For my friends

As I searched files upon files of stories and college assignments for clips to submit when applying for jobs, I came across a feature story for a college class. I remember the assignment vividly. I had walked into JRN 430 Magazine and Feature Writing during the summer session to find out we had an assignment on the first day of class! I was bummed. Gone was my day's plan of working out and since I had already planned to be sweaty, I was going to lay in the tanning bed. I was standing up in a wedding later that month, and I didn't want to be whiter than the bride's dress!

Our professor, a long winded man with a love for Paul McCartney and the Pittsburg Pirates, set us off on a mission to go out into the world and write about something.... a noun, any noun.

I chose the noun softball. This is the story (with a few edits for privacy) I wrote:


It is Sunday evening, the bright lights at King Boring Field are shining down on the dusty brown diamond, the mosquitoes are biting, the 5-9 score glows from across the field, the bases are loaded and then the foul ball clangs against the fence. The small crowd of players and dedicated fans laugh it off, knowing there’s always next week and of course next summer.
After all this is not the major leagues; this is summer recreational softball.
Summer softball leagues have long been a tradition in Dearborn. Every night of the week the parks are filled with people of all ages playing the sport dubbed America’s favorite pastime.
Playing Little League baseball is a right of passage while growing up, but why do people keep playing once they have grown up?
Recent graduates of Dearborn High School gather at the local baseball diamonds each Sunday night for double header slow-pitch softball games to keep in touch with the friends they grew up with.
“The softball season is something we look forward to each year,” Chris* said. “It’s like a tradition.”
Chris and his friends are currently playing their fourth season together in the Dearborn Recreational Softball League. The team started in summer 2004 with twelve high school buddies, plain white t-shirts that the team decorated themselves and very little softball experience.
“A few of us played Little League growing up, and all of us played sports in elementary, middle and high school, but none of us played baseball in high school,” team member Dan* said.
They spent their first season together figuring out which player was best at each position, and it took four or five weeks before the team won a game.
“When we won our first game at King Boring, we felt like we won the World Series and threw our gloves up in the air,” Chris said. “Then we got smoked in our second game (that night), but it was memorable.”
The team has evolved over the years as guys move away and new and younger players take over their positions, but the core of the team are the players that started this group of friends’ summer tradition. Finally three years after the team’s creation, the team is winning as many games as it has lost. Then again, it’s still early in the season.
“Last year we beat the toughest team in our league, and it gave us motivation for this year,” Dan said. “Now we know we can compete with any team out there.”
About half of the current team is composed of the original players, and a few of those original players carpool to Dearborn each weekend from Michigan State University, sometimes coming in just on Sunday for their game.
“Playing softball together is a fun way to hang out with friends I don’t see during the school year,” Chris said.
Chris and his teammates often meet up on Saturday nights to hang out together at the Varsity Club Bar, which sponsors the team. The whole team usually meets up at the bar again win or lose after their games on Sundays.
Dan and Chris agree that sponsorship has not only helped the team financially, but it has also provided the team with a place to meet up for some brewskis and games of darts or Golden Tee.
The bond shared during the softball season does not end with the end of summer and the return to the players’ respective universities and jobs, but instead the memories of playoff wins during the third season and a duo of brothers’ tags after leaving first base earlier this season will be the talk of the coming years.
As Chris said, “Softball gives us something to talk about. We even talk about it in the winter.”

* Last names were removed to respect the privacy of my friends. (However, if you are friends with us, I'm sure you can figure out who Dan, Chris and the duo of brothers are.)

A faith renewed

Faith. Religion. Christianity.

It has never been easy for me. Having grown up in a mostly-secular household, I lack the foundation of faith in Christ that seems to come so easily to many of my peers. Do they not have doubts? Did they already pass through this phase? Or do they just hide their doubts better than I do?

I never doubted the existence of a higher power, and once I started believing in God, I did not doubt His existence either. Rather, the concept of Jesus Christ, God and the Holy Spirit as a three-in-one package deal seems to be the concept I can’t wrap my head around. Maybe that’s the point. The concept is so divine and miraculous that it is not meant to be understood by mere mortal beings.

Still, this is where my frustration lies. That, and I have some issues with the Bible, but those issues do not affect my trust in God.

Regardless of my beliefs and my doubts, I have found inspiration to revisit my faith, which has become a deserted aspect of my life.

During my last year of college, I stopped going to church. While I can’t imagine finding a church on my own, I hope to pick up on my religious education by reading more books, speaking with friends and family members and studying the Bible.

What inspired such revelations and resolutions, you ask? It was a film. Tonight I went to the movies to see Fireproof starring Kirk Cameron, of Growing Pains fame. (Yes, I must admit that my school girl, celebrity crush on the actor still remains fully in tact. I’m sure I’m committing a sin of some sort, as he is a married man now. Adultery? Impure thoughts?)

The film has such a touching story, much like Nicholas Sparks’ novel The Wedding. A firefighter, Caleb Holt, never leaves his partner behind, except for his partner in life. As Caleb’s marriage crumbles, heading toward divorce, his dad offers him a gift, a challenge to love his wife unconditionally for 40 days.

The premise of the film reminded me of a Christian retreat I had once attended. In fact, it was at that very retreat that I was baptized in ice cold Lake Michigan by my best friend and my college minister at age 19. The retreat focused on love and relationships, which really is the foundation of Christianity.

God loves us unconditionally, which is why he sent his only son, Jesus, to die for my sins and yours too. We don’t necessarily deserve His love or meet His ultra high standards, and certainly there are times when we ignore that love and don’t return it. But tonight I remembered to know love is to know God.

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1 John 4:18

To find out more about the film Fireproof, check out the official website at www.fireproofthemovie.com.

Greece

A view of Santorini

Santorini

A staircase on the island of Santorini

Sunset on the island of Paros

A long way down

Santorini

Photos are the property of Erin Klema.

The photos above are from my trip to Greece in May 2006.

Venice, Italy

Below are photos I took while in Venice, Italy, in May 2006.

Gondola Ride

Masks

Pigeons at St. Marco Piazza

Playing with Pigeons

Venitian Night on the Water

Italian Clothes Line

Venitian Canal

Venitian Parking Lot

View from a bridge

More to attractiveness than meets the eye

Did you know that humans across cultures and backgrounds are naturally attracted to symmetrical faces? It's true. A more symmetrical face is perceived as better or more attractive. There is even some evidence to suggest that we infer conditions of health from this symmetry. Infants even tend to look at symmetrical faces longer than non-symmetrical faces. Interesting, huh?

Now here is some information that may not be so new. In a cross-cultural study, it was found that males place high value on partners who are young and physically attractive. Whereas females reported more value placed on someone older, dependable with good financial prospects. Of course attractiveness played a role in the females' values as well, but it was significantly lower than for the males.

When you think of the parts of the body that you are most attracted to, what do you think of? For me, the most important aspect is a guy's face. I have to look at his face the most, right?

When that question was posed to my Intro to Human Sexuality class, I was surprised that so many of my classmates, both men and women, responded with teeth as an attractive body part. I guess that means that a smile is really important, but at first I thought, "Man, I should have worn my retainer like the dentist told me!" The top body parts that the males in my class reported as being most attractive were breasts, butt and legs followed by eyes. Hardly any surprises there. The females in the class rated the eyes highest along with other facial features like overall face and mouth/teeth. Hands were also surprisingly important to the women in my class.

In class, we also discussed that familiarity plays a role in what we find attractive. Excluding family members like siblings, we tend to become attracted to people who are familiar. It really makes sense. So, often I hear my friends say, "When I first met him, I didn't think he was that attractive." Then a few months or years down the road they are dating and my friends are making comments like, "Well, he's cute to me."

After getting to know the person's character, personality and interests, we are often turned on or off mentally, but there may be another factor we are less aware of playing a role in our attraction to people we initially pushed aside. So, maybe we should spend more time with our crushes and they will eventually find us attractive out of familiarity! Well, if you are desperate enough, you might try it...

Good Bye to Football

Yesterday I attended my first Super Bowl party, and I learned a few things about guys and their beloved game of the gods.

1. Even though he seems completely absorbed in the game, he can still hear you talking about how crazed he looks as his team continues to lose.

2. Calling scoreboard in the first quarter, doesn't go over well.

3. Telling guys that the best part of the Super Bowl is American Idol Jordan Sparks singing the national anthem also does not go over well.

4. For football, guys can sit through three hours of boredom for five minutes of excitement.

At least the football season is over. Good bye until September!

A Need to Write

After much contemplation, I've decided to start a blog. My hope is to write something of more substance than a daily dear diary entry. What may I write about? A variety of things I suppose. I may post some journalistic pieces, some fictional pieces, some rants and some raves.

More to come...