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Day’s Verse:

“All things are possible to him who believes.”

“If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last and servant of all.”

“For he who is not against us is for us.”

Mark 9:23, 35, 40

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Hang in there.

Let the waves roll over you.

When you feel like you are drowning, remember that the tide will soon recede.

Gargle twice a day with salt water.

(Courtesy of my mother)

I am letting the waves roll over me right now as I slowly write my MBWII paper. Today’s heat, perfectly 75, perked me up. I took my camera to Clark, sort of a farewell and affirmation that it has its positive qualities; but I found only small things to photograph, which made me wonder. Today I also signed up for my A and B term classes, and have already begun thinking about when to squeeze in a Suff, IQP, and MQP. Mostly the IQP though; who wants something like that to drag out for three terms when it could end in one? But I felt like a “real” WPI student signing up, though the irony was I did it at Clark. Life is full of irony. Continue Reading >>

1. Go into your blog archives.

2. Find your 23rd post.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.

October 3rd, 2003: “Lovely image, oatmeal splattered all over the inside of our $15 microwave and me trying to reach up above the top of the fridge to clean it out; oatmeal splattering onto the top of the fridge – lots of oatmeal, I didn’t expect that much – and I hurry because I have to catch my shuttle.”

Trust me to write a huge long sentence like that. Continue Reading >>

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Day’s Verse:

God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

2 Tim. 1:7

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News: I still haven’t written the Major British Writers paper; I keep allowing “things” to intervene. Today was my last day of Sociology, rather anticlimactic actually. We turned in our papers after a rather boring discussion on family—all but the part about the stable ménage a trois she knew of, which consisted of “Penelope,” “Oscar,” “Harry,” and the two children “Penelope” had by both men. The whole class grinned as she talked about their relationship, and I felt quite glad that I had Ian. Continue Reading >>

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Day’s Verse:

It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.

Isaiah 65:24

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Title: something I found in my Major British Writers II notes on Walter Pater. Also: “There is no beauty without a degree of strangeness.”

Today a line of cars miraculously appeared at a stop sign, then drove by as I waited for the shuttle home. They followed a gray Cadillac hearse. Did it offer a sense of solidarity to the people, even though each had his or her own car? Each affixed a purple flag with a sideways white cross to their vehicles and each had turned their emergency blinkers on to mark theirs as a unique cavalcade. People seek solidarity. Belonging to a group, even such a mournful group, means having a place that associates with you. In the procession, they were tied together by one thing: loss of a loved one. Each person in each separate vehicle had a connection to all the others that they demonstrated by driving together, slowly, with the flags and blinkers. Ian and I show our connection by wearing identical wedding bands. Wearing a school sweatshirt ties you to the school, and even wearing brand-name clothes offers some amount of “solidarity” with other people wearing the same brands. Marketers heavily exploit the public’s necessity to have a group association by promising that if you buy their product, you’ll receive instant admission to that group. Continue Reading >>

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Day’s Verse:

Every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights.

James 1:17

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Take a moment to think about the gifts in life. I read a guy’s blog recently that consisted almost entirely of complaining about human nature, about the cost of things, and about life. But isn’t it better to have a life to complain about than have no life at all? If you’re reading this, that means you woke up this morning with eyesight good enough to read a computer screen. You have fine motor abilities to navigate with the mouse and proprioception to manipulate the keyboard. You understand not only that shapes form certain letters, but that those letters joined together mean words, and words in sentences form thoughts. If that isn’t a good starting list of gifts to thank the Father of lights for, I don’t know what is. I would like to add that I’m thankful that when I woke up my husband did as well, that I have the ability to think critically, that the sun has reluctantly and with much coaxing decided to make an appearance, that Ian and I can afford to attend college, that we had food I could eat for breakfast (I should have brought some for lunch, darn it), and so on. It’s an easy list to make if you begin. Continue Reading >>

Or, The Forgotten Year

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Day’s Verse:

Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

2 Cor. 3:17 – 18

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The time has arrived during which students of all levels reflect on the past academic year, generally commenting, “Man, it went by so fast!” or “Where did the time go?” Perhaps some few college students far from home may even wish that the year could extend itself, to spend time with friends long departing. All reminisce on the past year’s joys and pains; but mostly joys. Continue Reading >>

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Day’s Verse:

“A lamp is not brought to be put under a basket, is it, or a bed? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand? For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light.”

Mark 5:13

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Well enough, Ian and I ventured back out into the wide world outside our apartment, only to find a sorrowfully depleted congregation at church. Disheartened, we retreated quickly back into our enclave and made bets about when we would next see our roommate. I put on my housewife hat to scrub and foil the filthy stove under-burners and made a coffee cake for our after-church brunch while Ian pretended to be a student and work on a project for several hours. The coffee cake came out beautifully until the very end when the recipe called for adding topping to the already-baked cake (a more beautiful golden you’ve never seen) and broiling it for a moment. The moment, apparently, was too long; my lovely golden came out smoking and black. I felt like a failure as a housewife, but salvaged the meal by making perfectly crispy bacon. Continue Reading >>