Amy profile picture

Amy

You know, me and Jesus, we're of the same heart- the only thing that keeps us distant is that I keep

About Me

To explain... No, no time to explain. To sum up:I'm an activist and classical musician who lives in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood. Most recently, my vocational calling has taken me to the West Bank , Palestine . I spent several months there doing nonviolence work in late 2005, and was planning on going back when I fell ill with what is now a chronic pain condition. I miss Palestine with my entire being. I dream someday of living and working in Jerusalem, perhaps with the Edward Said National Conservatory .I self-identify as a Progressive Christian , among the implications of which include that I am queer-friendly (no matter where you self-identify in the queer world), Poly friendly, believe in evolution, can't stand the Bush Regime, don't believe your religion is wrong, am a Principled Pacifist , want to end racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, and any other oppresive -isms, and believe we must cancel the debts for countries in The Global South . I long for peace between Israel and Palestine, which I firmly believe will come when there is equal justice for the Palestinians, and a return to the 1967 borders .I have trained as a classical musician my entire life. My main instrument is viola , but I also play the violin, piano, flute, and guitar. I mean, you can't be a proper hippie if you can't play the guitar, right? I taught private lessons for seven years before I got too busy with activism, but I hope to someday return to it. I love working with kids.I live in Intentional Community with four other people and three insane cats. We had a fish named Gustav (after Mahler), but he died and is now buried in the back garden under a pesto plant . We live in an enormous old parsonage attached to this ancient church that houses a Swedish Lutheran congregation, an Arabic Lutheran congregation, and The Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler , which one of my housemates co-pastors.I hope to use MySpace as a way to connect and network with people I already know, or people I have lost contact with. Most of my internet presence takes place over at LiveJournal . With a few exceptions, I'm not seeking out new people at this time.I &hearts HTML!

My Interests

world peace, social justice, activism, anti-war, civil disobedience, pacifism, books, poetry, liberation theology, debt relief, Palestine, Middle Eastern politics, comparative religion, tea, "classical" music, music, symposia, Schubertiads, Eeyore, amaretto, photography, movies, living in community, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, science fiction, feminism, theology, writing, camels, old hymnals, dark chocolate, toe socks, glow-in-the-dark stars, satire, semiotics, pirates, pesto...

I'd like to meet:

Bono.Duh.

Music:

U2 and Indigo Girls are my favorite artists, hands down. Still, my favorite music is usually anything that falls under the general label of "classical". I have an affinity for chamber music, and want to be the Kronos Quartet when I grow up. If I had to choose favorite composers, I'd have to hang around a lot in the Radical Romantic and early 20th Century categories, although you can't go wrong with any member of the Bach family, and I'm inexplicably drawn to any of Beethoven's works. I also greatly enjoy choral works, including and especially the Early Music variety. In other musical tastes, I'll take about anything, but tend to get real tense around Country. When tuning into a radio, I usually take Classic Rock. I'm vastly interested in learning about Punk- especially old-school- and Hip-Hop, and their social commentaries and movements.

Movies:

Blues Brothers, High Fidelity, Almost Famous, Beyond Borders, School of Rock, Syriana, Divine Intervention, Paradise Now, Hilary and Jackie, Jesus Christ Superstar, Saved, I &hearts Huckabees, Coffee and Cigarettes, Bride and Prejudice, Hair.... my god, you're not suggesting I list them all, are you?

Television:

I don't watch television. Kill your television!Okay, that's not entirely accurate. I watch a lot of Sci-Fi on DVD, being a relatively recent Star Trek convert, but also Firefly/Serenity, Stargate SG-1, vintage Dr. Who, and Babylon 5. (Battlestar Galactica and Heroes are next on the list.) Also on DVD (the only channel that gets reception is channel 20) my house enjoys anything Eddie Izzard, including episodes of The Riches; Wonderfalls; and Jeeves & Wooster.

Books:

Yes. I'm in favor of books. Lots and lots of books. There are easily a couple thousand books in this house; it makes it really cozy and homey. I've recently enjoyed Sophie's World, The Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog, The Outlander series, Palestine: Peace, not Apartheid, The Good Faeries of New York, and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Heroes:

MLK jr, Bono, Rachel Corrie , Tom Hurndall , Jesus of Nazareth (hippie, activist, radical, and political prisoner), Mordechai Vanunu , Alexander Mack , Dianne Nash, Bernard Lafayette, JFK, RFK, Tom Fox- friend and colleague who died in the pursuit of peace , Abbie Hoffman, Mrs. Olsen- my junior year HS English teacher who introduced me to The Chicago Eight and Michael Moore, Mr. Sawyer- my senior year Political Science teacher for encouraging me to learn more about both

My Blog

They're all named Johann!

This is the most hilarious thing I have EVER watched!  Classical musicians, pay attention!...
Posted by Amy on Sat, 23 Dec 2006 12:32:00 PST

Post-haste

I probably won't be using MySpace a whole lot. As I mentioned in my profile, I'm mostly here just in case there's someone looking for me.  Although I'm not sure which is scarier- that someone fro...
Posted by Amy on Tue, 08 Aug 2006 09:00:00 PST