Sore Throats, Evil Blenders, and the Roaring Twenties

Yes, I've fallen off the wagon with minimal posting since February.  I want to write a novel but I can't even keep up a blogging schedule; who am I kidding? Honestly, I've spent the last 4 months tired, frustrated, and lonely.  and after the strange, familiar heartache of my birthday last month, I've kind of figured something out.

I'm in my 20s.

I'm 23, I have mild depression (a far cry from my prior diagnosis of "severe") and social anxiety, and I don't know what the fuck I'm doing.

Pinned from 24.media.tumblr.com

And that's okay.

(follow the jump for more)

Corpus Christi: The Body of Christ

from TimeandDate.com, accessed 06/05/2013

Corpus Christi!!! Corpus Christi is a Latin phrase used in reference to the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ.  We celebrate this feast day on the Sunday after Trinity Sunday and it is not a holy day of obligation (except when it is celebrated on a Sunday, which, in the US, it usually is).  This is one of those holidays that I wasn't really aware of until I began paying attention to our liturgical calendar when I started teaching Catechism.

The Feast of Corpus Christi began with a beautiful story.  A young nun, Juliana, had great love for the Blessed Sacrament - the Eucharist - and longed for a celebration of it outside of Lent. (Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday, is the celebration of the Institution of the Eucharist at Christ's Last Supper.)  She had a recurring dream/vision for almost 20 years of a beautiful white full moon, with one dark, black spot on it. Jesus later revealed to her that the full moon represented the Church calendar, and the black spot was the missing solemnity of His presence in the Eucharist.  She went to her priest who went to a bishop and it took a lot of time (and for dear St. Juliana, a great deal of ridicule and suffering) but eventually it was included in the liturgical calendar as a feast day.

Many countries celebrate this feast day with processions, wherein a priest will bear the monstrance at the head of the crowd around a city or parish church.  Our own parish celebrated with a procession on Sunday and a surprising number of people stayed to participate.

What I love about Corpus Christi is that it celebrates on of my favorite aspects of Catholicism: transubstantiation. I know that's a big word, but it's a BIG deal. As Catholics we believe that, by some miracle of the Holy Spirit, that Jesus Christ is actually, physically present in the form of bread and wine when we celebrate the Eucharist at mass every single Sunday. His essence is miraculously transferred into these hosts - they host his presence - which we then consume. To encounter God so intimately every Sunday is such a rich blessing.

At our parish we are especially blessed to have a Perpetual Adoration Chapel right next to our church. Inside, a monstrance holding a consecrated host - the Eucharist itself, Jesus' real presence - is displayed for adoration and prayer.  It's a wonderful place to visit and pray and spend time with Jesus in His presence.


Wishing you all a blessed week - tune in later for a roundup of some saints!

Love,
Willow

___________________________________________________________________________________

Research:
1. NewAdvent, Catholic Encyclopedia article on the Feast of Corpus Christi accessed 06/05/2013
2. Wikipedia article on Corpus Christi, accessed 06/05/2013
3. TimeandDate article on Corpus Christi, accessed 06/05/2013

Book Review and Introductory Post: The Catholic Home

When I first started paying attention to the liturgical year (around the time I started teaching Catechism, so September of 2012), it was because I realized that there was a wealth of Catholic feasts and traditions that I didn't know about.  As a child, we only did the major holy days: All Saint's Day, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Easter and Christmas.  Of course we observed Lent and Advent, but things like Michaelmas and Pentecost and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception were celebrated only by pre-Vatican II Catholics - the ones who still wore chapel veils and attended mass in Latin. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, trust me. I have developed a deep love of the doily-wearers and the beauty of Latin. I'm talking about me as a high school student who had no desire to be Confirmed. More on that later.)  But in preparation for my new role as a Catechist, I sought advice and information from the great thinkers of our day: Bloggers. I cruised the Internet looking for Catholic blogs, and found a treasure-trove. But the one that really got me going was Carrots for Michaelmas, and I discovered it from this post which I re-blogged here. Anyway, Carrots was a gateway blog for me. I kept reading and reading and Googling things and going into Wikipedia and Catholic.org black holes for hours digging up information.

From Barnes&Noble.com

Eventually all of my searching led me to Amazon where I wanted a book that offered the basics on practicing Catholic traditions in the home. I knew how to do an Advent wreath, but I knew from my Internet reading that there was so much more. I finally stumbled upon this lovely little book, and ordered 3 copies - for my mother, myself, and the host mom of my Catechism class. While it is by no means completely comprehensive (and not nearly long or detailed enough), this little book offers a great beginner's guide.  It offers not only the historical context of many Catholic celebrations, but it explains a variety of ways to celebrate them. That was a big selling point to me. Not just what our traditions are, but how we can bring them into our modern lives on a daily basis.  It also has info on ways to celebrate the various sacraments as a family.

I also really like that it includes recipe ideas for what to eat and how to decorate. There's so much going on in this book, I love it. I've only had it for about 2 months and my copy is pretty well loved.

There are a few things I wish this book included, like more information on how to dress a home altar on different saints' days or how to observe some more obscure holy days (like Corpus Christi or the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus), but it serves as an excellent base.  The appendices are also very helpful, including places to go seeking other information.


Other places I went:

Better Than Eden
Fish Eaters
Catholic Online (I especially like their A-Z Saints & Angels)
2013 Liturgical Calendar (*Note: This is a 43 page .pdf but totally worth the download and printout.)

So basically, there is tons of information available on Catholic home traditions and ways to celebrate feasts and holy days. Really, though, it's about realizing and acting upon the realization that our feast days are more than their commercial counterparts.

This post is acting as a spring board for a few new features on this blog.
- This Week in Liturgy, where I will keep you updated on what kinds of feasts/holy days/liturgical seasons we're celebrating
- This Week in Saints, where I will *TRY my hardest* to update weekly with saints' days and feasts of saints. This feature is primarily for my Confirmation students, who need to pick a saint, but I love researching and sharing about the heroes of our faith, so I'm generally really excited about it.
- The Little Blue Box. This feature is also primarily for my students. When they have questions (related to our faith or not) that are not immediately relevant to class discussion, rather than let them forget a probably-interesting question, I have them write it on a slip of paper and submit it to my Blue Box (I'll share a picture of it later). These can be anonymous or not, but I do my best to answer them at some point during the year. The ones I don't get to (or the ones I feel should be shared with all of you), get posted here.


That's all for now - post on Corpus Christi (The Body of Christ) on Sunday.

love,
Willow

February Reading - The Life of Pi

(If you are on the e-mail list and are receiving this a second time, apologies. I accidentally hit "Publish" when I meant to hit "Save" while drafting this, and you received an incomplete version.)

Image from Indie*Reader. It's got a great article on this book.

The image shows what my cover looks like.

STATS:
# of pages: 319
Publication date: 2001
Publisher: Harcourt (Originally published in Canada by Random House)

This one was in a bag of books my bff V------- got me for my 19th or 20th birthday, all from some lovely secondhand bookshop.  I never read it - never thought I would. I'd heard a lot of great things about it, but I hated the cover (before you people jump all over me on it, this strategy has worked zillions of times for me) and it just didn't look interesting at all. Nothing about it said, "Brilliant story about a boy and a tiger but it's also about faith and the perseverance of the human spirit." That was nowhere on the back cover. I looked.

But one day back in January while I was cleaning, I picked it up.

When I clean - particularly when I'm dusting or vacuuming in the living room - I drift over to my bookcase and have a conversation with my books. Some I haven't read in ages, some I haven't read at all or haven't finished, etc. I run my fingers over them to say hello, see how they're doing; I pick them up and flip through them and see if anything jumps out at me.

So I picked up Life of Pi and generally didn't like the back cover or front cover or inside covers. Started reading the prologue/preface and became intrigued with the author's story of how he was in India working on a novel that didn't work out and then started looking for another story to tell. This search led him to Canada and a man named Pi Patel, who grew up in the Pondicherry Zoo in India. Dusting forgotten, I sat in my great-great-grandmother's rocking chair and started reading. Then I had to get up and find a pen so I could basically underline the entire first 10 pages.

I don't often read books with religious themes, overtones, undertones, etc. I kind of quit that after my first year of high school. (I have recently gotten back into religious literature, but with a more discerning taste.) But there was something about the clarity, the honesty, the simplicity of Pi's religious experience that was so poignant to me.

Here are a few of my favorite passages:

From page 6:

"The reason death sticks so closely to life...it's envy. Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that grabs at what it can.  but life leaps over oblivion lightly, losing only a thing or two of no importance, and gloom is but the passing shadow of a cloud."

From page 12, talking about the zoo:

"It was a huge zoo...though it seemed to get smaller as I got older... Now it's so small it fits in my head."   

See the hint of magical realism there? SEE IT!?

From page 28:

"I was more afraid that in a few words thrown out he might destroy something that I loved. ... What a terrible disease that must be if it could kill God in a man."

From page 47:

"We are all born like Catholics, aren't we -  in limbo, without religion, until some figure introduces us to God?"

From page 50:

"Hindus, in their capacity for love, are indeed hairless Christians, just as Muslims, in the way they see God in everything, are bearded Hindus, and Christians, in their devotion to God, are hat-wearing Muslims. ... First wonder goes deepest; wonder after that fits in the impression made by the first.  i owe to Hinduism the original landscape of my religious imagination, those towns and rivers, battlefields and forests, holy mountains and deep seas where gods, saints, villains and ordinary people rub shoulders, and, in doing so, define who and why we are."

I truly wish I could hand you my copy and let you flip through the pages and see all the beautiful imagery I underlined, more passages about his understanding of God in the universe and the world and nature and the ocean. I'd love to share with you all the illegible little things I scrawled in the margins and all the dog-eared pages of my well-loved copy. You'll have to make do with this slap dash review instead. Sorry. 

The ocean at night. From this review.

The stories of Pi growing up in India were definitely my favorite part of the novel. Unfortunately, they were also only at the beginning. I'm not the world's greatest fan of survival, man-vs-nature adventures. I really enjoyed the beginning of this one, though. Granted, the narrative of the shipwreck was a bit rushed - the pacing gave me whiplash and I had to read it several times to fully understand it. But the rest of it, the tidbits about the nature of wild animals in a lifeboat, the attempts at training Richard Parker, the survival information about water, the details about the fish and sharks and sea turtles and currents... All of that was extremely well-written and some of it even incorporated aspects of magical realism which made my inner lit theory nerd squeal in delight. 

But after a few (hundred) pages that got a bit dull. And in a way I understand that maybe he was trying to convey the absolute never-ending boredom of being lost at sea in a lifeboat with a tiger, I dunno.

The island, though. The cannibal island. Just, wow. WOW. I loved that part. I actually accidentally flipped ahead and read that whole section after I read the first 3 pages, but when I got there in "real time" (reading all the way through like a proper person), it was still brilliant and fresh and incredible. And terrifying.

But then it got boring. Or I lost interest. I'm not really sure. I just remember he was in the ocean for a long time and then washed ashore in Mexico, was taken to a hospital, then to Canada.

The part with the Japanese investigators, though. Where he changed the story. It broke my brain. On the one hand I loved it, but on the other...It devastated me to think of what kind of mental state he must have been in to believe he was with a full grown Bengal tiger if he wasn't. Or was he?

The theme driven home by that part is the idea of our lives being stories, and we should make them good ones. Pi asks the Japanese investigators (this is fiction, folks, he was using an interview as a plot device to structure a frame narrative) which story was true: the story with people, or the story with the tiger. They chose the story with the tiger. "And so it goes with God," he replies. Because our stories are good. Stories with God are better. 

Pi sees the Universe. From Empires and Mangers

The movie: The movie was actually a really, really well done adaptation. There were things in the beginning that were different, and a few things toward the end that were left out, but all the main stuff was there. All the things that made it such a great story. The cinematography was great, and the part where he sees the entire universe in the ocean... The way they portrayed that on film was so beautiful - just the way I imagined it when I read it.






Recommended Reading Level: 14+ (Only because some of the religious themes might be difficult to grasp for younger readers.)

3.5 out of 5 Stars - The beginning was brilliant and most of the imagery is fantastic. It loses points because after a while the ocean was boring and the author's voice is incredibly annoying. The narration by Pi is perfect and wonderful, but when the author starts talking or doing his little side narrations, I wanted to smack him. He comes off as pompous, arrogant, pedantic, and irritating. Like Draco Malfoy in the first 3 HP books - just a snotty toerag. But his narration as Pi... It saves him.

Who I Recommend it To: People who like stories about faith, people who like stories about human beings surviving nature's brutality, people who like a bit of magical realism, people who like fantasy adventure stories, people who like stories about India or even Canada, people who like stories about animals, people who have stronger stomachs than me and can handle reading about a tiger almost drowning without crying thinking about their silly house cat because I'm pitiful like that.



Overall, read it. The rich imagery alone is worth it, and I dare you not to get caught up in Pi's mind, in his history. Let him light a match in your dark head.

Cheers,

Willow

13 Things - Places I've Been

This month's 13 on the 13th is my top favorite 13 places I've been. I've been so blessed to have seen so much of the world at my age, and (almost) every trip has been an incredible adventure (there have been occasional roadtrips that had me pulling out my hair, but thankfully I'm a bit past that now). So here are my top 13. 

1. London

Pinned from here

2. Venice

From Google Images, via ItalianTourism.us

3. Rome

From Pinterest via Wiki Answers

4. Florence

From Pinterest, via Tumblr, photo by Andy McGarry

5. Paris

From Pinterest via Fodors.com

6. Munich

From Pinterest, via Flikr

7. Neuchwanstein

Pinned from here

8. NYC

From depositphotos.com via Google Images

9. Philadelphia

From www.123rf.com via Google Images

10. New Hampshire

Photo by Rebecca Williams, via PreservationNation

11. Salem

Bush Gardens, my favorite spot. Photo from vrbo.com

12. Portland

Most accurate description of a city, ever. From Cruises.about.com

13. Los Angeles

The greatest city in the world, my beautiful LA.
Photo from Wikipedia

Okay, so I've technically lived in Los Angeles and the surrounding suburban area my entire life, but there are so many adventures to be had in LA and it's various parts (West LA, South Bay, Hollywood, Westwood, the beaches, etc.) that I really can't resist loving it.


That's all for now, tune in next month for more 13 on the 13th!

xoxo,
Willow

New Year, New You - Part Two

Fir auld lang syne....

SO! Last year, I wrote out my "resolutions" in a notebook, and then I posted them in my blog, and then I wrote them out on 3x5 cards and taped them all over my vanity. Every time I completed one, I'd put a little check next to it. I'm proud to say that plenty of them have little check marks, but some of them do not. If you remember, some of my resolutions for the past year were a little abstract. This year, I'm doing something a bit different. (Also, the period button [.] seems to be sticking on my laptop's keyboard. It's irritating. Irrelevant, but irritating.)

This year, I have some general, overall goals for the whole of 2013. But I'm trying to focus a little more on the day-to-day. (Okay, maybe it's not the period key that's sticking, maybe my fingers are just acting wonky and being uncooperative.)

IN GENERAL: for 2013

• eat regularly like a normal human being (I really need to work on this one - I usually eat only one meal a day and mini non-meals the rest of the time. I've been reminded that this is not healthy.)
• Make a playlist of happy music to listen to
• Put up pictures of Kenzie and generally make my room my own
• Use the happy thoughts box
• BLOG every once in a while
• Read 1 new book every month ("new" as in a book I have not read before)
• Get more organized
• Write every day
• Go somewhere I've never been before
• Be a happier, more positive person.

For the Month of January (My Goals):

1. Make my bed every morning. I feel like if I start my day with order and tidiness, other things will fall into place.
2. Make my desk usable again. Right now my desk is covered in crap and completely disorganized. I want to be able to sit at my desk to write for a while every day.
3. Write every day. I'm starting with 15 minutes. 15 minutes a day, writing something. Anything.
4. Clear the floor of my room so I can vacuum every weekend. This seems silly, but I want to be able to vacuum and have room to, I dunno, do yoga on the floor or something equally ridiculous.
5. Get to the gym 3 times a week, bare minimum. I like going to the gym, going to the gym is good for me, I know this, blah blah blah. 
6.  Develop and act upon an evening routine that involves preparing for the next day so mornings are smooth and simple. Pack a lunch for work, make sure dishes are done and either put away or in the dishwasher, not piled up in the sink. Lay out an outfit for the next day, have stuff by the door if I need to run errands before/after work. This will make life easier.

Six little things to do every day, getting closer to doing something better with myself. Making myself better. I have a good feeling about this year. 2013 is going to be my year of living well, my year of positivity. A year of good vibes.  I'll keep you posted - wish me luck.

Source: Uploaded by user via Willow on Pinterest

Note: The above image was pinned from user Young, Lovely and Mean on Pinterest. This user uploaded it him/herself and did not leave any further information. I am not claiming any copyright to the above image. If you know who owns the copyright to this image, please let me know so I can seek permission to use it. Until then, I make no money or profit in any way by including the above image in this blog for personal uses. Please don't sue me, I seriously have no money and can barely pay rent. Many thanks. ~The Author

Back Again

So. I've been away for a few months. Basically, Penelope (my laptop) DIED and I've been effectively without all of my drafted blog posts and little bits on inspiration that she held for the duration. But she's back, therefore I am, too.

I work full-time, my cat is half-grown, my housemate still makes me a little homicidal sometimes, and I'm teaching on Tuesday evenings now. Wild, huh?

And I don't see my friends.

And I don't meet new people.

And I don't write anymore.

I just wish.

So I hope this blog isn't too depressing for you.