Put a little splendor in your life

When I interviewed at my grad program over a year ago, one panel member asked the obvious ans tricky question of why I was applying when I currently was a full-time social work volunteer. How could I study antiques in a mansion when I was well-versed in urban poverty and infant mortality?
My response was that "there are two halves of me that have to co-exist, and that I try to reconcile."

That's still true. This past weekend in St. Louis was a much needed time to get in touch with my service half. It was great just to have fun with my wonderful posse of roommates and not worry about school. No one there got snobbish about furniture or made connections with noted scholars or played the "who is more stressed about school" game. Instead, we re-connected with people who were important to us and remembered the people we helped last year. Service requires humility and adaptability, and I like that.

On the other hand, I could feel my academic side itching to burrow into a book. For Sunday Mass we went to the cathedral on Lindell. I love that magnificent building so much I could just hug its marble columns. Sitting under the mosaic-covered domes and hearing the soaring organ, I remembered why I love the splendor of art and architecture and religious history. In that sacred space, I was just a drop in the ocean of magnificence and transcendence and Divinity and mystery. If my little thesis can help tell one story of how people experience God through worship, it will be worthwhile. Academia requires wonder and curiosity at how the world works, and I like that too.

Sometimes, rarely, the two halves work together. Like when I show the Urban Promise campers example pictures of great art. Louis Comfort Tiffany might not seem relevant to their inner city lives, but they loved his work. Today they oohed and ahhed at images of stained glass from churches and museums. A few even tried to replicate what they saw in their tissue paper crafts. In that moment, splendor and service combined. Everyone deserves some experience of awe-inspiring beauty, even noisy kids in a church basement.

Craft time update

I'm officially half-way through volunteering at Urban Promise summer camp. By now I feel like I've hit my stride and the kids know me. They constantly surprise me with their random questions and their artisitic creativity.

This week's projects, mosaics made of dried beans, was a big hit. For the first time the group stayed occupied almost until the end of the hour! Some kids made hearts or crosses; others did abstract designs of circles, etc. The older girls, who are approaching middle school and starting to exhibit teen herd behavior, got really elaborate with border designs and spelling out names of friends. One boy labored for half an hour on a portrait of his mom. A few kids got on a roll and blew through six paper plate frames.

I was surprised that barely any of the campers knew what mosaics were. I'm glad I could teach them something new. Visual aid pictures to pass around are always a big hit. Of course this week, I had to include a shot of the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica, which houses the largest collection of mosaics in the world. I hope I'll stop there this weekend, when my VSC roommates and I converge on the STL for a reunion!

Service is sweet

This time last year, I left St. Louis with overflowing suitcases and a head full of facts about urban poverty. Since then I haven't been able to do any service work. Grad school takes up all my time. This leaves me with a rather skewed view of the world. I may spend my days buried in books or in a mansion of furniture that was expensive even 200 years ago, but just a short drive away there are families in run down row houses just trying to make ends meet.

Thanks be to God, this summer I can finally leave the grad school bubble and get involved in the community a little. Two afternoons a week I will be volunteering at the summer camps run by Urban Promise, a Christian ministry group that some college friends told me about. I'll lead one hour craft activities based on (what else?) decorative arts history. This will be a good experiment in whether such topics can be kid friendly.

Today was my first day, and boy was I nervous! Especially since I had vague directions to the site involving a Rita's water ice stand, an unmarked road, and a church located in a an industrial park. But I found it! I was definitely praying to all my Vincentian saints as I waited for the kids to arrive: Vincent and Louise, Elizabeth Seton, even Katherine Drexel for good measure.

Not to worry, they were all friendly and engaged. As soon as I said "play with clay" they jumped right in. They even liked my pictures of kilns at Stoke-on-Trent and my stories about slave potter Dave Drake. Okay, so maybe we didn't have any serious conversations about slavery, resistance, and ownership of one's craft, but maybe they will remember his name and his couplets about playing fifes and drums on the fourth of July. I can't wait to meet the kids at tomorrow's camp and plan future crafts related to quilts, engravings, mosaics, portraits... On the way home I stopped for a Rita's water ice to celebrate.