The instructions are simple: choose your eleven favorite musical artists, then your favorite song by each, and provide a link (YouTube if possible) so the world can share in the crème de la crème of your musical tastes. This list is probably different than your eleven favorite songs, which is why you choose the artists first.

George created this meme. Lorenia made the very good point that she doesn’t have 11 favorite bands or artists…and neither do I. Andrew outdid us all by using his fancy design skills to do the meme. Ezra’s list surprised me as I had no idea what kind of music he liked. I usually don’t do internet memes on my blog, but this one was fun and I got some interesting insight on my friends’ music choices through it. Go ahead and try it…you’ll see how much of a challenge it is.

I have organized them in descending order, and if you click on the image, you can listen to the song. And while the choices here are mostly very laid back, relaxing songs, I do like to dance and listen to happy, bouncy music. It just so happens that the music that I listen to on a regular basis is…quieter.

11. Live – Dance With You

10. Coldplay – Til Kingdom Come

9. India Arie – Ready For Love

8. The Decemberists – Summersong

7. Damien Rice – The Blower’s Daughter

6. The Shins – Pink Bullets

5. Sufjan Stevens – For The Widows In Paradise, For The Fatherless In Ypsilanti

4. Stars – Calendar Girl

3. Feist – Gatekeeper

2. Joshua Radin – Winter

1. Zero 7 – Today

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As a Baha’i, I do not celebrate Christmas as Christians do, but as I live in a country that celebrates Christian holidays, I have been surrounded by Christmas…and instead of the usual materialistic images that are evoked by the holiday, I wish to instead focus on who Jesus Christ was: a Manifestation of God. Baha’is believe that Baha’u'llah was the return of Christ in the glory of the Father, and that all Manifestations came from God at different times to teach humanity about what God wants us to do.

The position of Christ was that of absolute perfection; He made His divine perfections shine like the sun upon all believing souls, and the bounties of the light shone and radiated in the reality of men. This is why He says: “I am the bread which descended from heaven; whosoever shall eat of this bread will not die”- that is to say, that whosoever shall partake of this divine food will attain unto eternal life: that is, every one who partakes of this bounty and receives these perfections will find eternal life, will obtain preexistent favors, will be freed from the darkness of error, and will be illuminated by the light of His guidance.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 120)

When the sanctified breezes of Christ and the holy light of the Greatest Luminary [1] were spread abroad, the human realities — that is to say, those who turned toward the Word of God and received the profusion of His bounties — were saved from this attachment and sin, obtained everlasting life, were delivered from the chains of bondage, and attained to the world of liberty. They were freed from the vices of the human world, and were blessed by the virtues of the Kingdom. This is the meaning of the words of Christ, “I gave My blood for the life of the world”[2] — that is to say, I have chosen all these troubles, these sufferings, calamities, and even the greatest martyrdom, to attain this object, the remission of sins (that is, the detachment of spirits from the human world, and their attraction to the divine world) in order that souls may arise who will be the very essence of the guidance of mankind, and the manifestations of the perfections of the Supreme Kingdom.
[1 Bahá'u'lláh.]
[2 Cf. John 6:51.]

(Abdu’l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 124)

The Cause of Bahá’u'lláh is the same as the Cause of Christ. It is the same Temple and the same Foundation. Both of these are spiritual springtimes and seasons of the soul-refreshing awakening and the cause of the renovation of the life of mankind. The spring of this year is the same as the spring of last year. The origins and ends are the same. The sun of today is the sun of yesterday. In the coming of Christ, the divine teachings were given in accordance with the infancy of the human race. The teachings of Bahá’u'lláh have the same basic principles, but are according to the stage of the maturity of the world and the requirements of this illumined age.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’i World Faith, p. 400)

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This weekend is the beginning of winter. To celebrate the freezing cold weather in Chicago, I’m going to share a few things that I have been enjoying that keep my mind off the fact that the ice and snow are inundating my life.

A Short Love Story In Stop Motion – My friend Ana posted this on her blog, and I could not stop watching it.

Genius Dog – A few of my friends have started a webcomic, and it is funny. Go take a look.

Fleet Foxes: “He Doesn’t Know Why” – Fleet Foxes is a band from Seattle that my friend Navid introduced me to. They’ve been around for a few years now, and I am surprised that I had not heard of them before.

Ocean of His Words, by John Hatcher – I have just started reading this book, and while it can be heavy reading at times, it is very interesting to analyze the Writings from a literary perspective.

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She held her breath far longer than she meant to. There was order and a certain sense of peace, but the ground was shaky under her feet. Reaching out did no good…the branches tore at her dress and snagged her hair. In this case, a blue sky was no comfort, sunlight was harsh and glaring. The only thing to make it right was the cool evening wind, the kind to be lost in.

She learned to translate movement and expression into thought, broke through the noise of words…but lost the frantic tumble of syllables and sound that slide down ravines and tumble into your waiting hands.

Some words stay thick and others fall in rapid movements. There are ways to keep up. Words can hold our hands, walk right into our souls and set up shop.

Glances catch details, the little spoken or understood moments. Hems of long dresses touch a polished marble floor, stirring dust motes in the afternoon sun. A hand grips a telephone pole and twists around to gain balance, tightening. A plate shatters but only one piece does a graceful double-back flip. Only one snail ever crossed that path in that place, he is a snail celebrity in the snail world.

Her words are as powerful as the silence could be, if it was patient and waited for Sunday afternoons with tea and books by the fire. She has waited so long for those afternoons.

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The Chicago Regional Baha’i Conference. (Read this first!!)

I am so overwhelmed with the beauty and love of these conferences. I have been struggling to write this blog entry for several days now, wondering how I would put into words the experience. Then I decided to just capture the moments. The moments I experienced might be similar to other people’s experiences, or completely different. A number of friends from around the world have been asking for anecdotes from the Chicago conference, so I thought it best to just write it here.

-Registration on Friday night…watching my fellow volunteers prepare for the arrival of the attendees, and then greeting each person, checking off their names. Having lived in the Midwestern region for 17 years, I recognized so many people and names. Everyone was so happy to see each other, and sometimes there were reunions of 15 years gone by right in front of my table.

-Saturday morning, helping with a few things here and there, and then sitting in the main hall for the start of the conference. Facilitating workshops with large groups of people during the course of the weekend…and they were all so excited, so eager to contribute, and the entire ballroom was full of people like this. The entire conference was full of people that did not want to miss sessions. People would go outside the rooms, grab a cup of coffee, and run back inside, explaining that “I’m so happy to see you, but I can’t miss this!” They were offering their skills, their prayers, their homes, their lives for service, and it nearly makes me cry now just thinking about it.

-Rushed meals in meetings, laughter, explanations, and sharing the learning.

-I saw a hundred people I dearly missed, and missed seeing even more because there were 2,300 people there. I heard that friends of mine were there, but I just did not ever see them. Reuniting with friends was a nice bonus if it happened, but everyone seemed to agree that it wasn’t really the point. The conferences were called by the Universal House of Justice for a specific reason, and everyone seemed to be on the same page. It was especially wonderful to see friends that I had served with in Haifa.

-Driving to and from the convention center in horrible weather conditions. Chicago blessed us with all of her wintery wrath, and it was 4 degrees F (-15 C), with a minor blizzard on Saturday morning that made the drive twice as long. Having not driven in snow for nearly 2 years (since I was serving in Haifa, and it definitely didn’t snow there!) made me very nervous.

-Laughter. My face hurt from how happy I was.

-Watching a man sign his Baha’i declaration card and become a Baha’i, right in front of my eyes, on Sunday afternoon. I had never met him, but it was powerful.

-Knowing that I was taking part in something historic…I can’t even count how many times I got the shivers, knowing that this was unprecedented and that I will tell my children about it.

I can’t wait to hear about the rest of the conferences.

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“The Universal House of Justice, in a letter dated 20 October 2008, announced the convocation of a series of 41 regional conferences over a four-month period. The letter – which marked the midway point of a five-year effort to expand activities at the grassroots level – indicated that the purpose of the conferences is to celebrate achievements during the first half of the Five Year Plan and to deliberate on the next phase.” -Regional Conferences of the Five Year Plan

I highly recommend going to the website linked above and reading the stories there about each of the conferences. Regardless of whether you are a Baha’i or you don’t believe in God, it is truly inspiring to see people from around the world gathering on such short notice to have these remarkable gatherings.

Chicago’s turn is this weekend, and I will be at the conference center starting tomorrow, Friday, through Sunday…which also means I will not be checking my email very much. I am not staying at the hotel, since I live nearby. I am very excited.

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