Further Up and Further In

I am Martha, hands down. She is one of the characters who is easy to type-cast into modern day life. Jesus gently rebukes Martha in Luke 10:41-42 but it could easily be me. "Francesca, Francesca, you are anxious and troubled about many things but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her." The rebuke is meant for me as much as it was for Martha. This past quad, I've been in Art Survey 101 and was asked to choose an image, preferably with religious connotations/meaning, for my image interaction journal that would take me the whole quad to complete. I chose Tintoretto's image ' Christ in the House of Martha and Mary '. Not exactly how I would chosen to have painted the story, if I could paint fit to be seen, but I appreciated the meaning behind the painting. I knew in my heart that I was and have always been Martha-oriented. That's my personality and how I am driven. I have a type-A personality. I work h...

Once upon a time... there was a gardener who planted a little seed in the rich, fertile soil of Portland, Oregon. The gardener gave the seed plenty of water, sunlight and nutrition. He nurtured it for a long time, in hopes that one day it would grow and sprout. After nearly 12 years, the seed did sprout, coming out of the darkness into the light. However, soon after the seed had sprouted, the gardener transplanted the now-sprout across the country to the thinner, rockier soil of Deering, New Hampshire. This little plant had to decide if it wanted to grow. The soil was different. The water tasted weird. The sunlight didn't feel the same. And the plant didn't get the same nourishment that it was used to. But... the gardener hadn't left the plant. In fact, the gardener was still faithfully tending the plant, encouraging it to grow in this new environment. It took the plant a little while but it eventually started to put down roots. It began to stretch up towards the sunligh...

The natural outflow of the heart, that God intended, is love. The natural outflow of love from Chinese people is good food. I step into the kitchen, ready to help with dinner prep. I see someone washing dishes, one person deboning a chicken, someone else mixing something in a bowl, pots of water boiling, a guy chopping veggies but the thing that hits me is the language. All that I hear is Chinese, Mandarin or Cantonese, I can't even tell. But it's being vigorously jabbered around the kitchen as someone asks a question, someone else responds, comments and opinions are flying around and it all blends together for me. "Wait, wait, time out", you're thinking. "Don't you, Francesca, speak Chinese? Aren't you at least Asian the last time I checked?" Yes, I am still Asian and yes, I am Chinese. But no, I do not speak the language. I wish that I could but being of the third generation, I'm not bilingual as most of the second generation are, ...

Thankful for home Clear white droplets adorning Sweet frosty kisses This photo was taken at my home in New Hampshire over Thanksgiving break. I woke up to a beautifully thin layer of white over everything and had to take some pictures of the outdoors. This was one of my favorites.

Traber lawn If you were on 3East this past Friday night, you may have heard things like this... *bouncing down the hallway* "guys, it's SNOWING!!!" "Wait, is it really?" "Let's look outside the window!" "I've never seen snow before!!" "This is so exciting!!!" "It's so pretty" "It'll probably keep snowing and be all white when we wake up tomorrow morning" "If it is, I'm going to FLIP out!" "Who wants to do the Kingdom Run??!" (*ahem*, Liz) And so forth... Saturday morning arose and we found everything beautifully covered in white and the snow still falling thick and fast. My roommate gazed out our dorm window exclaiming about how pretty everything looks with the delicate fluffiness lighting upon trees, houses and cars. I've lived through many New Hampshire winters and even one Canadian one so snow isn't new to me but I am reminded of the awe and delig...

"What are you?" The question is often put Kindly, curiously, jokingly, "Take a guess" I reply with a smile For I take no offense They often guess right I'm Chinese through and through But I'm also American born and bred Who am I? A Chinese American Christian girl Who is more American than Asian Who doesn't speak the language Who didn't grow up going to Chinese church or school Who has mostly white friends Who feels slightly out of place in Chinese culture But very comfortable in white culture Who straddles both worlds And yet is not fully at home in either What do I do? I spend time with white friends I make Asian ones but not because they're Asian But because they are people I share my culture with those who are interested I give out Pocky snacks and guava candies to my friends I eagerly jump in on a Chinatown expedition I try to share with others the heritage that I don't fully understand myself Why is it this ...

At 12:30pm in the afternoon, my history professor announced, "We're going to go outside and do a race!" About 30 college students filed out with some groaning and complaining, knowing how hot and muggy it was outside. We somewhat mockingly complained that "it wasn't fair" as we had just been asked to define the words, "fair", "equal", and "justice". Little did we know how "unfair" the race would be. We lined up along the sidewalk with the majority being white females with a handful of guys and other ethnicities mixed in. Then my professor started calling out statements such as... If you have ever visited a foreign country, take one step forward. If you had more than 50 books in your house growing up, take one step forward. If English is not your first language, take one step back. If you have a family member on welfare, take one step back. If you can walk into any grocery store and buy the staple foods of your...