Thoughts While on a Trip to Fresno and Back Again

I attended my fourth (and final!) seminar at CSU Fresno today, and I had the exact opposite experience from my last SuperSeminar. I would have happily given up a week of summer vacation to sit in class with Professor Allen, who had been tasked with teaching non-artists how to incorporate real art into the core subjects. He packed six hours with a week's worth of content. We sped through art history and the elements of art, veered wildly into appreciating and performing drama, and slammed right into choreography and dance.

As a result, I painted a tree that actually looks like a tree for the very first time in my life. And it only took 3 minutes to do.



I don't know what kind of tree it is, but the very fact that you can tell, with no difficulty, that it is a tree would likely stun anyone who has seen any of my attempts at artistry in high school art class..

I also learned why complementary colors are called complementary colors. It is because all the colors represented make up the full complement of primary colors. Orange is red & yellow. Therefore, its complement is blue. Purple is blue & red, and its complement is yellow. Yellow & blue make green, which has a complement of red. You mean to tell me that art makes sense?

This was a day so jampacked with learning, that the education spilled over into lunch break. It was then that I discovered Subway has a ridiculous policy that spurs me to boycott. I ordered a mini-sub (the cheapest item on the menu, natch) and watched in disbelief as the kid pulled a six-inch roll off the shelf, cut 2" from the end, and threw that end away! Does this not strike anyone else as wasteful?

I asked him that very question, and he responded with a blank stare. I explained what I meant and continued, "Why don't they just bake mini-sub-sized sandwich bread or just use the six-inch size with less meat?" He looked at me, taking his time about answering, speaking as though to someone who was a little slow, "They're loaves. You can't make loaves smaller." I wish I were kidding.

Joe tells me Quiznos has an even more ridiculous policy. Their employees are required to weigh each sandwich ingredient on a little scale. That's not the ridiculous part. It's a little over-the-top, but I understand the desire to manage costs by controlling portions.

What is ridiculous? If the employee adds too much meat or cheese or whatever to the scale, he is required to cut off the overage and throw it away.

If anyone can explain the rationale behind either of these policies (emphasis on the "rational"), I'd appreciate it.

The learning continued on the drive home, when I also learned that people can be ridiculously mean.

Okay, I already knew that. But I sadly learned a new derivation of meanness.

During a stop in Kettleman City to walk the dogs, we met an elderly homeless man. We gave him some money and milk, and he commented on Roscoe and Bella. As we chatted, he told us about his dog. He was clearly attached to the puppy and became emotional just talking about her. He told us how good she was, and how he was able to run her around in the field. The local sheriff had given her to him, but a couple weeks ago, somebody stole her while he was buying food. Just cut the rope from her collar and took her. How low do you have to go to stoop to stealing a homeless man's puppy?

I'm always left with feelings of helplessness and insufficiency when confronted by homelessness. Tonight I'm left with these feelings and the nagging feeling that I wasted an opportunity. Since reading Don't Waste Your Life, I've become more aware of what can be wasted, but all too frequently only after it has been. So I have to be sure not to waste this opportunity to pray for a man. To pray for his physical provisions, for his health, and for him to be able to experience not only the love of a puppy again, but also - if he doesn't know it already - the true love that his hastily painted John 3:16 was meant to remind us of. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that who ever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.