socio 570.

monday in class we discussed how the urban ghettos are being flipped by wealthy entrepreneurs into million dollar condos. this displaces thousands of poor individuals all over the U.S. you can see this in the P&L district in downtown kansas city.

we talk about how wealthy suburbanites get to go to school, get a degree, and ultimately utilize their privilege to change the face of the world, and we talked about how the poor don't have this privilege and are subject to whatever the wealthy decide to do with the world. they don't really have a choice; hence, why they're being displaced by the wealthy business grads.

my class is comprised almost entirely of white kids - most from johnson county - who are taking this course as a required sociology elective in order to graduate. as i sit in class i start to realize that this class is just another handful of white suburbanites who will go on to have their way in the world while those less forunate are forced to deal with the consequences.

every time the class meets i'm tempted to chime in with something to the effect of "what are we going to do to change this?" or "so are we just another generation of wealthy entrepreneurs?" or "is there something we can do - after taking this course - that would go against the typical flow of privilege?"

it's interesting, and i feel like i'm actually learning something (a rarity for me in public education), but i wish every single day that my professor would turn the corner and move the class away from "this is what is happening" to "here's what we can do about it". i guess that's not the point of a public education, but i can't help but think that would be a little bit more motivating.

maybe i'm just more interested in social justice. who knows. but i certainly would have liked to have been challenged more in school - not just with a larger workload - but challenged on a more personal level instead.

-ap.

please don't stop buying coffee.

when i went to guatemala a year ago i got to have a conversation with a coffee farmer there. he was talking about the long hours he works farming on the mountains and how it barely is enough to provide the bare minimum for his family. i started to feel guilty about drinking his coffee every day and not appreciating it. i told him this and he said,

"whatever you do, don't stop drinking it. we count on americans to buy our coffee. it's the only way we can survive."

so i made a sort of convenant with this gentleman that i would drink guatemalan coffee whenever i had the chance, and if it wasn't an option i would support the next-closest coffee geographically.

something occurred to me when i took a sip of my bolivian coffee today though - with the economy tanking in the united states, people are cutting back on the ways they're spending money. and almost every "ways to save money during the recession" list i come across suggests removing the $3 cappuccino/latte from your daily spending.

i agree that $3 a day for a year is a large sum of money (over $1000), and saving that sure would be swell for our wallets here in the US, but i have to beg americans to please not remove coffee from your life enirely. instead, please turn to black coffee. it uses the same amount of ground coffee per cup as an expensive latte, but it is half the cost. you'll get your caffeine fix, you'll save some money, and you'll continue to support the lives of coffee farmers and their families everywhere.

even better: buy a bag of regional coffee and brew it yourself. it's even cheaper for you and it's the same number of beans sold. let's do the math over two weeks - cause that's about how long a bag lasts (at least for me):

cappuccino/latte = $3 x 10 working days = $30
black coffee = $1.50 x $10 working days = $15
bag of fairly traded regional coffee = $10

so please. don't eliminate coffee from your daily routine. coffee farmers across the globe need our business. thanks.

-ap.

Something Beautiful for God.

there are few people in this world that are truly Christ-like. that is not to say that there aren't many people that exhibit Christ-like qualities, but there aren't many that i could easily refer to as being truly Christ-like.

Mother Teresa is one of them. I've heard of her for my entire life and what a saint she was, but i'd never actually looked into it myself. sorta like when people tell me that the Empire State Building is tall or the Grand Canyon is breathtaking - i believe it, but i've never really experienced it or felt it for myself. such is the case with Mother Teresa.

Mother Teresa moved to Calcutta from Yugoslovia when she was a teenager to live among the poorest in the world. She set up Homes for the Dying for the social outcasts with nowhere to go but the grave and addressed what she believed to be their most important need: the need to be wanted. she took in the thirsty, poor, naked and sick and treated them as Jesus would, but more imporantly she did so with extreme joy that allowed every dying leper to get a glimpse of Jesus before they passed.

this is remarkable, yes, but the thing that i truly love about Mother Teresa is not how that she had such joy, but it was where that joy came from: through sacrificing something great for Jesus in order to be truly joyful in the life you're living. if life is easy then you're not truly serving as Christ intended, and Mother Teresa was the epitome of a life in Christ - and that is what brings true joy.

this book inspires change. she cncourages people to do "something beautiful for God" no matter how small it may seem. it isn't about how grand scale or how successful you are in doing it, - "what matters is the life of the individual." when asked about the significance of her ministry she said the following:

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is but a drop in the ocean."

everyone who already owns a Bible and stil wants to see more of Jesus should read this book. buy it now. i got mine for $4 after shipping...which is like 1/5 of the money in my bank account.

-ap.

on multi-class ministry.

i love maps.

if you've been a frequenter of my blog for a while now you're aware of the fact that i have a very heavy heart for the upper class*. while they may not have material needs, they still have spiritual needs that are much less likely to be addressed than those of the lower class. what need do they see for Jesus amidst their lucrative lifestyle?

i understand the need for service and love toward the poor and needy, but in terms of evangelism i think it's the upper class that's needy/farther from Jesus. i have two goals then. to serve those in need and to point upper class hearts toward Christ.

so this idea just came to me. what if i aim to do the following...

step 1: live downtown and develop relationships with that community and the ministries aimed there.
step 2: take the students at hillcrest down to those ministries with two purposes: to serve those in need and to install a love for service in the hearts of upper-middle class kids.
step 3: invite students to bring their parents, hopefully installing the same desire to serve in their hearts.
step 4: encourage students and parents to take the message and attitude they've brought to service events back to their schools and offices, respectively.
step 5: repeat until death and look for opportunities to improve/extend the steps.

both goals are fulfilled and everyone's happy and Christ-like.
boom and boom.

obviously step-by-step processes aren't the most effective thing on earth, relationships and timing are crucial to every step. and at any moment it may be necessary to jump backward and review a previous step before proceeding to the next.

but this is what is on my heart today. please comment.

-ap.
* - more on this.

okay. i'll update.

a few pointers about me that may be interesting to read:

1. i've started apartment hunting for places in kansas city for next summer. yes, it may be a bit premature, but i'm more looking for areas rather than actual apartment complexes. i want to move downtown. like in the city or just outside. i want my suburban mindset to be challenged and i want to be among those in poverty.

2. i've been listening to a lot of bobby bland and al green which is an interesting juxtaposition. the latter sings about love and how great it is and the former sings about how much he's been burned by women and is so bitter about it. i think i lean more toward bobby. i've been offsetting these two with john mayer and ben folds who sing about both and make everything seem more balanced. and akon too.

3. books i'm reading: gone tomorrow: the hidden life of trash, something beautiful for God, and the audacity of hope. i'm farthest in obama's book (almost done with it), and i've just started the other two. i haven't really gained a whole lot of new insight from obama's book but i have confirmed a lot of the thoughts i had about him already. he and i share at least one opinion: there is extreme inequality in this nation and something needs to be done about it.

4. okay, this one isn't about me. aaron rodgers is a stud. i completely understand why the packers wouldn't want brett favre back (although brett favre wasn't too shabby for the jets yesterday). aaron rodgers also looks very much like ryan from the office (season 4).

5. this shirt came in the mail a few days ago:

also, watch kanye's VMA performance: love lockdown.

6. seirra nevada pale ale is officially my favorite beer. it can join ranks with vanilla coke, red bull, white cherry freezoni, and guatemalan coffee as my favorite of a certain beverage type. (soda, energy drinks, slushes, and coffee respectively.)

-ap.