Ding!

Oh man, am I baby crazy right now or what? Goodness, me! What a friend to have in a tiny hand, tiny heart! What breath of metaphysical newness and dew! Congratulations to the Ashbrook's and welcome to the world, Lara Elisabeth! 

Bringing Forth

My soul becomes three things in the evening when I am on my own:

melancholy, melodic, and, irritable. 

In other news, what's going on with Obama lately? For some reason I cannot get hooked on his CNN coverage now that he's in office. It must be because there are just so many things that he is signing that I am not even attempting to keep up. I wish there was a twitter account with his updates in very basic terms and no links. 

I had a great time chatting with Monica Hopkins tonight. 

You know, I'm not sure how I feel about censorship. I really am not. Kyle Worley is presenting a paper on Platonic censorship at the Paideia Conference, so I think I will go to that and hear his argument. On the one hand, there should always be freedom to write and read the truth or poetry or whatever, but also we need to be wary of the power that literature and the arts have over the soul and mind. How are public schools to judge what ideas they are to keep away from their students? What implicit power do they have to take autonomy away from students and teachers? 

What's got me thinking is word that CISD is debating banning Pillars of the Earth from the G/T, honors, AP reading list. I'll be attending the school board meeting on Monday evening in support of the book and the teacher who has been assigning it for years.  

Brandeis

Where will all the art go

and artists too?

When beauty is sold like

lima beans, like paper clips

When art is exchanged

for another month

afloat.

6 Credits

Today I found out that in order to graduate I need to add six more hours to my course load. 21 hours in one semester, including my thesis. I am determined to graduate in May. 

Tonight surrounded me with my Dallas family of friends. Going to Crooked Tree Coffee Shop is often like going home, if home were a grab-bag of family in which you never knew who you were going to see, except that you would certainly see someone and they would certainly be familiar. Tonight I saw some of the dearest of friends and it made me so happy. 

The light still shines. 

A Moment in the Head of a Graduating Senior

I had about 12 dollars a minute ago. Since then I have purchased the new Bon Iver EP-- Blood Bank. In about 45 minutes I will drive to Starbucks and get a drink. Using my money wisely.

This beautiful track just started playing, "Babys". I bet this is one Mitch is in love with. It makes me want to weep and watch sun beams stream in through dusty window blinds. 

Music is important. Words are important. Beauty matters. The good is real. God is real.

The mailman brought me seven books today. I start an intense reading schedule tomorrow. 

I have three academic engagements to look forward to this semester.

 One) I will give a paper at the Paideia Conference. 

 Two) I will speak on a panel of Faculty, Staff, & Students at this semester's Friday Symposium panel discussion entitled, "...until Divorce do us part."

 Three) I will give that same paper to Doc Rose's DCM class in April.

The Lord gives and takes away. The Lord blesses and damns. 

He Blesses Me. He has given me eternity. 

Okay, "Woods" is the current track and it is blowing me away. Maybe this was the one, Mitch? You know what sounds like heaven right now? Laying down on the red rug in Mitch's room with my head on his chest, listening to this album play on the record player and examining our fingers in the light of the dying sunset.

BLTCP + OT

I made this dish this evening.  It is called BLTCP (bacon lettuce tomato cheesey pasta). The recipe is from allrecipes.com. Mitch said he liked it, as did I. I had to "cook" lettuce for it, something I had never done before. Using romaine and kale, I cooked the lettuce in the pot with olive oil. Smelled weird for a bit, but was quite good once it was done.

My apartment feels weird right now. Everyone is at a strange place in their lives, I think, or at least we are at strange places as an apartment. 

I wonder if I could knock out the rest of the work for my Old Testament class in the next two days. I would like to try so that I can devote the whole weekend to my thesis. I'm ready to be done with this class, especially since over it hangs the death of our dear professor, Dr. Nkhoma. 

Soup Kitchen

Right now, I am in the kitchen making Zuppa Toscana and crescent rolls. No better time to write a blogpost, right?

I really enjoy taking a break from work and reading to be in the kitchen. I want to learn how to cook good food. Nicole makes this soup really well. Hopefully mine will turn out pretty tasty, as well. 

So I'm a week away from the first day of my last semester at DBU. I'm excited to dive into my classes. I guess this is my last chance to prove my abilities and diligence during undergrad. 

My thesis is taking shape as a thought-baby right now. I've picked my topic, ordered some relevant books, and started the reading. My goal is to work on it every day. I will be writing about the philosophies of education found in Utopias. I'm really excited about this; I've been interested in reading more about this for over a year.

Soup's almost ready!