came across this magic corner on my daily romp around lincoln park, and it reminded me of some of my favorite nooks around san telmo. in fact, i'm starting to get the feeling that buenos aires and chicago are enchanted under similar charms...

finished my school week off right...
by the way, it's TEA shisha! contains no tobacco- who knew? tea, why aren't all plants as miraculous as you?

AGLOW CONFERENCE: MY FIELD NOTES
make of this exactly what you will. i just want to share with you this crazy-ass saturday

10:30: in the car
-"you know, a woman at aglow was legally blind her whole adult life and with our prayers, jesus cured her. four years later, she died of cancer, but you know, jesus had done her such a huge favor."
-"here at aglow we pray especially for israel, and the muslims."
-the hotel, located in a jewish neighborhood, has recently fallen under management by pakistanis
-"ok god, show us where to park the car."

11:00: the holiday inn, pre-aglow conference
-"those democrats get away with everything, but they will be judged under the jurisdiction of the lord."
-very international group- filipinos, jamaicans, colombians, polish
-aglow regional chapters are called "lighthouses"
-everyone knows exactly who i am. "you're the one who's been all around the world, right? oh, i do hope you'll testify to the group and to the lord about your experiences!"
-"i can see the pure light in you, child, i can see you follwing your grandma's good path"

11:30: the conference begins
-promoting campaign "save christian america"
-"god is not uplifted in the u.s.a. as he deserves, and we are a christian nation! and the end is near us, people! the lord told me in '95 that the end is so near, that people will be saved or not, but we will be one nation under god! so make sure your family and freinds are all saved, because if they're not, they're going to hell. and i'm telling you, jesus is coming back soon."
-"we need to stand up for what we believe, for the kids who are going to hell! they don't want us to talk in the schools or in the market, but we have freedom of speech too and if i want to spread the word of jesus, i will. at football games they scream and act like idiots for their teams. we are on god's team, and we need to shout it to the heavens."
-"walk in fear of god, not of man"

12:00: i am introduced
-"we have a very special young lady, a world-traveling missionary here with us today" (?!?!?!)
-i am asked to speak but i simply can't. i am clearly the only one here faking faith and the risk of losing face in front of my grandma is too daunting

12:30: music and prayer
-one jamaican woman leads the whole group in prayer. it starts structured, with only her speaking, though soon everyone begins calling out
-music fades in, all structure is lost and people continue to pray and plead and shout individually
-one filipino woman kneels and cries over and over "forgive us lord! forgive us!"
-i am the only person in the room not speaking or singing

1:00: the prophet speaks
-her name is mary phillips
-nursing major from u. illinois, lated ordained as a prophet by.......??? god i guess??
-she is tight-lipped, small-eyed, wearing a pink suit
-"god has been in pursuit of you, has had plans for you since before he laid down the ground of the earth"
-everyone turns their chairs toward the prophet
-he is a "relational" god (real word?)
-"if a prophecy is negative, it's not a true prophecy" grandma
-"he knew the end since the beginning, and he plans according to the council of his will and wisdom"
-now several others are taking notes just like me

1:30: personal prophecies
-everyone gets a personal prophecy
-prophecies are recorded live so that each person can take home a cassette tape of their's
-"i have my last one at home but i don't even know where it is! ha!"
-"i keep all my prophecies in one place. i have like ten since 1952."
-there are different schools for the prophetic
-"i went to see a mexican prophet in new mexico, and now, i don't talk spanish or anything, but i swear i could understand the prophecy, that god led it to my ears in english. when i was working with the navajos, too."
-during the personal prophecies, an elderly filipino woman kneels between my grandma and i, takes our hands, and begins to talk lowly. she tells us that her married son has begun dating his boss's married daughter, and is terrified that he will lose his job. she begins crying quietly, asking my grandmother what to do. grandma says to give the problem to jesus, and begins to pray for her. the woman sobs. she asks, "what about fasting? should i fast?" "absolutely." my grandma proceeds to heal her pain with her hands and lift her up to the lord.
-before leaving, the daughter of the elderly filipino woman approaches us and thanks my grandma, that she was the only one who her mother would trust to help her heal.
-and i receive my prophecy. this is my business.

.......................................................

so yeaaaaaaaa.................

i think i need a nap and a drink

this morning i'm going with my grandma to an event for her christian women's group, aglow.

i am not religiously affiliated with anything and so going to christian events with grandma (who affiliates everything with religion) can be rather eye-opening for me, like taking a tiny trip to another world and experiencing a foreign culture.

truthfully, i tried to get out of going (don't tell jesus), but my grandmother is quite good at reeling people into occasions like this and once she's got you in her clutches, all bets are off. plus, these women have apparently been praying for me for years, guiding god's hand to carry me safely through my travels, which is really bizarre but appreciated, i suppose!

and so i've decided to take this as an anthropological opportunity to experience and observe this branch of society that is, at least for a new englander, unnervingly prevalent in midwestern american life (plus i heard that the guest speaker is a real live prophet, so that oughtta be good)... i'll post my field notes later!

yo i was just wondering:

HOW is brazilian music SO good?!?!

i'm digging so hard on a couple different grupos brasileiros, each with a distinct sound but all with these common threads of sexy other-worldiness... makes me want to learn portuguese stat, just so i can make such lush sounds with my mouth.

anyway, i wanted to share some favorite songs from beautiful brazil! some of the videos are kind of bogus, esp. the one with the spanish flag...?

averaging like 500 pages of reading per week for these classes, may as well multitask and get a little brown!!

so about chicago!

i have two weeks of class under my belt, and i'm exhausted!! every day i leave my house at 7:50 am with a whole day in my bag and usually return around 11 pm, burnt out with a back ache.

i don't mean to sound dramatic- i am loving my time here! my classes are fascinating, my teachers are inspiring, and my classmates are (generally) impressively well-spoken and informed. to be honest, it took me a few days to brush off the cobwebs of my academically critical mind, but the 500 pages that i'm averaging per week of enthographical readings have certainly pushed me along.

not to mention, the city is ridiculously gorgeous. i can't get over the hazy morning skyline when i'm driving in on the expressway,


my mouth hangs open when i stare out the window on the L (here in chi, the metro runs above ground, so you whiz and weave through the buildings- it's like a rollercoaster.... except very very slow),


and when i'm at my friend matthew's apartment, i practically drool on his window while admiring the view from 32 stories up.


so busy as i may be, the metropolitan eye candy is so abundant that somehow even my early morning commute is a treat to me!

happy easter from my new chicago abode! my first week in the windy city has been quite a whirlwind, but more on that later. my cousins are here and grandma just turned on the polka- duty calls!