Trying to follow

I took a hiatus from the blog last month, featuring old writings from my college years. It seems to have worked well and so I plan on continuing occasionally. I also stopped posting on Saturday and Sunday, allowing for a nice weekend break (though I tend to write those post during the week anyways) and less posting each week. Hopefully it allows you, my faithful readers, to keep up and not get to overwhelmed. Thanks for reading.

I’ve also been working on some other writing projects at the same time. I started my citizen journalist career here, representing North Minneapolis, and had my first story published recently, about the closing of a local coffee shop. I’ve got another one coming up and I’m hoping to continue to do more stories in the future, particularly about things going on in my neighborhood and community. If you live in North Minneapolis and know of something that would make a good news article, send it my way.

I’m gonna start submitting some writings to other magazines and what not down the road here, but I’ll try and stay faithful to maintaining the blog as well. If anyone has an inside connection to a magazine or paper that you think might take some of my writing, please let me know.

Well that’s it for personal updates for the month.

Now might be a good time for you to subscribe if you haven’t:

p.s. I just bought the domain ariahfine.com (finally!) and put a site up. Let me know what you think.

photo credit: ★ Wim

(I’m putting the P.S.’s at the beginning because they’re important)
P.S. Final thought. I’m thinking about doing some contest to give away some of the nearly new books I have. Would you be interested in something like that?

P.P.S It’s my brother’s birthday. He’s the coolest freaking kid I’ve ever met. Here’s proof.

Now wish him happy birthday by commenting below, or checking out his blog (and subscribing!)

Okay, now to your regularly scheduled post…

I didn’t actually I decided to finish the book, Hokey Pokey: Curious People Finding What Life Is All about, by Matthew Turner. It was one of the books I recently received as an Ooze Select Blogger, and it was the shortest so I thought I’d pick it up first. I put it down after the first couple chapters, but then just decided to plow through.

I don’t usually like to give negative or critical critiques of other people’s writings, since I recently wrote a book myself and know I’d be bother by a negative review. However, Matthew Turner has written a number of successful books and has been the editor for CCM magazine as well, so I think he’s probably credible enough that my little review won’t bother him, if he even notices.

I didn’t like this book at all, at least the part I read. Not only did the direction it was going seem quite random, but I felt like I couldn’t really understand his points either. I think I would describe the book as being sort of ‘philosophical’ in nature, not really talking about anything specific and practical but just about the way we ‘are.’

The one story I did like, where the title of the book is derived from, is about a substitute teacher he had at his private Christian elementary school, who taught them the hokey pokey, which they head never learned because dancing was from the Devil.

Anyways, I thought I’d get my review out early so that other Bloggers who are writing reviews can feel okay about giving their honest own two cents, and to see if anyone else whose read this book felt the same way as me.

Tomorrow is the last day of school in Minneapolis. This is an important date this year because it means all the neighborhood kids will be out of school and hanging out during the day. I’ve gotten to know a handful of kids and a lot of the neighbors since we moved and the weather has gotten warmer, but I think the summer is going to increase our relationships in the community by leaps and bounds.

I’m really excited to get to know more of the kids and families in the neighborhood. Just recently I’ve been helping a couple kids with some bike fixing projects in the area (which got me thinking, it would be cool to have a Red Bike project around here). And summer also means they’ll open the water park just a couple blocks from our house, lot’s of fun there.

At the same time I want to be sure to get to know parents and families, not just kids. That will take a bit more effort on my part, but I don’t think it will be difficult.

I’m really excited for the coming months, the opportunity to really get to know the people and families that make up my community. I’m proud to say that I know nearly everyone on my block, and we’ve barely had a month of warm weather. Knowing names and brief introductions is a far step from really getting to know people, but it’s more relationships on my block then I’ve ever had. I think that’s credit to our neighborhood, friendly, outgoing, and willing to look out for one another.

We love living here.

Photo credit: Todd Baker

I found the idea of writing a six sentence story so enjoyable last time (by the way, it was published at the official six sentence site here), that I’ve tried my hand at a few more. I’ll post them on Wednesday’s till I run out.

I’m not sure that I like this one as is, I think it could be written better, but who said it had to be perfect. Let me know if you have a better suggestion for the title as well.

“Oreo!” they had shouted at him, said and intended in a derogatory tone not often associated with a cookie. What they had meant, and it came across quite clear to him in the way they turned down their eyes and snarled their lips as they said the word, was that, though his skin might look similar to theirs, he was most definitely not one of them. This revelation had only become troubling recently - previously he hadn’t even wanted to be one of ‘them’ - but now, he’d slowly become aware that his adopted ‘family’ might say he was “part of the family” regardless of what he looked like, but everything else in their actions spoke otherwise. He was alone, those who looked like him, to whom he felt a connection that resonated in his bones, would not accept him; and his ‘family’, amongst those who raised him, the clothes, the privilege, the power and respect, it was not truly his, it never would be, it was only a charade, a display of charity at best. So he killed a man; in cold blood; as an act of justice, to prove his allegiance. The man had wronged his ‘people’ (though they did not consider him such), and though he thought the act would bring him into the fold, instead he found himself a fugitive, with no place to call home.

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A creative way to use your purchasing power when you have clear values

(A side thought: The mob spent over $9000, the business promised $1800 toward being more energy efficient, and then to celebrate the mob had a free concert (which cost $1500 for the band and $4000 for the park permit), so does that make the net result of the activity still over-all positive?)

A Cool Muslim Street Artist (next three videos ht. Nate)

I just think these guys are pretty awesomely creative.
Another street artist: