Coffee List according to Taylor Hill

Having asked for submissions to the Coffee List from other people...this is the list from Taylor Hill, engineer-in-training and a good friend:

Taylor's Coffee List:
C.S. Lewis
-Seriously, who wouldn't want to chat with this guy over coffee? He had one of the most active imaginations in the world, besides being a scholar, theologian, and general intellectual. Most of those types of people can't even make it through college.

James Dean
-An interesting and yet highly private individual, known for his dedication to his work, his inquisitive nature, and his volatile temperament. I imagine this would be an extremely interesting conversation.

Rob Bell
-He has a talent for expressing new and old ideas alike as fresh, simple, and profound. I expect it would translate well to conversation.

Yuko and Ananth from Johnny Wander
-They seem to have some wild and crazy adventures. Or daily life cleverly disguised as wild and crazy adventures with pen and ink.

Ray Bradbury
-I would like to have a huge round-table panel discussion with a number of dystopian fiction writers, but if I had to pick one, I'd pick Ray Bradbury. Or Vonnegut. Or Orson Scott Card. Dang it! Bradbury.

J.R.R. Tolkien
-I know, lots of writers on my list. But I picked most of the writers for reasons other than their writing, and I picked Tolkien solely because I can imagine no better person in the history of the world to discuss language with than, as far as anyone knows, the only man who ever created an entire working language (multiple, in fact), by himself.

Leonardo Da Vinci, David Kelley, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Alec Issigonis
-I made myself choose one dystopian fiction writer, but this coffee chat really needs to be a round-table between some of the most fertile and innovative minds in engineering and design. That is, if you could get Tesla and Edison in the same room, if you believe stories of their heated rivalry.

Dwight D. Eisenhower
-My favorite president based on some of his contributions to our country such as the Interstate Highway System and the American sister cities program.

Victor Hugo
Oscar Wilde
The "Mute Math" Guys
Bret and Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords

Coffee List Entry #1

Coffee List Entry #1: J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter has been one of my all time favorite book series since I was introduced to it in the Seventh Grade. It was right before the fourth book (Goblet of Fire) was released. I vividly remember one day in school when several of my friends were sitting around the lunch table animatedly discussing this Harry Potter guy. I, being almost completely ignorant of his existence, sheepishly asked who it was they were talking about. After recovering from the shock that one of their friends was not aware of Harry Potter's existence, the first three books were promptly shoved into my hands by the avid fans in front of me. And the rest is history. Some eight odd years later, I am reading the sixth book (Half-blood Prince) for the 3rd or 4th time. I have been to 4 midnight book releases as well as the first five midnight showings of the movies. Harry Potter has been a significant part of my life.

This is why I pick J.K. Rowling as one of my coffee list contestants.

When the books were coming out, I was very near in age to Harry. Harry grew up as I grew up. Provided his life was slightly more exciting than mine, there were things that were very relatable. Going to a new school, not knowing anyone, having to make friends, and deal with good and bad teachers alike. Just growing up in general and the new challenges life hands you. I wasn't fighting for my life against the ultimately evil wizard or anything, but you know... It also provided a common link in some friendships that I have to this day. We bonded over Harry Potter, speculating on what would happen in the next book, reminiscing over what happened in the last one, and trying to make sense of the plot and characters and how it all fits so nicely together.

I would like to talk to Ms. Rowling about where Harry came from. How did she first think of him? How long did it take to create the Wizarding world? Where did she get ideas for their banking system, schooling system, names, etc? How did Harry change her life? Does it reflect elements of her own life? Did she have an idea of what was going to happen in the seventh book when she was writing the earlier ones? What caused the series to get so dark near the end? What's it like having such a huge fan base and creating books that inspire children to read? How did she deal with the controversy of the books being about witchcraft? Where's her favorite place to eat? What's her favorite thing to do with her kids? When she was young did she always want to be an author? What was her family like growing up? Does she believe in God? If so (or not), did her theological beliefs affect the story of Harry?

And so many more.

Harry Potter has stimulated my imaginative and intellectual minds and had a great effect on my life. To meet the creator of this huge influence on my adolescence, would be unbelievable.

Introduction to the Coffee List

It's just an ordinary day. I get up, brush my teeth, get dressed, and head out for a run of the mill breakfast date. As I stumble down the stairs and into the parking lot of my apartment building, I'm thinking about the day ahead of me. I'm going over and over the questions I had previously thought of for the person I'm meeting with. On my way, I'm tapping the steering wheel to the beat of the music on the radio, trying desperately to stay calm and to not have a mental breakdown. I get out of my car, and ever so cooly enter the Dunn Bros coffee shop. I scan the room and my eyes finally fall on a table in the corner where J.K. Rowling is sitting...

No this has never really happened to me, but how I wish it would.

I am convinced that every person subconsciously holds a list in their mind of people that they want to meet. Famous people that is. Or not necessarily famous. Just people that you otherwise wouldn't ever have a chance of meeting, except in your wildest dreams. They are those people who you admire, hold in high regard, and wonder what happens inside their heads on a daily basis. Part of my list (in no real order) includes:

Jesus

Barack Obama

Rob Bell

C.S. Lewis

Rowan Atkinson

E.O. Wilson

etc. (this list continues with no end in sight...people are added on a daily basis)

It's the coffee list.

It's the list of people that you want to sit down with and over a cup of coffee (or tea or whatever), pick their brains about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. To find out everything about them, what their favorite color is, what they think of the world, and why they are the way they are.

It doesn't necessarily have to be people that you agree with or support. I would certainly add Hitler and Joseph Kony to my list, along with a number of other criminals or societal outcasts. I would want to talk to them and find out why they believe what they do, and so on.

There are no rules. They can be dead or alive. From any country or century. From any and all social, economic, geographic, or political arena. The setting is this: You and your person of choice at a coffee shop. That's it. You can ask anything. There are no boundaries. No security risks. No one else to get in the way (except maybe a translator). It can be a famous person, or that family member who died a few years ago.

Who's on your list and why?

What would you ask them?

to my adoring fans

If you have had any length of conversation with me in the last six months, you probably know that my life has been very wedding-centric this year. No no no, not my own wedding of course (perhaps some day, although after this year, I am more inclined to elope than ever...). Instead, weddings of dear friends and relatives have been consuming my being for several months now (We won't get into the fact that I am probably too young to know so many people getting married). And, in this conversation with me, it probably would have been mentioned that I have been more than just a spectator for all of these weddings. My titles have included: Personal Assistant to the Bride, Reception Hostess, Set-upper person, Day-of Coordinator, and The Cake Lady.

Upon mentioning that I had volunteered to make a wedding cake for my friends Matt and Damaris, the reaction most normally was "You do wedding cakes?!". And the response: "Uh...I do ONE wedding cake, and it hasn't been done yet, so...talk to me after it's been done."

Well, it's been done. And the answer is. Why, yes, I do wedding cakes. Yesterday was D-day for me. The wedding climax of my year, if you will. And after talking to a lot of people and getting a lot of comments on the cake, I would say that it was a smashing success. And that makes me smile.

Matt and Damaris were amazing to let me make the cake for them. Their attitude was very relaxed, they didn't really care about specifics other than making sure it tasted and looked good. With requirements like that, there wasn't much pressure which made it A LOT of fun. The cake itself was a lemon cake with raspberry in the middle and cream cheese frosting. The design was not the traditional tiered cake, but rather several smaller cakes arranged in an aesthetically pleasing manner. It was a design based on their invitations (I really like themes, and bringing things full circle...), but fairly simple. In the end it was beautiful and delicious, and I couldn't have been more excited or happy with it.

I will say that it is quite stressful making cake for 200 people. I had been so wrapped up in making it look good, that it wasn't until I had set them up on the table that I realized people would actually be eating the cake. My cake. That brought a new perspective to the whole thing. Luckily, the amazing ceremony and good company took my mind out of the hyper-ventilating state. And like I said, everyone seemed to like it.

For me, it's the baking and decorating that's the most fun, not the gratification of success. When I bake, I experience an inexplicable peace. Nothing in the world really matters, it's just me in the kitchen, and there's nothing else. All week people were asking me if I was panicking yet. And to be honest, I wasn't. Sure, the extravaganza wasn't completely stress-free, but there was no moment of complete melt-down (except for maybe that moment when we served the first piece, I haven't been that nervous since I got on a plane to fly to Senegal...). Few people interacted with me while I was frosting and decorating, which is probably good because it wasn't the prettiest sight in the world. There I was, in my grungy clothes, hair all askew, covered in frosting and cake crumbs, rocking out to The Fray and Mat Kearney, lost in my own little cake filled world. And having the time of my life.

Weddings are a big deal. So much so, that the people involved most often get so caught up in the details that it ends up being more of a stress-fest than a celebration. The fun gets overshadowed by the worrying and the anxiety. But what's the point if you're so stressed out that you spend all your time waiting for it to be over? I thought that's how I was going to feel about this cake. That it would be so much of a pain in the butt that I would just be wishing for the day to be over with. I was wrong. It's over now, and to be honest I'm kind of bummed. It was so much fun and I'm really glad that it turned out the way I wanted it to.

So thanks to the newly-wed Axelson's for letting me be a part of your celebration. It was an honor to be able to contribute to the fantastic party. Oh and thanks for taking the gamble and offering to be the recipients of my first wedding cake ever.

And thanks to everyone who helped build my confidence by supporting me through this. Having a tendency to self-doubt a lot, it was very nice to know that there were people who had faith in me.

(pictures coming soon.)

stunning contrast

In slight continuation of my post yesterday...

While hundreds of us were peacefully rallying at the Capitol building in St Paul this weekend, a stunningly different scene was unfolding in Minneapolis. Riots were breaking out in Dinkytown, not far from the U of MN campus in Minneapolis. Partying that had started Saturday morning around 9, had escalated to full blown riots by evening--street fires, tear gas, overturned cars, bottles flying, etc. Wow. 

Talk about contrast.

In both scenes, you have hundreds of students/young adults gathered under a unified purpose. And yet they were so far removed from each other. The riots of course made front page of the Minnesota Daily (our University newspaper), while the Invisible Children rally made the 3rd page. 

What were the riots really about? Students drinking too much and wanting to have "fun"? How does that impact the world, other than giving the University a slightly worse reputation? 

What if all of that energy had been put towards something that matters? What if those hundreds had joined our hundreds to make a thousand? Would the child soldiers have made front page news?

What if people actually thought about their actions and made an effort to impact the world positively instead of the alternative?

For more information about the riots visit www.mndaily.com

To see which cities are still waiting to be rescued for the Invisible Children rally visit www.invisiblechildren.com

kingdom stuff

This morning I woke up on the lawn of the Minnesota State Capitol (don't worry, I remember vividly how I got there). Curled up in my $12, 40 degree, camouflage, Target sleeping bag, I looked to see if my feet were still there, considering I had lost feeling in them hours before. I peeked my head out, and felt a cold sprinkling of raindrops falling from a gray morning sky. As I sat up, I groggily gazed upon many other sleeping lumps scattered about the grass. "Can we go now?" was the question posed to me by my two companions who had been "sleeping" on either side of me. Looking at my watch and seeing that it was just past 6:00 (surely the buses had to be running by now...), I responded in the positive and we swiftly removed ourselves from damp sleeping bags and blankets, packed up, and headed towards the bus stop.

So why is it that we were sleeping on the Capitol lawn?


We were joining with tens of thousands of people all over the world to raise a voice for abducted children in Uganda and the surrounding area in East Africa. In an attempt to continue a 23 year long war, rebel leader Joseph Kony is abducting children and turning them into soldiers for his army (the Lord's Resistance Army). Children are impressionable and easily influenced, which is exactly why they are the prime targets to be seized and taught the ways of violence, war, and terror. AK-47s are placed in the hands of kids as young as 6 and 7, and they are taught how to use them to the advantage of the LRA. If they don't do as they are told, they are threatened with torture, mutilation, and death. They are kept in place by seeing friends and family members killed or mutilated in front of them. Thousands of children have been abducted. Millions more live in utter fear wondering if they're next.

It's unbelievable and intolerable.

Who's going to rescue them?

Yesterday, I abducted myself along with hundreds of others in St Paul in order to save the abducted. The event was put on by Invisible Children (www.invisiblechildren.com), a non-profit devoted to raising awareness and money to bring an end to the war in Uganda and to free the invisible children. This event took place in 100 cities across the globe-tens of thousands of people pledging not to go home until they were rescued. In order for a city to be rescued, they have to get the media and a mogul to come and rescue them. By mogul, I mean and political or cultural leader, local or national. In St Paul, there were about 500 of us and we were rescued just before 9:00 last night! The Minnesota Daily, Star Tribune, and Channel 5 (KSTP) were our media rescuers, they all came out and covered the story. Our mogul was a representative of U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who arrived with a signed letter from Sen. Klobuchar pledging her support of the cause. Later on, as a State Representative House meeting adjourned in the Capitol building, several Reps stopped by to say a few words. They said things like how inspiring it was to see all the energy out on the lawn, and so many "young people" joined together for one cause. The atmosphere was overwhelming.

This is Kingdom stuff. Unifying our voices to speak out against injustice.

Even though we were "rescued", we were still encouraged to spend the night to "stand in solidarity with the child soldiers". Even though we were rescued, they haven't been. Even though we succeeded in making our presence known to the culture defining forces (media and moguls), the kids in Uganda are still being abducted.

Those of us who chose to stay, were choosing to sacrifice our comforts, our time, ourselves for one night. We didn't have to stay. We could have gone home. We could have said "Sweet, we got rescued...see you next time". But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the kids in Uganda don't have the choice. They can't choose to go back to their families, their homes, their lives. They give themselves a death sentence if they do. Every time I woke up last night feeling cold or sore or wet, I tried to tell myself "They don't have a choice, why should I?".

This is Kingdom stuff. Sacrificing time and comfort to try to relate to the experiences of brothers and sisters in less fortunate situations than our own.

Earlier in the evening, before we got rescued, a spontaneous prayer circle got started in the middle of the lawn. Invisible Children is not a "Christian Organization", nor was this event a "Christian" thing. Some event participants just decided to stand in a circle, hold hands and pray together. Before they knew it, the group had grown to more than a hundred people. The circle was so big that we could hardly hear prayers from people across the circle from us. Prayers were lifted to God for the child soldiers, for the Ugandan Government, for Joseph Kony, for the event itself, for God to move in us to make a difference, and for our voices to be heard. Even though we didn't know each other, we were joining together as one body, praying to one Lord.

This is Kingdom stuff. Unifying under the name of Christ, crying out to God for the end of unspeakable injustice and oppression, speaking up for those who can't speak for themselves.

It was worth it to wake up cold and wet in the middle of downtown St Paul this morning.
It was worth it to be a part of some serious Kingdom stuff.

Jesus encourages us to further the Kingdom of Heaven here on Earth.
And when we do, God works in incredible ways.

Let's keep it up,
for the child soldiers in Uganda,
for the victims of human trafficking,
for the starved and homeless,
for all the injustice that ravages the world we live in.

Let's experience the Kingdom.

age of not believing

Last night I was reading a story by Roald Dahl, one of my all time favorite authors. It was called "The Hitchhiker", one of his short stories, found in "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (and six more)". The story is about a man who is driving to London and stops to pick up a hitchhiker. After a conversation, the man realizes that the hitchhiker is being very cryptic about his line of work. Finally, it is revealed that the hitchhiker is a professional pickpocket (or as he calls it "fingersmith"). During the car ride, the pickpocket had stolen several things from the driver including one of his shoelaces.

It is a very simple and well written story, but I found myself trying to figure out how the pickpocket did it. I was envisioning the car, and the two men, and just how he might have feasibly reached down unnoticed and swiped the driver's shoelace.

If I were a young person, I would have accepted it as a cool and fantastical occurrence in a story. As an adult, I was trying to break it down and figure it out. Maybe somethings aren't meant to be figured out. Maybe we just need to let our imaginations go and take pleasure in small little fantastical things like fictional pickpockets stealing shoelaces...

Now that I have the opportunity to work a lot with kids, I've realized that when you grow up the world isn't as fun and magical as it was when you were a kid. I admire the imaginations of little ones and how they don't judge the world or get disillusioned by it. They dream big, nothing is impossible, and anything can be made fun. Why do adults always have to bring the world crashing down? Sometimes I wish I were back at the age of believing, the place in life where armchairs are turned into chariots and stuffed animals come alive to have tea parties. The place where unicorns pull cars to make them move, not engines. The place where magical bubble baths turn chores like washing dishes into fun. The place where books can be read over and over and over again and even though Amelia Bedelia will always screw something up, you're just as thrilled at the end when she bakes some thing delicious and turns everything around. The world is a sad, scary, depressing place when you're a disillusioned adult. We often forget the things that make this life beautiful like imagination, creativity, and just a little bit of silliness.