October 2011 Archives

The Concordia Theater Department put on the play Dracula this past Thursday through Sunday.  It was based on the novel by Bram Stoker written in 1897 which tells of the vampire Dracula and his attempt to win over the lovely Mina Murray as his bride.  Through the bite of a vampire comes immortality and life in the realm of evil.  Dracula first requests the help of Jonathan Harker, Mina's fiancé, to help him in the attempt to move from Transylvania to England.  Jonathan begins experiencing things he never would have imagined and realizes all the evil that is lurking within Transylvania.  Dracula first pursues Lucy, Mina's best friend, and eventually turns her into a vampiress and is sent to heaven after the gory act by Dr. Seward, Lucy's suitor, Jonathan, and Professor Van Helsing, mentor and good friend of Dr. Seward, of driving a stake through Lucy's heart while prayers were petitioned to God.  Eventually, Dracula is able to sink his teeth into Mina's life while Dr. Seward, Jonathan, and Professor Van Helsing try to track him down.  They are not too late, however, and Mina is saved from being damned to the evil life of immortality.
There were several rituals presented in the play.  Christianity was presented through the wearing of the rosary and the prayers instituted at the time of saving one's soul from forever living a life as a vampire feeding on the souls of mortality.  They were used as a way of warding off evil just as when Jesus sent out the demons from people.  They were used in order to send a person to Heaven.  It was a constant representation of Jesus' death and resurrection by someone going down to the evil realm and shortly thereafter ascending to Heaven. 
There were also several rules so to speak for the vampires in how they were to live.  They had to sleep during the day in the soil of their own land, they could not bear to touch the bread of the Eucharist nor could they stand the sight of the rosary, and they needed to drink the blood of humans in order to survive.  Christians take in the body and blood of Jesus Christ in order to sustain that cleansing and life of righteousness and holiness.  Vampires in the story had to feed off the blood of humans.  Humanity in Christianity is cause of evil and destruction.  By feeding off the blood of humanity, it only kept them in that life of evil.
I ended up attending the play four times, so in doing so, I was able to get a better understanding of the events that took place within the play.  It was story that I was acquainted with but had never been really familiar with other than knowing of Dracula and vampires.  This story gave a more visual representation of what certain Christian rituals do when they are performed.  Though in a more demonic form, it reminded Christians of the time of Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection.  It is good for Christians to be reminded that what they do in church, prayer, etc. has meaning and purpose.  Sometimes I tend to forget that because it all becomes more of a habit than a real thing.  I can also apply this to my college education because every amount of passion I put into my hard work as well and remembering that every step I take has a purpose will result in better outcome come graduation time.

 Describe   
     The BEC filled with students who were potentially looking to find where their place might be at the Nonprofit Internship and Volunteer Fair.  Cindy Yang, operations assistant for the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, and Michaela Charleston, communications assistant for the MNCN, spoke to the audience about the role that nonprofit organizations play in the community.  They emphasized the number of jobs that become available through nonprofit organizations, and since the start of the recession, there have been more people in pursuit of those jobs.  Following their presentation, the audience was invited to check out the many booths set up with representatives from twenty-nine different nonprofit organizations.
Interpret
     This fair gave people a chance to connect with the world around them.  Sometimes there is so much in life that keeps people busy that they forget to stop and realize that the world does not revolve around them.  God encouraged his people to help those who were in need, and this fair gave the opportunities for his people to do just that by working with an organization that provides some sort of service or support to certain people who are in need.  It gave the opportunity for people to reach out to others even if their circumstances are very different.  It was an example of how humans are connected on the basis of that fact that they are just that, human.  God gave his people gifts to be used to help others and this fair was a beautiful Christmas morning, a time for the gifts to be revealed.
Evaluate
     The organization for my project, Boys and Girls Club of the Twin Cities, was not represented at this fair, but there was one that interested me because of its similarity.  This organization was Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities.  After doing some research, I found out that the way it works is someone expresses an interest in becoming a "big," and they are then paired up with a child called a "little."  From this, the big and little spend time together with the big mentoring the little and becoming a role model for that child.  The Boys and Girls Club offers programs for kids to participate in that give them the support and encouragement that they may not receive at home.
     It was interesting to me how similar these programs are but it is also inspiring at how much opportunity there is for children.  To me, children are in need the most because they did not have a say in whether or not they entered this world and they are the most influenced by what the world brings to them.  Not receiving the love and care needed most when they are young creates such difficulty when they grow older.  Children are the future of society and our connection with helping them during their maturity is eminent. 
     While children have a lot to learn in their maturity, they also provide a lot for adults to learn as well.  Jesus says in Matthew 18:3-4, "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."  He also says in Matthew 19:14, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."  It is the passion for what we love that drives who we are, and children need the outlet to be able to express their interests and we are the only ones who can provide that care.

     No hippos to be found at this convocation, just a lot of dirt and rock.  Dr. Mark Schuler and several students talked about their experience at the dig site, Hippos (meaning horse in Greek), in Israel last summer.  They explained their various tasks they had to do during the four weeks that they were there as well as the different artifacts and notable items that they found during their dig.  The students explained their experience and what they took away from their time at the dig site.  Dr. Schuler tied in a synopsis of problem-based and cognitive learning.
     Dr. Schuler summed up problem-based learning as students facing open-ended, complex scenarios in which they must develop new techniques and collaborate with others in order to solve that problem.  In doing so, Dr. Schuler also mentioned cognitive load which is when a large amount of information is processed rather quickly.  It can be a challenge when dealing with a very in depth problem, but the way to handle it is to use what has been previously solved to guide in solving something new and to divide the problem into simple, low-risk challenges.  From the students' stories, it was concluded that they learned how to work efficiently by knowing when to speak and when to listen and also by each contributing to the efforts no matter how minimal.  They realized that one must use every resource to an advantage, and even those things that do not seem like they have any role in the job could become a valuable resource.  Teamwork and trial and error were two things that kept being mentioned by the students.  They said it really was what helped the entire experience go smoothly.  They learned that one must use previous knowledge and apply it to what needs to be solved at the present, and they said the learning process must continue to evolve because one way of solving the problem may not apply to every aspect of that problem.  One thing that stood out was the word articulate.  A person must take the time to make sure that what has been found or learned is accurate and precise before it is passed on to others.
     These skills, though applied to digging for ancient artifacts, can be used to look at the world in a new light.  People throughout the world need to collaborate in order to run an effective government or business.  Also, a person's skills, no matter what they are, are constantly being used to the advantage of some sort of entity no matter how small.  Christians apply those aspects that were emphasized by the students in spreading the light of Christ to the world.  Christians rely on other Christians to band together and create a wave of good news.  They also must continue changing the way they go about their day-to-day lives in order to continue to be effective in their ministry.
     It is interesting hearing the students talk about the outcomes of their experiences not only because most of them were also in the honors program, but because they are all roughly my age and are giving me insight as to the kinds of life lessons I need to be on the look-out for as I go about my journey at CSP.  An open mind is always good to have because gives a person the opportunity to continue to learn and grow in that learning.  College is that way because suddenly, we have no one telling us what to do with every minute of our lives and we get to pursue that things we love the most, math, music, religion, what have you.  This open mind also allows for creativity and imagination in coming up with all sorts of uses for a variety of things for all sorts of tasks.  The lesson will help when having to figure out how to apply that freshly received degree right after college.  The problem-based learning also helps bring a person to more level ground because it helps them see that things are not as big of a deal or as involved as once thought.  This sort of thinking helps when trying to understand and figure out a future that has so many unidentified variables and formulas.