Hello everyone!
According to my rough calculation, the beginning of February marked the halfway point of the JSC program year. Right around then, I finally changed my default one-word response to the question “How’s JSC?” from “Good” to “Challenging.” I guess that doesn’t sound like a very positive development, but hopefully it’s just a step on the road to “Great.”
Much of the action in February happened around its own midpoint. On February 9th and 10th, we attended the Ripple Conference at Elon University. The conference theme was “Interfaith Around the World.” My favorite part was the keynote speech, given by Diya Abdo, titled “Moving Stories: Refugee Journeys and the Power of Storytelling.” I thought the conference was engaging and well organized, and that was especially impressive considering it was run by Elon students.
On February 13th, my partner organization, Habitat for Humanity of Orange County, hosted Habitat International CEO Jonathan Reckford at a breakfast celebrating Orange Habitat’s 40th Anniversary. Throughout the year, I have been working on organizing materials from the organization’s history, and for the event, I helped make a “gallery walk” highlighting important events over 40 years. Following that there was a buildsite lunch…and that same day was Shrove Tuesday, so I had pancakes at St. Luke’s that evening.
While it was great to have three meals served to me in one day, I can’t always expect that to happen. Luckily, Friday programming included two sessions with Slice 325 to teach us about food budgeting and preparation. We also attended a lecture by Cole Arthur Riley, which was another great reminder to take care of our bodies. Additionally, we had some programming on professional development. On that note, we fellows are all in varying stages of discerning what we’re going to do after JSC, so please keep us in your prayers.
What else? Well, Ash Wednesday, as we all know, fell on the same day as another holiday, the Feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius. Other commemorations this month included the 215th birthdays of Felix Mendelssohn (2/3), Abraham Lincoln (2/12), Charles Darwin (also 2/12), and Cyrus McCormick (2/15), and the 100th anniversary of the death of Woodrow Wilson (2/3). And now we’re gearing up for the big yearly celebrations in March, including Pi Day (3/14) and the Ides (3/15, Beware!). You’ve got to find some fun in life where you can.
Easter is also in March this year, albeit on the last day of it. That means we’re in Lent right now, so I pray for a meaningful journey through this season. Another fellow should give you updates on the other side of it!