Social Media has taken the stage

Twitter, foursquare, apps, Facebook, Google+, etc have found their way into the Adventist communicators vocabulary...finally! finally? I guess the tone you take depends on your personal preference to the-140 characters or less-world we live in now.

I'm in Chicago for the Society of Adventist Communicators convention. Arrived on Thursday and I am headed back to Seattle tomorrow, but in the meantime my little baby notebook is full of thoughts about these posting things that I have tried to keep at the controlled edges of my life for quite some time now. I was not an early adopter and I just think the whole thing is far too trendy and invasive for my liking, but I think the posting monster might take my imagined control quite quickly and in the very near future.

Working as the Marketing, Recruiting & Public Relations person at Auburn Adventist Academy means that it is sort of my job to be into this online social experience we find so valuable and rewarding these days. I have been rebelling mostly. I post to our Auburn facebook only when I have to and I have been refusing to dive into "Tweeting." (Does no one else thing that is the most ridiculous addition to our English vocabulary?) Anyways, my personal feelings aside, based on what I have heard this week, I think I am sort of excited about the possibilities that can be cultivated through proper use of social media. Even "tweeting"...blast.

Side Note: Kessia is the coolest. She was here with Adventist Information Ministry (AIM) from Andrews. She is employed as their social media guru while she is in between her masters and doctorate studies. Wise. Engaging. Authentic. So cute. Her passionate personal feelings on the matter is why I now have these...

@jessijoturner  [and]  @AuburnAcademyWA

don't hate.


the changing face of social media...xkcd's "Map of Online Communities"

xkcd - spring 2007

"Map of Online Communities 2"

xkcd - spring & summer 2010

The 2010 Social Networking Map by Flowtown

tribute to xkcd - 2010

kessia...if you read this...know that you were the very first "follow." Be proud!

{ ]

Hi. My name is Jessi and I am a workaholic.

My to do list is long. My energy gone.

Will I change...probably not.

Cause of Death: inner and outer expectations

---

I am in the midst of planning family weekend.
The chosen theme is Life Balance. Ha!
Totally unrealistic. Who has time for balance.
A nice sort of idea to ponder while waiting for the printer to print though.

I guess I should probably change my blog subhead or have a change of heart. one of the two.

Fred Meyer Cart Guy

Sunday...6:45am…I roll back over really not wanting to get up. Too bad Puyallup is 30 min away and I have to be there by 8.

8:30am…Finally make it to my destination with only one missed exit, one large turn around and the gas gage at "E"

9:00am…Psych myself up for a day spent at the Car Show/8th grade fundraiser I am recruiting at.

1:30pm…Realized eating two hotdogs was too much for one day. Also realized that the van's battery was dead. Guess I'll be at my booth till the bitter end till the nice man who is running the show can jump me.

3:20pm…van back in action still reminding me that she is thirsty. Takes about a decade to find a 76 gas station that the school's card will work at. Turns out most of them are out of commission.

4:20pm…van back at Auburn. Me back in my car…let the errands begin. If I don't run errands today, they won't get done. Last week I was asleep as soon as I walked in the door thanks to jet lag and a brand new job…not conducive to getting anything accomplished in the evenings. Turns out I can get a lot done at 3:30am when I wake up for the day.

6:30pm…ding! last stop…Fred Meyer…check! My gas tank is no longer empty and neither is my refrigerator. I let the cart slam into the parking lot holder and I am headed home.

10:35pm…check the car twice, check the apartment three times, check my bag 18 times. Nope…no wallet to be found. Panic. Prayer. Pacing.

10:36pm…the cart slamming into the other cart at Fred Meyer runs slow motion through my head…OH NO!!!  Dread feeling hits…my wallet was in that cart…yelling at me with his tiny blue voice, "don't leave me, don't leave me!!!"

10:45pm…think to call Fred Meyer…no one has seen it.

10:55pm…not trusting Fred Meyer phone dude, I jump in my car and head their way. I check the parking lot holder…no carts. I awkwardly crawl around the carts in the entry. I ask the front desk lady if she has seen my tiny blue wallet. She calls the dude from the phone I am guessing. I get embarrassed and want to leave. She says it is better to check…maybe they found it she says. The silence kills me. The lady on the other side of the phone is looking…looking forever it seems like.

Lessons I learned from today:

1.             two hotdogs is too many

2.             remembering what the maintenance guy from the school you work at looks like is key to not looking foolish

3.             car shows are much more fun when you know something about cars

4.             Keeping track of precious things is important for maintaining proper stress levels

5.             Man is basically good. You don't believe me? Ask the Fred Meyer cart guy who found my little blue wallet. He left it alone…my dollars are still there…and he turned it in. What a good guy/girl...whoever they are.

Book Review: Strength to Love

Strength to Love
Author: Martin Luther King Jr.

The Overview:

Oh, Reverend King...you rocked my socks! I should get paid by the publisher or something because I have been telling everyone and their brother how good this book is. I'm not a sermon reading enthusiast, but this collection of sermons penned by the man who had a dream, but first had a church and a whole ton of conviction kept me turning the pages.  His 1950s wisdom for a segregated America is still incredibly applicable to our "social injustices are not my problem" America. Preach that social gospel Brother King!





The Good:

Each Sermon/Chapter talks about something a little different: Nonconformity, Communism, Weakness v. Strength, Liberalism, Nonviolence, etc. But a couple of the chapters were instant winners for me.

Chapter 8, the sermon entitled, "The Death of Evil upon the Seashore," asks the question, "Why does God allow evil to exist?" King's answer is neither arrogant nor passive and gives an interesting perspective on God's power v. God's purpose. Look up the chapter online and read it for yourself!

I just finished the last chapter, Chapter 15, "Pilgrimage to Nonviolence" and I almost wish that had been the first chapter because it gave a lot of context about the time period and King's personal life at the time of these sermons as well. It talked about his personal philosophies, how he came to the conclusions he did and how diving into various theological theories rounded out his view of man. Super interesting. I would definitely suggest reading this particular sermon online if nothing else.


The Memorable:

"God has two outstretched arms. One is strong enough enough to surround us with justice, and one is gentle enough to embrace us with grace."

"The gospel at its best deals with the whole man, not only his soul but also his body, not only his spiritual well-being but also his material well-being. A religion that professes a concern for the souls of men and is not equally concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them, and the social conditions that cripple them is a spiritually moribund religion.

"Most people, and Christians in particular, are thermometers that record or register the temperature of majority opinion, not thermostats that transform and regulate the temperature of society."

"We must learn that to expect God to do everything while we do nothing is not faith but superstition."


The Recommendation:

Enlightening, historical, heart-changing.

a monday...with the label of last

Today is my last Monday interning at World Vision.
Jenn says that I am a very sentimental person.
This is true. Good memories are like hugs.
I like hugs.
I also like cupcakes.
I think the one I just devoured will be my last of the day.
We don't normally have cupcakes, but today was someone's birthday.
Sometimes lasts are hard for me.
It is hard for me to say good-bye to good things. To let go.
Let the current do it's job Jess.
Let the next adventure surprise and delight.
Jump in and don't hold back.
Hugs, and cupcakes, and good things will come again. They always do.



I am not sure the bit about the last cupcake was a whole truth...



...but I guess you'll never know.

Rivers & Roads

Harmony...I wish that lived in me somewhere.

The boy in the sweater...I wish he lived near me somewhere. ;)

Book Review: The Good Body

The Good Body

Author: Eve Ensler

[if you read nothing else...read the conversation between Leah and Eve under the memorable section...so good]

The Overview:

I am on an Eve Ensler kick these days...I checked this one out from the library and it was finished instantly. I stayed up late. I woke up early. I read during lunch. It is short, with lots of breathing room, but captivating. Mostly I wish I had bought it so my trusty highlighter could have painted its pages.

Every woman has that one part of her body that takes up far too much emotional time and attention. It is where all her anger and self-hatred is pointed. It becomes the reason for all of her pain, and heartache, and lack of success. It is the measure of "perfection." For Eve, that body part is her stomach.  

The Good:

Eve seems to like to make her points by using her own story and mixing it with the real and funny and transparent stories of others like herself. She tells the story of the author and pioneering editor of Cosmopolitan Magazine who is 80+ years old, does one hundred sit-ups twice a day and believes that ninety pounds is only on the way to beautiful. She talks to Bernice and tells us her story. Bernice is an African American Teenager who was sent to fat camp. She loves buffets and going chunky-dunking in the pool. She thinks she looks beautiful "all round and moundy" in the moonlight. Carmen is Puerto Rican and from Brooklyn. For Puerto Ricans, it is the spread they dread. "If you get the spread, you're dead." Tiffany is a model and a completely new woman...literally. She is her plastic surgeon's life project and life partner. She eats ice cream to keep him occupied. My favorite woman that Eve talked to was Leah...the seventy-four-year-old African Masai woman...

The Memorable:

This is what Leah had to say...

Leah: Do I like my body? Do I like my body? My body. My body. I love my body. God made this body. God gave me this body. My body. My body. Oh goodness, I love my body. My fingers, look at my fingers. I love my fingernails, little crescent moons. My hands, my hands, the way they flutter in the air and fall, they lead right up to my arms–so strong–they carry things along–I love my arms–and my legs, my legs are long, so long, Masai people, we are tall, I get there fast, my legs can wrap around a man and hold him there. My breasts...My breasts, well look at them, they're mine, my breasts are round and full and fine.

Eve: Leah, wait, I don't know how to do this. I want to feel like you. I want to love my body and stop hating my stomach.

Leah: What's wrong with it?

Eve: It's round. It used to be flat.

Leah: It's your stomach. It's meant to be seen. Eve, look at that tree? Do you see that tree? Now look at that tree. (Points to another tree) Do you like that tree? Do you hate that tree 'cause it doesn't look like that tree? Do you say that tree isn't pretty 'cause it doesn't look like that tree? We're all trees. You're a tree. I'm a tree. You've got to love your body, Eve. You've got to love your tree. Love your tree.

---

Love your tree! 

The Recommendation:

I think this is a powerful book for woman to digest. I am not sure it would be as meaningful to the man species. Perhaps if the man had a woman in his life that was obsessing about one part of her body....maybe for the hope of understanding he might want to read through this book.