She Thinks She's Witty

The Maddening Whispers I can hear the whispers coming from the books. They're calling to the echoes in my head. I’m surrounded by people but the stories I hear Come from the imagined beings in my mind, Crying to be let out. When I write, it’s as if I’m a medium For a stranger’s story that needs to be told. They push from the inside out. I want to scream. Not from pain or anger, Just in a hope that I can release at least one story into the universe. It would be faster than listening to the whole thing And never getting it exactly right. It’s giving life to someone—something—that should have been But never was. In the end, I can’t tell if it’s genius running through me Or just a full stomach. Love & Fancy Things, Rachel

"It was fun." "It was great." "It was a good experience." How do you come back from a mountain top weekend and explain all the nuanced amazingness of what happened. People ask, "How was it?" I say, "It was great!" But it's hard to delve into what was jam-packed into my brain. It's moments like that in which I wish I could do the Vulcan MindMeld so you could just experience this weekend for yourself. I now know why there are so many workshops, insight sessions, etc. that focus on how to help (mostly youth) process mountaintop experiences . Because no one who wasn't there with you, could ever really get it. That's not their fault, but it's the truth. All that to say, let me give you the tip of the iceberg of my experience in Chicago this weekend at the Volunteers Exploring Vocation ( VEV ) event. The theme was: Your Sons and Your Daughters Shall Prophecy . The event was held at the ChicagoCen...

Sometimes I think we should take a tip from the druggies and look at ourselves--really look at ourselves--as if seeing our hands for the first time. We need to stop and gain perspective and marvel at all that is right there in front of us every day, every minute, every second. The things we take for granted on a massive scale.

As a shout out to Nick Miller of New Girl , here's the start of my very own zombie novel : At age 14, Tree Banner didn't think there was anything worse in life than the name her hippy parents had stuck her with. Especially since her body type screamed anything but “Tree.” At age 24, however, she discovered she had been dead wrong [1] . Zombies eating said hippy parents was much worse than the name they had so lovingly bestowed upon her. At this very moment, however, Tree was thinking of anything except her name, her parents, or their being eaten. She was trying not to be eaten herself. She and her gang of misfits [2] were hunkered down in a big old Victorian house for the night. They didn't usually like big houses, but they had been in a rush and this one was already fortified. Though not very well if the inhabitants were no longer there. The corpses of the inhabitants were not there either, however, so they either made a break for it or were walki...

If I Could Talk to Me at Three If I could talk to me at three I’d tell me, It’ll be okay, baby girl, It’ll be okay. Life’s never as hard as you think it is. And we always make it out to be the hardest. When you’re stuck in the fourth grade Singin’ “Oh, Sammy, baby! My heart’s in misery,” It’ll feel like it’s the end of the world But it’s just the beginning. We feel so much And all we want to do is feel more. Like we’re begging for a heartbreak. Because the heartbroken are the most interesting And we love interesting. I’d say, baby girl, Life’s not over when you think you’ve lost your best friend Cause you’ll get her back And it’ll last a lifetime. To Africa and back. Standing outside the closet I locked myself in by accident I’d listen to the silent tears And tell me, baby girl, you’ll get out Don’t you worry, you’re Papa’s coming. We may do some stupid stuff, but we always have a good story to tell. And those a...

(New word I learned...pretty much means vagabond) I don't really know the , but I can tell you what it's like to be me and that's kind of the same thing. I have practically no money but I have some of the best friends and the best experiences. I trust in God and he not only takes me where I NEED to go, but also lets me have some fun as well. This weekend I trucked it up to Milwaukee to see my good friend Brittany from highschool--okay, actually, I bused and trained it up but that doesn't sound as fun.  Step 1: Metra  from Elgin to Chicago . Step 2: Walk to Greyhound  bus stop in Chicago. Step 3: Bus from Chicago to Milwaukee . Once I was in Milwaukee, Brittany picked me up and we headed to her place. We thought, should we go out tonight? Nah, let's stay in and have a "slumber party!" It's been a while. (Actually about two years since we've had more than just a single conversation at a time we figured.) We watched Inception  and The Vow and...

I had a chance to head to Princeton Theological Seminary for a Forum on Youth Ministry . It was a great forum and I learned so much I don't even know where to start. I'll just give a few glimpses. We had fabulous worship times which included messages by Rev. Dharius Daniels. He was fantastic. Find out more about him here . We had two great lecturers who alternated days: Elizabeth Drescher and Nicholas M. Shepherd. Also had some electives/workshops. A few learning moments from my electives: Learned about what it means to take a modern day Sabbath. If you haven't seen this video, check it out here . Learned all about the working styles of my generation. (Elective presenters' slides featured--Nate Stucky and Lynn Barger Elliott) I had some time to explore downtown Princeton as well. What a beautiful town! I have lots more to tell but don't want to bore you with lots of theological mumbo-jumbo up front so if you want to ...