. . . and the due date of a 6-8 page paper

. . . and the due date of a 10-15 page paper

. . . and the due date of an honors portfolio

. . . and the due date of a Pedagogy final 

. . . all in one week 

. . . I'm going to survive, right? 

Young Bull Elephant at Amboseli by Billy Dodson

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/551409548098626853/

Everywhere We Go 

looks quite interesting

(and will not upload directly to my blog,

so you'll have to go through the trial of clicking the link) 

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/551409548098626861/

interesting links

Another reason why elephants are awesome . . . and, this is a stretch, I know, but possibly also using dance to disprove standard evolutionary theory? :P

Unconditional love

sounds quite a bit like ballet dancers (please ignore the unbelievably lame title)

. . . because it's national siblings day, and I miss my siblings so much . . .

"Examine your words well, and you will find that even when you have no motive to be false, it is a very hard thing to say the exact truth, even about your own immediate feelings -- much harder than to say something fine about them which is not the exact truth." ~George Elliot, Adam Bede

"Storytelling is imaginative and creative in nature. It is an act by which man strives to realize his capacity for wonder, meaning and delight. It is also a process in which man invests and preserves himself in the context of ideas. Man tells stories in order to understand his experience, whatever it may be. The possibilities of storytelling are precisely those of understanding the human experience." ~N. Scott Momaday, "The Man Made of Words" 

thank you Lord for sunshine
thank you Lord for meeting with others who desire to glorify You in the art they create
thank you Lord for the songs of the birds
thank you Lord for universities that still allow choirs to sing your praises
thank you Lord ballet flats and twirl-y skirts
thank you Lord for little girls with curly hair and bright smiles
thank you Lord for patience
thank you Lord for simple reasons to make quick phone calls to my sister and hear her voice again
thank you Lord for worship
thank you Lord for long conversations with my boyfriend about who are You and glorifying You

"Now [Jesus] was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, 'Woman, you are freed from your disability.' And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God." ~Luke 13:10-13 

Oh, that I may be like the woman in Luke 13 
-- that all that would need to be said of me is that 
the Lord healed me and I glorified Him. 

" 'I've appeared in character, modern, and classical companies, as well as in films and musicals. I think as a dancer I was probably searching for my own medium, and in this search an enormous interest in all kinds of dance was awakened in me.' She regrets that dance is inclined 'to be bracketed.' One of her ambitions, she says, is to instill a very full appreciation of all kinds of dance in her students. 'Dance, for me,' she states, 'is the greatest expression of art through movement and it cannot be confined to one form!' " ~Gretchen Warren, speaking about and quoting Anne Woolliams 

interesting links

bananas are awesome :)

this.is.heart-breaking.

the brain, the captivating nature of mature movement (the visual part of the film), and a child's simple understanding of movement (the "soundtrack"/soundscape part of of the film)

Dear social media/culture-at-large,

Could you be more self-obsessed?

"You mustn’t be nervous in classical dance. It’s a very generous art. 

You must attack a piqué before it attacks you!” ~Anne Woolliams

"Morrie . . . had developed his own culture--long before he got sick. Discussion groups, walks with friends, dancing to his music in the Harvard Square church. He started a project called Greenhouse, where poor people could receive mental health services. He read books to find new ideas for his classes, visited with colleagues, kept up with old students, wrote letters to distant friends. He took more time eating and looking at nature and wasted no time in front of TV sitcoms or 'Movies of the Week'." ~Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie