do agree with the biography that journalism teaches a writer to simplify and focus their writing. Since I started Old Man and the Sea I already recognize how he uses few words to convey a lot of meaning.
I love how he met so many renowned writers of the day. I wonder if he gleaned anything from their particular views and ideas.
I think, like Hemingway, all writers should travel the world and gather experiences, because having the gift of sharing and conveying images and messages they should travel and absorb so they can enable others to experience the world vicariously.
Seeing how such a successful, influential person deteriorated and decided to end his life reminds me how someone might have every reason for satisfaction and a feeling of self-fulfillment, but they remain empty because God was not a part of their life. A person might have everything, but only God can truly satisfy and fulfill us in our brokenness.

Begin Again

Two weeks ago I went to see this new Indie movie called Begin Again. I went into the movie with expectations of greatness because of the cast, the original concept, and because it was wholly centered around music. But even after talking it up in my mind for weeks, the movie still managed to blow me away. It was heart-warming, inspiring, and perfectly paced.
The gist of the movie is that Dan, a record labeler who bit the dust after a very successful career, hears a woman named Gretta sing in a bar and her voice breathes life into him. She's completely downtrodden, having just come out of a relationship. Her boyfriend, a very talented singer, had become a celebrity and the fame consumed him. Gretta was cast aside in all the lights and  popularity. Dan convinces Gretta to record music with him, and since the record company he once owned won't back them, they have to record an album on minimal funds. What they decide to do is record the music outside in New York City rather than in a studio. In that way they can incorporate the sounds of the city into their album.
I'm not going to tell you the rest because you should watch this movie if you love music. If you are going to watch it, I need to warn you though, the movie is rated R because there's a lot of profanity. But trust me, in spite of that it's a beautiful movie that leaves you feeling warm and with wonderful music playing in your head.

(And the song in the trailer is one of my new favorites)
http://youtu.be/mKaIJTIXZVw

Concluding To Kill a Mockingbird and it's themes

In my ending post I'm going to focus on the themes because they best convey the power behind Harper Lee's convictions  and words.
I felt that the primary themes were:

Racism/prejudices
Hypocrisy
Standing for your convictions
Childhood/innocence
Making judgments


Racism plagues every corner of Maycomb County. It twists the truth and disables the conscience of the people. Respected, upright citizens are so rooted in their hatred that they will turn away from the clear evidence of Tom Robinson's innocence and Mr. Ewel's guilt. I'm more inclined to think that the people lack backbone than reason. I think the combined affect of racism and peer pressure was enough for them to vote against their better judgment.

Prejudices span all of the classes. Regardless of status, looking down on someone,anyone gives a person a sense of self worth and pride. Demeaning others places you on higher ground. When Jem figured this out he said it like this,
"The thing about it is, our kind of folks don't like the Cunninghams, the Cunninghams don't like the Ewells, and the Ewells hate and despise the colored folks" (303).

So much of the hatred and evil stems from pride. The people of Maycomb County, being convinced that they are the higher race, struggle with a sense of self-righteousness. This comes out in various ways including hypocrisy. Like Jem, Scout is constantly making discoveries about the inconsistencies and evils in society. Scout says,
“Well, coming out of the courthouse that night Miss Gates was-she goin' down the steps in front of us, you musta not seen her- she was talking with Miss Stephen Crawford. I heard her say it's time somebody taught 'em a lesson, they were gettin' way above themselves, an' the next thing they think they can do is marry us. Jem, how can you hate Hitler so bad an' then turn around and be ugly about folks right at home-” (331).

Though many of these difficult themes pertain mainly to the citizens of Maycomb County, Jem and Scout are guilty themselves of making judgments. They jump to conclusions about the Radleys assuming that Boo is evil incarnate and the house is haunted. They angrily judge Mrs. Dubose for her bitterness and self-centerdness. But both of these assumptions come back to slap them in the face when they discover that Mrs. Dubose was suffering from a morphine addiction and when Scout is rescued by Boo Radley himself.

This book dragged/lead me through the range of emotions. Observing Tom Robinson's trial pained me. Hearing about Dill's strained relationship with his parents was tragic. It was uplifting to see Scout stand up to defend her father in front of a crowd of angry men. I felt pride, fury, pity, joy, and hope. I'm thankful for this book and I suggest that you all read it because it is not only beautiful and tragic, but it's nostalgic and deeply profound.

To Kill a Mockingbird update

From the very beginning of To Kill a Mockingbird tension was ignited by the description of the Radley Place. And up until this point, the tension has been gradually fanned into flame as the prejudices connected to the Robinson case snake their way around the Finch family. Though the darkness of running hatred spills through the corners of Scout's world, Harper Lee keeps the beauty of childhood alive. But like any child, Scout matures as she observes the world. She learns from Mrs. Dubose's bitterness, from skepticism over Jem's teenage wisdom, from lining at Calpurnia's church, and from Atticus's emotional strength. In a way it's tragic to experience evil polluting Scout's innocent perception of the world, but in way it makes me proud. I'm proud of her courage. She's never daunted. Like her father she is firm in the face if discomfort and opposition. I'm really apprehensive to see how the more serious challenges unfold. I have a lot of faith in the Finch family and the path Atticus has chosen, I'm just afraid that others will take out their hatred on them. As I reached the halfway mark of this book, I realized how bound up I had gotten in the characters. I say characters and not storyline because To Kill a Mockingird is deeply infused in Scout's relationships and her understanding of those around her. I find that I don't lose myself in the story, I lose myself in Scout.

Sunday Morning Tradition

Every Sunday, me and some friends go to a quaint little diner called KB's for breakfast. KB's resembles a bed and breakfast with its homey, bustling atmosphere. The parking lot bursts with minivans that carried big families, the motorcycle that bore a troubadour, the battered truck that brought the newly weds, and our cars which swept us from camp. We mount the stairs of the wraparound, flowering porch, open the door, and step onto the polished hardwood floor. Everything's buzzing and we have to dip and dodge around laden tables, children, and the teenage bus-boy. Up the stairs and through a door is one long lone table. It's much quieter in there and mellow jazz filters through the room. But it doesn't take long to the silence to be disrupted by our noisy crew. Orders for cinnamon swirl French toast, OJ, coffee, side orders of bacon, scrambled eggs, pancake stacks, and fluffy puff omelets begin to bury the table. I've never seen left overs once we've finished. Not a scrap of bacon, not a smear of syrup, not a drop of coffee dirties the dishes. We leave with comfortably tight bellies. Having been so pleasantly filled by KB's breakfast, we jump into the car, church-bound and ready to be filled by the Word.

Storm chasing me

My first near car accident. Had nothing to do with me, had nothing to do with another driver, but had everything to do with one of the craziest thunderstorms I've ever been in. After work was over last Tuesday, I went to drive to Planet Fitness. The sky was blue, seemed like there was nothing to worry about. Five minutes into the drive I get a message that I should turn back because there were tornado and thunderstorm warnings. Just as I'm turning around the flood gates of heaven rip open and the downpour began. For a few stressful moments I fiddled with the windshield wipers. I was completely blind. And even when I got them going full speed, I was still squinting to see through my streaming windshield. As I'm driving back to camp, branches are whipping around me and then just a few feet in front of me, a tree comes crashing down across the road, completely blocking my path. Now I started to panic as I laboriously make a 9-point turn while shouldering my phone and consulting a friend  about getting back to camp. He directed me to another road which was also blocked. At this point, cars are everywhere, big trees are across almost every road, and rain is coming down in sheets. I'm on the verge of tears with exasperation. My friend, Derek told me to go to a diner nearby to wait until he could get to me and help me get back to camp. I waited for about 30 minutes at the diner watching the sky turn a sickly shade of yellow. He finally got there, remember I'm only five minutes from camp at this point. There, after talking to Jody we waited for another hour for a guy named Rob to pick us up in his jeep. Rob wasn't able to get to us, and by now the rain and wind has died down. So Derek and I drove home in his car leaving mine at the diner. It took us another 30 minutes to get home, passing live cables, a tree fallen into a house, and roads littered with branches. When we got back the power at camp was out. And it was out until Thursdays at noon.

First thoughts on To Kill a Mockingbird

    Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, grew up in rural Alabama during the Great Depression. Throughout high school she was passionate about writing. Her father was a lawyer and his prime example inspired her to pursue law herself. She attended University of Alabama and Oxford University and concluded that her future was in writing. To Kill a Mockingbird got published in 1960 and skyrocketed to the best seller list and earned Lee numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize.

    I've been eyeing To Kill a Mockingbird for years, I've just never taken the plunge. I watched the movie in elementary and had difficulty comprehending it. In spite of the confusion, however, I felt a connection to it, to Scout more specifically. Now that Im finally reading it, I'm adopting Scout's perspective. Confronting, with her, a complex, hurting world. I remember so little of the movie, I don't know whether to dread or long for the ending. So I'm really apprehensive to see how everything plays out. I've grown to love Atticus, Jem, Scout, and Calpurnia. And though I recognize the danger Atticus places them in by following his convictions, I know they will stand firm. They're standing on the foundation of goodness and justice. Nothing that blazes their way can uproot them.

"Harper Lee." Famous Authors. Famousauthors.org, n.d. Web. 21 June 2014.

My first week of camp has been an incredible experience. And I'm excited to see how everyone else's  summer progresses. Though we may be on three different continents right now, it'll be wonderful when we all come back together and can tell stories. For now I have to be content with reading your short little blog posts. This summer I know we'll all grow; whether through studying, exercising, hanging out with family, working, or reading. I'm psyched out of my mind to hear about all you'll be up to. Love and miss you guys!

What Summer's lookin' like

The beginning of summer has been a sort of calm before the storm. Hiking in the beautiful Appalachians, watching great old movies like Roman Holiday, reading Wizard of Oz aloud with the family, playing tennis, etc. But I just got to Camp Orchard Hill, which will soon pack out my schedule. This week is orientation for the staff and I'm learning a lot about working with swarms of kids, both good and bad aspects. I'm scared, but excited for what this summer camp adventure will bring. I feel inexperienced, but I know that God has incredible things prepared for this summer. To explain what I'll be doing more specifically: I'll be in charge of 10 campers ages 9-12. The ultimate purpose is to help them learn and grow in the love and knowledge of God. We counselors will be watching over them and mentoring them. Ill be in charge of a small group, lead games with them, take them swimming, hiking, rock climbing, canoeing, etc, etc. I'm really excited for what's in store, just waiting to see what God does in my life and the lives of the campers while I'm here.