*hope*

this year, my final thesis draft week (aka crunch time aka crazy town) happens to coincide with holy week.

which makes this poem all the more appropriate.

“Hope” is the thing with feathers 

By Emily Dickinson

 

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

That perches in the soul -

And sings the tune without the words -

And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -

And sore must be the storm -

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -

And on the strangest Sea -

Yet - never - in Extremity,

It asked a crumb - of me.

 

 

march was quite a doozy....looking forward to april, where changes are in the air!

 

 

cups of coffee:  working on first

 

mood:  fatigued yet hopeful

all that is gold

“All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

river of gold, instagram, me

cups of coffee:  2

mood:  pensive

 

inexpressible

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
- 1 Peter 1:8-9

i'm weary. please, Lord, let this be true today.


cups of coffee:  a lot

mood:  tired in so many ways

unexpected beauty

this is a view from the office where i work....and this picture was one of those one-in-a-million shots on a day when the lighting was perfect. i actually gasped when i saw this and scrambled to grab my iphone and snap a shot before the moment passed. completely unadulterated, no filter.

unexpected beauty. thank God life is full of these moments.

also - i'm obsessed with the old water towers in this city. OBSESSED. i'm often in danger of tripping over my own feet when i'm walking down the street because i can't stop looking up to admire these remnants from another age, perched like ancient guards, watching this city speed along.


cups of coffee:  3

mood:  busy busy

circus

the circus, marc chagall

sometimes, this is what life feels like....colorful, chaotic, melancholic undertones but also achingly beautiful....strange sadness mixed with delight....

two more weeks until this current grueling schedule ends.

four more weeks until i hand in the *final* draft of my thesis.

mood:  wistful

cups of coffee:  2

data, data, data

'data' is the magic word these days as every industry is trying to validate what they are doing and why. and the whole idea of impact measurement is like a golden ticket in the non-profit art world...except it's not always the right kind of ticket.

this is the crux of my master's thesis: the disconnect between what data can measure and the realities of how art can benefit communities. it's not just about trying to measure what might be immeasurable according to current criteria and metrics; it's also about providing organizations with the right questions and tools that a) actually prove useful and can be consistently utilized over time and b) enable them to understand how to gauge their own program effectiveness and communicate that information to funders in a way that's coherent.

it's like i'm swimming in these issues, to the point where i can't stop thinking about it. i am obsessed.

measuring impact is a hot topic right now, and here's a great recent post by david brooks in the nytimes about why data collection and interpretation can be not only inaccurate but actually insufficient:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/opinion/brooks-what-data-cant-do.html

love this quote:
"One of the points was that data is never raw; it’s always structured according to somebody’s predispositions and values. The end result looks disinterested, but, in reality, there are value choices all the way through, from construction to interpretation."- David Brooks

at the end of the day, it's not just about the answers you seek but the questions you ask (or don't ask).


cups of coffee: 3

mood:  nerding out

"he's my brother; he ain't heavy" *

31 years. not much has changed.

happy birthday to my favorite brother!


cups of coffee:  2

mood:  good

* this is in reference to some lyrics of an old song that is often used in hokey family/christian imagery. which, of course, my brother and i mock mercilessly. to this day.