Introduction: Jenny

Hi, my name is Jenny!  I'm married to Chris (fellow tribe member).  We live in Portland, Maine with our adorable cat, Sneaky, seen here on the right.--------------------->

 

I work in the administrative part of the Salvation Army in Portland.  (oooh! a nonprofit!  pseudo-using my college major!)  I mostly just do data entry, but working in the administrative section while also volunteering at the local level with the Salvation Army gives a good, well-rounded (holistic!) perspective on how the NGO (non-governmental organization) functions.  My position with the Salvation Army has also given me a lot of opportunities to be involved with work I care about and to explore ways to engage with my interests and passions.  For example, I'm working with the Salvation Army to start up an outreach to victims of sex trafficking here in Portland, and in September I got to organize and run a weekend of prayer and fasting for victims of trafficking through the Salvation Army church, including hosting a community film screening and discussion.  It was really cool, and I felt like I was really putting my college education to use.

 

Portland Farmers' Market!

I've been living in Portland for just over a year.  It's been pretty great.  Portland is a really walkable city, which is really great for me and Chris since we don't have a car, and I don't have my license.  It's also a really artsy city, so there's always fun things going on.  Living in the city has definitely been an adjustment for me, though.  I grew up in the country, and then I went to college in the country, so it's been weird, but I think I'm finally getting used to it.  For example, the other day I said "apartment" when I meant "house."  Every other time ever I've said, "house" when I meant "apartment," like, "When we get back to our house."  Growing up in the country, I've never lived in an apartment, except briefly in college, but even then it was called "Shea House."  Everything's always been a house to me, but the other day I said "apartment" naturally, without thinking about it!  Yeah for cultural adjustment!

 

The other thing that's been hard this past year is being so far away from all my friends.  In college, I got used to only seeing my high school friends once or twice a year, but I lived with my college friends all four years.  Then, suddenly, we graduated, and none of us saw each other for almost a year.  It was like a giant void in my life.  No more fancy parties or birthday parades.  No more going outside with Maya at two in the morning to assure her that the deer in the field were not aliens.  No more K-furmz to call a new nickname every chapel.  No more feast days with Jackie.  No more Anya faces.  But the past four months I feel like I've been really spoiled.  I've gotten to see tribe members left and right.  It's been wonderful and refreshing, but now I have to prepare for another long time without seeing them.  Hopefully this blog can keep us all close and connected until we wait for another wedding or graduation to reunite us all again.

 

As far as things I'll personally be blogging about, I care a lot about a lot of social issues, and I'm not afraid to express my opinions.  I've already mentioned anti-trafficking, but I'm also really interested in the country of India.  I spent two months there a few years ago, and I hope to go back very soon.  I'd eventually like to move to India, although I think it will be a process to get Chris adjusted to that idea.  I also care about feminism or anti-sexism or really just discussing gender roles in general and how our culture (and the church) teaches us very bad things about what it means to be male and female.  I also care about the church and theology and mission and being relevant and not-political and actually reaching people.  I'll probably be writing a lot about all these issues, in addition to some life updates.  I'll probably write some crazy things, but hopefully they'll be so passionate and organized that you won't mind too much.

Introduction: Maya

Chris is our resident writer....and he provided a swell outline to help us get rolling with our first "introductory" post. So, in the outline, we are to start with a name.  

Hello. My name is Maya....I prefer Blinkie, but whatever...I respond to most things starting with "M". My role in tribe is...well.....we're not going to get into that now, actually. Maybe later. But this "Tribal Community" thing is a ridiculously important part of my life - Tribe is the very best of friends. Real-real friends. Friends that pick you up when you're feeling down. Friends that challenge you to think more deeply about the world. Friends who love you through all your faults and also challenge you to be a better person.

Friends who tolerate some dead minks living on top of the fridge...

as well as string of vertebrae on the inside...

I'd even go so far as to say that Tribe has had the single most positive impact on my life (seriously....pre-Tribe-Maya was an angry, not-friendly, black-clad emo-pants-wearing person, with zero ambition and didn't particularly see the point in living past the age of 20...Now 23-year-old-and-graduated-Maya is mostly the opposite...but still sometimes angry).

I graduated from Houghton College with the majority of Tribe in the spring of 2012....aaaaaaand didn't really have a life plan....but after a lot (a lot a lot a lot) of encouragement from friends and professors, (and after a brief stint as a historical re-enacter/environmental educator) I ended up in Kansas as a graduate student. 

Yes....Kansas. Blue skies, tall grass, tornadoes and a very big (and beautiful) horizon.

This picture of Kansas features a hill. 

This is one of my salamanders...isn't it cute?

My degree-plan says that my major is "zoology"....maybe...?...and my thesis will one day be about salamander behavior. 
Pretty fun stuff, really.

Given the whole zoology-salamander business, you could probably guess that I'm a big fan of critters (with the exception of ticks and chiggers....I hate those devils) as well as nature-y outside-ness. I love being outdoors, hiking, camping, canoeing, peeing in the woods, finding snazzy animals, snorkeling, climbing trees, nibbling twigs, enjoying campfires....I also really liked my time as an environmental educator--I enjoy teaching kids and I appreciate their enthusiasm and excitement for the world. It taught me that life is sooooooo much more fun if you can channel that crazy sense of awe, wonder and enthusiasm that little kids have in them, you know? So, I feel like many of my blog posts will be a lot of reflections on how amazing the world is (as experienced through my everyday adventures as an....erm..."biologist in training")....As well as reflections on environmental stewardship, things that I am learning about in class, things that I am learning about in this strange world of higher education, things that I am learning about myself and things that I'm learning about Jesus-y-stuff.

...And it will probably also almost always tie back into the support I've had from Tribe, as well as how all of our different interests and passions come together in a beautifully diverse arrangement of snazz....(and how I miss them all very, very much). We are all hoping to one day end this diaspora and live together somehow. I think it'll work out, but in the mean time, we're embarking on this blogging adventure together and I couldn't be more excited!

                                                        

Introduction: Chris

Hi there!

My name is Chris and I am the editor of Tribal Living. I am also one of the founding "core" members of Tribe.

I am currently living in Portland, ME with my wife, Jenny, a fellow Tribe member. I work as the Youth Director (pseudo-youth pastor) at The Salvation Army. I majored in both writing and psychology and Houghton and still have a great interest in both. I'm an avid (or addictive) gamer and a lapsed writer. I say lapsed writer because of how rarely I actually do write and how dissatisfied I am with my writing in general. But I am working on that.

Overall I'm really enjoying life at this point. I absolutely love my job. I get to talk about the Bible and play games with kids and get paid for it! It doesn't get better than that. Also, as any Tribe member could tell you I am definitely a city person. Portland is just the perfect size of city for me. Just walking downtown is an adventure and I love being here.

As good as things are going I do also miss Tribe. A lot. I go into my feelings of loneliness in much more detail in my personal blog so I'll be brief here. I feel very lost without Tribe. I don't have many friends here and I've been in Portland for over a year. I don't really have anyone to just spend time with. Tribe is my community, and I miss it. Without friends to roll their eyes at my jokes or go on adventures with I really don't have much excitement in my personal life. Also, to me Tribe feels very much like the family I married into. As a Tribe member who married I Tribe member I do feel very much that Tribe is a kind of extended family. They’re the cronies for me to make dumb jokes with and the people for Jenny to talk about everything with. They are my community. And we live in diaspora. I like to think that someday Tribe will all live together. That is my dream.

The thing that makes Tribe so special in my mind is just how many levels we can connect on. It's not that we're all similar, far from it, it's simply that we can always find a way to connect. With most people I meet I can find one point of connection. Like, I can connect with you because you are a Christian. Or a gamer. Or a geek. Or whatever. But with Tribe we do not connect because we are similar, we simply connect because we are. Existence is reason enough to connect. I seriously miss that.

I'm very excited to be starting this blogging project with Tribe. I think this will be a great opportunity to communicate and also explore some of the really interesting issues that Tribe as a group works through. I guess I'm most excited because knowing Tribe this blog could turn into anything. There is literally unlimited potential. I can't wait to see what happens.

Well, that's it for me. Thanks for reading. As a reward take this awesome GIF. You're welcome.