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the final countdown

It is four days and counting until the much-anticipated Kirkbride Sister Reunion of 2009. Hip hip horray!

 

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Heyah!

It's the latest and greatest. Click here to download our Spring 2009 update.

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easter

It was a week ago that Ben and I attended the Good Friday crucifixions at San Fernando, and Ben has been sour since because I have delayed in adding commentary to these photos. I just haven't known what to say.

Each year dozens of men walk in troupes through the streets of this small town, striking themselves with bamboo sticks on the back while friends follow behind and make small cuts with razor blades. Water is poured on the lashes, and soon the blood is flowing freely, splattering onlookers and painting the town like a Jackson Pollock. The men also kneel in the square before the cathedral while other strike them on the body with sticks or wooden paddles outfitted with glass shards. This act is meant to atone for sins.

The displays of devotion that have made this day infamous, though, are the crucifixion reenactments undertaken by men who wish to demonstrate their faith in God, and be rewarded with an answered prayer or blessings. The men are secured to the cross by cords around their arms and given support for their feet, and then their hands and feet are nailed down. The crosses are hoisted into a standing position, and the supplicants hang there for a few minutes.

yahoo!

It feels a little like I have turned our blog into the “The Choice” feature from The New York Times, a section where uncannily articulate high school seniors blog about the colleges they have applied to, where they have been accepted and their full-ride scholarships. Minus the full-ride scholarships for me.

 

Regardless, I am rounding out a year of direct preparation for law school (more than that if you take LSAT study into account), and so as the final application decisions trickle in, this is what is on my mind.

 

If you are still with me, today I received an enthusiastic (I would like to think) offer of admission from the University of Minnesota Law School. Yahoo! The past month has felt like my 40 days wandering in the wilderness, so it is nice to be wanted. 

 

This is a perfect time to share our outlook on the Twin Cities--the same key as before with Ben in pink, me in blue, and both of us in yellow. Ben couldn't contribute anything to the list that he is looking forward to, so help us out. What’s the scoop on Minneapolis/St. Paul?

 

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we process

So far Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon is the only institution that has accepted me to be a part of its incoming class. This has prompted Ben and I to do some soul-searching on how we feel about living in the Northwest. The conclusion? Pretty good, especially if I could transplant my entire family to Seattle, Washington.

Here is the assessment we came up with this week. The key is that the yellow blocks stand for things that affect us both, while the pink blocks are Ben's contributions, and the blue ones are mine.

Neither of us has ever been to Portland though, so we would love some insider-type tips!

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an ode to a whale shark (or what I did on Saturday)

This is the sort of poem that Billy Collins would write

Except he would do it better

There you are, emerging from the murky depths

This water is thick with fish eggs, it is like tapioca pudding

How do such tiny morsels sustain your bulk?

I can't even see you until you are just a few arm spans away

And by then you are huge and alarming

As huge as a school bus

If you moved too fast to the left, too fast to the right, you would hit me

And then I would inhale even more water into my snorkel

Already I have been kicked in the face by my fellow tourists

We are so pasty and graceless, splashing around in your wake

I am glad that you take no notice of us

I would not call you tame or kind

But you are peaceful

And as I swim along the top of the water, connecting the dots on your spotted back

I get to be peaceful too

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