Leaving on a Jet Plane...Don't Know When I'll Be Back Again

Monday, March 24, 2008

So I promised some good stuff from New Orleans…I journaled a little bit while I was there, just listing some things I saw around me. So I guess I’ll just go in order of some things I listed.

I never thought I would be like this, but I absolutely love to travel and discover new places. When I was a child and growing up I always loved being at home, just hanging with my family. I remember several times calling my parents while at a friend’s house for a sleepover claiming I was “sick.” When I entered the youth group at my church I started going on mission trips and traveling a little bit, but I was always really nervous when I stepped onto the van or plane.

This past summer I had an amazing opportunity to travel around Europe. Even as I entered the airport and kissed my parents goodbye, I remember thinking to myself, “why am I doing this? What was I thinking?” But then on my last night, I found myself wanting to stay because there was soooo much more I wanted to see.

Entering into New Orleans was amazing. As everyone else on our van talked with each other, I found myself glaring out the window trying to take a mental picture of every tree and every building that was different than what I’m used to.

I wanted to jump out of the van and run down every street (including Bourbon street, which I did, on St. Patrick’s Day—wow), try every restaurant, and go in every single shop.

I love unique places, which explains my love of historic downtowns; New Orleans; Florence, Italy; Amsterdam and even Beaufort. I love discovering and exploring these places. I hope I can continue to do so and stop being so nervous about taking that first step.

Now I know that once I do take that first audacious, courageous step, it’ll totally be worth it. But sometimes it’s hard, stressful, and nerve-racking…but I know the end prize is amazing and wonderful and I'll continue to chase after that.

**Pictured above is a blurry picture of the extremely long bridge ride into New Orleans**

What's to Come

Saturday, March 22, 2008

I just got back from New Orleans Thursday, I spent 6 days there doing different mission work with basically 14 strangers whom I absolutely love and miss now.

When I heard God speak to me about 10 different times within the first 24 hours we were in New Orleans, before we even started the actual work, I knew the trip was going to be amazing.

Needless to say, I could probably blog about New Orleans and what I learned from it for an entire year. So, that's what you'll be getting. I just want to share some of the things God showed me while I was there.

Tantalizing Totally Tite Terrific Tune Tuesday

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Go.

Song: Little House
Artist: The Fray
Album: How to Save a Life

First of all, the piano parts in this song are amazing: Beautiful and serene at the beginning and then to a tenser, anxious tone as the song progresses. Gorgeous.

I don’t even remember listening to this song when I first bought this album, but when I was driving back to Winthrop from home I stumbled across it, and I’m so glad I did! It’s a little more rock-sounding than the rest of the songs on the album, but you’ve got to listen to it! It will definitely move you.

It’s obviously about a girl who is struggling with something and she is trying to fix it all on her own:

She doesn't look, she doesn't see
Opens up for nobody
Figures out, she figures out

Narrow line, she can't decide
Everything short of suicide

Then the quietness of the song ends, and madness happens. It talks about something we maybe did in our past that we can’t let go, we just keep stumbling across it. I think we all have something like that:

Something is scratching it's way out
Something you want to forget about

Maybe we are the only one that knows about the particular situations:

A part of you that'll never show
You're the only one that'll ever know
Take it back when it all began

But, then when the chorus is repeated, it adds a few extra lines and the tone the singer uses really sounds like something scratching to get out, it really is brilliant:

Something is scratching it's way out
Something you want to forget about
No one expects you to get up
All on your own with no one around

Huh…I think they are implying that we are never alone, there is always someone to help us out with a problem and forgive us for what we’ve done. Maybe The Fray didn’t particularly mean God, but that is how I interpret it.

It’s a wonderful feeling that we don’t have to struggle our way through life alone, but instead God is there waiting for us to ask for help and guide us along. We don’t have to suffer and allow things to “scratch” inside of us.

I think this is my new favorite song (at least for this week). It’s short and to the point. Please click the above link and listen.

End.

Totally Tite Terrific Tune Tuesday

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Go.

Song: London Skies
Artist: Jamie Cullum
Album: Catching Tales (this blog was named after it!)

Again, one of my favorite artists: Jamie Cullum, who is British, is an amazing jazz pianist and the lyrics he comes up with are so poetic.

London is known for the rainy, cold, dreary days. Usually, these types of clouds and skies are seen as ugly and yucky.

But Jamie sees past the stereotyped ugly London, and sees the beauty in them.

Will you let me romanticize,
The beauty in our London Skies,
You know the sunlight always shines,
Behind the clouds of London Skies.

Jamie wants us to look beyond what is right in front of us. Looking past the gray clouds and seeing the beauty behind it. Jamie comes across as an optimistic guy and makes me realize I should look at things, whether I think they are ugly or bad or whatever, in a more positive light.

Nothing is certain except everything you know can change,
you worship the sun but now,
can you fall for the rain...

The only thing we know is that things change, so why not see the beauty in everything? I’m going to try and do that more often: appreciate God’s gifts to this world and thank Him for them.

I remember from watching the DVD that came with this CD, that this song was written for Jamie’s girlfriend. She lives in London and to him that makes the city even more beautiful. Romantic.

End.

Sloppy Journalism

Thursday, February 28, 2008

I’m tired of sloppy journalism. Flat out sick of it. What is sloppy journalism you ask? Being an irresponsible journalist: not researching, being bias, not providing information for some reason, coming to a conclusion to quickly, etc.

I am disappointed to say that Winthrop’s student publication, The Johnsonian, fueled my fire against this. An opinion column was written about the Bible Study, Lady in Waiting, led by a former Winthrop student held near campus. The writer discovered the group on Facebook.

Now, the statements the writer made in the column were completely opposite of what the Bible Study stands for. In fact, everything the writer criticized about the study was exactly what the study isn't.

I know it’s an opinion column, but I also know, and have learned through my classes at Winthrop, that the most important job of a journalist is to research and interview so that he or she can correctly inform the audience of the facts. And this opinion column did not do that. A wise mentor told me that opinion columnists can interpret the facts differently, but the factual information is the basis of all journalism. And that clearly wasn’t done.

Quite a few people wrote letters to the editor in response and a few were printed. The writer responded by sticking behind what she wrote. The writer claimed she had done her research because she looked up the leader, the Bible study and the group on Facebook. Are you kidding me?

Since when does Facebook qualify as an accountable source of information? I've been taught here at Winthrop, that all articles, stories and columns need at least one "real" source. A real source is someone you don't know beforehand, not just interviewing a friend, and is not from the internet, but it's a living, breathing person.

I’m not in any way saying this writer is not capable of writing wonderful, factual stories. I’m sure she is. I know she is from past articles. I just know this particular opinion column is an example of what irks me.

I hope this one example does not and will not represent our generation of writers. Being in the mass communication department, I hope that our generation will not get too accustomed to Facebook and online sources so much that we don’t get out there and do the interviews. Having all the readily available sources online are helpful, but also could be a hindrance.

Tite Terrific Tune Tuesday

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Go.

Song: Won’t Back Down
Artist: Mat Kearney
Album: Nothing Left to Lose

This is a complex song that has a simple meaning; a meaning that we should be reminded of everyday.

I think this song talks about someone who is struggling in life. Maybe even considering suicide:

The longest fight I've seen
Here goes a chance I know
Cashing in on all my chips
Let all my ships come fly
These days, a little bit longer than the last…

But for someone reason, this person was given another chance to live:

And all of your ways, a little bit stronger than the past
And your light, found my bottle in the night
Kept me in this fight and gave me second life…

And because of this new view and excitement of life, is recharged and ready to stand strong, find their purpose, and make a difference:

And I won't back down
I won't turn around and around
And I won't back down
Doesn't matter what comes crashing down
I'm still gonna stand on solid ground.

Kearney ends the song with Hallelujah, praising God, for this new outlook.

I love Mat Kearney’s songs because he so artfully tells of God’s huge and majestic powers. I’m sure I’ll touch on some more of his songs.

End.

Terrific Tune Tuesday

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

I think I’ll add a new T-word each Tuesday…we’ll see how long that lasts. Comment with any t-words, I’m sure I’ll run out soon.

Go.

Song: Life is Wonderful
Artist: Jason Mraz
Album: Mr. A-Z

This is probably one of my favorite albums, if not #1. And Jason Mraz has been a favorite of mine for quite a few years. Mraz’s brilliant writing skills, wit, humor, and obvious musical abilities are incredible and show wonderfully on this CD.

“Life is Wonderful” is the first track on the CD and Mraz uses his elegant voice to express common thought-provoking questions, like which came first the chicken or the egg…

It takes an egg to make a hen
It takes a hen to make an egg
There is no end to what I'm saying

But then lead into new questions that get the listener to think outside of the box…

And it takes no time to fall in love
But it takes you years to know what love is
It takes some fears to make you trust
It takes those tears to make it rust
It takes the dust to have it polished

I had to listen over and over to those last three lines, but the meaning is inspiring.

In this song, Mraz moves smoothly across musical styles to represent just what the lyrics state—life can be a string of turns and twists and highs and lows; but in the end, life is wonderful.

Mraz uses the technique of different musical styles throughout the whole CD with a touch of opera, love ballads, insane piano solos, 70’s vibe, bluesy, Latin, and even a classic sound like the Beatles. All of these styles and “Life is Wonderful” convey a common theme, that life is complex, full of emotions, joy, and pain, but in the end is wonderful.

End.