Todays Daily Prompt:  Over the weekend, we explored different ways to love. Today, tell us about the most unconventional love in your life.

Photographers, share a photo that says unconventional.

♥ ♥ ♥

Gosh! Now there’s a question and a half.  Love is love, can it be unconventional or am I missing a point?

In today’s world we have people who have friends with benefits; now a few years ago that idea to me would have been unconventional.   I’m not saying that I approve of the idea nor do I disapprove.  I’m just saying that it is/was slightly unconventional.  In reply to the question, the only time love could be unconventional is when one is perhaps in love with an alien…

love is love, end of story…regardless of age, race, sex…

*hugs*

photo credit: JD Hancock via photopin cc

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Hey GCCers, you are certainly NOT tame or innocuous and GCC is NOT a SAFE CHURCH!  What do I mean by that?

A TAME/SAFE CHURCH:

• Anchored to tradition to keep members happy!
• Avoids controversial issues to keep things nice and clean!
• Always cautious to keep the status quo intact!

Is that what you really want?  Are those things how we live life to the fullest, have the greatest impact, and make the biggest difference?

No one who ever did anything of any significance in the Bible was a tame or didn’t take some risks: Noah built and Ark!  David faced a giant!  Shadrach, Meshack, and Adendigo went into a fiery furnace!  Peter went to jail!  Paul was stoned and went right back into the same city!  Jesus was crucified!!

There was nothing tame or safe about the NT Church!

• It was radical- rejecting religion to pursue a relationship with Jesus!
• It was revolutionary- affecting transformation by living out the teaching of Jesus!
• It was risky- choosing fearless faith to fulfill Jesus’ mission!

Acts 2:38-41 Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 This promise is to you, and to your children, and even to the Gentiles[a]—all who have been called by the Lord our God.” 40 Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”  41 Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.

These were dangerous and risky people!  They prayed for miracles, saw people healed, wouldn’t be ignored or go away.  The “old church”- the Pharisees were scared to death of this new church.  The government tried to destroy it.  And when persecution came, did they quit, did they fold up??  No, the Church grew!!

Fast forward 2000 years- The Church today is a comfortable Church, a safe church for the most part, and has very little if any influence on our culture!  We’re just NOT dangerous or risky at all!!

But what makes the difference?  We follow Jesus!!  And that’s dangerous and risky because he isn’t conventional and he’s all about loving and reaching people and that gets messy!  He has a dangerous/risky mission- calls people to forsake all and follow him!

Will GCC be a safe church or a dangerous/risky church?  Do we keep it nice and clean or do we get messy?  What does it require to be A RISKY CHURCH?

A RISKY CHURCH HAS AN UNCONVENTIONAL APPROACH

Remember the forerunner of Jesus- John the Baptist?  This guy was weird!  He was an outcast, running around in the wilderness in a crazy outfit eating locusts and honey!  He was uncivilized!

Matt. 3:1-6 In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was, 2 “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”  …4 John’s clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey. 5 People from Jerusalem and from all of Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to see and hear John. 6 And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.

Pretend John would walk into church today!!  Would we let him teach or lead a Life Group?  Greet at the front door?  No way!  We would reject his uncivilized approach!

But the NT Church is filled with people with an uncivilized approach!  Jesus- makes a mud ball, smears on a blind man’s eyes and he is healed!  Imagine if I did that today??  You’d freak out and run me out of here!!  The disciples were uncivilized dudes!  And look at the people Jesus hung out with on a regular basis- prostitutes, drunks, outcasts… uncivilized people!!

Think about it… we really don’t want to fit into “regular” church, do we??  Being conventional/safe won’t change anything or anyone!  Are we willing to become uncivilized for Christ?  Not wacko, crazy, standing on the corner screaming at people that everyone is going to hell- like the guy after a Bronco’s game…

I’m an uncivilized pastor!!  Started doing a “Biker Sunday” and riding a Harley with some pretty freaky dudes!!  By doing that it has birthed a Biker church plant!!  Taking unsaved dudes on bear hunts!!

Sometimes the “civilized” approach just doesn’t work!  College student on airplane criticizing the church about equality.  I could have been civilized and gave her some Bible verses and got all “churchy” on her.  But I AGREED with her and it blew her mind!!  Start agreeing with some people about the church not being all it should be, being hypocritical, etc. and watch what happens!!

Imagine what uncivilized looks like??  Jo Ann and I would go into bars with Volleyball Club parents to hang out with them at a time when the church we pastored considered just going in there to be a sin!!

Hey, Jesus got uncivilized!!  Matt. 21:12-13 Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. 13 He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!”

Imagine what he did??  He THREW OVER TABLES!!  How did he act??  He acted powerfully and passionately!!

When was the last time you  had an unconventional experience with God?  What is God calling you to do that may be unconventional?

A RISKY CHURCH HAS A DIVINE BOLDNESS

Acts 4:29-31 And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. 30 Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”  31 After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness. 

What did they pray for??  More boldness!!  Sadly today it is more popular to be politically correct than to live by the principles of the Bible.  My opinion doesn’t change anyone’s life- only the truth sets people free and transforms lives!!

A risky church only cares about what God thinks BUT also knows that both truth and grace must be applied in every situation!

Truth AND love/grace is risky business!!  It’s messy, it’s dangerous, it’s getting involved, caring, helping people to grow and move forward into what’s better and best for their lives.  Listen to Jesus as he deals with “church people” who demand condemnation and a woman caught in a sinful act- “I don’t condemn you but go and sin no more!”  

A risky church has a divine boldness to speak the truth in love!  Because that’s when God shows up!!  God shows up where his word is spoken and truth is applied because we love as he loves!

But seriously, we don’t own God’s Word, we didn’t author the Gospel or pay the price for it to be real; so we don’t get to change any of it!  Sure, the truth isn’t always convenient, but it’s the truth and when we take a stand for it, in the right spirit and heart of love and grace, it brings freedom, burdens are lifted, baggage disappears, a new life is revealed!

When was the last time you took a bold stand for Christ?  How do you need to take a bolder stand for Christ?

A RISKY CHURCH HAS A RISK-TAKING FAITH

Heb. 11:6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

Bottom line- you cannot play it safe and please God!!  Cannot just keep it comfortable or convenient and please God!

Jesus didn’t die to make us safe!!  When you come to God it INCREASES the risk, the danger!  Jesus died so we can surrender and die to self!!  

Matt. 16:25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 

Jesus says “Go and infiltrate the world with truth and love” and yes, it get’s real messy, but it also makes the biggest difference!!  And yes, it’s always risky!!  Look at this…

Acts 15:25-26  So we decided, having come to complete agreement, to send you official representatives, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

These dudes risked their lives!  Think about it??  Risking your life?  Or greeting at the door on Sunday?  Just doesn’t seem to be the same!

Risky faith in India!!  First time in my life I ever felt that I was actually in danger for being a follower of Jesus!  But man did that experience take me to a new level of living for God!!

Talk about risk-taking faith!!  Having a church of 1100 people… but realizing how safe and sanitary we were!  Deciding to go after the people nobody wanted!  Deciding to shut down ineffective, been-doing-it-this-way-for-40 years church programs.  Deciding that we had 1100 people but few who were really interested in reaching others for Christ!!  Deciding to raise, resource, and release young leaders, plant churches…

Deciding to have 3 network churches within 5 miles of each other in a city of only 40,000 people… and being told it won’t work!!  But it did!!  RISK TAKING FAITH!!

What about GCC?  What will risk taking faith look like here?  What are the faith risks that God is calling us to?  Calling you to??

I know we will be one church in multiple locations around this city… it may take a year or two, but God is in invested in this church and we just can’t sit on what He’s resourcing and readying us for!!

Here’s the question:  CAN YOU PLAY IT SAFE AND PLEASE GOD??

I know I’ve been playing it a little safe around here.  And I’ve not necessarily challenged you to deepen your commitment to Christ.  Yes, I’ve encouraged you to connect to Life Groups, etc. but I’ve been too safe about challenging you, challenging us to a deeper commitment to follow Christ!

When was the last time you/we took a faith -risk?  What is God challenging you/us to do that will require a faith-risk?  We need to process and pray about some things today:

Are you playing it safe for God?  Are you too civilized in your faith?  Do you need risk taking faith?

Myth #1: Fracking is a New Phenomenon. 

Although one would not suspect it from the news, fracking is actually a well-established technique for extracting natural gas from shale rock. According to the Society of Petroleum Engineers, fracturing wells has been around since the 1860s and hydraulic fracturing was first performed in 1947. Initially, hydraulic fracturing used oil products, including napalm treated gasoline, to stimulate the wells. In 1953, gelled water began to be the primary fluid used in fracking. Subsequent developments have focused on enhancing the fluid to improve productivity. The report cites, in 2010, that US recoverable reserves of oil increased by at least 30% and of gas by 90% because of the development of these techniques and technologies.

Hydraulic fracturing previously could only extract hydrocarbons vertically or at a slant. With the advent and widespread implementation of horizontal drilling in 2009, the US was able to produce more unconventional shale gas than Russia in 2011, despite Russia’s position presiding over the world’s largest natural gas reserves.

Myth #2: Fracking Fluids are Wholly Harmful

One of the main controversial points maintains that fracking fluids are poisonous and seeping into the environment. It is important to look at the components of the fluids rather than an aggregate. Fracking fluid consists of predominantly of water and proppants, which are particles that prop open fissures so that the gas may be released. Proppants are usually fine sand. Actual chemicals comprise a small minority, 1% or less, of the fluid, and serve a variety of purposes, from thickening the water to dissolving minerals.

Water typically makes up about 90% of the fracking fluid. Energyfromshale.org cites that fracking fluid consists of 90% water. FracFocus, cites a figure of 99% for both water and proppants. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cites a figure of 1% chemicals in a fracking fluid mixture, with the remaining 99% comprising of water and proppants.

As far as that 1% of the mixture, the composition varies widely between wells and companies. One can find the composition of mixtures at individual wells, self-disclosed by the company fracking the well, at FracFocus.

Examining the disclosures of several companies, one can find a motley assortment of chemicals involved. The American Petroleum Institute (API) cites chemicals that  are found in everyday life, ranging from those found in table salt to laundry detergent and antifreeze, as the primary components of chemical portion of the fracking fluid.  Halliburton plainly shows the fluids involved in fracking at different wells around the country with links to the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for each chemical. Taking the Pennsylvania WaterFrac Formulation from the Halliburton site as an example, one can see numerous chemicals that, as one might expect, are clearly not made for human consumption and serve industrial purposes. In this sense, the chemicals are poisonous, but remain common, such as hydrochloric acid, and not unlike household chemicals used in everyday life. One can see a full list of fracking fluid chemicals in an EPA Report. 

The industry, clearly sensing the mistrust and backlash in the popular perception of fracking, has begun changing the formulation of fracking fluid and including components from the food industry. A Halliburton report shows that such fracking fluid sourced from the food industry even has superior qualities as a fracking fluid. There have even been reports of potable fracking fluid, however, one must remember that most fracking fluid still uses the traditional chemicals previously mentioned.

In short, fracking fluids are mostly harmless as they consist of water, however, they also contain elements, such as sand, solvents, acids, alcohols, and detergents that would certainly not be acceptable for human consumption. As with almost any industrial or manufacturing process, the chemicals involved are hardly expected to be beneficial or even neutral to humans.  

Myth #3: Fracking is Depleting Water Supplies

A typical well will use about 2-4 million gallons of water. The industry prefers non-potable water as it doesn’t interfere with human consumption and this water can come from ground and surface water, industrial waste, and recycled water from previous wells. In a report by the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC), the “water use for shale gas development will use for shale gas development will range from less than 0.1% to 0.8% of total water use by basin.  Because the development of shale gas is new in some areas, these water needs may still challenge supplies and infrastructure.” Although fracking appears to use up an extraordinary amount of water, one must put it into perspective. An olympic size swimming pool contains 660,000 gallons of water and New York City uses 1.1 billion gallons of water daily. Oil and gas wells are not an existential threat to water supplies, but, as noted, may overpower existing local water infrastructure as the wells require large amounts of water in a short time. As a result, many companies choose to recycle water used for fracking.

Myth #4: Groundwater becomes Contaminated through Fracking 

A constant worry for people living near areas with fracking is that the gas and chemicals will seep into the water supply. Indeed, there have been reports of this occurring, with a Duke University study apparently confirming the phenomenon, as well as the  Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection doing the same. It is important to remember that fracking actually occurs below the water table. However, with these cases, it is not hydraulic fracturing itself that is at fault. Rather, it is the failure of well casings that allowed for the leaks into the environment. Rightfully, the perpetrating company should be held responsible for failing to maintain casings that can withstand the pressures generated with fracking. A somewhat dated EPA report from 2004 confirmed that there has been no evidence of groundwater contamination from fracking. The industry itself has developed standards for ensuring that the wells are harmless and inflict minimal harm to the surrounding environment. It is important to note that it is in the best interest of the company to maintain good relations with local communities and regulators; it may cost a company more to forgo well safety standards and would be punished by market and regulatory forces appropriately.

Essentially, fracking is harmless when performed correctly and up to industry standards. Companies failing to meet these standards may allow leaks from faulty casings, which has resulted in some contamination, and should be punished accordingly.

Myth #5: Fracking Causes Harmful Earthquakes

Recent seismic activities in shale gas areas suggest that fracking may be the cause. For example, Oklahoma seems to have increased seismic activity since the shale gas boom. One must remember that correlation does not imply causation, though it appears that fracking does have the potential to cause earthquakes. The International Energy Agency cites that earthquakes can occur, but they are often small and inconsequential, registering about a two on the Richter scale. As such, these earthquakes are “discernible by humans” but not powerful enough to cause surface damage. Moreover, it should be noted that other human activities also cause small earthquakes, including mining, damming, large building construction, and using geothermal wells. With the Oklahoma quakes, the state actually rests on the Wilzetta Fault and has the potential for some powerful earthquakes, including the maligned 2011 earthquake that registered a 5.6 on the Richter scale. Randy Keller of the Oklahoma Geological Survey states that “it’s awfully hard to imagine a hydro-frack being involved with one of this size. We also have to determine if there were any frack jobs going on there right now, but I don’t think there were—it didn’t happen in an area of particularly active oil and gas exploration.” He also mentions that human activity should not be discounted from the equation. It also possible that waste water disposal lubricates already existing faults in the earth, leading to increased seismic activity. Furthermore, the increased activity may be a statistical anomly.

One should be careful to avoid attributing earthquakes to fracking directly. Maintaining a spurious relationship of causation and correlation obscures other causes of earthquakes. However  it appears that fracking and related activities have the potential to cause small earthquakes, but nothing near the magnitude of the 5.6 earthquake.

Today I discovered two from the US which are pretty evangelical in their passion for a super healthy raw food lifestyle.

Fully Raw Kristina is a little grating in her relentless enthusiasm (and that’s coming from a very enthusiastic person!) but her recipes are pretty cool, and there’s a girl called Megan Elizabeth who also has some fairly addictive (if long-winded) videos. They both have some great ideas for how to make raw veg seem like hot carbs, which I guess is helping me to understand why so many people like fake meat – I am missing things like rice and pasta, so the idea of curly strips of courgette that I can almost pretend are pasta is actually quite appealing. A bit like Quorn pretending to be chicken.

I have a few reservations, however. It might just be a cultural thing what with them being American but their positivity (particularly Kristina’s) verges on near-cult fervour at some points. And both of them have an ‘inspirational’ ill-to-healthy story behind them to add a little clout to their pearly white smiles.

I don’t mean to be cynical, I guess it’s just the English in me. Maybe I should be embracing the life-changing opportunities of raw foodism and leaving comments like ‘OMG I love you!’ and ‘I really hope I meet someone like you when I go off to college’… But I just can’t help feeling a little uneasy about it. I mean, great that it makes such a great positive difference to so many peoples’ lives, as it apparently does from the YouTube comments at least, and great that more people are following a more compassionate vegan lifestyle as a result, but I just find it a little OTT.

People don’t seem to be able to do things by halves, is the problem. And I think that accounts for lots of craziness in the world. Lovely as Megan and Kristina are, they somewhat bash you around the head with their vitality and happiness. Evangelical is the word. It’s like they’re absolutely living and breathing raw foodism, and just can’t wait to spread the love and new-found wisdom to their dear listeners on YouTube, and anyone else who’ll listen. Raw food totally changed their lives. Like, completely and utterly, beyond all imagining. You’d never believe these glowing, super-skinny-yet-toned, endlessly energetic ladies had once been anything else – but they had, and their raw diet is purely to thank for the miraculous transformation.

Then there’s the commercial aspect. They obviously make their living from this and so every so often they advertise their cookery books or cooking courses at the end of their videos. Fair enough I guess, good for them that they can make a living from it. Great that they can spend their days leading paragon raw lifestyles under the seemingly constant sunshine of the southern US states.

Only I now genuinely find myself thinking I should buy a spiraliser.

For those uninitiated into raw foodism, a spiraliser is something that slices vegetables very thinly into spirals, so that they form into strips resembling tagliatelle. Spiralised courgette (or zucchini as they say) seems to be a staple of almost all savoury raw dishes. A spiraliser is £28 on Amazon – almost my entire week’s budget. I’m pretty sure, as a wise friend pointed out, that I could get exactly the same result using a simple vegetable peeler. Yet I’m totally wooed by the spiraliser.

Likewise with the Vitamix. Now this piece of kitchen kit is undoubtedly pretty awesome, but then at £599 it damned well should be. I mean, really? Who can spend that kind of money on a pimped-out blender??

Evidently Kristina and Megan can. And though they never say it overtly, you get the idea that all their recipes are much better executed with such gadgets on hand. My attempts, by comparison, will be but poor imitations of their spiralised, Vitamixed goodness. I’m not quite sure why this irks me – whether its the covertly consumerist message or the first-world middle-class assumptions and preclusions it makes of the videos’ audience. But irk me it does.

And it’s not just an issue with this tanned dynamic duo, some of my new favourite food bloggers are just as guilty. If it’s not the Vitamix blender its the specialist dehydrator backed by many a raw food blog to the extent that I was really beginning to feel it must be essential until one post pointed out that an oven on the lowest setting does exactly the same thing. The top of the range dehydrator recommended by most of the blogs is £280 on Amazon. That’s a serious commitment to an eating habit. And I’m sure there’s a whole lot of other raw food paraphernalia that I’ve yet to encounter.

I guess it’s just really hit me quite what a ‘movement’ raw foodism is, and quite what an exclusive one at that. Aside from the potentially significant financial commitments, you really do need to spend more time preparing a nutritionally-balanced raw vegan meal than a cooked veggie meal (hell, you could just pop a macaroni cheese ready meal in the microwave if it came to it). So you need the luxury of a lifestyle that allows that kind of time.

That said, like anything, raw food can obviously be done on the cheap if needs be – as I’m trying to do. And despite these criticisms I don’t mean to take anything away from the ethical considerations of raw foodism, which I’m sure are all very worthy and probably a good deal more consistent thanks to their coherence in extremity. I wonder if it’s inevitable for the public face of any unconventional lifestyle choice to seem (and perhaps just be) ‘preachy’ and a tad smug. Maybe. There are probably hundreds of humble raw foodists out there who just get on quietly with munching their sprouting beans and don’t connect diet so acutely to their psychological and emotional well-being. Or to a Western compulsion to justify their identity by their purchases.

(Raw) food for thought, anyway.

Incorrect matters is a Berlin Indie label specialized only for unconventional, unique bowties.

Produced entirely by hand which made every single piece a one of a kind.

Incorrect matters would be perfect for everyone who is up for something different.

Our principal is :

„We’ll use everything but garments“.

The entrance to Caulfield Park Community School. Photo: Joyce Leong

Down a residential district, stood a graffiti infested one storey structure.Sandwiched between private homes, it was by no means spectacular, but nevertheless had the uncanny ability to turn heads.

Ironically, its charm lies mainly in the invasion of graffiti on the property. It was not just name tags or tasteless graffiti which proved to be an eyesore.In fact, it was a very pleasant and vibrant sight, an artistic piece of work.

Just as one was about to pass it off as a deserted property fortunate enough to be vandalised by actual graffiti artists, a closer look would unveil a surprising revelation that it was actually a school.

Hung amidst the graffiti, the school sign identified the seemingly vandalised property as the Caulfield Park Community School (CPCS). One of the seven community schools in metropolitan Melbourne, CPCS provides alternative means of education for kids who are unsuited for mainstream education.

The school adopted an unconventional approach to education, with curriculums designed to nurture the kids’ personal and emotional development, their area of passion, and academic competence in literacy and numeracy.

Upon entrance into the school, a mixture of distinctive sounds flowed in the air. Making out the source of each sound was not a challenge, given the compact space of the school compound.

With only a total of fifty students, a huge campus was not necessary.  In fact, a small and cosy area was preferred to enable closeness and encourage communication between the kids and the staff.

The lack of formal hierarchy among staff members, and between teachers and students is a unique essence of CPCS.

“We are trying to build a community here, everyone is a participant. It’s quite a flat organisation, and we work collaboratively together,” says Mr Steve Kearney, the principal of CPCS.

The circular layout of the classrooms, resembling an arena. Photo: Joyce Leong

The handful of classrooms were arranged around an arena, which served as a little garden and sitting area.

Down the circular corridor, the first room had interiors resembling a kitchen in a television studio, within; a culinary class was on going.

The clattering of plates was accompanied by the sound of the strumming of an electric guitar, a rhythmic drum beat, and the buzzing of a guitar amplifier, streaming from the room right next door.

It was a music studio where a rock band, formed by students in CPCS, was jamming. Students were free to use the equipment provided by the school, for their musical endeavour.

As the rock tunes of Bon Jovi and The Black Keys serenades the area, further down the corridor, in the arts room, hip hop music was blaring from a set of speakers, as students sketched away intently on their drawing pads.

The music studio. Photo: Joyce Leong

The culinary classroom. Photo: Joyce Leong

The variety of activities demonstrates CPCS’s passion based learning approach, which focused on the kid’s strength in their area of passion.

The aim is to cultivate renewed engagement in learning. “It is very empowering. As students build up their self-esteem, they will feel good about learning again,” shares Mr Kearney.

This explains the graffiti art around the school. “We are trying to teach the kids to refrain from tagging and develop their actual art skills. By encouraging the kids to pit their art work on the school, they have ownership of the space and actually look after it,” Mr Kearney explains.

Peering into each class, the teachers are actively engaged with the students in activities. Displaying the school’s unique approach in education, where teachers are class participants, facilitating and engaging together with the students.

“We are adopting a programme around communicative enquiry, which is a question type of approach where the teacher is more of a facilitator of learning than the traditional, instructional teacher,” expresses Mr Kearney.

Jack Harrington is a former student and current youth worker in CPCS. Reflecting upon his past experience, he expressed the importance in establishing personal connection with the kids.

“Most kids in CPCS have not as well an upbringing so mainstream schools don’t really work for them. When I went to CPCS, it was completely different. Different way of learning and it’s great. Teachers are like your friends, you call them by their first name, cracking jokes. You don’t have that anger you have towards the teachers like you usually do at school. I won’t be as far as I’ve gotten now if I haven’t been to CPCS. I probably would have dropped out. ” Harrington relates.

Despite the constant challenge, the successful outcomes made everything worthwhile for the teachers.

As Mr Kearney reminisce fondly, “Some kids come back in their late twenties, dropping in and saying ‘I just wanted to let you know, that I turned out ok. I’ve a family, a job and I feel good about myself. If it wasn’t for the school, I won’t be right here.’ That’s not only my credit. It’s a joint effort.”

Principal of CPCS, Mr Steve Kearney. Photo: Joyce Leong

Jackson Harrington, former student and current youth worker in CPCS. Photo: Joyce Leong

Interview with a former student and current support worker in CPCS -

The art and music expressions of kids in CPCS -

A murul painted by students on the walls of CPCS -

End of year show. Just a little sneak peak of my final art project at A Level.

]]> http://karenhudspethlgk.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/jewellery-cabinets-impressive-unconventional-and-eminently-beneficial/ Thu, 02 May 2013 04:18:36 +0000 Karen Hudspeth http://karenhudspethlgk.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/jewellery-cabinets-impressive-unconventional-and-eminently-beneficial/ http://itissrinivasan.wordpress.com/2013/05/01/book-review-nuts-southwest-airlines-crazy-recipe-for-business-and-personal-success/ Wed, 01 May 2013 10:15:36 +0000 itissrinivasan http://itissrinivasan.wordpress.com/2013/05/01/book-review-nuts-southwest-airlines-crazy-recipe-for-business-and-personal-success/

Nuts; Not just what Southwest Airlines serve to the passengers on their aircraft, but also how the management and their practices appear to the public.

 The book talks about the unconventional methods of people and situation management undertaken at Southwest Airlines. The courage to go beyond convention stems from the courage and attitude of the co-founders Herb Kelleher, Rollin King, Gary C. Kelly. The book also talks about the struggles faced by the company even before the first flight took off from the ground and how the employees who started off with the company seem to have that attitude of struggle literally built into them.

 The book starts with how the airlines is hugely successful to date and also talks about a good number of situations that exhibit the nature of the airlines. It then goes on to talk about the various fields (management, opportunity seeking/ building, customer service, employee practices etc) in which the airlines has abandoned or literally, shunned convention and achieved tremendous success.

 Once you read this, you can understand where airlines like Indigo get their inspiration from. (on a separate not, as far as Indigo is concerned, they are doing a pretty good job to have taken this idea and Indian-ised it. Hope they have read this book as well and will prevent the mistakes that other copy-cats did).

This same person who told me to work the room yesterday and “go meet everyone”. At first I was a little intimidated I didn’t have the luxury of having someone introduce me to “everyone”. Everyone being the local politicians and business people in attendance, I had assumed. They say you are your biggest critic, and I have to say I’ve been rather lazy at some events I’ve been to in the past half a year. It felt like a long time since I had worked a room. I felt a little rusty. But at the end of the day I was just making excuses. I went up to the front where the press and local politicians were and I started to mingle. After about half an hour I was kind of proud of myself.

Halfway through the night I run into the same person and was asked, “Did you meet everyone?”. I said totally I met everyone up there.

“What about everyone else?”

I was kind of taken aback. I started with the far end of the room from table to table and started to meet everyone. I didn’t get through to everyone it was a very big room, but I did cover a good amount.

What is my point? I think that with most pieces of advice/wisdom there is a flip side of the equation that gets less attention than its glamorous counterpart. Stepping out of your comfort zone is a sexier, more dense topic than getting a lazy schmo to step into their comfort zone. But it is equally important.

It’s kind of similar to concerning yourself about a happy day someone has had when asked “How are you” as much as you would if they answer, “it was terrible”.

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Amazon Author Page: Thomas Jerome Baker

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Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 2013

I wrote Epiphany in A Cluttered Room because writing is life for me. I live to write and I write to live. It’s the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning and it’s the last thing I do at night. If I stopped writing I would probably stop living. It is who I am, a writer.

Writing gives me the opportunity to share my experience and views, my creativity and.my passions with other people around the world, and that is what I do in this memoir. It is absolutely amazing to me, even nowadays, that what I write from my cluttered office in my home in Chile gets read by some person in China or Turkey or England or anyplace on the globe. Maybe they are trying to relax or find out something about a topic or essay that I’ve written. Who knows?

As you can see, writing is powerful. It’s modern day magic, and I’m the magician. Beyond the marvels of magic, I feel compelled to share my stories with other people in hopes that my words may provide the inspiration that they have been looking for, to create hope and support for anyone who needs it.

Some while back, I realized I was born a teacher. That is to say, my God-given ability, the gift of my birth, was teaching. I did nothing, I simply am and always have been, a teacher, that’s what I was born to be… http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C8AUF32

Teaching and learning is the common thread that runs throughout my life. In everything I have ever done, I have first learned something, then learned it even better, deeper, more thoroughly, by teaching what I had learned, to others.

I began my teaching career when I was four years old. That was the age at which I learned to read, to write, and to do math. By the time I entered first grade, I was many years ahead of my classmates in terms of linguistic development. Therefore, it was only natural for my teachers to encourage me to help classmates. And so it all began.

This book, “therefore, is a memoir of sorts. It takes me back to the days of my earliest teachers, to a very elementary time and place in my life.

From the clutter of a room will grow the central understanding about what makes me the person I am today. Enjoy the journey back with me, to sources of knowledge, marvelous and majestic, regardless of where they may be found. Enjoy the journey, as the memory is a treasured one…

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From the Oxford American Dictionary:

unconventional |ˌənkənˈven sh ənl|

adjective

not based on or conforming to what is generally done or believed 

Last weekend when I was having coffee with a friend of mine we were discussing the idea of living unconventionally. In conversation she mentioned being a paid a compliment for her ability to move outside the flow of conventionality, not feeling the pressure to conform; in fact in the ability to push against that conformity. 

 In the United States we have been taught a narrative since birth from society, media, entertainment, and most likely even our family, about who we are and who we should be. These instructions teach us that if we try hard, work with passion, make “smart” choices, and follow the model  we will be on the right track. When we are 25, or so, we will get married, have a baby within a couple years, buy a home, and easily pay off the student debt we accrued obtaining our undergraduate degrees with the employment waiting for us after graduation. 

 But for many of us this is not a reality. We have struggled to gain employment, citing a faltering economy, overwhelming student loan debt that requires higher salaries, and a lack of traditional jobs overall. For us our careers have become a puzzle we slowly find pieces to all over the world. 

Right now I am on the job hunt yet again. I am searching for what will be the 6th stage of employment after I graduated college 6 years ago. It is unreal to me that i have gone through such change, so frequently, and been able to still stand on my feet. 

 As our conversation continued it came to light that the reason I have landed on my feet  is not because I did it on my own. Rather, it is that I have embraced that a non traditional life style is first, acceptable and second, helpful. I have been through a great deal in the past 6 years, but those people I have surrounded myself with have helped me beyond comprehension. Through being in relationship with these people I have learned where my passions truly lie, how to be supportive to others, and how to see that although I believe we are all created equal, we certainly are not all born into equal standing. 

Living a life that is unconventional does not suggest that I have failed at the American Dream. Rather, it has allowed me to learn the stories of other dreams and peoples. It has given me experience I would not have found in a 9-5. It has allowed me to grow out of a narrow world view that does not encompass those who are different from me. All of this has allowed me to see that the true dream of the people in this nation should be to return to a life of community and support in which we move into unconventional life, into lives outlined by our own perimeters, and into the unknown with excitement. 

Furthermore, I would like to state that although this has been my experience, there are many people who cannot find other people to be in community with or to walk with them on their path. I am fortunate and I am privileged; I know this. And it is our job as people with privilege to recognize that we need to extend that sense of community to others in the way they need community and not the way we think they need help. This journey should be one of compromise, collaboration, and community through understanding that we are all tied together by our humanity. I wait for the day when that is the conventional dream.