News from the alma mater

Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, the school where I received my Masters Degree, is being absorbed by Fresno Pacific University.

I'm not exactly versed in MB leadership structures, but this seems a good thing to me. They practically share the same campus, they share classes and teachers and a common bookstore. So good for them to make significant decisions in tough economic and social times.

Shameless Child Story

#1 rule of preaching: don't use your own kids for illustrations, or you'll embarrass them and drive them away forever.

So instead I'll blog about my oldest.

On Monday we had our 1st parent-teacher conference of the year. Her teacher, Mrs. Brandt, made an interesting observation. "In some ways, Olivia is very mature. In others, she's still a little girl. And I love that about her." She went on to explain: Olivia has very concrete ideas and interests. She goes to the library and says "I want to learn about ancient Egypt." Then she checks out the books about ancient Egypt. Which, I understand, is pretty rare for 2nd graders.

On the other hand, Mrs. Brandt said, "she's just not into a lot of things that the other girls are. Which is stuff that no 2nd grade girl should be into, anyway." Apparently the other 2nd grade girls are talking about boyfriends. And at the moment they're playing the "who's the most popular" game. Mrs. Brandt says Olivia is blissfully unaware of this social game, and plays with whoever comes along. But it also means that, even at this tender age, other girls are excluding her.

And I know the reason. "That's because we don't have television in the house. And we're extremely careful what Olivia watches. It's Strawberry Shortcake and Barbie Island Princess for her, not Hanna Montana and that other Disney/Nick jr. garbage."

Mrs. Brandt seemed surprised. "Is that where it comes from?" Apparently she was unaware that the vast majority of 2nd grade girls are watching the Disney channel girlie shows, most of which focus on, well, boyfriends, looks, and popularity.

So here's the problem. We're choosing to raise Olivia outside of television's influence. Which will, in truth, make her an outcast at many levels. She won't understand why girls play the snotty game, why they obsess about boys in the 3rd grade, why they care what kind of pants you wear (at least, she won't get it until much later). And, knowing the cattiness of the playground, I have no doubt that she'll get teased for it.

But, as Mrs. Brandt said, "You have a definite plan and philosophy in your child raising, which is rare." Which, I would add, is also sad. Not that we have a plan, but that so few parents do have a plan.

So here's to my daughter, who's not playing the popularity game, who's not being influenced by Hannah/Ashley/Britney/whatever current Disney prefab is suddenly famous. And here's to parents who actually think about what they want their children to be, rather than allowing the media to define them.

The difference of a couple years

Today, Wednesday, September 5, 2007, Olivia officially began 2nd grade. I was thinking of a couple years ago - her first day in kindergarten, and the year before that - the first day of preschool. Then it was all tears and sadness and "our baby's growing up"and emotional sentimental feelings.

Today it was "Whoopee! She's back in school! No more trying to entertain her for 8 hours a day!"

Not that we don't enjoy those long lazy days of summer. It's just that, well, all the "What should I do now?" game gets a little old.

And as for her, I think after a year of homeschooling, and spending the last month of summer basically hanging out with her mom and dad - I think Olivia is ready for a lot more hanging out with kids her own age.

The Class of '87

About 33 years ago, a little group of kids gathered for Kindergarten at Watson Groen Christian School in Shoreline, Washington. 6 of us would stay together through elementary school, junior high, and high school, graduating together in 1987. If you've read this blog, you know some of us got together last month, for our 20th reunion. This picture represents a special moment - this is 4 of those six who stuck together all the way through 13 years of school, with our Kindergarten teacher, taken in the play yard of our school. That's me on the left, Kristen, Mrs. Roosendaal, Alicia, and Tania. I think Mrs. Roosendaal is kind of proud of how we all turned out, since everything we needed to know, we learned in Kindergarten.


















Here's a shot of more of the graduating class, sitting in one of our high school rooms. Added to the above four are Karen (behind Alicia, James (Behind Tania), Pam and Mariea (far right).

And so it comes

Tomorrow afternoon we're heading over to Seattle, dropping the girls off with my parents, and then driving over to Kirkland to begin my 20-year high school reunion. Personally, I'm a little excited to see everybody (well, at least everybody who is showing up). I went to a small school, and had a graduating class of around 32, so we were probably a little tighter than, say, a class of 500. Whether or not we were all friends, we all at least knew each other fairly well. About 7 of us were together all the way from Kindergarten through 12th grade, so we had a lot of memories together.

This is how it was: we cleaned out our lockers, and went to our graduation rehearsal. The evening of graduation, we all joined in celebration of our achievements. A couple hours later we gathered at the school and drove to a large health club in Edmonds for a night of swimming, walleyball, and hanging out. Early the next morning we were dropped off back at the school, and we all drove home. I remember that moment - climbing in my car, watching all my classmates get in their cars, and thinking this truly was the end of it all. Some of those people I would never see again; many I wouldn't see for years. I did go to Grace's wedding a while later; Brent and I hung out whenever we were back in Seattle - I performed his wedding, and he came to mine. Other than that, I don't believe I've seen the rest of them since.

How quickly it all passes. Now most are married with kids, some are divorced, they are living in Florida and the Midwest, some are professionals and some aren't healthy. I don't think anybody's famous (my inclusion in a theological book notwithstanding), and I don't think anybody's dead.

Friday night we're getting together for a low-key hangout time. Saturday night we're getting on a boat and going to Tillicum Village. And it will be interesting to see what happens. Will it be 10 more years before we see each other again? Or will we reconnect and reclaim old friendships?

Some people dread reunions. Some people hate reunions. Me? I'm rather looking forward to it.

Catching up

A few months ago I mentioned that this summer is my 20th High School reunion. I suggested, and was given the assignment, that we set up an online message board where we could all go and tell our stories before the reunion, maybe even start some conversations and rekindle (maybe that's not the best word) some old friendships. The idea being that, when we all see each other next August, we have some sense of where everybody has been, what they've been up to, and we're already well on the road to catching up, instead of looking at each other saying "So, how long ago did you become a Harri Krishna?"

So far about 9 people have signed up and shared their stories. And it really has been interesting to read what they've been up to (even as I write this it occurred to me that I'm the only male-type person on that list. Does that mean something?). Some have known real tragedy, some have suffered the end of marriages, most have had kids, at least one is on the opposite side of the country, one was down in L.A. during the same time I was down there, some are doing really well and some are still trying to sort life out.

It's hard, of course, not to picture them as 18-year olds, which is what they were the last time I saw most of them. It's hard to picture them aging at all (after all, I haven't gotten any wrinkles or gray hair or extra pounds. . .). It also brings home what a short time 20 years really is. Graduation doesn't seem that far back. I guess the good thing is that we're still closer to young than old - we're still all on the short side of 40, anyway.

I remember my sister being amazed at her reunion at just how badly many of her classmates had turned out. From what I'm reading, the class of '87 did ok. And reading their stories has got me all the more excited to see them in person again.

One final note - doing this has opened my eyes again to the fact that we were a pre-digital generation. It's amazing how many of our classmates don't seem to have email addresses, or any web presence, for that matter. Many of my former classmates appear to have dropped into the black hole that is non-internet people. . .