It is dearer to us to be kept silent for the sake of learning than not to know

Taking a break from translating….

When we finally got home yesterday around 11:00 am, the apartment was down to 63 degrees, so we figured that it was about time to turn on the heat.  Though it is a bit chilly and windy, it looks like there may be a few days in the 50’s.  I hope so because I really want to get out and go for a hike soon, especially since I got fancy new hiking boots in Minnesota.  I had been needing some quite badly since I have always had very weak ankles.  I can just be walking along like normal and my ankle will give out.  I ended up having to get a kid’s size 3 and a half.  Oh man….

It was a really nice trip to Minnesota.  The conference was quite informative and a great experience to present.  My panel went well, and it is such a relief to have it behind me.  I think that I was able to represent Liberty well and hopefully show what our grad program is capable of since the program is rather new.  In fact, this is only its second year.  Getting to see family was also quite the convience.  I hadn’t been to Minnesota in well over 10 years.  After talking about portaging, I think we may try to get up there in summer 2010 and go on an adventure with my family in the Boundary Waters. You have to plan it a year in advanced because they only let a certain number of people in at a time and people come from all over the country to go.

More photos of the trip on Flickr.  I still have more to upload.

quick!

Quick update!  The battery is dying!

Still in Minnesota.  Presented last night.  I spoke.  I answered questions.  It went well.
We have done fun things, like going to the Mall of America and met up with my grandmother.
It is 30 degrees here and I have heard that it is about 40 degrees warmer back home.  Sounds like going camping soon might not be unrealistic seeing as the weather is quite warm….  We’ll be getting back home on Monday morning.

 Skywalk in downtown Minneapolis before the first night of the M/MLA conference.

panel 79-robinson, k.

Minnesota tomorrow!!!

Be back Monday.

codd

It has been a crazy, stressful, fast-paced week.  Friday night we decided to go ghost hunting on Candler’s Mountain around midnight.  Due to the artificial ski slope construction/worst idea for a college, many of the trails were closed off.  We had to take the Louge Trail, which is straight up the mountain with an incredibly steep incline.  We hiked up to the monogram and looked at the city lights.  We planned to take the gravel road back, but even that is closed for construction.  Our only option was to take the Louge Trail down.  No fun.  We shuffled our way down and all of us girls kept slipping and falling all over the place.  No ghosts found, but it was still fun and adventurous.

Chris, Charity, Andrew, and I preparing.

Charity and Andrew reading the trail sign with blooood on it.

Today we picked up the collection of America’s best short stories for the year 2008.  This year it is edited by Salman Rushdie, which seems a lot cooler than last year’s–sorry, Stephen King.

It’s been a long time coming, but a change is gonna come

In 2005, I had a dream that I met Barack Obama and said, “Mr. Obama, I think you should run for President.”
This was before he had announced his running for the presidency.
It has been a long road.

I am so proud of our country for perhaps the first time in a long, long time.
I am proud that Virginia went for Obama, especially considering certain rough attitudes that I had encountered around town.

I had gotten so sick of being told that Obama is a Muslim and “real Christians” can’t vote for anyone who is anything but Prolife and that I’d be a Socialist for voting for him and that Obama is the anti-Christ.  Come on, guys.  Perhaps unlike others at this moment, I am thanking God that Obama won, not mourning the loss of McCain and Palin.

I feel like I might be able to stop reading Ginberg’s “America” with such frustration. I know Obama isn’t going to save the world and he isn’t perfect.  He is a man.  However, it his approach that we need, his hope, his ability to bring America together so we can work toward fixing our country.

Nov. 4th

After seeing him speak at the Save Darfur rally in spring 2005,
After following the debates in the primaries,
After watching the numbers come in from Iowa,
After then voting for him in the Virginia primary,
After knocking on doors and handing out fliers,
I almost can’t believe that I have finally been able to vote for Barack Obama for President.

We got up earlier than usual and headed to our polling place at 8:00 am.  The line for last names A-G was ridiculously long, but I was able to get through rather quickly.  We decided that it was revenge for those us of who always had to be last in line in elementary school, graduation, and all that.

Eat your own spaceship

Christmas on Mars is finally being release November 11th.
How long has this been in the making?  Five years?  More, I think.

I can’t wait to see it.  I hope it isn’t disappointing….

There’s gonna be a party when the wolf comes home

My parents’ dog, Solace.

My parents visited this week.  It was the first time that I saw them since July.

We’ll be making up for lost time soon since we’re going to Minnesota in a couple of weeks

and then we’ll probably go home two weeks after that during Thanksgiving break.

Then, the semester is almost over.

Abed-nego has been really bummed about them leaving.

He whined for a while and then wouldn’t eat anything until about 8:30 pm.

He and Solace are bff.

Obama is coming to JMU on Tuesday, but I have night classes.  Bah.

As a grad student, it would appear that I have a rather flexible schedule, but I actually have never been able to go to a rally because of school even though Obama has come within two hours of us many, many times.  Arg.

I think we may take a hit–by that I mean a sleepless night–and go see The Mountain Goats in North Carolina next Wednesday.  Surprisingly, the venue is only about two hours away. We shall seeee.

More puppy photos on flickr.

bread and knives

I had a dream last night that I was drafted to go fight in the Vietnam war.
I packed my bag with seven loaves of bread and a knife in preparation.

That was stupid plan.

p.s. I’m writing my Purgatorio paper on trees.

hiding too much

Come Friday, the semester will be two-thirds complete.

I registered for my last semester of graduate classes today.  My last semester.

Thesis Research, Advanced Lit Crit, and Christian Authors (focusing on Flannery O’Connor).

I want to plan a big graduation adventure to celebrate.  Most people are able to do this when they graduate from undergrad, so it would make sense to do it after grad school.  However, this will probably have to wait until summer 2010–or later.  This is the most sensible plan.  I’m not looking forward to needing to work another retail job over the summer yet again until the transition to my career is settled.  Bah.  That is just life, though.  Bills have to be paid.