Things I love

I just ordered the Autumn Film's new CD: The Ship and the Sea.  I like it. Check it out.

Other things I love that I think you would love too: podcasts.

This American Life

Radio archives available for free streaming online!  They take one topic and explore in one or several stories for an hour.  One of my favorite stories is the last 15 minutes of  #348 Tough Room

The Moth
Shorter Stories on various topics from their live storytelling series.

Radiolab
On our recent adventure to Texas, Kristen and I learned a lot from listening to radiolab.  They pick topics like sleep or memory, and then they talk to scientists and try to get to the bottom of how they work.  Other interesting topics: parasites, stress, laughter and probability of streaks in sports. Really cool. Or maybe dorky, but do you see me caring?

I recently submitted a piece to a contest with the theme of Faith and Culture. Here's what I submitted:

 

Old Oak

by Lauren Cunningham

oil on cavas

This painting was made in memory of my Bochie (grandmother), who had a wonderful large oak tree in front of her house.  The oak was special, partly because of the beauty in its vastness, but also because it was a part of us.  Everyone in my family has swung in its swing—high enough to see the edge of the world—and climbed among its branches.

            I depicted the tree in winter, a season when nothing seems to grow.  Grief is so similar. In the depths of winter it is hard to imagine the existence of the sun, and yet, springtime comes.  In life, when we see the last of many leaves fall from the branches in a loved one’s life, it surely feels like life is over.  But as Christians, we have hope that there is life within the tree and that in spring our hope will be realized. 

P.S. Thanks to those friends who helped me edit this. There is a reason that I am a painter and not a writer.