September 23, 2007
Classes started this past Wednesday, which means, among other things, that my to-do list has morphed - rather than containing all the shows on our TiVo I haven’t gotten around to yet, it now is a page full of readings and administrative details. All of the sudden Calvin is more important than House and I have to admit I’m a little saddened by the change. But, I knew it was coming, so now there is only the matter of getting it done.
On tap are the whole of the Institutes by Calvin, a philosophy class on theology (what makes a theology good, etc), Practicing the Presence of God (and learning about the history of spirituality), and a thesis on something to do with theology of the Spirit and spirituality (right now I’m reading Spirituality and History by Philip Sheldrake).
Meanwhile I’m still working at the seminary doing filing and other such exciting things, and teaching Adult Sunday School at a local church, which seems like a good way to stay a little grounded.
So, there you have it. The first half week is done only 11 and a half weeks to go before the next semester starts …
Posted in books, life, school, spirituality, theology by Sarah 
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September 19, 2007
If you win, feel free to share your gift certificate with me … Patagonia is a very “green-friendly” company AND has very enviable clothing.
The National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Programs is sponsoring a photo contest—On God’s Wild Land. Share with us a photo and your experiences working on, volunteering, or enjoying public lands and God’s creation. We will select a winner to receive a gift certificate from Patagonia. Contest Deadline: Friday, October 31, 2007. Please visit http://www.nccecojustice.org/godswildland.html for details. To learn more about wilderness issues and the value to our Christian faith, download our education resource Out of the Wilderness: Building Christian Faith and Keeping God’s Creation. (www.nccecojustice.org/wildbounce.html )
Posted in eco-green, faith by Sarah No Comments »
September 14, 2007
Remember the days back when you got out of school for Rosh Hashanah? I loved that - getting off for religious holidays I didn’t celebrate. All my friends had to go to synagogue and I got to stay home. Oh back when … I suppose it’s hard to complain about not having off when classes haven’t even started yet. Speaking of which, any time now - everyone else has been in school forever, give me some freaking classes so I can complain about them later.
In the meantime, in case you need a study or work break and you’re waiting on someone to make their move in Scrabulous (the most fabulous new facebook game that lets you play scrabble with your friends online and makes having facebook TOTALLY worth it now), you can watch these videos in honor of Rosh Hashanah, which has effectively passed by now (if my Jewish cultural heritage memory serves me correctly). [Do you sometimes wonder if I could possibly squeeze more words into a sentence just to make them a teeny tiny bit longer than the monstrosities that they already are?]
This is the Rosh Hashanah video, but before you watch it, you should watch this video because it is the inspiration and this video which is an interview with the actress in that video, AND THEN the Rosh Hashanah video will be really funny since it is a response.
Posted in funny, movies, politics, religion, school by Sarah 5 Comments »
September 12, 2007
(which makes me cool right?)
My friend Jina wrote for Christian Science Monitor this summer and two of her stories have just been published. This one is about Genocide, which is her particular passion (stopping it, not perpetrating it) and is about Mark Hanis and the antigenocide charity that he founded. It’s an intriguing story and quite inspirational for those of us who sometimes feel there’s nothing we can do.
The second story is about women who ride motorcycles - also very intriguing and enjoyable to read, if not a little less politically and world-concern motivated …
The thing is that Christian Science Monitor now tracks how popular their stories are, so if you click on one of these, they become more popular. Which, as politically-minded people that you are, means you should at the very least click on the first story at least once to show the magazine that issues of genocide are important. Jina tells me the story on motorcycle-riding women is already one of the most popular, so you could just read that one for fun …
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September 1, 2007
There are many ways in which one might critique the “garden state” of New Jersey, but today I am bemoaning (vocally) their strict immunization laws for students. Aside from a few unfortunate shots in the butt (to remedy nausea) and the foot (to remedy swelling) and giving blood, I have avoided the needle and arm scenario for the past five years. And I have been grateful - I have not taken that fact for granted. I do still remember how much that first tetanus shot at the tender age of sixteen left my arm limp and in excessive pain.
Sadly, on our last day of “vacation” I got an e-mail letting me know I could not register for classes until I had completed the required immunizations. I personally don’t remember any mention of this particular obligation in the admission or orientation information, but Adam ever-so-kindly told me ‘duh - everyone knows you have to get shots to go to school.’ Clearly IF that information was shared with me I did a phenomenal job of blocking it - and for good reason: Thursday afternoon I was the slightly-less-than-grateful recipient of a tetanus shot in my left arm AND a meningitis shot in my right arm. And this coming week I will be receiving yet another TB test.
My memories of my first tetanus shot do not do justice to the sheer pain still coursing through my arm today. I faithfully take advil every four hours and still … raising my arm above my head (like to put my shirt on or get something down from the cupboard, or wash my hair) … so painful. And a meningitis shot? Not that painless either - the problem with a shot in both arms at the same time is you really can’t sleep on either side and as I’m a side sleeper, this is quite obnoxious.
Meanwhile, I am dutifully studying for the GREs and I am getting stupider. I took my second practice test today after almost a month of fairly regular studying and I did worse.
I’m not really feeling like life is treating me too kindly these days - and it is starting to miff me.
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August 27, 2007
If you’re feeling slightly bereft from the ending of the Harry Potter series there is good news: His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. Apparently this series has been around for some time now, so it’s possible you’ve already read them (in which case I’m very sorry you can’t enjoy them again for the first time), but if you haven’t you need to.
While ostensibly a series for children, this set of novels is more appropriately enjoyed by adults who can fully appreciate all of the innuendos and philosophical elements the novel weaves into an exciting adventure. The stories follow an eleven year old girl, Lyra, from a world unlike our own who gets caught up in the theological and political debates of her time. While the underlying premise for the series is a war on The Almighty, the grist of the story is an adventure through the eyes of a young girl as she travels through multiple worlds and plays her part in fate.
Adam and I listened to all three books on our drive out west and they were our saving grace on multiple 12 hour days in the car. Like Harry Potter, which is more enjoyably listened to the first time around, the audio recordings of this trilogy are well worth the time it takes to listen rather than read. They are narrated by the author himself and read by a whole cast of characters. They are a delight.
And, if you need further incentive to read them, the movie of the first book, The Golden Compass, is coming out in December - so hop to …
Posted in books, reviews by Sarah 2 Comments »
August 26, 2007
Well, after a busy summer of packing, moving, unpacking, adjusting, CPEing, working, and adjusting some more, we decided what better way to spend our two weeks of vacation than in a car driving across the country?? What could be better?
Clearly many things we discovered after the first of many 12 hour days, but we were on a schedule, so while we whined and complained, grumbled and moaned, we drove on. For the third, and perhaps final, year in a row we made a vacation out of the fact that Adam has to be in Idaho at the end of every summer to meeting with his Presbytery about ordination. This year, rather than flying, we decided to be frugal and drive ourselves out to Idaho staying with family (and some lovely motel folk) along the way. Rather than taking our time meandering across the mid-section of our lovely country, however, we booked it in order to have a few days to spend at Yellowstone, a few days in Idaho, and a day in Missoula. While the 12 hour days were not in any way enjoyable, I’m glad we did it that way so we at least had some time out of the car and some time in places we enjoy being.
All in all it was a decent trip given the circumstances. The weather held up well for us, the forest fires kindly stayed out of our way most of the time, and we saw some very cool wildlife at Yellowstone (the orange moose above was actually tame, not wild, and in Wisconsin not Wyoming, so that’s not a good example, but who can resist an orange moose? Clearly not Adam). Probably not a trip to do again at the end of an already stressful summer, but hindsight is 20/20 and far more comfortable now that my butt is comfortably planted on the couch and not in the car.
Posted in life, marriage, travel by Sarah 1 Comment »
August 25, 2007
Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee was a surprising book for me. I read about it first in the New York Times Book Review section and probably never would have bought it myself, but added it to my wishlist so I could get it from the library some day. Adam bought it for me shortly thereafter when he ordered some books from Amazon.
I’m not sure exactly what to say about the book except that I liked it and (again) I was surprised I liked it. The story revolves around a divorced professor in his 50s who lives in South Africa post-Apartheid. His character borders on being incredibly unlikeable, which always kills a book for me, but manages to stay in your good graces despite his seeming apathy and continual fall into disgrace.
It isn’t a book that resolves itself or leaves you feeling that things are as they should be, but it is a book you will finish - even if you put it down once or twice along the way.
Posted in books, reviews by Sarah 1 Comment »
August 9, 2007
Part of my birthday present involved driving four hours to this bookstore in Vermont. You, like Adam, might think that four hours is a long way to drive for a bookstore, but that only means that you, like Adam, have never been to this bookstore because it is so worth four hours in the car.
Anyway, I spent most of the two and half hours we spent in the bookstore writing down titles for books I wanted to read. You can see them here (along with others), but I did allow myself part of my birthday money to buy a few books. Here If You Need Me by Kate Braestrup was one of the five books (out of thousands) that won a lucky space in my bag at the end of the day.
It is a short memoir and it reads quickly. At first I thought it was just so-so: definitely an interesting story (a mother of four goes to seminary and becomes a chaplain for Maine search and rescue missions after her husband dies in a car accident - ministry had been his retirement plan), but a bit cliche in the writing. But, 3/4 of the way through either it got better or I stopped noticing. Anyway, I liked it (didn’t love it), but would recommend reading a library copy. She has some interesting thoughts on faith and some profound sentences. All in all, an enjoyable book and, like I said, an incredible story underneath it all.
Posted in books, religion, reviews, theology by Sarah No Comments »
July 25, 2007
Well. It’s true that I am working a no-brainer job in an office this summer that I could have done without either of the two degrees I’ve worked so hard for; but do not despair, I have very successful friends, including Jina, who is currently writing for Christian Science Monitor. And because bragging is nothing without data, here’s the beginning of one of her articles …
Cafe confessions: Do they think we can’t hear?
an article by my friend Jina Moore in The Christian Science Monitor
“When George Washington was 16, he copied out 110 “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior” from a list the Jesuits had crafted in the 16th century. Many of the rules are irrelevant or obvious in our modern world, admonishing us not to spit into fires or run around half-naked. But one stands out: “Tell not your dreams but to your intimate friend.”
By this standard, I, as an unintentional eavesdropper, am the intimate friend of dozens of people I have never met. On my commute to work, on my walk from the office to lunch, in the cafe near my apartment, people dish. Girlfriends, husbands, husbands’ girlfriends, contracts, health problems, fights. Public, it seems, is the new private.
In fact, very little of our public space sounds the same as it did even 20 years ago. Once upon a time – the memory of which splits Generation X from Y – people walked down the street in relative silence, sans cellphones. Today, we’ve lost our “inside” voices. We meet lawyers, arbitrate divorces, interview for jobs, and strategize about firing our subordinates in places full of witnesses with good hearing. What, Washington might ask, are we thinking?”
Want to read the rest? Of course you do. So click here.
Posted in life by Sarah 4 Comments »
