The Concrete Gardener

Story Walk

2009-07-06T17:09:00.000-07:00

Jo Hunter Adams

First, a confession: I have never really walked along the street where I go to church. We drive in, we drive out—we don’t “hang out”. Eug was running errands before picking me up from church last Saturday, so I decided to go and visit the nearby pet shop (I have a thing for hamsters… but a digression: did you know that goldfish only cost 13c?!).

Anyway, for the first time, I discovered that the walk has a series of posters on fences and poles. These posters are actually in sequence and made up a children’s story (about dinosaurs, if you must ask). As a child walks they’re exposed to a story that they can read as they head home or to the T station. No pictures here yet, but I’ll try and take a couple at the end of this month.

I have no idea how kids experience the story, or if it’s fun for them, but I thought it was a potentially interesting way to introducing non-commercial reading into common space.

Thoughts from “The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less” by Barry Schwartz

2009-07-03T17:06:00.000-07:00

Jo Hunter Adams

The Paradox of Choice brings together data from all kinds of studies to show why, at our core, massive amounts of choice can actually decrease our happiness as human beings. For a brief version of Schwartz's thesis, go here

The unparalleled freedom of our century sometimes comes with too many responsibilities and expectations—if an individual believes that something is possible, it is his or her fault if she doesn’t have the perfect ____ (insert aspiration here). This means either guilt or a striving after things that are, if not impossible, pretty difficult. The reality is that we are forced to make very complex choices that generally have at least a few negative consequences. Obsessing over these consequences can be deadly to happiness, because inevitably in a fictitious alternative life everything was perfect.

Although this is not primarily a self-help book, I think the implications are powerful: Firstly, there are some decisions that shouldn’t matter, but the number of options out there (for example, when choosing a pair of trousers) is so overwhelming that it begins to seem important. Secondly, there are decisions that do matter, and you can create rules that you apply for all time so that those decisions are made easier. Even though you are choosing to limit your freedom, Schwartz argues that you could avoid some of the effort and regret associated with decisions. Thirdly, whether we like it or not, we are influenced by how we compare things, achievements and people. For example, being aware that you will likely think a product is more affordable if there are far more expensive versions of the product you’re looking for could help you step back and evaluate your decision.

I'm reminded of when my parents and I were in Eritrea (Red Sea, borders Ethiopia and Sudan), and the choices were super simple and cheese and chocolate (not together) were about the most awesome things I could imagine. I remember my parents really struggling when they returned to South Africa and there were forty different kinds of every food. It's interesting that it's impossible to recreate the sense of joy I felt when I got chocolate in Eritrea. That said, it's clear that certain limitations, and certain habits, could help fuel a sense of abundance and gratitude.

Watertown Greek Festival and Red Fire Farm Strawberries

2009-06-30T15:44:00.000-07:00

Jo Hunter Adams

Although my thanks are not likely to reach back to the Watertown Greek church, I wanted to thank them here all the same.

This weekend is the Annual Greek Festival here in Watertown—with food, drink, dancing and games. As a renter—and not terribly outgoing person—on a street with many churches and schools, it’s not always easy to feel at home. I wanted to give recognition to the Greek church who reached out to their neighbors and gave us all coupons to attend and enjoy a free (and super-good) Greek meal at the festival. You guys are awesome!

Eug and I made it out to Red Fire Farm for the first time, after receiving the share for the past three weeks. This week, our share (thanks Connie!) had: turnips, summer squash broccoli, onions, lettuce, parsley, dill and collard greens. My worms are super, super happy with variety of scraps—they’re eating like they’ve never eaten before.

We’re also sharing a fruit share, which, in addition to the quart of strawberries per week allowed eight quarts of pick-your-own strawberries (so far). Visiting the farm and getting strawberries was amazing! The intense rain the last few weeks had clearly taken a toll, but we were still able to pick plenty and just enjoy a really well-run community farm.

Saviors and Survivors Part 2: Darfur and the question “Who is an African?”

2009-06-23T12:32:00.001-07:00

Jo Hunter Adams

The question “Who is an African?” was one of the most important and divisive questions during colonialism. It remains one of the most important questions today in Darfur and other parts of Africa. A brief background: the war between the North and South of Sudan was often reduced to a war between Christians and Muslims, or blacks and Arabs. People were asking who really belonged (and where) as well as who had claims to what-- claims to land, to Islam, to Sudanese culture and tradition, to the Arabic language. Darfur was cut along slightly different lines, but again the question was “Who is the real Darfurian?” “Who is the real Sudanese?” “Who is the real African?” "Who is Arab?" "Who is the real Muslim?"

Mamdani quotes John Garang’s (the leader of the SPLA who died in 2005 after becoming the vice president of Sudan for just 12 days) 1986 speech in which he struggles with the felt need in Sudan to be "Arab": “Others get frustrated as they failed to discover how they can become Arab when their creator thought otherwise and failing to find this... they take refuge in separation." Importantly, Garang believed in one Sudan, and even in Arabic as the language of Sudan. He believed that regions of Sudan could persist without succession-- or at least, that this might be the most practical options for all Sudanese.

Motivation is important. Identity is important. From Saviors and Survivors, my take away message is that, as in so many parts of Africa, identity can be constructed along destructive lines, that those lines are super complicated, and that a community never has total power over their identity. Bringing it back to our lives and our identities, the lens through which we approach other people is surely defined by our histories, our knowledge of our country or community, but also our overall belief system. Garang argued in 1986 that one takes refuge in separation- not that separation is a natural first choice.

On a fairly unrelated note, I wanted to include an exerpt from Mbeki's "I am and African" speech, for some inspiration:

Thabo Mbeki “I am an African”

“…Today, as a country, we keep an audible silence about these ancestors of the generations that live, fearful to admit the horror of a former deed, seeking to obliterate from our memories a cruel occurrence which, in its remembering, should teach us not and never to be inhuman again. I am formed of the migrants who left Europe to find a new home on our native land. Whatever their own actions, they remain still, part of me. In my veins courses the blood of the Malay slaves who came from the East. Their proud dignity informs my bearing, their culture a part of my essence. The stripes they bore on their bodies from the lash of the slave master are a reminder embossed on my consciousness of what should not be done… My mind and my knowledge of myself is formed by the victories that are the jewels in our African crown, the victories we earned from Isandhlwana to Khartoum, as Ethiopians and as the Ashanti of Ghana, as the Berbers of the desert….

I am born of the peoples of the continent of Africa. The pain of the violent conflict that the peoples of Liberia, Somalia, the Sudan, Burundi and Algeria is a pain I also bear. The dismal shame of poverty, suffering and human degradation of my continent is a blight that we share. The blight on our happiness that derives from this and from our drift to the periphery of the ordering of human affairs leaves us in a persistent shadow of despair. This is a savage road to which nobody should be condemned. This thing that we have done today, in this small corner of a great continent that has contributed so decisively to the evolution of humanity says that Africa reaffirms that she is continuing her rise from the ashes…
Whatever the difficulties, Africa shall be at peace!

However improbable it may sound to the sceptics, Africa will prosper!”

Saviors and Survivors Part 1: The Save Darfur Movement

2009-06-13T08:36:00.000-07:00

Jo Hunter Adams

Saviors and Survivors, by Mahmood Mamdani, opens with a discussion of the Save Darfur Movement.

When the movement was just starting to gain momentum in 2004, I was asking "how can I get Africans and Wellesley students to be aware and understand the genocide?", "How can people have a nuanced idea of who is killing and why?"

It's striking that I wasn't asking questions like "how many people are dying?" or "why is this the issue of the day?"-- I suspect that those seemed like jaded, cynical questions to be asking in the midst of a crisis. Yet these are exactly the questions that Mamdani-- rightly-- asks.

I was well aware that the peace agreement between North and South was convenient for international politics, and in general I consider myself relatively knowledgeable about Sudan after gravitating towards Sudanese history in college. It certainly didn't feel like I was being used in any way. It felt super important that the international community didn't sit back, as it had during the Rwandan genocide.

There was no question that Darfur was important to think about, that some kind of intervention-- even military intervention-- might be warranted. I looked critically, but was at some level impressed by the giant T ads the Save Darfur movement was able to paste around Boston.

That said-- here are some of the questions Mamdani asks in his chapter:

-- Why did no one question when New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof inflated the numbers of excess deaths in Iraq while calling for intervention and attention? Is it because no-one knew enough to question? Were facts less important because the story was about a faraway place?

-- What does it mean that there were actually more excess deaths in Iraq at the hands of American soldiers (these deaths were associated with "counter-insurgency", which is considered an acceptable role of government) than in Darfur?

-- What does it mean that the greater numbers of deaths in Congo (even today) and Angola were ignored in favour of a U.S. focus on Darfur?

-- How did the Save Darfur Movement gain such widespread recognition, and how did it become so well-resourced? How could it afford that million dollar ad campaign? Could that money have been more useful in Darfur?

From these questions (questions I didn't ask in college) I sense a tension: Activists, by definition, need to act, to respond to injustice and be appalled at senseless violence. At the same, activists need to study and understand the context and ambiguities of our priorities. Perhaps this tension could manifest in the type of activism we try to foster-- learning together and feeding our priorities and fairly nuanced understanding back to politicians and NGO leaders-- vs. calling for military intervention and creating flashy campaigns.

Simplistic campaigns may be effective at generating interest, money and momentum, but those campaigns feed into the fast food culture of instant, visual and sensual gratification and short attention spans. The culture that this blog is undoubtedly a part of!

More isn't Better- Discussions on Health Care

2009-06-10T11:19:00.000-07:00

Jo Hunter Adams

A recent New Yorker article by Atul Gawande tells the story of the town with the highest health care costs, set against the Mayo clinic. Two things are striking:
1) The best care-- the care with the best health outcomes-- is not the most expensive care.
2) The care a doctor provided depended a lot on their medical training and their personal beliefs about medicine.

Here are some excerpts:

"Two economists working at Dartmouth, Katherine Baicker and Amitabh Chandra, found that the more money Medicare spent per person in a given state the lower that state’s quality ranking tended to be. In fact, the four states with the highest levels of spending—Louisiana, Texas, California, and Florida—were near the bottom of the national rankings on the quality of patient care."

"Fisher found that patients in high-cost areas were actually less likely to receive low-cost preventive services, such as flu and pneumonia vaccines, faced longer waits at doctor and emergency-room visits, and were less likely to have a primary-care physician. They got more of the stuff that cost more, but not more of what they needed."

Adventures (Relaxing?) in Cape Town and Durban: Part 1

2009-06-06T14:40:00.000-07:00

Eug and I arrived to Cape Town at 9:15pm, and before we had set our bags down, found that not only mom and dad, but also Sam, Julie AND Kim had come to the airport. This when we were hiring a car. My family is pretty cool.

At the car hire place, the car person was a little worried about how 5 people were going to squeeze into the smallest class of car. After explaining that these were my siblings and that they had another car, the guy was even more confused. It went something like this:

"They're in South Africa as well???"
"Yes, they're South African. They live here."
"Oh...right. So you..."
"I'm South African."
"Really??? No??? and he? (pointing at Eug)"
"He's not South African"
"Oh... Ok"
"So why are you hiring a car?"
"I'm visiting"
"Oh, fooled me again! You don't sound South African."
"Yes, sadly I've been away almost 10 years."
"oh. So you're American now?"
"No, I'm still South African."

Then we sputtered away from the airport, trying to remember how to drive a normal car. And remembering to drive on the left side of the road.

You Can't Get H1N1 From Eating Pigs

2009-05-02T09:01:00.002-07:00

Our Community Garden

2009-05-02T08:47:00.000-07:00

Our Community Garden 1/2 plot:

Before.

It's great to be preparing for summer here in Boston! We've been lucky in getting a half plot to try our hand at gardening outdoors for the first time in Boston. I've started a bunch of seeds that should be ready to go outdoors soon.

JZ

2009-04-22T06:13:00.000-07:00

Jo Hunter Adams

The ANC recently won the South African elections with a little less than two-thirds majority. The DA came in with around 17% and COPE with around 8%.

William Gumede's article best described how Zuma was elected.

As I've written in the past, I'm concerned about Zuma. I write that with some trepidation, because I find myself aligned with the views of much of white South Africa. As with many liberals, I like to consider myself above the interests of "my group". That said, I like to think that if I thought Zuma was good for the poor, as long as he didn't do physical harm to anyone else, he would have my support.

There are a couple of things in Zuma that I find unacceptable in a president. Firstly, his perception of, and relationships with women. There's the refrain that polygamy is cultural. What does that mean? What is culture? There's a ton of reasons that polygamy is on the rise in South Africa, and plenty of them are related to the dissolution of the South African family during Apartheid. It is precisely because lifestyles and manhood was denigrated and undermined during apartheid that today there's pressure to be careful how we talk about lifestyles that many South Africans (myself included) don't fully understand. I don't have much right to judge the polygamy of our forefathers, which seemed interested, at least in part, in physical provision. Polygamy is not polygamy is not polygamy. Zuma is a man who believes faithfulness is unimportant, and that his rights to women are self-evident. There is no way that Zuma respects women as his equals. This will bleed into his policies and administration.

Secondly, he seems to be all about power. Mbeki made a ton of mistakes, but I never felt he was vindictive. I always felt that he was about South African society becoming the best it could be. I'm not sure that Zuma wants that, but I hope to be wrong. We're one step removed here in Boston.

40 Days of Faith and Tiny Houses

2009-03-22T12:36:00.000-07:00

Jo Hunter Adams

Every year our church-- the Greater Boston Vineyard--does something called the 40 Days of Faith (A Faith Experiment) that corresponds to the Lent period. Although each year has a slightly different focus, we're always given the opportunity to ask for specific things from God for the 40 days, perhaps with a new intensity. The asking comes out of a bunch of motivations, but the questions are "what do you want from God?" and "what do you really want from God?" (that is, why do you want what you want- but more on this)

One of the things Eug and I asked for was pretty concrete, and fairly unlikely. We were hoping to find a space in Boston to build a tiny house. A tiny house doesn't need much explaining (though I could go on and on). They are a lot more affordable than buying a proper house and seemed to fit with our desire to live small, cheaply, and close to Boston (with some space to grow food).

Perhaps understandably, nothing happened with the dream of a tiny house. I have seen some awesome empty spaces of land near my work, but I don't have a clue who I would ask or how we could borrow/rent/buy those little spaces. Eug and I also both have the sense that this is not necessarily a long term dream, this is a dream for right now. For me, part of the dream was closely tied to the idea that we would be pay the house off within a couple of years, and it would not be something that forced us to stay in Boston beyond the time we feel called to be here.

For the second question, "What do you really want from God?", I think we've already been getting some answers to prayer.

Living in a small place closer to Boston than Watertown seems to make sense. You can't get much with a small budget, and we'd likely still be renting, but we could probably make tiny pretty fun. In that context, a community garden may help with the challenge of a small apartment space.

The biggest draw for me is the hope of forgoing car and maybe even public transportation for our work commutes. We would be able to bike/walk to work every day, making exercise part of our day without making our work days longer.

More on the work-life balance to come, but I think what's been cool about this process is that it empowers you to leave some things alone-- the big stuff that you can do a bit about (pray, pursue), but certainly can't control, and may not be in the end what God has for you. At the same time, I felt able to identify the essentials that God DOES want for me-- balance, exercise, healthy community, home etc-- and pray and pursue those in a more open-ended way.

A Reflection on "Emma's War"

2009-03-10T17:47:00.000-07:00

Emma's War, by Deborah Scroggins,

I saw this book years ago in my advisor's office. I avoided it in the years that followed because of it's cover and it's title- a kneejerk reaction against a title that implies that war in Sudan belongs to a British woman in some way (or perhaps, because of the ton of weird psychological stuff that comes with being a white South African woman trying to study Africa and deal with her own demons simultaneously).

I finally picked it up, because it was of the few books in the African section at our local public library.

I was pleasantly surprised. It may be that I'm in a less critical space than I was a few years ago, but I felt like the medium of storytelling left plenty of space to the reader to play their own role in interpreting context. I felt myself thinking more about Sudan than I have for quite a while. And it allowed me to generate many questions.

The story was about what it meant for a British woman in Africa in the 1980s-early 1990s. This excludes a ton of other stories (what it meant to be a soldier in the SPLA, what it meant to be a recipient of aid). The story it was telling, it told well. Emma, the heroine (or villain) of the story had access to resources by virtue of her British identity, her beauty and her personal charm. Despite a lack of real skills, Emma worked for an NGO and had access to UN resources. She was "used" for these resources.

But she edged out of the roles and privileges available to her by actually "playing up" those roles and privileges as she entered into the Sudanese People's liberation army (SPLA) world. That is, her identity loomed large because stepping out- getting romantically involved with an SPLA commander- had massive political and social ramifications. Yet for Emma, love was love was love. It seemed to have no context or boundaries, and it meant absolute trust, faith and sacrifice. The problem was, her relationship had unintended consequences. If there was a way to connect this stories to other stories of aid (aid that kills?) it is this law of unintended consequences, and the inevitability of unintended consequences in a new space.

New Connections
I never thought of Nairobi has the center of aid distribution in East Africa, but it seemed from Emma's war as though Nairobi was an essential step in the aid chain- it was also apparent from this how multiple crises in the region would be linked in very practical ways.

I was shocked by the sheer number of flights aid workers seemed to take in and out of Southern Sudan. This made their presence, their role, and their understanding of their jobs all the more transient.

Questions-- some old, some new.
How can relief be helpful? That is, not development, but actual relief aid in crises?
What rights to information can NGOs evoke when they are providing relief?
What is the international community's role in civil war?
What does neutrality involve? Distance? Is it good to be neutral?
What would it mean for an aid worker to be engaged in a responsible way? Emma was by far the most engaged aid worker, but also probably the most exoticizing and irresponsible.
What are the rights of those receiving aid?
What would Emma's war look like in the 21st century? The same? Different?

News from (a) distance
Expat south Africans are now permitted to vote. More on this soon!

Washing...

2009-03-07T12:51:00.000-08:00

Jo Hunter Adams

Introducing the washer:

And Dryer:

Eug and I have done about three loads so far, and the concensus so far is that it's a good experience (check in with us in a few weeks...)

The biggest challenge is making sure the clothes are well rinsed. The drum shoots the soapy water through the clothes, but putting clean water in after the soapy water drains doesn't completely de-soap the clothes. So rinsing seems to be by hand, for now. The loads are also pretty small so we probably need to wash twice a week.

The dryer is AWESOME. Clothes are almost completely dry after about 2 minutes, and after hanging for a day they're totally dry.

In total, washing and drying a load of washing takes about 15 minutes, so it's totally doable if I could drag myself out of bed a little earlier (which right now, after daylight savings, I can't).

More soon, but for those of you in tiny apartments or in cold climates where drying outside is not necessarily practical, this system is full of potential.

Meera, meet Richard the Bonsai!

2009-03-07T12:41:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving Time...

2009-02-21T18:40:00.000-08:00

Jo

Hi everyone,

A major milestone in our life: we are non-mortgage debt free! I have had my full-time job for under a year, so Eug and I have really experienced the debt-reduction journey as grace (grace of other people, grace of God). So thank you.

We're figuring out many things about our lifestyle as we go along, but this transition, and how we choose to use our resources now will be pretty important.

This evening I was privileged to hear Shane Claiborne at Park Street Church in Boston, as part of the Gratitude series presented by Boston Faith and Justice Network. There must have been 500 people there! If you haven't read my earlier posts, Shane Claiborne is a preacher and neighbor in Philadelphia, where he co-founded The Simple Way. It struck me how much about our lifestyle I take for granted-- it's almost impossible to imagine a different way. But it gets a little easier when you see other people doing it.

In other news, I got this little handwashing machine, and for the next 45 or so days, we will only be washing our clothes in it! Exciting stuff. I'll take photos and keep you updated. Every time I think of handwashing I think of a Morgannwyg/Silkstone house meeting (Atlantic College people!) where, as usual, we were complaining about the washing machines which, we maintained, made clothes actually get more dirty. My roommate Lia 's contribution was to explain that the invention of the washing machines had meant women's liberation, because women were not stuck washing clothes half the day. The past almost 10 years I always think of that at the laundromat, so it's not without some trepidation that I revert to the little handwashing machine.

In other other news, I have a bonsai named Richard (named for the guy in Lost who never grows old...) and I will post photos of him as he grows leaves.

Arboretum and Mt Auburn Cemetery in Winter

2009-02-08T13:10:00.000-08:00

Downward Mobility in an Upscale World

2009-01-06T16:36:00.000-08:00

At Speaking of Faith, Shane Claiborne speaks about downward mobility in an upscale world.

A clip:
"Several years ago, I was at a meeting where a new movement to end poverty was announced. I looked around. The only poor people in sight were the handful of people I had come with. Launching a movement to end poverty without poor people in critical roles is like launching a civil rights movement without Black people, or a feminist movement without women. As long as the poor are not present and intricately involved in the process, ending poverty will remain an intellectual, political concept. It will not convert us."

Jubilee-- What I can't Say

2009-01-06T16:16:00.000-08:00

Jo Hunter Adams

Happy New Year!

I commented a couple of days ago that Zimbabwe and South Africa both offer a lot of insights on redistribution and jubilee. But I had a complete block talking about these, because I strongly believe in redistribution but am completely at a loss on how good redistribution-- redistribution that increases dignity and justice-- could be realized at a governmental level. Although I know some at a personal level when it comes to South Africa and Zim, I actually can't speak to redistribution in really concrete ways.

So I'm going to cop out and say I don't know. I don't think it's enough for us to make individual choices (though that's essential) that involve personal redistribution, but I don't know how we create and sustain governments whose goal is redistribution. At least not in truly unequal societies. I welcome thoughts, insights etc. and in the meantime, I'll be trying out those individual choices...

Jubilee Part 3

2008-12-31T11:32:00.000-08:00

Jo Hunter Adams

Happy New Year!

I commented yesterday that Zimbabwe and South Africa both offer a lot of insights on redistribution and jubilee. But I had a complete block talking about these, because I strongly believe in redistribution but am completely at a loss on how good redistribution-- redistribution that increases dignity and justice-- could be realized at a governmental level. Although I know some at a personal level when it comes to South Africa and Zim, I actually can't speak to redistribution in really concrete ways, which I think is important.

So I'm going to cop out and say I don't know. I don't think it's enough for us to make individual choices (though that's essential) that involve personal redistribution, but I don't know how we create and sustain governments whose goal is redistribution. At least not in truly unequal societies. I welcome thoughts, insights etc. and in the meantime, I'll be trying out those individual choices...

Jubilee, Part 2

2008-12-31T07:55:00.000-08:00

Jo Hunter Adams

This blog seems to be all about thinking out loud. Bear with me as I stay fairly abstract for one more post.

When it comes to distribution and redistribution, the Bible seems to say something very similar to what a lot of post-colonial thinkers say. So I think what's shocking is not the idea of redistribution itself, but that countries with a large Christian population can (and should?) be far more sold on it than they are. It's not just a communist idea, and it's definitely not an idea that needs to be feared and avoided in churches.

The language of Human Rights came in large part after the International Declaration of Human Rights after World War II. Human rights links closely with human dignity. We get a glimpse of the consequences of inequality when we read the great colonial and post-colonial writers (Cesaire, Fanon), and perhaps even when we read Marx. But it's harder to find examples of equality and keeping people in community. Even the example of jubilee in ancient Israel is pretty limited.

But one way that it is helpful is in showing us exactly how bad multi-generational inequality must be, for God had a plan in place to avoid this kind of exclusion.

I think Zimbabwe and South Africa both show, in different ways, how difficult redistribution can be after many generations. In the twenty-first century, participating in society doesn't just take a plot of land; it takes land, education and money. If we try to think about jubilee today, that's what we have to be thinking about.

Jubilee

2008-12-30T09:02:00.000-08:00

Jo Hunter Adams

As 2008 comes to a close, I’ve been thinking about the Biblical concept of jubilee (Leviticus 15 & 25). It may be a useful idea to think about, even if you're not someone who looks to the Bible for guidance. This year I've had the opportunity to think with cool, thoughtful people about economic justice in relation to the Bible, and in a lot of ways it was a first for me. On top of that, I got my first proper job, and inevitably having a steady income tests a lot of assumptions about money. The idea of jubilee keeps resonating strongly with me, so I wanted to talk about it a little more.

Considering jubilee lived out in today's world is difficult. Jubilee calls for the redistribution of land every 50 years, for slaves to be set free and elsewhere in Leviticus there is the call for all widows and orphans to be provided for via government. What's interesting here is that it definitely seemed as though a leadership was in charge of carrying out the redistribution. So it's more than generosity and philanthropy; it's not something that we can do as a family unit, or even in community as church (though there's plenty we can do there too).

This redistribution did not mean there was no private property, nor that people deserved total inequality. The reason God wanted jubilee seemed to be based on:
1) The inherent dignity of every person.
2) Acting on the dignity of every individual was ultimately better for society.
3) To remind people that what they owned was ultimately God's provision for them.
Jubilee seemed to be God’s plan B because people’s imperfections—disease, injustice, irresponsibility or greed--lead to inequality. I would like to think that Jubilee was meant to prevent systemic inequality. There's a sense here that people were not supposed to go through several generations of scarcity.

Why? I think that equality is necessary to keep people in community. People who feel different may struggle to be in community with one another (just think of how hard it is to reach out to someone you consider poor). This struggle would surely be compounded over decades of scarcity. Individuals whose land had been returned to them could have the dignity of welcoming people into their homes. Perhaps they could be part of decision making in their community, or just be empowered to make their own decisions.

In the New Testament-- where it's not just the Jewish people anymore, and there's plenty of disempowerment-- there seems to more than equality driving our relationships with one another; people who follow Jesus' can relate on the basis of that commonality. However, there's plenty of danger in focusing only on that commonality and forgetting that material equality is important, has always been important.

There are two dimensions of jubilee today. At one level there is relative wealth that signifies dignity and decision-making power. So, the poor in the United States may be wealthy by global standards, but not have the power they need to participate on equal footing in community. In contrast, someone may be equal to their peers in poor countries, but their basic human dignity is not respected or lived out. It seems there is a strong argument against both kinds of inequality/disempowerment.

When I look at the reasons God seemed to want jubilee, I see colonialism and racism and their impact as one of the biggest arguments for jubilee today. Everyone loses when there are generations upon generations of inequality. More on this in my next post.

The Gratitude Economy

2008-12-27T15:12:00.000-08:00

Jo Hunter Adams

In the U.S., it’s clear that wealth can be slavery, just as extreme poverty is slavery. Jesus talks about the challenge of wealth constantly. But it’s sometimes hard to think about what counts as wealth, and at what point one becomes enslaved. The Boston Faith and Justice Network put together a panel called The Gratitude Economy, where three people, from very different backgrounds, spoke about gratitude and generosity.

It was clear that there are an infinite number of definitions of wealth, but the point of the panel for me was that:
a) Going against the prevailing U.S. culture when it comes to wealth is super difficult.
b) There’s huge freedom that comes with setting yourself apart in your approach to wealth.

It’s fairly obvious that it's important not to be obsessed or in love with wealth. But I think that kind of attachment to wealth is subtly different from setting yourself apart from an materially inflated culture. It's much harder for me to set myself apart--As a South African in the United States, I don’t think my main struggle has been with loving money. I think my main struggle is in the expectation that one’s standard of living gradually improves. Certain things make it easier: My church and my work don't place huge focus on wealth, or even particular styles of clothing or particular standards of living. There's plenty of socio-economic diversity in both places.

So the two main messages from the gratitude economy involved a reframing: From feeling short-changed or self-righteous when your lifestyle doesn't keep up with your expectations, to feeling free to pursue everything else that's out there. What is out there? Generosity, gratitude, full use of major material blessings (my ipod touch comes to mind!) and less pressure to work for the paycheck alone.

Heroic Leadership

2008-12-26T06:06:00.000-08:00

Jo Hunter Adams

Heroic Leadership by Chris Lowney, has been a book that’s come up in my life several times over the last few months; it focuses on the history and leadership of the Jesuits, a Catholic order that has survived, and at times flourished, for over four hundred years. It is written by a former Jesuit monk who went on to work for major consulting firms.

He asks, how is it that a group that was banned for over forty years by the Catholic church, and has some pretty strict philosophies, managed to survive and thrive into the twenty-first century? What company can make such a boast?

The answers have bearing on the way we think about leadership in our own lives. The Jesuits are well-known for being “doers”, most notably for starting one of the most widespread, egalitarian, and best education systems in the world. They’re also an all-male order, which may be super-important to you, or not.

I wanted to highlight two main take home messages:

1.) Leadership evolves out of who you are as a person, and is made up of the daily tasks of your life, not out of some special or exclusive method, nor reserved for the CEO of a company.

2.) Movements may start out of response to a direct need. In today's world, there’s a fair amount if emphasis on goal-setting and long-term vision. And I’m all for goals. Yet the story of the Jesuits suggests that a massive movement can also evolve out of a localized and well thought-out response to a specific need. The Jesuits did not set out to start the largest education system in the world. Rather, they discovered that the monks that joined that order often did not have the education they needed to be “the best.” The Jesuits created schools in response to that need; their response gradually snowballed into a huge movement.

I think both of these points are meant to be encouraging. It makes a lot of sense to develop character, good habits, discipline, and maturity, rather than solely try to figure out how people work (and how you can get them to follow you). The latter seems impossible and possibly manipulative. The former seems fully applicable in all spheres of life. Even it doesn’t work to elevate me in any part of my life, character development is always a good idea. It’s a good framework.

On the second point: How often do I feel that, in order to bring positive change, I have to know everything (or at least more than most)? And since I know I don’t know everything, I feel paralyzed and may just wait for greater genius to rain down on me at some unknown point in the future.

In public health and behavior change, there’s an idea that if you tell someone to do something that they don’t think they can do (quit smoking overnight, start eating “healthy”, exercise 15 hours a week), they won’t do anything at all, even though even doing a little would be better than nothing (smoking a little less, eating one vegetable there and then, exercising 10 minutes a day). I think the Jesuit’s story is a cheer for those who can’t develop a long-term vision just yet, but can respond to a small problem. Big things, and even great leadership in an entire field, can start small.

For those of you who are interested in the spiritual side, there’s also a whole a lot of anecdotes in the book about Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, and how he seemed to be all about trying things, but trying things with reflection. Unlike orders who believed pretty strongly in being silent and contemplative much of the day, the Jesuits came to believe in doing stuff, with the expectation that God would guide them in the midst of that.

I thought this was one more super-encouraging possibility. It seems like Jesus pushed his disciples to do exactly that—preach, heal people, do church—even though they didn’t necessarily know exactly what they were doing. So the message seems to be “go for it” with the caution “but think about what you’re doing while you’re doing it.”

Saving Space Tip #1: Scanning Documents

2008-11-28T07:54:00.000-08:00

I've been looking at tons of pictures (and plans) of tiny houses, and so been thinking about how one actually lives in such a house, particularly as a couple or with children. The more I think about it, the more simplicity seems to require a lot of planning. Our current place is less than 500 square feet, and it's more than adequate right now, but it can be pretty difficult to reduce the number of things in the house.

One of the ways we've reduced (and are still reducing) our paper has been by scanning all our bills, paystubs, receipts, cards and programs, etc. I'm sentimental and so I really like keeping things as reminders of events. I spend most of my day at my work, so I keep a few special cards at work, but otherwise, we're heading towards complete paper-freedom.

You need:
Electronic storage space (aah, the power of virtual space!)
A scanner that's simple enough that you don't dread scanning
A bag for all the paper recycling (some of which may have to be torn up before you throw it away)

We've gone through much of our documents, but there's plenty more to go. Getting to the maintenance stage may be key, because once you're there, you'll just be scanning a few monthly bills or cards once in a while.

Social Responsibility and Thanksgiving

2008-11-17T13:14:00.000-08:00

Jo Hunter Adams

This Thanksgiving seemed like a good opportunity to think back on the past year. Although I've thought about the idea of social responsibility in the abstract for a pretty long time, this past year is the first time I've had the opportunity to think concretely about my own resources, and what I want to work towards doing with them.

This past year, I went from having two part time jobs to one full time job. What struck me in that transition was how much I loved and appreciated those I worked with. The job is clearly a gift, much as the previous two jobs were.

I still think about the idea of home a fair amount- although our home is completely my home, it is also absolutely not my home, because my extended family is very far away. Our apartment is a source of huge thanksgiving-- in providing a place for us but also in providing a level of freedom that would be much more difficult if rent were more expensive. Social responsibility is difficult in Boston (and probably anywhere) because the trend is towards focusing on increasing comfort. It's super easy to want to move into a bigger apartment or house, or even to just buy more stuff. Social responsibility and frugality seem to be closely related.

We've had a budget for the first time this year. It's helped us pay back close to half our annual income in student loan debt. It's also meant we've been able to give away several thousand dollars.

As I have learned about the impact of even small choices, I've felt empowered to enjoy and be grateful for the resources I am using up, and also think about how to make changes for the long term so that, over my lifetime, I use up less. As a Christian, there's often a tendency to think about the earth's resources in a pretty fatalistic way-- "God's gonna take care of us"-- but that would mean that whatever we do is just a game, which doesn't ring true. It's much more possible that God wants us to experience abundance through responsible stewardship.

Sorry for the fragmented post-- Happy Thanksgiving!