In the clear, more or less

18.75 %

My weblog owns 18.75 % of me.
Does your weblog own you?

I'm surprised it's that high - I suspect it has a lot to do with my membership in multiple webrings.

And now, a musical interlude:

On the fourth Lenten Sunday, my task list showed to me:

12 dirty dishes
11 loads of laundry
10 sources to find
9 verses to translate
8 preaching chapters
7 emails to send
6 trash runs
5 foods to buy
4 history readings
3 rooms to clean
2 beds to make
and an essay to outline and write!

(N.B.: I do not actually live in the kind of filth and squalor this list implies. A visit from Mom at the beginning of spring = spring cleaning. If it was washable, it got washed today. Which is not to say I did the rest of the list - more like half. 11 loads of laundry, it turns out, takes a while, even with three washers and dryers.)

Regrets

On May 1, I am scheduled to turn in the following:

12-15 page Galatians exegesis
Annotated ordo for mock baptism
1 page Matthew reflection
Brief Cultural Spaces reflection
5-7 page Ruth/Esther paper

Therefore, I am RSVPing my regrets now for any and all non-required activities that might occur April 29-30. I'll be frantic occupied those days.

Click

I think I've figured it out.

When I moved to St Louis, I started attending Small Service at Large Local Church, because that was the Sunday service for our campus ministry. Week one, I didn't so much like the sermon, but ok, whatever. We can disagree.

Week two, the same priest preached, and I got my first lesson in pulpit-violence. The text was Ephesians 5: - "Wives, be subject to your husbands. Husbands love your wives." The sermon, it turned out, was also "Wives, be subject to your husbands." The preacher explained that, unpopular though it might be, this was really the correct interpretation, and (as I remember it) here's why that was a good thing: Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church. That's the sort of unconditional love you give a puppy dog, and so wives should be glad to receive such love. (Something like that. He wasn't the most organized preacher either.) Then he went on to explain (to a congregation of college students and single people) that married love is the highest way for us to know Christ. The sermon (as I experienced it) was sexist, heterosexist, and maritanormative (sp?).

And I sat there, and listened, knowing that I could do nothing - I couldn't respond, I couldn't leave (because I was there in a semi-official capacity), and when he was finished doing violence to my world it was time for him to preside at the table, and for me to receive Eucharist from him. I went up for Eucharist knowing that the only chance I had of being reconciled was for me to start with that, but I was deeply, deeply injured. Because I didn't know him, and I wasn't really part of the church or community, I didn't feel like there was a context for me even to respond afterward. The sermon just hung out there. It hurt my ability to develop a relationship with that priest or that parish, and it just hurt me. It was a violent sermon to a captive congregation.

Talking to Les tonight about other things entirely, it occurred to me that that sermon is a big part of my terror of preaching here. It didn't keep me from preaching in the campus ministry, because that community was set up to encourage response and relationship, and if I slipped and did violence to someone during a sermon, it would most likely become apparent and I'd have a chance to make amends.

At Seabury, that's a lot harder. While people regularly congratulate each other on good sermons, students are not supposed to criticize other students' performance in liturgical roles. That means I have a hard time responding when another student preaches a sermon that I find violent or manipulative. And that means I have a hard time trusting that if I were to miss and unintentionally hurt someone in a sermon, I might not ever know. That person might not feel free to tell me. What I'm terrified of is less preaching itself, though there's some of that, and more the vast opportunity for something to go terribly awry without my meaning for it to happen. Sure, there's a certain amount still of "what do I have that's worth saying?" and "what if I screw up in a general way, like being boring or stupid?" But I think that one violent sermon has a lot to do with it.

Something to think about, at any rate....

Spring Quarter Gender Balance Award

It's that time again! I have an exceptional number of classes this term (6, at the moment, all for credit), so this quarter should be exceptionally exciting. Well, ok, the post will be longer. I'm going to leave out my Greek class since it's technically part of last quarter, and I'm pretty sure I've blogged about it already. As for the other five:

Liturgical Music 2: Four required books.* The two main texts are by men, as is one of the other two. The last one is co-authored by a woman, but it's not a part of any of the regular readings - it's proposed as background. (I suspect they're also all white, but can't confirm that right now.) Sadly, I'm going to have to rate this an Unacceptable.

Gospel of Matthew: Three required books. One is by a man. One is by a woman. One has essays from both male and female feminist scholars, edited by a woman. (I love me a book that has feminist scholarship by both men and women.) (I'm pretty sure they're all white scholars, though I don't know.) Rating: Excellent.

Readings from Cultural Spaces: Three required books. One is by a man. Two are anthologies edited by men. In one of those, 2 out of 11 essays are by a woman. I don't have the other yet, so I can't say what that one looks like. Ironically, this class is an Unacceptable. (It is, however, excellent on scholars of color.)

Modern Church History in the North Atlantic World: Four required books. Three are by men. One is co-authored by... wait, nope, two men. (One, however, is by a scholar of color.) Rating: Unacceptable.

Preaching C: This term, there are two new books. Both are by (white) men. Sadly, after two quarters at the top, this class rates as Unacceptable.


For all of you who skipped the above evidence - the clear winner of my Spring Quarter Gender Balance Award is Gospel of Matthew!


I'm only expecting one class over the summer, so we'll be on hiatus until fall, when we'll return for the ever-exciting Fall Quarter Gender Balance Award!


*Some classes also include readings beyond the required books - for my reasons behind not crediting those readings, check out my post from last July.

Multi-tasking

I'm waiting to get back papers in two classes I've otherwise finished.

I'm studying for a midterm. (Ok, I was studying, but then I started making up stories about the mythical origins of words instead of parsing them. Which, when I made myself do it, I was doing correctly. So now I'm hoping that what I seem to know tonight pans out well during tomorrow's midterm.)

I'm choosing which folders will go with which new classes, since they start tomorrow. (Monday classes all get Care Bears; other classes get Strawberry Shortcake.)

I'm wondering why I'm not getting sucked into a vortex of some kind.

All in the same day.

From Badgerings

My thinking is a bit compromised... so here:

Instructions: Go to your music player of choice and put it on shuffle. Say the following questions aloud, and press play. Use the song title as the answer to the question. NO CHEATING.

How does the world see you?
Emily (Michael W. Smith)

Will I have a happy life?
All You Need Is Love (Beatles)

What do my friends really think of me?
what better said (k.d. lang) (ok, I kind of like that answer)

Do people secretly lust after me?
The Last Supper (Jesus Christ Superstar: Resurrection) (ok, that's a weird answer - I don't actually see anything soon that works better though)

How can I make myself happy?
My I.Q. (Ani DiFranco) (well, that's kind of sad)

What should I do with my life?
Remember the Tinman (Tracy Chapman)

Will I ever have children?
Hope Alone (Indigo Girls) (no kidding)

What is some good advice for me?
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own (U2)

How will I be remembered?
Angel from Montgomery (Bonnie Raitt)

What is my signature dancing song?
Joy to the World (not sure) (um, ok, if you say so)

What do I think my current theme song is?
Fighting Chance (Melissa Ferrick)

What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
A Ways to Go (Emmylou Harris) (well, yeah, ok)

What song will play at my funeral?
Formerly Known As (Kendall Payne)

What type of men/women do you like?
I'll Say I'm Sorry Now (Shawn Colvin)

What is my day going to be like?
Into the Sunlight (score to Hunchback of Notre Dame)

Tristram Coffin is rolling in his grave...

You're 45% Irish

You're probably less Irish than you think you are... But you're still more Irish than most.

How Irish Are You?

Depending on the day...

Either this:

You Are an Iced Coffee

At your best, you are: hyper, modern, and athletic At your worst, you are: cheap and angsty You drink coffee when: you're out with friends Your caffeine addiction level: medium

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

- which doesn't really sound like me (hyper, modern, and athletic?) -

or this:

You Are a Soy Latte

At your best, you are: free spirited, down to earth, and relaxed At your worst, you are: dogmatic and picky You drink coffee when: you need a pick me up, and green tea isn't cutting it Your caffeine addiction level: medium

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

- which sounds better to me.

I Object (Again)

(I may have told this story/aired this complaint before on this blog. Let's just say it was formative.)

So when I was in tenth grade, we read a lot for English class, mostly in themed units of three. We started with three "boy stories" - A Separate Peace, Lord of the Flies, and that other book that's like Separate Peace that everyone reads in high school but I can't think of. Then we went to three "girl stories" - Antigone, The Merchant of Venice, and The Pearl. Which, it turns out, are still mostly about men.

Now, I (and my classmates) objected then. We asked why, especially in a class that was 80% girls, we weren't reading books that were actually about girls/women. Our teacher told us if he assigned things that were actually about women or girls, the boys wouldn't read them, whereas we'd read anything.

I bring this up (again) because I've just watched a PBS special on Willa Cather, and I'm angry that NEVER in my school career did we read anything by her. Boo! I must now go and find her books at the public library. And, um, find time to read them, because it will be term-time again when I get back to Evanston.

Question

Why, exactly, do we need 27 kinds of genitives?

Oops

Good: I'm in Michigan, visiting Susie and Luke.

Bad: My phone charger is not. It's still in Evanston.

So, if you're looking for me in the next few days, you're most likely to find me via email. I may also be on iChat/IM, but I will almost definitely not be on the phone.

Also, I'm a beer snob

You Are Guinness

You know beer well, and you'll only drink the best beers in the world. Watered down beers disgust you, as do the people who drink them. When you drink, you tend to become a bit of a know it all - especially about subjects you don't know well. But your friends tolerate your drunken ways, because you introduce them to the best beers around.

What's Your Beer Personality?

Substitute

Myself, I've done 12 hours of anti-racism training in the last 36 hours, and have another 10 hours tomorrow. Therefore, I offer you this post instead of anything of my own.

Evening prayers

Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Strengthen those who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Be present, O merciful God, and protect us through the hours of this night, so that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this life may rest in your eternal changelessness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Paper-writing thoughts.

~Knowing that a paper is bad does not help me to make it better. In fact, it tends to distract me with its badness.

~I dislike looking at a bad paper and wondering if I could turn it in anyway, just to be done with it. I really, really dislike that.

~I'm not much better at the big picture than I was in elementary school. I've always been much better at "what's this paragraph about" than "what's this paper about." Somehow, everything is always about everything to me. This makes for bad writing.

~When one editor says "this part is right on" and another says "this part is way off" about the same part, it's hard to know who's right.

~I will not declare the experts' claims to be "patent nonsense." (I will, however, find another way to say "patent nonsense," or die trying.)

Terror

Today, Seabury's rota for spring quarter preachers, presiders, and deacons came out.

I am on it.

This terrifies me.

Now, I should confess here that I did voluntarily submit the form that says "yes, sure, I'm willing to preach next quarter." So it's not a total shock. I turned the form in knowing that I'm terrified to preach at Seabury, and somewhat doubtful of whether now was the right time. But after consulting with various friends and mentors, it does seem like the terror will only grow by putting it off.

Also, the terror is somewhat mitigated by the fact that I'm assigned to preach at a Thursday night Eucharist, which is less formal and not in the chapel, and which has significantly lower faculty attendance than most masses here, with our chaplain (an extraordinarily gentle man) presiding and a good friend as deacon. Also I'm fairly sure I can be seen from behind the lectern in Seabury Lounge. (Somehow the fact that I read from the chapel pulpit all the time doesn't reassure me that I can be seen preaching from it.) And it's not until the beginning of May, and it's for the feast of a fairly minor saint, not for Annunciation or something. This all helps.

It does not, however, mean I'm not still terrified.

ugh

So, when this term is over, do I get to stop being tired? For a while, I mean. Because I feel like I've been tired since Christmas. There's really no reason why I should be this useless at 10 pm.

Still, even though it's probably futile, I'm going to bed, in the hopes that just maybe, tomorrow morning I'll be a little less exhausted and a little more able to work.

Coincidence

So, today in New Testament we talked about Revelation, finishing with a brief discussion of whether the devil's number is 666 or 616.

Then I picked up my mail and went home, and opened a bill.

The number on the bill?

6166.

Back again

Exhausted, but safe.

Bin sicher angekommen

Arrived safely.

Must do homework now.

Still hate my parents' computer. (They should get wireless so I can use my own.)

Hiatus

I'm off to Ohio, as soon as I can get my stuff together and into the car. I'm pretty sure our diocesan camp doesn't have wireless, so I'll probably be offline while I'm out at my candidacy interviews.

If anyone's seen my watch recently, please inform. I can't seem to find it anywhere, although I guess it's better than losing my license or something. I don't actually need my watch to drive.

Early morning observation

It hasn't been that long since I was last up at sunrise, but I'd forgotten how fast it happens. It was pitch black outside, and then voila! twenty minutes later, gray daylight.

(No, I didn't mean to be up this early. It just happened. Yes, I am at least getting some good work out of it.)

sigh

I am so ready for this week to be over.

Sadly, it's only Sunday night.

Skunked

There's a guy a couple of tables over who clearly thinks he's quite smart. I suspect he also thinks he has a reasonable grasp on how to get along in polite society.

He is wrong.

In addition to conducting a conversation with two preschoolers in outdoor voices (as they were running circles around the middle of Panera, which admittedly is more their parents' fault), he has just made the following statement:

"You know that street where people hung out in the sixties? They're still there, and it's twenty years later!"

Excuse me, sir? The sixties were "twenty years ago" when I was in preschool. You're looking at 35-40 years ago now. I'm sorry, but your brain is skunked.

Just another headline...

Read this headline:

US singer Sheryl Crow has had cancer for breast surgery, and doctors say her prognosis is "excellent".

If you think it looks like just another headline, read it again.

The story itself is of course not at all funny, but the headline amuses me.

I knew I liked the English

Apparently, in England, a person can face charges for failing to respect others. That's awesome.

Meet Herb

For no particular reason, I'm feeling petulant about repeating the phrase "the author of Hebrews" or even "the author." I've decided to give said author a name and gender. Meet Herb.

This is what happens when my little brother and I chat aimlessly about things as diverse as musicals we did in high school, Anglican/Episcopal polity and US law, and finance tests. I think of silly things, like naming the author of Hebrews after a character my brother played in Godspell that happens to share letters with the name of the book.

Reading Week Task List

~Research Hebrews paper - in progress
~Draft Hebrews paper - in progress
~Research pacifism paper - in progress
~Draft pacifism paper - in progress
~Write sermon
~Write to Aunt Sally
~Call about bridesmaid dresses
~Call Kristian
~Work-study stuff
~Find lector for tomorrow
~Look at music for Thursday
~Look at materials for faculty conference
~Read for Greek class Monday
~Learn vocab for Greek Monday - in progress
~Translate for Greek class Monday
~Translate for Greek group Monday

Why do you torment me so, creature?

Something is chirping. Or squeaking. It's doing so at a more or less regular pace. It does not appear to be coming from the windows - in fact, it's loudest when I stand right in the middle of my living quarters, away from all doors and windows. I'd say it was a bird, except what would a bird be doing in my walls? I'd say it was a mouse, except it's awfully regular for a mouse. (Plus, I'd really like for it not to be a mouse.) Whatever it is, it's driving me batty. (ok, no pun intended there - I really hope it's not a bat.) Animals and their sounds do not belong in any part of my indoor living quarters.

mensch

How come it's only Reading Week and not spring break yet?

Weird Mail Day

Today, the following came in the mail:

~A package from Amazon, containing two books I had ordered and a sample of men's deodorant I had not. (If anyone wants it, let me know.)

~A king cake, which turned out to be from my aunt. She's never sent me a king cake before, so I certainly wasn't expecting it. She also doesn't send notes with things, though, so I don't know why she sent it, either. I guess I'll take it to class tomorrow, since there's no way I'll eat a king cake myself.

~A card from Rhonda, with an article about a random heart-stopping condition.

~A valentine from Julia. (ok, that one's not weird at all.)

Cue the music

You Are Figure Skating

Graceful and expressive - yet athletic and focused. You could bring the best of both worlds to this glamorous sport.

What Winter Sport Are You?

This is grad school, right?

I just finished my homework for a particular class. It taught me the following things:

~Sometimes verbs change forms when they change tense. For instance, they may add an "s" or an "ed": play, plays, played.

~Sentences should have a subject and a verb. Plural subjects should take plural verbs; singular subjects should take singular verbs.

~Separate sentences should have a period between them.

~It's a good idea to look for misspellings before you turn in a paper.


My transcript and tuition seem to indicate that I'm enrolled in a master's program. My homework seems to indicate otherwise. Now, I'm all for asking grad students to pay attention to the finer points of editing - the use of semicolons and commas, transitions between paragraphs, etc. In fact, I'm all for asking grad students to pay attention to basic editing skills. But are we really so far gone that you have to tell me that verbs have plural and singular forms?*

*Yeah, ok, I've read enough papers from students (none of you, of course) at reputable institutions of higher learning to know that, apparently, we do have to tell people these things. It still makes me grouchy to have to "learn" things in grad school that my daddy taught me when I was seven.

Yeah, I'm still here.

I just don't seem to have anything worth saying.

Me, a socialist?

Tripp posted this a few days ago and Frank asked about it today. I am a socialist, or, if you prefer, apparently halfway down Hillary Rodham Clinton's left torso. Gee, who'da thunk it?

You are a Social Liberal (80% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (16% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Good to know

In high school, I had mad skills at getting up and out the door quickly. I wasn't sure I still possessed such skills, but this morning, I learned that I do. I woke up to five bells ringing, leaped out of bed and got dressed, and walked into chapel as the cantors were singing the first antiphon of the Venite. (For those who aren't from Seabury, that's about six minutes.) As far as I know, my general appearance did not betray me. I'm kind of impressed with myself. Still, I think tomorrow I'll set the alarm.

Here's the thing

What have I read?
These are the 25 most popular classic books at What Should I Read Next?

I liked it!

I didn't like it!

I want to read it!

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

Emma - Jane Austen

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

Persuasion - Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

Dracula - Bram Stoker

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain

Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare

Hamlet - William Shakespeare

The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer

Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen

The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Jungle - Upton Sinclair

Candide - Voltaire, Norman Cameron

Complete Tales and Poems - Edgar Allan Poe

King Lear - William Shakespeare

Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson

Take the 'What have I read?' test now!
Eight different categories to try!


Here's the thing: what makes them think that these are the only three options? In fact, I have no desire ever to read either Tess of the D'Urbervilles or Dracula - yet, since I've never read them, there was no honest option for me to choose. Hrmph.

Just wondering

Does this seem like a reasonable thing to meat-eaters? Because it sounds absolutely disgusting to me.

Eighth sign of the apocalypse

My CPE final evaluation came in the mail today, signed and everything.

Still Elvish.

To me, one sign of a good quiz is that I get the same results a few months apart, after time to forget the quiz. Mark's Middle Earth quiz fits that - I'm just as Elvish now as I was in November.

Logical progression

I want to win my next disputatio.*

In order to win my next disputatio, I must convince the judges that Christians are not morally obligated to pay or advocate for a just wage.

In order to argue that the just wage is unnecessary, I must learn to think like someone who believes the just wage is unnecessary.

Someone who believes the just wage is unnecessary is likely to be a political conservative.

The best way for me to learn to think like a political conservative is to watch smart political debate.

The best way for me to watch smart political debate is to watch West Wing.


So, I'm working on my disputatio.


*Ok, the competitive part of me wants to win the disputatio. The rest of me actually kind of wants to lose the disputatio, because I really pretty strongly disagree with my assigned position. I do, however, care about looking good in class and thinking soundly, so for now, it's time to think like a conservative libertarian.

Game over.

Pittsburgh won. I am a good Clevelander, and so this makes me sad. (My little brother, on the other hand, is a traitor. A lovable traitor, but a traitor all the same.)

Also, there will be no more football until fall. This also makes me sad. (Yeah, I know there's a ProBowl. I don't think that counts.)

On the bright side, though, pitchers and catchers report in 10 days. Hurray for baseball season!

I give up.

The bookstore at McCormick doesn't have it yet. The bookstore here doesn't carry it. Amazon takes 2-4 weeks just to ship it. United Library says it was returned Thursday, but it's not at either Garrett or Seabury, in any of the several reshelving locations. I stop short of trundling from NU library to NU library tracking it down.

I think this qualifies as a good faith effort. I will complete the other two assigned readings and do my translation, and I will go to class Monday early enough to buy it from the bookstore then (assuming it's in by then) and skim the reading before class starts. That's just going to have to be enough.

(Unless, of course, one of you happens by sheerest chance to own a copy of the Abingdon commentary on Galatians by Sam K. Williams, and wants to make it appear in front of me before Monday.)

I'm so cool.

It's noon on a Saturday, and I've already accomplished the following:

~Getting up
~Eating
~Getting my hair cut
~Half my big ol' pile of laundry
~Changing the sheets
~Registering for a training
~Calling my LMT for an appointment in March

And now, I can add blogging to the list. Give me a couple of hours, and I'll have finished my laundry and been to the library, and be hard at work on something probably related to the New Testament.

Oh, yeah...

Amelie is my hero.

I'd forgotten how much I love that movie. I'm sort of amazed I don't own it. I saw it five or six times in German theaters in both Hamburg and Berlin - several of us were nearly obsessed with it when it came out - but I hadn't seen it on DVD until tonight. After a day of frustration and disappointment, a day when I thought only the end of the day could pull me out of my funk, Amelie has done it again. She just makes me feel good about life.

Link

For those classmates whose curiosity was piqued by the discussion of the Flying Spaghetti Monster in New Testament today.

(For those other readers who are alarmed by the presence of the Flying Spaghetti Monster in a New Testament class, don't worry, it was all very chaste and orthodox.)

How to make Yodabeth angry

Who does that?

I guess the good news is that finishing my probe suddenly sounds more appealing than continuing to procrastinate now.

paulpaulpaulpaulpaul

Today was Paul day. The Galatians course started this morning (went about as expected, which is to say fine), followed closely by a lecture on Romans and Philippians in NT II, after which came more Galatians in reading group. Don't get me wrong, it was a great day. I just think I'm going to wait until tomorrow to put the finishing touches on my research probe on 1 Corinthians. On the other hand, tomorrow has very little homework, so in lieu of finishing my probe tonight I'm reading about Colossians and Philemon. I feel a little like I used to at the end of my first day in a new dance schedule (except without the enormous sense of physical accomplishment and exhaustion) - like today's dose of Paul was a little much, but in a good way, and like something I could get used to.

Wish me luck

I'm beginning to remember why I never took any Five-College courses when I was at Smith. I justified it to myself on the basis that I took a year's worth of courses off-campus when I was in Germany, but it was really just that I didn't want to face being the new kid.

Tomorrow, I head off to my semester course. The combination of getting up early, driving to (and parking at) a new place, in the city, to enter a new social situation (where the rest of the class is likely to know each other), for a course where I don't know what will be expected of me... well, basically it terrifies me. I've packed my bag (except the computer), made sure I have everything I need for all three of tomorrow's classes (right in a row), all that. I'm still scared.

I know this is what I need to be doing. I know it will be fine once I've been through the routine once. I know experiences like this are good for my pride. But right now, I'm just ready for Day One to be over.

Eek.

Friday Five: Winter Reading

1.If you received books as holiday presents, how many and what were they?
Let me see... Julia sent me an autographed copy of Texts of Terror (Trible); my grandmother gave me the New International Greek Testament Commentary volume on Mark; my parents gave me Engaging Scripture (Fowl) and America's Women (Collins); my aunt and uncle gave me The Ordering of Love (L'Engle). I guess that's a total of five books.

2. Did you buy any for yourself, and if so what are the titles?
Well, I bought a copy of Apostle of the Crucified Lord (Gorman) in the same batch as a few Christmas presents, but that was for class.

3.Have you read any of them yet? What's next on your list?
I've started the Gorman, since class has been in session for three weeks. I keep meaning to open Ordering of Love, since it's poetry and easier to pick up and put down, but I haven't yet.

4. Do you have a favorite place to read a new book? And does the weather have an impact on that choice?
Mostly I read on the loveseat, right under the good lamp. In radiator-winter, under a throw; in radiator-summer, without the throw. I imagine when there's more daylight I'll probably go back to reading more in the recliner, because who knows when I'll have a recliner after I leave here.

5. Does reading in bed make you sleepy?
Not sleeping makes me sleepy, so if I'm reading in bed after my bedtime, I do get sleepy. But the reading itself doesn't, really.

Observations

Chocolate and hazelnuts tastes like Germany.

That quality does not translate into helping me find a sermon.

I envy people who have the combined courage and body mass to take out the trash at 10 pm.

My rooms smell like vinegar, and I don't know why.

I have no more homework due until Monday.

Envelope, please...

The judges have handed down their decision, and have ruled in my team's favor: Suicide violates a fundamental Christian tenet, and those who assist someone to commit suicide are morally culpable of murder.

Props to Kirsteen and Raisin: that was about the best-written judgment I've heard yet.

Disputatio: check.

The disputatio is finished, and I think it was reasonably successful. The judges will render their decision on Thursday, and I'll be sure to report back in, unless Judge Raisin beats me to it on her blog.

Ready or not...

Opening statement: check.
Copies for judges and professor:
Rebuttal notes printed: check.
Books sorted into "taking with us" and "leaving here": check.
Gustafson article in folder: check.
Footnotes finished: check.
Works cited list:
Works consulted list: check.
Cassock:

And we're listening to the Indigo Girls eponymous album. I think we're almost ready....

rain soaked and voice choked
like silent screaming in a dream
i search for our absolute distinction
not content to bow and bend
to the whims of culture that swoop like vultures
eating us away, eating us away
eating us away to our extinction
oh how i wish i were a trinity
so if i lost a part of me
i'd still have two of the same to live
but nobody gets a lifetime rehearsal
as specks of dust we're universal
to let this love survive
would be the greatest gift that we could give

Pre-disputatio meme

As seen at Preacher Mom's place:

1) When you looked in the mirror first thing this morning, what was the first thing you thought?
Where did I put my glasses?

2) How much cash do you have on you?
On me? I'm in my pajamas - none.

3) What's a word that rhymes with TEST?
Nest

4) Planet?
What? A word that rhymes with planet? (Janet) Name a planet? (Earth) What's my favorite planet? (Earth)

5) Who is the fourth person on your missed calls?
The fourth one I can identify is Milner.

6) What is your favourite ring on your phone?
N/A - one of my least favorite features is that no matter what I set the ringtone to be, the phone changes it to the automatic one at will.

7) What shirt are you wearing?
Purple flannel leopard print pj top

8) What do you label youself as?
Where? When? Why?

9) Name the brand of shoes you've recently worn.
Bass

10) Bright room or dark room?
Well, I'm about to go to sleep, so I'll want a dark room for that.

11) What were you doing at midnight last night?
Sleeping

12) What did the last text message on your phone say?
I don't have any saved - I think the last one might have been "Happy Turkey Day" from V.

13) Where is your nearest 7-11?
I don't think I've seen a 7-11 up here.

14) What's a saying you say a lot?
"Can I just say..."

15) Who told you they loved you last?
My mommy, who might come visit in March!

16) Last furry thing you touched?
Furry? Umm... oh, Maggie, yesterday when I was borrowing Raisin's books.

17) How many drugs have you done in the past three days?
Um, well, I had a cup of tea earlier...

18) How many rolls of film do you need to get developed?
One, if it's still developable. Now I have a digital, hurray!

19) Favourite age you've been so far?
22 was pretty darn good. So was three.

20) Your worst enemy?
Satan, the forces of evil, whatever you want to call it. Cliched? Perhaps. True? Yes.

21) What is your current desktop picture?
A picture of the Indigo Girls on a carousel horse

22) What was the last thing you said to someone?
Does iChat count? If so, then "nope." If not... I haven't spoken out loud in hours, I don't remember. Probably "bye"

23) If you had to choose between a millions bucks and being able to fly, which would you choose?
I'm not sure how useful or fun flying would really be if no one else could fly with me. I think I'd take the money.

24) Do you like someone?
I like many people. :)

25) The last song you listened to?
Galileo

Coronation bling-bling?

In order not to be working on my disputatio just yet, I was playing with iTunes' beta of "Just for You" - a feature I've enjoyed mightily on Netflix and Amazon, and now on iTunes too. In my list of recommended songs, I noticed "K.17 'Coronation'" - a Mozart mass I sang in high school. I scrolled right, because I was curious how much an entire mass would cost, even as one track - still just $.99, but it turns out this was just the Agnus Dei, part of a Christmas CD. Anyway, "genre" caught my eye - because, as I read it, they had Mozart classed as hip-hop!

Of course, they didn't really; they had a Black-Eyed Peas song listed as hip-hop on the next line, and the Agnus Dei listed as holiday. But it sure turned me upside down for a second.

If playing with iTunes is this dangerous (ok, it's dangerous other ways too), maybe I'd better go edit our opening statement after all.

Public Service Announcement

Please advise: the following theological terms have been temporarily redefined:


Adversity: Working with Microsoft Word. (Well, ok. Working with Microsoft, period.)

Charity: That instinct which prevents my killing anyone.

Grace: The promise that, in two days, this disputatio will be over.

Ignorance: See bliss.

Temptation: The idea of going to bed at a reasonable hour.


To hell with that last one, I'm going to bed anyway.

Three days

A week or so ago, one of my books for Research Methods pointed out that you really ought to pick a research topic you're passionate about, because who wants to spend 60 hours (they assume 60 hours to a 20 page paper) working on something you don't even care about?

I begin to see the point.

Turns out, I really care very little about insisting that assisted suicide be morally equal to murder or that suicide violates a fundamental Christian tenet. I'm at T minus 65 hours or so, and instead of thinking about nothing else, I'm ready to be thinking about anything else. Not because I'm so wildly overprepared there's nothing left to do, just because I really don't care that much.

I've got a stack of books and articles on 1 Corinthians 6:13c, and I'd love nothing better right now than to plunge into those. I wouldn't mind reading through other NT books looking for the topic for my second probe/paper. I'd be perfectly happy to give my undivided attention to reading about 2 Corinthians or Romans for class or translating Galatians 5. I'd gladly switch for another early church history disputatio - maybe the world needs defending against Donatism. Heck, I'd even rather be prepping my next ethics disputatio. (Coming soon: Yodabeth argues against the just wage! At least I've done a fair bit of opposition research already - thank you, Biblical Theology case study).

Instead, I'm writing what amount to medical ethics memos, trying to put together an airtight argument on a topic I'd just as soon leave alone.

Three days, and I can turn my attention to the Bible for awhile....

Friday Feast

Via Tripp

Appetizer
About how many times per day do you check your email?

Um. Hmm. Probably... yeah, don't know. Something over 10 - and more if I'm writing that day.

Soup
If you had the money to collect something really valuable, what would it be?

Probably icons, or maybe books.

Salad
Write a sentence using the letters of your favorite beverage. (Example: The egret admires.)

Why isn't Nana eating?

Main Course
If you could be on a game show, which one would you want it to be?

Being on a game show doesn't really sound like much fun, although when I was a kid my brother and I wanted to be on "I'm Telling!"

Dessert
Name 3 computer programs or web sites you would hate to be without.

Firefox, iChat, iTunes

In lieu of a concert:

I'm having a blast this afternoon, relaxing at Panera with my computer and iTunes. What makes it so much fun? Well, I'm researching, and I'm in the early stages. I'm not sure if it's a good sign or a bad one that bopping around catalogs and indices looking for sources for my New Testament research probe feels like "play" for me right now, but it does. I can justify not working on my disputatio (which is probably what I should be doing), because I'm doing homework. But it doesn't feel like homework - it feels like play.* Hooray for leisurely (virtual) strolls through the BS catalog!

*Admittedly, what I'd really like to do tonight is go see One of the Girls. But since I really can't justify taking the time to go to a concert right now, this is a decent way to spend a couple of hours. If you're looking for something to do tonight, though, you should definitely go. They rock (and folk, and bluegrass, etc).

Um. Stuff. And Things.

Disputatios and research probes, mostly. Two of each, this quarter, and three of the four at once right now. Disputatios make me want to obsess only about that topic, only on that assignment, and I don't have that opportunity right now, which makes me a wee bit uneasy. The probes are scheduled not to overlap, but because I'm writing the second one as a paper and using it for my research methods class, the topic and research question for that one are due next Thursday, before the first probe is actually due to the professor. Hurray for multi-tasking!

At the moment, though, I think I ought to see what I'm meant to be learning about 1 Corinthians generally, so that I can go to class unashamed tomorrow.

I'll try to think of something more interesting to talk about soon, I promise.

Tired, tired, tired

I'd like to come on here and tell you about all the exciting things I did this weekend that kept me from posting.

Unfortunately, there weren't any. Last week left me thoroughly exhausted - so my weekend consisted of varying between bone-tired, zombie-tired, dead-asleep-tired, normal-person-tired, and now grumpy-tired-of-being-tired-tired. I did go to church yesterday, and did laundry on Saturday, but other than that I just slept, stared, and tried to do what little homework I could manage.

People have congratulated me today on how rested I must be. But really, I'm still just tired.

apparently I picked wrong

You scored as Dance. You should be a Dance major! Like a lithe ballerina, you dance because you believe there is beauty in expressing the physical form. English 92% Dance 92% Linguistics 83% Philosophy 75% Sociology 75% Theater 67% Art 67% Psychology 67% Mathematics 58% Journalism 58% Engineering 50% Biology 33% Anthropology 33% Chemistry 0% What is your Perfect Major? (PLEASE RATE ME!!<3) created with QuizFarm.com

I should have learned to spot

When I was dancing, I was never much good at turns, because I was never much good at spotting, so I got dizzier than I should have. Right now, I'm remembering that I should have learned to spot - this week is making me dizzy:

~I'm co-MCing Boar's Head. I'm also co-proprietor of Ye Olde Costume Shoppe, and a cantor.

~I'm subbing for winter quarter as coordinator of both Seabury and Western style services. Wednesday, the day before Boar's Head, is the first Western style (read: high church) service of the quarter.

~Since somehow we're having a crisis of liturgical participation, I'm doing a lot liturgically this week: canting an evensong and Boar's Head, LEMing once, intercessing once, officiating at a service I'd never done before, sac'ing once (at the aforementioned Western service).

~Oh. Right. There's also those pesky, marvelous, time-consuming things called classes. Those are back in session, which means both class time and homework.


I think I'm also supposed to eat, sleep, and breathe this week, though I'm not sure. It's all great stuff, really great, but if we keep the Seabury and Western services next year, I'm recommending we not have a Western service the day before Boar's Head. Even if they're radically different in style, they're both complicated, and they both require many people to participate in them - a challenge even if next year the S/W coordinator is smart enough not to double as Boar's Head MC.

Winter Quarter Gender Balance Award

Admittedly, my spring semester class hasn't started, and that's technically on my winter quarter schedule. But for Seabury classes, here's this term's gender breakdown of assigned authors:

Ethics II: Two books from last term - both edited by men, authored by both men and women (though not as well balanced as I'd like). Three new books - one by a woman, two by men. Rating: Acceptable, if unimpressive.

New Testament II: One book from NT I - by a man. Three new books - one by a woman, two by men. Rating: Again, acceptable.

Research Methods: Three books - one by a woman, two by men. Rating: Also acceptable.

Preaching B: Three books from last term - one by a man, one by a woman, one by a man and a woman. (Incidentally, that's also one by a black man, one by a white woman, and one by a Latin American man and woman.)

Clearly, Preaching B wins hands down. Again. But since there are no new books, we'll also give each of the other classes an honorable mention - happily, there are no unacceptable classes this term.

To Do

~Deliver pointed Sarum preface for Boar's Head
~Figure out cantors for Boar's Head
~Find Charles Palmerston Anderson, His Propers
~Ponder the replacement of watch batteries
~Return library books/cds
~Put away more of the books that came back with me at Christmas
~Read for NT and ethics
~Start pondering first research probe
~See Narnia.
~Acquire food
~Actually eat, preferably more than once today.
~Change sheets and towels
~Go to Vogue and get trimmings for Boar's Head dress (unless I do that tomorrow... thinking tomorrow sounds good right now)
~Read about postmodernism
~Go to Borders; decide whether to exchange one or two Christmas gifts.
~A nap would be nice...

Guess I'd better stop blogging and get going....

Glad this year isn't last year

I have signed up for health insurance. I have paid for health insurance. I have been assured that I am in fact covered under Seabury's health insurance. I still have no insurance card. I still can't get through to the provider to ask for a card.

Really glad that, so far (knock on wood), I haven't needed the card.

Really frustrated that even as a paying customer it's this difficult just to get the card. I can't even imagine how people who are less privileged than I negotiate the health care system at all.

One more thing

Why is it that my weather pixie has her coat unbuttoned for 30 degree weather?

Short

No, I don't mean me (that's not news), nor this post (unlikely to happen). I mean my patience today.

That's had its upside:

~I finally stopped ignoring my confusion about postmodernism. (That sounds more confessional in tone than I intended, but I'm not fixing it.) Since I got to seminary, it seems every other class and every other reading assignment mention postmodernism, but some mean it more narrowly than others, and they often contradict each other, so that I don't know anymore what counts in a reasonably restricted definition (i.e., not just anything said/written/thought in the last 20 years). I'm hoping to fix that now.

~I've been more efficient than usual, thereby accomplishing more than usual during the day.

~I've been impatient even with my usual lack of motivation to do things, also contributing to a productive day.


But it's also had its downside:

~When I get impatient in the way I was today, I engage poorly in discussions about oppression, especially when it gets to feeling personal. That meant that in today's ethics class discussion about feminist theology, liberation theology, dynamics of oppression, difference and otherness, etc., I alternated between wanting to crawl in a hole and never deal with any of it again or wanting to rip heads off.

~It's usually less than helpful when I get impatient with my own feelings - particularly when I get impatient with my own impatience.


I think we're itching for a fit of honesty soon. Be ye warned.

Well, duh....

Gender equality is decades away

Twitch. Grumble. Groan.

Books that propose to teach their readers how to write good research papers (or write anything, really) ought themselves to be properly edited. I understand that the most conscientious writers and copy editors will occasionally miss a typo, but the errors shouldn't be so consistent as to draw my attention away from the author's efforts to teach me better writing.

(It would make me very happy if all books were properly edited, really, but a book on better writing? Come on.)

Hi, folks!

We're back! We told you we would be!

(Points for correctly identifying the movie from which that dialogue comes.)

I'm back on campus and therefore online. I'm also wearing a brand-new Ohio State t-shirt - in triumph, as the Buckeyes tromped the Fighting Irish 34-20 this afternoon.

I've got a revolving door of roommates, this week - Barb is still in the process of moving out, Hannah Scheid is staying across the hall on her winter break from college, Jennifer and Shana will be using the rooms across the hall for GOEs this week during the day, and while they're testing over there, Andrew will be day camping over on this side of the hall so that Hope can write her exams in peace at their apartment. This despite technically being the only resident in this part of Seabury - oh, and speaking of isolated Seabury residents, Jim is likely to be stopping through more often, now that we're both roommate-less. ;) Seriously, I think it will be good to have friends around more again for a while.

This week should ease into classes a little (though there's always the chance that I'll rue jinxing myself with that statement). One class is canceled this week, though there's work to be done for it; another won't start until the end of the month. My mornings and late afternoons show every indication of filling quickly for the quarter, but for this week they're still remarkably open. (Don't get any ideas, folks - I've already got a variety of things in mind to do that filling. It's just a matter of pushing them around properly, like one of those little plastic puzzles where you only have one open space to work with.) I hope to get well situated (i.e., not behind) with schoolwork, hit the ground running with liturgical responsibilities (which seem to be more numerous this quarter than usual - glad I'm not preaching in chapel yet), and hold on to enough of the calm from last quarter and break that this quarter's pace doesn't shock my system. That's enough of a load for any week to bear, really.

To close this lengthy post (hey, I've been off a week), I'd like to congratulate my professors for this term. I went to the bookstore today and bought a grand total of six books. Admittedly, I don't yet know what I'll have to buy for my Greek class, but I have a remarkable number of return customers this quarter - New Testament II, Ethics II, and Preaching B all repeat at least one major text from their predecessors, and Preaching has no new ones at all. An impressive feat! Your students thank you.


[Later: Note to self - don't forget you also have to finish your candidacy questions by Friday.]

Happy Christmas!!!

With apologies to the chartreuse buzzards:

Three. Semi. Narians.*
Three. Semi. Narians.
Three seminarians sitting in a Toyota.

Oh, look! One has returned!
Let us rejoice! Alleluia!

Two. Semi. Narians.*
Two. Semi. Narians.
Two seminarians sitting in a Toyota.

Oh, look! One has returned!
Let us rejoice! Alleluia!

One. Semi. Narian.
One. Semi. Narian.
One seminarian sitting in a Toyota.

Oh, look! One has returned!
Let us rejoice! Alleluia!

*Sort of, except Jane's graduated. But I couldn't think of a more accurate version that worked in the song.


(In other words, Jennifer, Jane, and I all made it safely to and from Hope's ordination.)

hurray for Christmas traditions!

You Are a Traditional Christmas Tree

For a good Christmas, you don't have to re-invent the wheel. You already have traditions, foods, and special things you bring out every year.

What Christmas Tree Are You?

Busy, busy, busy

Friday, the internet was down at Book and Bean. Today, there is a brand-new network. Hurray!

This weekend has been busy: the little brother came home for tree decorating, and our family went out for dinner Friday, all four of us. It's the most relaxed time we've had since I got home. The rest of the weekend was busy again, with trees to be decorated, Christmas parties to go to, grandmothers to be cared for, and presents to be bought and wrapped.

Tomorrow I head up to Jane's, so that we can head down to Hope's ordination Wednesday, and back to Jane's Thursday. So I'll be offline for a few days more, probably - hmm. Actually that seems unnecessary. Internet is more readily available at Jane's than it is here. Well, we'll see.

Today is most definitely Monday, and to prove it I met with my rector for lunch and will interview with my vestry for candidacy endorsement at dinner. (I've been told that I am to feel free to eat, not to allow speaking to interfere with eating, etc., but my father tells me he's yet to see a vegetarian meal at vestry. So we'll see about that too.)

Anyway, despite today being Monday, here's last Friday's Friday Five, since I didn't have internet on Friday:

1) Have you ever gotten a really good kiss under the mistletoe? I don't think so, although my high school boyfriend and I did so many Christmas shows with our show choir that it's possible I just don't remember.


2) Do you know anyone who makes real eggnog, not the stuff from the carton? And if so, do you actually like it?

Yes, and yes! My great-grandmother always made her own cranberry eggnog at Christmas, and my mother and I make it now. It's delicious.

3) What's your favorite Christmas party album/CD ever?

Oh, there are so many... probably my long-term favorite is Nat King Cole's The Christmas Song. But I also loved my Rainbow Brite Christmas album (yes, I mean album, not cassette/CD), and I love the Julie Andrews CD my parents have, and then there's Bing Crosby, and the Robert Shaw Chorale, and....

4) Does your office/workplace have a party? Do the people there ever behave the way people in movies behave at office parties, which is to say, badly?

I have no office. Although, maybe I'll turn my new extra room into an office. But it's unlikely to hold parties. That's the common room's job. It's bigger, better decorated, and has more and better seating. Also it's closer to the "kitchenette" room. Since I currently have no office, though, there's nobody in it to behave badly. Sorry.

5) If you have to bring something to a party, what is it likely to be? Do people like it?

Wine. Or maybe napkins or soda, if it's not a wine kind of party. My kitchen is in the same dimension of potential reality as my office, which makes it terribly difficult to cook or bake things in it.

A lengthy, rambling, discourse on piano fiddling

Hunh. That title makes it sound as though I've been doing something with a fiddle and a piano simultaneously. That title is misleading, I guess. I have no facility with the fiddle.

What I've really been doing is fiddling around on the piano. I prefer "fiddling around on" to "playing" because the latter implies that I can, in fact, play. Which is false. What I can do is read music and learn simple tunes, and fool around with things. I really like coming to my parents' and having a piano around (that I don't have to sneak into Seabury Lounge at unsettlingly late hours to use, and that Seymour doesn't have to hear me fiddle with). Yesterday, I decided it might be useful if I learned to play the "Lute Lullaby" that the Ladies of the Court sing for Ohio's Boar's Head, since my mother needs to learn the 2nd soprano part by Saturday for unit rehearsal. One of the things that makes it work for our volunteer, once-a-year, group is that it's fairly simple, so it wasn't too tough to learn - and it was really fun.

I keep forgetting how much I really like playing the piano when I actually sit down and do it. I'm still a little regretful that I didn't switch piano teachers earlier in life - instead, I quit after three years of lessons and got a new teacher after about six years off. I really loved my piano lessons with that second teacher, and I wonder if I would have stuck with them had I started with her. Piano lessons might have been the thing I missed most about going off to college, actually. I'm pretty sure I have more natural talent for piano than I do for singing or guitar, but I've never gotten to a level where I have any kind of useful skills in terms of playing for anyone but myself. Certainly piano is the only instrument I've ever tried where more effort and discipline produce remarkably improved effects, and it draws me in in a different way than either of the others.

At any rate, I've decided that piano lessons are near the top of the list of non-churchy things I'd like to do when I get a full-time church job, assuming I have access to a piano somehow. Don't worry - it's really a very short list, and I'm well aware that most of it just won't happen. Pretty much the list is dance classes, a second modern language (probably French), and piano lessons. Oh, and Girl Scouting. Ok, so not a terribly short list in terms of time consumption. But, like I said, I know most of it won't happen. Assuming I don't have to buy a piano to make lessons work, picking up piano lessons is more affordable than taking French (though a second modern language is certainly the most necessary of the three). Certainly starting piano lessons, which are generally not a group affair, is far less intimidating than getting back into dancing.

Anyway, enough rambling for now. I've spent almost all of the last 48 hours alone, and have just had a mocha - can you tell? I think I'd better go do something else with my caffeinated brain - maybe get ahead on some class reading or something equally, um, calming. Or I could always just go home and fiddle around on the piano some more.

Back to the grindstone, sort of

Well, in so far as my hometown's... thing.... is the grindstone, because it started life as a quarry town.* So I'm back to the land of the grindstone, but otherwise very much on break. Today my accomplishments have included going to Book and Bean to use the wireless (much, much faster and more satisfying than trying to read blogs and such on my parents' computer), returning a couple of library books for my mother, and looking at the questions I'm supposed to answer for my Seabury candidacy evaluation. Not answering any of them, mind you, just rereading them and sort of noting their existence. Now I'm off to the grocery store to pick up a few things - my parents have been home little enough recently that most of the food in the house is leftover sweets from their party this weekend, or frozen meat.


*What does one call that sort of a thing? It's not a mascot, quite, or a symbol or sign or anything like that. And it's more than just a nickname (The Grindstone City) because there are actual grindstones around and such. It's a... thing.

hey, look!

Micah just pointed me to this very exciting article.

STOP DOING THAT!!!

Roger, Gill, JD, and Caroline seem to think that they needed to leave Seabury just now. (Ok, to be fair, I don't think JD was really in the loop on this.) I disagree.

People should stop leaving.

Another one

Androgynous You scored 60 masculinity and 53 femininity!

You scored high on both masculinity and femininity. You have a strong personality exhibiting characteristics of both traditional sex roles.

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 39% on masculinity You scored higher than 33% on femininity

Link: The Bem Sex Role Inventory Test written by weirdscience on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

More and more evidence that my ex was right about me (eek!)

A solution!

Brooke, in his comment on my last library post, has kindly demonstrated for us all why I refuse to use the Library of Congress system. I hope never to use a library system for my own books - Nielsen Library ruined me on that forever.

Susie, however, reminded me that my other thought had been to have ethics near cultural studies. So my new system will run:

~Reference
~OT, Bible, NT, Biblical Theology
~Theology
~Ethics
~Cultural Studies
~Missiology
~Leadership
~Pastoral Care
~Spiritual Biography
~Funky interfaith/generally spiritual stuff
~Books of prayers and liturgies that aren't officially licensed by ECUSA
~Liturgy/liturgical theology
~Various and sundry other, beginning with ancient languages of the sort used by the early Christian liturgists.

Methinks this will also make it easier to work in preaching - I imagine it will eventually go somewhere between ethics and spiritual biography.

That is so true.

You are bamboo.
Warm, cozy, and thoughtful, you take your time and
enjoy how things feel, smell, and taste. You
love the craft and beauty of traditional
things, and you value the comfort and
experience of knitting as much as the results.
But while you are reveling in your warm cozies,
don't get stuck. Warm is wonderful, but so is
the whole wide world!


What kind of knitting needles are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Booklovers! Librarians!

Currently, my bookshelf looks as follows:

Top shelf: reference - Bibles, dictionaries, concordance, official prayer books, etc.

After that: OT, general Bible, NT, biblical theology, church history (chronologically), historical theology, theology, liturgical theology, liturgics, prayers, interfaith prayers, biography/autobiographical theological stuffs, Jung's autobiography, religion as academic curiosity, religion/sociology, women's studies, sexuality, race studies, Gospel Mission, pastoral care, other nonfiction.

In the bedroom: fiction, personal devotional stuff, periodicals, journals.

There is no ethics section in that schema, nor is there leadership (though I think I had leadership after pastoral care at one point, which I could live with). I now have ethics books (and leadership books). Oh, and preaching, but that stays on the "current quarter" shelf for a while because we're using those books all year.

The question: where should ethics go? It doesn't make sense to put it with my one other ethics book between pastoral care and other. Do I put it between theology and liturgy, because it really flows best from theology? Then there's a disconnect between ethics and liturgy. Do I move theology, and run "biblical theology, theology, ethics, history, liturgy"? Then I lose the great chronological flow from New Testament into early church history, and the great connection of "theology, liturgical theology, liturgy." Does ethics belong between personal testimony/biography and cultural studies? Then where does "religion as academic curiosity/sociology" go?

I know this is a subject dear to the hearts of many readers. (Ok, a large percentage of readers - I'm not sure I really have "many" readers to begin with.) What would you do? I value greatly having my subjects flow into one another, and would be sad to have to adopt strict library-style separations. On the other hand, the more books I get and the more specific they become, the harder the flow becomes in some places.

five books meme

Take the first 5 novels from your bookshelf... then do the following:

1. Book 1 - take first sentence
2. Book 2 - the fifth sentence on page 57 (see note on 5)
3. Book 3 - second sentence on page 100
4. Book 4 - next to last sentence on page 150
5. Book 5 - Final sentence of the book. (how is this different from what I did with book 2? I'm changing number 2.)

Make the five sentences into a paragraph. Feel free to cheat and make it a better paragraph. Name the sources and then post.

There is a lovely road that runs from Ixopo into the hills. There is something to be learned here, and we have to find out what. Worauf der Hund sich hinlegte und sich willig von Sofie streicheln liess. Meg had a quiet rapture, and then brooded over the letter, while Jo set the sick-room in order, and Hannah "knocked up a couple of pies in case of company unexpected." Es sah ganz danach aus, als sollte dieser Sommer viel besser werden als der letzte.

1. Cry the Beloved Country
2. A Swiftly Tilting Planet
3. Sofies Welt
4. Little Women
5. Harry Potter und der Gefangene von Askaban

As penance for the fact that half my novels here aren't in English, and because I like books, here's the nonfiction version:

Geb the earth commanded the Ennead to assemble. He made many promises, which are repeated in the following chapters. And yet, ultimately, our underwater, intuitive selves are never really incompatible with the above-water, intellectual part of our wholeness. The Bible, I say, the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants. I knew the dust would stay.

1. Old Testament Parallels (ed. Matthews and Benjamin)
2. Paul (E.P. Sanders)
3. Walking on Water (L'Engle)
4. Reformation Thought (McGrath)
5. The Shared Heart (ed. Mastoon)

Public Service Announcement

In case any of you have the memory problems of, well, a Campus Cook, may I remind you all:

SQUASH IS NOT AN ENTREE.

Also, chicken is not vegetarian. Neither is fish. And instant mashed potatoes plus mixed sauteed (boiled?) squash with a little tomato does not equal a balanced, satisfying, tasty, or otherwise positive dining experience. Nor does putting black beans in the salad bar to go with my macaroni and cheese at lunch count as feeding me for the day. Be less creative with the veggie alternatives at lunch (I don't really need macaroni and cheese with navy beans and asparagus in it as a lunch alternative to macaroni and cheese and salad bar) and feed me balanced dinners instead. It would be great if dinner didn't leave me hungry again three hours later, for instance. I can eat rice and beans every other day if I need to. Pasta dishes every Thursday will do. Rotate through your other ten real vegetarian meals on Tuesday nights and we've got a menu. But stop feeding me vegetable of the day with starch and calling it a meal.

Brought to you by the letter D and the number 5.

woot

One more step...

and I thought the GOEs were scary

I just caught that Katherine Watson's first exam in Mona Lisa Smile requires a 1500 word essay, on the fly, in 40 minutes.

Yeah... I'll take 6 pages in 3.5 hours, thanks.

erm, help?

There's something I'm missing here.

The Montreal talks follow on from the Kyoto Protocol, which was signed in 1997 and called for 30% cuts by 2020.

Mr Meacher earlier told BBC Radio 4's Today programme further reductions in greenhouse gas emissions - widely thought to contribute to rising temperatures - are vital.

"We need now to aim for more. That is what climate change is telling us. We need to say minus 25% by 2025."

Does he mean minus 25% again, after the 30%? Or is there some reason that in this particular calculation, the numbers run the opposite direction of what I expect? Mr Meacher seems a capable enough man to know that 25 is less than 30, so I don't honestly think he's got it wrong - I just don't understand how that works.

Ye great numbers of environmental statisticians among my readership, what does this mean?

Gospel Birthday Meme

Via Cheesehead:

Matthew 10:6: "but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

Mark 10:6: "But from the beginning of creation, “God made them male and female.”"

Luke 10:6: "And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you."

John 10:6: "Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them."


Well, the first three were fairly comfortable, anyway....

holy...

I so was not expecting RENT to be that good (even with my aunt's recomendation). I'm amazed.

And I haven't cried that hard in a long time. (Also hadn't realized it had been that long since I'd seen the stage version.)

Shower and bed now... but WOW.

from Cecily

A. Put your music playlist on random.
B. Post the first line of the first 20 songs that start to play (along with these instructions).
C. Have your friends try to guess the title & artist for each lyric in the comments
D. No googling!

1. Si got this. It's Hammer and a Nail, Indigo Girls.
2. Scapulis suis obumbrabit tibi Dominus et sub pennis ejus sperabis
3. Si got this, too. Power of Two, Indigo Girls.
4. Si more or less got this. The actual title is Jacob in Egypt, from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
5. There they gathered, in the meadow, in the meadow two by two (Close, Rory, but try again.)
6. Some folks are born made to wave the flag
7. Slappin' leather was devised during a wild streak in her life
[skipping Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, since it's hard to post the first line of an orchestral piece]
8. We get to be a ripple in the water
9. Rory got this (eventually ;) .) It's Champagne Supernova, by Oasis.
10. It was in the March of the winter I turned 17
11. Rory got this. The Flood, from Children of Eden
12. Rory got this, which is only right. It's What You Wish For, by Guster.
[skipping Come, Risen Lord, because it's no fun if the title is de facto the first line]
13. Am I the kind of brother who would leave you standing on this lonesome railroad track?
14. All the corners filled with sorrow, all the streets are filled with pain
[skipping When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, for the same reason as Come, Risen Lord]
15. Living under June, living under her
16. At last, my love has come along
17. Let the phone ring, let's go back to sleep
18. Rory got this. It's Father of Mine, by Everclear.
19. I'm blazing a trail that leads to vice
20. The boy, he thinks I'm damaged goods

Sheep go to heaven, goats go to hell...

Why, oh, why, do we have to listen to the sheep and goats passage so terribly often? Why, oh, why, can our liturgical committee come up with nothing more creative for half of our LFF days?

Why, oh, why, does that happen to be the text on which I find myself (no, really) preaching for preaching class sometime in the next two weeks?

And why on earth am I preaching the sermon toward which I seem to be moving?

Ugh.

Scratching my head...

While listening to "The Women of Smith" and reading G. Brooke's blog, I happened upon the Gender Genie, which purports to predict an author's gender with 80% accuracy.

After submitting my description of our trip to the reservation, it gave me the following score:

Female Score: 712
Male Score: 1498

The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!


When I told it it was wrong, it replied:

That is one butch chick!

(I guess my ex was right....)

I'd love to know their rationale - on the breakdown of masculine and feminine words, "the" "is" "if" "in" and "this" showed up as masculine, while "him" "because" "since" and "too" were among the feminine keywords. Don't quite get that - what makes "is" masculine" and "am" feminine? I don't see any possible positive connection.

And now there's a part of me wondering "have I always been told I write well because I write masculinely?" That would be... disconcerting, at least.

Oh well.

[Later: my ice cream rant from this summer came in at Female: 517 Male: 2347, and even my "where are the books by women" rant came in at Female: 1389 Male: 1606. So content matter that might stereotypically or obviously be by a woman clearly has no effect, or at least little effect.]

pretty accurate, really

Your Power Color Is Red-Orange

At Your Highest: You are warm, sensitive, and focused on your personal growth. At Your Lowest: You become defensive and critical if you feel attacked. In Love: You are loyal - but you demand the respect you deserve. How You're Attractive: You are very affectionate and inspire trust. Your Eternal Question: "Am I Respected?"

What's Your Power Color?

Funny that this should be so accurate when red-orange might be my least favorite color...

And.... GO!

Well, we're home. We had an uneventful drive in, a lovely visit with my parents (also lunch with friends, and I had a meeting with my bishop that went extremely well), delicious food (ask us about the lentil roulade, if you haven't already heard), an equally uneventful drive back (the snow held off at both ends while we drove), and a delightful evening tonight. Blogging doesn't figure in there at all because in addition to being very busy, we didn't have much access - my parents' computer has decided to be slower than molasses, slow enough that internet use doesn't make sense.

You may notice that "got lots of homework done" doesn't figure in there anywhere. I've got yet another social engagement tomorrow (yes, just watch me flap those wings), but once I get home, the work begins in earnest. Mostly it's stuff I'm accustomed to, but I'm also in charge of a major power point presentation (or that section of it, more precisely), which is a bit of an adventure, since I've never done power point before.

So if I continue to be mostly absent for a couple of weeks, it's because I'm tearing around in the mad dash to finish out the quarter.

Now, I'm exhausted, and am going to bed so I have a little energy as I dive in tomorrow.

On my way...

We're off to Ohio!

We'll be back, well, later.

Oh, dear God...

This makes me sick. Absolutely sick.

Mmm, pie...

You Are Pumpkin Pie

You're the perfect combo of uniqueness and quality Those who like you are looking for something (someone!) special

What Kind of Pie Are You?

I might also be cream pie (combo of simplicity and divinity) or apple pie (combo of comforting and traditional), depending on what I actually decided to do on my spontaneous trip to Vegas. It's so hard to picture myself taking a spontaneous vacation right now that it's hard to say what I'd do first. (Also my immediate answer isn't really available - I'd likely eat first, but the only "eat" option involved spending lots of money.)