Teaching someone how to write with "voice" is one of the hardest thing for a writing teacher. Usually, the teacher notices if it is "there" or not. Then, when she tries to give a definition to her students, she says something like, "It's hard to put your finger on..." Up until now, I didn't know …
Educating children
In recent years, educating our children has become more and more important all over the world. In some nations, competition for good schools drives the parents to seek great opportunities for their children. For other nations, the public education is non-existent or poor. Let’s use this cultural …
Milk Tea
Bowls of hot, brown water sat on the table before us. The blue and white ceramic bowls meant for rice held what we presumed was tea, poured carefully from a tall, handsome thermos with a Mongolian warrior painted on the front. My husband and I were visiting with our three children at the home of …
Trouble Learning to Count
I’ve had trouble knowing when to count and when not to. Take for example, March of 1996. Guest after guest stopped by our apartment for a bite to eat. At the time, our family was living in Mongolia, where both giving and receiving hospitality is a privilege. Placing a candy bowl on the table, …
Before the Red Chair is Blue
Missionary service is the only way to truly prove your dedication to Jesus Christ. Or so I mistakenly thought—and upon which I built two decades of my life. To not be overseas was to be living in rebellion against prayers prayed and commitments made. To not be overseas meant ignoring a calling, …
The Land Between
The moment you receive news that alters the course or direction of your life's journey, everything is different. What felt secure or at least felt normal is replaced with uncertainty. The moment my husband said, "We are going back to the states and we're not coming back to Mongolia," I crumpled …
Coming home again.
Coming home? Fondly called the RE-ENTRY PROCESS, reverse culture shock is a formidable minefield. The unsuspecting could definitely be caught off guard. When our family returned from our five years abroad, there was a simple exit-interview with one of the personnel directors at mission headquarters …
Are there ethics that should apply to our writing?
A school teacher has an ethical approach to her teaching. We could call it her PHILOSOPHY of teaching. Written or not, she acts out her philosophy over and over again, the EVIDENCE found in the MOMENTS that make up a school day. As a teacher myself, I respect the individual and his or her right to …
Do Cultures grow progressively?
Forgive me, if I'm wrong. Maybe cultures do not always transform for the better. In my last blog, I entertained the story called THE WIDESPREAD ENIGMA CONCERNING STAR WOMAN. This is a story from Zitkala-Ša in American Indian Stories, published in 1921. From this story, we learned how the elders …
Were ancient cultures “better”–“pure”?
Were the good old days better? Were ancient cultures pure of malicious motives? Were those cultures never rude or cruel or greedy? One phenomenon in the study of culture is the sense that "culture or society is DETERIORIATING." You’ve heard this type of comment from older folks, haven’t you? What …