Andrea: Found it in my Research

I thought this was interesting. It seems pertinent to recent Ubu-discussion since so many of us have been working hard to make Bluffton a safe place for everyone.

Jennifer: Why we rock :)

Hi there all,

I feel like Ubuntu is a pretty cool group of folks - just thought you should know.

Ubuntu just sent in over $200 which we raised by making solidarity bracelets and pins. People still wear them - myself included. I love mine. It was especially cool to be wearing when I was working with Haitian displaced persons in the Dominican over spring break.

Tonight Kristen gave a presentation about the creation of a safe zone on campus. She did a great job getting people talking - we filled a whole white board with ideas! I'm sooo happy it went so well and that so many people came. I think it's easy for LGBTQ alliances to get swept under the rug here at Bluffton but people were really respectful today and it is obvious that people want to change things on campus. The presentation was in Stutzman and it was way over 1/2 full.

Friday is "Cabaret for a Cause" - we're putting on a great show of student and faculty musical talent complete with a house band and refreshments. In case your interested in coming its 9 pm in Bobs and we're asking for a $3 donation but if you want to give more that's great. All the money is going for MCC.

Coming up in April Karla is in charge of a walk to raise money for the West Ohio food bank. Last year FCSA sponsored a walk and it was incredibly successful so I'm sure this will be no different. Ubuntu is planning on walking.

On the same day as the walk Shawn is helping raise money for Young Life through a pancake breakfast. He's got signs all around campus so I hope he gets a lot of support!

Plus like 1/2 of Riley Court is in Shining Through and they spent their entire spring break touring around and spreading God's love through song and worship.

I mean I don't mean to brag about us all...but I think we're all just really cool. I'm so glad I live here. I hear that Res. Life is trying to make the other theme housing group permanent after this year and I would love to see an "Ubu-Jr" next year. The problem is almost everyone is graduating and some of the rest of us will be gone next semester for a variety of reasons. No matter what happens I think this is one of the best Riley Courts ever...but I might be a little biased ;)

Shawn: Why do I do this to myself?

I feel solo right now. I know the world around me is changing and my thoughts and how i view the world are changing as well. I just want everything to slow down, i want to take it all in, understand it all and savor the moment.

I had an extremely frustrating evening in Lima tonight. Does what I do matter? Duh, of course it does, but at the same time I feel stranded. I'm the only one driving over a hundred miles twice a week, dealing and talking to youth about the issues that face them and shouldering their burdens with them. (I ask for no sympathy). I see the disparaging situations they face and am saddened that the only reasons many of them come to the youth events are for food or to get away from an abusive family lifestyle. Does what I say matter to them at all? Does my helping them with their burdens make any significant difference in their lives? Or am I simply wasting time?

I almost envy the students that are here for social hour. And the piece of paper they'll receive in 4 years with minimal effort and parties every weekend. I would enjoy not having the added stresses of Lima, attempting to stay above a 3.6, and continue to keep up valuable friendships and be a respected member of our community, but I am struggling this week especially (midterms week, the week before spring break) with finding peace, sleep and time to simply be.

Then there's Zac. Zac is one of my kids from YL and is now a regular on campus Monday nights after club. I have no clue where the kid is spiritually, but I am truly blessed to be able to spend time with him and invest in his life. Zac's one of those kids who is easy to befriend and almost everyone loves to be around. He usually knows what to do to put a smile on your face and, as a sophmore in hs, already has a heart for the needy and broken around him. Its kids like him that are the reason I sacrifice myself and drain myself. In the end it will be totally worth it. I just hope that something I say in the 4 years I have to spend with Zac and other students will resonate and that a positive change deep inside them will occur.

Kelsey and Jason: Human Drums

Kelsey helped teach us some step moves and Jason created his own. Christine has deemed them our "human drums" :)

Judah: The Responsibility of Voice

It was very interesting to me when I heard that the strong European avoidance of everything having to do with church and Christianity is largely a result of what people percieved as complicity in violence (both during WWII and in the religious wars following the Reformation). I heard about this secularization and post-Christian attitude of Europe as a warning to the U.S. churches:

we must be careful about the violence that we as the Church are currently being complicit in.

This struck a chord in me. The Church has been called out of the violent and alienating ways of the world; the Gospel is the good news about reconciliation - with God and with each other. If we are remaining in the systems of violence which we have been called out of, if we forsake the reconciliation which Christ has called us to, than is not our Church-ness and our "gospel's" Gospel-ness called into question?

How am I complicit to the violence that is currently being done in the name of American imperialism? Complicity does not simply include active support; it can also include passive indifference. If I am not raising my voice against the injustices that are being done in my name (as part of the "American People"), then will I not be called to give account on the day of Justice? "Why did you not stand for the oppressed? Why did you not resist the violence?"

The weight of this responsibility comes down even harder on people like me, who live in a place where my political voice actually has significance. I do not want to be complicit to my nation's violence; I want to do all I can to stop the violence that is being done through my country's military, economic, and cultural endeavors.

It is a simple start, but I have started writing my Senator (John McCain) more often.

• I have asked him to push for the signing of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, something that our Senate has not been able to say yes to up till now (and something that Obama is willing to sign), which has resulted in other Nuclear nations (like India and Pakistan) to also walk away from the treaty).


• I am sending a letter tomorrow that is asking McCain to be an active voice in decreasing our military presence in Afghanistan, opposing the President's surge policy. Our military presence is only destabilizing the country further, when we could be using those resources, rather, in life-giving ways towards the Afghani people.


• I am also wanting to write on the issues of Debt Relief to developing countries which we have loaned to; they should be freed to invest that money in their own people (which is badly needed) instead of paying for our high interest rates. This would be a small act of restitution towards these countries that have been so ravaged by our colonial tactics for so long, and the best kind of aid is self-empowerment towards these countries.


• I would like to advocate that we increase our trade restrictions on exports going to foreign countries. By shipping out our cheap exports (via subsidies and second-hand "charitable" giveaways), the local artisans and tradespeople are unable to compete, which therefore eradicates whole sectors of their industry.

Another way to resist that I am interested in is by avoiding the military tax. To do this, I could live below the poverty line, which would mean that I would not have to send any money to the Federal government at all.

Together, we must actively resist the systems of violence which we would otherwise be complicit in, and be willing to sacrifice the comfortable lifestyles which have been hitherto sustained by these violent acts...

Judah: The Good Life

As I sit alone in my room studying for a Hebrew exam, I pause and sip tea while listening to Beethoven's Seventh. This is the picture that would come to mind whenever I think about what would be my ideal future (minus the Hebrew exam and plus a good piece of literature and a crackling fire).

We all have pictures, I think, of what the ideal setting for us to spend time would be. But as I start to critically reflect on this picture of mine, I cannot help but notice a few things. First, I am in isolation; yes, I am in the comfort and protection of a warm and dimly lit room, but my ideal picture of time well-spent - of the Good Life - is not a picture of me interacting with others, of me being in interdependent relationships or communing with others in presence and hospitality.

Secondly, In this picture I am merely a passive consumer. I am consuming my imported tea and my Western music and literature. There is no creative energy being spent. Furthermore, this happy picture is entirely dependent on the commodities of global imperialism, which allows the organizations and corporations who manufacture and market these commodities to have exorbitant power over me. My picture of my life has become completely dominated and controlled by the global cultural machine.

Therefore, in this blissful picture I have cut myself off from the real flesh-and-bone people which surround me and have attached myself and share communion with a detached and violent global power system.

I am not suggesting that we eliminate all outside influence from our lives, burning all our Western music and books; it is true that our language - and therefore our picture of the Good Life - comes from outside of ourselves, and no picture of the Good Life can be completely devoid of outside influences.

What I am suggesting is that we move away from the alienating and passive-dominated pictures of what our life is to look like and move towards a picture of the good life that is much more holistic - in that it fully includes the communities we find ourselves in. And if we are to adapt a picture of the Good Life, let it be one that comes from the loving community, and not from the cultural machines which care only for their own interests and self-preservation.

Jennifer: Update time (aka when I should be sleeping...)

Hey all,

I can't believe we're at midterms already. It is weird to think soon we'll be winding down the school year! Looking back so far it's been a whole lot of fun but certainly some challenges. 3 Ubuntu members have lost one of their grandparents since September and there have been other close calls so we're all getting a little better at learning to be there for each other even in the hard times - cards filled with love, friends taking each others' chores, roommates cleaning, organizing, and doing the other's laundry, or maybe just a hug and some chocolate when you hear a sniffle from around the corner...I think it's little things like that that make a big difference. Personally I'm really bad about death - I never feel like I know what to say or do. I've never lost anyone I've been really close so I feel awkward because I know I don't understand what they're feeling as they grieve. I'm learning that sometimes that's ok. I don't need to have words for everything. Like I've been learning in a couple of my classes around 90% of communication isn't verbal.

Other things you might want to be aware of...Ubuntu ran a fundraiser in coordination with Crush Week (Bren-Dell Hall Asssociation) to help the Haiti Water Project. We made solidarity bracelets out of old red, blue, and white (Haiti's colors) tshirts and lace. We also made ribbons to pin. Thanks to all the seashells my grandma donated for Peace and Justice Christmas we had leftover so attached one to each ribbon. Only after selling these for a week did we find out from Troy Osborne that apparently a shell means your going on a pilgrimage...oops! Hopefully Andie can get on soon and let you know exactly how much money was raised but it was a really good effort. I think we were all surprised by the outpouring of support from the students and staff. We actually had to make extra because we were backordered! Speaking of, thanks to the anonymous t-shirt donors who helped us fill out our order!

By the end of the school year we hope to have created a cookbook made of our favorite recipes to sell as a fundraiser so be on the lookout! It's gonna be great - some highlights - Judah makes pita bread, Kristen just made granola, I tend to make leftover-food baked goods (think pear cookies - who knew?), Jason and Andie don't have recipes but create deliciousness every time, and then there's our dietics major Karla who can't possibly make anything bad! Mmm mmm good :)