Jennifer Knapp

A girl Bech works with told us about Jennifer Knapp on Larry King Live. Jennifer Knapp, who was a former Christian recording artist, recently came out as being homosexual. She says she is still "a woman of faith." We decided to watch the episode, and I had a few comments to share.

Here are the links:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Comments:

1. This makes me really sad, as it does Bob Botsford.

2. Bech and I know Bob Botsford! Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration. Bob came to ABC Malawi to do the graduation speech. We met him then and we got to go out to eat with him afterword. I actually sat next to him. So we really do know him.

3. Larry King is really really antagonistic to Bob, which is really frustrating.

4. Jennifer Knapp is really really antagonistic as well. She wants to believe what she wants, view the Bible how she wants to, but Bob is not allowed to. Bob is not allowed to merely (and kindly) say that he is praying for her, he loves her, he will continue to pray for her, etc. She is allowed to have her own opinion, but goodness forbid he does!

5. Jennifer Knapp is really upset that Bob made a blog post talking about how this saddens him. But she is the one who came out. She put herself out in the public. And she is a public figure. He didn't trash her or say lies about her.

6. Bob did a pretty good job under pressure. The only thing I had problems with was when he used the phrase "God changed his mind" twice. Now granted, he only had a short amount of time, so he couldn't totally explain that. But God doesn't change his mind, and we shouldn't use that phrase to describe him. It humanizes God too much.

7. Ted drives me insane! He never commits, he never states an actual fact. He wants the Bible to be open to interpretation. Plus, he insists on calling Bob, "the pastor."

Anyway, I would love to hear your thoughts on this show...

New post with pictures coming soon, but first I need to take the pictures (of Bech and my arms!)...

leaving the south...

I realized last week that the next 3 months may be the last time I live in the South. My masters will take 2 years, Bech's MFA will take three, and my PhD. will take another 3 (or 4 or 5...I'm going to try for the 3 year route!). None of the programs Bech is looking at are in the South, and I don't think any of my PhD. programs will be either.

So we are leaving the south for at least 8 years. And then, when it comes time to getting a job, we will take jobs wherever we get them! Of course, we will apply to places in the South, I am sure, but its hard to get jobs in the academic world, so we can't be too picky!

I love the south. I am not one of those die hard southern people. I fully supported the new chancellor of Ole Miss who made the students stop singing, "The South will rise again," at the end of "Dixie."

But I do love living in the south, in Mississippi. I love the seasons here, especially Spring (I say especially Spring, mostly because its Spring right now and I am enjoying it...in a few months, I will say especially Summer). I love the grove. I love the Junior League and Mistletoe Marketplace. I love Belhaven and Fondren. I love Oxford.

I like what Kathryn Stockett says at the end of "The Help":

"Mississippi is like my mother. I am allowed to complain about her all I want, but God help the person that raises an ill word about her around me, unless she is their mother too."

I feel like that too...I can complain about issues in Mississippi, but I do NOT like to hear people from other states say things about my state or my region.

I am trying to make a list of everything I want to redo or do for the first time while I am still in the South. Here's what I have so far:

1. Go to Double Decker in Oxford. Double Decker is a huge outdoor arts festival. Tons of local artist set up booths around the square. All of the restaurants have food in booths, and bands play. I am going this weekend! It's usually on a Saturday, but this year (because of rain) they moved it to this Sunday.

2. Go to New Orleans. Eat at Cafe du Monde (beignets!) and a nice restaurant (maybe Clancys or Commanders Palace?). Also, I want a shrimp poboy from Johnny's Poboys.

Here are beignets. They are kind of like funnel cakes except not as greasy and ten times better. I haven't been to New Orleans since my freshman year of college. Well I've been to the airport, but not to visit. I want to go sometime this summer for at least a day trip. It's only 2 hours from my parents house.

3. Go to Does in Greenville. We used to have a Does in Oxford, but it closed. It is a total whole in wall restaurant. They have the best steaks and lobster, but you're in a kind of rundown sort of restaurant...amazing!

4. Eat tons of snow cones! Brookhaven has the BEST snowcones, and mom and I go get them everytime I am down there.

5. 4 words: Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka! I am pretty sure only Southerners could make a sweet tea flavored vodka. I am bringing some of this and some grits up to Vermont so I can share it with those Yankees.

6. Picnic at the Lookout on the Reservoir

7. Pepsi Pops...I haven't been in forever, but this year we are going to be on Bech's parents sailboat in the water during it...I can't wait!

8. A drive up the Natchez Trace, even if its just for 30 miles or so.

I can't think of anymore things to add...Any suggestions? Any favorite things to do/visit in or around Mississippi?

What we've been up to lately--warning! pictures of food involved!

I used to hate Scrabble. I'm not sure why...I just didn't like it. But we've played it twice with Cortney and Colby, and I really like it! It might be in part because Cortney and I won both games! We are unstoppable! My favorite of our words from the last game: Dirge, Quiche, and Lotus.

Friday night, Bech and I used some of our grass fed beef to make "little burgers." Add some swiss cheese, avocado, and hawaiian buns...so good!

Last night, we decided on a taco night, always one of my favorites. Tacos now remind us of Malawi, especially of dinners with Josh and Emily Ketchum.

Here is my creation: more grass fed beef, black beans, homemade guacamole, fresh tomatoes (remember this post), and mozzarella cheese...so good!

This last picture is pretty exciting: Bech has a "studio!" It's just in our garage out back, but he has a wheel and a bisque kiln. Yay!!!

So that's what we've been doing (more like eating) lately. Sorry if the food pictures are boring (MOM!) but we enjoy cooking!

K'naan

Bech listens to NPR a good bit...recently, he came across a singer on "All Songs Considered." His name is K'naan. He's from Somalia, but moved to Toronto when he was 13 (I think). Anyway, he is amazing. He is a hip hop artist, but his songs have amazing depth to them.

Here's "Fatima":

This might be my favorite right now.

"Wavin' Flag" is the theme song of the 2010 World Cup:

Go to this site. It's the link to the "Tiny Desk" concert on All Songs Considered. Its an acoustic set and it's incredible!!!

I am a bad blogger. Maybe I will be better next year when I live in Vermont and have cool things to talk about. We shall see...

But for now, here's whats going on:

1. I had a sushi night last week with my MCF kids...so fun! We played Balderdash afterward and had a blast.

2. Katy, my sister, flew to Berlin last week to see Western Europe with our friend Ann Kirk. But now, all of the airports are shut down in Europe due to volcanic ash coming from an active volcano in Iceland. And Katy is supposed to fly out tomorrow. So I'm really not so sure how in the heck she is going to get home.

3. Bech's uncle, who used to work for Delta, is giving us passes to fly to Vermont this summer. So now we can go and look at apartments in person! Plus, it will be nice just to see the town and state and start getting a feel on what life is going to be like next year.

4. Bech's birthday was Wednesday. He's now 26! We went out to eat at Little Tokyo with family. I bought him a smoker from Everyday Gourmet. He loves it and I am excited to eat whatever he cooks using it. But I think I have the only husband who wants birthday presents from Everyday Gourmet.

5. Who saw this Tuesday night?

Oh my-lanta...I am so excited about this season of Glee! It's going to be great. This show is becoming one of my favorites...I mean, it's not on par with Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars, but it's pretty great.

6. Speaking of Gilmore Girls, I hope Burlington is a slightly bigger version of Stars Hollow...is that too much to ask? I just want to live in a town with Babbette, Kurt, and Taylor! Oh, and a town hall with town meetings!

Well, that's about it. I will try to have a better post soon! Maybe one with pictures of food because my Mom just LOVES those (not!)...

Snow, snow, snow!

Sorry I have taken so long to have a response to the last post. The main reason is that I wanted to tell my MCF people first before too many people knew. So last night, I announced to MCF that...

We are moving to Vermont!

I am going to the University of Vermont next year to work on my masters in Classics. I am really, really excited...albeit, very nervous as well! I received a fellowship, which means I will have full tuition plus a stipend, with no work duties.

In case you are wondering where Vermont is...here you go:

It is about as north as you can get in New England. We will be 1 hour south of Montreal, 3 1/2 hours from Boston, 5 hours from New York, and 13 hours from Prince Edward Island (which means Courtney and I will be taking a road trip thataway and pretending that we are Anne Shirley).

**I need to add a sidenote here...as I have been fooling around on mapquest, I just realized there is a tool that will tell you the lowest and highest gas prices in a city...oh my goodness! I am very excited...I have a "thing" about gas. It was in hiding last year, because all gas in Malawi is the same price (because it's government controlled) but I like to get the very cheapest gas I can in real life.**

Here is a picture of the countryside of Vermont. Isn't it gorgeous? Its a really small state, 2nd in population only to Wyoming, but very rural. There are lots of farms, and 1/4 of those farms are organic. There is also a Maple syrup festival.

Here is the school. It's really cold up there. Like the average high in the summer is 81 degrees. So we are going to be stocking up on winter clothes.

This is Church Street Marketplace. It's this beautiful open air marketplace in Burlington with fun shops and restaurants. Burlington is the largest city in Vermont, but only has 38 thousand (although I think its really more like 110 thousand if you count all of the surrounding cities and towns).

More pictures of the campus...

and more...

Anyway, we will be moving sometime at the end of this summer. I will keep ya'll updated. In some ways, moving to Vermont is scarier than moving to Malawi. At ABC, we at least knew there would be a core group of Christians there. But Vermont is very liberal and does not have a lot of Christians (I'm not saying the two have to be linked...I'm just stating what Vermont is like). There is one PCA church with 50 members in all of Vermont.

But I really think we will love it there. There are more artisans per capita in Vermont, tons of local and organic restaurants and grocery stores, tons of historic places, beautiful scenery, Lake Champlain, and SNOW!

Oh, and Jason, since you guessed right, I will send you some Maple Syrup next year!

random thoughts

1. I lost my keys Sunday night. Really, I think Bech lost my

key's, but still, they are lost. So right now, it doesn't matter who lost them,

I just want them back. I have looked all over the house to no avail. So if

you have any suggestions of places to look, please send them my way.

2. Bech is out of town right now at the NCECA conference.

It's a national ceramics conference and this year it's in Philadelphia.

So that means I am on my own for almost 5 days.

Per my mom's suggestion, instead of get sad, I am doing things Bech doesn't like.

I headed to this great store on Tuesday. Okay, I don't really think Wal-Mart is great.

But Bech HATES it, so I went. And I needed hangers, and those are

too expensive to get from Kroger.

I picked up some of this goodness. I LOVE Flaming Hot Crunchy Cheetos,

but haven't had any in probably 2 years or more.

They were delicious!

And I curled up on the couch with some of my favorite people.

That's right, my friends are Rorie and Lorelai.

It sounds cheesy, but they helped get me through last year.

And we needed a reunion.

3. Finally, I have big news (and although I know it is April Fools Day,

and last year we claimed we were pregnant, I am not silly enough

to try that again...so the news is NOT that we are pregnant!!!). Here is my hint...

Can you figure it out?

Courtney--you can't guess!