Escalade

One of the interesting things about Switzerland is that each city seems to have their own culture and customs. There isn’t as much of a comprehensive Swiss culture as there is a Geneva culture, a Lausanne culture, a Bern culture, etc. etc. (of course, that's just based on my observations at this point—maybe I’m way off). Geneva perhaps exemplifies this better than any of the city’s since it used to be an independent entity, only becoming party of Switzerland in 1815.

Geneva’s biggest celebration of the year centers around “l’escalade,” a historical event when the Savoy region of France tried to invade the city. Apparently some old woman dumped hot soup on some of the soldiers attempting to scale the wall, and this event is now commemorated every December.

The Race

The festivities kick off with a series of races simply called the Escalade. The Escalade consists of running a series of laps around the city’s Old Town (3 laps for men, 2 for women). Because the streets are so narrow and the event is so popular, everything is broken into age divisions and things last the entire day. If you finish the race under a certain time (half an hour for the men), you are eligible to run in the “Elite” race the following year.

I had signed up to run early on, but I was’t prepared for just how popular the thing is. They put up a giant tv screen across from the entrance to Parc de Bastion (the staging area), had a marching band as well as a rock band playing music at opposite ends of the park, and there were helicopter cameras shooting overhead footage of the city.

My division’s race wasn’t until 5:45 so it was already dark and starting to rain when I went. These conditions made running around the cobblestone streets of the old town a bit tricky, but I managed to come in under 29 minutes to qualify for the elite run next year.

Following all the “serious” races, there is a big costumed run/walk called the Marmite. Everyone dresses up like Halloween (which as mentioned previously, does not exist here) and does a slightly modified course. Anyone in the city not participating lines the streets and watches the spectacle.

A lot of Hashers (people from the group I run with) ran over the course of the day and we all got together for dinner at a pizzeria afterwards, which was nice.

The Fête


The weekend after the race is the Fête (or festival) de l’Escalade. Families buy chocolate soup pots filled with candy that they break in commemoration of the old lady thwarting the Savoy. People amass in the Old Town and there are vendors selling Marrons Chaude (roasted chestnuts) and Vin Chaud (hot spiced wine) all over the place. The culmination of the weekend’s events is a parade on Sunday night where people dress in 16th century clothes and military regalia and march around that part of the city. The parade ends up at the cathedral where they light a large bonfire and celebrate.


Winter Lights


One of the coolest things about December in Geneva are the light installations around the city, specifically around the lake. Rather than gaudy lights all over like we have in American, the lights here are more like art installations. The most interesting to me this year is “Les Voyageurs,” a series of wire sculptures representing spirits. They float and fly over the water, bathed in spotlights.




There are also rows of trees lining the lake which have been given box lights that illumine them with shifting colors. Another display includes stands of lights timed with music that twinkle and turn on and off.





In a park near my apartment are a series of slightly eerie circular lights hanging between rows of trees. I’m not sure if these are all one-off displays or if any of them are annual fixtures, but I guess I’ll find out next year.

The Great Southwestern US Photo Trip

The following was actually written a full two weeks ago now, but I wanted to wait to post it until I had some images prepared to go along. There will be an alternate version more heavy on the Franciscan interaction and less on the personal information posted on the Franciscans International website. You can check that out here. Hopefully I’ll get everything else caught up when I’m hope for Christmas next Thursday(!), which is now only one week away instead of the three weeks I reference in the text:

I write this from the Terminal of Newark International Airport at the end of a long journey I never could have foreseen. For the past two weeks, I have been traveling around the Southwestern United States meeting with Franciscan brothers and sisters and documenting them and their projects through using photography and words. When I applied for the job at FI I had no idea that I may have the opportunity to travel, and yet here I am, preparing to fly back to Geneva. The reason for the trip was fairly simple: 1) I am a designer. 2) Co-workers often request images of certain Franciscans or regions for use in publications. 3) 95% of the time these images do not exist.
Hence, a trip to a region where a lot of Franciscans are doing a variety of work addressing different issues. If deemed successful, this could be the first of several trips by Nicki and myself to document Franciscans across the globe for use in our books and other publications. It was the first time I ever planned such an extensive journey myself, from researching flights to contacting people to figuring out my exact schedule and how to come in under a set budget. And I must say, I am pleased with how things went. I will try to be somewhat brief in my accounts, but knowing how previous entries have gone, forgive me if this gets really, really long.

November 17th: Columbus, OH
Columbus was the “base” for my journey since that’s where I’m from and that’s where I found the cheapest roundtrip fare from Geneva. I had a connection through Newark and having never returned from abroad before, I was a little surprised that I had to claim my bag in Newark, go through customs, re-check the bag, and then be re-checked through security. Fortunately, this all went smoothly. Since I was returning home the Thursday before the OSU-Michigan game I knew I was at the right gate when my eyes caught hold of plenty of scarlet and gray.
My flight was supposed to arrive in Columbus at 4:30pm. We boarded slightly late but everyone got on and we taxied from the gate. Then, the plane stopped and the pilot informed us that Newark was “shutting down” for awhile, not letting any planes depart. This was because of storms in the area. Our plane sat there for about 4 hours before we would actually be permitted to leave.
I managed to keep my sanity, but it was a little tough since I was sitting next to a couple of Russian teenager dancers who enjoyed flirting with each other by rocking each others seats at random intervals and talking really loudly, often in Russian. I’m all for internationality, but I was expecting to be surrounded by English once I got back to America rather than another language I don’t understand. Our flight finally made it in at around quarter ‘til nine giving me about 10 hours before I would need to return to the airport to begin my trip.

November 18th: Las Vegas, NV
On Friday morning I headed to Las Vegas, my first time in the city. I rented a car for the first time in my life and got on the highway. I would be meeting with a Sister involved in peace and justice work including trips to the desert to protest the nuclear testing site. In addition to founding a couple organizations devoted to these types of disarmament causes she has been arrested and jailed many times. She is 89 years old. Talk about inspiring.
After a morning and afternoon spent with her and visiting the offices of one of her organizations (where I would get to spend the night in the guest house), Zach drove down from Salt Lake City to wander the strip (I should point out that the sisters were very insistent that I go experience it since I hadn’t been before). So there I was: exhausted after only about 5 hours of sleep, walking around the most surreal city in the world with my best friend who I hadn’t seen in about 5 months, probably our longest time apart since kindergarten. Pretty crazy.



Though we were unsuccessful in our attempts to get tickets to the Cirque du Soliel Beatles show Love, we managed to occupy ourselves with an Ansel Adams photo exhibit at the Bellagio, watching that casino’s choreographed fountain a couple times, dinner at Chipotle (as you probably already guessed), playing a dollar each on some quarter slots, and meandering through a few of the other casinos. While it was a tiring day (and now seems almost a dream), it was a unique experience and a fun time.



November 19th: Tohatchi, NM
Despite my exhaustion (or perhaps because of it?), I slept very poorly in Vegas because I was worried I wouldn’t get my rental car back in time to make my flight. Fortunately, I did and even had time to check my e-mail in the Vegas airport (thanks to their free wireless, unlike just about every other airport I’ve been in).
I flew to Albuquerque where I rented another car and drove out to the town of Tohatchi in the middle of Navajo Nation. The 2.5 hour drive was relaxing and I even got to hear about half of the big game on the radio. While most of the scenery was strictly desert, there were some beautiful rock formations around. I made it to my destination at St. Mary’s church which ministers to the Navajo and also provides a variety of services, from alcohol support groups to teen programs to a free store. For this fairly remote area where the income is considerably less than a lot of the country, the Franciscan presence is really necessary. Navajo and Franciscan spirituality mix really well too with their emphasis on care for creation and treatment of all of earth as sacred. I even saw parallels in the traditions of storytelling.






On Saturday I had time to roam the grounds and visit the church before turning in early to catch up on my sleep—almost 12 hours worth. Sunday morning we drove to the neighboring village of Naschitti where the Father I was visiting gave mass. Afterwards we were invited to a Thanksgiving lunch with the church community. The fry bread was especially delicious. It was soon time to leave and I loaded up the car to return to Albuquerque.

November 20th: Albuquerque, NM
After dropping off the rental car, I was picked up by the newsletter editor of Radical Grace, a publication produced by the Center for Action and Contemplation, a sort of spiritual activist education and retreat center started by a prominent Franciscan. I was taken to the guest house, Stillpoint, where I would be staying and had dinner with a Filipino translator who is working for the CAC for a few months.

On Monday morning it was time to spend some time at the CAC itself and I got the grand tour, although I unfortunately picked a time to visit when the founder and director were both abroad. Even so, the staff were very welcoming and helpful. The center definitely had a peaceful energy and is a really wonderful place. I would love to go back there for one of their week-long internship experiences or just to have some time for reflection. After the day there, I borrowed the guesthouse Jeep to head to the airport in an unsuccessful attempt to meet with a Father who works with the Pueblo tribe. We had to have just missed each other in the airport, but fortunately this minor setback would be the only one of its kind during the trip. I returned to Stillpoint to get some sleep before my early morning flight.


November 21st: Socorro, TX

I flew into El Paso on Tuesday morning where I was received by a Sister I would spend the next day with. We went back to her community and were joined by a Father who works at the Socorro mission, ministering to the largely Hispanic population of the area. I went with him to visit a couple different immigrant safehouses in the city that he volunteers at as well as the Mexican border where we were stopped by a Border Patrol car and asked what we were doing. “Sight-seeing,” we answered and were told that our view of the river wasn’t very good from where we had chosen to stop.



I also got to see several of the area’s Mission churches which are all now historic sites. Dinner was at an excellent authentic Mexican restaurant (I ate so much Mexican food during the trip…) and I stayed at the friary that night. On Wednesday morning I attended a mass in Spanish which I was able to follow reasonably well (better than French or Italian anyway) before returning to the Sister I previously mentioned.



November 22nd: El Paso, TX
Wednesday was spent visiting the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center which provides free legal services for detainees in the city who cannot afford lawyers. El Paso is a border town—its Mexican sister city being Juarez—and I was told approximately 70% of the population is now Hispanic. It was really disheartening to me to see all the wasted government spending on border fences, patrol cars and guards, and video monitoring towers. When you consider the principles our country was founded upon and our desire to promote freedom, it seems incredibly hypocritical to prevent people immigrants from entering. Think about it: if you were living in abject poverty trying to support a family mere miles from the “land of opportunity” wouldn’t you want to try and do what was best to give them a better life? After all, Christ was pretty clear that boundaries and rules created by man aren’t important at all and that we are to accept and love everyone, especially the poor.


Anyway, to get back off of my soapbox, we visited a child detention center where the Sister met with a fifteen year old boy originally from Iraq whose family now lives in Greece. They had saved up 8000 Euro to send him to live with his uncle in California but he was detained and now wants to return to Greece. His family, however, does not want him to return. The kids in the center are typically there up to 4 months before they can get a date in front of a judge. While it was a nice, inviting facility with good services for the children, it was still depressing to think that they are basically trapped there.
I was taken to a few other stops along the border and got to have lunch at another great Mexican place, this one run by low-income women who support themselves and their children by working there. The food was again excellent and the restaurant’s success was a nice bit of inspiration.


November 23rd: San Francisco, CA

On Wednesday night I flew out to San Francisco, a quasi-homecoming of sorts, having worked there last summer. I arrived around 10pm and was met at the airport by Leslie who’s on co-op in the city. I crashed at her place that night and we awoke early on Thanksgiving to head over to Ocean Beach for the Turkey Beach Trot 6-mile race. The weather was perfect and seeing the rising sun light upon the crashing waves stirred my soul. I was happy with my 42 minute, 16 second race time considering that slightly over half of the course was on the sand, which slows things down a bit. The race also included a costume contest and Leslie won second place in that for a variation on the Chik-Fil-A cow. I also met one of her high school friends who is now studying at Berkeley. He was preparing a Turducken for dinner which sounded intriguing.

Leslie had friends coming in for the weekend, so after showering and getting some lunch with them, I headed to the St. Anthony Foundation, my primary reason for being in San Fran. St. Anthony’s is an outreach for the homeless and disadvantaged and provides a number of great services including meals. As you might imagine, Thanksgiving Day at a place like that is a bit of a media circus. But it was good. I got to meet with 3 of the friars who work there and take pictures in the dining room. There was also a live radio broadcast taking place which concluded with an interesting roundtable discussion with the friars.


After I left the Foundation, I headed down to SoMa (south of Market) to have Thanksgiving dinner with Heather from my studio who is now living in San Fran and Jacob, a digital designer at UC who is there on co-op. Heather cooked a full meal and we had a nice dinner. I would also be staying the rest of my time there at her place, so I headed to bed early to make up for more missed sleep.

Friday basically being a holiday in its own right meant that I didn’t have anyone to visit with for work. I wandered the financial and shopping districts for a bit and caught a couple movies. I really enjoyed Stranger Than Fiction with Will Ferrell. Very good message to that. It was sort of surprising how dead the city was, although I suppose not that many people living in the city itself are from the city itself. Even the stores didn’t seem too crowded for Black Friday.
That evening Heather and I went out for Ethiopian food and grabbed a couple drinks in the Mission. It felt like (slightly) old times.

On Saturday I headed back to the Tenderloin area of town to St. Boniface (next to St. Anthony’s) where I met with a Father who has also seen his fair share of jail time for disarmament and military protests. Interestingly (tellingly?), he became a Franciscan after serving in the military. We spent several hours talking about himself and the programs at the church which he presided over for 13 years. One of their notable ventures is opening the church to the homeless during the day so they can sleep on the pews and just be away from the streets for a few hours.




Sunday morning I returned to the church for morning mass which was truly what all church should be like. The congregation spanned all races and social classes, mixing traditional (I assume) Catholic liturgy with a Gospel choir and a sermon including notes of social justice and activism. After spending a bit more time with the Franciscans after the service, I headed out to relive a few more San Fran memories: lunch at Nick’s Crispy Tacos, an afternoon browsing used CDs at Amoeba, a movie at the Van Ness AMC, and then meeting up with Leslie and her friends for dinner at a little Italian place I coincidentally ate at my very first day in the city last summer. It was a nice end to a holiday weekend I am glad I was able to spend in the states.

November 27th: St Louis, Missouri
I woke up much much earlier than anyone should have to on Monday morning to get a shuttle to the airport for my 6:00am flight. Though I figured leaving so early would be somewhat less crowded, I actually had to wait longer to check in here than any other flight. Even so, I made it through security in plenty of time to make my trip. I connected through Phoenix again and eventually made it to St. Louis around 1:30 in the afternoon.
I was received at the airport by one of the Sisters I was there to visit. She was insistent on me taking it easy on Monday, so we went to the city’s Botanical Gardens where Dale Chihuly had an installation similar to the one in Columbus a few years back. It was a nice day in St. Louis with the weather in the unseasonably 70-degree range. After enjoying the glass and plantlife we toured one of the area parks and went for dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. I had never eaten that type of food before but it was fantastic. I highly recommend getting yourself some! Then I was taken to the convent—yes, convent—that I would be spending the night at. This should be prefaced by saying there are guest rooms that are furnished more like a hotel than anything else, but it was still mildly amusing. I took it easy for the evening as I had a busy Tuesday ahead of me.










At around 9am I was picked up and taken to Woman’s Place, the organization run by the Sisters I was visiting. It basically functions as a drop-in center for women who need a place to spend some time away from an abusive home environment. They do not house people, but they provide the women resources and programming to empower themselves to get out of violent situations. It was a very serene, welcoming facility and a nice morning. After spending the first half of the day there, we went for lunch at another authentic Mexican place (sensing a pattern yet?) before I was dropped off at the Franciscan Connection, an organization run by the city’s friars that helps people out with utility bills and small home repairs in emergency situations. Again, everyone was incredibly welcoming and gracious. After an afternoon there, I shared worship with some of the friars before heading back to the airport.

As I made my way through security I was excited to (a) finally have a direct flight and (b) be going home. I arrived in Columbus at around 9:30pm where I was greeted by my parents and taken home to a belated family Thanksgiving. My mom even made a characteristically delicious pumpkin pie (my favorite) especially for the occasion!

November 29th: Pickerington, Ohio
My dad took Tuesday off and we spent some time together running errands and (of course) grabbing a burrito at Chipotle. That evening Maggie, Greg, Jen, and I went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner to patronize Andrew who was working. It was great to see everyone again (Andrew for the first time in a year in a half since he was in New Zealand) and we had a good meal with even better company. When Andrew got off work, we decided to grab a quick drink at a nearby bar and the first stripmall we tried featured an establishment called “Magoo’s.” It was obvious we had picked the right place. Anyway, Rollins stopped by on his way to work and we had a chance to continue our socializing for another hour or so until it was time for everyone to head out. I am so grateful for my friends (which goes not only for Pickerington, but also Zach coming to Las Vegas and those in San Fran) and it will be great to see even more of you in 3 weeks when I’m back for Christmas.

So today I had an afternoon flight (the first of the trip) at around 1:00 which brought me here to Newark where I have a 3-hour layover.
It’s pretty weird but I’ve been reliving almost my whole UC co-op experience while in this airport terminal. Earlier I was leafing through the latest issue of RELEVANT magazine which had arrived when I was home. Then, as I was walking around looking for food, I saw the airport’s Smithsonian Store which Chute Gerdemen had done all the design for. I even remember printing out full-size versions of the installation’s type to make sure the line spacing was okay. It was weird to see it actually implemented, especially since I had completely forgotten about the project. Then, in the electronics store exactly to the right of that one, I glanced over and saw a huge display of “Palm” products which I spent some time on at Turner Duckworth. I also hadn’t seen any of the finished packaging for that line, so I spent some time seeing how it turned out. It was neat to see tangible versions of things that had once been on a screen in front of me, but a little surreal that I would experience all this in one day. If only something from my time at laga would also have jumped out at me, I could say it was a complete circle.

Following an entirely underwhelming pizza at an alleged Pizzeria Uno and some entirely delectable Pumpkin Cheesecake ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s, I found myself with another hour and a half until boarding so I figured I would recap the trip. Of course, now they’re calling for the first class and business elite passengers so I must pack things up before they get to my “zone.” The best thing about this flight is sure to be that is the last one.
At least for 3 weeks…