DIY Corkboard Walls (look closely...)

The gorgeous Amalia of Smart n Snazzy brought my attention to this pic from the Lucky Mag website of Fashion news director Jen Ford's cork board lined wardrobe where she keeps all her inspiration. Lo and behold on it is a pic of me taken by Vanessa Jackman! Haha how random. Btw how good is the corkboard lined wardrobe? I know you can buy cork with adhesive on one side that can be rolled out and attached to walls - much better than wallpaper! I think this is the stuff I mean. Update: Amalia tells me this image is in this months mag too! Anyone know where I can buy it in HK?

Peanuts and Coping

Regular readers will already be aware of my online sensation The Theology of Peanuts. (I'm joking about "sensation." But it was fun project to do.)

What makes Peanuts so interesting, theologically speaking, is how gloomy the strip is. Particularly in its early years. In fact, that's how I started the Theology of Peanuts series, with an essay entitled "Is Peanuts Funny?" From that lead essay:

The theological richness of Peanuts can be hinted at by beginning with an intriguing question, "Is Peanuts funny?" The answer is yes, of course. But we quickly must nuance that answer by noting that Peanuts is funny in a very dark and peculiar manner. The darkness of Peanuts was signaled in the very first Peanuts strip published on October 2, 1950:

Charlie Brown walks innocently past two children sitting on the curb. As Charlie Brown approaches and passes by the little boy repeatedly intones, "There goes good ol' Charlie Brown." And yet, as soon as Charlie Brown exits the picture, the boy gives us the punch-line: "How I hate him!" Peanuts is funny. But it is also dark and mean and tragic.

Where does this meanness come from? Umberto Eco, in his introductory essay to the first Peanuts book published in Italian, made this analysis:

"The children affect us because in a certain sense they are monsters: They are the monstrous infantile reductions of all the neuroses of the modern industrial civilization...In [these children] we find everything: Freud, mass-cult, digest culture, frustrated struggle for success, craving for affection, loneliness, passive acquiescence, and neurotic protest." Peanuts is an "encyclopedia of contemporary weakness."

If you're interested in following more of the existential side of Peanuts Daniel has alerted me to the existence of the 3eanuts blog. The idea behind the blog is to delete the final panel of the four panel Peanuts sequence. Usually, the last panel gives us the punchline of the strip, resolving the existential tension climaxing in panel three. By deleting the last panel we are left in panel three where the existential crisis of the strip is at its most acute. As the 3eanuts blog describes it:

The somber subject matter of Peanuts often goes unnoticed due to the merchandising of the strip (sentimental greeting cards and the like) as well as the gag structure of the strips themselves. The concluding punchline distances readers emotionally from the misery that precedes it; jokes turn us from co-sufferers into onlooking wise guys. Schulz was well aware that the dismal content of Peanuts, which is to say the stuff of life, is difficult to face without humor to aid us. By removing the final gag panel, we bring to the fore exactly how dark Schulz’s view of the world has always been. That this view often eludes us merely affirms Schulz’s skill at helping us to cope.

My favourite Tess dress

LOML took some shots of me wearing a Tess dress in the Domain here in Austin - it was a couple of hours before his birthday party last weekend, and I got a bit dressed up for the occasion (the brooch in the photographs belonged to my great-grandmother). This is my very favourite Tess dress - 'Margaret' - and I wrote a post about it on Theresa's blog which you can read here.

Apart from my abiding love for this particular dress, I love Tess in general because the dresses are vintage-inspired; they are locally designed (by a friend, which always helps) and manufactured; the fabric and construction is really good (something you quickly become fussy about once you start wearing vintage); and, well, they're pretty. I'm becoming very excited about the launch, which will be sometime in April - I'll keep you posted.

DIY Studded Bib Necklace

Gosh this necklace is cool in another one of Vanessa Jackman's amazing pics. Perfect mix of cute pastel pink and edgy studs. When I was in London I bought these crazy studded leather arm cuffs from the jumble, and I have held onto them because I knew I would see a project like this for which I could use them. Next project? A studded bib necklace of course.

DIY Black Collar w Gold Collar Points

Cut a black collar off a shirt, add gold paint for the collar points.

Image: US Elle April

Shop my closet here!

Keep it simple (stupid)

I love a trend as much as the next girl, but if you catch me on the weekend I won't necessarily be colour blocking or going boho... In all likelihood I'll be wearing this, or variations of this. These thrifted high waisted black shorts are a definite must-buy. Put them on your essentials list and track down a nice pair.

Thrifted breton top, thrifted high waisted shorts, mango boots

DIY Thimble Studded Collar and Cuffs

I'm definitely not sick of oversized studs like the ones adorning this jacket. You could make your own by buying a whole heap of thimbles you would use for hand sewing, spray painting them gold, and then attaching them to a jacket using a glue gun.

Image: UK Elle

"Nothing Fails" Remixes Maxi CD

"Nothing Fails" Remixes

2011/03/31

Remixes Maxi CD

________________

1.Nothing Fails (Jason Nevins Radio Remix)

2.Nothing Fails (Mike Danavan's Klaustro Nun Dub)
3.Nothing Fails (Peter Rauhofer Lost In Space Mix)
4.Nothing Fails (Tracy Young Underground Mix)
5.Madonna vs Lady Gaga - NOTHING FAILS (Edens Pokerface Club Mix)

NOWNLOAD NOW

"Nothing Fails" Remixes Maxi CD

"Nothing Fails" Remixes

2011/03/31

Remixes Maxi CD

________________

1.Nothing Fails (Jason Nevins Radio Remix)

2.Nothing Fails (Mike Danavan's Klaustro Nun Dub)
3.Nothing Fails (Peter Rauhofer Lost In Space Mix)
4.Nothing Fails (Tracy Young Underground Mix)
5.Madonna vs Lady Gaga - NOTHING FAILS (Edens Pokerface Club Mix)

NOWNLOAD NOW

Foto Rangga Smash - Photo Gallery

Foto Rangga Smash - Hot Photo Gallery
Rangga Dewamoela Soekarta, who is familiarly called Rangga Smash is one of the personnel of the Indonesian Boy Band, SMASH. Rangga Smash born on 6 January 1988, in Voorburg, Netherlands.

For more information about Rangga Smash, you can read Profile SMASH on this blog. Complete with biographical data of all personnel of SMASH Band.


Here are the latest

T-Shirt Cutting

True Fasting

So how's your Lent going?

There's a lot of fasting going on during Lent. And in light of that I've been thinking a lot about the description in Isaiah 58 about "true fasting."

The passage starts with a question the people ask of God:

"Why have we fasted," they say,
"and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?"

It seems like a good question. Why fast and humble yourself if God isn't going to notice?

But God replies that the reason for the unresponsiveness is that during their fasting the people exploit their workers, among other things. And this economic exploitation nullifies the fast the people offer to God. If you exploit your workers you cannot "expect your voice to be heard on high." God wants a "true fast":

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?

So what does a true fast look like? The passage goes on to describe it in some detail:

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

This is such a wonderful passage. True fasting is described this way:

True fasting is...
to loose the chains of injustice
to set the oppressed free
to share your food with the hungry
to provide the poor wanderer with shelter
to clothe the naked
to not turn away from your own flesh and blood
to do away with the yoke of oppression
to stop the pointing finger and malicious talk
to spend yourself in behalf of the hungry
to satisfy the needs of the oppressed

And when we do this we get to claim cool names like "Repairer of Broken Walls."

Anyway, just something to think about as you contemplate fasting during Lent.

Kirkland Art Food and Wine

The City of Kirkland uncorks its signature summer festival, Kirkland Uncorked from July 15 to 17 in Marina Park on the shores of Lake Washington. The event celebrates the best of Washington�s art, food and wine with activities and exhibits throughout Kirkland�s picturesque waterfront and downtown.

The Tasting Garden offers guests the opportunity to taste from more than 60 Washington wines, sample regional cuisine from Kirkland-area restaurants and be entertained by the Northwest�s favorite bands on the main stage. Grilling demonstrations and the anticipated annual grill-off with Washington�s top chefs take place on the beach throughout the weekend. Winemakers and winery liaisons will be on hand to answer questions and provide tasting tips to guide guests through the collection of Washington wines.

Kirkland Uncorked guests can also stroll the Promenade free and open to all ages, to shop Artist Lane, curated by the Kirkland Arts Center and featuring art from local, regional and nationally recognized artists in a variety of mediums. The Arts for All Experience invites attendees to participate in art activities from clay throwing to sketching the landscape. Also in the Kirkland Uncorked Promenade are the Boat Show and CityDog Magazine�s Cover Dog Model Contest on Sunday at noon.

Kirkland Uncorked is a benefit for the Hope Heart Institute. For 50 years the Hope Heart Institute has made heart disease more treatable, beatable and preventable.

For more information about top events in Washington take a look at the Top Events USA selection of the annual main festivals and events in Washington.

To learn more about Kirkland Uncorked and plan your stay in Kirkland visit KirklandUncorked.com. 

T-shirt Laddering

Profile Jessica Mila : Foto - Biography

Biodata Artis Indonesia - Profil Indonesian Model

JESSICA MILA

Biography
Full Name : Jessica Mila Agnesia
Popular Name : Jessica Mila
Birth Place : Langsa, Aceh Timur
Birth Date : August 3, 1992
Height : 158 cm
Weight : 41 kg
Favourite Actor : Adam Brody
Favourite Actress : Mischa Barton
Occupation : Actress, Model


Profile Jessica Mila
Jessica Mila Agnesia or familiarly called Jessica Mila

DIY Split Skirt Dress

Here are some pics I took on the weekend of a dress I made after being inspired by all the amazing flowing side split skirts on the runway. I used eye wateringly bright sheer orange fabric and it was so simple to make! An easy DIY maxi skirt (like the one I made here) with a side split created by simply not stitching all the way up the long seam, with a wrapped fabric bodice and a black sash.  I've been playing around with fabrics in preparation for making a dress to wear to a wedding in a couple of weeks. I like this style, although the bf kindly suggested that the lack of symmetry in the neckline isn't appealing. What do you think? I also made the split a little bit smaller than the ones seen at the Gucci AW11 that I posted about recently - as much as I am sure everyone at the wedding would want to see my knickers! Now I have to get started on the actual thing.

Looking for the Spirit

I grew up in a very rationalistic faith tradition. For most of its history, the Churches of Christ have endorsed a Word-only pneumatology (Note: pneumatology is your doctrine of the Holy Spirit). That is, I was taught that the Holy Spirit only worked through the Bible. The assumption I grew up with was this:

Bible = The Holy Spirit

The bible is "the sword of the Spirit." Thus, if you wanted to be directed, prompted, or guided by the Spirit you simply studied the bible.

Of course, this equivalency between the bible and the Spirit was deeply problematic. First, and most worrisome, it borders on idolatry. Well, it is idolatry. The bible was treated as a part of the Godhead, a part of the Trinity. We, as a church, were worshiping the bible as if it were God.

A second problem was that this belief privileged rationalism. Knowing the bible, in and out, was the mark of being a "spiritual" or "mature" Christian. Being "filled with the Holy Spirit" meant knowing the bible really, really well. Head knowledge was privileged over the body and the heart.

And, truth be told, I thrived in this environment. I'm a thinker. I live in my head. Too much so. So this rationalism suited me. And I still love it. Good preaching is important to me. And I want bible classes to be deep and connected to the biblical text.

But during college I started to worry about the rationalism of my tradition and of my faith. It began to feel like I was reducing God to a multiple choice question. That my relationship with God (and my eternal destiny!) hinged upon me bubbling in Answer C rather than Answer B on a doctrinal test. That faith meant endorsing certain propositions.

So I made a move to emphasize orthopraxy over orthodoxy. As James 2.24 says: "a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone." Or as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13: "If I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing...And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." Love, I concluded, is what would save me. Not doctrine.

And yet, this shift toward orthopraxy hasn't, as of yet, helped correct the impoverished pneumatology of my youth. That is, my sense of "right practice" is still pretty rationalistic and moralistic. Thus, I have a very good sense of what it means to be a "good person" but I still don't think I know what it means to be "Spirit-led" or "Spirit-filled." And, due to my rationalistic tendencies, I tend to find a lot of the charismatic experience to be prone to excess, irrational, and triumphalistic. Enthusiastic in the worst sense of the word.

But then again, I don't know what I'm talking about. I've never been exposed to the best of the charismatic and Pentecostal traditions. In fact, as a member of the Churches of Christ I've been suspicious of them my whole life. So who am I to judge these expressions of faith?

Why am I telling you all this? Well, as you know, I've started working with a bible study at a local prison. And I've discovered that this community has a more charismatic feel than what I'm used to. To be clear, no one is dancing in the aisles or speaking in tongues. But there is a lot more "Yes Lord!" and "Thank you Jesus!" And more talk about the Spirit being active and moving.

Now, in theory I don't have a problem with any of this. In fact, my suspicion is that oppressed and marginalized communities will tend to gravitate toward a Pentecostal experience. And that in itself is interesting to me. So I want to honor and learn from this experience. Why do the charisms manifest like this in marginalized communities?

And yet, due to my upbringing, I'm finding it hard to turn off the rationalistic switch in my head.

However, I'm slowly finding myself to be more open, intellectually speaking, to this new way of being with God (spiritually speaking, the jury is still out). A part of this is due to finding this lecture by Dr. James Smith from Calvin College to The Society of Vineyard Scholars. The title of the talk is "The Spirit of Knowledge: Outline of a Charismatic Epistemology." A part of what Dr. Smith does in the talk is to suggest that Pentecostalism shares in the post-modern critique of the excessive rationalism of the Enlightenment project. Specifically, Dr. Smith argues that the use of the body and the emotions within Pentecostalism are their own "ways of knowing" which express truths that cannot be captured by reason or intellect. In a similar way, we can think of prayer and liturgy as unique ways of knowing, distinct grammars that allow us to express truths about God, truths that cannot be captured by or reduced to rationalistic discourse.

I find this whole line of argument very interesting. Particularly given that I'm beginning to participate in a more "Spirit-filled" community. At the very least, it makes me want to take one of Dr. Smith's classes.

SVS 2011 Plenary #3: James K. A. Smith from Society of Vineyard Scholars on Vimeo.

Gratuitous photos of cats

Lily sits in the window all day.


Lolly really, really likes my handbag. They have kind of a weird relationship.

I told you I had a problem with excessive cat photography.

I have started volunteering at the Austin Humane Society, in the cat department, and am trying to go for a couple of hours every week-day. Hopefully I can stick to that. These two are Lily and Lolly, looking for new homes! Lolly is the cuddliest cat on the planet and likes to climb onto my shoulders and rub her cheek against my ear, which is apparently a custom in her country. So she says. If anyone in Austin likes carrying their friends about on their shoulders or has large windows out of which Lily can look all day, these are the cats for you.

P.S. Totally going to sneak another cat home one day. Don't tell LOML. Or Mink.

Lace-Front Reconstruction Shirt Tutorial

"Demos" 4 Vinyl

"Demos"

2011/03/28

4 Vinyl,USA

__________________

I Vinyl

1.Revolver (Demo Instrumental Fan Made)

2.Revolver (Dubtronic Dies Happy Remix)

3.Revolver (Demo)

__________________

II Vinyl

1.It's So Cool (2002 Final Demo)

2.It's So Cool (Mirwais Version outtake)

3.It's So Cool (Non-Choir Version)

___________________

III Vinyl

1.Celebration (Fanmade 12 Remix Recording)

2.Celebration (Dubtronic Remix Fanmade)

___________________

IV Vinyl

1.Broken (Algiux's Remixed Demo Version)

DOWNLOAD HERE

"Demos" 4 Vinyl

"Demos"

2011/03/28

4 Vinyl,USA

__________________

I Vinyl

1.Revolver (Demo Instrumental Fan Made)

2.Revolver (Dubtronic Dies Happy Remix)

3.Revolver (Demo)

__________________

II Vinyl

1.It's So Cool (2002 Final Demo)

2.It's So Cool (Mirwais Version outtake)

3.It's So Cool (Non-Choir Version)

___________________

III Vinyl

1.Celebration (Fanmade 12 Remix Recording)

2.Celebration (Dubtronic Remix Fanmade)

___________________

IV Vinyl

1.Broken (Algiux's Remixed Demo Version)

DOWNLOAD HERE

Telling your story

Me and my sister on an anthill in Zim.

When I started to write a novel about a young white girl growing up in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, I decided early on that I did not want to write my own story – at least, not directly. I would plunder my story shamelessly, of course, sifting through the endless I-got-up-and-brushed-my-teeth-and-then-and-thens to find the gobbets of (hopefully) gold, but I would not write the actual, literal happenings of my life.

Was this a way of sidestepping some of the messier, more complicated aspects of ‘real’ life? Or a way of making a story less specific and more universal? It’s tricky.

My husband and I were married by the same priest who married my mother to my father, just months before my father was killed in a car accident (a drunk driver hit him. Don’t drink and drive. Seriously). When I told the priest, a family friend, that I was writing a book about Zimbabwe, he looked concerned.
“Don’t talk about your family,” he said. “Really. Leave that well alone.”
I’m still not sure exactly what he meant by this. Yes, I suppose some of my family history is fairly skeleton-in-closet-ish, but then, whose isn’t? I read through what I had written so far. There was nothing here that would expose anyone inappropriately, I thought. I started to worry. Should I cut this scene? Was it too close to the bone? Would such-and-such a relative see themselves in this character, despite the fact that I wasn’t thinking of them at all? Would I ‘get into trouble’?

And then I realised where these fears came from.

As writers, everything is material. Things we learn by accident or design; family secrets we unearth; the dark places where our own, less-than-noble thoughts and wishes lurk. I think that we are often made to feel guilty for seeing these things clearly, and for bringing them out of their hiding places. We become afraid to be clear-eyed and honest about our insights – our insights into ourselves, as well as into other people.

I am not saying that we should sacrifice family and friends for the sake of a story, but we have the right to be honest. Our stories are our stories. We own them. Through owning them, and using them, we give them their meaning. And often, ‘using’ them doesn’t mean writing down our experiences word-for-word.

In writing The Cry of the Go-Away Bird, I tried to be as honest as I could. Zimbabwe is a touchy and very complex subject. But, as I continued to write the book, it became less and less about my experience and ‘that’s just how it happened,’ and more about Elise’s story and the logic that operated within her world. And, as it moved further away from real events and true happenings, the story became (for me) more real and more true. Funny, that.

There comes a point where you have to let your story go. It has to become an object in its own right – no longer ‘yours.’ For my purposes, it made sense to take my life and memories, melt them down, and make them into something different. Even if I had written an actual autobiography, it would end the same way; as an entity independent of me, something that has to make its own way in the world.

This was my decision. Whichever method you choose – good luck. There is no right or wrong way to write about your life and to tell your story, but it is important that you tell it. And don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.

Cheat River Festival

The 17th Annual Cheat River Festival on Saturday May 7 in Preston County, Rt. 26 Albright, West Virginia, not only celebrates the new life that comes with Spring, but it also represents the new life that can be found in the Cheat River watershed.

The festival provides live traditional, folk and bluegrass music, a festival market with specialty vendors, an artist market with quality arts & crafts booths, a food court, a Kids Tent, climbing wall, an educational Focus Tent on the Cheat River watershed, and a Green Tech Area showcasing alternative energies.

In addition to the festival, two races take place. Friday is the famous Cheat River Down River Race. White-water paddlers from surrounding states & beyond travel to this annual race for kayaks and canoes. Saturday is the Cheat Fest 5K. Runners take to the streets of Albright for a scenic race along the Cheat River.

The festival is a celebration of the Cheat River and its improving water quality. Friends of the Cheat formed in 1994 after a deep mine seal blow out and millions of gallons of highly acidic drainage colored Muddy Creek and the Cheat River bright orange, killing fish for miles downstream. Since that time many water restoration projects have been completed on the lower Cheat and water quality has been steadily improving.

Directions to the festival site: From I-68 take exit #23 Bruceton Mills. Go South on Rt. 26 for 10 miles. Festival site is on the right.

For more information about top events in West Virginia take a look at the Top Events USA selection of the annual main festivals and events in West Virginia. 

For more information on the Cheat River Festival visit www.cheat.org/festival

CONFERENCE: "Re-Mixed and Re-Mastered: Defining and Distributing the Black Image in the Era of Globalization" / The New School / New York / April 8 - 10, 2011

From Friday, April 8 through Sunday, April 10, this three-day conference examines the largely overlooked impact that different modes of distribution have on content creation and format of works by and for the African American community. The failures of top-down distribution models and the advent of multi-directional communication continue to alter the evolving landscape of available content and its mediums. Central to the conference is the question of how to continue to create and distribute content that challenges the dominant narrative but that maintains its cultural relevancy. The Re-Mixed and Re-Mastered (R2) conference brings media makers, industry professionals, students and scholars of media, and film enthusiasts into a dialogue on increasing and diversifying the global distribution opportunities for media makers of color. This conference is intended to foster and strengthen a networked community committed to enhancing the visibility of high quality, independently produced media from around the world. The weekend will include screenings, panels, and workshops with media makers, cultural critics, and scholars from across the globe, as well as major industry decision makers and artists whose work speaks to issues both inside and outside the mainstream. We will present screenings of recently completed works and works-in-progress across formats, case studies, and DIY distribution techniques, including both firsthand information and alternative representations. Confirmed guest panelists include: Jill Nelson (U.S.), renowned author and former Washington Post journalist; Frances Anne Solomon (Trinidad/Canada) of Caribbean Tales Worldwide Distribution; Ava DuVernay (U.S.), director/filmmaker, I Will Follow;Tambay Obenson (Nigeria/U.S.) of Shadow and Act: On Cinema of the African Diaspora; and Hlonipha Mokoena (South Africa/U.S.), assistant professor of anthropology at Columbia University, among others. Featured New School faculty members include Sean Jacobs, Michelle Materre,Fabio Parasecoli, Rafael Parra and Tracyann Williams; participants also include New School alumni working in media, including Jennifer Carr MacArthur and Rucyl Mills. For updates, visit this site. The R2 conference�s sponsors include the Office of the Executive Dean, New School for General Studies; the New School Bachelor�s Program; the New School Department of Media Studies and Film; the New School Graduate Program in International Affairs. The event is co-sponsored by Creatively Speaking and Borderline Media.

Dates: Friday, April 08, 2011 - 6:00pm to 10:00pm Saturday, April 9, 2011 - 11:00am to 10:00pm Location: Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, Arnhold Hall, 55 West 13th Street, 2nd floor Admission: Early registration: $50 before April 1; after April 1, $35 per day; $60 for two days; $75 for 3 days Free admission for all students with ID; free admission for New School faculty, staff and alumni with ID; $25 flat rate for other university faculty with ID  Box Office Information: In person purchases can be made at The New School Box Office at 66 West 12th Street, main floor, Monday-Thursday 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., and Friday 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. The box office opens the first day of classes and closes after the last paid event of each semester. Reservations and inquiries can be made by emailing mailto:boxoffice@newschool.edu?Subject=Reservations/Inquiry or calling 212.229.5488 For events scheduled during the summer term, the box office will open one hour before each event. During this period only, reservations can be made using the above contact information.

info link:

http://www.newschool.edu/eventDetail.aspx?id=53655

original source link: 

http://africasacountry.com/2011/03/12/the-black-image-in-an-era-of-globalization/

DIY Sheer Skirt

I adore this skirt from Chloe SS11 ready to wear (in fact I love the whole ballet inspired collection) and I think it would be so easy to make with some sheer net and a ribbon waistband. And don't you think the net sleeves of the shirt are really cool? Also very DIYable.

Image: Style.com

Top Fashion Trends For Women

Looking for trends in women over winter fashion for 2011? This year's lively style military, bold design, stylish tuxedo jackets and sweaters in soft tissues are styles of winter.

White Military Style

Elegantly cropped military jackets, military style pants nervous there are countless ways to incorporate this trend into your wardrobe. The integration of a range of green, olive, gray and dark gray in your closet and invest in a closet of some key pieces, including a military-style jacket or coat, military style trousers and a pair of overhead cone heel of the military-inspired boots.

Bold Graphic Prints

Add some bold and graphic prints in our wardrobe to create a hip and looking nervous. Fitted t-shirts, long sleeve shirts, skirts and dresses in one piece are the best options for bold and graphic prints. When you choose a garment with a printer model look or something with a touch of art, including bold lines, watercolor retro look nervous or even slightly forms and templates.

Whether you wear a dress printed with bright colors and artistic design and print graphics or nervous elegant long-sleeved jacket with a military style, do not forget to add some highlights of beautiful jewelry. cuff bracelets, necklaces with pendants and rings are divine vintage accessories to wear with a bold or a pattern.

Elegant tuxedo jacket

This is the year of the smoking jacket. Long lines and tapered design of the tuxedo jacket creates a graphical look long and slim flattering. The best part of this fashion trend for winter, it works great as a layered look. Use an elegant tuxedo jacket over a long sleeve shirt or attractive graphics. Add a pair of jeans or leggings to create a stylish layered look great for the winter season.

Do not forget to personalize! Add to that a pair of long leather boots, a silk scarf and a bright gold bangles complete the look. The search key in a chic tuxedo jacket is to keep a tight style that falls just past the hips. Keep it simple, elegant two or three layers with additional accessories.

Swimwear airbag in the long

There is nothing more divine than wearing a sweater soft tissue used in your best pair of jeans and more comfortable. The Cardigans with V-neck sweaters are the best to wash and wear, and every time you use it. Black, white, gray and cream are the best choices of color and function as key elements in your wardrobe, as the neutral color palette is extremely flexible and free.

Use a soft knit sweater over a pair of leggings, jeans or trousers. Add a pair of boots with laces, elegant gemstone jewelry vintage style clumsy and a fanny pack to complete the look.

This winter, the four top fashion trends for women are military-style jackets, tuxedo bold design, sweaters and soft tissue long and elegant. Investing in one or two key elements that blend well with your wardrobe. neutral colors are often the best way to incorporate the latest fashion trends in contemporary style.

Haute Couture For 16 Plus

If your fat and your waist is 16 years and over, while still not decided when you wear designer clothes. Sometimes women do not wear fashionable dresses fat because they think that fashionable clothes are not suitable for them, but do not worry here is the collection of designer fashion for fat women. This is the ultimate collection of fashion in the fashion that is best for your lifestyle.

My Christchurch - Andrea Eames

Christchurch continues to stand strong and recover after the 22 February earthquake. For ways in which you can help, visit The Red Cross New Zealand website.

Little Hagley Park.


The port of Lyttelton.

My favourite sculpture on Worcester Boulevard.

The sherbert colours of New Regent Street and the tram lines running through.

In the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, amongst the first daffodils of the spring.

When I first moved to Christchurch, in 2002, I didn't like it much. This has nothing to do with the city itself and everything to do with the fact that I had just left my home in Zimbabwe; that it was a particularly cold winter (and I was not at all used to feeling cold); that it was a grey and drizzly day when we landed; and that we went straight from the airport to my new school to buy an ugly plaid and navy uniform. For the first few weeks, I slept in two pairs of socks, a sweater and a woolly hat because the cold in my bedroom made it difficult to sleep - we were living in a 1920s wooden villa with no heating or insulation.

When I settled in, though, I grew to love the city. It felt very familiar, because of its English-ness - the name, for a start, and the old stone buildings; the Avon River, with its boater-hatted punters (LOML was a punter, for a while, as a summer job); the manicured parks and beds of flowers. I made friends and started to feel like a part of the place, rather than just a visitor. I found favourite spots - the park, the Square, the antique shops down Manchester Street, the Arts Centre. I loved to go for long walks around the city, stopping at op-shops and bookshops along the way. We were lucky enough to live very close to Hagley Park in the last few years, and I walked around the park nearly every morning.

After Zimbabwe, Christchurch was a refuge. My family and I were amazed at how warmly the city and its people welcomed us; how safe it felt. I loved being able to walk the streets and take public transport without feeling frightened.

Christchurch is where I became an adult. It is where I finished school, and started university. It is where I had my first kiss, and first had my heart broken. It is where Mink (then a stray) turned up on the doorstep of my first student flat and moved in. It is where I met LOML, and where I got married. It is where we made some lifelong friends. Members of both our families live there - LOML's parents, brother and sister-in-law, my parents and sister - and our nephew was born there.

When we left last year to move to Austin, I expected that Christchurch would still be there, waiting, when we returned; that we were the ones for whom everything would change. Now I find that many of my nostalgic farewells to beloved places really were my final goodbyes. I never expected that.

I know that Christchurch hasn't disappeared. The spirit of the city is still there. But a town that was always a place of tranquillity and safety - the gracious Garden City of the South Island, with its peaceful parks and laid-back lifestyle - has become something resembling a war zone, and a place of frightening memories for many. It's just heartbreaking to see.

For me, Christchurch is safety - even now - because I know that the city can and will survive anything. Yes, the face of the city will change, but the people won't - and it's the people that make Christchurch what it is.

Musings about Universalism, Part 8: My Life, in Three Acts, with Talbott's Propositions

When you read all these online conversations about universalism, particularly in the wake of the publication of Rob Bell's Love Wins, you see people ping-ponging around between Calvinist, Arminian and Universalist soteriologies (Note: a soteriology is a theology of salvation, a theory about who is saved and who is damned).

In my opinion, as I've written about before, one of the best ways to compare and contrast these positions are the propositions of Thomas Talbott from his book The Inescapable Love of God and his essays in the edited book Universal Salvation?: The Current Debate. (These two books, along with Gregory MacDonald's (aka Robin Parry's) The Evangelical Universalist, are must-reads for anyone wanting to dig deeper into universalism as a biblical position.)

Talbott has us consider the following three propositions:

1. God’s redemptive love extends to all human sinners equally in the sense that he sincerely wills or desires the redemption of each one of them.
2. Because no one can finally defeat God’s redemptive love or resist it forever, God will triumph in the end and successfully accomplish the redemption of everyone whose redemption he sincerely wills or desires.
3. Some human sinners will never be redeemed but will instead be separated from God forever.

What is interesting about each proposition is that all three have ample biblical support. But, as Talbott points out, you cannot, logically, endorse all three.

This is an interesting predicament which I think illuminates a lot of the debate about if universalism is "biblical" or not. Specifically, no soteriological position--Calvinist, Arminian, or Universalist--is an explicit teaching of the bible. Thus the continuing controversies and debates. Rather, each soteriological position is a composite view, a way of combining the biblical material into a coherent theory. But due the logical tensions inherent in the biblical witness, which shouldn't worry us unduly as the bible is more metaphor than theorem, the only way to create an internally consistent (logical) theory of salvation is to adopt two of Talbott's propositions and de-emphasize (either by rejecting it outright or fudging it) the third. And what all this means is that every soteriological position--Calvinist, Arminian, and Universalist--is equally biblical and unbiblical. Each position strongly affirms 2/3rds of the bible's soteriological material (that's their "biblical" part) while semantically fudging, ignoring, deconstructing, or outright rejecting the other 1/3rd of the biblical data (this is each position's "un-biblical" part).

According to Talbott here is how each position adopts two of of the propositions while rejecting the the third:

1. Calvinism: Adopt Propositions #2 and #3 above. God will accomplish his plans and some will be separated from God forever. This implies a rejection of #1, that God wills to save all humanity. This conclusion is generally expressed in the doctrine of election and double predestination (i.e., God predestines some to be saved and some to be lost).
2. Arminianism: Adopt Propositions #1 and #3. God loves all people and some people will be separated from God forever. This implies that God's desires--for example, to save everyone--can be thwarted and unfulfilled. This is usually explained by an appeal to human choice. Due to free will people can resist/reject God. Where a Calvinist sees God's grace as irresistible (if a our Sovereign God wants it He gets it), Arminians see God's grace as resistible.
3. Universalism: Adopt Propositions #1 and #2. God loves all people and will accomplish his purposes. This implies a rejection of #3. A universalist agrees with the Calvinist that God's grace is, ultimately, irresistible. However, the univesalist rejects the doctrine of election, agreeing with the Arminian that God wills to save everyone. Consequently, the universalist has to reject the belief that hell will involve an eternal separation from God.
   

If you are long time reader I've walked you through Talbott's propositions before. But in light of some of the questions from my last post (Juliane's in particular) I thought I'd walk through Talbott's propositions in an autobiographical manner, pointing how how I accepted or rejected the various propositions to wind up where I am today. And as Talbott helps us see, this is really, then, just a story about how I wandered through Calvinism, Arminianism, and Universalism. A story told in three Acts.

ACT ONE:
GROWING UP ARMINIAN AND ENCOUNTERING MY FIRST CALVINIST IN A DORM

I was raised in an Arminian tradition. So I began my life accepting Proposition #1. I was raised believing that God wanted to save everyone.

Growing up I just assumed this was the only coherent thing to say about God. Of course God wanted to save everyone. Who could object to that? Well, I discovered in college there were some guys in my dorm, who described themselves as "Calvinists," who did object. I never knew people walked around which such crazy ideas in their head. Really, God doesn't want to save everyone? God is just choosing to save the elect? And God knew this from the beginning of time?

Shocked, I pressed these Calvinists. Where in the world did you come up with this stuff? They promptly flipped their bibles open to Romans 9 and read how God had predestined some to be "objects of wrath prepared for destruction" while some of us were predestined to be objects of mercy. And the kicker was the predestination part. Who is going to heaven and who is going to hell was foreordained by God from the beginning of time

Good Lord, I thought. Is that really in the bible? Yes, yes it was. I was shocked and didn't know what to say. I think I eventually said something like, "Yes, I can read those words. But they can't possibly mean what they appear to mean."

But why would I say that? I honored and loved the bible. Why not just read the bible for what it says? Well, because growing up as an Arminian I knew a lot of Scriptures that had convinced me that God really does want to save everybody. For example, I knew passages like Titus 2:11: "For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people."

So I was stuck. I couldn't get my head around the Arminian material I found in the bible as well as the Calvinistic material pointed out by my dorm mates.

This was my first real experience with Talbott's propositions. I'd stumbled upon a contradiction. Like the faith versus works debate. So I had to choose. Or fudge. And growing up Arminian you can predict what I did. I fudged the Calvinist material. I just concluded that those passages couldn't possibly mean what people think they mean. Was that unbiblical of me? I guess so. But my only other option would have been to go with the Calvinist material and start fudging on passages like Titus 2:11. Something was getting fudged.

And so it was that my Arminianism survived my first encounter with Calvinism. But my early biblical naivete was shaken. I was moving forward but I was now aware that there was material in the bible that bothered me, namely because some people, who seemed very smart and sincere, were taking those passages very, very seriously while I, on the other hand, was going to dismiss or ignore them. And I hated anyone telling me that I wasn't taking the bible seriously. But what was I to do? I started realizing that this "being biblical" deal was very complicated. I got a hint that there was no single way of "being biblical." That "biblical" people could disagree and that the bible would support a whole host of theories, doctrines, and church expressions.

ACT TWO:
WHERE MORAL LUCK KILLS MY ARMINIANISM AND I ACTUALLY START TO AGREE A BIT, TO MY GREAT SURPRISE, WITH THE CALVINISTS

So I rejected Calvinism. My encounter with the doctrine of election caused me to double-down on my Arminian endorsement of Proposition #1: God wants to save everyone. And I've never wavered from that commitment. It is the foundation of my soteriology and how I understand the phrase "God is love."

But as college progressed I started to worry more and more about Proposition #3, particularly as it related to Proposition #2. Specifically, if you are Arminian you believe that God's love can be defeated, that God's grace can be resisted. Generally, the mechanism that makes all this happen is free will. God wants to save everyone, this is God's Sovereign desire, but God also grants us freedom. And some people will use this freedom to reject or rebel against God. By contrast, some of us will use our freedom to accept God's free gift of grace. And be saved as a result.

Now all this just drives Calvinists crazy. For two reasons. First, it suggests that God's Sovereign will can be thwarted. That God doesn't get something God wants. As it says in Romans 9, if God wants to save someone God saves them and if God wants to damn someone God hardens their heart. And God can do this over our objections because God is God and we are not. As it says in Romans 9, can the clay object to the Potter?

The second reason Calvinists hate the Arminian soteriology is that the mechanism of salvation hinges upon human volition, a choice we humans make. Human choice is privileged over God's election. Consequently, is this choice a "work"? Something we do to save ourselves, to earn salvation? This is a very old debate, going back to Augustine versus Pelagius through John Calvin versus Jacobus Arminius and down to the present day.

But my particular worries about Arminianism weren't driven by these concerns. I wasn't going to adopt the doctrine of election to save a vision of God's Sovereignty. No, my worries were about free will, death, and eventually, suffering.

Again, according to classic Arminianism the reason you wind up in hell is because you made a free choice to reject God's grace. You're not in hell because God predestined you to be in hell. No, you're in hell because you never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. So the only one you can blame for being in hell is your own sorry self. God loves you but you rejected it.

Prior to college this theory seemed right to me. But as college progressed I started to worry about the limits of free will. I'd lay awake at night wondering, "Did I really choose to be a Christian? I was raised by Christian parents in a Christian nation. Of course I'm a Christan. But what if I was raised by kind and intelligent Muslim parents in a Muslim country?"

It's not that I denied free will as much as I began to suspect that some people begin their "race to God" with significant headstarts. Huge headstarts. I, as a Christian kid, had a great headstart. So I was going to get go to heaven. But that Muslim kid? Well, he's got his work cut out for him. Somehow he's got to overcome all that Islamic teaching he's heard since he was a baby, rebel against his loving and supportive parents and, hopefully, encounter a Christian missionary who is semi-intelligent, Christ-like in character, and isn't a theological wackjob.

In short, I've got a 100-meter sprint to God, with the wind at my back, and this Muslim kid's got an Iron Man triathlon in front of him.

And then I wondered about the timing of death. Given the triathlon ahead of him that Muslim kid is going to need some time. But what if he doesn't have any time? What if he's run over by a bus? Gets cancer? Or just takes a wrong turn and misses his one chance to meet that Christian missionary?

All these questions, and many others about how God deals with suffering and pain like in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, boiled up and over in college. And a faith crisis set in. If God loves everyone how can he allow such unfairness to happen? Particularly given the stakes involved. Eternal torment and all that.

And as I pondered all this it started to dawn on me that the flaw in the Arminian theology I held was how death was functioning as a moral stopwatch. I realized that that Muslim kid was in a race against death. Hopefully he'd make it. But given his lack of a headstart I wasn't optimistic about his chances. I mean, how likely would it be for me to convert to Islam? That's just not going to happen. And yet, given the symmetry of the situation, it's going to be just that hard for the Muslim kid to convert to Christianity. So if it's not happening with me, it's not going to happen with him. So Death is going to outrun and catch that Muslim kid. Death is going to win.

Well that sucks, I thought. I thought Death had been defeated. That death no longer had a sting. And yet, everywhere I looked, Death was stinging the hell out of everyone. The only way it seemed death could be defeated is if you had a headstart, if you got lucky. If you got lucky you didn't have to worry about the stopwatch. Your Christian parents dropped you off at the finish line with a Capri Sun in your hand on the way to soccer practice.

And so I started to wonder if the Calvinists might have been on to something with Proposition #2. Maybe if God wants something God will get it. That nothing could defeat God. Not even death. And if that was true, well, God's love would continue to pursue us even after death. And Love, being love, would never, ever give up on us.

I'd never loosened my grip on Proposition #1, that was unshakable, but slowly I was growing more and more convinced about Proposition #2. I was coming to agree with the Calvinists that God would get God's way. That God's will is Sovereign and that humans cannot thwart or defeat God's purposes. That God's grace is irresistible. And if this were true--if God wills to save everyone and God's will cannot be defeated--Proposition #3 had to be rejected. True, that meant I had to start rethinking all those texts about "eternal punishment." These are Talbott's Propositions after all. But this was nothing new. I knew, from my first encounters with Calvinism, that everyone was fudging some part of the bible.

And this wasn't just a shift that helped me with a soteriological puzzle. As I've written about before, my most pressing questions at the time (and today) were turning toward the problems of pain and horrific suffering. Will God be good to the victims of horrific pain, abuse, disease, famine, tragedy, and torture? I became convinced that God would not let their stories end in that manner. God was still in their future. Love awaits.

ACT THREE:
WHERE I ADOPT UNIVERSALISM, FOR YEARS PEOPLE THINK I'M CRAZY AND NOW, SUDDENLY, IT ALL SEEMS LIKE ITS BECOMING MAINSTREAM

And so I rejected Proposition #3. And I soon found myself among some really wonderful and exciting people. I joined a great throng of saints and Christ-followers. I began with C.S. Lewis, but soon found George MacDonald, Gregory of Nyssa, Julian of Norwich, and Origen. As I've written, finding MacDonald was huge. The real tipping point. And in recent years I've been encouraged by the work of Thomas Talbot, Robin Parry, Keith DeRose, John Hick, Marilyn McCord Adams, and Jürgen Moltmann. Along with other people who are theological resources for univeralists: like Miroslav Volf and Karl Barth. And now, it seems, we have Mr. Rob Bell as a friend.

In the early years, I was largely alone in my beliefs. Living life among Arminians who rejected Proposition #2 while I, secretly, endorsed it. Isn't it sad, they would say, that these people died without knowing Jesus? It is sad, I would say, but I don't think God can be defeated by death. I don't think God is limited by any stopwatch. As Rob Bell says, I think God's love will win in the end.

Here and there, when I could trust people, I would let them know I was a universalist. When I came to ACU I remember "coming out" to some trusted colleagues. I think they thought I was crazy. And they still make fun of me. I'm the token universalist. We'll be talking about something and they'll say, "Oh, but you don't believe that. You're a universalist." It's all in good fun. But I told them, you just wait, just wait, my generation and those following are moving in this direction.

And guess what? Look what's happening. A book like Rachel Held Evans' comes out and captures the struggles of a generation. Scot McKnight, a leading voice in evangelicalism, thinks universalism is "the most pressing question facing American, Western Christianity." Robin publishes The Evangelical Universalist. College students are discovering George MacDonald. And, now, we have Rob Bell's Love Wins:

LOVE WINS. from Rob Bell on Vimeo.

All the sudden, I don't feel so lonely anymore.