South Dakota 2010 :: Part I

This is my family’s sixth year coming out here to western South Dakota. We are working again with Bruce Bonfleur and the ABOUT Group in Whiteclay, and are working with the Clinton Wesleyan Church to do a Vacation Bible School in Oglala.

Whiteclay, Nebraska is just off the Pine Ridge Reservation (the Rez.) The sell a huge amount of alcohol, mostly to the Lakota, who come down from Pine Ridge. There are quite a few who spend all their time there, sitting under any shade they can find drinking beer. Much of the town is a dump, with dilapidated buildings and trash strewn everywhere. However, there are a few bright spots. There are two grocery stores which do a good amount of business. (If the “neighborhood” was better, they could probably do better.) There’s Abe’s trading post, where people can buy and sell just about anything. And there’s the ABOUT Group.

Bruce Bonfleur, the director of the ABOUT Group, is a very busy man. As soon as he steps in the door of 555 WhiteClay (ABOUT’s center of operations), he is beset from all sides with requests and updates. Currently there is a quilting operation in the main room, providing steady work for the quilters. They are currently setting up a crafters supply store, to help supply artists with their raw materials at reasonable prices. Another room is set up as a fitness and computer center. The large room is shared with a dining area, which is used to serve meals to the street people three times a week. In the back is a screen-printing operation and a Lakota Crafters Co-Op work room.

Across the street and down a block is the Green Tipi Gardens, another project of the ABOUT group. They have received a grant to install a professional greenhouse. Our main work project last week was to build an auxiliary building which can be used as an early plant starting building, as a place to sell plants and vegetables, and as a warming up point for their winter ice-skating rink.

The overall goal of Bruce and the ABOUT Group is to create a positive place in White Clay and see lives changed through the ministry of the Gospel. Although many of their projects may be secular in nature, they are all done with a Christian spirit. Through personal interaction the Bonfleurs and the other Christians who minister with them hope to bring more people, Lakota and other, to a personal relationship with Christ.

This week: Our annual VBS with the Clinton Wesleyan Church in a field in Oglala.

I’ve been to the depths…

I’ve been to the depths
Where the darkness hides
That place oft forgotten
Where our secrets reside

I’ve peered through the depths
In the dusty haze
Past the rust on the pipes
That feed our desire

I’ve pulled wires in the depths
From room through room
I’ve made the connections
That make up your life

I’ve seen the beginning of light
And found it shallow
The light from your heavens
In the depths finds source

I’ve been to the depths
They are above you
In your heavens are cobwebs
Just past the vale

…….

If you think there’s a deep meaning here, you’re thinking too hard. Once you get it, you’ll either think its a fun little riddle, a stupid piece of trash, or a critique or satire of “serious” poetry. I say it’s the first one. If its a riddle, what are the depths?

What is Pennsylvania?

What is Pennsylvania? This is a question for both those who live in the keystone state and those who have only traveled in it or heard about it. Do you think of a person? A place? A particular lifestyle? Whatever it is, sound off in the comments, letting me know where you consider yourself to be from. If you have a picture, let me know in the comments. I may make a collage of “Pennsylvanianess.”

Fall Wallpaper

Hey everyone – I know it’s almost Winter, but I though you might enjoy some fall pictures. Feel free to use one (or a couple, if you’re using Windows 7) as your desktop wallpaper. Let me know in the comments if you do! (There are 3 altogether.)

Autumn Leaves on a Brick Sidewalk

 

Allegri’s Miserere – illustration designed by Music for Pleasure Ltd.

Images of Miserere provided by Music for Pleasure Ltd.

I should start a series on irony. It is all around us, and sometimes it is quite funny. Today’s irony comes courtesy of Geneva’s McCartney Library. I needed a dose of Palestrina this week, and so I went to the CD collection and checked out a bunch of disks that featured his work. One of them had the cover image on the right.

 

 

And the irony, from the liner notes: “The cover illustration was designed by and is produced with the kind permission of Music for Pleasure Ltd.” For some reason, that image does not represent music for pleasure to me.

Reasons To Have A Tablet In Class

A couple weeks ago I wrote about a couple good reasons to have internet access in the classroom. Well, this time you just need a computer.

Often you may be in a discussion, or just taking in a lecture, and the professor or a class mate uses a word that you are unfamiliar with. Now, it may not be a big deal, but you may want to discuss the topic, and you may feel that without knowing what that means may make a big difference in the meaning of the sentence. Enter your computer (preferably a Tablet PC.) If you have WordWeb installed on your computer, you can quickly look up almost any word in the English language, very quickly. It runs in Window’s system tray so you can quickly access it. Just type in your word (or write it), and WordWeb will pull up a definition from a database based on Princeton’s WordNet.

But WordWeb is more than just a dictionary. It is also most useful when writing papers or even emails. If you find that you are using a word too often, WordWeb will present you with a list of synonyms and otherwise related words. If you have a word in mind, but it is not exactly what you want, you can try to find one using WordWeb’s related words feature. And if you need to contrast something using an opposite, try the antonyms.

The WordWeb service is also available on the internet, for times when you are using someone else’s computer: http://www.wordwebonline.com/

And if you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can get the WordWeb app.

To download WordWeb for your laptop or desktop computer, go to www.wordweb.info

Part II of Good Reasons to have Internet in Class

The first reason is because Google Maps is useful in the classroom. The second reason to have Internet access in the classroom is because that way you can do something other than sleep through class. because you can use Google Books.

Some classes rely heavily on the book, and during discussion you may want to find a specific point in the book, but not know where it was, especially when the reading covers over 60 pages. This happened to me yesterday in

Good Reasons to have Internet in Class, Part 1

Often when Internet access in class is considered, it is not a positive thing. But while it can easily be abused, there are some good reasons to have the Internet on during class. Today I used two in particular, one is kind of common, but I think the second is at least an unusual use of a web service.

Wordle – Cool Stuff With Words

Hey – in case you had nothing to do, here is a neat site that I found a couple weeks ago: www.wordle.net. Here you can create all kinds of neat word pictures, like the following one from Genesis chapter 1:

Genesis 1 (NET translation) in a Wordle

Neat, huh? Notice especially how big “God” is, and how small “humankind” is. (Its on the right edge.) Check it out for yourself. You can make something up, or use a favorite chapter of the Bible or a book. Experiment with different styles and stuff! If you make something neat, post it in the gallery, then leave a link in the comments below!

Home Again

Well, we finally made it home!

Actually, we were right on time… we pulled right in to our Church picnic, and went home after that. We did have an adventure on the way, though: one of our wheel hub assemblies (the part that holds the wheel on the truck) started to break down. We thought we were hearing the tires wearing out from bad alignment, but we switched the front and back tires and still heard the sound. Fortunately we were staying with a friend who is a mechanic, and he was able to pick up the part and help us replace it. Sometimes these things can be dangerous, especially if they lock up, but God was watching over us and we didn’t have any trouble.

So to wrap up our trip, I believe there will be a special meeting at the Clinton Wesleyan Church later this month, which is open to everyone who is interested. I’ll try to find out the exact date soon.