TAY-HAAS

I'm doing it. I'm finally writing about when I went to Texas in...uhh...the middle of October.

My home for the weekend. Worship en Español!

Yikes.

That's really embarrassing. Where has time gone?!

Okay, let's get down to it. In October, I flew to San Antonio, Texas with 3 other Nebraskans. Interestingly enough we were on the same flights and together for over 12 hours before I met any of them...let's just say that I'm not the most observant person when my day begins before 3 am. Well anyway, we drove a couple of hours to Eagle Pass, which is 1 mile from the U.S./Mexico border. We stayed in a nice hostel provided by an ELCA congregation. The purpose of the meeting was to bring leaders in hunger, global mission and justice from Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma together for conversations about what is working in their areas, exchange ideas, reflect (and possibly make steps to change) unhealthy action, and to discuss how each of us approaches our lives/ministry differently based on the generation we were born into (yes, we have characteristics of our generations that maybe don't apply to us so well..but how does it apply to our peers and how does that affect the ministries going on around us). Additionally, since the border was such a physical presence at the meeting, we did discuss migration, specifically the migrant children that have been seeking asylum in our country.

The "wall".

An extremely powerful moment happened when we headed to the border...to the "wall". In reality, it's a fence. And not even a fence that is continuous. And it's on the U.S. side. There's actually probably a good half mile between the fence and the true border. The in-between area on the U.S. side is sort of a park for people to play soccer. And there's a pretty large parking lot, too. Supposedly there's a really nice firework display there on the 4th of July, which brings up all sorts of interesting thoughts as you can't exactly miss the 34 X 60 m Mexican flag (it's the largest flag in the Western hemisphere!) flying the background. For such a contested area, the border was quite serene the morning that we were there. A few youth soccer teams were practicing before a game. Truly the loudest thing that happened was the border patrol guys getting in the airboat and speeding down the river to see if anyone was stranded and needed rescuing. And it was SO loud when that was happening. Deafening. What a visceral moment.

The Mexican flag, as seen from the U.S. border

Undocumented Jesus

Later we watched a documentary about the community before the wall and the predictions that local residents had about what the wall would do to the community. You have to understand that Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras (the town on the Mexican side) are literally one mile away from each other. They are the same community, in essence. In the documentary, there was a priest at a local church talking about the "Undocumented Jesus". I guess a few years ago the border patrol recovered what they thought was a person from the middle of the river. Turns out it was a 6 foot sculpture of Jesus. It made it's way to the police station and become somewhat of an idol. Later it was given its name and moved to this Catholic congregation where it still resides. There are all sorts of theological discussions to be had about the "Undocumented Jesus," but I will just leave you with a photo.

We had someone come from Lutheran Social Services of the South to talk to us. They are contracted via the U.S. Government to serve the migrant children that are coming to our country. They work to place the children into homes of family members that are already here (85% of the kids) or into foster care (15% of kids). They also provide legal assistance, medical care, education, safe homes and spiritual care. 10% of the children who entered our country this year were served by LSS (they are 1 of 3 groups doing this work). I think that's amazingly impressive. He told us that the majority of the children/youth are coming from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. They are leaving their families and native countries because of hunger predominantly and coming here for education and work. Their trips can take anywhere from 2 weeks (the more wealthy youth) to 6 months or more (the youth that have to stop along the way to work to make money to pay for the next leg of the trip). It was quite the humbling and eye-opening conversation, to be quite frank. While the masses of children crossing the border have slowed for the fall and the winter, many predict it to start back up again in February and March, so this isn't an out-of-sight-out-of-mind situation, no matter the lack of widespread conversation it is currently experiencing.

While we were in Eagle Pass, the congregants of San Lucas cooked meals for us. Let me just tell you that I ate well. I'm having dreams of fresh tamales as I type. I might need to stop for a bit to make myself a snack actually... They were so hospitable and made vegetarian meals for me (and Mikka!) as well. Yum!! We were so fortunate that they also worshiped with us as a community on Saturday night and Sunday morning, too. Incredible services to be part of. 

Nachos!

Sunday afternoon we headed to Piedras Negras (the community just across the border) for the International Nacho Festival. Apparently Piedras Negras is the birthplace of the "Nacho". Legend goes that there were two travelers that were shopping in PN for the day and either came too early or too late for food. They were starving and so they went to a restaurant and begged the waiter to make them some food. He didn't have anything but some tortillas, cheese and jalepeños, so he quick put the tortillas in the fryer and shredded the cheese. The women were so ecstatic and loved it so they asked him what he called it. His name was Ignacio, "Nacho" for short, and so he called it "Nacho's Special." Thus the Nacho was born. I have to say that I prefer my nachos to be smothered in cheese, fake taco meat, avocados, salsa, sour cream, etc, but it still was an awesome experience! The people in charge of the festival even came over to give us free t-shirts (how often do people from Chicago, Nebraska, and all over Texas make it to their fine celebration...?) and they got some free publicity out of it too. I have to say that I'm still partial to the Kool Aid Days festival in Hastings though. 

Oh hey, I'm an International Nacho Festival international star!

The whole town was decorated for the festival and there was some sweet sawdust art in the road too.

The Mexican flag, as seen from the Mexico border

When we arrived in PN, the big flag was flying, but we we're preparing to have rain, so the military came to take it down. Wow. That was absolutely an amazing sight to see. That flag is B.I.G. And truthfully it didn't take near the amount of time I expected it to for it to be completely loaded.

The first steps to loading. 

Loading the truck. 

These men are not small men. But they look teeny
tiny compared to the flag! 

In all, it was a great trip and I learned quite a bit about what is going on in other communities regarding hunger, justice and global mission. AND, not bad, that's when I was initially asked to do the UN thing. So that's super happy! I also wrote a paper for a class without the use of wi-fi, which seemed like the most scary of tasks when I first arrived. Somehow I managed to survive though! :)

life goal: Emma Watson and I will frolic in fields of sunflowers together

So I have some majorly exciting news that has been brewing for about a month. And actually it's been official for two weeks or so, but I've just been too swamped with school and work to write about it (and the other 4 blog posts that are on my to-do list every.single.day), but I don't want to keep the news to myself any longer, so I thought I'd spare a few minutes from my paper writing to update everyone.

So the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) does some really good work with it's partners both locally and globally with issues of hunger, refugee resettlement, disaster response, reducing malaria incidence rates, and generally working with communities globally to see what their needs are and how best they can be met while empowering the community. Turns out the UN (yes, as in the United Nations) noticed. So they have partnered together with the ELCA to have a young adult cohort for the UN's Commission on the Status of Women (UN CSW) to address issues that the CSW targets globally. Larger goals for the collaboration surround ideas of young adult leadership development and faith formation within a social justice framework while encouraging reflection and diversity of vocation. Within the ELCA the groups involved are ELCA World Hunger, Young Adults in Global Mission, ELCA Justice for Women, and ELCA Young Adults.

I have been involved with ELCA World Hunger for over 2 years now and so I was invited to a meeting in October in Eagle Pass, TX...a sort of check in with a group of people that are doing hunger and global mission work in the region. And while I was there an opportunity came up! The good people at ELCA World Hunger found out about my new Maternal and Child Health focus with public health and they thought I would be a good candidate for the young adult group....!

Sooo....

In March, I will head to the 59th session of the UN CSW in New York City and be part of this young adult cohort! I will bring my background in hunger work, but also the public health information I know about health outcomes for women and children worldwide (and how hunger affects lives).

And now my new life goal is to meet Emma Watson (with her UN work on the #heforshe campaign) and become best friends with her and frolic through fields of wildflowers together. I 100% don't believe that this life goal will ever happen, BUT it's still fun to dream!

And it's so, so, so, so exciting to be part of this! I'm still overwhelmed and shocked that anyone even thought to invite me. I feel fortunate that we found the funding for it. And that I made the transition to public health in the first place. Thanks for everyone who has been along for the ride! :) It's been a little bumpy, but things seem to be great. And I promise to keep everyone updated on all the things that will be happening (hopefully I'll even write about my experiences closer to when I have them...instead of waiting a whole month...oops ;) ).

what a difference a year makes

One year ago today, I began my medical leave. One year ago, I was, for lack of a better term, a hot mess.

But here I am today. I'm still kind of a mess, I suppose, but it has nothing to do with my health! I'm back in school and am in drastically better health. I can't believe the transformation that has happened over the past 365 days! Thank you all for that.

Thank you for the UNMC faculty, deans and support staff who made it possible for me to take the time I needed. Thank you also for continually checking in on me this year to see how I'm doing.

Thank you to my doctors and their teams for dealing with my calls, emails, and my laundry list of questions. And thank you for reminding me what is best for me when I'm being stubborn.

Thank you to my parents for supporting me in every way. Thanks for letting me live at home. Thanks for cooking me food and doing my laundry on occasion. Thanks for putting up with me when I'm under anesthesia and not very nice :) (and the times when I'm not under anesthesia and am still not very nice!). Thanks Mama for the, sometimes harsh, texts reminding me to get my lazy bum out of bed when I'm tired!

Thank you to my incredibly wonderful roommate Megan who has had to listen to me whine about not feeling well ad nauseum. And for not making me feel guilty about leaving the apartment in shambles on occasion when I'm too tired to clean! I promise to clean the kitchen and mop the floors this weekend! 

Thank you to my M2 friends for keeping me in the loop and for periodically checking in with me. A special thank you to Sydney, Brent, Meredith, Megan, Evin, Sally and Nathan.

Thank you to my new classmates for accepting me! A VERY special thank you to Hugh, Cason and Emily for not hating me after I was a know-it-all on the first day of orientation PBL :)

Thank you to my SMDEP students for encouraging me to head back to school!

Thank you to Dr. Edwards for letting me temporarily infiltrate your practice and do some research in my time off. Thanks also for encouraging me to send abstracts into conferences (even though we both know it completely stresses me out!).  

Thank you to Mr. Justin for reminding me to smile and laugh through the bad days. Thanks for understanding when I need to be selfish and go to bed at 8:30 pm, like an old lady, even though it's ridiculously inconvenient for everyone around me. And thank you mostly for understanding that I need to study approximately one billion hours a week (give or take a few hours!). 

It's been a crazy ride. I haven't loved every minute of it, but I'm glad to be back. I have a test next week, so I'll leave y'all and go back to studying. Thanks to everyone who has had a part in my recovery!

Listening to community...innovative or centuries-old?

I have been going to conferences like it's my job lately. I will, I will, I will (I promise) write about them very soon. I went to a global mission and world hunger consult meeting in October on the border in Texas. This week I attended/presented a poster at a conference about the scientific study of sex. Simultaneously, I attended a conference about hunger and charity at my church (the end of the week was certainly busy...I'm ready for a nap!). Eventually I'll write about all of that, but first I wanted to just put my thoughts out there on a theme that I've noticed between all of those conferences and my classwork this semester.

For my Health Behavior class, I've been doing lots of reading on health behavior theories and frameworks for interventions for particular behaviors (ex: smoking cessation programs, nutrition classes, frameworks for increasing vaccination rates or condom use or whatever the behavior is). The more recent research in any of the theories we've explored is about how people will respond better to an intervention if they have a little "buy-in" into it. Something like...people are more likely to make more positive health behavior choices if they think they are capable of it and they think it's important/want to.

Okay, that makes complete intuitive sense. Absolutely. The trouble is, too often researchers, public health peeps and doctors (or whomever else is involved) spend their energies simply telling people/communities what they need instead of asking what the person/community thinks they need. Turns out, this doesn't produce as favorable results. That also makes complete intuitive sense to me...I mean, who really likes getting told what to do? Not me!

So then I thought about the service learning work I did in college. It was completely focused around finding out what the community you were going to help actually wanted or needed. It doesn't work to serve others by just showing up and doing something that doesn't help them. You can see lots of well-meaning work like this in the mission trip phenomenon. Often youth/young adult groups go to impoverished areas domestically and abroad to "go and help the poor." Okay, awesome. I'm with you on that. But then the youth group comes in and paints a wall that has been painted a million other times by other youth groups. Or they slap a house together that wasn't built well and didn't really need to be built where it now stands. Or something else like that. That does nothing to further the community and doesn't really fill a need.

The best way to serve others is to have an open, honest and authentic conversation around what their needs actually are and how to work together to get to the end goal. It shouldn't be about the group of people "with the stuff" helping the people "without the stuff"--one group with the power and the other, powerless.

This idea is not new within the service learning community.

And then I've been going to these conferences and studying the things I study and each of the respective places mentions this concept (in their own terms, common to the language they use), like it's the newest, most amazing concept in the whole world. Do I think it's an amazing concept? Yes. Definitely. But I don't really think it's all that novel. Whether it's called "accompaniment," "community engagement" or whatever, it's the same sort of thing. I think in some areas of work/study, the concept probably is pretty new.

Maybe, just maybe, it makes sense to stop working in silos and have a free-exchange of ideas between business, service learning, health, church work or whatever it is you do. I am willing to bet that this idea of" listening to the people that surround you" is not the only truly groundbreaking concept that we can learn from each other.

Just some food for thought, I guess...

Where has the time gone?

I am, in fact, still blogging. I know my recent history of not posting blogs sort of contradicts that fact, but at least in my head I'm still a blogger. I even have a list of blogposts to write. I just... I just... haven't written anything lately because I'm a lazy brains. And because I've been working lots lately (2-5 year olds dressed up on Halloween is absolutely adorable. For the first hour. And then after that they stop listening and make really poor decisions and everyone is in trouble).

BUT I will, at the very least, make this post. Hopefully this week I will also get around to posting about my trip to Eagle Pass, TX a few weeks ago!

For now... This incredibly done PSA about cyberbullying (and bullying in general). Look at this amazing performance! And then do your part to combat cyberbullying. So powerful.

4A Represent!

I'm so excited to announce that I am headed to Eagle Pass, TX in a few weeks to represent the Nebraska Synod ELCA (4A) and the ELCA World Hunger Committee at the Region 4 Consult meeting about Global Mission and World Hunger!

For those of you who don't know, I'm pretty passionate about hunger issues and have been on the ELCA World Hunger Committee here in Nebraska for 3 years now. Just yesterday morning we had a meeting and I met several of our new committee members and am so excited for the direction we are taking. Hunger is a terrible thing and although I'm not naïve enough to think that we will solve all the problems, even a little something is a start!

I'm excited to network and connect with other hunger advocates in the central US and also to worship with a congregation in Piedras Negras, a city in Coahuila, Mexico. I have no doubt that the trip will be quite the learning experience and also an adventure! Here goes nothing! :)

Omaha Restaurant Week

Flatiron Cafe: seared scallop with
diced cucumbers and roma tomatoes

My favorite week of the whole year is here (and very sadly ending). Omaha Restaurant Week! This year 56 restaurants participated...each place comes up with a 3 course menu that is $20, $30 or $40. And then you can go to several places and get delicious food and love your life even more. It's especially nice for the places that are generally $100-200 bills for two people, but that you want to try because they are the most delicious places in the whole wide world (I'm looking at you Grey Plume). Well anyway, I went a little crazy this year and have gone to 5 places in the past 10 days. FIVE places. I never eat out that frequently! Oh well, my tummy and my soul are so so happy about it! (Bonus... part of the proceeds go to fight hunger in the Omaha area!) Here are the results...

Flatiron Cafe: Tahitian vanilla bean creme brulee

Flatiron Cafe: seared salmon with basil and edamame risotto

Modern Love: watermelon beet salad

Modern Love: panko crusted fried green tomato

Modern Love: polenta romesco with brussel sprouts

Modern Love: farroto with apple sausages
and roasted root vegetables

Modern Love: blueberry cheesecake

Modern Love: peach raspberry pie
with vanilla bean ice cream

The Grey Plume: first bite--orange mouse with
shaved fennel and fennel gel and roasted walnut

The Grey Plume: potato soup--crème fraîche,
truffle oil and potato salpicon

The Grey Plume: potato soup--adding the base

The Grey Plume: steelhead trout with summer succotash and fried okra

The Grey Plume: earl grey pot de crème with chocolate and cookie crumbles

Louie's Wine Dive: sweet and spicy fried catfish
with grits and pickled vegetables
**not pictured: margarita flatbread**

Louie's Wine Dive: 4 pork gnocchi
**not pictured: steak poutine**

Louie's Wine Bar: apple cobbler

Louie's Wine Dive: flourless chocolate cake

Taita: seafood platter--tuna tartar, smoked bluefish, salmon rillettes,
tofu with salmon ju, mushrooms and pickled eggplant

Taita: brown butter scallop with edamame

Taita: crab and seafood mousse tortellin

Taita: chocolate paxé

Working Gal!

Who's got two thumbs and is gainfully employed?

This gal!

Yay me! I'm going to work at a local YMCA doing preschool. It's going to be pretty fabulous. I'll have 2s, 3s, 4s and some 5s that didn't make the birthday cut for schools. It's going to be awesome and filled with lots of laughter at the weird things that kids do.

Perhaps later today (when class doesn't start in 15 minutes), I'll write about my birthday extravaganza weekend. Perhaps. Hope all is well!

Emergency Preparedness

I figured since I'm in public health now, I should write about public health things. Okay...you caught me. I've been writing about public health things since the get-go. Why didn't one of you suggest I do public health sooner!?! I digress...

September is National Preparedness Month! This means making a plan, getting supplies and having conversations with your family. Theoretically you should have enough supplies to last you and your family for at least 72 hours. According to a news release earlier this week from Governor Heineman, these things should be in your emergency kit:

• battery-powered or crank radio
• weather alert radio
• extra batteries
• first aid kit
• sanitary wipes
• dust mask
• water for drinking and sanitation
• water purification tablets
• waterproof matches and/or butane lighter
• crank flashlight
• plastic sheeting
• non-perishable food for at least three days
• disinfectants and medications.
• medical information for entire family, including details about dosages of required medications and a list of known health issues
• warm clothes and sleeping bags for winter
• extra hydration and bug-repellant for summer/fall

In addition to the kit, an emergency plan should be drafted for the family so everyone can be on the same page if something happens to the house or the family gets separated. Here is one that you can just fill in the blanks!

Make sure your kits are easily accessible and movable, if necessary! You can find more information on the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency's website: http://www.nema.ne.gov/index.shtml. 

Stay safe friends! You never know when fire, tornadoes or floods will hit! 

Christmas Spectacular

Soooooo...exciting news! The Rockettes (as in the legs for days, kicklines for hours Rockettes) were in town tonight and put on a master class! So I got to be a Rockette for precisely one hour. Which is super lucky because you actually have to be 5'6"-5'10" to make it usually...

We danced. It was fabulous. We learned the kickline from the video below (obviously it looked just like that when I did it too! The kickline starts at about 3:10). I kicked higher or just as high as all of the girls in my group, which isn't bad for my old lady legs who haven't stretched since June! ( :/ ...oops!).

Oh and school is happening too. I really love it and this week I'm already writing two papers! Labor Day weekend was great fun as well. Surprised Uncle Pat with a birthday party and spent lots of time with family. All in all, a grand old time!

And now, I plan to soak my sore muscles in a hot bath!

And proof! I'm in the second row on the right; the Rockette teaching us is on the far left!