Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.

Despite my recent protests that the Psalms just aren’t doing it for me any more because I don’t feel God’s presence, this one still has the power to comfort.

Psalm 25
Of David.
1To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. 2O my God, in you I trust;
let me not be put to shame;
let not my enemies exult over me.
3Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame;
they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

4 Make me to know your ways, O LORD;
teach me your paths.
5Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all the day long.

6Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
7Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me,
for the sake of your goodness, O LORD!

8 Good and upright is the LORD;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
9He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble his way.
10All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

11For your name’s sake, O LORD,
pardon my guilt, for it is great.
12Who is the man who fears the LORD?
Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.
13His soul shall abide in well-being,
and his offspring shall inherit the land.
14 The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him,
and he makes known to them his covenant.
15My eyes are ever toward the LORD,
for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

16 Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
17The troubles of my heart are enlarged;
bring me out of my distresses.
18 Consider my affliction and my trouble,
and forgive all my sins.

19Consider how many are my foes,
and with what violent hatred they hate me.
20Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!
Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
21May integrity and uprightness preserve me,
for I wait for you.

22 Redeem Israel, O God,
out of all his troubles.

Hello, Neighbor

This is my favorite thing that I’ve heard on NPR in a long time. It’s about a photojournalist in a rapidly-gentrifying neighborhood in Portland, OR, who was bothered by the fact that most of her neighbors didn’t know each other, so she started a project for students in the area to interview and take pictures of neighbors that they were curious about.

They ended up understanding some of their neighbors a lot better, including some young men that they previously might have been afraid of. Asked what he would like people to know about him, one said, “That I’m smart…honest, trustworthy, all them good things, because a lot of people look at me and don’t see that, they would rather walk by than speak or say hi.”

This story brings back such memories of various neighbors that I was scared of growing up, for various reasons – they staged an elaborate and terrifying spectacle for trick-or-treaters on Halloween so I thought they must be devil-worshipers (I was 5 years old), or they told a lie about me to the management of our apartment complex that I had whizzed right next to one of them on my bike and said “Get out of my way.” (The people in the second story were obviously of ill will, but if they had known my family, they probably wouldn’t have lied to try to get my bicycling privileges taken away.)

Short of starting a photojournalism project, I don’t know what to do do besides keep on trying saying hi to people, even though it’s often intimidating if they seem cool and busy or in their own world (which I often am myself). And invite the neighbors if we have another big backyard party. This is where I have to really give props to our neighbor W. who lives two houses down – when we moved in he introduced himself, invited us over for drinks and then later to grill out, at which we met two other people who live on this street. One is a fascinating fellow schnauzer-enthusiast and former PhD student in psychology at U-M.

I like what two students who participated in the project had to say.

When you say hi to people, I mean, it takes you out of your comfort zone because you don’t know them, but if somebody say “Hi, I’m glad to see you, you have some type of reason to, like, be here” – I guess it’s pretty good.

I met people that I had no idea existed, never seen in my life before but who lived really close to me, and it kind of opened me up to realize that people are, in general, like, good to meet.

Plastic-covered pearls -
Plastic case fills up with spit.
Not ideal but so much better.

Things I hate about going to the orthodontist

(I’m really grateful to have access to treatment and I generally like everyone at my orthodontist’s office, but on this the day of my last appointment until I return from Germany, the time has come for me to vent.)

• orthodontists who don’t know that there’s a right way and a wrong (i.e., painful) way to stick their fingers in someone’s mouth
• the drill they use to get off glue and “turbo tails.” They say it’s only the cold air hitting my tooth that hurts, but I swear it feels like they’re piercing my innermost nerve.
• when the technicians treat me like a child, despite the fact that I’m almost 30. Like the one today who attempted to put me at my ease by asking “where’d your braces go?” in mock surprise after the de-bonding process. Or the one who followed every statement with a little trill of laughter that sounded exactly like Imelda Staunton playing Delores Umbridge.
• the circular contraption they use to pull back the lips when they’re putting on braces – it makes my mouth look like a lamprey’s and is the oral equivalent of stirrups.