Major Switch. (get it, because i switched my major and it's a major switch in my life)

Here it is folks. Straight from the horses mouth. Mallory Searcy is Majoring in worship leadership and minoring in theater. Still have to make a meeting with Mr. Earnest to make it official, however, it is true. i am resolved.

I arrived at this decision the same way that i arrived at the decision to be at the university of mobile. the same way i realized that i would go to Russia this summer.

I woke up one day, and realized i'd been running from a decision for a long time and i knew exactly what i had to do.

I adore theater. I absolutely adore it. I want it to always be a part of my life.

But i cant ignore the part of me that has stumbled past my guitar on the way to my 8:00 class every morning thinking "one day, i'll play you... my sweet guitar..." or the part of me that misses being a part of a Jesus community.

With parents in full time ministry since before i was born, I've grown up within those proverbial church walls. Crawled under pews during services, sang solos in the Christmas play... filled in for sunday school teachers, etc. I've seen a lot of amazing things come out of the church. I've been there when everything in the world was waiting for just that moment. and the sky was exploding in color and the grass was green and everything smelled alive and like community and the big togetherness of what happens when people love God and God loves them and they all get together and talk about it. when people fall in love with God and act like they're engaged. "well yesterday God said this... and last week i told God that... " It's like newly weds and people are just practically gushing with love. The kind of love that makes you giggle and feel very solemn all at once.

I've seen the green great aliveness of God and people together that is the Church.

But the church has not always been kind to me.

I've seen the backstabbing, I've seen the false prophets and I have wished that Jeremiah was still around to talk about it. I've had lies spoken over me in the name of Jesus Christ and i've watched marriages break, family structures collapse, money stole, abuse, fear, control etc. I've seen what happens when the people of God believe a lie and are caught in their pride.

And it hurts worse when we remember the Big aliveness of God community. Because we long for, we know what it should be like.

And so i go into my Worship Leadership major, having no idea what God has in store for me, only that he's called me to write and sing and ocasionally direct musicals and be in musicals and sing some more and play my ukulele and be a part of this big wonderful community that is His Church and His Bride.

all i have to say is, Amen to this big adventure.

Mal

Ethics in Performing Arts (or) Socrates and Dating Violence.

It's very interesting to me that since i've been in my Ethics in Performing Arts class, I have been faced with more ethical decisions in my life than before. If maybe not "more" certainly ones where the lines are blurry.

James and I performed a scene for 16,000 highschoolers today on Dating Violence. We were with an organization that basically makes itself a safe haven for victims of sexual and physical abuse. Our scene was real. We edited it and took out all the strongest language, and we made it more "highschool". We even took out their names and used our own names and our own best friends. Let's just say it was highly intense. Because the truth is, even without doing any stage combat, (ie- he never actually hit me) it's a scary subject. and it happens. The schools we went to have reported cases, kids who were probably sitting in the room.

And it was amazing, moving, crazy hard work and good. we came back an hour later found out... we were in trouble. A pastor had been at the assembly and found out that we were from the university of mobile and that we had said words on stage like Hell and Crap and a few other "strong" words. He was furious.

I don't understand, really. Because now socrates(required reading for this Ethics class) is driving me crazy. He says that an action is wrong is wrong is wrong. But if it was wrong for me to say hell, was it not also "wrong" in the same sense for James's character to call my character fat? was it not also wrong for his character to be verbally abusive? I understand why the pastor was offended- because there are some things people should never do, even for art. I'm just not sure where i think that line is. I think that we were showing something beautiful- the fact that situations like the skit shows, are WRONG. They SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN. and if nobody speaks out, if nobody protests and let's other people know that those situations are real- aren't we doing a greater disservice to those kids?

I apologize for my strong language- i see now that it did more harm than good. and my intention was for good. i do not apologize for the skit- that reality needed to be spoken.

Valentine's Day

Every Valentine's day my future/imaginary boyfriend breaks up with me, because I have no idea how to give gifts and the pressure to give presents stresses me out. No kidding.

Do guys like flowers?

Vagueism

This is my new slang word. Hope it catches on:

VAGUEISM

(see also Vagueing, vaguer)

(n) That word or group of words which doesn't exactly answer a question but certainly leaves enough room either way to give the speaker a bailout and the listener hope for a bright future by their side.

You know that time, when you spent all day hanging out with that one girl and you thought you'd made a friend, she was really sweet right? and you seemed to have everything in common.

You: Let's go get coffee sometime!

Her: i love coffee!

VAGUER (n)

the person or persons who tactfully avoid awkward rejections.

Him: we should get together and study for that test!

Her: Oh man, i almost never study.

Her's friend at study party: That girl is such vaguer.

VAGUEING (v)

The act of avoiding awkward situations

I told him the shirt was nice, which it WAS night, but i didn't like it, i was sorta vagueing.

VAGUEISM

Note: Her love for coffee is not implicitly stating that she would like to have coffee with you.

True story.

Stupid Kiwi (or) How to Stay Healthy in College

Avery and my personal experiences with that classic Fruit-for-breakfast-on-the-way-to-800-class Dilemma that we find ourselves in. I wonder why it is we try new things on the way to class?

The Attempts:

Strike One: Prepeel the Kiwi.

Outcome: Sticky Fail, can I be excused to wash my hands before I take this test? thanks.

Strike Two: Prepeel and SLICE the Kiwi. Bring spoon.

Outcome: Again with the Sticky fail (inadequate paper towl preparation) and now I have a spoon with me in every class.

Strike Three: Mangos. Turns out I'm allergic to the skin. I never knew this, because i never ate the skin until i was running to class.

Outcome: turns out permanent retainers are completely invisible unless you're trying to de-mango your mouth. This stuff turns into string when not properly sliced. lesson learned.

Conclusions on these attempts are as follows:

stick to granola bars and oranges. Stay away from the "dangerous" fruits.

That is all.

love,

Mallory

(inspired by the suffering of Avery on the way to class)

Reflections on my neighbors glory and a Haitian Christmas.

I'm rereading the Weight of Glory by C. S. Lewis and I always get stuck in the last paragraph of the first essay and really can't go on reading for a couple of days. C. S. Lewis speaks of the burden, or the weight of our neighbors glory. The potential Glory and infinity inside every human. That we are in a society of potential gods and goddesses, or potential horrors and nightmarish ghosts. There are no ordinary people.

How different my life would look if I really believed that! How differently would I treat my history assignments, or my younger brother.

It also brings to my attention the concept of a neighbor. Especially in this day and age, where we have access to so much information about people who suffer all around the world. At what point does someone live too far away for us to have a moral obligation to come to their aid? I'm not saying politically, we've already proven we don't do that very well even with the best of intentions. I mean personally. At what point does the sparrow fall too far away? My mom says she believes that to some degree, we who are privileged will be held responsible for the suffering of others when we get to heaven. Burdened for humanity.

That being said, my family is going Haitian this Christmas, which means that we're giving each other things that we already own, things that are important to us. Christmas will be spectacular.

Flags by Brooke Fraser

Some words just need to be shared....

You who mourn will be comforted
You who hunger will hunger no more
All the last shall be first
Of this I am sure

You who weep now will laugh again
All you lonely be lonely no more
Yes, the last will be first
Of this I'm sure

I don't know why the innocents fall
While the monsters stand
I don't know why the little ones thirst
But I know the last shall be first
I know the last shall be first
I know the last shall be first