Another Adventurous Hike with the Lord

 Tuna Canyon Hike Malibu

Hiking has been some of my best times with the Lord in these last few years. Its a place that I can get away from distractions, be in nature, be moving, and be with the Lord. As much as I enjoy hiking with other people, I receive so much more hiking by myself. After coming off a hard week this week, I was sensing that I needed a hike just with Jesus. I found this hike that had a labyrinth on top of a hill. I was really excited because I LOVE labyrinths and have had some of my most spiritually significant moments inside a prayer labyrinth. The websites did not have very clear directions on how to get to this hike and how to follow it. I found the trail head ok. I had been praying on my way up that God would provide other people on this hike to help me find the labyrinth. Within a few minutes someone was walking down and I asked him how to get to the labyrinth. He said to just keep going straight up and that the road would dead end at this labyrinth. Sounds easy enough. Somehow I took a wrong turn somewhere. I was following this one trail up to the top of this point overlooking the ocean. The path did dead end but not at a labyrinth. I was very disappointed. The hike itself was not that scenic and seemed anticlimactic to not get to the labyrinth at the end. As I was going back down I saw it in the distance. Yes, thank you Lord! I went back up and tried to follow another trail but it did not seem to be leading in that direction. They I went back out to try to find another way in. I was getting very frustrated at this point as there seemed to be no way in. I went back down trails I had already been hoping to see some turn off that I had missed. Finally knowing that I was close I just pushed my way through the bushes. One way or another I was getting to this labyrinth. I finally got there. Yes Lord, I persevered and made it. The moment was short lived. Although there were some rocks in a design they were not in the shape of a labyrinth. I looked around and literally saw no trail that led this place. I remembered what the man had told me and the pictures I had seem online of the labyrinth and concluded that this is what I had been looking for.

 The place I thought was the labyrinth

Now I was extremely disappointing. I had tried so hard to get here, pushed through the bushes, sure this where the Lord was leading me only to find out that it wasn't. As joyful as I was to start of the hike, I was now very depressed at having not found my goal. I had been hiking for about an hour and half at this point and already feeling tired and could feel my white skin starting to bake under the intensifying sun. As I hiked back out I vented my frustration to the Lord. Then I came to a major junction where it looked like I could have taken the wrong path initially. Ahead was a steep incline. I was already tired, didn't know if this trail was the one I needed, didn't know how far up it went, and there were no people around to ask. One of the joys of going hiking by myself is that I decide everywhere I go. When it comes to hiking I am not quick to give up on trying to find what I want. I started up the hill unsure of how long I would need to go. I talked to the Lord as I hiked. "Lord, we could have this great moment today. We could have this crazy hike where I went forever looking this labyrinth, thought I found it, but didn't but then in the end saw your victory as you led me to it. Or Lord, we could have a really disappointing day, where I tried so hard but never found it. Come on Lord, don't you want to have that great moment with me? Don't you want me to have this great testimony?" I tried to prepare myself that the Lord was still good even if I didn't find it. But it was hard because I was tired and had been hiking for so long. I can to this big circular area where it looked like a labyrinth could have been. I really hoped it had not been taken away or destroyed by a storm.

 A great view from the top

A nice place to sit in the shade at the top of the hike

 I hiked just a little further and saw it. I immediately started to sing, "Hallelujah, thank you Jesus, Lord your worthy of all the glory, all the honor and all the praise." I felt the victory of the Lord.

 Very excited to have found it

Although the sun was beating down on my bare arms I had to spend some time there. As I walked through I tried to let go of all the crap of my week: my bad attitude, my impatience, my sorrows, my tiredness. I spent some time singing in the middle since there was no one around. As I left I asked the Lord to fill me with his presence and piece. This labyrinth is very interesting to visit because there are all these little trinkets throughout that people have left. See pictures. It makes me wonder why people left them: to commemorate something, to let something go? I felt like I wanted to leave something too but had nothing to leave that meant something to me. There was so many great metaphors in this hike. Persevering is hard, its tiring, you work toward something you think is your goal and you find out it isn't. But the Lord always has the victory. Feeling like I needed to commemorate the experience in some way, I scratched on a rock, IWI "It's Worth It." All the frustrations, tiredness, sunburn, was worth getting to this labyrinth. Following God is always worth it in the end, even if you are at a point that is disappointing, or frustrating, or you feel lost. God always has the victory and its always worth it.

PS Magically, somehow I did not get sunburned, despite being 3 hours in direct sunlight with little sunblock on. Another way the Lord cared for me.

 Some trinkets left behind

 I'm sure you can't read it, but it explains how to enter into the labyrinth

Hard to see, but its supposed to read "IWI." It's Worth It.

A Great Story Ends With...

 Our Performance Night

Our performance this year was really a great night. All the details came together in the end. It seems to happen every year that the students hold back in rehearsal, which makes us nervous, but then come alive when they get onstage. They deliver an outstanding performance. This year the youth performed 4 song, 2 theatre skits, 1 dance, 1 stop motion animation, and a photography slideshow. We had 33 students participate in the program and 19 perform.

Jessica and Ashley singing, "Picture Frames"

Exploring the theme of Success and Failure

I think that this year the students really explored our theme of Success and Failure in their different art forms. As we were learning throughout the summer what real success is, we saw a variety of answers emerge in their art. There was a song about working hard to achieve success. Another student was inspired by her dad who put up pictures on the wall of the goals he was working toward. There was a skit about a high school reunion, where two friends enter feeling like failures and must examine why they chose the path they did. Another scene was about how our character matters in our journey of success. I was very impressed by the depth of work they explored this summer.

Jacob, Jesus and Rogelio in "High School Reunion"

 The Crowd Favorite and Emerging Young Artists

Rogelio and Jesus are two students that I have worked with for three years now. They are kind hearted, generous, and respectful young men. It has been my joy to see them both develop as actors. To say they stole the show may be going too far, but I can tell you that no one in the audience forgot their performance. They have built this great connection with each other onstage. They have learned how to play off each other well. These two are going somewhere, so look out! As much as I want to praise and highlight my shining stars, I feel I must also highlight those that the audience may not remember as clearly. Jacob is a junior high student and this was his first year acting. It was a big struggle for him to get the lines memorized. We had a few adults really working with him outside of rehearsals to help him. By the time of the show, he was able to take on this free-loving hippy character. His performance was not perfect but it was also a joy to see him grow and really dedicate himself to this part.

Me performing a skit about a not so nice art teacher

 Thank you again for all your support and prayers. If you would like to stay connected with what Streetlamp Studios is doing throughout the year please check out their website or like them on facebook.

 Dance Group

 Getting everyone warmed up

 Manuel and Nathali in a skit called, "Not So Epic Fail"

 Aubrey and Philip rapping to "Gotta Try"

 Manuel, Abner and Demaure in, "Not So Epic Fail"

 Jesus and Rogelio in "High School Reunion" 

Jamal singing, "Open Mind"

My Neighborhood

 I felt inspired by the visual arts team for WJPK and decided to do a little photo session of my own around my neighborhood. Here are also some short, corny, silly, somewhat deep reflections.

 I call this one "Happiness Waiting for the Garbage Truck."

 Tourist Taking Strange Picture at USC

This makes me wonder where this hat has been before in landed here as litter. Who wore it? Where did they wear it? Things you don't think about unless you are looking for a picture.  

Don't shoot down my heart! 

 Barbie cake. My question is, how do you eat it?

 Lived here for 3 years never been inside this store. 

 My neighbor's garden

 Gates make me sad.

 I call this the Pocahontas tree at USC

 I am not a person who walks slowly but I appreciate those who do. I wonder how they take in the world differently from me.

 Longing for friendship that looks like this. Or least how I imagine in my head their friendship to be based on this picture.

Rolling in the grass seems like what God created it for. 

 This is major stalker status. 

 Missing being able to "play" with my sisters.

 The beauty that is discarded and left behind.

The multiculturalism of LA. I love it!

 What lies ahead of you?

 Don't let anyone tell you that you can't walk somewhere

 Sometimes my heart feels like a maze that is always under construction

Waiting for...

Success and Failure in Monsters University

****SPOILER ALERT****
This post contains spoilers to the movie.

I watched Monster's University on a field trip with my students. Some of the themes of it hit me pretty hard.It actually has a lot to do with Success and Failure which is our theme for WJPK this summer, so it caught my attention.

So basically Monsters University follows the story of a little monster named Mike Wazowski. When he was a kid he had this experience of watching a "Scarer," and from that moment on he decided that he wanted to be Scarer. He got into Monsters University as a Scare Major. He finds out that he must pass the midterm to stay in the program. Now Sullivan also goes to MU. His family is somewhat legendary for being great Scarers.  He finds no need to study as he say, "You don't need to study scaring, you just do it." Mike studies really hard but both Mike and Sully fail the exam and are kicked out of the Scaring Major. Mike is heartbroken until he finds out about the Scare Games. Its very similar to the Goblet of Fire Competition in Harry Potter except with teams. Mike forms a team with the most outcast fraternity and Sully. If they win the games, the Dean will let them return to the Scaring program. Mike takes this fumbling group and trains them to be winners. Against all odds they make it to the final competition. Sully find out from the Dean that even if they win, she will not let Mike back into the program because he is just not scary. Mike is the last to compete and pulls off a record breaking scare. After the competition Mike finds out that Sully cheated and rigged the machine to save him the embarrassment. Mike's anger leads him to enter the human world to prove first hand that he can actually scare a kid. But when his moment comes, he couldn't. The kids just laugh at him and they are not scared at all. Sully follows Mike into the human world to try to save him. There is a great scene with Sully and Mike that breaks my heart. Mike has to come to terms with the fact that his dream will never happen. The the thing he has wanted and worked for his whole life, will never happen. He is not scary. No matter how much knowledge he has about how to scare, it doesn't change the fact when it come to the real world, he isn't scary enough. Sully also admits that he feels like a failure. His family is legendary and he flunked out of the Scaring program. He also admits that although he seems tough, most of the time he is terrified.

I like that this story is true to life. Its not your typical, if you work hard enough, you can overcome any obstacle. There are sometimes where you have to come to terms with the fact that your dream is not going to come true. It has been something that I have been thinking about since I moved to LA. I long ago came to terms with the fact that I was not going to be an actress. I know I am not good enough, and its something that I don't even want anymore (most of the time). But my desire is to be able to teach theatre to kids full time as a job. Since moving here there has been a lot of closed doors. I have been able to teach theatre but the way I am doing it now is not sustainable in the long run. At what point do I have to come to terms with the fact that this career path just is not going happen? I'm not willing to sacrifice everything to try to make it happen. Not that I feel like I cant do the job, but its not working the way I am going about it now. Its hard to think about letting it go because I have been working for this for so long. I wouldn't even know where else to go, what other career path to pursue. I feel the burden that Mike feels. The loss of something you had so much hope in and aspiration for. I am not at the point yet of giving up on it, but at what point do I need to face that? At what point do you just need to move on?

The story for Mike does not end there though. Both Mike and Sully are expelled from MU. They get a job at Monsters Inc in the mail room and work their way up. Mike becomes a coach, which he loves and is very good at. Its also interesting to consider the ending to Monsters Inc. They find out that laughing produces even more energy than screams. Mike is the one who goes into the human world to make kids laugh and produce the energy. His dreams comes much later and in a different way.

This also gives me hope. If my dream has to die, God can give me a new dream. One that might even be better than the one I have now.

Thank you Lord for speaking to me through children's movies!

When Justice and Peace Kiss 2013

When Justice and Peace Kiss 2013 This year marks Steetlamp Studios’ 7th annual production of When Justice and Peace Kiss. Based on Psalm 85, “WJPK” is a multidiscipline arts program that encourages students to create original art about social issues they encounter in their daily lives. The Impact During my time in Los Angeles, I have learned about the dramatic impact that the arts can have on students. The Los Angeles Unified School District  has one of the highest drop out rates in the nation. A study by James Catterall called, “Champions of Change,” looks at the impact of students’ involvement in the arts. Cartterall found that 85.9% of high school seniors rarely if never are involved with any after school arts enrichment. Yet he found that seniors involved in regular arts programs performed 15.9% higher in reading than students with low involvement in the arts. Students have less risk of dropping out, are more involved in community service, and more engaged in school when they have higher levels of arts involvement. Carterall explains, “When well taught, the arts provide young people with authentic learning experiences that are real and meaningful for them. By engaging his or her whole person, the student feels invested in ways that are deeper than knowing the answer.” It is with these and other benefits in mind that we hope to maintain a vibrant arts program in our community. Jamal Jamal is a graduating senior who has been a part of WJPK since the program began.  Through the years he has grown into a compelling musician. I have had the privilege of seeing him perform 3 original songs that he wrote on the themes of not giving up, finding freedom, and battling depression. This year will mark his last performance as a student with WJPK before he graduates and begins studying music at a local community college. What's New This Year? This year we will be working with the theme of Success and Failure. In the midst of our culture and media telling us what it means to be successful, we will look at how God views success. Through studying the life of King David, we see someone who was not set up to succeed, yet is remembered as one of Israel’s greatest kings. I am excited to see how God can reveal his idea of a successful and prosperous life to these youth, who are surrounded by a lot of systemic and economic failure.  How you can support WJPK This program is not possible without the prayers and support of people like you. This year 100% of the donations will go directly to supporting the needs of the program. If you are able to financially contribute you can give online at thttp://www.streetlampstudio.com/get-involved/donate/and choose Fundraiser for Megan Ibarra in the dropdown menu. If you are interested in being an intercessor for the program who receives regular prayer updates please email me at meganmibarra@gmail.com. Here is a link to one of our most memorable pieces from 2 sisters singing an original song,  "I Can See the Light"  Like us on facebook I Follow us on twitter I website Thank you!

A Midsummer Nights Dream

To Do Shakespeare or Not to Do Shakespeare?
This post is long overdue, as are many more. Hopefully I can catch up this summer.
I started this process probably back in February. After my last play with my students, I asked them what they wanted to do next. A few of them requested Shakespeare. I teach Shakespeare in the summer so they are at least familiar with who he is. My sister had given me a Shakespeare for Kids book for Christmas so I thought I would start there. I was planing on just reading, "A Midsummer Nights Dream," and possibly doing a few scenes from it or doing another Shakespeare play. Midsummer has a very complicated plot and a lot of "lovey dovey," not super kids appropriate themes. When we read through it, they thought it was hilarious. I forget what they were laughing at now, its been so long, but I was shocked by how much they enjoyed it and were able to follow the plot. After reading it I gave them 3 three options: we could do scenes from the play, the whole play, or something else entirely. They almost all said that they wanted to do the whole play. I was reminded how often I underestimate my students and how when given a challenge, they will rise to it. My friend from high school who also teaches theatre at an after school program has told me that if you set the bar high, they will reach it. I see that more and more.

Casting
I really struggled with casting the play because I had to find kids who would be ok with the lovey dovey "lovers" parts, and Flute, a boy who must be dressed as a girl at the end. I was surprised by this one 2nd grader who wanted to be Demetrius. I never thought he could handle it, but he did a great job. I cast a girl as Puck. I had given her a very small role in the last play, but something about her just screamed Puck to me. I was worried because her behavior is often very difficult. Although sometimes I regretted it when she was back stage, I never regretted it when she was onstage. She was a natural and clever Puck. She took on this role so much that she insisted I call her Puck outside of rehearsals and even told her friends to start calling her this. I felt very proud. I had an amazing Bottom that did a great job with his final death scene. He would crack us up all the time in rehearsal. I had to change the role of Flute halfway through, but the boy who ended up doing it did great, was a little embarrassed but still went for it. And isn't that what acting is anyway.

Shakespeare would roll over in his grave
My boss wanted me to try to add music to the play since our end of the year show is supposed to be a musical. What a nightmare. I am not a musical theatre person. I do not do choreography well. I can do kinder hand motions to songs but that's about as far as I can get. I thought the easiest way would be to take popular songs and just change the words slightly to fit the story. I had the kids help me come up with this. It made them more connected to the show and it were songs that they liked. Shakespeare would roll over in his grave but here is what we came up with. We changed "Baby Got Back" to "I am Nick Bottom, and I can not lie, you Mechanical can not deny. I can play a girl with a itty bitty waist or a loud roar in your  face..." We changed "Sexy and I know it" to "I'm a Fairy and I know it." When Lysander falls in love with Helena he sang to Hermia Taylor Swifts, "We Are Never Getting Back Together." When they all get married they sang Bruno Mars, "Marry You." And our grand finale at the end of the play we changed "Gangnam Style" into "Shakespeare Style." They were most excited about this. In fact, most of them said that doing the dance was their favorite part of the show.

Creating :)
As with the last play, I had a lot fun creating the set and some of the costumes. It felt less crazy than the last plays. I was very excited about my tree and my t-shirts that hopefully helped the audience follow the love story a bit. It brings be great joy to create all this. One of the best moments of the process for me came when I was showing some of the students so props that I was working on. One student said to me, "Why did you buy all this stuff?" Another student responded to her, "Because she loves us." It felt really good to be appreciated and for them to see that I did all this because I love them.

 Shirts for the "lovers."

Snout's wall for the end.

Rehearsals
The rehearsal process went pretty well. There always comes a point where some of them know it well and get bored and lazy with it. Its always hard to push past that. There was a huge gap at this point between my students who knew it all and those that didn't even have their lines down. Its funny that the kids I cast as the Mechanicals, really were the Mechanicals. They were this eclectic group of fumbling kids who couldn't stand still or focus. I felt like Quince trying to wrangle them.

If we shadows have offended...
Although it was a kids version of the play it did have a good amount of one lines from Shakespeare. It made me so happy to hear them say these line. "I love thee not, therefore pursue me not." "The course of true love never did run smooth." "And through this cranny shall Pyramus and Thisbe speak." "Let me not play a woman, I have a beard coming." Although I truncated it, Puck's final speak was all the original Shakespeare.

Performance
The day of the performance rand very smoothly. Going in I felt pretty calm. I was very organized, I felt like the kids were pretty ready. I felt more prepared than other shows. We did have one kid not show up because he got sick. I quickly grabbed my MC, taught him a dance in 5 minutes and gave him a clipboard with a script. He was able to jump in and did a great job. One of my other favorite moments from the play is when I was getting them in costume. One of my students has a huge attitude problems and complains about everything. I had showed him part of his costume a few weeks earlier and he later complained to me that he didn't like it and could I get him another one. But when I put his whole costume on him he said, "This is actually really cool. I like it." That could only be the words of the Lord speaking through him, because that child would never have said that about anything. The show ran so smoothly that for parts of it I was able to just sit back and take a few pictures. I didn't feed anyone a line. The only awkward parts came because costume changes took a little too long. But the kids hadn't practiced this. The parents laughed. Many parents came up to me afterwards and told me that they really enjoyed it. I could not have been more proud of them. It was probably the best production I have done at this school.

Rainbow Mosiacs

I have been wanting to magazine mosaics with my students for a while. I thought rainbows would be the easiest since all you have to do is find colors. It took about 3 or 4 art classes on Fridays for them to do this. I think they got sick of it after the second week but I pushed them to finish them. Out of about 30 students I could only get 10 to finish, so you can see how engaged they were. But they turned out so nicely. Maybe the next mosaics I will just give them smaller paper.