Challenge Detroit: Detroit Symphony Orchestra Returns with 37/11

Saturday night, 7:50 p.m. After enjoying a wonderful dinner at Cass Café, a very stylish group of classy Challenge Detroit fellows prepare to leave. Chairs are pushed back, jackets and shawls draped around shoulders, and heels are tightened. As the group makes its way down the stairs and out into the breezy night air, the fellows chat excitedly about their next destination—the Max M. Fisher Music Center.

 The Fisher Center itself is a gorgeous building. The glass doors opened, and we were welcomed into a spacious foyer by the sounds of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. While waiting for the rest of the group to congregate, I had a few minutes to explore the space. I walked up the four flights of stairs, and looked around at the various posters, photographs, and light displays celebrating music within the community.

From my upper balcony seat, I enjoyed the show with my fellow fellows. It was an incredible musical event, where the renowned DSO performed three pieces (Aaron Copland’s Rodeo Ballet, John Williams’ The Five Sacred Trees, and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 1 in D minor). It was an exhilarating movement as we transitioned from piece to piece. It really didn’t even seem like we were sitting still, listening to classical music. They were more exciting; more like movie scores, perhaps. Really incredible scores.

The thing that struck me the most about the performance was the bigness of it all. I couldn’t believe that the group of people sitting on the stage below me was making all that music. No speakers, no microphones. Just individual artists playing their instruments. The acoustics, the volume, the feeling, the grandeur of it all left me with the most spectacular sensation.

There is something about music, isn’t there? Because music says the things we can’t say ourselves. And the DSO certainly said it well. 

love,

bcl.

A subject lesson: Bittersweet

THE BITTERSWEETNESS OF LOVE where God is concerned is the topic. In my many, many years of walking as a Christian, I have certainly come to realize that to love God has been both incredibly rewarding and terribly difficult. It has come easily and packed with tremendous joy at times, and it has been hard-- so hard-- during others.

And in all honesty, sometimes, it feels a little uneven. There have been times where I felt that I could taste only the bitter tinge of sacrifice and rules, and, it has been during those times that I found myself asking God if it is really worth it at all.

Whenever those occasions arose-- and when I realized what I was saying, what I was questioning-- I would be immediately stricken with mortification and terrible shame. "I'm so sorry, God," I quickly relented. I really believed that by feeling this way, I was not right. I felt that I was not being a holy, (   insert synonyms    ) Christian, and that I obviously needed an attitude adjustment since loving Jesus was supposed to be the best thing ever. It wasn't supposed to feel like a chore, or a heavy, draining commitment..

But, I think I had it backwards. Or if not entirely backwards, then at least sideways.

My mistake wasn't in thinking that love costs too much. It was in not understanding that it does.

In revisiting one of my previous journals, I came across a small quip that can be fairly accurately summarized with the following:

"God, you're asking too much of me. You're demanding too much of my time, too much of my energy, too much of my resources-- which I have very little of. You're taking it all, and it's too, too hard!"

I complained that to love Him costs too much. 

But then, this heavy cost of love was already demonstrated and proven to me.

To love me cost Jesus his life.

So He may ask much of me. But He could ask even more of me. My whole life.

And He gave it first.

This love that I have come to know is not just sweet. It is gloriously sweet because it comes after the bitter. To truly know and understand God's love for me-- and to think on the sacrifice that Jesus Christ paid upon that cross-- carries that very flavour: BITTERSWEET.

Our proof is scarred on hands that bled that we were worth every nail.

Humbled,
bcl.

Seelio

HEY ERRBODY, IT'S HERE. SEELIO IS LIVE!

For those of you who don't know-- which is more than most of you, I'm sure-- I have spent the last 5 weeks or so predominantly working in Ann Arbor. What kind of work, you ask?

I was producing a video project for an incredible start-up.. and now it's done!

Want to see it?

And be sure to check out Seelio.com!

- bcl.

*Special thanks to Dan Chern and Francesca Audia-- what an amazing team to work with!

Sharpie + Canvas Transformation

STEP 1: Get your hands on a pair of fabric, or canvas shoes. (I bought mine from Ragstock!)

The "Before"

STEP 2: Grab a Sharpie marker.

STEP 3: Make art!

My new "After" shoes

- bcl.

Photo credit: Felix C. Lee

Wood in the Afternoon

This is the title of the third-to-last chapter of Markus Zusak's novel, The Book Thief.

If any one of you readers are truly readers at all, you've probably at least heard of this novel at some point. In case you were wondering if I think you should read it, wonder no more. 

I, Bithiah Lee, formally recommend this book to you now.

What a beautifully written novel. Sometimes, I just forget what it feels like to read something that is gorgeous-- even if that something also infuriates you, makes you want to cry. You also feel giddy, because you realize that it's just words that are doing that to you. The shaking, the breathing, the blinking, the cheering-- just words. 

I would write more, but my fingers are still stiff, my eyes are so tired, and my head is throbbing, still, from taking in the last 250 pages of the The Book Thief all over the last couple of hours. 

Instead, let me leave you with this:

As you can see, I have been in your library again and I

have ruined one of your books. I was just so angry and afraid

and I wanted to kill the words. I have stolen from you and

now I've wrecked your property. I'm sorry. To punish myself, 

I think I will stop coming here. Or is it punishment at all? I 

love this place and hate it, because it is full of words.

- 522 

If only she could be so oblivious again,

to feel such love without knowing it,

mistaking it for laughter and bread

with only the scent of jam spread out

on top of it.

- 408

I have hated the words and

I have loved them,

and I hope I have made them right. 

- 528

Think on that, will you?

Thank you, Zusak, for this story.

- bcl.

Review: Kaling & Fey

Even as I sit here, typing up this post, donning deliberately oversized plastic eyewear, drinking stale, room-temperature water out of a mug-- and using only pretentious synonyms for everyday words (including, but not limited to donning, deliberately, oversized, eyewear, stale, pretentious, and synonyms), I can't help but wish that someone was here to take a photo of me. The kind of photo that was candid, of course. And probably instagram'd.

I also can't decide if this is a moment in my life where I will one day look back and feel embarrassed about, or if it will be remembered as one of my finest and proudest moments. Impossible choice.

Anyway, I just finished reading two autobiographies of two funny-ladies. (The reason that there is a hyphen between those two words is because they are to be read as one). Mindy Kaling's "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)" and Tina Fey's "Bossypants." I read them back-to-back, and thoroughly enjoyed them both.

(Note: I originally included a photo of Kaling's book too, but then I removed it because it was so pink).

To make a general statement, I would say that I enjoyed Bossypants more. While Kaling was funny in her writing (I read hers first), I felt that Fey's rendition of "I'm-hilarious-and-sarcastic-and-will-make-fun-of-myself-to-appear-lighthearted-and-fun-so-that-you-forget-to-dislike-me-at-least-a-little-since-I'm-super-famous-and-make-way-more-money-than-you-but-don't-feel-bad-because-I,-too,-once-suffered-from-teenage-acne" was a more mature, refined and even slightly less aggressive one. I felt as if it was evident that she didn't have to try as hard. She is a very cool version of herself. I will also like to take this moment to point out the irony of this paragraph as a whole since I am a 22-year-old sarca myself. I'm obviously just jealous of her. 

Anyway, I would recommend Bossypants to anyone who finds Tina Fey funny. If you don't think she's funny, then you shouldn't read it.

Here are a couple of my favourite excerpts (the ones that made me laugh out loud) from Bossypants:

(Referring to people who approach her and ask about the scar on her face)
"The grossest move is when they say they're only curious because "it's so beautiful." Ugh. Disgusting. They might as well walk up and say, "May I be amazing at you?"

"Every time I reached into the closet to grab a Sunday School dress or my colonial-lady Halloween costume that I sometimes relaxed in after school..."

"I was walking home from middle school past a place called the World's Largest Aquarium-- which, legally, I don't know how they could call it that, because it was obviously an average-sized aquarium."

(Regarding how proud she is that 30 Rock features 'normal human-faces')
"When you watched Sanford and Son, you didn't want to have sex with everybody you saw, just Grady. I've never understood why every character being "hot" was necessary for enjoying a TV show. It's the same reason I don't get Hooters. Why do we need to enjoy chicken wings and boobies at the same time? Yes, they are a natural and beautiful part of the human experience. And so are boobies. But why at the same time?"


Hahahahahaaa.

-bcl.

My Year in Detroit!

What I think my apartment will look like:

What it will actually look like:

WHO WANTS TO VISIT ME??

#housingsearch

-bcl.