Them Sobbin' Women

(photo by Rachel Duke)

Would you like to know what Rachel and I do in our free time? On our long walks from on museum to another, to the Press Club, to the Metro?

We sing Seven Brides For Seven Brothers.

I can't count the number of times in one week one of us has sung, all of a sudden, in a fake baritone, "Tell you 'bout them sobbin' women, who lived in the Roman days..." or, in the middle of a quiet hustle, turned to the other one and said, "But secretly they was overjoyed!" Also, at one point Rachel started singing "Goin' Courtin' " last night while we walked with her friend Jeff to celebrate our first day of work. I think he may or may not have pretended he didn't hear it.

We also quote movies. Obscure movie quotes that most people don't instinctively pick up on. The other day, as we crossed the street, I said in a really dumb Spanish accent, "I am too young to die!" and Rachel said, "I have my whole life ahead of me!" Seriously, how many people would have known instinctively that I was quoting the second Zorro movie?! So now every once in a while (like, once an hour if we're touring or sitting near each other) Rachel says, "I am too young to die!"

Yesterday evening we relaxed to the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack. It was marvelous. :)

All I have to say is, everyone at the Times is going to think we are nuts. And maybe we're right. But we've got nine weeks to change the world, so a little ridiculousness keeps us ready to go do that! (The last two weeks are for cleanup.)

Sleep sweet. :)

The First Week

This is me photographing the Library of Congress (media credit goes to Courtney Nolan). The building reminds me of an illuminated medieval text! It happens to be the most gilded building in North America, so anything that looks like gold actually is. It also has American-designed, Italian-made colored stone mosaics on the walls and ceilings. Incredible.

I can't give you the inner workings of my internship, because we like to change the world here and you can't do that if you tell how it works. :) Just kidding, sort of. I really can't give details because there are a lot of other interns who probably don't want to show up on the internet unexpectedly in my blog. But I can give some word-pictures of my first week here.

Auntie Karrie is a wonderful aunt who not only met me at the airport and drove me the hour and a half from Baltimore to Arlington, but stopped at American Eagle on the way. Just because I wanted a cardigan there and had a coupon. The cardigan is perfect for evenings here and I love it. :) I also got a little notebook at Carbiou which had the honor of being perfect for taking my first notes in here. We had a speech to attend and write about, and I filled five pages front and back with notes. Homework.

The architecture in D.C. is beautiful. I didn't remember that from my visits with family, because I had no appreciation for architecture and very little for art! But it reminds me a little of Amsterdam, with colorful buildings grown up close together but somehow managing to look ancient and elegant. The District looks like history. It makes me love American history even more just to walk in through the "temple of justice," for instance, where the Supreme Court sits; to see Thomas Jefferson's library, with its faded leatherbound copies of things I myself have read. On his shelves I saw Plutarch (Sabine women!), among others.

Not so pretty, however, is the escalator down to the trains at the Rosslyn Metro Station. I counted today: almost 100 steps to walk. The thing's too slow to ride up and down, especially with a metro train to catch. So after every long day, every workout, Rachel and I walk up 100 steps.

The Washington Times building has a ballroom. A ballroom with crown molding along the ceiling and crystal chandeliers. That's not where the newsroom is, but somehow working in such a building- which, unlike some newspapers these days, is still all for the Times- is better for it. Also, I have my own desk. Obviously. But it's my own desk at the Washington Times. Today I sat at my own desk and read a book about a bicyclist. Life is sweet.

Back home, our studio looks less like the bachelor pad Rachel and I inherited and more like a mini home. We took down the American flag (respectfully) and put up the London skyline. Not patriotic, but more feminine. I got my magazine cutouts and Jane Austen mens' pictures in the mail and put the collage on my wall. My books are on the shelf, along with my stationary box and letters. Rachel got her duvet in the mail. The fish cease to annoy us. It is, in short, home away from home.

This is a long collection of snapshots, so if you made it to the end, thank you! :-) I'll update more than once every three months so there isn't so much catching up to do. The District is a busy place and hopefully I can eventually blog about a little International Justice Mission volunteer work (it'll be office stuff) and a direction God is leading my heart for the city. Until then, I can pray for it. The Metro commute is a great time to pray.

Aloysius

In the library sat down next to a guy who I've had several English classes with. I've had several classes with him, and I don't know him well, but we're acquainted. Today He sat at one of the reference computers with a large teddy bear sitting next to it.
I thought it might be the librarians' way of lightening the pre-finals mood, but it was next to Ian. So I sat down at the next computer over. Let's just call the guy Ian.

Me: Is that your teddy bear?
Ian: Yes, he is mine. It's Wednesday.
Me: Mm., he looks like a nice bear.
Ian: Yes, he comes studying with me on Wednesdays. Sometimes he studies with me.
Me: He must make your Wednesdays very... productive.
Ian: Yes.

I think of Aloysius and Brideshead Revisited, picturing Sebastian Flyte in all his epicene beauty and charmed despairing life, carrying around a teddy bear. I laugh.

Me: Have you read Brideshead Revisited?
Ian: Yes, that's where it comes from.... his name is actually Aloysius.
Me: I think I might have to start calling you Sebastian.
Ian: Oh, no.
Me: Please don't end up in a monastery.

I wonder if Evelyn Waugh knew that someday some college boy, lacking the epicene beauty and despair of life, would simply carry around a teddy bear on Wednesdays.

Meditating on the elliptical?

²⁶ "Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. ²⁷ But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified."

~1 Corinthians 9:26-27

Today I tried combining two things I want to make a daily part of my life: exercise and scripture memory & meditation. Usually when I run or work out, I want music to keep me upbeat and keep up my pace; and I did put on some KT Tunstall at about a mile and a half to pump up my energy. :) But today for the first half of my workout I kept my (bright neon!) index cards with Psalm 119:1-16 written on them in front of me.

Like mediating on a certain passage while I run, memorizing turns my heart to Jesus, who bore the greatest suffering for me and submitted His body even to death. I'm beginning to find that meditating and memorizing give me the motivation I need to keep going, to discipline my body.

"He who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin...." Not that I think a tough hill at mile three is really what Paul means, but I do really think that the more disciplined my body is and the less I listen to its desires, the more willing I will be to deny myself and listen to Jesus. If I can keep running when I feel completely out of strength, maybe someday I will keep going when it means much more than a good workout. If I can persevere through the temptation of an order of french fries or a cold coca-cola, I will be more able to deny other temptations that come my way.

Ultimately I want my dedication to fitness to be a reflection and outpouring of my love for Jesus. I want to carry around in me the death of Jesus, proclaiming it till He comes, and identify with His death. I also want to take good care of the body and life He gave me to use, and I can do that by being healthy.

"So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

All I Need Is A Sunlit Garret.

Over the past year I have turned into a writer. Almost a real writer.

(I'm not sure what that means. At least I get paid for it.)

Here I sit at my desk, the fading light of Sunday sunshine behind me, typing away; I have my notebook on one side, my coffee on the other, thinking up vibrant verbs and snappy headlines.

I think in leads, nutgraphs, and catchy endings. I file away quotes as if I were using them later. When did this happen? I mean, I've always written silly stories with crazy characters and sent them to my best friend to read. My makeshift closet is full of notebooks. But when did this turn into my job and my and future?

Not that it pays much- that's why I need a romantic little garret somewhere. I have to be able to keep it warm with a tiny wood stove and stock my mini-fridge like a college student, so I don't starve while I track down impossible-to-find sources and start writing breaking news stories thirty minutes before they're due.

But boy, do I love it.

Tea.

I have always considered myself a coffee person, but lately I have rediscovered tea (thanks, Seattle's Best, for the invitation!) and I think in many cases tea is better than coffee.

I've liked tea for years, especially PG Tips black tea. I never liked Earl Grey or any sort of fruit tea, though. Then one cold Michigan-winter afternoon I sat in a professor's living room, where she had hosted our small Tolkien class for tea and class as a treat. I drank the tea and loved it- it was so flavorful and full-bodied. It turns out, it was Earl Grey, and I was hooked.

I once had a friend who drank English Breakfast every morning. One morning the dining hall at the camp we worked at was out of English Breakfast. I suggested he try Earl Grey, since the others were all herbal teas. He did, and he almost stood up in amazement when he tried it. He looked at me wide-eyed. "It tastes like flowers!" he said. "It's amazing!" From then on he had a hard time deciding between his usual and his newfound tea love.

Now I feel the same way about Earl Grey, and tea in general. Now that I'm back at school, a strong cup of coffee just seems like the natural first step of the morning. But tea really is my new favorite. It's just the thing for pretty much any time of the day or night.

TOMS for Haiti

These are TOMS shoes. I think. They're my brother's shoes, and he wears TOMS, so those are probably TOMS. In case you didn't know, TOMS are awesome because for every pair you buy, they give away a pair to a child who needs them, across the world and in poor U.S. communities.

My brother got me a pair of TOMS for Christmas- the red ones, which, he says, are the most popular right now. But I can't wear those cool red TOMS until I get them in a different size. So they will be on order pretty soon.

That was kind of a bummer for my feet, until I realized that the timing just might be perfect. Who could use shoes more now than the kids who just lost everything in Haiti?

I've been wishing I could go to Haiti, or at least donate enough money to really restore even one person's life to them- food, clothes, housing. But maybe my TOMS will make a small difference now that they're coming a little later than intended. Maybe the sister pair of my red TOMS will end up on the feet of some little girl in Haiti.

Wouldn't that be amazing?