a few


of my favorite things. . .


Art by Leanne Bowen  



Festive socks from Target 



Books from the Recycle Bookstore in Santa Clara 





Journal from Every Sacred Sunday

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to accent or not to accent

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...
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sit with that

you say you want to be aware well pay attention i am here turned to you and smiled interrupted your conversation chased you around the block shared your story surprising you served you dinner took you to a new place when you were lost where you needed to be cried with you that difficult conversation the admiration of the one that beholds you and introduced you listen stop trying to be aware of me i pay attention to you always sit with that
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Teaching (us) to Observe

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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....
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