Spring break!

Ahh...break is just around the corner! I am SO excited! Karen, Miranda and I are headed to the Twine Ball in Minnesota. It'll be quite the roadtrip! I'm also really excited that we're going to be stopping at my house for a couple days. I really want to show my friends my "home turf," but of course that's difficult to do when one lives 12+ hours from the place where one goes to school! Anyway, it'll be good to show them around F-town, and I'm excited for Karen to finally get to meet Claire; I think they'll get along, surprisingly! :)All righty, I'm off now...time to hunt down lunch before class and then an afternoon and evening of errands and packing.Yay break!

Red-letter day

Exciting news! First, Karen found out that she got the Watson Fellowship! So she's going to go study in Russia for a year! Which means I'll be going to visit--probably over Christmas. (Deal with crossing that parental bridge when it comes around....)It's so exciting, because now that we both have plans, and that most of our other friends do, too, the future seems so much more close, and more real. It's really happening; we're really going to graduate from Colby and go out into the real world. Ahhhh! It's exciting...and scary!Also found out that I got into Phi Beta Kappa. Very unexpected. But it made me happy and proud--Mom and Dad will be psyched, too. At least I've accomplished ONE thing that Mom wanted me to accomplish.Upshot: I'm feeling good. A little dazed, perhaps, but good! :)

Happy picture!

Mom sent me this picture from Christmas Eve--the annual "all the kids on the big blue couch" shot. It made me happy, so I thought I'd share.

Stupid, stupid people!

Gah! Colby students make me so MAD! Okay, I know it's annoying that the cops put a stop to Doghead, but serving alcohol to minors IS illegal, after all. I'm just so sick and tired of how much people whine on this campus! We have it SO good in comparison to the rest of the world! Here's my away message from today...kind of sums it all up."Attention Digesters: Next year I will be teaching in an area where some families don't have running water or electricity, and where most of my eighth grade students will likely be reading on a second or third grade level. The moral of the story: Quit yer bitchin'!"

Reflections on the self

So, in my Renaissance Poetry class this morning we did some "know thyself" exercises. I thought they came out pretty cool, so I'm sharing in my journal.First...describe yourself only in terms of what you are NOT.I am NOT...outspokenflamboyantignorantineptoutrageousintemperateweaknarrow-mindedconservativehostileunkindunhappypessimisticscientificboringagnosticapatheticAnd now the second one, what I AM:I am...strongpatientfaithfulloyalintelligentpassionateoptimisticidealistichappyopen-mindedquietthoughtfulstudiouscuriouslovablecreativeimaginativeAnd the final one...describe yourself using metaphoric language.The face of my sadness is young and innocent.The voice of my joy is freeing laughter.

Folk night!

Just got home from Folk Night at the Coffeehouse. Oh my God! It was so much fun! It's led by these two math professors (I know, wierd...but cool) and there were quite a few students there. It was great just to sit around and laugh and smile and sing all these happy folk songs that I grew up with...Puff (with a new verse that I am determined to hunt down!), the Garden Song, Where Have All the Flowers Gone...Ahhh! I'm so jazzed now! I'm going back every Wednesday from now on. Yay, Folk Night!

Academic musings

A reflection on love and marriage for my "Passionate Expression" class. Enjoy!******Emma McCandlessEN 429Phyllis MannocchiMarch 10, 2004Reflection #1Our discussions in class this semester, as well as the works that we’ve been reading, have focused quite heavily on love that doesn’t necessarily involve marriage; in some cases, the works have even contrasted love with marriage, implying that the two are not and cannot be compatible with one another. Many of the love poems in our anthology deal with unrequited love, often addressing a female beloved who is already married to another man. The two operas we studied, La Boheme and Madama Butterfly, have both dealt with love outside of the traditional Western idea of marriage. And while Love Story does feature married lovers, their marriage is not by any stretch the most important part of their relationship; in fact, it does not even feel necessary to their love.I think that this depiction of love in relation to marriage is largely inaccurate. I believe that love can and does exist within the structure and marriage. The act of marriage in itself is a public statement of love and commitment—a cry to the world that this love is real and lasting. Making such a statement, in my opinion, is one of the most moving and loving things that two people can do for and with each other.Some of the works in our collection of love poetry—though we glossed briefly over most of them—demonstrate this notion that love and marriage can exist together, and that that coexistence can be a very beautiful and real thing. “The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter” reveals that love can blossom completely within the structure of a marriage. The poems of Anne Bradstreet and Elizabeth Barrett Browning offer extremely emotional, compelling and tender portraits of the love between two married people. And Judith Viorst’s contemporary poem “True Love” celebrates the ordinary, unglamorous—and infinitely more beautiful and real—aspects of married love.It is true that love does not need marriage to validate it. However, it is just as true that marriage and love can be and often are very intricately intertwined. When that intertwining happens, particularly in love literature (which is rare), it is a beautiful, moving and lasting commentary on the nature of love. The blending of love and marriage—in life and in literature—offers the best kind of hope to the human spirit. It offers a hope that love can endure beyond anything—from fantastic trials and adventures to the common, and infinitely more beautiful and real, activities of every day life.