dancing in the rain

  “You are my beloved Son; with you, I am well pleased.”  I love this story of Jesus because there is so much movement. Jesus leaves his hometown of Nazareth and is geographically moving towards where John the Baptist is. He gets baptized and, boom!, he moves to the desert. And after the desert, he continues traveling and the men that we would later call disciples begin start to follow him. I see this and my gut reaction is, wow, Jesus gets things done. He wastes no time. He is working hard. I hear this and I like it because as a daughter of immigrants, first-generation American, first in my family to attend a four-year college, I had to move around a lot, I always felt pressure to get things done and get them done right, I could not afford to waste any time. I love this story of Jesus because I see my story in it. Maybe Jesus had the spirit of a boss, go-getter, Latina!  But this story is not just about movement and my story is not just about accomplishments. Jesus left...

One of my favorite moments in class this year was when I made a mistake in front of my students and, upon admitting it, one of my students asked, “Teachers don’t know everything Ms. López?” He’s a freshman so it was sincere. Part of me wanted to say, well of course we do, that’s why we have degrees and piles and piles of books in our classrooms ; yet a deeper part of me knew it was good to say, “we are always learning, just like you.” That deeper part of me heard in his question, “wait, you are not perfect?” And praise God that I am not! Striving for perfection, to be always right and never wrong, is e x h a u s t i n g . When I strive for perfection, I am too focused on myself and not focused enough on grace. Not focused enough on God. Grace, I have learned, is more present in imperfection than in perfection because that is when we are still teachable.  In the first reading for today , Moses reminds the Israelites that their God is “teaching [them] to observe” God’s ways....

God, I can still remember my very first day of school ever, as a wide-eyed four-year-old, excited to learn. The memory replays in my head over and over but the enthusiasm seems so distant. With mass shootings at places where we buy school supplies and families separated because of their legal status, my inner four-year-old feels afraid. I ask for your warm embrace . Remind us that each of us are a masterpiece, created and loved by you for who we are, exactly as we are. I ask for your forgiveness. Teach us to forgive those who hurt us, those we cannot seem to agree with peacefully, those who cause us fear. I ask for your courage. Inspire us to show kindness over hatred in our day to day lives. Move our leaders towards compassion so that they may enact policies and actions that uplift human dignity and protect each life to the fullest. I ask for your unshakable joy . Renew our childlike wonder and curiosity for learning and loving. Animate our enthusiasm fo...

If anything the Superbowl commercials prove is that we are a brand crazed society and marketing specialists know that. I'd like to think I can cheat the system, or atleast be different; so I am challenging myself to a zero "new" purchase year. There are varieties of these challenges out there, like the spending cleanse or Buy Nothing Challenge , and lots of reasons why one ought to participate. Watch Minimalism (on Netflix) and you will learn how as a consumption culture we have evolved to value profit and products over people and why people take these silly challenges.  Let's name a few good reasons: 1.  Save money . Less purchases means less money coming out of your account and an automatic increase in savings.  2.  Live a simpler life . If you shift your focus away from buying material things you may have more time and energy for other hobbies or interests that don't require money. Like board games or writting letters or hanging out with persons you...

I am not a fan of Miley Cyrus or her music, but her new single got me thinking. I suppose she is right when she says that "this world can hurt you, it cuts you deep and leaves a scar; things fall apart, but nothing breaks like a heart." Having your heart broken is as common a human experience as eating bread with your dinner. Elite Daily posted an article on heartbreak in which Gige Engle gives eight effects heartbreak has on the body. Between the changes in weight and the feelings of sadness, our brain processes the heartbreak as physical pain. It is quite fascinating and heavy to read about these effects. It is important to take extra care of yourself and seek help when going through heartbreak, especially if it compromises our mental and social health. But what if we talked about heartbreaks as opportunities rather than forced hardships? Humor me for a minute. Hearts break for many reasons, and some of us are wired to feel a bit more deeply than others. And that is ab...

To accent or not to accent- that is the question. “Oh, I did not realize you were a person of color. I will change that immediately.” She said to me. I was baffled that a person in 2019 in Northern California would be surprised by my identity. Do I have to look brown for you to guess that my last name is in Spanish? No me vio el nopal en la frente . I guess that is the challenge of being a white-passing Mexican-American. ----This may make people uncomfortable and I intend that. Read at your own risk.---- See I knew the day I decided to request the accent in my last name in my professional circles I would deal with unconscious bias, judgement and covert racism more directly. But Lopez is supposed to be spelled López, because it is Spanish. (No offense to the people who spell it incorrectly.) If I had a dollar for each time a person asked me “where are you from?” or “what is your heritage?” I would be rich. Gosh, I should encourage that to pay off my student loans. . . . . Th...