I wrote a book reflection for Americorps about "The Impossible Will Take a Little While" which I have been thinking about a lot lately. It includes stories and essays from the likes of Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou, Arundhati Roy, Tony Kushner, and Vaclav Havel, Alice Walker, Jonathan Kozol, Diane Ackerman, Susan Griffin, Marian Wright Edelman, Cornel West, Terry Tempest Williams, Jim Hightower, Desmond Tutu, and Howard Zinn. I don't know, that might be all of them. Here it is. This book was monumental. It is a compilation of stories and essays by strong, thoughtful authors who discussed different movements and small actions throughout history that helped change history-sometimes suddenly, sometimes slowly over time. It is subtitled, "a citizen's guide to hope in a time of fear," and is illustrated beautifully with acts of hope by average citizens. I fully believe that we must challenge fear if we are to hope, and to love. I went to this book for a reaffirmation that the little things I can do to make change can make a difference in the world because as Americorps members, every day we do little things that we hope make a difference. One of the best outcomes I noticed in the youth surveys we have the program participants fill out at the end of the school year long program was that everyone agreed with the statement, "Teens can make positive change." This was so exciting to me because I do believe that teens can make positive change and I was so glad to hear that they believed it of themselves as well. There are times when I doubt for myself whether I can make positive change, but they there are little stories that emerge months or years later about how I impacted someone without knowing it and that is encouraging. This book was basically a collection of these types of stories-people taking action that eventually become turning points in movements for change along with small stories that didn't become the main stories of change in human history, but were stepping stones towards change. These stories, small and large encouraged me, but the overall tone of the book was quite dark. It was written just after George W. Bush began his second term, so for those that had begun to feel hopeless about the plight of the poor and underserved, environmental degredation and policy and America's role in the world, among other things, during the first (many of these authors among them), it was a time when one really needed to fight to remain hopeful in America. Though I was encouraged by the election of President Obama, this book is a sobering reminder that the problems that existed before have not all gone away and that we still need to do every small thing we can to make the world a better place and maintain hope, because, "The Impossible Will Take a Little While."

What a family.



Maid of Honor
Jessica, mon soeur.





So beautiful and getting so old. She's even old enough to sign as a Maid of Honor, thank goodness. This from the baby who made me cry when I found out a sister was born. It is so fun to continue to get to know her as she becomes an adult. And stay up late in bed talking because our visits are fewer than they ever should be.


Adrian.





Little Big Bro with a little kitten. So smart and such a stand up guy. Its very fun to be adult children together and visit each others lives outside of the family now. I'm looking forward to meeting this Kaylee woman whom he seems to have taken a liking to!


Erik.







If you could assign a compatibility rating to interests, thoughts and ideas, personality quirks, and life philosophies like LastFM does with music, my youngest brother and my rating would be SUPER in so many categories, including music. And if you're looking to get to know someone who really is able to balance being both hip and genuine, you'd be hard pressed to find a better candidate.

But then there's...

Anna.



I forgot how beautiful and well timed this video is. It is so perfectly Anna, that I think it is right for any occasion, even though it says birthday and talks about the Colorado House which is long past. It is just as meaningful now, and I can't wait (and never do have to wait long) to hear from her, talk with her, or confide in her. But it sure will be nice to see her again in person.


Reb.



A favorite friend and a favorite fruit. I learned so much about myself and about her and about the world when we went to Thailand together, even though we'd known each other for years before that. We travel well together. She is wonderful.


Katie Moelker.







Katie is the life of the party, especially at special events. Tory and I are so excited for her to be a part of our wedding and to start and finish on the dance floor with her. What a sweet soul she is. I feel so honored when I hear she talks of us, still remembers camping with Rachel, says, "I like Tory" and talks of being a "Bridesmary" for our wedding.

More talk of the men to come...

A month ago, it felt like we skipped spring and went straight into summer.


Swimming and Scrabble on the beach, two weeks ago.

Now we are getting more of that spring weather and I feel like the world is in transition. This morning a tiny baby kitten walked out from behind the foliage. If you've read earlier notes of mine, you know more cats is not a good or reasonable thing for our neighborhood. I can only guess how many more are coming at the arrival of this one. I guess its kitten season: Lemmy and Shiva turned 1 this week. Life lately has been beautiful, tragic, wonderful and sad. Changes, growth and death saturate the world around me like the humid air.




The earth produces growth! I recently enjoyed our Americorps retreat and volunteering on this organic farm. Tory and I have been busy landscaping and taming our jungle of a yard and it is now manicured into the American dream (without the fence) with healthy sod and raised garden beds where tomatoes, herbs, cucumber, broccoli and an abundance of onions are loving the wet weather.



Tragedy yet small amounts of warmth in huddle with the loss of Joke's youngest sister.



Roomate bonding and dancing into the night.




The city is beautiful. I am happy in this place.