A sunny Saturday and a good read

A truly thought-provoking, beautifully-written article.

"Anything that betrays real passion is by definition uncool."

Frivolous Prettiness

I know it's not practical...

I know I didn't budget for this (or, let's be honest, at all)...

I know I won't use it everyday...

But sometimes, a little beauty is worth a little sacrifice.

Florentine Gold Flatware!?!

How pretty is this going to be at Thanksgiving and Christmas and when I have you over on a random night for dinner? I know.

odds and ends

-There was a horrible storm in Nashville last night! Trees are down, cars are smashed and people are sleepless all over my beloved city. I got so scared I had to bunk up with my roommate. Prayers for all here and those recovering from tornados throughout the South, especially in Tuscaloosa and Joplin.

-Happy 70th Birthday to Bob Dylan!

-"Gladden the soul of your servant; for to you, O Lord, I do lift up my soul." Psalm 86:4

-GE commercials shouldn't make you cry, right? right?

-Been spending some time in the Southern Baptist National Archives this week. For any nerdy historians out there, I found several handwritten letters from Koinonia Farm's Clarence Jordan addressed to our very own James Robertson Parkway in Nashville. Also, Jordan went to speak on race relations in the 1940s at Furman University!

-Has anyone else discovered the TV show "Pregnant in Heels"? Sounds bad, but it's great.

-Going to my second consecutive dinner party--is it ok that my contribution is just sliced fruit?

-Don't these two beautiful actresses look like sisters? Just lovely.

It's elementary, my dear

Well, I am sitting at my kitchen table in Atlanta, in the same house that I've lived in since I was eighteen months old. I actually remember doing my first homework assignment, to color in the letter 'A,' at this table, giddy with excitement about going to school and having something as important to do as homework. Seems like an appropriate place to reflect on some of my earliest teachers.

In first grade, I had Mrs. Hess. A kind woman with wavy, soft brown hair and a predilection for floor-length jumpers, she was the ideal elementary school teacher. I don't recall much that I actually learned in first grade, but what Mrs. Hess did do that was incredibly affecting was open herself up to her students as a person. She knew me. She knew that I was incredibly shy but that if given time and encouragement, I would blossom. She let me sit next to my best friend, Emily Tate, so that we could giggle and have to get separated. She told me she liked me and that I was one of her favorite students, which gave me confidence. She told me about her bald husband, who, I still remember vividly, had just had a minor heart attack and was recovering, so he couldn't eat bacon. Mrs. Hess' parents lived in my neighborhood, so I saw her at Halloween as she handed me a twix, a young bride nervous and excited to see her teacher outside of school. Mrs. Hess was a real person and her interactions with me were real. I was not just a random student, I was Ansley, a shy sweet little girl who may have some potential someday. It is so important to treat every student as they are, to encourage them in their particularities and to open one's self up to them, no matter if they're in college or 6. Mrs. Hess let me enter into her life, her family, her intellectual journey as a young child--I am still grateful.

When I wasn't in Mrs. Hess' classroom, I went down the hall for 'Challenge' with Ms. Furst. She was a character. A small Jewish woman with strong perfume and a strong personality, Ms. Furst was indomitable. She was probably in her late 50s/early 60s with jet black hair and biting wit. She was full of passion and taught out of a desire to foster creativity and genius. In her classroom, I did art projects and special reading, I penned the great American classic "Linlee and the Dragon," and I attempted logic puzzles (if you know me, you know that did not go well.) Ms. Furst would grab me by the shoulders and tell me to let my imagination wander, to think deeply and ask questions. I was, of course, a little bit afraid of her, but I also admired and loved her. She used to tell me I was gifted, to call me names in Yiddish and tell stories that dazzled my mind. Ms. Furst taught me the beauty to be found in eccentricity, in creativity, in humor. Wherever you are, Ms. Furst, you are a mensch, and a gift to me!

When I was in third grade, and beginning to reflect on my young life, I asked my mom if we could have a brunch for all my favorite teachers thus far. Probably 5 ladies came to my house for fruit and muffins and niceties. Mrs. Hess and Ms. Furst were definitely there. These were women committed not only to educate me within the confines of the cinderblock school, but who made a personal connection with their students, and gave up a Saturday morning to come over to my house, ask me questions, and comment on my photos on the fridge. Exceptional teachers are usually exceptionally generous people who see beyond their job into the realm of relationships--they care about their students as individuals and, amidst the frustration and fatigue, love them.

There are undoubtedly many more wonderful stories from my elementary years. Also, coming of age in an Atlanta metro public school, there are less wonderful stories--of immigrant kids with only one outfit to wear, of terrifyingly activist teachers with a political agenda to instill in the nation's youngest citizens, of violence on the school bus, of a whole host of racial slurs, of (confusingly) unmarried but pregnant teachers (try explaining that one to a 6 year old).

But, for today, let us be content with brunch with Mrs. Hess and Ms. Furst, two of the greatest teachers of my life.

"The Courage to Teach"

I can still remember the names of all of my teachers from kindergarden through graduate seminars. From Mrs. Smith to Professor Epstein, these men and women have opened my mind to ideas and cultivated my education. I am thankful for each one. But, while some teachers adequately conveyed the material at hand, others inspired creativity and passion. From some teachers I took away the ability to perform a prescribed task, but from others I took away a new way to envision the world and my place in it. While some appear in fragments of my memory, others left an indelible mark on my character and heart. What is it that transforms a teacher from a mere instructor into a inspiration?

Parker Posey,* in his riveting and resonant book, The Courage to Teach, argues that "good teaching cannot be reduced to technique, good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher." I don't want to imply that bad teachers are bad people--certainly individuals are gifted differently--but it is a provocative notion that the best teachers must in fact offer not pedagogy but their very person. Posey is worth here quoting at length: "Good teachers join self and subject in the fabric of life. Good teachers possess a capacity for connectedness... As good teachers weave the fabric that joins them with students and subjects, the heart is the loom on which the threads are tied, the tension is held, the shuttle flies, and the fabric is stretched tight. Small wonder, then, that teaching tugs at the heart, opens the heart, even breaks the heart---and the more one loves teaching, the more heartbreaking it can be. The courage to teach is the courage to keep one's heart open in those very moments when the heart is asked to hold more than it is able sot hat teacher and students and subject can be woven into the fabric of community that learning, and living, require." Teaching is always more than teaching history or biology or math, it is a revelation of the human condition, embodying before others the vulnerability essential to ask questions and ponder Truth.

Now that I myself am a teacher, I am evermore humbled and awed by those who spent their months and years pouring into me as a student. Stemming from my own profound gratitude to them, I want to dedicate a series of posts to these remarkable individuals--a tribute to their integrity, wisdom, and love. Tomorrow we'll start from the beginning--first grade. Mrs. Hess, get ready.

On a slightly lighter note, I got my own teaching evaluations the other day and one contained this hilarious little gem: "Ansley has a sensitivity and ability to provide a neutering and caring place for discussion." Oh my.

*I got this idea (and reference to Posey) from Professor Michael Bess who is himself a beautiful example of great teaching derived from a fearless moral character and honesty.

Don't judge me

...just dance it out.

you're welcome.

(and, no, this is not my new life philosophy. Nana, I'm sorry)

Socks inside and Southern wisdom

It's May 4 and 50 degrees outside.

When we were growing up in Atlanta, my Dad made the rules. The quirkiest, and most inexplicable, was his assertion that we HAD to wear socks downstairs until May 15, punishable by spanking.

Now, if you're not familiar with the South, invariably in March or April (or sometimes even in January or February) the temperature will spike up into the 80s and 90s and leave you sweaty and wishing for Christmas. On these days, some child would meander downstairs in shorts or a sundress, barefooted, only to receive a stern warning and a chase back upstairs to remedy the sockless issue. "But Daaad, it's like a million degrees outside! This is the craziest rule EVER!" And it is. And it isn't.

My Dad was raised by his mother and his maternal grandmother, two fearless, incredibly bright, wise, funny Southern women. They and their ancestors had always lived in the South, in Dyersburg and Atlanta, and knew intimately its patterns and rhythms. These southern belles taught my dad what they had been taught-- that every Spring, right when you think winter has relinquished its hold on the dogwoods and magnolias, there is a fierce cold snap. Cold enough, of course, to make young children sick if they go without socks.

Certain truths are not scientific and not provable, they are inherited bits of knowledge that work their way into the collective life of a family, of a region. And make for some crazy childhood rules.

But, y'all--it's May 4 and 50 degrees outside.

Strength to Love, Even our Enemies

From jubilation in the crowds at Ground Zero, to resolute affirmation in military barracks, to somber, incredulous recognition of people at home, the world is reacting to the news that Osama bin Laden has been killed. From the comfort of my desk in Nashville, I don't know how to react. One one hand, I am relieved that such an evil extremist and mass murderer is no longer plotting destruction against America and against the people of the Islamic world. It is good when justice is done. On the other hand, I cannot bring myself to really rejoice in the death of such an unrepentant man and I am sobered by the reality of retribution and the mutuality of death strikes.

With these thoughts weighing on my mind, I absently turned to my schoolwork and began reading. My assignment for today? Martin Luther King's sermon from Strength to Love, entitled "Loving your Enemies." The timeless words of Dr. King offer a serious consideration of the severity and gravity of evil, but also proclaim a more powerful alternative to hate and destruction, one that can transform our hearts and our world--love.

“First, we must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. It is impossible to even begin the act of loving one’s enemies without the prior acceptance of the necessity, over and over again, of forgiving those who inflict evil and injury upon us.”

“Forgiveness does not mean ignoring what has been dome or putting a false label on an evil act...It means, rather, that the evil act no longer remains as a barrier to the relationship. Forgiveness is a catalyst creating the atmosphere for a fresh start and a new beginning. It is the lifting of a burden or the cancelling of a debt…when we forgive, we forget in the sense that the evil deed is no longer a mental block impeding a new relationship.”

"We must recognize that the evil deed of the enemy-neighbour, the thing that hurts, never quite expresses all that he is. An element of goodness may be found even in our worst enemy...This simply means that there is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies…we recognize that this hate grows out of fear, pride, ignorance, prejudice, and misunderstanding, but in spite of this, we know that God’s image is ineffably etched in his being. Then we love our enemies by realizing that they are not totally bad and that they are not beyond the reach of God’s redemptive love.”

“We must not seek to defeat or humiliate the enemy but to win his friendship and understanding.”

“An overflowing love which seeks nothing in return, agape is the love of God operating in the human heart. At this level we love men not because we like them, nor because their ways appeal to us, nor even because they possess some type of divine spark; we love every man because God loves him.”

“How can we be affectionate towards a person whose avowed aim is to crush our very being and place innumerable stumbling blocks in our path? How can we like a person who is threatening our children and bombing our homes? That is impossible. But Jesus recognized that love is greater than like. When Jesus bids us to love our enemies, he is speaking neither or eros or philia; he is speaking of agape, understanding and creative, redemptive goodwill for all men. Only by following this way and responding with this type of love are we able to be children of our Father who is in heaven.”

“Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

“The chain reaction of evil—hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars—must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”

"Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”

“By its very nature, hate destroys and tears down; love creates and builds up. Love transforms with redemptive power.”

"An even more basic reason why we are commanded to love is expressed explicitly in Jesus’ words, ‘Love your enemies…that ye may be children of you Father which is in heaven.’ We are called to this difficult task in order to realize a unique relationship with God…We must love our enemies, because only by loving them can we know God and experience the beauty of his holiness.”

In an staggering passage asserting the transforming and evangelical power of love, King states, “To our most bitter opponents we say: ‘We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We shall meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will, and we shall continue to love you. We cannot in all good conscience obey your unjust laws, because noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. Throw us in jail, and we shall still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our community at the midnight hour and beat us and we shall still love you. But be ye assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer. One day we shall will freedom, but not only for ourselves. We shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.”

“Love is the most durable power in the world. This creative force, so beautifully exemplified in the life of our Christ, is the most potent instrument available in mankind’s quest for peace and security.”

Dr. King's statements resonate through time to remind us that whatever the conflict, whatever the struggle, love is stronger and can overcome evil. And though we cannot conjure up the strength to love, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit, the power that raised Jesus from the dead, and enabled to transform ourselves and others. Praise the Lord our God and Father for the embodiment of love, forgiveness and power in Jesus and the gift of the Spirit that can embolden and enliven us to die to self and live to him. Let us then, in the wake of news of Osama bin Laden's gruesome life and death, endeavor to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, that we may win their hearts and transform the world.