NOW is the time to make a difference. Now is the time for change you can hope and believe in. You can play a part in life changing experiences.

Consider donating to the Senior Class Gift 2009. The Senior Gift is teaming with the Office of World Missions. You can designate your gift to go to a specific mission team, support the local people where a team is serving, or for the general emergency fund.

Thank you for considering a donation to the Senior Class Gift 2009. Donate now at www.apualumni.com/scg09

The APU Class of 2009 is working towards their Responsible Revolution by supporting Focus International Mission Teams. You can decide how you want to expand God’s Kingdom by choosing where your donation will go:

1. Students responding to God’s calling by serving on Focus International Mission Teams in 2009
2. National People in the countries that the Focus International Mission Teams will visit, create sustainable relationships with and work to empower and enhance their lives.
3. Emergency Fund for unforeseen situations that can arise.

Please join us in our Responsible Revolution as we support sustainable relationships through Focus International Mission Teams.

Gifts are slowly coming in but we need you to consider donating.

All funds raised goes directly to impacting lives and winning hearts for the Lord. Consider donating anything to help the Senior Class Gift 2009 make a difference.

If everyone in the Class of 2009 gave $5 we would raise over $3750 – $10 would raise $7500 – and $20.09 would raise $22,099. You gift does make a difference and we need you to join in. So skip that Starbucks or Chipotle just once this week and donate.

Dear Senior,

We know you got the e-newsletter today but we want to make sure you know how important the Senior Class Gift is so we added another separate email.

Have you considered donating to the Senior Class Gift 2009? This is your chance to leave a legacy at APU while investing in current students, helping nationals in other countries and build God’s Kingdom

I get a little annoyed by these emails.

Part of it is that I’m still sore that I found out two weeks ago that I still need one more class to get my degree (thereby not making me a potential alumni for a while yet from which donations should be asked), but seriously! Didn’t you get these emails when you were in college and find them a little obnoxious? Not only are they generally a rather sorry plea for money from kids who haven’t even ventured off into the working world yet… APU has the unfortunate social obligation as a “Christian institution” to claim that every kind or good gesture is an endorsement or brownie point from God.

Don’t get me wrong- I love the Lord a lot, but I try not to be arrogant enough to believe I can earn my keep in Heaven (sometimes I am.)

And I guess that’s what I’m trying to point out in this long-winded email I sent back to the auto-responder that has my email address among a few hundred others in a poorly kept list of soon-to-be-graduates. Guilt-trips suck. Especially when they come from a place of good intentions.
Come on, Senior Class Gift People, that’s just confusing and not cool! Save a sister from herself and keep me from throwing money at sentiment. And damn it, Christian university, don’t present me with a false either/or that puts the lost souls of “nationals” on my inability to pay my own bills or donate to your stupid Senior Class Gift!

Oops. Pardon my cussing. Actually don’t, there’s a place for it. And that was a good place.
Anyway, this was my response:

“Hi,

Sincerely,
Danica

It is called

I DON’T HAVE TO EXPLAIN MYSELF, IT’S ART

A searing pop and two wires connect; I spring awake, cognizant for the first time.

It is a rhythm that will not continue without my tempo.

Thank you, thank you.

Sci-Fi & Pi(e) is currently located at scifipi.blogspot.com and has very few interesting things on it…. but soon it will have it’s own URL! And it’s own very interesting site.

Oh, “what is Sci-Fi & Pi(e)?” you ask? The answers coming soon…

I should be packing.

But there’s so much I want to write about!!!
I learned a lotta new things in the last two weeks. And am undergoing some drastic lifestyle changes. I learned that my contract as an associate of Chronicle Project will expire and not be renewed; I learned that having a degree actually works against you in this economy (ref. Matt); I learned that I don’t have my flippin’ degree (more on that later); and I learned that it’s pretty much impossible to plan for the future – not to say that we shouldn’t…

Those weren’t the best series of mystery boxes, but I’m sure you’re curious as to what has happened to bring about the learning of these lessons.

I didn’t lose my job – but I won’t be continuing as a contracted part with Chronicle Project. My contract came to close and it was evident that my position wasn’t needed with Deidox up and running (check out the new site, by the way!)

I’m just going to skip to the drama -
it’s been 6 months since Matt has been able to find any kind of work. He’s done ok getting odd jobs here and there, but his pursuit of part-time or full-time work in grocery has lead to dozens of applications yielding very little results (and obviously not being hired). Of course I wonder sometimes if he’s giving the interviewing supervisor the bird, thus keeping him from landing any positions… but have you met my husband? He’s just about the easiest guy to get along with, if a little shy (must be cuz he’s an artist). In any event, 7 yrs experience and college degree have, it seems to me, put Matt in the unique category of applicants that pose an integrity issue for the stores at which he has been applying. He’s not inexperienced enough to be hired at starting wage, and many companies have a policy or ethic that believes an educated individual should be honored with a higher wage… or put into management (i.e. full-time and years committed to a store). But no one wants to pay for experience when they can pay less to train someone else. Matt’s efforts should not be underestimated! He has spent any less that 25 or so hours a week since September applying, interviewing, searching for and driving to job opportunities; and yet, he still has no job.

This has compounded the problem of debt. When we moved to Pasadena, I’d done the math. Matt had a job and I was working with CP. This should have been enough to sustain us, but, for all intents and purposes, downsized right after he was hired. And being the first time we’d ever lived in anything larger than a dorm room, I’d not budgeted for a move or the living expenses of a house very well. Long story short, we’ve been getting deeper and deeper into debt since we moved.

Now, with Matt Jobless, me jobless, and a living situation we can’t afford, we found ourselves in a bind last week. And inside of a few days, we realized the only option we had was to move back in with one set of parents and try to get jobs in one of our hometowns. This was a major bummer.

We’d been praying out work and debt since the third month of Matt’s joblessness, and we’d always seemed to make it, even if we had to use the credit card. But this was the end of the line and it was downright depressing to find ourselves forced to leave our home because of something as seemingly simple as finding a pair of jobs. But that was the reality last Thursday.

We started telling our friends that we were going to be leaving the area very soon. Most of them offered consolation and help with the move; many said that would keep their ears open for any kind of work, but it was really too late. Even if we both found jobs, it wouldn’t have been in time to pay the rent and bills. A pair of my dearest friends (who happened to be roommates) even offered to pay our rent for one more month if it would help. And a funny thing happened, I couldn’t say “no.” I didn’t say “yes” either, but it didn’t seem right to say “no.” It occurred to me that moving also meant leaving our community, our church, our friends, even our beloved stomping grounds. The offer extended by my friends to us was, for whatever reason, a very profound act of community – and it struck me as foolish and probably stubborn and prideful, too, to turn them away.

And with that offer, we decided to wait. We couldn’t say “yes” but we couldn’t say “no.” Perhaps it was divinely orchestrated, but the events of crisis we were sharing also created opportunities to go intimately connect in with time and conversation and wine that we hadn’t had since our stress had set on. We ate lunch with the Chinese church and went shopping with friends and had dinner in homes – activities we had replaced with wallowing and dead-end job searches. For a few days we stopped and just lived in what we thought would be the last few evenings for a long while with our friends. And they urged us to pray with them and pray with our church – to be with them and be with Church. I was being asked with every interaction if I had prayer requests and what had my church said about our situation.

I finally wrote our pastor a somber email – I wasn’t upset and I wasn’t worried. I only told him our situation so that he could disseminate the information to the body and we might be blessed with intercession and company. He wrote back within the hour affirming us as family and reminding us that we are prayed for… oh yea, and an offer to cut a check for whatever we needed to get through the next month.

I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t even tell Matt for an hour. We didn’t even write back for a day. Do communities do that? Do CHURCHES do that? I sent a few messages to the friends who had urged us to bring our situation before our church family, telling them of the good news! The response I mostly got was, “duh. that’s what we’re here for!” which was a precursor to “Praise God!” Matt and I talked about what we would ask for – putting aside any lingering effects of a uselessly bruised ego and thinking of only what we might need to get through to the next month. But before we finished the email, we got another message from a good friends’ brother-in-law. The message from him said something along the lines of, “Hey, it’s hard times, but we live in 3-bedroom condo and are only paying $1000 a month. We heard about your job situation and I also lost my job. How about we be housemates and split the (already incredibly low) rent?”

Yup.
That’s what happened. We thought we had needs that couldn’t be met. And then we were offered a means to meet the needs. And then the needs were completely changed!
So that’s where to next! Housemates in a giant house with another couple who mutually benefits. And that’s the BEST part! It’s not just only a blessing for us, it’s a blessing for them, too! And the church who can use those funds to bless someone else! And to our community who so clearly expressed how blessed they were to have us with them!

Yea.
That’s it. Oh yea, and to top it off, I got a job yesterday.

Amen.

In any event, Vroman‘s sent out a Valentine’s Day videogram to the world and then thought, why not share the love? Let’s all read our favorite romantic, sappy, mushy, steamy, sentimental passages to each other! Go leave yours on the Vroman’s Blog!

Here’s mine:

Vroman’s V-Day Reading from Danica Northend on Vimeo.

Deidox and The Power of Story

Recently, Deidox.com wrote to us to let us know about their film project. They make incredibly moving short clips telling the stories of everyday people God is using, and then churches can buy and use the clips. It’s a fascinating idea that’s brilliantly executed, and it speaks to something much larger.

Several conversations in my life lately have been revolving around this idea: Stories matter. I don’t simply mean that they interest people or that they can be funny. I mean stories change the world. When people hear a story, it connects with their imagination, and they can place themselves in that story. When they hear someone in your church is serving the poor and making a difference, they imagine what their life would be like if they were playing the lead in that movie. When they hear that people are helping orphans rise from a hopeless life, they feel the dirt of an African village crackling beneath their own feet.

In our world, stories aren’t just orally transmitted like in the days of old. They aren’t just Jesus telling his disciples about a metaphorical farmer. It’s not a bad idea, and sometimes this is a great option. But in our world, stories can take you so close to a different life that you can feel it.

Maybe one great storyteller can relay the story of how they made a difference. Or perhaps you can use realistic audio, stirring photography and moving videos to tell a story.

However you tell it, it’s important that you prioritize these stories so people can understand and believe that as humans, we’re capable of so much. Perhaps you need to use a story from Deidox or the ever-popular Nooma. Or it could be that you need the pastor to interview a member of your congregation about their time at the soup kitchen.

Whatever it is, find a way to let the people of the church share their stories to show that God is alive, real and working in the world.

I had a great conversation with Lauren Brock of the newly named Tangle about the vision and direction GodTube has taken. She said something to effect of,

“We don’t want to be just a second-rate ‘Christian version’ of something that already exists … We don’t want to drive people away from YouTube or Facebook or anything like that, those things are great!”

But the goal of Tangle is to… well… tangle people up! – like the branches that spring from the vine (John 15) – to provide a place where people, groups, and churches sharing in the pursuit of a common faith can connect.

And boy! If I ever heard words after my own heart: “We don’t want to be just a second-rate, Christian-version of something already exists.” I could go on and on about the unfortunately realization of the “Christian dollar” and “Christian market.” It’s terribly sad that the history of the Protestant church includes iconoclasm and such a forceful divorce from our Catholic sisters that we find it common to hold service in an empty room devoid of much beyond a pulpit and wall-fixed cross.

But while Tangle takes its first steps out into the virtual world, still dealing with some kinks and beta-bugs, I must say that ought to be stepping out with some measure of confidence! Not only has the interface increased a hundred-fold in quality and user-friendliness, the design and layout are simply fantastic! I was even impressed by the use of the aesthetic little leaf in Lauren’s own email signature – a common graphic seen throughout the website. As odd of a praise (regarding the birth of a social network) might be to bring before God, I am grateful and impressed by the work GodTube has done in this transformation.

My conversation with Lauren included some talk of how this new network and Deidox might be mutually benefited by a relationship. We hope that our own efforts in film reflect a similar mantra: a dedication to our art and calling that resists the temptation of poor standards because we talk about an active God, an appealing subject to the Christian market. I cannot express enough how exciting it is to be aligned with a group of brothers and sisters who feel this way, too! I hope the future brings this particular “tangle” to fruition!

We’re conducting a series of live broadcasts that include a Q&A session with Brent (Director) & Dave (Producer) for the films, right? (called webcasts)
And come 8:30ish Dave and Brent are like, “Hey guys, make sure you all Twitter that we’re going live in a half hour!” And Dave proceeds to Tweet this. Brent promptly copies Dave’s Tweet.
And from the other room, Dan Portnoy goes, “Hey Dave, are you really ‘excited about the upcoming webcats‘ or the ‘webCAST’?”

Of course, this Twitter now has been circulated with the following address:
www.deidox.com/webcats

which I just made into an awesome page!! So now you can click it, and instead of getting a 404 error, you get something like this:

Finally! We are live and out there! Deidox.com is up and the curious have come pouring in!

On Tuesday (Day 2 of being live) we actually had a server crash… Check out the team’s reactions here.

Probably because we got so popular all of a sudden!

Today we had TWO live webcasts from the Deidox site itself. We will be broadcasting for the next five or six weeks; if you’re interested in attending, just checkout the times at Deidox.com/webcast.
The next series of broadcasts will be tomorrow (Friday) at 9AM, Noon, and 5PM.

If you’re not sure what Deidox is, go check out the website. In short, it is a series of films Chronicle Project is producing that illustrate the activity of God. As Christians, we understand God to be loving and gracious (despite the many consequences of a broken nature); and we believe that God is ever-reaching into the world to extend that grace. These are true stories that document that activity as it is manifest in the Body, in God’s people.

But watch the films! Get the story for yourself. I’ve provided the Deidox trailer above, but there are also trailers for Deidox | Lindsay and Deidox | Robert.

If you like what you see or want to join in the discussion, pass the word on and leave us comments on the Deidox Blog!

You can also join the Deidox fanpage (which has been growing exponentially daily!) or view the works on YouTube, Myspace, Godtube, and Vimeo.
And yea… I do think I’m cool for being responsible for most of the design on those sites – I’m also guilty of not being a graphic designer…).

Happy viewing!

But this week I also discovered how productive I can be when Matt isn’t around! I mean don’t get me wrong, but he left for the day to spend time with his family at Disneyland; and without him around to start extended conversations about theology, science fiction, or the latest on Ain’t It Cool News as soon as I walk in from work, I realized that, there are indeed, several hours left in the day with which to sew, cook, read, write, and harass.

Anyway, I intend to take greater advantage of those hours in the future with my blog.

– end apology. –

– begin dissemination of information: –

NYComicCon Super POWER Contest

Slip out of your secret identity and into something more Super
with Griffin Technology’s NYComicCon Super POWER Contest

You could score two passes to New York ComicCon and a veritable phonebooth full of Griffin power gear. Here’s how:

• Upload a photo of you disguised as your favorite super hero to our this Flickr group no later than 4pm CST Thursday, Jan.29th.

• We’ll randomly choose one winner at that time.

• The lucky (super) winner wins:
- two weekend passes to the New York Comic Con (weekend passes only, travel and accommodation are not included), February 6th – 8th, 2009.
- one PowerDock4 to charge up to four iPods or iPhones. (Please note, PowerDock is not approved for charging communicators, weapons or energy binders )
- one TuneFlex AUX with SmartClick, so you can mount, charge and remote control your iPod or iPhone in your massively modified car/jet/sub/star frigate.
- one AirCurve to acoustically amplify your iPhone when your arch enemy has left you powerless.
- one Clarifi case to protect your iPhone 3G and to shoot photos with the built-in, close-up lens of your enemy’s secret plans.

Approximate total retail value $300.00.

Don’t forget to tell a friend about this exciting opportunity to mingle with other like-minded super heros, plus score some power-enhancing Griffin products.

Details on New York Comic Con here: www.nycomiccon.com

Am I planning on participating in this?
HECK YES!
Pictures will surely follow.

Battlestar Galactica Prop Auction
(15 seconds of the floor from my super old cell phone)

Upon entering the well-laid out floor of the East Pavillion, guests were greeted by attendents and security dressed in jumpsuits, uniforms, and other various costumes from the series. My jealousy nearly overwhelmed me – I saw one of my professors Azusa Pacific University (Tom Param) in a Viper uniform.

Everything from a full-fledged, functional (looking), lit-up Rapter to the boxing mouth guard of Starbuck was available for veiwing and bidding.

While the crowds were slimmer than I expected at lunch our today, all walks of life were present. Taking pictures behind the guard rail was Ronald Moore himself who, immediately after I had arrived, joined Michael Hogan to talk to a pair of girls explaining to Moore, “how different and un-sci-fi like Battlestar Galactica is!” I couldn’t help but giggle at the attempts to justify their captivation with a science fiction (arguably science fiction and not sci-fi) television show.
An older Chinese woman with a wonderfully retro hair-do wondered the floor having her picture taken in front of the props. There was a familiar glow that gave away her nerdiness, but it was spread across a decidedly unexpected face. And then there were the folks who I would have loved to have lunch with- a group of middle-aged men, who alternated between glasses and pony-tails, comparing the mistakes of Babylon 5 to a potential catosrtrophic end to the Battlestar Galactica series… let’s hope BSG does not meet a similar end…

Here are some pictures I took on a Nikon F70 I didn’t know how to use… I will link to the better ones of Dan Portnoy, who attended with me and knew how to use his camera, a bit later:

Also… MICHAEL HOGAN! I WISH I HAD HAD THE GUTS TO ASK FOR A PICTURE WITH YOU!!!