Friday, August 31, 2007
Friday cat blogging: you've all been waiting for this one
Well, here she is, Maya Pavlova, in all her glory. Enjoy. She is happy in her new home, and I am happy to have an in-house therapist. Everyone is happy
The Beloit Mindset List Is Out
Feeling old? Read this and you really will.
This list comes out every fall and makes many of us laugh and groan. It's also a good way to get to know the younger generation. (I can't BELIEVE I am now using that term!)
I'll post tidbits from it here when I return and recover from all my meetings. Meanwhile, here is a teaser. Off I go. The site also has lists from the previous years. Well worth a read.
Each August for the past decade, as faculty prepare for the academic year, Beloit College in Wisconsin has released the Beloit College Mindset List. Its 70 items provide a look at the cultural touchstones that have shaped the lives of today’s first-year students, most of them born in 1989. It is the creation of Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director Ron Nief.
Latchkey kids for most of their lives, students entering college this fall think nothing of arriving home with parents still at work, then e-mailing or texting their friends, instantly updating their autobiographies on “Facebook” or “MySpace,” and listening to their iPods while doing their research on Wikipedia. They’ve grown up with Rush Limbaugh urging his fellow Dittoheads to excoriate liberals, with having been taught by an equal number of women and men in the classroom, and with women having been hired as police chiefs of major cities.
Food has always been a health concern. Consumer awareness about ingredients and fats has always been energized. They’ve never “rolled down” a car window, and to them Jack Nicholson is mainly known as the guy who played “The Joker.”
As usual, they remind their elders how quickly time has passed. For them Pete Rose has never been in baseball. Abbie Hoffman’s always been dead. Johnny Carson has never been live on TV, and Nelson Mandela has always been free.
As for the Berlin Wall, what’s that?
This list comes out every fall and makes many of us laugh and groan. It's also a good way to get to know the younger generation. (I can't BELIEVE I am now using that term!)
I'll post tidbits from it here when I return and recover from all my meetings. Meanwhile, here is a teaser. Off I go. The site also has lists from the previous years. Well worth a read.
Each August for the past decade, as faculty prepare for the academic year, Beloit College in Wisconsin has released the Beloit College Mindset List. Its 70 items provide a look at the cultural touchstones that have shaped the lives of today’s first-year students, most of them born in 1989. It is the creation of Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director Ron Nief.
Latchkey kids for most of their lives, students entering college this fall think nothing of arriving home with parents still at work, then e-mailing or texting their friends, instantly updating their autobiographies on “Facebook” or “MySpace,” and listening to their iPods while doing their research on Wikipedia. They’ve grown up with Rush Limbaugh urging his fellow Dittoheads to excoriate liberals, with having been taught by an equal number of women and men in the classroom, and with women having been hired as police chiefs of major cities.
Food has always been a health concern. Consumer awareness about ingredients and fats has always been energized. They’ve never “rolled down” a car window, and to them Jack Nicholson is mainly known as the guy who played “The Joker.”
As usual, they remind their elders how quickly time has passed. For them Pete Rose has never been in baseball. Abbie Hoffman’s always been dead. Johnny Carson has never been live on TV, and Nelson Mandela has always been free.
As for the Berlin Wall, what’s that?
Many missed feasts; communities of prayer and remembrance
The beginning of the academic year has kept me from honoring the saints and feasts on this blog as I usually do, but as in all times when we cannot "do" (or cannot pray, which happens to all of us at some time) the broader community carries us in its wide stream. Padre Mickey was faithfully at his post, in fact twice, to write about Augustine, whose feast was this week. And just as I am about to teach Puritan sermons, we had the commemoration of John Bunyan, who was a great favorite of some of those early Anglo-Americans. (The class is not quite at the Puritans yet -- we are looking at the Native peoples first, and we did an initial segment on religious pluralism in the U.S. today and the post-9/11 religious situation before heading back to the 17th century this coming week. But more about this in another post, probably late in the weekend.) The commemoration that poured out of me almost verbatim was the post of two nights ago on the vigils remembering the war dead and witnessing for peace.
I am also deeply grateful to blogger friends who posted commemorations of and updates on the ravages of Hurricane Katrina and its impact on communities on the Gulf Coast -- and the communities' response.
There is power in remembering. (I'm thinking of janinsanfran's blogging label "gone but not forgotten.") And remembering, even --sometimes especially-- remembering with lament, can fuel hope. (I once referred to memory and hope as "the twin engines of biblical religion" in I can't remember which book. It's time for me to write another book, since I can't remember the last one verbatim! I always do for a few years after I write one.)
I have always had strong theologies of the Body of Christ and the communion of saints. Faith, prayer, and work for justice and healing in the world (what the Jewish tradition call tikkun olam, mending the world) cannot exist without the community across geographical and historical bounds. One of the challenges I encounter among my younger students especially (as opposed to the "adult" students who are closer to my age) is a deeply entrenched individualism. Communal thinking doesn't occur to them much. This is true of younger people and is true also of U.S. Americans, especially among Whites.
When the Holy Spirit shows up, it descends on the community. Always something good to remember.
P.S. I will fill in this post with the pertinent links later today. I have to go to meetings meetings meetings now. (On my alleged day out of the office. At least tomorrow will be an open day.)
P.P.S. Yes, there are cat pictures coming.
I am also deeply grateful to blogger friends who posted commemorations of and updates on the ravages of Hurricane Katrina and its impact on communities on the Gulf Coast -- and the communities' response.
There is power in remembering. (I'm thinking of janinsanfran's blogging label "gone but not forgotten.") And remembering, even --sometimes especially-- remembering with lament, can fuel hope. (I once referred to memory and hope as "the twin engines of biblical religion" in I can't remember which book. It's time for me to write another book, since I can't remember the last one verbatim! I always do for a few years after I write one.)
I have always had strong theologies of the Body of Christ and the communion of saints. Faith, prayer, and work for justice and healing in the world (what the Jewish tradition call tikkun olam, mending the world) cannot exist without the community across geographical and historical bounds. One of the challenges I encounter among my younger students especially (as opposed to the "adult" students who are closer to my age) is a deeply entrenched individualism. Communal thinking doesn't occur to them much. This is true of younger people and is true also of U.S. Americans, especially among Whites.
When the Holy Spirit shows up, it descends on the community. Always something good to remember.
P.S. I will fill in this post with the pertinent links later today. I have to go to meetings meetings meetings now. (On my alleged day out of the office. At least tomorrow will be an open day.)
P.P.S. Yes, there are cat pictures coming.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Mother of Acts of Hope is 89 today
Today is my mother's 89th birthday!
She and my father had a fine day.
L'chaim! To life.
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