Missing the Island

So far since moving to LA, I have not felt too many InterVarsity withdrawals with each passing event that I usually look forward to. I was surprised that how easily I was able to transition out of it. But this week has been particularly hard. This week was when UCI InterVarsity went to Catalina Island for the annual Summer Conference. This is my absolutely most favorite thing in the entire world about InterVarsity. It’s what I usually look forward to all year. Anyone who knows me well knows that I absolutely love Love LOVE Mark study. Being apart of Mark study are my most fond memories as a student. Teaching Mark was the best thing that I did as an intern. I love Mark study because you get to see all these connections in the bible that you don’t get just studying little sections here and there. You get to see the word God come to life. You get to study it deeply for yourself and draw your own conclusion from the text. My mind is blown by the character of Jesus every time that I go through it. I love the island because it’s a week away from technology and responsibilities and media. I love being with other people who are also digging into the word and really taking it seriously. I love the food, kayaking and hiking, and staying up late playing mafia, or screwy louie. This was my first year in 6 years that I have not attended Summer Con. Oh I wished that I was on the island this week. But I am thankful for the memories God has given me there and the ways he has transformed my life with him through his word. I can’t wait to hear what God did on the island this year for the UCI students.

Mark 1 2005
Mark 2 2006
Genesis 2007 (Our 12 days of creation song)
Mark 1 2008
Mark 2 2009 (Our shake it out warm up)
Mark 2 2010 (Dumb disciples)

When Justice and Peace Kiss is Coming....

If somehow I missed you on my list, here is what I will be up to this summer. Here is my letter just not in a pretty format.

Ya Ya's Story

As we were getting ready for our performance that day, I saw one of our high school students named Ya Ya sitting off to the side looking miserable. As I asked her what was the matter, she told me that she did not want to sing the song that she had been writing and practicing for the past 4 weeks. Although we all tried to encourage her, we didn’t know if she was going to perform that night. When the time came, she found the courage to sing a beautiful song she had written about what freedom meant to her. After the performance I asked her what she thought of the experience. “That was amazing! I want to do it again,” she beamed with excitement. These are the moments that I live for, moments of transforming fear into freedom. I moved to South Central Los Angeles 8 months ago to pursue what I believe to be God’s call in my life of empowering students like Ya Ya to develop their creative potential.

My Journey this Summer

Ya Ya’s story happened during a summer program two years ago called, When Justice and Peace Kiss. This high school performing arts program is put on annually by a theater company called Streetlamp Studio. This nonprofit was started by Christian artists seeking to inspire creative engagement with the community here in LA. This summer I will be leading “When Justice and Peace Kiss” with 3 other adult artists. The theme for this summer is, “Nothing Holding Back our Dreams.” The students learn about Moses: the promises, struggles, and perseverance to reaching his dream of the promised land. We will lead youth in creative activities in which they can share their hopes and dreams for the future. The adult artists will refine their stories into songs and performance pieces. The youth will practice and perform these original works at the end of the summer program.

Because Streetlamp Studios is a small nonprofit, all of their staff fundraise to be able create art and inspire high school students. This summer I will be working for them part time and hoping to raise $2000 to cover the costs of the program and supplement a partial income for myself. I am looking for people who want to partner in the work that God is doing through empowering these urban youth. If you feel like this a cause that would like to give to, we would really appreciate your support.

If you would like support me and When Justice and Peace Kiss, you can make a donation online at http://www.streetlampstudio.com/get-involved/donate/. Under the drop down menu please select Fundraiser for Megan Ibarra. Please note that Paypal will deduct a percentage using this method.

You can also make a check out to Streetlamp Studio. Please contact me for the address if you do not have already.

Please visit Streetlamp Studios website to learn more about ways that they impact the community.

http://www.streetlampstudio.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z716890Nn70

The Show Goes On

Some people say that music today is only about sex and partying. But every once in a while you do find a song that has a good message. I found this song, minus some bad language, to be a really good message. It inspires me as a teacher to inspire the youth of Los Angeles.

[Chorus]

All right, I'm ready

The show goes on

All night, till the morning

We dream so long

Anybody ever wonder

When they would see the sun go

Just remember when you come up

The show goes on

[Verse 1]

Have you ever had the feeling that you was being had?

Don't that sh*** there make you mad? They treat you like a slave

Put chains all on your soul and put whips up on your back

They be lying through they teeth, hope you slip up off your path

I don't switch up, I just laugh, put my kicks up on they desk

Unaffected by they threats, then get busy on they a**

See, that's how that Chi-town made me, that's how my daddy raised me

That glittering may not be gold, don't let nobody play me

If you are my homeboy, you'll never have to pay me

Go and put your hands up, when times is hard, you stand up

L-U-P the man because, the brand that the fans trust

So even if they ban us, they'll never slow my plans up

[Chorus] X2

[Verse 2]

One in the air for the people ain't here

Two in the air for the father that's there

Three in the air for the kids in the ghetto

Four for the kids that don't want to be there

None for the n**** trying hold them back

Five in the air for the teachers not scared

To tell those kids that's living in the ghetto

That the n**** holding back that the world is theirs

Yeah, yeah, the world is yours, I was once that little boy

Terrified of the world, now I'm on a world tour

I will give up everything, even start a world war

For these ghetto girls and boys I'm rapping around the world for

Africa to New York, Haiti, then I detour

Oakland out to Auckland, Gaza Strip to Detroit

Say hip-hop only destroy, tell them look at me boy

I hope your son don't have a gun and never be a D-boy

[Chorus] X2

[Verse 3]

So no matter what you been through, no matter what you into

No matter what you see when you look outside your window

Brown grass or green grass, picket fence or barbed wire

Never ever put them down, you just lift your arms higher

Raise them till your arms tired, let them know you here

That you struggling, surviving, that you going to persevere

Ain't nobody leaving, nobody going home

Even if they turn the lights out, the show is going on

[Chorus] X2

Cars, stress, and God...

Getting into a car accident is very scary and stressful, but the aftermath of it is even worse. For the past few month I have only been working part time, but I have felt more busy than I did when I working full time and interning with Intervarsity. Dealing with all this car stuff has been a job itself, only it’s eating money, and not making it.

After getting into the accident I had to wait for them to access my car to see what the damages would be. I was warned that it was probably going to be a total loss because the air bag deployed. But because there was not a lot of visible damage I was pretty confident that it was going to be repaired. The insurance company did come back and say they were deeming the car a total loss. What they were offering to give me for the car was more than I had expected but still not enough to buy a decent car. I wanted to see look into the option of getting it fixed anyway. When I tried to call to get a quote from body shops, they couldn’t really give me a quote without having the car brought it. I couldn’t really bring the car in because it was not drivable. So there was this whole ordeal of trying to figure out if I could tow the car to a shop to get a quote and then if I would need to tow it back if I didn’t want to get it fixed. Finally, I found a place that was willing to look at some pictures and the assessment that the insurance company did on the damages. The body shop actually suggested that I should not fix the car. I felt like that was saying a lot given that I could have given them a ton of business to get it fixed. So after praying, I decided to give it up.

Then came the process of finding a new car. This was hell. I think that I would rather have my wisdom teeth removed again than buy another car. Although it was only about two weeks of car searching, it seemed like an eternity. From spending hours upon hours to looking up cars online, trying to get friends advice on good cars, looking up reviews, calling places to see if the car online was still there, driving from San Fernando Valley to San Diego to look at cars, and dealing with pushy salesman it was just an exhausting experience. During the main week that I was car searching, I was more than stressed, I was having serious anxiety. I would come home crying after car searching, feeling so discouraged about not being able to find a decent car in my price range. I felt like I couldn't even deal with the stress in the midst of it because once I got home I had to go back to researching online and press on until I found one. There was also the pressure on being in a time crunch because my insurance would only pay for a rental car for so long and I need to vehicle to get to work.

Finally I found a car that I was ready to buy. I negotiated the price down to my max limit and was ready to sign the papers. But at the last minute they were not going to be able to through in the keyless entry that they originally said that they would. I really feel like I need a keyless entry for safety reasons living in south LA. I walked away feeling like they should have been able to do this deal for me and they were unwilling to. This happened at the beginning of a weekend. After another long, stressful, discouraging, and exhausting weekend, I was at the end of my rope. The thought of another week of car searching felt so burdensome I just would start crying even thinking about it. So went back to the place that wouldn’t give me the keyless entry and threw in 200 dollars over my max limit for the sake of my sanity. Although the car was not the best deal or the best car I could have chosen, for my sanity it was worth it to be done. And it is still a really good car.

There were several other stressful things that went wrong and created problems in this whole ordeal that I was starting to feel the “Job” of car problems. Thankfully I am almost there. There is still some insurance stuff that is not taken care of but now at least the majority of my day is not dealing with car stuff.

Here are some things that the Lord has thought me throughout this process.

I couldn’t really deal with why I was so stressed in the midst of it. Afterwards I was able to process what is going on for me. My mother was a single mom and raised me to be very independent and self sufficient. Part of that is really good, but I have twisted that into something that is really unhealthy. In dealing with all of this car stuff I felt very alone and that I had to do everything myself. Part of me felt bitter about it but part of me felt like, well, I’m tough, I don’t need anyone, I can do it myself. But that is a dangerous way of thinking and is a lie. Obviously I can’t do it all myself because I was breaking down crying every day, not sleeping well, and having a lot of anxiety. I was not letting God take care of me. Even though I was trying to let God provide for me needs, I have always operated in a way where I feel like I just need to take care of myself and do what it takes to get things done. In the end, God always comes though, even in the midst of my sin. I am very thankful for his grace on me. There’s a lot more but I can’t really get into it on a public blog.

As things continued to go wrong with the all this car stuff I begged for God to make it end, but more of more things kept coming up. I realized that I have no guarantee that these problems will end. I can only choose to turn to God in the midst of them or continue to live in stress and anxiety. There is a “churchy” phrase that comes from Daniel’s friends being sent into the furnace that I really like. God will not deliver us from the fire, but he will deliver us through the fire. God does not promise that we will not go through difficult situations but he does promise that he will be with us in the midst of them.

Ways that God has cared for me through this whole ordeal

-During the accident, surrounding me with people who were leading me in what to do

- That my insurance paid for a rental car the majority of the time

-A really nice insurance agent who was very fast and always responded quickly to me

-A friend who was gave me a lot of advice about cars

-A friend who went with me to buy the car

-My small group praying for me

-My mom being home from work that month so that she was available during the day when I needed to call her with questions

-My dad giving me advice and sending me some money for the car

-My grandfather’s inheritance that helped pay for the car

-The time to car search in only working part time

-There is more I just can’t think of right now

Continuous Line Drawings

This is another catch up blog. I did this activity with my students months ago. I did a series of exercises on continuous line drawing from what I had learned from Inner City Arts

We started by first just talking about different types of lines, horizontal, vertical, straight, curvy, zig zag and practiced drawing those lines.

Then I had the crumple up a piece of paper and pretend that an ant was walking along the parameter of that paper. I asked them to draw the path that the ant took.

(This is why I love the creative process. The kinders liked the image of the ant. One student turned her path into more of a story and drew an ant house and car. It wasn’t apart of the exercise but it was part of her creative process).

I tried to do blind continuous line portrait drawing. Most of them could not do it without looking.

Then I had them do continuous line portrait drawing while looking. When I was doing this activity it didn’t seem like any of them could really stick to the continuous lines but when I looked at their work afterwards, quite a few of them were able to do this.

In the next activity I called out different objects like a shoe, house, ball, pencil and they were supposed to draw those objects in a continuous line.

I put a random object inside each of their desks that they weren’t supposed to look at but just draw by feeling. They really liked the mystery of this activity and trying to guess the different objects that they were drawing. Having the desk to put the objects in really helped them not to peak.

Although it was a little difficult to get through each of the exercises, I think they overall enjoyed it. I had them each pick one of the drawings from all the different exercises and put them up on the board. I then did a non-judgmental critique with them. Since it’s been months now I am forgetting what we talked about but I think it went pretty well. I was having a hard time remembering to talk about each student’s art.

Native American Cave Drawings

This was an activity that I did during Spring Break Camp with older students. I was teaching a class on different types of storytelling. We first talked about how in ancient times people told stories in different ways. I had them list of ways people told stories: music, dance, plays, drawing, chants, oral storytelling, etc. I gave them some cave drawing and had them write a story about what they think was happening in the cave drawing.

I then had them make up their own pictographs and tell a story through their drawings. Most of them really enjoyed coming up with their own symbols and sharing their stories with each other.

If you give a Mouse a Cookie

I am very behind on blogging. Let’s just say that even though I have been working part time, I have been more busy than when I was working full time and interning with IV in the past few weeks. More blog posts to come on car stuff, future stuff, and more of my students stuff.

I am trying to document more what I do with my students to build up a portfolio and remember what worked and what didn’t. Since I am always looking to integrate academic material with creative learning, I was trying to spice up how to enhance reading comprehension skills for my kindergarteners.

My kinders actually respond pretty well to me just reading them stories. And I love reading kids books, it’s one of my favorite things in life so I am always happy to read to them. I usually ask them questions after reading the book to build their reading comprehension skills. But I tried to make this more of a creative process. I read them the classic, “If you give a Mouse a Cookie.” First, as a class we went over each part of the story and I wrote the sequence of events on the board. Then I assigned each them a different part of the story that we had talked about. I had them draw a picture of just that part of the story. I took all their pictures and taped them on the board in order and had them retell me the story with their pictures. It worked well because most of them had heard the story before and different parts of the story were not that complicated to draw.