Small Good Things
1. I think I get to vote next month. After several hours scanning poorly-designed government web pages, three heartfelt emails to the Grand Rapids City Clerk’s office, and a visit to the tiny, cheap-wood-paneled office of a lawyer in downtown Mussoorie, I think I maneuvered past an obscure Michigan law that requires that an absentee ballot request form be witnessed by a Michigan notary or someone with a fancy stamp (the lawyer).
This is good, because I’ve heard about a troubling scandal that the Kerry campaign seems to have missed completely. You can read a short story about it here.
2. This morning the dorm work schedule that I designed goes into effect. So instead of losing all weekends off, we each get every third Saturday and Sunday off, along with a weekly day off. And I’ll have my weekly day off with Hannah again. Things look promising that we can get to Delhi two weeks from now to visit Hannah’s Westmont friends David and Jessica and their baby, who’s traveled more in his seven months of life than I have in twenty two years.
3. Last night Hannah and I had dinner at Chardukan (Hindi for “four shops”), a peaceful square at the top of the hill. It began to rain after we got there, and we sat under the canopy of a small tea shop drinking good chai and eating banana pancakes and cheese toast.
4. I read Douglas Coupland’s Life After God last week. Ethan suggested that I read the ending beside a stream. So at the Ganga Nature Camp, camping with students before rafting the next morning, I read about Scout’s flight to the Pacific rainforest and his baptism into a snow-melt stream, and sure enough, the roar of water sounds like the roar of clapping hands. Coupland puts it this way:
“The water from the stream above me roars. Oh, does it roar! Like a voice that knows only one message, one truth—never-ending, like the clapping of hands and the cheers of the citizens upon the coronation of the king, the crowds of the inauguration, cheering for hope and for that one voice that will speak for them.”
This is good, because I’ve heard about a troubling scandal that the Kerry campaign seems to have missed completely. You can read a short story about it here.
2. This morning the dorm work schedule that I designed goes into effect. So instead of losing all weekends off, we each get every third Saturday and Sunday off, along with a weekly day off. And I’ll have my weekly day off with Hannah again. Things look promising that we can get to Delhi two weeks from now to visit Hannah’s Westmont friends David and Jessica and their baby, who’s traveled more in his seven months of life than I have in twenty two years.
3. Last night Hannah and I had dinner at Chardukan (Hindi for “four shops”), a peaceful square at the top of the hill. It began to rain after we got there, and we sat under the canopy of a small tea shop drinking good chai and eating banana pancakes and cheese toast.
4. I read Douglas Coupland’s Life After God last week. Ethan suggested that I read the ending beside a stream. So at the Ganga Nature Camp, camping with students before rafting the next morning, I read about Scout’s flight to the Pacific rainforest and his baptism into a snow-melt stream, and sure enough, the roar of water sounds like the roar of clapping hands. Coupland puts it this way:
“The water from the stream above me roars. Oh, does it roar! Like a voice that knows only one message, one truth—never-ending, like the clapping of hands and the cheers of the citizens upon the coronation of the king, the crowds of the inauguration, cheering for hope and for that one voice that will speak for them.”
posted by Jonathan Hiskes at 10:19 AM
1 Comments:
Hi there,
I am half Indian and the Indian side of my family is from Mussoorie. I attended WS for a year (1996-1997) and had an unforgettable experience. I've really enjoyed reading your blog, as I've been considering volunteering (or possibly even teaching) at WS as soon as I finish school. Your pictures made me nostalgic! As I posted in Hannah's blog: don't miss Sister's Bazaar. This is a little further up from Char Dukan, and my family owns the shops and guesthouse up there (Prakash family). I crave their cheese, peanut butter and jams:) Take care and have fun!
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