Ben's Bells and Brian Lopez

If you visited our house and just listened to what we talked about, you might assume that there was a fifth Jesuit Volunteer living with us by the name of Brian Lopez. Not quite true. Though my housemates love to talk about him, and are facebook friends with him, Brian is actually a local musician that Jen, Kaitlyn, and Erin discovered two weeks ago. They came home from a concert in a trance. I don't think I'm exaggerating because I think one of them actually said, "I'm in a trance." They showed me some of his music, and it's pretty good. Kind of ethereal and mellow, with a hypnotic beat. Reminds me of both Radiohead and Coldplay a little. So, lucky for me, I will voluntarily go along with them when we - as I'm sure we will - see him in more concerts here in Tucson.

Brian in his band Mostly Bears

On a different note, yesterday was Erin's birthday! She turned 22, and as something fun to do, plus as our community event, we volunteered for a couple hours at Ben's Bells, a local nonprofit that specializes in the power of intentional kindness. Here's how it works. Volunteers spend hours creating colorfully decorated clay bells, and then employees hide thousands of them around the city a few times a year. The bells are not for sale. They can only be found, and if you find one you're supposed to take it home and it reminds you of the importance of being kind. Some might write this off as superficial, but I loved it, and it's obvious that lots of others in Tucson think so, too. As it says on the website, there is a "therapeutic effect of working with clay" and it just makes me feel good to know that a company devoted to nothing more than kindness can survive and flourish in today's world.

The finished bells. Volunteers shape and paint the clay parts on top.

Other volunteers (we didn't get to) form the clay beads

We finished half-painted clay beads. Here's Kaitlyn working on one.

And here's Jen. Someday someone will find these bells!

By the way, in case you're interested, here are links to Kaitlyn's and Jen's blogs. Happy Sunday!