Here in Illinois

Hey Guys,
This is actually Amber and I need some prayer. One of the girls who died at Taylor was my good friend and we are very close to the whole family, known Betsy since we were 5. I'm going home tomorrow, it is going to be very hard for me, I am very sad. I love you all and appreciate each one of you. Each day and each life is so precious, sometimes we forget until we lose one.

Marcia and Andrew, I'm praying for you.

Most Sincerely,
Amber

Hi everyone. I just got a call from Chelsea in England which probably means that news of what happened at Taylor last night is spreading pretty quickly. Last night a Taylor van was hit by a semi-trailer when in crossed the median. Four Taylor students died, one staff member died, and two people are in critical condition in the hospital. Andrew and I are both okay. No one in our immeadiate circle died, but one victim is the sister of a friend and I knew the three others pretty well. Names of the kids who died are Whitney Cerak, Brad Larson, Bestsy Smith, Laurel Erb, and Monica is the staff person--please pray for their families, a lot of them will be on campus today. I actually didn't even recognize the names of the two people in the hospital so I can't recall them, but please pray for them too. Taylor is just torn apart over this. We were all in the chapel under late last night and when they announced the names there was absolute horror and weeping and wailing. Please pray for us. I'll try to post more later--I mostly wanted to let everyone know that Andrew and I are fine.

GNC

Hey team,

If you haven't already, go check out www.invisiblechildren.com Tell your friends and family and schools and churches, and join the Global Night Commute Saturday, April 29.

From MESP

I emailed Heidi yesterday and sounds like everyone is okay. Here's what she said:

We’re all ok. Dave’s out of the country. Some of the remaining students were planning on going to Dahab this week, but changed their minds. Keep praying though. It looks like the bombs were right where MESP usually goes. Pray for the shop owners there.



heidi

a friend just emailed this to me

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4909378.stm

In my humble opinion, this is funny...

Free Riding

Absolutley our dear director
We've come to sing you a song
Bout the lang where our campuses do sit
And the natives to whom it belongs

Cause we're free.......free riding

It is clear that the situation is dire
We're free riding ont he killing done before
Yeah we're children of a brutish empire
Now tell me, would you kill if you must?

Cause we're free......free riding.

Don't come to me with reconciliation
Don't come to me speaking of peace
Till you're ready to annex Texas to Mexico
(pause)....we could do that at least!

Cause we're free....free riding
________________________
Here you go...enjoy the song! This was a good memory of MESP.

The words from my mouth...

All these reunions are lovely. just lovely. But right now I must admit to a phrase that I uttered in the middle of an argument. No, no swearing occured, but I thought all of you would get a kick out of this one.
I have never been a big political head with the knowledge of the latest and greatest who's and what's and where's. But after MESP I've found myself more politically intrigued, both nationally and internationally. During spring break we are driving up Hwy 101 in the middle of farming California and Nick and I stumble upon an argument involving politics and social justice. With my new found sense of political awareness and his political apathy we butted heads and in the middle of the argument I ended one of my points with, "But you have the blood of your ancestors on your hands!"
Yes, its true. I think Dave would be proud.

MESPers just can't stop getting together.

East Coast contingent, reporting in.
Before donning pineapple top, and other Middle Eastern accessories up at Gordon, I had the honor and joy of briefly gracing the campus of Eastern in order that I might enjoy the company of the engaged couple whom you behold below.

Hard to believe it has been almost a year since I've seen some of you guys out there, but also heartening how many reunions are going on, from California to E.Coast Philly and Boston, and a sort of continual Mid-West love fest.

By way of commenting on some past stuff...
Margaret, I LOVE the picture of you looking at Scott. Even though his face is covered, it looks artsy. And I like your expression. (Good that you inlcuded one where we can see his face, though. That is super-cute with his client! ) Anyway, He must be a good person if he is still loyal to the Celtics.
Cecka, rock on, I love the tattoo. Does it say "I understand Arabic?" That would be funny. Sheesh, let's all get together, we need a new joke!
Corrine, I LOVE that you posted a zorse. That made me laugh, deep cheek-aching, belly laughs. I don't know why, but it was such a weird creature. Maybe it made me think of Napoleon's ligers and tigons, but I don't think that was it. By the way, I am still not twitterpated, I'll let you know if that happens. To be honest, I don't have any pictures to post. Maybe I'll work on that when I go back to England. The pictures, I mean.
Em, I'm glad you had a kidnapping that was less traumatic than the one that occured on Fardous street at my hands. Sorry about that.

In any case, I have less than a week left in the States, then it is back to England to finish up my final semester of undergrad. I should be back in Massachusetts in late June, in time to momkin see a certain pair of you in Boston, from what I hear?
I'm sure pictures will follow that event.....

signing off from the US,
Chels

Light up Sphinx provides endless entertainment and, Chris and Heather Are Cute (bridal shower at Heather's anthropologist's apt)

We rock out on the drums at Eastern College.

Spring break Oregonian style

I arrived back safely in Newberg this morning at 1.30am after putting EXACTLY 2400 miles on my dad's 4-Runner. Two of my friends, Rick and Trisha, and Nick and I, set off on a roadtrip to California last sunday morning. It was a great set-up because we had friends and family all the way down the coast so we never had to pay for lodging. We layed out on the beach, did a little boogey boarding, drove across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fran, went out to dinner, ran through the redwoods, and I must not forget DISNEYLAND!! We spent 15 hours in the happiest place on earth. I went on splash mountain 4 times and got absolutely soaked and it was great!! We packed PB&J sandwiches for dinner and by doing so saved ourselves a good $30, if not more, on food. If I were to rob a store in Disneyland I would totally rob a concessions stand... stacks of $100's and $20's. it was amazing. Another highlight was stopping in at these thrift/costume shops down in Santa Cruz. I tried on this Japanese gogo dress ... extremely short and somewhat scandalous but would make an awesome costume party outfit. you will notice this picture is NOT on the post, and for good reason.

AND since we were headed down the coast of California we made a pit stop in Santa Barbara where a bearded man and I smoked some lovely sheesha on his back porch. Yes, I broke my lifestyle contract. But for a mini MESP reunion, I think it was an okay exception. I mean MESPers are practically family anyway. Just thought I'd post a couple pics for your enjoyment.

Palestinian Story Project (Working Title)

No, this is NOT the name of some cool project we discovered on the internet, it's the working title of something amazing we want to do. (Oh, by the way, this is Claire, Margaret, and Dena - yes, we're all together here at Dordt - we know you're jealous).
So anyway, about the PSP. We've been discussing how important it is for the world to know the many untold stories of Palestinian refugees - especially those of Elias Chacour's generation, those who left in 1948 and who are now in the evening of their lives. We want to get to know these people and learn their stories and tell them in a responsible, beautiful, truthful, powerful and meaningful way. It's all sort of nebulus right now (i.e in the VERY beginning stages) but we have a dream of a collaborative effort, beginning with MESP alumni, of people who want to work towards a finished product - a book, a magazine, a movie, SOMETHING - that is a collection of these stories. Whether it's us gathering and translating these stories, whether it's us working from America and finding funding and connections, whether it's giving Palestinians the resources to tell their own stories (through words, art, music, etc.), it would involve group(s) of us travelling to places such as Jordan and Lebanon and living among these people and gathering their stories. This project will involve numbers of different people at all different times, coordinating talents, gifts, time, abilities, funds, and so on over a number of years to get all of this together. We're thinking grants, bursaries, "scholarships", and whatever other money we can find (loans?) to do this but we think it's realistic, and we have just enough idealism to make it work. Claire's class (those who are presently juniors) still have a year of school to go, so this next year would be our year of brainstorming and planning until all of them graduate - this year would be the time to form an anchor/core group of people, those who want to establish the specific details and figure out the logistics of the project. We want you ALL to really think about this and we want to know what you think! You can have as much or as little involvement as you want, whether it's from home or from across the sea, whether you're planning on continuing studying Arabic, or whether you want to look for connections in America with publishing firms, donors, and so on.
Right before we left Cairo, Dr. Dave asked us the equivalent of, "How now shall we live?" and this is the beginning of our response, part of a dream, but we think it's a good one and we want to know what you, our beloved Egypt friends, think.
We love you all - goodnight and good luck.