jody's blog
random thoughts, ideas and chaosShould churches lock their doors? [A Facebook conversation]
I decided to post a Facebook feed from yesterdays blog post. The big conversation here is about churches locking their doors. Should they? Shouldn't they? There's not a 'one size fits all' answer to this question. I thought the conversation was a good one...
To look homeless here is to NOT look homeless.
I wrote so much on my homeless journey, but even with the 100+ handwritten pages, I feel like I just scratched the surface of simply understanding the difficulties of it. I don't have a clue what it's like to really be homeless, yet learned enough to know it's...
The good, the bad and the ugly: 3 church visits
Here's a journal entry about depending on the kindness of strangers from a homeless perspective. I visited 20+ churches, asking for assistance with food and gas money. This journal entry details my first three church visits, encompassing the best and worst...
A guide to homelessness: No such thing
Another journal entry from day one of studying homelessness. That is what I was doing, I guess. There's no good politically correct name for it. If I call it a project, that seems to distance me from anything I feel or learn. An experiment would make it sound like...
The ghost of economic future
I wrote so much while doing this, that if there was a maximum blog length allowed in Wordpress, I would clearly be exceeding it. After I post my journals, which will probably take several days, I'll open up some discussion on what I've learned. Not only by my own...
Switching gears into homelessness: A journal from day zero
Rethinking homelessness: I started out by living as a homeless person in my suburban area for two weeks. Read my blog post to get the full scope of my thoughts and why I wanted to do this. Please note that I am not homeless, therefore I will never understand what...
suburban homelessness & ethos ethics
[This post is part of Rethink Homelessness, written 5.29.12] It occurred to me as I was typing notes from an interview with a friend who has been homeless in suburbia, I shouldn’t be doing this at home. My friend said one of the places she frequented while homeless...
a street retreat and a midlife crisis?
[This post is part of Rethink Homelessness, written 5.23.12] I guess I have a midlife crisis on or around my birthday each year. It seems as though I make big life changes around the same time every year. I bet any therapist could have a field day with that info....
rethink homelessness
Let me start by saying I’ve never been homeless. Rethinking homelessness for me is knowing there are people in really tough situations without a home, and knowing I’m a few paychecks away from the same thing. I’m a middle-aged single mom, living in a nice suburban...
rethink homelessness
Let me start by saying I've never been homeless. Rethinking homelessness for me is knowing there are people in really tough situations without a home, and knowing I'm a few paychecks away from the same thing. I'm a middle-aged single mom, living in a nice suburban...
Communications FastTrack: BLOGGING
Don't just have a blog, have a good blog. This presentation is from the Communications FastTrack - NACBA (National Association of Church Business Administration), presented on 7.11.12. Download the notes in PDF format: Everybody has a blog Links to blog posts...
friends… with benefits?
Recently, I was a guest writer on singleroots.com and wrote a post about friends with benefits. There are many good things about being single, and friendships are first and foremost. I have married friends and single friends. I have male friends and female friends....
unplugged toys
I was hoping to have more time to post some non-electronic toys from my childhood and compare them with what my kids will have this week. I ran out of time, but here's a few photos of some toys I had. I'll post what my kids played with when we return. It's Slinky!...
non-electronic toys: the new form child abuse
I sometimes say to my kids, "We're having no electronics night." Inevitably, one of them will start down the 'electricity' path, saying, "Oh, so we can't use lights? How are you going to cook dinner without the stove? Hmmm?" This conversation usually carries on...
the ice cream sandwich experiment
Why wouldn't anyone believe me when I said an ice cream sandwich, left at room temperature, would still look like an ice cream sandwich a day later? Well here it is. Almost 24 hours later, a little puffy in the center, but still very much intact. What is this made...
the little plastic faces are taunting me…
While grocery shopping a couple of nights ago, I found myself in a quandary. I'm a frugal shopper, although I dislike calling myself anything with the word "shopper" in it. I'm also a bit of an activist against plastic waste. I'm not a radical activist who stands...
How far away is your mission field?
I don't read a lot of magazines. Not because I don't like reading them, it's more about buying a pricey publication that I'm supposed to throw away (recycle) once I've finished reading it. I'm not sure if it's my hoarder tendencies or my desire to not be wasteful...
kill the plastic squirrels: retail entertainment
Rethink shopping. I really am not a huge fan of shopping in most situations. We practice the 'no impulse buys' philosophy. If you see something you want, and you remember it 24 hours later, then you can go back and get it. This saves us HUGE amounts of money! We...
is it politically correct to say, “no?”
Why didn't I just say, "No thank you?" It was nice that the doctor gave each of my kids a plastic sports bottle, but I knew as he was offering them that we're not keeping these. Why did I not speak up? Would it have been rude to say no? Do these advertisement...
play plinko at the farmers market
I decided to go to the Frisco Farmers' Market today. As the words farmers' market suggests, I expected to find lots of local produce vendors and maybe a few other food-type vendors. Since the name starts with Frisco, maybe my expectations should have been a little...