May 8th, 2010 | link
Fishermen’s Terminal
Seattle, WA
May 3rd, 2010 | link
Ten of my photographs are hanging at Herkimer on 74th & Greenwood during May & June. After I hung up the images I was amazed at how it felt as though life was given to the photographs. Knowing that they are there for two months being viewed by people every day is fairly surreal. I’m so interested to hear about what people see and feel when they look at the images. Every day I’ve wanted to go and sit down to observe the coffee patrons, as if the photographs are my children.
Herkimer is a really nice shop with great coffee. Stop by if you’re in the area. I live near there and would be glad to meet up with anyone for a cup of coffee.
April 29th, 2010 | link
Observe yourself often, but not too often. Try it once a week, if you can afford it emotionally and financially.
Seasons of transition are exciting and terrifying, the latter usually triumphing over the former. Currently I sit more excited than terrified, but maybe that’s because I still have four classes between now and June 26 to balm my anxiety. Oh cool balm, don’t end! But end.
After I cross the stage at Town Hall in Seattle in late June I’ll hold a Masters of Divinity, which is a degree that I think will serve me well for the rest of my life. I’ve loved my school. I love Seattle. The house I live in is wonderful. The friends around me, all gifts, are priceless.
Now, what am I going to do?
A few things.
I am viciously fighting the lie that I should have it figured out. That voice in my head is toxic. I don’t need to have it figured out. As Ms. Lamott says, should is a terrible reason to do anything. Oh, Ms. Lamott. You are a gem.
I’m applying for a few jobs to get myself going, mostly financially. Part of fighting that should have it all figured out voice is simply finding a job that I can enjoy and with which I can make enough money to keep myself afloat. Low-bar goals are so helpful. I’m not looking for the quintessential career job that I’ll be in for 20 years. Not yet. That will come. For now, I want to do something that I like on a temporary basis, something that will allow me to pay bills and travel, which I love so deeply. Travel, not bills. Sans Bill Murray. Love.
In a few weeks I’m going to see a friend of mine who is a consultant. He’s a friend first, consultant last, and he’s very good at both. I asked him if I could have an evening of his time and blurt out everything that’s in me regarding career, desires, goals, and direction. I need a safe place to externalize everything in my soul, someone to whom I can tell both the narcissistic desires and the not-so-narcissistic ones. I’m both excited and scared to see all of those things written out on paper. I think it will be helpful.
Summary.
No idea, but lots of ideas. Lots of fun, 26 year old ideas of seeing the world and seeing Seattle, of taking lots of photographs and being a part of a church that I love. Life can get complicated so quickly. Rightly so; it is complicated. But it should be fun, right?
Please say yes.
April 27th, 2010 | link
After completing our Integrative Projects at Mars Hill Graduate School, the school hosted a forum for us and gave us each 8 minutes to present and summarize our work. If you’re interested in reading a thesis or two and watching the presentations, the videos can be viewed here.
I’m very proud of the work that my friends and I did, but if you were to read/watch only one (and I think we’d all agree on this), then watch Kj’s video and read her paper.
April 23rd, 2010 | link
The Lord be with you.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
In the name of goodness and love and broken community
In the name of meaning and feeling and I hope you don’t screw me
In the name of darkness and light and ungraspable twilight
In the name of meal times and sharing and caring by firelight
In the name of action and peace and human redemption
In the name of eating and drinking and table confession
In the name of sadness, regret, and holy obsession
The holy name of anger, the spirit of aggression
In the name of forgive and forget and I hope I get over this
In the name of Father and Son and the Holy Spirit
In the name of beauty and beaten and broken down daily
In the name of seeing our creeds and believing in maybe
We gather here, a table of strangers
And speak of our hope land and talk of our danger
To make sense of our thinking, to authenticate lives
To humanize feeling and stop telling lies
In the name of philosophy, theology, and who gives a damn
In the name of employment and study and finding new family
In the name of our passion, our loving, and indecent obsessions
In the name of prayer and of worship and of demon possession
In the name of solitude and quiet and holy reflection
In the name of the lost and the lonely and the without direction
In the name of efficiency, stupidity, and the holy ineffectual
In the name of the straight, the queer, transgendered, and bisexual
In the name of boot clogs and boob jobs and erectile disfunction
Schizophrenia, hysteria, and obsessive compulsion
In the name of Jesus and Mary and the mostly silent Joseph
In the name of speaking to ourselves saying this is more than I can cope with
In the name of touch up and break up and break down and weeping
In the name of therapy and Prozac and full hearted breathing
In the name of sadness and madness and years since I’ve smiled
In the name of the unknown, the alien, and the holy in exile
In the name of goodness and kindness and intentionality
In the name of harbor and shelter and family
Peter Rollins
