As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com
Jeff is interview here by Sara Toering:
After graduating from high school Jeff Jones attended Macalester College in St. Paul -- in no small part because 1996 mentor David Colby recommended it so highly. Jeff focused on urban studies at Macalester — a rare small liberal arts school in the middle of a city — to learn about how cities work. After graduating from Macalester, Jeff had the incredible opportunity to intern with Jim Lehrer at the NewsHour in Washington, D.C. during PBS’s coverage of the events of September 11, 2001.
After his internship, Jeff came home to the Midwest — a place he described as feeling “a bit more honest and down to earth.” Jeff worked for a period with the Minnesota State House of Representatives, and was soon hired as a producer for Minnesota Public Radio where he has served for almost a decade. Jeff has produced call-in shows, breaking news events and the regional version of All Things Considered. When I asked him what it meant to “produce a show,” Jeff explained that his job is to come up with the content of the radio shows by considering what his audience wants to hear. “What does my audience want to hear tonight when they tune in to listen to All Things Considered? What stories do people need to know and how do we cover those stories? Do we send a reporter out? Book a guest on the phone?” Jeff and his team record interviews from 10-20 minutes long and then edit those interviews down to roughly 3.5 minutes for his audience because “people are busy and they honor you by giving you their attention and you have to respect that and give them as much information as is useful to them and then move on.” Jeff enjoys his work — he loves learning about multiple new things each day and approaching the challenge of boiling the stories down for folks so that they have the information they need to make decisions about important public issues.
Now Jeff works for Minnesota Public Radio’s Public Insight Network -- a group of 120,000 people around the U.S. who have agreed to share their expertise and experience with journalists. Those journalists work for radio, TV, internet and newspaper newsrooms across the nation and they are always looking for new and interesting people to sign up. Jeff says every YTI alum should become part of the Public Insight Network. All you commit to is occasional e-mails from journalists when they think you may have useful insight to share about stories they’re working on. Go to www.pinsight.org to learn more. Or contact Jeff at jjones@mpr.org.
Jeff met his wife, Jessica, in college while they were both attending a seminar at the United Nations hosted by the Presbyterian Church. He and Jessica attend Central Presbyterian Church in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota — their pastor is none other than the Rev. David Colby.
When asked about the impact YTI had on his life, Jeff shared that while he did not realize it at the time, he later deeply appreciated having permission to ask questions at YTI. Jeff walked into YTI in 1996 not even knowing why he was there — he felt secure in his faith and Presbyterian church community and he recalls not being sure what YTI was intended to accomplish. And then he walked out of YTI having no idea what he believed. Yet, because of all of the questions raised at YTI, Jeff commented that his experience of faith and religion became much deeper. He had assumed that if he walked away with questions that would mean his faith was shaken — but instead “it was so much richer.”
At this point in his life in his work with MPR, Jeff spends all day asking questions and finding reasons to be skeptical — “but its ok to do that—not only is it ok but its imperative that we don’t take things at face value. We need to challenge those who are most influential in the world and dialogue and conversation are a part of it. “ Jeff recalled YTI conversations and commented that “we sat around at YTI for a month talking with people from other parts of the country about stuff we didn’t know much about and heard people’s stories and got into fights and it was wonderful to sit there in conversation with folks.” Jeff’s roommate was someone he often disagreed with both politically and religiously but with whom he had so much fun. Jeff sees how folks in the public sphere act as if you have to destroy and take down others, but “normal people disagree with people they love all the time.” Fifteen years later at his job on the radio, Jeff is trying to create a space where members of the audience can be listened to and have access to other points of view in a civil arena.
One of the issues Jeff is exploring in his life right now is the balance between work and family and self. Where does our identity come from? Who am I? Jeff articulated the ways in which he has been lucky enough to have a job that he loves and that is interesting to others. But now he has a beautiful five-month old daughter and a house and family — and his job is still cool but is no longer the thing that defines him. But what does? Is he just a father? Is there something about the outdoors and the natural world that gives him energy and recharges him in a way he didn’t realize before? Jeff asked “how do I get out of the office and the nursery and into the natural world and make that part of my life? How can I respect and honor the natural world?”
Another question Jeff is pondering is the importance of physical place in our lives. “We now find the same restaurants and stores everywhere and we all interact on the level playing field of Facebook and Twitter -- where we are becomes less evident and important.” Jeff has recently been reflecting on what we can do, both professionally and personally, to enhance our experience of place and get people to think about what is distinct and unique and wonderful about the places that we live, work and play. “What is the vocabulary around place and how can we remind each other that its interesting? I know what Facebook looks like and I know what Home Depot looks like. But what is the story of that river? What used to be on this place?”
You can get in touch with Jeff at: Jeff1863@aol.com
The Public Theologian: The latest news from the Youth Theological Initiative (YTI) at Emory University.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Class of 1996 Profile: Jenny Lo Thorsen
As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com
Jenny is interveiwed here by Beth Kormanik Hubbuch
After finishing her degree in communication disorders at North Carolina State and a master’s degree in communication disorders at Northwestern University, Jenny became a speech language pathologist and now works at the Indian Prairie School District in suburban Chicago. She works with children from kindergarten through fifth grade, many of whom cannot accurately process the language being spoken to them or communicate their thoughts effectively. Other children may have articulation problems, stutter or have voice disorders. Jenny finds inspiration from her students when “suddenly a light bulb goes on and all of your hard work pays off.”
Jenny Lives in Saint Charles, Illinois, with her husband, Pierre Thorsen, and two daughters, ages 4 and 1. One of the many challenges of being a parent is trying to find the line between nurturing her daughters while pushing them to achieve, Jenny said, and that’s why she found herself interested in the debate surrounding the recent book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” by Amy Chua.
“I had to laugh when I saw that,” Jenny said. "I didn’t just grow up with a Tiger Mom. I grew up with a Tiger Mom and Tiger Dad. I want to do that in a more nurturing way. It’s hard to break through that cycle. How do I raise my children to be proud of themselves and know that I love them, but still do what I can to help my children reach their potential?”
Jenny attends a Baptist church, although she doesn’t necessarily consider herself a Baptist. “My husband and I share the belief that God is the one that sets doctrine, not man,” she says. Jenny served as the music director for nearly two years and still fills in from time to time. She also taught children’s church and worked in its nursery.
YTI’s impact on Jenny’s life was to open her horizons to how other people saw the world. “It made me question, what do I believe in and why do I believe it? Is it because I was raised this way? Have I thought about what I believe? It’s one of those events in my life that planted a seed in my head. I didn’t do anything about it until later, but it started the process.”
Jenny can be reached at: jennifer_thorsen@ipsd.org
Jenny is interveiwed here by Beth Kormanik Hubbuch
After finishing her degree in communication disorders at North Carolina State and a master’s degree in communication disorders at Northwestern University, Jenny became a speech language pathologist and now works at the Indian Prairie School District in suburban Chicago. She works with children from kindergarten through fifth grade, many of whom cannot accurately process the language being spoken to them or communicate their thoughts effectively. Other children may have articulation problems, stutter or have voice disorders. Jenny finds inspiration from her students when “suddenly a light bulb goes on and all of your hard work pays off.”
Jenny Lives in Saint Charles, Illinois, with her husband, Pierre Thorsen, and two daughters, ages 4 and 1. One of the many challenges of being a parent is trying to find the line between nurturing her daughters while pushing them to achieve, Jenny said, and that’s why she found herself interested in the debate surrounding the recent book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” by Amy Chua.
“I had to laugh when I saw that,” Jenny said. "I didn’t just grow up with a Tiger Mom. I grew up with a Tiger Mom and Tiger Dad. I want to do that in a more nurturing way. It’s hard to break through that cycle. How do I raise my children to be proud of themselves and know that I love them, but still do what I can to help my children reach their potential?”
Jenny attends a Baptist church, although she doesn’t necessarily consider herself a Baptist. “My husband and I share the belief that God is the one that sets doctrine, not man,” she says. Jenny served as the music director for nearly two years and still fills in from time to time. She also taught children’s church and worked in its nursery.
YTI’s impact on Jenny’s life was to open her horizons to how other people saw the world. “It made me question, what do I believe in and why do I believe it? Is it because I was raised this way? Have I thought about what I believe? It’s one of those events in my life that planted a seed in my head. I didn’t do anything about it until later, but it started the process.”
Jenny can be reached at: jennifer_thorsen@ipsd.org
Monday, August 8, 2011
Class of 1996 Profile: Sheila McCarthy
As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com
Sheila is interviewed here by Rebecca Rich:
Since YTI, Sheila has spent lots of time in South Bend, Indiana. After graduating from high school, Sheila attended Notre Dame, where she studied theology and started a chapter of Pax Christi, a Catholic peace group. (She remembers her first visit to Notre Dame well because it included a delightful weekend with fellow YTI ‘96ers Sara Toering, Becca Rich, and Christian Petersen at a lake house in western Michigan.) After graduating from Notre Dame, Sheila lived in several Catholic Worker communities—in Los Angeles, New York City, and upstate New York. She then completed an M.T.S. at Duke before returning to Notre Dame where she is currently working on a Ph.D. in Theology in the area of Liturgical Studies. Her dissertation is titled “Healing the Body of Christ: Liturgy, Trauma, and the Works of Mercy.” She is a member of the St. Peter Claver Catholic Worker community in South Bend, teaches yoga, and goes to daily mass.
Sheila reports that YTI changed just about everything for her and that the rest of her life since YTI has been an attempt to recapture, and in fact go beyond, the community she experienced there. For example, her interest in the Catholic Worker movement grew out of her YTI experience of living simply and close to the land, with the poor in a faith community. Sheila says that YTI made her want to study theology instead of medicine, made her interested in living in community, made her connect environmental issues to poverty issues, began a life long interest in Buddhism, and made her glad to be Catholic. Even today, Sheila meets people that she wishes would have gone to YTI because they could have used it—or, because YTI could have used them. Sheila believes that one of the great gifts of YTI is that it treats teenagers like people who have a contribution to make, and she found that to be empowering.
Sheila is currently grappling with a variety of questions. In her dissertation, for example, Sheila is exploring how movement, not just words, can be healing of trauma. She also thinks about community a lot, and about fallibility and brokenness in the context of living in community. Sheila has lately been amazed by God’s love in the world.
Sheila is interviewed here by Rebecca Rich:
Since YTI, Sheila has spent lots of time in South Bend, Indiana. After graduating from high school, Sheila attended Notre Dame, where she studied theology and started a chapter of Pax Christi, a Catholic peace group. (She remembers her first visit to Notre Dame well because it included a delightful weekend with fellow YTI ‘96ers Sara Toering, Becca Rich, and Christian Petersen at a lake house in western Michigan.) After graduating from Notre Dame, Sheila lived in several Catholic Worker communities—in Los Angeles, New York City, and upstate New York. She then completed an M.T.S. at Duke before returning to Notre Dame where she is currently working on a Ph.D. in Theology in the area of Liturgical Studies. Her dissertation is titled “Healing the Body of Christ: Liturgy, Trauma, and the Works of Mercy.” She is a member of the St. Peter Claver Catholic Worker community in South Bend, teaches yoga, and goes to daily mass.
Sheila reports that YTI changed just about everything for her and that the rest of her life since YTI has been an attempt to recapture, and in fact go beyond, the community she experienced there. For example, her interest in the Catholic Worker movement grew out of her YTI experience of living simply and close to the land, with the poor in a faith community. Sheila says that YTI made her want to study theology instead of medicine, made her interested in living in community, made her connect environmental issues to poverty issues, began a life long interest in Buddhism, and made her glad to be Catholic. Even today, Sheila meets people that she wishes would have gone to YTI because they could have used it—or, because YTI could have used them. Sheila believes that one of the great gifts of YTI is that it treats teenagers like people who have a contribution to make, and she found that to be empowering.
Sheila is currently grappling with a variety of questions. In her dissertation, for example, Sheila is exploring how movement, not just words, can be healing of trauma. She also thinks about community a lot, and about fallibility and brokenness in the context of living in community. Sheila has lately been amazed by God’s love in the world.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Class of 1996 Profile: Scott Pryor
As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com
Scott is interviewed here by Sara Toering:
Scott spent his senior year of high school being home schooled. Along with several other YTI 1996 alum, he also attended EPU for two summers in Washington, D.C., a program designed to examine common threads among Jewish, Catholic and Protestant traditions regarding religious teachings that encourage work toward the common good. After graduating high school, Scott spent a fall playing the open mic circuit in Boston, MA and then moved to Guatemala for several months where he learned Spanish and volunteered at a Methodist orphanage. In the fall of 1998 Scott entered Guilford college where he majored in religious studies and sociology and spent a semester abroad in Mexico studying Paulo Freire’s thinking and community development. Scott graduated in 2002 and summed up his Guilford experience in the following way: “If YTI was my introduction to activism, then Guilford was the place where I started putting it into practice in stronger ways.” In college Scott got involved in trying to keep a bookstore from being outsourced, did prison justice work, spent a summer with fellow 1996 alum Hannah Loring-Davis at the Center for Non-Violence in California and another summer working with migrant farmworkers in western North Carolina. After a brief jaunt to Missouri upon graduation from college, Scott returned to Greensboro, NC where he worked for three years as an organizer for the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project. Since 2005 Scott has been primarily teaching high school Spanish and history and playing and recording music full time—his third album, “If We Set Out Now” is available at www.scottpryormusic.com. Scott currently resides in Austin, TX where he is playing lots of music and pursuing a masters in American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
YTI definitely affected Scott’s life. Scott described how YTI functioned as a rite of passage for him—an entrance into adulthood in the sense that he associates YTI with his whole worldview being opened up and reconfigured. He learned to question things he had taken for granted in the past, for example, he learned to question institutional racism. “Simply put-YTI is a marker for when I was introduced to themes and issues and passions and interests that have continued to preoccupy me since then.” Scott also described the friendships that YTI created in his life, friendships that are “like family at this point and lord willing will continue to be for many years to come.”
The question that Scott is struggling with now—one he described as “pervasive and ever present”—is his ongoing discernment process about vocation and balancing his artistic practice with making a living. Although he is open to the possibility that discernment may never be done, he is wrestling with what balance looks like, and whether balance is worth shooting for or even cultivating an expectation about. How do we balance our passions/gifts with being 31 and having to make a living and put roof over our heads? Scott shared his reflections on the rampant growth and disparity of wealth in the world at large, and the ways in which we often have a disproportionate sense that incredible wealth is actually the norm rather than the exception because most of us do not encounter the 90-95% of the world that is not experiencing wealth. At the same time, Scott shared that he, like many of his peers, is realizing that he desires certain comforts/aspects of having money. He is wrestling with that reality and how he is leading his life in a way that is not financially self-sustaining. What function does money or should money serve in our lives? What kind of energy does our money generate? How is our money used?
After a long discussion about the various issues and questions that Scott raised about the world, he asked me to share a very specific message with all of our 1996 alumni: “We should all get together in Cannon Chapel for a hoedown!”
Scott is interviewed here by Sara Toering:
Scott spent his senior year of high school being home schooled. Along with several other YTI 1996 alum, he also attended EPU for two summers in Washington, D.C., a program designed to examine common threads among Jewish, Catholic and Protestant traditions regarding religious teachings that encourage work toward the common good. After graduating high school, Scott spent a fall playing the open mic circuit in Boston, MA and then moved to Guatemala for several months where he learned Spanish and volunteered at a Methodist orphanage. In the fall of 1998 Scott entered Guilford college where he majored in religious studies and sociology and spent a semester abroad in Mexico studying Paulo Freire’s thinking and community development. Scott graduated in 2002 and summed up his Guilford experience in the following way: “If YTI was my introduction to activism, then Guilford was the place where I started putting it into practice in stronger ways.” In college Scott got involved in trying to keep a bookstore from being outsourced, did prison justice work, spent a summer with fellow 1996 alum Hannah Loring-Davis at the Center for Non-Violence in California and another summer working with migrant farmworkers in western North Carolina. After a brief jaunt to Missouri upon graduation from college, Scott returned to Greensboro, NC where he worked for three years as an organizer for the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project. Since 2005 Scott has been primarily teaching high school Spanish and history and playing and recording music full time—his third album, “If We Set Out Now” is available at www.scottpryormusic.com. Scott currently resides in Austin, TX where he is playing lots of music and pursuing a masters in American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
YTI definitely affected Scott’s life. Scott described how YTI functioned as a rite of passage for him—an entrance into adulthood in the sense that he associates YTI with his whole worldview being opened up and reconfigured. He learned to question things he had taken for granted in the past, for example, he learned to question institutional racism. “Simply put-YTI is a marker for when I was introduced to themes and issues and passions and interests that have continued to preoccupy me since then.” Scott also described the friendships that YTI created in his life, friendships that are “like family at this point and lord willing will continue to be for many years to come.”
The question that Scott is struggling with now—one he described as “pervasive and ever present”—is his ongoing discernment process about vocation and balancing his artistic practice with making a living. Although he is open to the possibility that discernment may never be done, he is wrestling with what balance looks like, and whether balance is worth shooting for or even cultivating an expectation about. How do we balance our passions/gifts with being 31 and having to make a living and put roof over our heads? Scott shared his reflections on the rampant growth and disparity of wealth in the world at large, and the ways in which we often have a disproportionate sense that incredible wealth is actually the norm rather than the exception because most of us do not encounter the 90-95% of the world that is not experiencing wealth. At the same time, Scott shared that he, like many of his peers, is realizing that he desires certain comforts/aspects of having money. He is wrestling with that reality and how he is leading his life in a way that is not financially self-sustaining. What function does money or should money serve in our lives? What kind of energy does our money generate? How is our money used?
After a long discussion about the various issues and questions that Scott raised about the world, he asked me to share a very specific message with all of our 1996 alumni: “We should all get together in Cannon Chapel for a hoedown!”
Monday, August 1, 2011
Class of 1996 Profile: Colleen Wessel-McCoy
As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com
Colleen is interviewed here by Sara Toering:
After graduating from Agnes Scott in 2001 where she studied religion and social justice, Colleen moved to Chicago and lived in the Interfaith Service House that grew out of the E Pluribus Unum Project, an interfaith leadership development summer institute Colleen and several other YTI 96ers attended in Washington, DC in 1997 and 1998. Colleen worked as a community organizer in Chicago for three years before heading to New York where she obtained her Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary. While at Union, Colleen helped form the Poverty Initiative (www.povertyinitiative.org) that seeks to develop religious and community leaders to build a movement to end poverty led by the poor. In addition to working with religious communities and seminarians, the cornerstone project is the Poverty Scholars Program, which brings together leaders from poor-led grassroots organizations for intellectually rigorous, human rights based leadership development towards building a movement to end poverty. Colleen has now been working in and with the Poverty Initiative for over seven years, and it is that work that animates the ethics and New Testament PhD studies she is currently pursuing at Union Theological Seminary.
When asked how YTI affected her life, Colleen immediately commented that YTI, the program, staff, and scholars, took her seriously as a learner and a thinker. That dynamic inspired and encouraged her to continue in what she understands as her call to be an educator and to work with pedagogy and leadership development. YTI also introduced Colleen to feminist theology and the ways in which theology and the Bible can be liberating. In many ways YTI led Colleen to her particular course of study (religion/justice) in college and ultimately to seminary and to the work she does with the Poverty Initiative. Colleen shared her strong belief that any of her peers could have benefited from the educational experiences we had at YTI, and part of her vocational focus is asking the question-what if everyone were educated in a YTI-like fashion?
When I asked her to share some of the questions she is exploring at this stage in her life, Colleen identified several issues that demonstrate a great deal about the shape of her life and its commitments. Colleen is asking what it means to be a person of faith in a world in economic crisis. She believes that Christians are called to work toward solving the problem of suffering--and she is asking how do we best go about solving suffering at its root by exploring the notion of leadership, scholarship, and vision in response to suffering. Who should put forth the ideas, analysis and solutions to suffering? Those most affected by a given problem have both the ability and impetus to take the lead in providing solutions that eliminate rather than mediate the injustice Finally, as a partner to John and a parent to Myles, Colleen's commitment to solving problems in inequality has taken on a particularly personal character. Colleen described working to raise her son in a low-income household and shared that she sees his future bound up with the lives of others. Inequities and uncertainty regarding health care, education, and jobs will directly shape Myle's life--and this reality has provided an urgency to Colleen's fire to end poverty and inequality in this generation
Colleen is interviewed here by Sara Toering:
After graduating from Agnes Scott in 2001 where she studied religion and social justice, Colleen moved to Chicago and lived in the Interfaith Service House that grew out of the E Pluribus Unum Project, an interfaith leadership development summer institute Colleen and several other YTI 96ers attended in Washington, DC in 1997 and 1998. Colleen worked as a community organizer in Chicago for three years before heading to New York where she obtained her Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary. While at Union, Colleen helped form the Poverty Initiative (www.povertyinitiative.org) that seeks to develop religious and community leaders to build a movement to end poverty led by the poor. In addition to working with religious communities and seminarians, the cornerstone project is the Poverty Scholars Program, which brings together leaders from poor-led grassroots organizations for intellectually rigorous, human rights based leadership development towards building a movement to end poverty. Colleen has now been working in and with the Poverty Initiative for over seven years, and it is that work that animates the ethics and New Testament PhD studies she is currently pursuing at Union Theological Seminary.
When asked how YTI affected her life, Colleen immediately commented that YTI, the program, staff, and scholars, took her seriously as a learner and a thinker. That dynamic inspired and encouraged her to continue in what she understands as her call to be an educator and to work with pedagogy and leadership development. YTI also introduced Colleen to feminist theology and the ways in which theology and the Bible can be liberating. In many ways YTI led Colleen to her particular course of study (religion/justice) in college and ultimately to seminary and to the work she does with the Poverty Initiative. Colleen shared her strong belief that any of her peers could have benefited from the educational experiences we had at YTI, and part of her vocational focus is asking the question-what if everyone were educated in a YTI-like fashion?
When I asked her to share some of the questions she is exploring at this stage in her life, Colleen identified several issues that demonstrate a great deal about the shape of her life and its commitments. Colleen is asking what it means to be a person of faith in a world in economic crisis. She believes that Christians are called to work toward solving the problem of suffering--and she is asking how do we best go about solving suffering at its root by exploring the notion of leadership, scholarship, and vision in response to suffering. Who should put forth the ideas, analysis and solutions to suffering? Those most affected by a given problem have both the ability and impetus to take the lead in providing solutions that eliminate rather than mediate the injustice Finally, as a partner to John and a parent to Myles, Colleen's commitment to solving problems in inequality has taken on a particularly personal character. Colleen described working to raise her son in a low-income household and shared that she sees his future bound up with the lives of others. Inequities and uncertainty regarding health care, education, and jobs will directly shape Myle's life--and this reality has provided an urgency to Colleen's fire to end poverty and inequality in this generation
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