The Met Cloisters

His Kingdom Come: Stuffed and Starved (Overview)

"Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Matthew 6:10

The food system hits close to home for me. While I had been exposed to some of its injustices in the past, my spring semester's public health nutrition class gave me the opportunity to learn more deeply about the complexity and wide-reach of food.

What we eat is intimately connected to our agriculture, which has tremendous impacts on ecological balance, immigration, animal/human rights, environmental toxicity, and politics. What we produce inevitably influences our grocery stores, our physical and financial access to food, the foodservice industry, international trade, transportation, culture, health and nutrition. What's produced but not consumed transforms to issues related to food waste.

Thinking about the problems caused by our broken food system is crippling, and this paralysis extends to all of the social justice issues our world faces. Children have been cruelly ripped apart from their parents. My hometown is currently divided on a proposal to introduce armed police officers to public schools. My university faced violence, open and repeated acts of intolerance, and tragic death this past year. Last summer, I met cancer patients who struggled with their disease, other chronic illnesses, emotional pain, food insecurity, and immigration issues -all at once.

One day in class, my Spanish professor initiated a spontaneous, class-long discussion about the discrimination our campus was facing. Before we left with heavy hearts, he looked at each of us squarely and said, "Chicos, no sean complacientes." Don't be complacent.

But what can we do in addition to praying? What actions can we take right now?

French Cream Soda

Sunday Dialogues: Your Gift is a Provision

We're all gifted in one way or another. You may be an athlete, a musician, a friend who can listen like no other. Sharing these gifts may seem more straightforward: volunteer as a soccer coach, teach kids how to play an instrument, share your time with others who need a shoulder to cry on.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chunk Pancakes (Vegan)

Is it possible to have forgotten how good pancakes taste?!

On that same note, I've also forgotten how much fun it is to take and edit photos. Racing against natural laws of chemistry when snapping photos while the butter melted off of the hot pancakes was quite the scene. I had to add countless pats of butter and pour more syrup than a 5 year old just to get the shots. In the end, the top pancake was reluctantly tossed - after all, they have to remain a healthy-ish recipe, right?

Ithaca Through the Seasons: Spring 2018

Can you believe I only picked up my camera twice this semester?!

In my defense, our winter was too long. The first few warm days in late April sent half the school to bask in the sun on the slope. We had been eagerly anticipating the sun's return. As if by magic, every tree blossomed overnight, and campus became one big, pink, floral wonderland. The warmer weather always brings about a palpable change in energy, and despite all of the end-of-the-semester deadlines and exams, we all feel less stressed out. It's so nice when everyone's in a good mood! I took advantage of every second I had to be outdoors, whether it was eating lunch on the Ag Quad, doing homework by a little garden (where I watched a cannibalistic squirrel in horror), running and hiking my favorite trails, or just sitting and thinking - being cooped up indoors for nearly 6 months changes you!

We ask each other all winter long why we're hunkered down in Ithaca. Spring reminds us why.

Stockholm, Sweden (Video)

Sunday Dialogues: Life is a Highway

As wonderful as school is, there's a handful of things that I miss terribly when I'm here: baking, my piano, and driving.

Contemporary Copenhagen (Copenhagen Pt II)

As I write this, I sit in a garden, in beautiful 80*F weather, surrounded by the chirps of birds and the smell of blooming flowers on a highly coveted campus in upstate NY. Days like this, I'm reminded especially of how fortunate I am to be where I am, to have had the experiences I've had. As someone who likes to compare, I find it easy to be jealous. There's countless ways to become discontent. It's easy to wish for someone else's circumstances and to become hardened by where your situation falls short. There's a lot to wish for, but oh-my-word has God provided above and beyond, and I'm really lucky to have gone on this trip with my family last summer.

I'm closing off this series with our final photos from a two-day stay in Copenhagen, Denmark. I hope you've enjoyed these stories and photos over the course of the year. It's been exciting to look back and have memories triggered as I edit photos. These blogposts have given me excuses to flip back through journals and remember the funny things my friends and family said.

Danish Royalty (Copenhagen Pt I)

Botanisk Have

Farewell in Fredericia

The sweetest moment of all.

HC Anderson's Odense

If someone asks me, "What's your favorite book?," I'll probably look a bit embarrassed before answering. Sometimes I feel like I need to come up with a really impressive answer, but that's not me. I love books, but I'm not the best reader. The closest I can come to reading deeply into a literary masterpiece is with Of Mice and Men, and that book is tiny. If I have to be honest, I love JK Rowling's Prisoner of Azkaban. The Nightingale. Number the Stars. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Skinnybones. Childhood favorites.

If you're like me, you might be a big fan of Hans Christian (HC) Andersen, who authored many of our childhood classics: The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, The Princess and the Pea, Thumbelina, The Emperor's New Clothes. But do you know what this Danish author has to do with Disney's Frozen? Scroll to the bottom to find out.

Scripture Search: Singleness and Completeness

With all this talk about self-love, I'd be remiss if I didn't address singleness.

Mecklenburg's Best: An Afternoon in Wismar and Schwerin

Part II of our time in Germany (catch Pt I in Warnemünde, here) was spent in Wismar, another town in the Hanseatic League, and Schwerin, capital of Mecklenburg and home to Schwerin Palace. While only about a half hour apart, Wismar's preserved, medieval touch stands in contrast to Schwerin's regality. Walking through Wismar, all you want to do is sing "little town, it's a quiet village", much like in Tallinn. Schwerin, on the other hand, makes you stand a little taller and lift your chin a bit. Yet however different they may appear, both towns felt equally as quaint and peaceful on this lazy afternoon, and there was nothing better than capping our time in Germany off with kaffee und kuchen.

Ithaca Through the Seasons: Winter 2018

Snow, hockey, and sunsets. 

The German Riviera: Warnemünde at Sunset

A former city in the Hanseatic League (a merchant guild during the Middle Ages), Warnemünde continues to be a center of international convergence as a cruise port today. Yet despite the volume of tourists, she remains a humble fishing village and seaside resort, embracing her unassuming charm while negotiating the changes that tourism inevitably bears.

The Curonian Spit (Klaipeda and Nida, Lithuania)

Aren't sand dunes just big piles of sand? I think they are...But they're more special than they seem.

Boston on a Budget

Boston's like a cleaner (to a degree) New York City with cobblestone streets that aren't nearly as crowded. The traffic is relentless, but that's the nature of a world-loved city. Here's what I recommend for anyone looking to visit Boston on a budget:

Solo Travel

The one thing I believe all girls/women should do at least once in their lifetime, is travel solo.

My Favorite Things about Cruising

Sneaky capture of our Ukranian buddy, Sergei. He's one of the funniest guys we met!

If given the choice, a week-long cruise or a week-long trip in one city, which would you pick?

There are clear pros and cons to both: cruising is great, because you get to see a variety of places in one short trip and you get more opportunities to interact with people from all over the world (crew members and other guests). At the same time, the short few hours you spend at port each day isn't suffice. You can't adequately capture "the essence" of a place, and if you get sea sick, the bumpy waves of the Baltic Sea might not be very enjoyable.

With a trip to a single place, you're more likely to explore life as a local. You develop new routines, like going to the same bakery every morning, where the servers come to know your order. Staying put enables you to maximize the opportunities in the city, too - a city like St. Petersburg has museums and palaces to keep you entertained for years. On the other hand, depending on where you stay - a hostel, a private hotel room, an uber private apartment - the level of interaction with locals and other travelers might not be very high.