SD and NE

Photos from my first South Dakota Christmas!


Photos from Lori and Tyler's New Years Eve wedding!

NYC

I’ve been back in the cities for 24 hours…it’s about time I posted a few pictures from my latest adventure. I know a few of them are from places where photography is banned, oops!



1 – Time Square - take two
2 – Tina’s hairpiece
3 – Ceiling at the Metropolitan Opera
4 – Tina’s pop-over
5 – Grandma’s smile
6 – Street outside Macy’s where the parade action happens at Thanksgiving
7 – Painting by Pablo Picaso
8 – Star above an intersection - I think it's supposed to be famous
9 – Bergdorf’s window
10 – Grandma and Tina at a place I can’t recall
11 – Rockefeller Center
12 – Grandma and Tina in front of THE tree
13 – A headless singer at Don’t Tell Mama’s
14 – Inside the W
15 – Light show across from Rockefeller Center
16 – Time Square take three



1 – Time Square
2 – Sign for the W (it’s an awesome she-she hotel)
3 – George singing Sweet Transvestite at Don’t Tell Mamas, before this photo he served us drinks in nothing but a apron
4 – Tina eating pizza at 4a (the bars had just closed, yes, bars close at 4a in NYC)
5 & 6 Inside the Metropolitan Opera (Grandma and I saw Tina jump on the lead’s back during a fight, the whole audience laughed at her)
7 – Grandma and I at Macy’s
8 – Tina and Grandma in front of Macy’s
9 & 10 Stuff inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art
11 – Me posing for Playboy
12 – All I want for Christmas
13 – Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree!
14 – Grandma and Tina at Café Lalo (Meg Ryan met Tom Hanks there in You’ve Got Mail)
15 – Grandma and Tina laughing as a friend of Tina’s sang Blue Suede Shoes for Grandma at Don’t Tell Mamas
16 – Store window at Bergdorf’s

Warm clothes...

“Pack lots of warm clothing because when you walk a few blocks it feels really cold, and we’ll be doing a lot of walking since taxis will be hard to get with the possible transit strike.” Tina left this message on my voice mail this evening. In 48 hours, I will be landing at LaGuardia in NYC. According to the New York Times, in 30 hours over 33,000 transit workers might be striking.

It’s illegal for the transportation union to strike, but they’re threatening a 12:01 am walk-out Friday morning. This could make our trip to NYC an interesting one. The last time I visited Tina I left the day the strike was set to start. She arranged for a car to take me to the airport from her apartment, but the strike never happened. I wonder if this year is my lucky year. Here’s to hoping transit workers are working this weekend!

A-Ron Strikes Back

Yesterday Aaron began another blog. Somehow I think he has the giddyup to really get into it this time. Below is his first post. Check out his progress and send a note of encouragement. Visit him at A-Ron Strikes Back.
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This is Aaron Matson, Northern State University Alum, 2002 candidate for SD State Legislature, former intern for Senator Tim Johnson and the South Dakota Democratic Party, and former liberal columnist for NSU's student paper. Currently, I am a second year student at Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on my way to becoming an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament in the ELCA. I have seen the damage done by fundagelical Christians in politics around the country, and especially in my beloved home state of South Dakota. This blog will be dedicated to countering the fundagelical movement, what has been called a theology of glory, and promoting a theology of the cross in social, political, and religious setting. One of my basic arguments is that the liberal boogey-man that conservative leaders are alway running against, and claiming to be reacting against, simply is a phantom menace. These reactionary leaders distract with wedge issues to gain power and to blind us of the true role of faith in politics: as an agent of justice and grace. I look forward to entering the discussion on this great website and blogoshpere.

Shalom,
Aaron

West Virginia: Sounds of Down Home

Tonight I listened to an NPR story, West Virginia Floods Offer Lessons for Katrina Victims. While listening to the voices from southern WV, I heard my family. I realized that southern accents are different. Each woman I heard sounded like my aunts, grandma or great-grandma.

The stories of homes lost to the floods a few years ago were those of my family. I heard talk of condemned houses and thought about Uncle Charlie who lost everything and of my aunts who had considerable damage though their homes were salvageable.

This past August Aaron and I visited my grandpa at his trailer up Johnson Branch. When we entered his place, we entered a home that was distinctly grandpas (notice the photo in the lower left corner). One of many topics covered was a recent stabbing in the nearest town. Grandpa said that he wouldn'’t go to get his black lung check cashed there because someone was stabbed during the day. The problem is that's the only place to get a check cashed for roughly 50 miles. He has made choices that fit him, a retired West Virginia coalminer. He was born in a holler and will always live in a holler. He knows who he is and what he wants and no one can convince him otherwise.
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All photos were taken during August 2005.

Death All Around

In a speech given in Philadelphia today, Bush said an estimated 30,000 Iraqis have been killed since the beginning of the war. After hearing this number, I began contextualizing this.

Killed in Iraq since March 2003...
2146 U.S. Soldiers (according to the DoD)
30,000 Iraqis (according to Bush'’s estimate)

This means that .11% of the Iraqi population has been killed over the past 2 and a half years. Proportionally, if .11% of the US population were to be killed 340, 251 would be dead. What would our response be then? Would we wake up from our mindlessness that allows this to continue? How many more must die in Iraq?

Of the 2146 US soldiers killed, I knew one, Eric Bernholtz. Eric and I went to school together for 2 and a half years. Over 12,000 mourners celebrated his life at his funeral. It's amazing how inner-connected we are. Eric touched thousands of lives. He, like so many others, was killed in Iraq in a war that cannot be won. When will this stop?

Also today, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denied clemency Stanley Tookie Williams. Whether Williams is guilty or not, capital punishment is barbaric. What leads to the thinking that violence can ever be answered with violence to bring peace and justice?

I pray for the day when war and capital punishment will seem as senseless as slavery and genocide.

Sermon: Mark 1:1-8

Today I preach for my Telling the Story course. Below is my manuscript. Let me know where I've messed up before 1pm EST! Thanks.
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We live in a time and culture infatuated with baptism imagery. Our films are filled with examples of this. In the Matrix, Neo chooses to be reborn into the true reality and is brought into the new community of others who share this reality. City of Angels ends with Nicholas Cage’s character in water that symbolizes baptism. In the latest film version of Titanic, Rose spends the night in water and is reborn as a new person the next day. In Toy Story, Woody is marked with the name of a boy on the bottom of his boot. This is his claim of belonging. In Shawshank Redemption, Andy Dufresne crawls through the sewer system to freedom and emerges anew.

These characters are changed after their experiences. Forces outside of themselves acted on them creating a change. Our experience in baptism is similar. We are marked as a child of God, given promises and have calls placed on our lives. Our baptism is not simply the day that we went to the font. After baptism, the real work begins. We are called to daily remembrance of that which was begun at our baptism. We are called to remember Christ came and still comes to us.

Today, our text is calling us to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Images from John the Baptist fill our reading. Today we hear of a man in the wilderness crying out.

To get this scene please create a film in your mind’s eye. You’re in Judea about 2000 years ago walking on hot, dirty, dusty road with filthy leather sandals on your feet. You and your family make a walking trip to the Jordan River to see a man wearing camel’s hair, a leather belt and who is rumored to eat locusts and wild honey to sustain him. When you arrive, crowds surround you and you head to the water to this man who rants about another man coming. He is calling out “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” He talks of a baptism of repentance a baptism of literally turning around. Furthermore, he tells of a man who is going to baptize you not only with water, but with something called the Holy Spirit.

Today we know about the baptism of Jesus. This raised questions about the different baptism offered by John. John baptizes with what he has, water and the word. According to Acts 19, he baptizes in the name of Jesus, Jesus, the one who is coming.

John proclaims that Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit. This is all well and good for those listening and being baptized by John, but what about us. We’ve been baptized with water and the word. We know about Jesus.

We are left asking the favorite question of teens everywhere. So what?
What is this advent thing all about? Most say that advent is about preparation. The problem comes when we think about preparation as being for Jesus who has already come. We are not called upon to act as though we’re preparing in the same way John’s crowd was. Christ has come. But a preparation of sorts is necessary. This is not the preparation where we get our children’s Christmas pageant and go caroling at the local nursing home. That’s a different kind of preparation with a different motivation.

John is proclaiming that one who is greater than he is coming. That one, Jesus comes to us today. He has come through the incarnation. He will come through the second coming. And He comes right now into our hearts. John says prepare the way of the Lord. We get prepared through a change in our heart.

This change is not something that we can do. We can’t. We can’t prepare the way of Christ. Preparation of the heart is the work of God. This is accomplished through hearing the proclamation of the Gospel. This makes the path straight in our heart. It is Christ coming to us as the word of God.

With all this preaching and baptizing John would have made the perfect Lutheran pastor. His ministry was one of word and sacrament. John proclaimed the word of God and baptized. He baptized with water and the word just as we do now and have for thousands of years.

Baptism is baptism because of the water and word of God that comes down. In fact, it isn’t water by itself that does such wonderful things, but the word of God with water. Without the word of God, water is used only to clean the literal dirt off. The kind of dirt that gets on your leather sandals and feet when you walk on hot, dirty, dusty roads.

In this sense, baptism is a good metaphor for the traditional Lutheran view of advent because advent is all about God coming to us in Christ. John got this. John preached this. His preaching was telling of the one who is coming.

When John was preaching the coming of Christ there were many other prophets proclaiming the coming of various messiahs. John was different. He wasn’t one of the false prophets. He was the one who got it right. He proclaimed Christ and Christ came.

Despite his clothing of camel’s hair and leather belt - despite his diet of locust and wild honey - John spoke the Gospel. He was the one God chose to declare the coming Christ. Christ came through the incarnation. Christ will come through the second coming. And Christ comes right now into our hearts. Christ comes now! Amen.

Newlywed Holidays

This morning when I turned on my computer my instant messenger popped up with it’s info page. On the info page was an MSN lifestyle article “Whose Home for the Holidays?” which I clicked on out of curiosity. From my pre-Aaron days, I know how messy just my family can be and now we’re a family and still very connected to our families of origin. This is good, but stressful. According to the article, “It begins the moment you're married and it never stops -- even after you're dead. It's the competition over whose family gets more time with you, as a married couple. And, believe me, it's a competition that nobody really wins, which is amazing when you consider how much time and energy is spent keeping score.” This scares me! I write this knowing that both families will read this, so I know it’s inevitable, but STOP! We will see one family more than the other and we have more than enough love for both of you and if you feel like your being cheated then come visit us – you’re ALWAYS welcome.

I write this already feeling defensive. In two weeks, I’ll be in NYC with Grandma and Tina. While I’m super excited about this I feel like I’m cheating the Matson’s. We could go to SD earlier if I wasn’t going away. Luckily, Audra and Jake are coming to visit just after I get back so it’s not a total Matson loss, but why am I keeping score already? I really like SD although I will definitely miss my family this Christmas. Earlier this week while talking with my mom, she ask what my favorite part of Christmas week was. When I answered, we were both almost in tears. I hate the reality that one of us has to be away each holiday and I’m counting the years until we can’t travel (being pastors makes you responsible for parishes on holidays) and having to say, "if you want to see us we’re hosting a huge holiday party, bring your air mattresses and c’mon!" Until then, and as long as we both shall live, I want score keeping to go away. Each family will have things that we feel we just NEED to be at and one family will be cheated. Each family needs to know that there is love and longing to be with you, always.

Da' Bro

This morning I woke up to an email from Todd, my old brother, with the subject line “shit..............I guess I have to get a real job again”. Background on Todd – Degree: Master of Fine Arts, job for the past few years: selling vinyl and stickers with his graphic designs on eBay and doing graphic design for a friend’s company from his house.

Note: Bryon is our cousin.

Here’s what he wrote…

SUBJECT: shit..............I guess I have to get a real job again

...hehhe, guess I have to buy an alarm clock too dammit!!!

Bryon called me today, " Hey, Todd do you want a job?”

We talked on turkey day and I had mentioned business had been slow...yadda, and I had considered getting a "real job" again.

Anyhow, I go in on Friday and do the paperwork as far as I know & go to Michigan for a week to learn new software the week of the 12th.

Damn, funny how things just fall in your lap sometimes ;)

Love ya,

Da' Bro
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Things like this just make me laugh. It’s not about who you know; it’s about who your cousins are and what kinda companies they own:)

Change in Ohio

After a hellacious week in the cities, Aaron and I found our way to Ohio. It’s good to be back, although it seems like change hit hard while we were away this time. I’m supposed to say, ‘change is good.’ But right now I wanna scream, “stop, go back to your places, let’s take this from the end of August.” Chad is extra mature and recovering from his tonsil extraction, the sanctuary where my family and I worshiped for 20 years has been turned into a fellowship hall, Amber has a beautiful new house and a dog and Saturday we met my parents for a drink to celebrate Jack’s 5* birthday at our favorite Grove City pub that has finally ban smoking. Today Aaron and I are headed to the Easton Imax to see Harry Potter with Laurie and Chad, not only has the rating increased to PG-13 (yeah, Chad just turned 13! – no wait, my little brother is a teenager) but we get to see it in one of two Imax theaters in Columbus. AHH, stop the insanity! At least Thanksgiving promises to be filled with tradition and Katelynn is as hyper and Aaron-crazy as ever.

Kingo

Thanks to Thee, O Christ victorious!
Thanks to Thee, O Lord of life!
Death hath now no power o'er us,
Thou hast conquered in the strife;
Thanks because Thou didst arise,
And hast opened Paradise!
None can fully sing the glory
Of the resurrection story.

For my heart finds consolation,
And my fainting soul grows brave,
When I stand in contemplation
At Thy dark and dismal grace;
When I see where Thou didst sleep
In death’s dungeon dark and deep,
Yet didst break all bands asunder,
Must I not rejoice and wonder?

Satan’s arrows all lie broken,
Death and hell have met their doom;
Christ, Thy rising is the token:
Thou hast triumphed o’er the tomb:
Thou hast buried all my woe,
And my cup doth overflow;
By Thy resurrection glorious
I shall wave my palm victorious.

Rev. Thomas Kingo, 1689.
The first great Danish hymn writer.

Tire Shopping, My Family's Way

This is a public service announcement and '‘how to'’ of sorts. I have been giving tire buying advice, and would like to share the knowledge. Note: this will only work in a large metropolitan area.

1. Go out to your car and get the tire info off your tires
2. Spend up to 20 minutes calling all possible shops within a 15 miles radius to check prices
a. This step is ONLY for price checking
b. Generally, you want to avoid dealerships, they'’ll just rip you off
c. Mom and pop places are full of great deals, most of the time
d. If you have AAA call for a list of places they recommend
e. You can save up to $50 here, when was the last time you made $50 in 20 minutes (if you ever have, other than tire shopping, I don'’t want to know about it!)
3. Call back the place with the best value for what you want
4. Schedule an appointment and add 45 minutes to the time estimate (this has saved many headaches)
5. Enjoy your new tires: drive on rain, snow and sleet while being in full control (most of the time)

This public service announcementment was brought to you by...Chris, Jack and Jack

November Woes

What seemed like a blessing at 5:15 this afternoon turned into a night full of woes. My Hymnody professor has laryngitis and class got cancelled. This meant that Lori and I were able to have another girls night (Aaron’s in class). The following is a list of trials and tribulations we were cursed with this evening.

• Water chestnuts in Lori’s Chinese dinner
• Paying $10 to park in a garage after driving past an empty meter
• Going to Speedy Mart to get buttermilk and having to buy a quart instead of a ½ pint to make banana bread
• Failed 007: Trying to find Professor Mary Jane Haemig’s apartment (just for the hell of it) and realizing we passed the right street 4 times tonight after returning to our apartment
  
• Trying to get free wireless internet outside Burger King for 20 minutes to no avail (to check mapquest.com)– hey Big Brother (aka U.S. government), how about some nationwide free wi-fi
• Not being able to defrost the 6 black frost bitten bananas for the banana bread
• Opening Lori’s DVD case to realize her copy of Fargo is in Montana, Uffdah!

All Peoples

This past weekend Aaron, Melodi and I went to Milwaukee to wish Pastor Greg Van Dunk, founder and pastor until yesterday of All Peoples Church, farewell and Godspeed as he accepted a call to Atonement Lutheran Church. Melodi and I each spent a year working with Greg at All Peoples following college graduation. The weekend was filled with many memories and people we love dearly.

Worship at All Peoples is an experience like no other. The church is filled with people who are open in many various ways. The often silent realities of life are freely shared among the community. Aaron and I sat in Sunday School with, among others, two bi-racial committed homosexual couples and discussed the non-traditional view of God from 1 Samuel. During worship, gospel hungry sojourners surrounded us. In front of us was a woman who took in a family of five when their mother became addicted to drugs. Beside us was a young adult who lost her mother at a young age and is an abuse survivor caring for her 6 month old nephew. On our other side was a junior high student that lived in a homeless shelter when I met her and during the past week lost her home and everything in it to a devastating fire. Behind us were two elderly ladies who have been lived the neighborhood for over 50 years, are committed to the community, and are pillars of faith for All Peoples. Yesterday, the burdens of life were laid down as we celebrated the ministry of Greg and his family for the past 15 years.

On our way to the cities, Aaron and I began processing our weekend. I was glad to be able to share the experience of All Peoples with him. The experience from yesterday forward will be different than what anyone has known. This is good, and this is bad. There is never a good time to leave, someone is always in the middle of a crisis and someone else beginning the journey. All Peoples begins a new chapter today. I pray that it will continue to be real and relevant to all who walk through its doors.

The Notebook

During the film, many couples came vividly to my mind. For each, I shed tears. I weep for Aaron and I, and the wonderful love we share and the uncertainty of our tomorrows. I cry for Tyler and Amber who will take vows and make public their intent to live as husband and wife this weekend. I sob for Dan’s wife, who grieves the lose of her husband. I grieve for my grandma Wernicke who continues to live without Grandpa.

On Wednesday, Grandpa will have been gone for 4 years. He died of complications stemming from Alzheimer’s disease. Grandma keeps his photo near her and kisses ‘him’ at least once every morning and every night. During our last visit home, Grandma asked Aaron and I if she would know Grandpa when she got to heaven. When we left her, I wanted to hold Aaron and never let go. Watching the progression of Grandpa’s disease and the love that he and Grandma shared (63 years married, 72 years love) was a powerful witness to the bonds two people can share. In my experience, my grandparents shared the longest, strongest love I’ve ever seen. Even during Grandpas final days when he forgot his only living son, he knew Grandma was his wife. He also knew who was family and who was staff. During his final week, if a family member walked in the room and grab his hand he’d pucker up for a kiss. Other than the kiss, he was unconscious. I will never forget the long hours holding his hand during his last week of life. I could sit by his bed and hold his hand with my left hand as I studied for midterms with my right. If I were away from him, I couldn’t focus, but if I were with him, I knew how he was and could study all night. Love and family, what a curious and blessed combination.

Thoughts

According to current U.S. law, it is okay to kill criminals, unborn children, domestic animals, terrorists and enemy combatants. Euthanasia, on the other hand, is not okay. What do our laws say about the way our society regards life? How is it merciful to kill a dog that is old and suffering, while we wait for humans to die on their own? The closest we get to ‘put down’ a human is not providing ‘heroic’ life sustaining measures.

For Aaron and I, the past few days have been filled with death talk. One of the latest conversations was regarding the means of Dan’s death. For Aaron, it’s hard to loose another cousin to an ‘accident.’ How is it easier to think of a death at the hands of another human easier than an accident? Isn’t death the sadness that we feel? How does sadness differ according to the means of death? If someone killed him, we could be angry with someone instead of feeling anger without a direction. Many in this case direct anger toward God, the eternal scapegoat.

I also wonder, why is death different for an 82 year-old from a 22 year old? Both lives were of equal value. What makes us think that we should be able to live to an old age? We are born with the certainty that death will be our earthly end. I am okay with death being an earthly end. I am okay with all questions that are asked and will be asked during the grieving process. I am okay with the realization that the grieving process will continue throughout our lifetime. While grieving Dan’s death part of our grief is ultimately connected to our own death. Life as we know it is often painful, but the life we know is all that we have experienced. Thoughts of our own death scare us. What awaits us? As a sinner and a saint, I have been offered the consolation of the Gospel. In my darkest hours, it may not seem to make one bit of difference in my self-centered pain, but even in those hours God can and has broken in with the Son. In all the questions, long hours and sorrow I know that God has claimed me as His own. I know what God has promised me.

Sheol - The Sleepless Night after a Loved One Dies

Dan Bartels, 22, Aaron’s 1st cousin, killed in Iraq. What is it about relationships that make the news come alive? A little over a year ago, I stood at a candle lit vigil with a hundred others in front of our local library to remember the 1,000 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. The mood was solemn, but afterwards I made my way back to the dorms, did a little homework, and went about my normal routine. Yesterday, the death of one soldier rocked my world. Maybe it was the phone calls from Aaron’s parents or maybe it was holding my sobbing husband, who so clung desperately to me. What about this one made the impact? Thousands have died on both sides of this war. Before we began dinner, we prayed for grieving families on both sides. Death is different after a little theological education. It still stings. It still comes with questions. The questions this time are different. We aren’t asking, why did God do this or what did we or he do to deserve this? Instead, Aaron asks, “Am I the first one on campus to loose someone to the war?” Whether or not, this is my time to speak up. We know and trust what God has done and promised. We know that Dan, the people in Iraq and all of us are created in the Image of God. I ask for prayers for Dan’s family, for everyone affected by war and for peace.

Colombia and Senator Coleman

Photo - Displaced Colombians at Pastor Pedro's church, Cristo El Ray (Christ the King)

Yesterday and today are “Reading Days” and classes are cancelled. This morning a group went to meet with the new foreign affairs staffer in Senator Norm Coleman’s St. Paul office. An indigenous Colombian and two Afro-Colombians made the visit with three students, a pastor and two Lutheran World Relief representatives. Coleman has done an excellent job on Colombian policy work in the past and was already working finding a disappeared peace advocate who was slated to come to the US this weekend for a peace conference in Chicago. The powerful portion of our meeting came when the staffer began reading a list of statistics that ‘showed’ the President Alvaro’s administration was responsible for decreasing killings, displacements and disappearances in the country. The Colombians with us quickly stated that once you’ve killed/disappeared most of your opponents there’s no one left to kill/disappear and once you’ve displaced all the peasant farmers there’s no one left to displace. The situation is so complicated with many armed actors. Stateside there is a group working on the Sal y Luz (Salt and Light) peace project. There isn’t a group to back in this conflict. The project is designed to wage peace. Pedro, Pastor connected with the Luther Seminary Sal y Luz project, described a situation in which the government is financially compensating ‘disarmed paramilitaries’ when they ‘opt out’ of their fighting groups. One is living across the street of a widow with 12 children whose husband was killed by a paramilitary group – she receives no help. The other problems with this include Colombians who were never armed actors signing up for the ‘opt out’ program and others who reenlist with different groups while still collecting the benefits from the ‘opt out.’ No easy answers can be found to this and many conflicts. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak truth to power and to have a senator who is actively searching for answers in the bureaucratic nightmare of the US Senate.

Can I Stand?

How hard it is to live in the richest nation in the world and realize it. What does it mean to be a citizen of the world and a citizen of the US? What is asked of me? What responsibilities are there for being an educated white female? This past week, I’ve heard three different sermons preached on Matthew 22:15-22. My favorite preacher, Dr. Mary Shore, preached one. In her sermon, she challenged but also preached the Gospel. Today in chapel a Canadian preacher used Luke 17:11-19. Again, the lesson had financial implications. As a student, I have less financial resources than others do, but my husband and I still have an apartment and resources to live very comfortable lifestyle even on US standards. In comparison to the citizens of the world, we are incredibly rich financially. What do we do? Where are we being called? What is being asked of us? How can we be responsible to the privilege and opportunity to study instead of working fulltime while still being good stewards? How can small luxuries (i.e. road trips, eating out, going to the see latest films) be justified? Do they need to be justified? How can I stand at the foot of the cross with the baggage I carry? How can I stand?

Sarah Henrich Speaks Greek and Eats at the Olive Garden

This evening Aaron and I decided dine at the Olive Garden for our third meal of the day. With the warm fall weather we sat outside while waiting for a table. We were deep in conversation when I laughed and said, that woman really resembles Dr. Henrich, the professor we learned Greek from last year. And look, she even runs like Henrich. Henrich runs from place to place usually with a cup of coffee in her hand that she spills every 5 seconds. Well, our flashing buzzing beeper went off telling us that our table was ready. As we approached the host station lo and behold, there was Henrich. Yes, we realize that professors do have lives and can eat out occasionally, but she has an ongoing project in Italy. It’s awesome that she’s running into an Italian chain restaurant for her Italian.