Monthly Archives: August 2017

The two men wasted no time inviting her to one of the frequent gatherings they held at their house, an intentional community made up of eight members of the Episcopal Service Corps, a national network of young adults committed to living simply and serving their communities.

If the participants at these parties were churchy, the goings-on were not. Beer drinking and dancing were the norm. But the night Ms. Risch arrived, with a date, Mr. Sutter turned his back on the norm in favor of a semiprivate conversation with her. Anna and I found ourselves standing in the corner talking about books, for many hours, he said.

We enjoyed talking about books with her so much, Alex and I invited her to come to a sleepover, Mr. Sutter added. Sleepovers at their house were also a regular event for those in the church community, but they were less about having a good time than about meaningful discussion.

They were a time to talk about finding yourself, about our commitment to friendship as a community and where you were professionally, Mr. Sutter said.

When Ms. Risch arrived, it was with a caveat.

She said she was really stressed out with school stuff, and she didnt know if she could stay the night, Mr. Sutter said. Alex and I pestered her to stay. We told her everything would be fine.

Insomnia was one of the side effects of Ms. Rischs stress. By the time the rest of the party conked out on couches and the floor in the wee hours, Mr. Sutter found Ms. Risch wide-awake and alone. A knight-in-shining-armor instinct kicked in: He ran upstairs to the attic bedroom he shared with a roommate and returned with a book, Martin Luther 1521-1532: Shaping and Defining the Reformation, the second of a three-part biography, by Martin Brecht.

Ms. Risch listened to Mr. Sutter read aloud. It was so boring, she was asleep within two seconds, Mr. Sutter said.

Ms. Risch thought it was a sweet gesture.

I noted how comfortable I felt, something I hadnt felt in a long time while trying to sleep, she said. Brecht really cemented it for us.

After that first sleepover, Mr. Sutter and Ms. Risch became confidants about each others yo-yo dating lives. Though they had been immediately attracted to each other There was definitely a flame right away, Mr. Sutter said their timing was off. When one was going through a breakup, the other was with someone new. And when both were finally free in February 2014, a cloud was drifting overhead.

Ms. Risch had just joined the Episcopal Service Corps and moved into the intentional community Mr. Sutter had recently moved out of each class of eight corps members live together in the house for one year when she began to feel depressed.

I had had depression before, and really when I look back there were so many signs it was coming, she said. I was living in Cleveland in a tiny, run-down house with eight other people and no privacy. And it was the winter when we had those polar vortexes.

She had also taken a vow, as all Service Corps members do, to live in poverty for the year.

Its both an illness in my brain and also really situational, Ms. Risch said. That situation is what put me over the brink. After a lot of self-harm, including using needles and glass to cut herself, she was hospitalized and was told she suffered from cyclothymia, a cousin to bipolar disorder.

In the months that followed, Mr. Sutter, who was still in Cleveland continuing his studies and his work on social issues including poverty, watched as she tried several different medications and suffered more than a few relapses. His bedside manner may not have suited everyone in the fog of depression, but for Ms. Risch it was transformative. And healing.

He didnt coddle me, she said. He wouldnt acquiesce to what I wanted. If I wanted to stay home all day, he said, No, get out of bed and go work out. He says no to me a lot.

He did not say no, though, in June, when she felt healthy enough to ask him on a friendly outing to a jazz festival.

We rode our bikes, Ms. Risch said. After it was over I said, Do you want to ride home with me and have a sleepover? It was a reference to Mr. Sutters community sleepovers, but she was thinking of a sleepover with more than strictly spiritual conversation. The next morning we came down for breakfast, and someone said we had hearts in our eyes.

Those hearts had been trying to surface since the February hospitalization, if not before.

I was already madly in love with Noah, Ms. Risch said.

They said they tried to take things slow, because their friendship was far too valuable to risk losing. But a few weeks after the bike ride, Mr. Sutter asked her to accompany him on a backpacking trip to Yosemite. They returned from the wilderness decidedly as a couple, and have been so ever since. Around the same time, they also each began the process of discerning ordination to priesthood in the Episcopal Church.

But the mounting days and weeks of Ms. Rischs depressive darkness were still very much with them.

I was giving her a lot of care, and I didnt know if she would ever get better, Mr. Sutter said. I had no way of knowing who she really was, what her normal was. He carried on because of something Ms. Risch was in the habit of repeating. She would say, Youre so generous to me. That was my love language, those words of affirmation. They gave me the energy to keep going.

Her depression was a strain on Mr. Sutter as well.

I had to go to friends and get nourished, he said. I had to talk to my spiritual director. I had to go to Jane to talk about the tools I would use to keep Anna feeling grounded and loved. Jane is Jane McKelvey, a therapist Mr. Sutter and Ms. Risch saw separately. They now see her together.

Ms. McKelvey is impressed by the devotion Mr. Sutter and Ms. Risch have to each other. Their willingness to communicate openly has been a huge benefit to them, she said.

Mr. Sutter proposed during a party in St. Louis in May 2016 to celebrate the graduation of Elisabeth Risch, who is Annas sister, from college.

The new graduate didnt mind sharing the spotlight that day; she was just glad her sister was headed toward a happy ending. Shes improved so much, and a lot of that is thanks to Noah and his attention to figuring out her needs, Elisabeth said.

The couple were married before about 230 guests on July 22, 2017, at the Church of the Ascension in Lakewood, Ohio. The Rev. Canon Vincent Black, the couples priest for the past three years, officiated with the Rev. David Bargetzi giving the sermon.

In keeping with the couples passion for social justice, the wedding liturgy the form and readings used in the ceremony was developed by the Episcopal General Convention to include same-sex couples. Ms. Risch and Mr. Sutter chose the liturgy because they wanted to affirm the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples in the marriage sacrament.

Just before her wedding, Ms. Risch said she hasnt had a relapse in a year and half. She credits therapy, medication and Mr. Sutter.

We take care of one another, she said.

Mr. Sutter said: I fell in love with Anna because shes brilliant and strong. The way she fought depression showed her resiliency and how independent she could be.

Annas mental health, he added, has been a gift that has helped her empathize with so many people. Its helped us understand that mental illness is not an abnormality. We see it as something that needs to be accepted as part of being human.

Bob Sandrick contributed reporting from Lakewood, Ohio.

ON THIS DAY

When July 22, 2017

Where The Church of the Ascension in Lakewood, Ohio, followed by a reception at St. Johns Episcopal Church in Cleveland.

Fashion Sense Mr. Sutter, who wore a Calvin Klein suit, actually picked out Ms. Rischs dress, a floor-length ivory gown with a plunging neckline and slit skirt. Ms. Risch said she wears leggings, Birkenstocks and an L.L. Bean sweater most days, so she welcomed the fashion advice of Mr. Sutter, who is inclined toward crisp chinos and button-up shirts. The dress came from an online retailer called Reformation.

Rich in Love The couple enlisted friends and family to help make wedding decorations, including paper garlands and bunting, ceramic pots and signs. The names of guests were written on rocks pulled from Lake Michigan and used as place settings. Mr. Sutter and Ms. Risch also got into the D.I.Y. spirit themselves. Ms. Risch made mead, a honey wine, for after the ceremony; a group of Episcopal nuns had taught her how. She also sewed her four bridesmaids gray linen skirts. Mr. Sutter made 30 gallons of beer.

Continue following our fashion and lifestyle coverage on Facebook (Styles and Modern Love), Twitter (Styles, Fashion, and Vows) and Instagram.

A version of this article appears in print on August 20, 2017, on Page ST12 of the New York edition with the headline: Coping With Depression as Love Wins the Day.

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Coping With Depression as Love Wins the Day - New York Times

ECOWEEK is returning this year to the Middle East with a one-week conference and sustainable design workshops on September 10-15, 2017. Aiming to bring students closer to the concepts of social and environmental sustainability and placemaking in diverse sites and locations, the ECOWEEK workshops will address sites from coastal hip Tel Aviv to the mountainous Holy City of Jerusalem.

ECOWEEK in the Middle East is closing a series of events this year, that included lectures, panel discussions, workshops and film-screenings from London to Mumbai, and from Tilburg to Athens. In collaboration with the 92Y Week of Genius program, The Bartlett UCL, KRVIA School of Architecture, URBZ, AKTO College of Design, and Holon Institute of Technology, ECOWEEKprograms reached out to more than 11 cities in 9 countries.

This year ECOWEEK also issued two publications: the first is the printed version of its book ECOWEEK Book#1: 50 Voices for Sustainability 50 renowned architects, designers and environmental leaders, from the ECOWEEK conferences and workshops around the world, shared their ideas and projects on sustainable design, green architecture, public space and environmental stewardship. Among them BjarkeIngels, Kengo Kuma, Francis Kere, MVRDV, and many more.

Link: http://ecoweekbook.org/

The second is the The Workshops presenting the creative work of ECOWEEK workshops during the period 2009-2016 in cities around the world.

Link: https://issuu.com/ecoweek/docs/ecoweek_catalogue_2016

At ECOWEEK in the Middle East, the participating students and young professionals will be encouraged to design placemaking initiatives in the public space. Includes temporary housing on rooftops opposite the Old City of Jerusalem, international Parking Day interventions and public interventions with the local community in downtown Tel Aviv, and raise environmental awareness inside urban shopping malls, guided by local and visiting architects, artists, and designers.

ECOWEEK is an opportunity for students and young professionals primarily architects, designers, engineers, landscape architects and from other disciplines to experience one week of inspiring lectures and interactive design workshops in real sites within cities, work with communities, address real challenges, network with international peers and learn about social and environmental sustainability through design.

ECOWEEK is hosted at Holon Institute of Technology, Model House at Jerusalem City Hall, the Dizengoff Center, and Jerusalem Cinemateque. Professionals and students join from Israel, Germany, Holland, Austria, Norway, and Italy.

ECOWEEK is also hosting special pre-screenings of the new documentary An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power with Al Gore, in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Link: http://ecoweekorg.wixsite.com/ecoweekme2017/film-registration

ECOWEEK 2017 in Middle East is made possible through the cooperation and support of the Norwegian Embassy, the Austrian Culture Forum, Holon Institute of Technology, the Municipality of Jerusalem, the Municipality of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem Urban Design Center, Joint Israel, Bina, Mishlama LeYaffo, Mutav Yahdav, The Platform Tel Aviv, Dizengoff Center, Merhav-Movement for Israeli Urbanism, Enosh, Sodot Yerukim Givatayim, Society for Protection of Nature, Green Cell, DETAIL, Jerusalem Cinemateque, and Lev Dizengoff.

Link: http://ecoweek.co.il/

Workshops W1: Dizengoff Center

Austrian artist, researcher and social designer Ruth Mateus-Berrand Israeli designer ZameretHarelKanot will lead the workshop at Dizengoff Center in Tel Avivtitled E-shopping mallsand will investigate consumer statements towards designing a mall as public space for the local population. How to identify shopping malls as public spaces, for various desires and needs of the local population, in possession of the citizens and children (if just for one day). The workshop will address solutions that can be partially or completely implemented during and after ECOWEEK.

W2: Green Roofs in Jerusalem

German architect Jo Ruoff and architect Yonathan Alon, with the team of architect Hana Gribetz and landscape architect Ishai Hanoon, and coordination by ECOWEEK founder architect Elias Messinas, will head the workshop that will generate ideas on creating temporary living and guest living spaces on rooftops. The workshop will focus on two sites: the roof of the Clal Center with possible additional site the roof of Abraham Hostel in downtown Jerusalem, opposite the Old City walls. These rooftops will provide spaces to for guest housing and urban agriculture, affecting the urban micro-climate. The project is part of a new initiative by the Municipality of Jerusalem, intended to be implemented.

W3: Enosh Center

Israeli landscape architect Galia Hanoch Roe director of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa communities for the Society for Protection of Nature and architect Braha Kunda lecturer at the Holon Institute of Technology,will engage the workshop team in design and hands-on interventions at the Enosh Mental Health Association Center for youth and teenagers interiors and surrounding garden. The workshop will produce prototypes for a real project intended to be implemented.

W4: Shapira Neighborhood

Norwegian architect Alise Pavina of PIR2 firm with architect Ohad Yehieli lecturer at Tel Aviv University, with the participation of green-building expert of the Tel Aviv Municipality Uriel Babzyk will focus on Mesilat Yesharim street in the Shapira neighborhood in southern Tel Aviv. Mesilat Yesharim street, in the heart of the neighborhood, was renewed in the past, with bicycle routes and lighting, but since has deteriorated. The street serves a mixed veteran and immigrant community and small businesses, who will be taking part in the planning process. A long-term renewal process by the Municipality is starting in parallel, enabling the workshop to focus on small, local interventions that can be integrated into the overall project. The workshop will include site visits with experts from the local institutions, the local community, local businesses, and experts from the Municipality of Tel Aviv. The workshop will work with the community to initiate interventions and changes that will improve public space, public services and will actively engage the diverse local community. This workshop is a rare experience in co-design, placemaking, hands-on design, to produce fresh ideas that are expected to be further developed and/or implemented.

W5: Park(ing) Day

Dutch architect Gie Steenput, Israeli entrepreneur Yael Shemer, and art director Roni Mero, will lead the workshop of Park(ing) Day, an annual worldwide event where artists, designers and citizens transform metered parking spots into temporary public parks. This event helps advance the critical dialogue around the use of urban public space and around social and environmental justice. By reclaiming parking spots into an intentional community space, students will take part in re-thinking about the meaning of urbanism and the local communitys assets. cities for people. The workshop will provide a practical experience of thinking outside the box as we aim for a future to improve our citys public spaces. The workshop will also include an installation based on tensegrity.

W6: Jaffa Neighborhood Renewal

Reut Popkin of Better Together and architect and ECOWEEK founder Elias Messinas will lead a real-project workshop on two neighborhoods in Jaffa, Yaffo G' and Neve Golan, and the street connecting them,with the aim to generate ideas, strategies, and hands-on projects of placemaking in the public space, to create exposure for the neighborhoods and bring pride to the residents. The workshop team will visit the site, will meet the local community, and will work with them and the local authorities and institutions towards identifying actions that will serve as generators for renewal processes in the neighborhoods.

More about ECOWEEK at: http://www.ecoweek.org

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Placemaking and Urban Renewal by ECOWEEK Students - The Jerusalem Post mobile website (blog)

I had a fun summer. I spent two months working with Peaslee Neighborhood Center in Over-the-Rhine as a part of the Center for Faith and Justices Summer Service Internship program, and oh man, did I learn quite a bit.

Im going to share a little bit of what I learned, mainly focusing on the one thing that has been a constant theme in my life: community.

So, communities are freaking incredible.

The Summer Service Internship (SSI, for short) was a cohort of 20 that all lived together in Brockman Hall and worked at 20 different non-profits in the Greater Cincinnati area, and it was an intentional community. An intentional community is when a group of people get together and say, Hey, lets live in community, so lets set these rules and follow them. Its having weekly dinners, where one group cooks, one sets up the area and one group cleans. Its always being there for others and listening to how their day went when you know yours was just as long. Its having one-on-ones and learning about the people beside you in a deep, intentional manner.

Outside of the actual living situations, I found some pretty great communities within the city of Cincinnati. I found a community of people through my work at Peaslee. I became involved with Black Lives Matter Cincinnati, and I wound up marching through the streets with dozens of like-minded people, all standing together for something we all believed in.

I also did my best to build community everywhere that I went. I spoke to everyone that I could. I learned peoples names, where they were from, what they loved, what gave them passion and how they thought. With the kids I was working with, I learned what Roblox is although, only kind of. Its apparently the new version of Minecraft for kids.

I also learned which kids were afraid of spiders. I learned which kids loved reading, and I learned which kids thought everyone viewed them as stupid. I learned which kids didnt think they had a voice.

I tried my best to help them realize the power that they all have. I tried to tell them that power is only their awareness of their intrinsic ability to enact change. I can only hope that a few of them believed me and now are able to recognize the power that they have.

Building community is something that I love. Its the most crucial thing there is. Community is the only way that we can all overcome the oppressive systems that are present in this world. Building community is one thing that anyone can do to make change. You dont have to be an insanely friendly person that knows everyone to build community. You dont have to have dozens of talents. You dont even have to be that good at talking to different people. All you need to build community is to be yourself and to be open to the ideas and thoughts of everyone around you.

By: Kevin Thomas~Campus News Editor~

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Let this be the year to build campus community - Xavier Newswire