Join a Religious Community?

I've always wanted to join a religious community. Being a Protestant, my parents were Protestant, I never saw that as an option. Recently I've been in contact with four communities that accept women over 60. It would entail converting to Catholicism. I was divorced; it would require getting my marriage annulled, which I think is a possibility. I think this month I might start attending Catholic churches, at least one Catholic church.

My Purpose

I was reading The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. He said in a chapter I read recently: "God intentionally allows you to go through painful experiences to equip you for ministry to others." I had a hard time trying to figure out how David's putting mescaline in my cheese sandwich then raping me equipped me to help others. Today it occurred to me that, however, David and the so-called boyfriends who successively treated me worse and worse did equip me to be a Suicide Prevention volunteer. I did volunteer with them in the past; I think when I get my car fixed, I'll volunteer again.

Problem Statement

This is my first draft, my very first attempt, at writing my Problem Statement, written last week at my Minnesota residency.

"The 2010 earthquake caused xxx million Haitians to become unemployed, and Haiti already had a x% unemployment rate prior to the earthquake. In developing countries worldwide xx% found employment through microenterprise development and xx% found employment with established companies.

"The specific problem to be addressed is which strategy most successfully reduced the unemployment figures in those countries?

"The focus of this qualitative phenomenological study is to interview a purposeful sample of xxx to seek their perceptions in how Haitians might become employed. The business and social impact of this study is xxx."

The last paragraph was supplied by Dr. Turner.

The discussion with Dr. Millstone resulted in the following revision:

"Pre-earthquake Haiti had x% unemployment. Post-earthquake, Haiti had x% unemployment. Other less developed countries (define less developed countries) reduced their unemployment rate using xxx strategies."

Dr. Millstone suggested I am still in need of a problem. Dr. Millstone suggested I may be able to research the different strategies all online by the time I reach my 9000 courses. In my final doctoral study, in the Analysis and Recommendations section, I could suggest to the Haitian government what strategy(ies) would be good for Haiti.

Blood Wedding

This is Part One of a flamenco trilogy, the other two parts of which I had seen before. "Carmen" was the first film I saw, and I fell in love with these movies. A modern-day flamenco troupe acts out the story of Carmen. I subsequently saw "Bizet's Carmen," which was enacted by the same cast. It was marvelous. I then saw "El Amor Brujo," which, again, was excellent. I would give "Blood Wedding" four stars, but I was disappointed that there was not as much dramatic flamenco dancing as in the other two films of the trilogy. I had read Lorca's play some time ago, but I find it difficult to read plays and stage directions, even though I took acting lessons in the past and am supposed to look upon plays as an opportunity to create a role, develop character, and look upon them differently since I am in the know. I am glad Saura developed these trilogies, and they are very wonderful plays.

The Hiding Place

When I was watching this movie, the story of Corrie Ten Boom and her being sent to a Nazi concentration camp for hiding Jews, I was very aware of the arthritis in my legs. This past winter has been the worse yet for my arthritis; many people in Nazi death camps must have died just because of their aches and pains of being a little older. Betsy died because she was of delicate constitution. I watched the film on Sunday; my arthritis has gotten progressively better each day since then. I thank God for being able to walk up and down the stairs pain-free. That reminds me of the day I went to the "Art of Activism" talk at the Redford Center. My shoes had fallen apart and I had to wear boots for about a week that hurt my feet. I could hardly walk the day of "The Art of Activism," but my new shoes I ordered arrived that day. One of the people being honored that night had sent shoes to barefoot Peruvian Indians. My feet became progressively pain-free each day after the talk.

The Phoenix

I posted this painting on Craig's List. A guy at work suggested I do that. I don't know - no nibbles. Anyway, . . .

"The Phoenix"
16"x20"
Oil
1998
$350.00

Trouble usually comes in torrents - when it rains it pours. My mother had just died and I was in art school. Everything was going wrong, but I tried to paint a phoenix rising from the ashes. I was really pleased with the can of paintbrushes but decided to paint Jesus over the Mickey Mouse phoenix. Painting and Jesus are what got me through 1998.

Crooked Little Heart

I finished reading this novel by Anne Lamott today. This is the first fiction I've read by her, and she is as good a writer of fiction as she is a writer of non-fiction. Mostly I like her advice on writing given in "Bird by Bird," and this book proves she can actually write. She is an entertaining and funny speaker, and that is probably one reason why she can write fiction so well. I felt the age-old inferiority complex because she can write with such detail, knowing the names of native flora and fauna, describing Rae at her weaving. Then I read the appendix to her book and she thanked lots of people with whom she had conversations about these topics she can describe in such detail. She's written an earlier novel about the heroine Rosie when she was a preteen. In this book Rosie is a thirteen-year-old. I hear she has just come out with a book on Rosie as a teenager. I like how she can accurately describe how teens feel. Actually, she thanked teenage girls she had conversations with as well. I was drawn to this book because Rosie starts cheating in her tournament tennis games, and a homeless man who attends all her matches knows. Hearing about that specific plot point caused me to buy this book; I do not feel compelled to read the other two books, but I may. It's just that I have so many books to read.

Brother Sun, Sister Moon

I had never seen this movie though I'd wanted to see it for many years. I would give it four stars. From what I read on EWTN "Saints" page, the movie did not change too much in effect to "Hollywoodize" the movie. They kept making it seem like Clare and he would have an affair, but they never did. Francis really had about four other siblings that were never in the movie. I assume not much is known about them. The movie had him being seen by Pope Innocent III and shoved away, then the Pope says "Bring him back." That is in effect what happened: Francis saw someone lesser than the Pope and the Pope had a dream and said "Bring him to me." I loved the beautiful costumes of the rich people. Of course, Francis and his followers gave that up when they found their calling. The clothes are beautiful, but they shouldn't be gained on the backs of the poor. Henry Ford paid his workers enough so they could buy Ford cars of their own. I believe my dressmaking business in Haiti should pay the workers enough to buy dresses of their own.

Brahms' Requiem

We performed with First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley Chancel Choir on Palm Sunday evening. Since it was my first time performing with the Concert Choir, I was enthralled and had a wonderful time and felt every bit as cosmopolitan and erudite as the San Francisco Symphony. When I get my finances together, I am going to invest in a string of cheap pearls because that looks so elegant with our black dresses worn for the concert. I guess my favorite part of the Requiem is "For mortal flesh is as the grass," the second movement, the funeral march. That was the first part we rehearsed and I fell in love with the Requiem when I was introduced to it. Even though the performance took as long as the recording I'd been listening to, it seemed shorter. I think that is probably because when we rehearse, we start and stop, and it seems much longer.

Duel in the Sun

Today I watched Duel in the Sun, 1946 with Gregory Peck, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Lillian Gish, Lionel Barrymore. It was my Netflix video pick. I would give this movie four stars. I had seen it once before and remembered that I had been impressed with it. I think Native Americans today would say it's racist. Jennifer Jones was a lusty half-breed, and the white women were virtuous women. Vashti, Butterfly McQueen, the black servant wanted to be married but didn't realize how complicated the white people were. The white women were virtuous, but Jennifer Jones could have married the nice Joseph Cotten if she had not been attracted against her will and better judgment to the handsome but devilish Gregory Peck. I was feeling down because black films seem to deal with the seamy side of life: incest, child molestation, drugs, rape. This is a movie about white people behaving badly, but they did make the dark Native American girl not be able to help herself being bad. This movie made me want to work on my screenplays and submit them to Sundance May 1. Let's see if I have the energy to work on that this April. Supposedly, I'm supposed to be enrolling in PhD school May 1 to study to save Haiti.

A New Day

Well, I'm finally back on-line after a year's hiatus. We'll see how this goes. I watched Lions for Lambs on satellite TV and will probably watch A Duel in the Sun on my Netflix video.

This painting is called Devotions, but I'm not happy with it and will work on fine-tuning the way I apply paint.