Jellyfish

Moon Jellyfish, Sea World San Antonio, April 15, 2008

From our Sea World field trip in April.

Remixed

To begin, a visual aid. You need only watch the first minute or so of both videos (but you might enjoy the background music while you read).

(The original)


(The remix)


I have a degree in secondary education, and I've had several people ask me since I got here if I feel like I'm learning anything or if I feel like I'm taking the same classes over. The answers to those questions are yes and no, respectively.

As far as I know I'm the only one in my cohort with a degree in education. My background has given me an edge here, yes, but not in the ways I thought (worried) it might -- I don't feel like I'm repeating anything. My cohorts are processing a lot more new information than I am, but honestly most of them are as good or better than I am at the method of planning and class curriculum development we use here.

It's like a remix. I know this tune and its parts, I know what the point is, but the beat and the sound are different, meaning I have to relearn the movements. In this, my cohorts have an edge over me: they're not breaking any old habits.

We've been in class for four weeks now, starting week five tomorrow, and I can safely say that I will be a smarter, better teacher when I come out of this. I like the perspective and the philosophy they work with here. We're reading different authors than the ones I got to in undergrad, and having the background allows me to compare, contrast, evaluate, and call B.S. on parts while recognizing the value in other parts.

It's like, you know, like all of a sudden I'm like a -- what's that called? -- like a thinking adult-ish like person thingy. Or at least I was until I wrote that sentence.

The Unofficial ACE 15 Song

We had a retreat in April that involved a scavenger hunt, and one of the clues was a lyric from this song. When we got here at the end of May, the same tune reared its festive head over and over during that first week -- people's cell phone ringers, karaoke, wedding receptions on campus, the dining hall, such on and so forth. It has become the unofficial anthem of the ACE 15 cohort.

New Quote in the Sidebar

For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is--limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death--he had the honesty and courage to take his own medicine. Whatever game he is playing with his creation, he has kept his own rules and played fair. He can exact nothing from man that he has not exacted from himself. He has himself gone through the whole human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. When he was a man, he played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it well worthwhile.

Dorothy Sayers

Tippage of the hat to Happy Catholic

And They're Off!

As you know, Dear Readers, the primary purpose of this nook of cyber space is to keep my family updated on my comings, going, and doings. Very soon, if it hasn't happened already, said family will be disconnected from the internet for an indefinite period of time as they commence yet another cross-country move.

My blogging purpose is temporarily squelched, but I somehow suspect I'll still find the odd item to prattle on about.

You Dear Readers who are not my immediate family, please say a prayer or six for their safety and sanity.

No Comment

This is a screen shot of a banner ad over a NY Times story about the flooding in Cedar Rapids (pray for them). It makes sense to put an ad about disaster preparedness over such a story, but...


...well, you see what I mean.

When I Stared VIDES

Yesterday, right as I was falling asleep, I realized that sometime last week had been the one year anniversary of when I arrived in San Antonio for the first time for VIDES formation.

What a difference a year makes.

Funnel Cake

San Antonio, May 2008

Still Geekin' Out

About ND's Catholicity, I mean.

Seriously cant swing a dead cat...

...Without hitting a statue of Mary or some other image of some saint. I love this!

Notre Dame, Herself

This was Friday, what feels like months ago, when the weather was lovely. It's been rather gloomy the last two days (which have felt like weeks).

The Page Turneth

I just threw in the "-eth" because it sounds more significant and profound that way. Or it makes me sound like a chump. Either way, it adds a level of interest.

Anyway, I'm in Indiana, settled quite comfortably into Notre Dame's campus. In my four years at the University of Delaware, I became pretty sure it was at least tied for "Prettiest Campus Ever, Anywhere", but in the last four days, I've been forced to rethink that. It's ridiculously splendid here, and it's probably the most physically and visibly Catholic place I've ever been. As I told my dad and Becca, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a saint. You know me -- I stinkin' love this. There's a twenty-foot gold statue of the Blessed Mother and basilica on campus. A basilica!

Still, I do miss my dear sisters, and I miss my obnoxious, rambunctious, hair-graying kiddos. There hasn't been much time to thing about them, but they do cross my mind as I pray and walk around, and the kids especially explode into my mind when we're talking about "things that can go wrong", "things teachers do wrong", and "things that can go wonderfully right".

Classes are long, numerous, and loaded, but engaging and valuable. So far we're still in the slightly-advance territory of what I learned in undergrad, plus a Catholic spin (is it at all necessary that I mention that I think that's wonderful?), but I'm sure that will change.

My cohorts are likewise delightful. They're such a wide range of personalities and skills, and with about ninety of us running around every meal means meeting five new remarkable people. My summer roommate is a doll, and my Brownsville house mates for the next two years are definitely folks I can spend a prolonged amount of time with.

You might be thinking, "Gee, Andie, sounds like you're being diligent and stuff. What a wonderful new leaf you've turned over!" Nay, my Dear Readers. The page turned, there has been no leaf turning. At this moment, I should be doing a 3-4 page outline of procedures I imagine I will need in my classroom (with this last year under my belt, I could go on for a lot more than four pages). Instead I'm blogging.

It is purely by the grace of God that I get anything done. Ever.