On Ferguson

It has taken me almost a WEEK to even want to write about Ferguson, MO.  Mostly because I have worked in this area of St. Louis County for 4 years and it feels odd that the whole world all of a sudden is taking interest in North County, St. Louis, a place that has taught me how to confront my own prejudices as I have learned to deeply love so many parents of children with visual impairments in North County over the course of the last 4 years.  Working in North City and North County has truly taught me how to deal with the most difficult sides of myself.  As one of my friends who works in ministry pointed out today, "when we confront areas of race, we have to look up (to God), look within ourselves and then act out our prayers to everyone (especially the people who live and look different then me).

See, when I started to confront the prejudices and dark places inside of me, I began to rethink my fears towards others.  I have learned over the years that my "fear of the others" in the world is my body's physical and mental response to things it has never experienced or fully understands. So REALLY, what I have learned about facing these types of fears is that it says way more about me then it does the person or place my brain is telling me to fear.  It is a purely biological feeling that may not be true at all.  We needed it has cave men to survive and sometimes that is still the case.  But my radar is  not 100% accurate, especially when it comes to people.  Here is another thing I have learned, "the others" also have this SAME primal gut reaction to things they don't understand. If I show fear to their differences then that fear is felt by them and projected back on to me.  Yes,  I have learned that I truly fear what I don't understand.

Working in Ferguson, North County and the North City has taught me that the initial primal response  to new things is not true fear, it is often times God's urging for me to step out of my comfort zone with people who would in fact become my greatest teachers.

So, if you live in St. Louis, I would recommend that you start hanging out in North County.  You have teachers waiting to teach you about beautiful ways of life that you can only learn in that area of St. Louis,  if you are a willing and humble student.

Blue Print Coffee In Photos

I have been to Blue Print Coffee Shop so many times in the past two weeks.  It is one of the new coffee shops and roasteries here in St. Louis!  The coffee is great and the space is decorated in a very neat and clean manner. Anyway, I am a huge fan of their coffee and their drip coffee is made to brew!  You can read more about how they brew their coffee here.:

January 17-24 Self-Portraits: Aspects of Community and Living Connected

The self-portrait photo placed at the bottom of the collage is of Lisa Guillon who blogs and writes One Big Luv. One of my favorite parts of being a photographer and artist is self-portrait photography. This is why I am super excited to be taking on my 2013 photographic challenge of photographing myself everyday of this year. How can I tell the story of 2013 through self-portraiture? I will be sharing my self-portraits from the week every Friday. I invite you to e-mail me your self portraits at julieann.johnson00@gmail.com throughout the week and I will post them here with mine. No matter what, self-portraits tell a story about the beautiful you that exists that very moment you hit the button.

Self Portraits are a reflection of every person that has ever made a dent in my life.  I love how this self-portrait series is slowly and organically building into a fun mosaic of amazing self-portraits of friends in Kansas City/St. Louis and my fellow creative blogging friends.

But it got me thinking of the idea of community in my own life again....

Yesterday my house was a literal revolving door of people from various communities in my life that wanted to come over to see Asher and hang out. I feel blessed to be a part of communities in this city and others where people long to live a life together, celebrate with us, and just be present when things are hard. Making the choice to live in community is paramount to growing in God and as people. To quote Bob Goff, author of Love Does, "God reveals himself to us by giving us each other." I have been feeling that 100% during this chapter of my life. However, it also reminds me that good things build slowly and organically. This is hard for people like me who get impatient and want to feel instant gratification. I forget that the struggle is a part of the story. I remember some seriously dark, isolating days when we first moved to St. Louis from Seattle. Coming from a community where you feel known and loved to a place where you feel unknown and disconnected, you begin to savor days like today-when you feel roots of your community go deeper.