12 posts tagged “mars hill graduate school”
So, all exaggeration aside, I am in fact excited.
There’s some pretty cool stuff going on at TOJ, such as a book coming out next month. New stuff over at the journal is an interview with Jim Wallis, and another with John Milbank. The current issue's focus is atheism.
You should check it out for yourself here: The Other Journal
Ah, the grad school blogging hibernation comes to an end, at least temporarily. I finally come to the end of the spring term at MHGS, so I will again have a bit of 'writing energy' left over in the absence of pages upon pages of papers due every week. My activity on this site may be a bit lacking in that I am in the process of getting a new blog started, a collaborative blog. At least at first, this blog will largely take its tone from the ever untitled music posts which were its inspiration. The idea for the new blog started out simply enough, it was actually just to offer a place where readers could actually download the songs included in the weekly music posts once they were started back up again, as at times the songs meant something to friends of mine and I actually wanted them to have access to them. This idea sort of snowballed in my head, and picked up added steam in conversations with my wife and several friends, and it became clear to me that I really wanted to go somewhere with this idea, and thus spawned a percolation of sorts throughout the weeks that I've been unable to write due to my school work.
So, anyway, here is the new blog. It isn't too much yet, just the initial post, and I will start by moving the pre-existing music posts over to the blog during the next week or so before new posts commence. The good news is, if you liked any of the songs I've posted so far you will be able to download them off the new site, but hopefully you'll buy them someday and show the artists some love.
I hope you all come check it out.
As per the rules of my new challenge with Waldo I'm due another post today. So as I watch the Jaguars in their attempt to knock off the still undefeated Patriots it is time to figure out what on earth to post about.
I got my grades back today for my first trimester. I was really pleased with them. I even got one A, which at Mars Hill means 97 or higher. Exciting and unexpected. Classes begin again for me on Thursday so hopefully I can use these grades as momentum to carry me forward into my new classes.
In addition to my attempt to read 50 books this year I'm also trying to watch 100 movies. It seemed I never got the chance to watch movies last year. This saddened me because film is a significant medium for me on a number of levels. It would appear however that 100 movies will be far too low as I'm already at ten for the year. The tenth came in the form of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet St. It was certainly a unique film-going experience. Adding to the novelty of it all was that throughout the film, in the back of my mind, was the reality that on Broadway it was Angela Lansbury who played the role of Helena Bonham Carter's mad, human pie making villain.
It certainly isn't for the squeamish, and it is far from the feel good fare of Juno as there is no redemption to be found throughout. Yet I still found it well worth the price of admission for its unique flare, the strong performances, the great music, and the fact that it was another perfect vehicle for Tim Burton's twisted genius.
School work has begun again. I just finished my first real reading for the approaching trimester, Cornell Style notes and all. The reading was for my class with Dwight Friesen, The Kingdom of God and The New Sciences. If I wasn't excited about the class before I definitely am now (but I was excited about the class before). The reading thus far came from Fritjof Capra's The Web of Life. The first reading only consisted of ten or so pages, but it was bloody brilliant! There also seem to be a lot of parallels between it and what McLaren is saying in Everything Must Change. It makes me wonder if McLaren has read Capra himself or if perhaps they are just both reading the same women and men, thinkers in what is apparently a philosophical idea known as Deep Ecology, and related ways of thinking.
There are all these various strands of thought and experience in my life over the last few years, or perhaps the last decade, and this class seems like it could be another remarkable moment when those strands start coming together to help me see the world in a new and beautiful way, sort of like the deconstruction of the last ten years is starting to move toward new growth and life and understanding. I'll try to be accountable to continue sharing insights and thoughts in other posts as I continue to learn more and more and as I come to wrestle and/or dance with new ideas and different ways of seeing and following this Way that has captured my heart and not let go even in the moments I've wished it would.
This class is wonderfully exciting and it hasn't even started yet. As I look at the work it will require, it is also scary as hell at the same time.
I can't wait to get deeper into it!
W called last night wondering if I had died, so it appears it is time to start posting again. With school and the busyness of the holiday season over for two weeks I actually have a bit of mental energy to spare.
So much has happened in this period of time. It feels like I've been done with school for a year, even though it hasn't been a month yet. I've been using my break so far to catch up on being able to read whatever I choose for pleasure rather than having to read whatever the syllabus instructs. I failed miserably in my attempt to read 50 books last year, I barely made it to the half way mark, having read 26. I suppose a 2 month road trip, moving across the country whilst driving from coast to coast three times in all, and starting grad school in which the reading is a multitude of journal articles more often than books gives me a good excuse for not getting it done. I do however plan to see if I can get closer to 50 this year. If I can move up from 26 that would be a step in the right direction. So far on my break I've read three books:
Anyway, that's enough for now. Just a little post to get the blood flowing again. Hopefully I can get back to blogging frequently so I can share my experiences in this new life I've found myself in along with Emily with my friends who read this. I hope everyone had a great holiday season and I look forward to getting back to reading everyone's blogs again!
I really needed a break from my reading. The Cornell style notes we're required to take for Hermeneutics, while helpful, certainly increases the mental burden of the reading if only because it takes much longer and feels much more tedious. So with another article completed I decided to reward myself with a break for some posting fun.
It's a chilly, rainy day in Seattle. Unseasonably so. My fellow Seattleites complain about it frequently in the various coffee shops and such I frequent. It makes me wonder if we'll forgo autumn altogether on the way to winter. So far I don't mind the chill or the rain, most days it's actually been really nice aside from the temperature in the high 50s. I do wish that I could have had friends and/or family visit while we still had the beautiful weather of August and most of September.
Queen Anne is bustling. Cars and pedestrians abound. There isn't a spare seat here at Caffe Ladro, we were actually forced to go to Tully's for a while until a seat was available here. It was worth the effort though, we ended up with one of the two window tables I'm so fond of.
It's been a good weekend so far. Last night our friends Justin and Tim came to Queen Anne to hang out. We took in some food and beer at 5 Spot before heading back to our place to watch Rushmore. Then this morning we took in breakfast at Pesos for Autumn's birthday. It was our second time eating at Pesos, our first for breakfast, and the place is certainly going to be included in one of the 30 reasons I love Seattle (which I hope to start updating again soon by the way).
Anyway, there's some stream of consciousness blogging for your perusal. I'm going to go back to homework now. =(
With Heroes and The Office back for new seasons NBC has established itself a special place in my heart. The two shows can provide me with a lovely mental vacation from the stresses, pressures, and personal disturbance at school. If that weren't enough, October is quickly approaching, and with it, playoff baseball. I certainly won't be able to complain about a lack of distractions from the work I'm supposed to be doing.
School is great by the way. The readings have been enjoyable for the most part, my reading/midrash group is great, and I seem to have really drawn the right straw in terms of my practicum group as well. I love my classes, the other students, my professors, and the school experience in general thus far. I'm also finding a hope for the redemption of my story that is not part of why I came here to MHGS at all. I'm discovering a courage and hope that I didn't expect at all, a purely accidental (at least on my part) benefit of selecting Mars Hill Grad School. It gives me the feeling that somebody has better ideas than I do in terms of what choices I should make and why I should make them. Perhaps (and I'm not one who normally goes around quoting The Matrix) there can be "a difference between knowing the path and walking the path."
Speaking of baseball, I have been encouraged by my wife Emily and my friend Tim to go along with my initial instinct and point out that after most others had scoffed at my argument that, as bad as things looked, the Cubs and Yankees would still have a say in who won their respective divisions, I was right after all. Both teams had fallen way out of first place and I'll admit even I started to have my doubts. I am the one who made the horrible selection of the A's to win the AL West, which to be honest I realized was foolish as soon as I made the pick, it was just dumb. But thanks to the Indians staying strong, the Yankees making enough of a showing in the East to draw to within 2 games, and the Cubs finally playing like many expected them to all along, I don't look like a complete idiot. Sadly the Mets collapse looks like it will hurt my final tally of picking this years playoff teams. If they make it, I'll be 6 for 8, if not, 5 for 8 really hurts my percentage.
Well, enough procrastinating, time to get back to some school work.
I'm going to have to apologize in advance for the poorly constructed post. I just don't have the mental energy to do any better this evening. Hopefully it won't be too bad. =)
The intent of posting every day for a month about the particular topic of 'Why I Love Seattle' has obviously failed miserably. It is the 13th and this is only Day 4. Time simply hasn't permitted for me to be able to go out and take pictures and such of all the things that I've wanted to post about. So instead I will make the Seattle posts as frequently as possible, with the promise that I will make at least 30 posts when all is said and done. Today's doesn't require any sort of visual aids, so that makes my job a bit easier.
Yet another one of the things I love about Seattle is walking. I walk everywhere I go. I walk 30 minutes to school. I walk to any one of a myriad of coffeehouses. I walk to Blockbuster. I can walk to Trader Joe's or Safeway. It's great! The short trips add up leaving me with over 3 miles a day under my belt. It's good for my heart and lungs, it's good for weight loss, I get outside, I don't sit in traffic. I'm so glad to live in such a walkable city. It's also nice because Seattle is a city of hills, making the walk home from school a bit of a challenge that leaves me feeling satisfied each day as the trip gets easier and easier.
There are so many great benefits to being able to walk everywhere, but the best of all would have to be the beauty I encounter on a daily basis since I don't have to pay attention to driving. Seattle has so much to see that each day I get to see something new and inspiring in my various journeys. I can also change up my view each day by choosing from the slightly different routes that can be taken to get me where I am going. Walking just has a way of making it easier to encounter all there is to experience in the world around me. Come to think of it, I think I'll see if Emily wants to take a walk to the top of the hill to get some coffee. =)
Tomorrow morning at 11:00. That's when I'm due at Mars Hill Graduate School for the first time as a current student. The last time my arrival was anticipated I was but a mere interviewee, as nervous and unsure of myself as a Waldo in an earthquake. Tomorrow orientation begins, followed later in the evening by my very first class as a grad student, Introduction to the Hermeneutical Task. I've been seeing the start of my time at Mars Hill getting larger and larger as it approaches on the horizon, and now I stand at the brink, a new chapter will soon be fully underway. With all the busyness of unpacking and settling into our new home this whole thing crept up on me without my noticing just how quickly it arrived. Yet here we are, tomorrow it begins.
The idea of grad school is daunting, especially since I finished my undergrad three years ago, rusty probably doesn't begin to describe my writing/studying skills. Yet for all my fear about how miserably I might fail there is an undeniable excitement to finally be embarking on this journey that's been pulling me so relentlessly for some time now. The tug towards MHGS has been strong and this is just the end of the wooing and engagement stages as I'll be wedded to the school for at least the next four years, for better or for worse.
From just about everything I've heard from students, faculty and staff, this will be a time of difficulty and growth, of pain and discovery, of learning to better discern both the depravity and the beauty that resides in me, and learning to interact and commune more honestly with the Great Mystery.
It's impossible to know if I'm truly ready for this, but I don't think I'd have it any other way. Yet whether things are the way I'd want them or not no longer matters. It no longer matters whether or not I'm prepared, whether or not I can do this, whether or not I've made a huge mistake. Regardless of any of those things, as I said earlier on, tomorrow, it begins.
Sorry for my prolonged absence from the blogging world. I assure you that my reasons for being away were numerous, but I won't go into detail because I am tired of talking about being sick on VOX. Thus, from now on I will avoid making excuses when I am away.
But anyway, good news today... no, wait, GREAT news today. I got my acceptance letter from Mars Hill Graduate School today. I'm really excited! I can't wait for all the awesome stuff coming up in my life. The only thing that could make this summer better would be if The Dark Knight were being released this year rather than next. Then again, if this summer were going to be any better I would probably explode or something, and that would cancel the whole thing out when you think about it... so we'll save Batman for next year.
Now the only test will be coming up with my $485 deposit for tuition. I'll figure it out though, no worries.
Hmm, so much I haven't written about because I've been away so long. Here are a few various snapshots lately:
Baseball is in full swing: awesome.
Seattle was fantastic, as I mentioned in my only post in like three weeks.
My grandparents are in town: awesome.
Nathan, Luke and Brent (three guys I met at the Experience Mars Hill/Interview weekend) got in as well: very awesome!
That's about all the scatterbrained, excited rambling for now. I will get this ball rolling and start making regular posts again, that's your only warning.
