off to Bosnia...

send good thoughts... more later... last-minute packing/panicking calls...

peace, a poem

I wrote this for a paper for my Gender, Religion, and Globalization class, turned in today. It's based on a conversation I had with a professor here about Christianity and other religions... truth claims... stuff like that. It fit into my paper in which I also wrote about meeting Grandmother Lee, a survivor of the Japanese sexual slavery system during WWII, and about storytelling and story-sharing as theologically and ethically imperative (women's) practices. I may post the whole thing here, but it isn't very good... I'm afraid... so here's the poem for now, since I haven't posted in ages.

The formatting is totally off, because blogger doesn't let me arrange the words how I want, but whatever.

peace


… and this
red rising face with tears
fucking divinity student
tells them their dying son
will go to hell if he isn’t baptized…
body shakes hands grasp

i want to hold her
the woman her kind heaven the appropriate use of fuck

… I refuse to believe
looks smiles
that a beautiful
70-year-old
Buddhist woman
84 i think
and know Grandmother Lee
comfort woman
won’t be with God in heaven…

heaven
her arm around you
her arm around a God-damning world

thank God

her heaven
her knowledge
the arms that come

with Peace she says
it echoes, echoes

… Peace I leave with you;

my peace I give to you…

cup it daily in my hands
through fingers
like water

… Do not let your hearts be troubled,

and do not let them be afraid…

yay, serene!! (and classes update...)

More good news! Serene is going to Union Theological Seminary to be its new President! I'm so happy for her, but also a little sad. We'll miss having her at YDS. And I'm losing my babysitting job... and yummy meals and good conversations... sigh ;) But what an honor. Rock on, Serene.

In other, much less important news... I dropped my 5th class, the PhD English Seminar, Novel Minds. After an amazingly wonderful conversation with Prof. Townes, I came to the following conclusions: 1) I don't like the class, 2) it's pretty much worthless to my education at present, 3) I could read the material on my own and get as much - if not more - out of it than I do in class, 4) I'm a wee bit over-extended this semester, and, health-wise, it would be good to back off a bit, 5) this does not make me a failure, but sticking with the class, in some ways, would.

I'm having trouble with #5 still... In fact, I wish I had my conversation with Emilie on video, so every time I feel like a failure for dropping the class, I can remember laughing with her about how ridiculous it was and how absurd were my failed attempts at coming up with "one good reason to continue taking the class." I figured I would burst into tears -- it was one of those weeks -- but instead I laughed and only cried a little, and laughed even then.

And this week? It looks manageable. And that's a beautiful thing. And then it's spring break!

oww oww! (and some brief updates...)

(got to brag a little).

Yay, Emilie Townes!

And, yes, I'm still on a self-imposed break from blogging... but this is a landmark in many ways, so I had to show the love for my fabulous advisor :)

And, regarding the classes listed below, I'm taking all 5... probably not smart, and definitely why I'm not blogging... and why I'm in on a Saturday night writing an exegesis paper on Amos 5:10-17, and reading Daniel Deronda.

Brief update on the classes, mostly because I'm too tired to do anything else right now:

(also, I'll keep updating my reading on the other blog, for anyone who cares!)

1) the Bosnia Travel Seminar is crazy intense. We've only met twice, but the reading shakes me up a lot - shakes all of us up a lot. There are ten women in the course, and two female professors. No guys applied, which is sad on the one hand, and yet I think it would have offset the comfort level of the people in the room. Our most recent read was Mass Rape. I'm not sure what else to say about that. Of course we are watching the developments in Kosovo. I am applying to volunteer at Firefly Bosnia, a youth program in Brcko, this summer, through a grant from the Women, Religion, and Globalization program at Yale. We shall see.

2) Amos & Hosea, with the one and only Carolyn Sharp, has proved fabulous, as expected. I want to be her. And I still love her, even though this paper is kicking my butt. It's totally her fault I'm thinking about pursuing work in Hebrew Bible Studies. Yikes. Oh, C. Sharp.

3) Gender, Religion, & Globalization is okay... I just hope I can get a grant! The course is at the bottom of my priority list - something has to be, after all! - but I do feel bad about not being able to put in more work. But, then again, the reading isn't that great, and neither are the class discussions, so... I've learned things, but it has been scattered - that's all.

4) Women, Power, & Medieval Mysticism is going well. I'm taking it as a reading course with two other div school students, and so we meet with the professor once a week for two hours. I get full credit on my response papers, so hopefully I can pull together a decent midterm paper by Tuesday! Ack... (same day on which the Amos paper is due... and I haven't even started...) It's second lowest on my priority list, so...

5) Novel Minds is... hmm... kind of blah. I am having a hard time understanding how people can study that sort of thing for a living. My classmates are kind of pretentious -- a few in particular -- and then there's me: not very bright, shy, and not sure why I'm there. So I may drop it. I still have a week or two to make that decision. I more or less bombed my first of two short papers. So that was fun. And I have to go talk with her about it this week. Neat. I've already cried in front of her twice - good times - and when I meet with her Tuesday, I'll be completely sleep-deprived from trying to finish two papers due that day... so it should go wonderfully! Bleh. I wrote my paper the morning it was due, and she didn't like the basic premise -- so put those two things together and, well, the result was something like a B-. Boo hiss. I don't have the time - nor can I justify putting in more time - to do much more work for that class, so we'll see. I also don't know how to tell her nicely that I don't think her area of study is very important! ha. I mean seriously: for one class, I'm reading about sexualized violence against Muslim women, and in another (her) class, I'm reading about stupid scholars bickering over what terms to use for various modes of depicting consciousness in the novel. Neat. That's sure to change the world.

Oh, yes -- cranky/sleepy Annie needs to remove herself from the computer... goodnight.

home...

I finished up my first semester of divinity school, which is pretty unreal. I had an Old Testament final Monday, a Systematic Theology final Tuesday, and turned in my final paper for Gender, Sex, and Power in Ruth & Esther on Wednesday. (Everything finished up for the Political Economy of Misery class the week before - thank goodness!). All went well, I think/hope, and then I headed to Richmond Thursday morning - more than a little scattered - and was quite scattered indeed after almost 10 hours in the car. Good times on the Jersey Turnpike and with NYC and DC traffic and such. BUT, when I got to Richmond I was greeted by 3 of my best friends (Laura, Laura, and Kristy) for a lovely dinner at Strawberry Street Cafe, followed by bed - which was also glorious. Oh, and Coco (Laura's cat), who is very near and dear to my heart.

Yesterday morning I hit the road and was home in time to meet the little sis and her friends for lunch, fail miserably at some Christmas shopping, come home for dinner (and wine, of course) with the fam, and pass out by 9 pm. Until 7 am this morning. Yikes.

But back to school for a moment... I love it. I'm so lucky it's unreal. I already miss chapel, and my friends and professors there (and my Richmond friends and Charlotte friends too). It's just a wonderful place. And from the studying/teaching perspective, I'm not sure I could ever "go back" - to a regular university setting, I mean. It would seem so devoid of caring and commitment. Not true, per se, but U of R is no YDS -- that's all I have to say. And there's just something incredible about students going to chapel with one another every day of the week -- not every student, and not every day, but it's still pretty amazing, I think. And just the kind of student who goes to divinity school, for the most part, is the kind of student I'd like to be friends with -- and the faculty are even better. They amaze me every day.

As for picking out my classes for next semester... I'm like a kid in a candy shop. So excited. At the moment, I think I'm taking...

- Bosnia Travel Seminar (learning about war and its victims -- mainly, women and children -- especially concerning sexual violence. It's going to be really intense, but when I went to the info. meeting I had to at least apply. It seemed wrong to have the choice to "walk (ignorantly) away" from an unimaginable reality for so many women and children, in Bosnia and elsewhere. We travel to Bosnia in the spring, and basically learn how to counsel victims as well, which will be harder than anything I've done, probably. Serene (professor I babysit for) put in a good word for me, so I was one of 10 students chosen for the class... I just hope I don't let them down.)

- Amos & Hosea (taught by Carolyn Sharp... which is why I am taking it... I know it will be fabulous. And, it counts for my WGSS concentration, because of the various (unpleasant) metaphors for Israel employed by Hosea, which relate to women.)

- Novel Minds (taught by Ruth Yeazell -- yay Libby!-- it is a literature course downtown that will probably kick my butt as much as it amazes and inspires -- and terrifies -- me... I have the reading list, and intend to get started today. It also counts for WGSS -- I'm not sure how/why, but I'm not asking any questions either! So excited/terrified.)

- Women, Power, & Medieval Mysticism (an undergrad. course downtown, so I'll have to do more work to make it count for grad-level, but which sounds fabulous... and much better than the Christian history courses taught at YDS -- big survey courses like, "History of Western Christianity." Eww. Plus, it counts for literature, WGSS, and religious history - yay!)

OR...

Women, Religion, & Globalization, taught by Serene and an economics professor downtown... we shall see...

I'm trying to tailor my studies toward literature as well... since I want nothing more than to do a PhD in religion and literature... just have to pick what sort of literature, I guess... sigh. Narrowing an area of study feels like choosing which limbs to cut off.

OK -- time to be productive! yay! (genuine excitement... yes, I'm that nerdy and can't wait to read... ;)

funniest blog ever... AND it features Carolyn Sharp... what's not to love?

I just laughed harder than I've laughed in a long time... except for, maybe, the Advent service "after-party" (that's right... we know how to throw down - faculty included)...

Just enjoy the fabulousness that is the blog Overheard at Yale Divinity School.

This quote from the one and only Carolyn Sharp is a bit more serious, but absolutely rocks:

"That sarcastic, trickster model doesn't appeal to me. Life is short. God is real. Get serious, people. That's how I read."

If you want to read about just how wonderful she is, click here.

I don't know anyone who is not a little bit (or a lot) in love with her.

Okay... back to studying (for her OT final, among other things...). I promise to write more over break, I've just been swamped -- but it a wonderful way.

Professor of the Year!

Yay, Carolyn Sharp!

She's the Fortress Press Professor of the Year, which is pretty darn fabulous.

And she's probably the best professor I've ever had. Really.

Rock on.